Search results

Mechanus is a plane of order and clockwork. I like the view of them as a bunch of increasingly complex mechanical golems, ruled by the prime. Traditionally they dwallers are shape based, with more sides = higher complexity. A cute bit of lore I like is that they tried to tame limbo by...

That isn't what I said? It is inefficient use of spell slots, but it is quickly. The more efficient way is to use it on crits, when it becomes both an efficient use of spell slots and action economy (18 auto-damage from a 1st level slot is very good). The comparison (for slot efficiency)...

Add more sources of resistance. In my case, people wielding shields can sacrifice them to get resistance against any non-psychic source of damage. (If the shield is magical, it just disables the shield until the next short rest. If you are attuned to the shield you can do this proficiency...

I've tried to make high level Paladin cheese builds that rely on smite. Whenever I assumed a modest adventuring day, you got higher total damage from a BM XBE Fighter or a GWM Barbarian. When I did strange stuff to optimize smiting, like Paladin 6/Hex 1-3/Sorcerer X, the baseline Paladin ended...

I'm going to try out giving the Tasha's companion (slightly buffed at higher levels) to the Ranger as a baseline feature. It is 5 HP/level and can be recovered in a short rest easily. Balance-wise, I'm treating it as a per-short-rest heal, on par with the Fighter's Second Wind (which I also...

This looks like attribute check time. Lots of "how should this magic corner case work" can be solved by attribute checks. Here the suggestion is cleverly trying to subvert the domination command; the domination command is still obeyed, just not the way expected. Which is legit.

Str Dex makes more sense if Str is "total muscle mass" while Dex is "Muscles per pound". Under this model, moving yourself around is Dex (acrobatics), while moving the world is Str (athletics). Lean athletes would be good Str amazing Dex. A sumo wrestler is high Str low Dex; they care little...

Reign, by Greg Stolz, has a system for organizations. The organization has a bunch of (somewhat abstract) features and attributes. These organizations can come into conflict or try to do things. PCs in this game adventure and act as spoilers. Their actions can add bonuses to what the...

If getting caught up on what the rules say causes conflict, I wouldn't call that "easier". You can have lots of conversation about how a game plays without agreeing on how force wall interacts with secret hut. In fact the conversations you can easily have are about how it actually plays. What...

Why would agreeing on the baseline rules of D&D be a great virtue? Each table should have its own understanding of how the rules work. So understanding the various ways you can read the rules is far more important than agreeing on what they are; that gives you the ability to move between...

Trained thieves should walk through most locks. At level 1 without expertise, a 16 dex rogue has a +5; that is a 20% chance to fail at a DC 10 lock. That is way, way higher than the chance that a party dies against a CR 1 monster. If you do have "roll again until you pass", any DC under 25 is...

Make languages based on country. Proficiency is familiarity with that nations culture/history/etc. And includes a cheat sheet of information. History refers to ancient history. Exotic languages provide narrower information and lore as part of their package, as does Arcana/Religion/Nature and...

I like that much better than bag of holding tricks. Intention matters in magic. Maybe include stuff like "Do you hand possession of this blade, and all it entails, to me, of your own free will, without reservation or exception, to keep for as long as I will?" "Do you affirm this again?" "Say...

There are multiple forms of inheritance. 1. Parents own assets jointly. Assets are split roughly evenly between surviving children when they die. 2. Assets are family held. When head of family dies, new head -- their oldest descendant, and failing that their parent's oldest descendant (and...

My point is there is a half-dozen titles that the heir used to hold. One of them has been transformed to something like a "the queen thinks you are awesome", and she traditionally bestows it on someone new every 5 years, instead of for life. This is clearly not supposed to be the heir -- but...

I would expect that, even ruling as regent, the prince (the heir) would be a position. That position might have multiple titles. Like "Prince of Whalesburg" and "Defender of the Eastern Reaches" and "Protector of the Rose" and "Beloved of Amon". I could see this position originally having...

No, it isn't 30 rolls with 1d20 vs 30 rolls with 3d6 with the values recorded. It is 30 rolls with 5.25+1d20/2 vs 30 rolls with 3d6 with only the success/failure recorded, and natural 1/20 being auto-fail/success, and 3-4 on 3d6 being auto fail, and 17-18 being auto success. (This is just the...

Laugh, of course. I was just amused/confused by the fact there are 10 points. Anyhow, it is sort of amazing how close the strait line comes to the curve. When I first graphed it I thought I made a mistake. The tails, as you noted, are different; that is why I keep on saying "outside of crit...

This one is labelled d20 but looks like the d10?