No Longer an Interest Check - 5E Rise of Tiamat + Corebooks PBP - OOC

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[jmucchiello]

Actually, changing the rest period hurts the fighters just as much as the spell casters. I'm playing a barbarian. Should I rage this combat? If a long rest is a week, it might never seem like the right time to rage.

 

[tglassy]

That’s the point. It makes the “long rest resources” mean more, so they don’t get used every. Single. Fight.

And it affects Barbarians more, but Fighters and Rogues get the vast majority of they abilities as at will abilities. Fighters get a long rest heal, and a long rest action surge, but that's really it for a long time. I don't think Rogues get any resources, except for Arcane Tricksters.

This would make it so that Long Rest dependent classes, who are usually the powerhouses, have to be more careful. Cantrips become much more potent. Rituals as well. Short rest abilities get used much more frequently.

But any individual spell is more of a game changer.

Also, adding in Encumbrance rules, and the need to keep track of rations and the like, would make magic even more useful, especially spells that don't get much use. Create Food and Water, for example. Goodberry becomes a staple diet on long journeys. The Outlander's ability to forage for food becomes invaluable.

It's more work for everyone, but it does change the game, and rebalances all the spells. Magic becomes much more rare and valuable. Castors would think less about dumping things like Strength and whatnot, because they may not have spells to back them up as often.

 

[jmucchiello]

I can't imagine playing a WotC module using that variant when it is not designed with that variant in mind.

 

[gargoyleking]

Just curious, is there room for another player at this point?

 

[jmucchiello]

The GM said something about people being in reserve to someone else who asked, I think.

 

[billd91]

OK, adding the background (NOT based specifically around tragedy):

Robyn Two-Penny
Male Half-Elf Cleric 6
Medium humanoid, chaotic good
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Armor Class 18 (breastplate, shield)
Hit Points 45 (6d8+12)
Speed 30 ft.
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STR 12 (+1), DEX 16 (+3), CON 14 (+2), INT 12 (+1), WIS 18 (+4), CHA 16 (+3)
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Feats War Caster
Saving Throws Wis +7, Cha +6
Skills Deception +6, Insight +7, Medicine +7, Perception +7, Persuasion +6, Sleight of Hand +6
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Common, Dwarvish, Elvish

Actions
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Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 80 ft./320 ft., one target.
Hit: 1d8+3 piercing damage.

Mace. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 1d6+1 bludgeoning damage.

Unarmed Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature.
Hit: 2 bludgeoning damage.
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Background: Charlatan

It seemed so easy at the time.
Robyn learned his forgery trade from the Old Man. The Old Man forged documents and shaved coins for profit and it was OK. But Robyn always had a soft spot for a sad story. Once the Old Man was gone, Robyn turned his skills to helping people. Forging contracts to divert money to poor people, forging warrants for crooked tax collectors, manumission papers for a family of slaves fleeing servitude in Calimshan - whatever he could do to help people. Fees negotiable, often taken in trade.
Some projects could be a little more dangerous, requiring Robyn or his customers to not stick around - particularly documents regarding doweries and arranged marriages. Lots of star-crossed lovers want to flee arranged marriages, but their parents aren’t so keen on it. One dark night, the parents of a young couple were particularly tenacious - the willfulness of their wayward kids too insulting to bear. Wounded and desperate with a storm starting to blow, Robyn led the way when he saw a shaft of improbable moonlight. He followed it, the young couple in tow, and it served as a beacon leading them to safety and a free life. Robyn recognized divine influence when he saw it and has since dedicated more of his life to helping those in need - particularly the sick, the hurt, and the desperate - in Selune’s name.


Equipment breastplate, Light Crossbow, Mace, shield, 2 blocks of incense, alms box, backpack, blanket, candle (10), censer, disguise kit, forgery kit, healer's kit, holy symbol (amulet), potion of healing (3), pouch, rations (2), tinderbox, vestments, waterskin, 207 gp, 5 sp

 

[Envisioner]

You know, if Envisioner wanted to depower the dominance of spells, without nerfing the spells themselves, we could always play with the optional Gritty Realism rules for resting. That makes a short rest into 8 hours and a long rest into 7 days. One short rest a day, and we can only long rest when we have a week of safety. Then, Leomund’s tiny hut is still useful, but not as useful. Same with all the other spells. Rituals become very important, and full castors will be very hesitant to use their spell slots.

Yeah, we're definitely not doing that, for a myriad of reasons, some of which have already been stated.

Ultimately this issue is something that isn't going to be solved in any straightforward way; the writers of the game just don't expect players to all be the kinds of expert problem solvers who inevitably rise to the top of a community over time. Your scenario about becoming a pack of sharks is clearly a highly advanced, thought-through approach to the problem, and it make some sense to say that a career adventurer shouldn't be totally blindsided by everything that happens, but maybe it also doesn't make sense for him to be quite this on-top of every situation all the time (if nothing else, being in such a state of hypervigilance has to be physically and mentally exhausting). More sophisticated rules for things like detection and surprise would help, but this is 5E; "sophisticated rules" aren't really the direction they went with this version of the books.

I'm okay with you doing some of this kind of thing. I like creativity when solving a problem, but when you such an extreme and prevent problems from ever forming, then you're effectively making yourself the hypercompetent star of a TV show about a person who never faces any danger, never experiences any real drama, and is ultimately pretty boring to watch. At which point your show gets canceled.

I'm beginning to wonder if, instead of having you as a PC, I should perhaps have you as a co-GM who helps me optimize these encounters, so that they're as dangerous as they really should be, given that the scenario involves extremely intelligent arch-villains with plans for global domination. I definitely don't want this to be a case of "four random joes stumble upon a fiendish plot, which they must sabotage using nothing more than common kitchen appliances"; that's a valid storytelling approach for someone like Simon Pegg, to be sure, but it's neither how the Forgotten Realms rolls nor how I do.

 

[Envisioner]

Will need to add more equipment (only thing I need is a medicine kit; but you mentioned one uncommon magic item?).

I revised my plan on that; you won't have it at the start, but will be gaining it fairly early in play, so don't worry about picking one out right yet.

Please let me know if/when to contribute to IC thread.

I'm trying to figure out whose characters are fully finalized and which ones are still under revision.

 

[lowkey13]

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