GOD RULES: Player's Guide (5e) Kickstarter Pre-Launch Page

[Upper_Krust]

My thoughts.

I am a fan of the compactness and clarity of the stat block.

Thank you. There is always more you want to add, but I think keeping the stats (at least) in one column means things don't get ridiculous for the GM. Typically I have a few Actions and then the Combat Reactions can be rolled randomly. Keeps it all simple to run but still has a ton of variety.

Was not expecting resistance to acid and magic, doesn’t seem to fit thematically.

That may actually be a mistake on my part - though I assume at the time I was along the lines of Sulphuric Acid if its living within a Volcano, but it probably shouldn't have Magic and Poison resistance; could be a holdover I just missed.

I really enjoy the weak spot mechanics and the risk/reward nature of it.

'Who dares, wins" Reward the bravery of fighters who go in under the dragon's legs.

Plus note the synergy between the Crush (knocks prone) and the Claw (Max. Damage vs. Prone).

I like trying to design these 'combos' - also works well with two complimentary monsters (one monster knocks prone, the other deals more damage vs. prone - to use this example).

Fire breath dealing ongoing damage and leaving burning terrain is cool.

I also upped the basic burning damage so that its 10% of the breath weapon intensity, not all flame burns at the same intensity.

I am a big fan of all of the reactions and the different control effects. I especially like that there is no mass hard control that locks people out of the fight. Also the psychic damage on roar is a great way of keeping it relevant against fear immune creatures.

I tried a few 'capstone' Combat Reactions, Terrifying Roar seemed the best. Nod to Frightful Presence. If it flies over some villagers and roars its going to cause a few heart attacks.

Compared to the cool reactions, the dragons claw and bite attacks don’t have much control potential. It is a big dragon, so I was at least expecting a grab on the bite or something of that nature.

I originally had that planned but had to cut it for space constraints - as you can see the entire column is filled (it even goes 1 line below the Column).

I like the idea of Massive Beasts biting, restraining and then either swallowing it or tossing its 'food' away (if it does not like the taste)...however, its not necessarily the main USP of a Dragon per see'.

When I do dragons in the Bestiary I will might design a basic Dragon Action 'Template' to cover the dragon's generic Actions, Flying Actions and so forth. Dragons are the type of creature that have more options than normal, but there is only so much I can fit in one stat-block and if I standardise the actions all the dragons will feel same-y.

The other thing that stood out to me is that it does not have limited wish, meaning it is vulnerable to forcecage and other effects that require spells to deal with.

The Dragon is too big for a Forcecage.

Also I allow Force Cages, Fields, Walls and so forth to be destroyed (they have the same HP as the creator with a Damage Threshold equal to half the Creator's Hit Dice).

...plus if you have Legendary Strength (STR 31+) you can just smash a Force Field by expending a use of Legendary Resistance.

Overall the dragon made a good impression.

Thanks. I was trying for something:
1. Epic PC's would respect (as in be a Hard Encounter)
2. Deals sufficient damage - rather than add a Frightful Presence, if the monster deals sufficient damage Players will fear it (not simply their PCs)
3. Reward those who go in prepared (cold vulnerability)
4. Reward those who brave getting crushed underneath it (weak spot underbelly)
5. Controls the space (persistent burning damage)
6. Has dynamic attack 'combos' (Claws and Bite deal more damage under certain situations)
7. Has enough variety (Combat Reactions) that you could fight one a few times and not experience the same fight.

All that said, its still a relatively 'vanilla' Dragon Encounter in my opinion, but expect the new epic monsters will have more crazy, unique actions and reactions.

Its a big Controller (in my opinion), using its flame to control the battlefield. Whereas Nezha is more like a Skirmisher zipping about and leaving a trail of fire.

 

[ArcanistDragonborn]

Hey U_K! I was wondering, do you have any plans for Hecatoncheires in the Bestiary, and if so, what DR would they be, and what would be some of their signature abilities? I know that the pf2e Hecatoncheires are absolutely terrifying with their space manipulation, so I was wondering if there's anything like that in the God Rules version!

-Arcane

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hey U_K! I was wondering, do you have any plans for Hecatoncheires in the Bestiary, and if so, what DR would they be, and what would be some of their signature abilities? I know that the pf2e Hecatoncheires are absolutely terrifying with their space manipulation, so I was wondering if there's anything like that in the God Rules version!

-Arcane

Man those are weird creatures. Every piece of art I've even seen of them terrifies me.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey U_K! I was wondering, do you have any plans for Hecatoncheires in the Bestiary, and if so, what DR would they be, and what would be some of their signature abilities? I know that the pf2e Hecatoncheires are absolutely terrifying with their space manipulation, so I was wondering if there's anything like that in the God Rules version!

-Arcane

Hey there Arcanist Amigo, I have two different ideas for Hekatonkeres (one giant-based, one Abomination-based) and I am not far enough along with the Bestiary to know exactly which I will opt for. That said, I'll probably have a CR 36 version somewhere, but not sure if that will be the 'small' version or the 'big' version (as that depends on whether its an Abomination or Giant).

Its not one of the monsters I have already designed so being totally honest I haven't done a lot of brainstorming for it yet.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Man those are weird creatures. Every piece of art I've even seen of them terrifies me.

...well in that case I might have to warn you about my God Rules: Epic Bestiary Micah, because from the very first monster (shown below) things get...abominable you could say.

 

[ArcanistDragonborn]

Hey U_K! I was wondering, where exactly would an unlucky Immortal go if they were somehow erased from the collective consiousness/memory of reality, almost as if they were an unelemental, but instead of being physically unreal, their own thoughts and mind were rendered unreal somehow?

 

[MazzelDazzle]

...well in that case I might have to warn you about my God Rules: Epic Bestiary Micah, because from the very first monster (shown below) things get...abominable you could say.

View attachment 417595

I'm sorry, I don't think I can wait. I need some additional info about these guys. Anything! xD

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey U_K! I was wondering, where exactly would an unlucky Immortal go if they were somehow erased from the collective consiousness/memory of reality, almost as if they were an unelemental, but instead of being physically unreal, their own thoughts and mind were rendered unreal somehow?

Well there are multiple levels of death, higher dimensional underworlds, heavens and hells.

When Mortals die their souls pass through the Underworld (sometimes getting trapped their if their conviction/faith is not that strong) on the way to their respective heaven or hell.

When immortals die they pass through Byss on the way to Tikun or Tehom.

Likewise Abstract Beings and Archetypes have their own journeys.

So you have (physical) Death, Astral Death (of immortality), Ego Death (never existed within reality) and Archetypal Death (where the possibility of your existence becomes an impossibility).

Sounds like what you are suggesting is Ego Death. So you will end up travelling through the Super-Universal Border (Kuvachim or its Dark 'Underside') to eventually end up in Creation or Uncreation.

 

[Upper_Krust]

I'm sorry, I don't think I can wait. I need some additional info about these guys. Anything! xD

Well if you roll the mouse arrow over the illustration you will know they are Abominations called (aptly) Abominators. These are abominations of Fertility, the version in the book is Challenge Rating 28, I won't spoil what their main ability is (I don't think I have ever seen a monster with the same ability anywhere though - its quite cool).

• I have rules for building your own Abominations in the Bestiary.
• Abominations grow the more misery they sow, particularly among worshipers of gods they abhor.
• Each type of Abomination has some new interesting traits that have them affect a region - really good for Adventure Hooks (as you can imagine with monsters like the Abominator, the side-effects of one nearby can get gnarly).
• Imprisoned Abominations can still curse a region - but at a diminished capacity. Again, great for Adventure Hooks, you cannot undo the curse without freeing and killing it.
• Mad Cultists are attracted to these regions where 'things' are getting weird and will try to free the Abominations who can whisper to those willing to listen (ie. crazy).
• Each individual Abomination has its own unique title/nomenclature (title as in how people will refer to it) - again I think this will be super-cool. I don't want to spoil it yet.

I'll consider adding a brief 'Dungeon Delve' of an imprisoned Abomination. That would be useful...maybe call it a Vault.

Overall Abominations are a kind of 'build-your-own Elder Evil'. They are really fun to design - I wish I could put more in the Bestiary but I have so many cool monsters to fit in, something will get left out. Currently I have 5 Abominations, I might add a sixth. All the abominations are completely new, though I may have the Sadim appear in the upcoming Adventure Bestiary.

 

[ArcanistDragonborn]

Hey U_K! I have a question about the Boons for you. If you can only get Boons at Divine Ranks 1,2,4,8,16 (Which is what I got from the progress update,) are you forced to skip out on certain tiers of Boons or buffs? Also, are there any other major non-leveling progression buffs as well other than Purviews and Boons?