N00b DM Questions
- Thread starter Scorponox
- Start date
Dross
Explorer
Sounds like the beholder tree worked very well for all involved (RP as well as battle at the same time is good in my books).
On to Fighting Charm Person:
It is important to note that those affected by Charm think of you as a "friend" not as master in all things that needs to be protected from everything, harsh words and raging barbarian red dragons included.
The classic Star Wars "These are not the droids you are looking for" scene might have run differently if the guards had been told to round up all droids for inspection. The guards would have been friendly, apologising about the delay etc, but would have still taken the droids for inspection. Especially if Darth Vader gave the command (he force chokes ADMIRALS, what will he do to US?).
My two quotes I like to use are:
My master has ordered my to kill you by torture in no less than two hours. However if you submit to me I'll make it a single clean stroke.
&
I killed my siblings to get to where I am, what makes you think I would not betray you if it suited me?
Of course, if you can give the PCs a glimpse of this attitude before being subjected to charm you have "evidence" of why they are not fully under the Charmer's thumb.
On to Fighting Charm Person:
It is important to note that those affected by Charm think of you as a "friend" not as master in all things that needs to be protected from everything, harsh words and raging barbarian red dragons included.
The classic Star Wars "These are not the droids you are looking for" scene might have run differently if the guards had been told to round up all droids for inspection. The guards would have been friendly, apologising about the delay etc, but would have still taken the droids for inspection. Especially if Darth Vader gave the command (he force chokes ADMIRALS, what will he do to US?).
My two quotes I like to use are:
My master has ordered my to kill you by torture in no less than two hours. However if you submit to me I'll make it a single clean stroke.
&
I killed my siblings to get to where I am, what makes you think I would not betray you if it suited me?
Of course, if you can give the PCs a glimpse of this attitude before being subjected to charm you have "evidence" of why they are not fully under the Charmer's thumb.
I've been looking at feats lately. I only have the Player's Handbook, but I was wondering, is there such thing as a "Dragon Slayer" feat?
In Final Fantasy 11, Dragoons do extra damage to dragons. When a party is going up against a dragon, they really like having Dragoons in their party.
I'm looking for something that will give a +1 or +2 damage against dragons feat, and am wondering if it's already in one of the books.
If not, is it common to homebrew feats? I was thinking of sending the adventurers on a quest to recover a tome from a cave, and that would have a dragon slayer feat in it.
In Final Fantasy 11, Dragoons do extra damage to dragons. When a party is going up against a dragon, they really like having Dragoons in their party.
I'm looking for something that will give a +1 or +2 damage against dragons feat, and am wondering if it's already in one of the books.
If not, is it common to homebrew feats? I was thinking of sending the adventurers on a quest to recover a tome from a cave, and that would have a dragon slayer feat in it.
Dandu
First Post
There's the Dragonbane feat. It's not very good.
Last edited:
Dross
Explorer
Crystal Keep has a pdf listing the feats from a large proportion of WotC books. you can get an idea of what is available and where it is. It provides a basic description and pre-reqs as well.
Draconomicon would be the main source (6 feats to specifically fight or guard against dragons).
As implied by Dandu, you might want to long at something that covers a little more than just dragons (unless you are going to be fighting them a fair % of your your time).
Another thing to think about might be a Dragon themed PrC, Draconomicon has a few of various attitudes towards dragons.
Draconomicon would be the main source (6 feats to specifically fight or guard against dragons).
As implied by Dandu, you might want to long at something that covers a little more than just dragons (unless you are going to be fighting them a fair % of your your time).
Another thing to think about might be a Dragon themed PrC, Draconomicon has a few of various attitudes towards dragons.
hippos purros
First Post
It might just be easier to give them a "lesser" dragon bane weapon or sumthing, maybe a custom item that gives them everything but the extra 2d6 (or the 2d6 if you want them having that damage output) and just don't tell them about it , once again maybe they buy a weapon a vendor just aquired and even the merchant doesn't know it's true worth.
Ok, more questions, this time having to do with horses.
I have looked through the section on riding skills as seen on d20srd. (Ride :: d20srd.org) There were some things I liked about it, and some I didn't. In short, I thought there wasn't a whole lot of stuff written about horses.
Now, I talked to my players about it, and they pretty much agreed that giving them riding horses would be a bit overpowering, and one said he just never saw a need for them in the campaigns he's been in, but that doesn't mean that eventually, they may be fighting soldiers who are on horseback.
So I am coming up with my own homebrew stuff to add a little bit of fun to my campaign.
First, the horses:
You can get these at Michaels craft stores in Canada. They are called Horses Toob, and the manufacturer is Safari Ltd. (safariltd.com) They are $12 for 12 horses of varying size, from ponies to medium, to large horses. Perfect! And with a bit of scotch tape for saddles, they fit in with DnD miniatures perfectly! If you want a discount, go to the Michael's website (michaels.com) and look around for their flyer. You can get anywhere from 25% to 50% off at any given time. So I got mine for $6 on Boxing Day. Seriously, no kids ever buy these, and they were the most plentiful type of "Toob" I could find in the store. There were other Toob collections, from knights, to western themed ones, to safari animals to insects. You could probably find various other creatures to inhabit your DnD game.
Second, I wanted to make mounted combat a part of my campaign, and the different types of horses all do something different. Check this picture out:
If you've ever read up on the biblical story of the apocalypse, these horses will look vaguely familiar. For those not familiar with the story, the Bible says that John the Apostle had a vision about the end times. He saw four horses, each with riders. The first rider was on a white horse, and he came to spread peace - but this was a false peace. Soon after, a red horse appeared, bringing war, so that all nations fought against one another. The third horse was as black as midnight, and brought with him famine and pestilence, and the fourth was an ashen horse, bringing with him death.
The horses in the above picture are called: white horse, hell horse or hellion horse, nightmare, and grey warhorse.
The White Horse is a horse that when ridden, will give the rider 5 tempHP. This can be increased when the horse levels up along with the rider. Also, once per day, it can cast a single cure light wounds, mass or a dispel magic, mass (homebrewed spell).
I am not sure if I will implement this yet, but maybe, eventually the white horse will sprout wings and become a Pegasus.
The Hell Horse is a blood red horse that seems to always smell of burnt wood or charcoal. And this is because it can literally set itself on fire, dealing 2 fire damage to anything that close enough and attacks it with a melee attack. It can also breathe fire out if its nostrils. A trained Hell Horse will be trained to not burn her rider, but an untrained or young one will sometimes singe the rider accidentally. Once per day, this horse can create a ring of fire around her 15 ft. in diameter. This ring originates from the horse and spreads outwards, damaging enemies nearby. The ring of fire then continues to burn on the ground, damaging any creature that moves through it to attack the rider or the horse.
*note* althought the Horses Tube comes with one orangish-brown horse, I didn't think this was red enough, so I used some red games workshop paint to paint it blood red!
The Nightmare is favored by many, because it is not spooked by the undead. Other horses will go crazy and flee at the sight of undead creatures, but the Nightmare does no such thing. This is an advantage and a disadvantage, because other horses might warn the rider of an imminent attack by an unseen force, yet they would flee at the sight of an undead creature. A Nightmare has no such fear, and does not warn her rider, seeing an undead creature as any other creature. When a person rides a Nightmare, they get an extra +1 on attack rolls and damage rolls vs. undead creatures, vampires, lyancrotopes(?), and clerics. *Clerics, because vampires and villains like riding a big black scary horse.
Once per day, a Nightmare can summon 4 skeleton warriors to fight by its side.
The Grey Warhorse is favored by soldiers for its higher HP, and riding this horse gives the rider a +1 attack roll bonus as well as a +1 damage roll bonus. Unlike a Nightmare, where this bonus only applies to certain types of creatures, this bonus applies to all opponents. Once per day, you can command the Grey Warhorse to fight alongside you, even if you have dismounted from it. When Grey Warhorses attack, they also get a +1 to attack and damage.
Anyways, to avoid making too long of a post, I'll stop this one here for now.
I have looked through the section on riding skills as seen on d20srd. (Ride :: d20srd.org) There were some things I liked about it, and some I didn't. In short, I thought there wasn't a whole lot of stuff written about horses.
Now, I talked to my players about it, and they pretty much agreed that giving them riding horses would be a bit overpowering, and one said he just never saw a need for them in the campaigns he's been in, but that doesn't mean that eventually, they may be fighting soldiers who are on horseback.
So I am coming up with my own homebrew stuff to add a little bit of fun to my campaign.
First, the horses:
You can get these at Michaels craft stores in Canada. They are called Horses Toob, and the manufacturer is Safari Ltd. (safariltd.com) They are $12 for 12 horses of varying size, from ponies to medium, to large horses. Perfect! And with a bit of scotch tape for saddles, they fit in with DnD miniatures perfectly! If you want a discount, go to the Michael's website (michaels.com) and look around for their flyer. You can get anywhere from 25% to 50% off at any given time. So I got mine for $6 on Boxing Day. Seriously, no kids ever buy these, and they were the most plentiful type of "Toob" I could find in the store. There were other Toob collections, from knights, to western themed ones, to safari animals to insects. You could probably find various other creatures to inhabit your DnD game.
Second, I wanted to make mounted combat a part of my campaign, and the different types of horses all do something different. Check this picture out:
If you've ever read up on the biblical story of the apocalypse, these horses will look vaguely familiar. For those not familiar with the story, the Bible says that John the Apostle had a vision about the end times. He saw four horses, each with riders. The first rider was on a white horse, and he came to spread peace - but this was a false peace. Soon after, a red horse appeared, bringing war, so that all nations fought against one another. The third horse was as black as midnight, and brought with him famine and pestilence, and the fourth was an ashen horse, bringing with him death.
The horses in the above picture are called: white horse, hell horse or hellion horse, nightmare, and grey warhorse.
The White Horse is a horse that when ridden, will give the rider 5 tempHP. This can be increased when the horse levels up along with the rider. Also, once per day, it can cast a single cure light wounds, mass or a dispel magic, mass (homebrewed spell).
I am not sure if I will implement this yet, but maybe, eventually the white horse will sprout wings and become a Pegasus.
The Hell Horse is a blood red horse that seems to always smell of burnt wood or charcoal. And this is because it can literally set itself on fire, dealing 2 fire damage to anything that close enough and attacks it with a melee attack. It can also breathe fire out if its nostrils. A trained Hell Horse will be trained to not burn her rider, but an untrained or young one will sometimes singe the rider accidentally. Once per day, this horse can create a ring of fire around her 15 ft. in diameter. This ring originates from the horse and spreads outwards, damaging enemies nearby. The ring of fire then continues to burn on the ground, damaging any creature that moves through it to attack the rider or the horse.
*note* althought the Horses Tube comes with one orangish-brown horse, I didn't think this was red enough, so I used some red games workshop paint to paint it blood red!
The Nightmare is favored by many, because it is not spooked by the undead. Other horses will go crazy and flee at the sight of undead creatures, but the Nightmare does no such thing. This is an advantage and a disadvantage, because other horses might warn the rider of an imminent attack by an unseen force, yet they would flee at the sight of an undead creature. A Nightmare has no such fear, and does not warn her rider, seeing an undead creature as any other creature. When a person rides a Nightmare, they get an extra +1 on attack rolls and damage rolls vs. undead creatures, vampires, lyancrotopes(?), and clerics. *Clerics, because vampires and villains like riding a big black scary horse.
Once per day, a Nightmare can summon 4 skeleton warriors to fight by its side.
The Grey Warhorse is favored by soldiers for its higher HP, and riding this horse gives the rider a +1 attack roll bonus as well as a +1 damage roll bonus. Unlike a Nightmare, where this bonus only applies to certain types of creatures, this bonus applies to all opponents. Once per day, you can command the Grey Warhorse to fight alongside you, even if you have dismounted from it. When Grey Warhorses attack, they also get a +1 to attack and damage.
Anyways, to avoid making too long of a post, I'll stop this one here for now.
Finally, the last of the horses, and this is where I am going to ask for suggestions...
The girl is riding on a Golden Horse. I was thinking of having this horse be a horse that likes shiny objects and is a "treasure hunter" type horse. Having this horse around will give you more loot, that will go directly to the rider, or whenever a monster or enemy is killed, the rider of this horse gets a 1d20 bonus in silver pieces. One of the players in my group suggested a bonus to AC because this horse is more agile, but has less HP.
I would like to have this horse favored by rogues and thieves, so I was wondering, what sorts of abilities do rouges lack that can be made up by riding this horse or having this horse in their party?
The Chestnut Horse the other guy is riding is the least favorite in my campaign. They are the fastest horses out of all of them by far, but aside from couriers, they do not function well as horses you would want to take into battle. They have lower HP than most other horses due to their more slender bodies built for speed, but when a player is knocked off his horse, typical horses move 4 squares away. The player can then use one move action to move towards the horse, then another action to mount the horse again. The Chestnut Horse, however, because of its speed, moves 8 squares away when a rider is knocked off the horse. This means that a human would need to use both actions to move towards the horse, then another action the next round to re-mount the horse.
The last horse, you can only get from those Buck or Two stores found in Canada. They are 25 cents each and make good objects to add atmosphere to the game. They are kind of cheaply made, not being as high of quality as the Horse Toob ones.
I decided to call these brown horses Choclairs, (after the now defunct chocolate bar which was one of my favorites. Choclairs)
I have no idea what the abilities or special features of this horse would be, so I'm gonna throw it out there for any suggestions.
And as a nod to the game of Chess, which I love, I want it to be so if these horses attack in the Knight pattern found in Chess, they can knock a player prone into the next square and then trample him.
Anyways, hope I am not breaking the game too bad with these horses. D:
The girl is riding on a Golden Horse. I was thinking of having this horse be a horse that likes shiny objects and is a "treasure hunter" type horse. Having this horse around will give you more loot, that will go directly to the rider, or whenever a monster or enemy is killed, the rider of this horse gets a 1d20 bonus in silver pieces. One of the players in my group suggested a bonus to AC because this horse is more agile, but has less HP.
I would like to have this horse favored by rogues and thieves, so I was wondering, what sorts of abilities do rouges lack that can be made up by riding this horse or having this horse in their party?
The Chestnut Horse the other guy is riding is the least favorite in my campaign. They are the fastest horses out of all of them by far, but aside from couriers, they do not function well as horses you would want to take into battle. They have lower HP than most other horses due to their more slender bodies built for speed, but when a player is knocked off his horse, typical horses move 4 squares away. The player can then use one move action to move towards the horse, then another action to mount the horse again. The Chestnut Horse, however, because of its speed, moves 8 squares away when a rider is knocked off the horse. This means that a human would need to use both actions to move towards the horse, then another action the next round to re-mount the horse.
The last horse, you can only get from those Buck or Two stores found in Canada. They are 25 cents each and make good objects to add atmosphere to the game. They are kind of cheaply made, not being as high of quality as the Horse Toob ones.
I decided to call these brown horses Choclairs, (after the now defunct chocolate bar which was one of my favorites. Choclairs)
I have no idea what the abilities or special features of this horse would be, so I'm gonna throw it out there for any suggestions.
And as a nod to the game of Chess, which I love, I want it to be so if these horses attack in the Knight pattern found in Chess, they can knock a player prone into the next square and then trample him.
Anyways, hope I am not breaking the game too bad with these horses. D:
Summer-Knight925
First Post
you really dont need horses, at all
theyre fun and all, but only when the PCs want to use them, ive seen it to many times where someone's horse gets killed and it makes everyone else's horses pointless
however, if you DM monsters using horses, this can be fun
what you can do is have the L shape chess attack as for the "area of attack" the rider has (since the weapon is on one side after all)
just a thought, but it would limit mounted battles and make it harder on you
that, and from past experiences (worth about 5000 xp) horses attract griffons, which attract manticores which, as we all know, attract mind flayers, and where mind flayers go, all (but white) dragons no there is treasure, and that means dragons, and dragons are meant to be in dungeons hence the name, dungeons AND dragons, not dungeons OR dragons
theyre fun and all, but only when the PCs want to use them, ive seen it to many times where someone's horse gets killed and it makes everyone else's horses pointless
however, if you DM monsters using horses, this can be fun
what you can do is have the L shape chess attack as for the "area of attack" the rider has (since the weapon is on one side after all)
just a thought, but it would limit mounted battles and make it harder on you
that, and from past experiences (worth about 5000 xp) horses attract griffons, which attract manticores which, as we all know, attract mind flayers, and where mind flayers go, all (but white) dragons no there is treasure, and that means dragons, and dragons are meant to be in dungeons hence the name, dungeons AND dragons, not dungeons OR dragons
