Recent content by S'mon

They become NPCs when the GM starts thinking of them as a character. Social interaction usually forces that, yes.

NPCs do succeed IMCs - I default to rolling a D6 - "1" they do really badly, "6" they do really well. So villains can fail and redshirts can succeed.

Traditional sandboxes tend to have a mix of pre-populated material, procedural content generation tools, and some expectation the GM can extrapolate as necessary. They certainly seem to work best that way IME. I don't think pure improv will usually feel much like a sandbox. But a GM who refuses...

I remember an old 2000 AD (Judge Anderson?) story with evil underground living humans called derros. I got the strong impression they were from an older source, presumably the same source Gygax took from. Probably a work of crypto-history, possibly entirely fictional. But I can't find anything...

#1 I like hardcopy, but realistically I like hardcopy + PDF + on Roll20, so it can get kinda expensive! I like the hardcopy for browsing and for at-table reference, but PDF and Roll20 for online play. #3 I don't use electronic devices at the table (except the calculator app on my phone to work...

My derro are based off 1e AD&D derro as presented by Gygax in 'Sea of Death', so they are degenerate humans not dwarves. They generally have squeaky high pitched manic voices.

The 1e Dungeoneer's Survival Guide divides campaign types into Linear (railroad, in the non-pejorative sense), Open (ie sandbox), and Matrix: The Matrix Campaign The matrix campaign allows the DM to create a detailed story with a developed plot, while still allowing the players to choose where...

"No, he's not a Wizard. He doesn't have a spell book."

I guess if it's a sandbox game I'd be ok with that. I'd need to come up with reasonable rules for learning the Sheng technique, and what class abilities the PC gives up in turn over the years of training. If the player wants it enough and is prepared to sacrifice enough to get it, I should work...

I like 5e's approach of "sort of". I like it that I can have PC-class NPCs easily enough (unlike 4e), but I don't want to have to build every NPC as a PC (like 3e). One thing, if every Hobgoblin NPC has Martial Advantage, it feels wrong to me to let players have Hobgoblin NPCs but not let them...

Level 3-4 feel like experienced adventurers. Level 5+ feel like Heroes.

I don't think I'd have had it do more than 4d6, the waterskin must be a pretty inefficient applicator compared to individual vials. Switching off regeneration for a round is handy, though. In game on Saturday a PC brought silver arrows to use vs vampires, I ruled they counted as radiant for...

I read 1.5 of these. They were really bad.

OK, I've read over Mage Hand and Mage Hand Legerdemain, and slept on this. One of my campaigns has an Arcane Trickster so it seemed worth putting the effort in. My conclusion: the AT can pour out a vial (or similar) as a bonus action. They can pour it out while it's above a monster. There is a...

@OP why do you say 'bonus action' not 'action'?