Daggerheart General Thread [+]

[zakael19]

And they’ve got a link to the draft campaign frame up there and on the Ghostfire site.

Edit: oh cool, they got the artist of the DH maps to redo the Drakkenheim one in that style.

 

[zakael19]

We had a really nice in-person Daggerheart game tonight. I found a new player via the metro area TTRPG discord (I keep an eye out for anybody who looks interesting in our distant suburb since most games form further away) and she integrated super well tonight, adding some fun new dynamics.

One thing I love about any game that goes more narrative-forward / asymmetrical design is how freeing it is on the GM side to not have to worry about trying to "use proper spells" or anything. It also frees me to do Something Cool with an NPC (in this case, "Archmage Gershwin of the Sapphire Tower") but let a PC actually trigger it. What I mean there is that I had the Archmage ask for an artifact one of the PCs had to do a work of magic, and then ask if she wanted to jump in; that made the final effect contingent on the fiction and action roll result she brought instead of me just narrating NPC awesomeness. Because of how simple the DH mechanics are, I feel like there's always a way to pivot and leave events in player's hands; even if the fiction makes it sound like a NPC is having an instrumental moment.

It's also always fun to demonstrate how well non-initiative systems handle multiple-location scenes inclusive of combats. I had the paladin(seraph) and rogue trying to evacuate a person from a room drowning in pure darkness while fighting off some taunting floating magic skulls; while back in the wizard's tower the sorcerer was dueling with giant of animate shadow to keep the archmage able to sustain the conduit the other two were going to use to return. Just nice smooth spotlight switching, to the point where one of the players highlighted that in their end of session bit as the highlight.

 

[zakael19]

Continuing to noodle away at "can I make this work for a 40k Dark Hersey" style game. What Domains do you think would be best suited to rework into a tech-focus? Im leaning towards Shadow, Sage, maybe Grace? I think Arcana/Codex/Splendor would work well as psyker stuff (although the Grace mind-messing is classic WH stuff)...

 

[DarkCrisis]

So I hear Druid is OP. Anyway to fix this? Or is it all just over reaction?

 

[zedturtle]

So I hear Druid is OP. Anyway to fix this? Or is it all just over reaction?

My sense is that it is 75% over-reaction from white room theorists. Yes, it is strong, but I'd try it at your table with your players before making any tweaks.

That said, I've only seen them at the lowest levels, so you might have trouble in long games.

 

[Neonchameleon]

So I hear Druid is OP. Anyway to fix this? Or is it all just over reaction?

It's a power pick, certainly. And one of the power picks for multiclassing.

• At Tier 1 there is no problem at all. Druids get some scout forms. They've flexibility.
• The Tier 2 Pouncing Predator form isn't overpowered compared to a normal PC with a tier 2 weapon. But as most PCs don't get tier 2 loot at level 1 it's high damage. Druids basically get to do druidy-things; some spells and some wildshape but once people have Tier 2 weapons druids are flexible and probably slightly ahead of the curve but fine.
• Tier 3 is where the problem kicks in because of multiclassing. And the problem isn't so much druids as certain other classes multiclassing into Druid. A shapeshifting Guardian, Seraph, Warrior, or Rogue is trouble. They don't get held back by the druid's limitation of not casting while wildshaped because they have no spells anyway so keep all their domain cards - and they have stat-spreads that are generally better for combat wildshape than Druids do because most high tier animals work off strength, and birds work off finesse.
• Tier 4 is probably no different from tier 3.

 

[overgeeked]

My sense is that it is 75% over-reaction from white room theorists. Yes, it is strong, but I'd try it at your table with your players before making any tweaks.

That said, I've only seen them at the lowest levels, so you might have trouble in long games.

Yep. When anyone says something is broken the first question should always be if it’s broken in theory or broken at the table. If it’s theoretical, it should be dismissed out of hand. If it’s from actual played experience, more information about context and circumstance are necessary.

 

[zakael19]

It's a power pick, certainly. And one of the power picks for multiclassing.

• At Tier 1 there is no problem at all. Druids get some scout forms. They've flexibility.
• The Tier 2 Pouncing Predator form isn't overpowered compared to a normal PC with a tier 2 weapon. But as most PCs don't get tier 2 loot at level 1 it's high damage. Druids basically get to do druidy-things; some spells and some wildshape but once people have Tier 2 weapons druids are flexible and probably slightly ahead of the curve but fine.
• Tier 3 is where the problem kicks in because of multiclassing. And the problem isn't so much druids as certain other classes multiclassing into Druid. A shapeshifting Guardian, Seraph, Warrior, or Rogue is trouble. They don't get held back by the druid's limitation of not casting while wildshaped because they have no spells anyway so keep all their domain cards - and they have stat-spreads that are generally better for combat wildshape than Druids do because most high tier animals work off strength, and birds work off finesse.
• Tier 4 is probably no different from tier 3.

I generally detest multiclassing systems because of stuff like this (and because of how hard actual mastery is); I’d certainly need some strong narrative justification from a random Warrior about why they were suddenly a Druid.

However a Seraph has spells unless they went full Valor.