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[ToA] Heat & Heavy (armor)
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7234786" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>Here's my evaluation of the Tomb of Annihilation mechanisms.</p><p></p><p>Trackfinding. Making a navigation check per day is fine. In fact, it's the point of a hex crawl. I am not sure I like how the DM makes the roll, though. I would have wanted to emphasize the boardgame "reveal the tile" aspect and shift the action to the players.</p><p></p><p>Grade <strong>B</strong></p><p></p><p>Heat and water. Sorry, but the dehydration rule is a lot of words that amount to... diddley squat. Bring along a single caster of Create Food and Water (or Purify Food and Drink), and suddenly there are no Con saves anymore. Pathetic. All the rule does is focus on exactly how much water the party has, which is incredibly boring (much like counting beans, arrows and such).</p><p></p><p>Also, even if we changed the mechanism to actually impact a reasonable party, there would still be all those bloody checks! For an adventure stretching over many months, that's literally hundreds of rolls. All just to say "okay so Bob has two levels of Exhaustion, we stop travelling until he's fit again". It's incredibly fiddly. </p><p></p><p>A much streamlined version that I could stand behind would read something like this:</p><p>"A character wearing heavy armor or clothing operates at a minimum of one level of exhaustion. As long as the character wears heavy armor or clothing, this last level of exhaustion cannot be removed, even with Greater Restoration magic".</p><p></p><p>See the difference?</p><p></p><p>Not only is this version much faster and less fiddly, it also shuts down mucking about with equipment. It makes things much simpler. Lose the heavy armor or go find a magical cure (such as a magic item that gives you Endure Elements). No water management necessary or useful.</p><p></p><p>Grade (original) <strong>D</strong></p><p>My version <strong>A</strong></p><p></p><p>Disease.</p><p></p><p>Let me cut to the chase - nobody thinks it fun to make multiple disease checks that are just 5 points of Lay on Hands away from being cured. When you ask a player to make a check, better make it important.</p><p></p><p>Mad Monkey Fever: as an obstacle or encounter, much like patches of Green Slime or whatever, this is fine. </p><p></p><p>Shivering Sickness: since you can simply coat yourself in the sludge that makes you immune, a very minor setting detail. Okay. Otherwise, this is just Filth Fever all over again.</p><p></p><p>Throat leeches. Sigh.</p><p></p><p>As a continent-spanning disease, that actually impacts Dungeon & Dragon heroes, there's very little here to be excited about.</p><p></p><p>I'm inclined to just describe this happening to the poor and downtrodden and leave it at that, instead of forcing a Cure Disease tax on the spellcasters.</p><p></p><p>Grade <strong>C</strong></p><p></p><p>Instead I think I'll focus on the really interesting "disease" that actually impacts the heroes - the wasting disease that can't be cured except by being an adventurer! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>But that's a topic for another post...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 7234786, member: 12731"] Here's my evaluation of the Tomb of Annihilation mechanisms. Trackfinding. Making a navigation check per day is fine. In fact, it's the point of a hex crawl. I am not sure I like how the DM makes the roll, though. I would have wanted to emphasize the boardgame "reveal the tile" aspect and shift the action to the players. Grade [B]B[/B] Heat and water. Sorry, but the dehydration rule is a lot of words that amount to... diddley squat. Bring along a single caster of Create Food and Water (or Purify Food and Drink), and suddenly there are no Con saves anymore. Pathetic. All the rule does is focus on exactly how much water the party has, which is incredibly boring (much like counting beans, arrows and such). Also, even if we changed the mechanism to actually impact a reasonable party, there would still be all those bloody checks! For an adventure stretching over many months, that's literally hundreds of rolls. All just to say "okay so Bob has two levels of Exhaustion, we stop travelling until he's fit again". It's incredibly fiddly. A much streamlined version that I could stand behind would read something like this: "A character wearing heavy armor or clothing operates at a minimum of one level of exhaustion. As long as the character wears heavy armor or clothing, this last level of exhaustion cannot be removed, even with Greater Restoration magic". See the difference? Not only is this version much faster and less fiddly, it also shuts down mucking about with equipment. It makes things much simpler. Lose the heavy armor or go find a magical cure (such as a magic item that gives you Endure Elements). No water management necessary or useful. Grade (original) [B]D[/B] My version [B]A[/B] Disease. Let me cut to the chase - nobody thinks it fun to make multiple disease checks that are just 5 points of Lay on Hands away from being cured. When you ask a player to make a check, better make it important. Mad Monkey Fever: as an obstacle or encounter, much like patches of Green Slime or whatever, this is fine. Shivering Sickness: since you can simply coat yourself in the sludge that makes you immune, a very minor setting detail. Okay. Otherwise, this is just Filth Fever all over again. Throat leeches. Sigh. As a continent-spanning disease, that actually impacts Dungeon & Dragon heroes, there's very little here to be excited about. I'm inclined to just describe this happening to the poor and downtrodden and leave it at that, instead of forcing a Cure Disease tax on the spellcasters. Grade [B]C[/B] Instead I think I'll focus on the really interesting "disease" that actually impacts the heroes - the wasting disease that can't be cured except by being an adventurer! :) But that's a topic for another post... [/QUOTE]
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