Things your table should do, but doesn't do- The Fun v. Efficiency Thread

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Immortal Sun]

My table is more of a kitchen sink table.

I personally don't like to use pets because generally they either A: die easily and are thus a waste of energy, or B: take up too much time. I like "vanity" pets though, sure they can still die, but when I say my Swashbuckler has a parrot, it's the truth because I took Find Familiar via Magic Initiate. Or my crazy cat-lady druid always uses "summon animals" to summon housecats (which she used as a thrown weapon). But I'm not terribly interested in running anything more in-depth than that.

But, again, no, our group doesn't have such rules.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Oofta]

My table is more of a kitchen sink table.

I personally don't like to use pets because generally they either A: die easily and are thus a waste of energy, or B: take up too much time. I like "vanity" pets though, sure they can still die, but when I say my Swashbuckler has a parrot, it's the truth because I took Find Familiar via Magic Initiate. Or my crazy cat-lady druid always uses "summon animals" to summon housecats (which she used as a thrown weapon). But I'm not terribly interested in running anything more in-depth than that.

But, again, no, our group doesn't have such rules.

Just thinking that maybe your druid should look at something a little more efficient than throwing cats. After all they aren't very aerodynamic unless they want to be. So a mechanical device of some sort? A catapult perhaps?

 

[Istbor]

I feel like my table eschews planning. Does that count? It certainly makes the game... uh... faster, and we are still having fun. I wouldn't call it an understanding. I just don't expect my players to really come up with a coherent plan, or to have any kind of plan aside from:

Step one: Ask the thing if it is friendly.
Step two: Attack the thing when it either doesn't answer to our satisfaction or it can't answer in a language we can understand.
Step three: See how badly the thing kicks in our teeth.

 

[Kurotowa]

Hit Points as a measure of anything but Meat Points. It makes more sense and is more dramatic for the DM to narrate successful attacks as nicks, close shaves, and momentum shifts until the final blow lands true. But that takes so much more mental effort that everyone quickly slides back into simple "your arrow thuds into the bandit's shoulder" and "the orc's axe blow crashes into your side and sends blood flying" even if it's only a fraction of the target's total HP and everything goes away with a short rest and some healing surges.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Istbor]

I don't know about you, but to paraphrase Mr. Jagger-

My party can't get no satisfaction, My party can't get no satisfaction
'Cause we ask and we ask and we ask and we ask
We can't get no, we can't get no ...

When we're walkin' round the forest, and the gnome comes out of the bushes
He's tellin' me more and more about some useless information
It doesn't stop my agitation

We can't get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey
That's what we say
We can't get no satisfaction, we can't get no satisfaction
'Cause we ask and we ask and we ask and we ask
Then we kill the gnome, we kill the gnome
HEY HEY HEY!

It paints a familiar picture yes, however...

I would never feature a Gnome in a campaign I am running. I have some decency! *acts all affronted*

 

[Oofta]

Other than asking that everyone play dual rapier wielding gnomish paladins with pet owls, I only have a few limitations.

Pole-Arm Master + Sentinel feat combo. Uggh. Yeah, I know it's awesome. If you want to slow the game to a crawl.

Bonus action spells can only be cast with a cantrip. Yeah, I allow this because I have to correct people all the time. Kind of a silly rule anyway.

Those are the only rules things I can think of off the top of my head. A couple of things unrelated to actual rules ...

Shopping. Want to buy a new sword? You don't need to tell me about it. I have a limited magic-mart as well, just go up to the campaign web site and buy what you want. Same thing with selling.

Downtime activities explained during the session. Okay, I make an exception about this now and then but if you want to have your PC do something during their off-time it's fantastic. I'll do my best to reward you. But just post to the campaign web site, in most cases we don't need to discuss it in game.

Dice rolling: just roll them all at once. Need extra dice? I bought a couple of pounds o' dice a while back I'll hook you up with a color-coded sets. If you're going to cheat, rolling one die at a time won't stop you so go ahead and roll ahead of time too.

Averaging: related to dice rolling, if you can't do math in your head easily (it's okay) you can just use average damage. I'll even let you round up.

But seriously, having all PCs being the same super-awesome class/race/weapon combo is well worth it. Life is sooo much easier!