Dungeons and Dragons Megathread

But yeah, I'll probably switch to Fighter with a few possible levels into Ranger.
Just a heads up, PF2E does multiclassing by taking the second class as an archetype, so rather than taking a couple of levels as ranger, it would be spending a couple feats on the Ranger archetype. First one would give you a free skill and the Hunter's Prey ability. Second one would net you a ranger feat (like Quick Draw).
 
Hey, sorry to bother you guys, but I have a question. I want to use undead from 3.5's Libris Mortis in a 5E Quest, but I'm not sure how much conversion of stats I'd need to do. Is there an easy rule of thumb to convert the numbers?
 
Hey, sorry to bother you guys, but I have a question. I want to use undead from 3.5's Libris Mortis in a 5E Quest, but I'm not sure how much conversion of stats I'd need to do. Is there an easy rule of thumb to convert the numbers?
Kind of?

The DMG has a table that gives basic ranges of AC, Damage, Saves, et cetera by CR. I'd recommend taking an afternoon.
 
Hey, sorry to bother you guys, but I have a question. I want to use undead from 3.5's Libris Mortis in a 5E Quest, but I'm not sure how much conversion of stats I'd need to do. Is there an easy rule of thumb to convert the numbers?
It's also always a good idea to look on the internet to see if anybody has already done the work. It looks like the answer is partially yes: Libris Mortis 5e - Bestiary by

Wizards also published a guide on how to convert 3.5 monsters to 5e: https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/DnD_Conversions_1.0.pdf
You need the fourth page.
 
So a question, what do you do when you think your DM is being an idiot (though well intentioned) but don't want to be too confrontational about it?

It's a thing about death saving throws where he has someone *else* roll for you and keep the result hidden from everyone but him. The idea apparently is to raise suspense but it just makes me feel frustrated whenever it happens 'cause I want to *know* whether I'm going to die. Not like I can effect it either way at that point and it slows down the game when it happens.

In general my DM is one of those too clever by half ones. He wants to try things and make it interesting but often what happens is that we get a ton of lore or a puzzle or something where it just doesn't click or work. I like him, I like the campaign on the whole but dear god, sometimes I just want it to be straightforward when we're doing anything. I want to kill the monster, not fight it, find out it's an obscure polish folklore monster, find the weakness, get the actual thing, then go into a fight where only one or two of us have the capability to meaningfully harm it.

I get what he's trying for, just...it feels like more and more it's like getting stuck in a rambling novel/film full of interesting ideas that just don't work in practice.
 
Flag him down on the spot and tell him we're going to talk about this after the game's done for the day. If he gets upset when I bring it up later because I'm challenging his authority or whatever, I leave, forget dealing with GM=God power tripping.
 
Sometimes, there's a need to be confrontation on shit like this. If you're not having fun, you're not having fun.

But before you do, ask the other players if they think that he could tone it down or just not do it. Or just get their opinion on this so you can either come together and tell him to tone it down or not do it or just leave the group peacefully.
 
So on break for the session. DM's been a ton better. Still a bit slow but honestly when we do more RP heavy stuff it's really good. Talking to him 'bout things later but it seems like he's already planning to tone down a lot of the stuff. Yay.

Also my one off comment from three sessions ago has been canonized. 'The reflections of dreams' is now a smutty romance novel that always pops up wherever books are stored and mortally embarrasses my character (to my joy).

It's like your bad fanfiction got published except it was your first good fic and oh god why did you write about that back in the day?!
 
So on break for the session. DM's been a ton better. Still a bit slow but honestly when we do more RP heavy stuff it's really good. Talking to him 'bout things later but it seems like he's already planning to tone down a lot of the stuff. Yay.

Also my one off comment from three sessions ago has been canonized. 'The reflections of dreams' is now a smutty romance novel that always pops up wherever books are stored and mortally embarrasses my character (to my joy).

It's like your bad fanfiction got published except it was your first good fic and oh god why did you write about that back in the day?!

This is an extremly amusing anecdote, and makes me wonder: is there any kind of thread on these forums for RPG stories like this? I love -love- hearing these kind of anecdotes, and campaign journals, so I'm wondering if there's any kind of a collection of them on the forum...
 
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Memorable Moments In Your Tabletop Games Megathread - Discussion

This is a thread to share stories about events you found especially memorable in any of the table top games you've played over the years. Big, small, funny or serious, it doesn't matter so long as it's stuck with you throughout your time gaming. I'll start off with one story I found especially...
 
So a question, what do you do when you think your DM is being an idiot (though well intentioned) but don't want to be too confrontational about it?

It's a thing about death saving throws where he has someone *else* roll for you and keep the result hidden from everyone but him. The idea apparently is to raise suspense but it just makes me feel frustrated whenever it happens 'cause I want to *know* whether I'm going to die. Not like I can effect it either way at that point and it slows down the game when it happens.

In general my DM is one of those too clever by half ones. He wants to try things and make it interesting but often what happens is that we get a ton of lore or a puzzle or something where it just doesn't click or work. I like him, I like the campaign on the whole but dear god, sometimes I just want it to be straightforward when we're doing anything. I want to kill the monster, not fight it, find out it's an obscure polish folklore monster, find the weakness, get the actual thing, then go into a fight where only one or two of us have the capability to meaningfully harm it.

I get what he's trying for, just...it feels like more and more it's like getting stuck in a rambling novel/film full of interesting ideas that just don't work in practice.
Pull them aside after the game and have a Frank one on one discussion in private
 
[5e]

Nanomachine Swarm
Medium swarm of tiny constructs, unaligned
Armor Class 14 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 22 (5d8)
Speed: 20 ft. fly
Ability Score
STR: 3 (-4)
DEX: 16 (+3)
CON: 10 (+0)
INT: 3 (-4)
WIS: 7 (-2)
CHA: 1 (-5)
Damage Immunity: Poison, Psychic
Damage Resistance: Nonmagical Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing
Damage Vulnerabilities: Lightning, Thunder
Condition Immunities: Charmed, Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained, Stunned
Senses Blindsight 10 Ft., passive Perception 8
Challenge 1 (200 XP)
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening that is not magically sealed. it cannot regain hitpoints or have temporary hitpoints.
Invisibility. The nanomachine swarm is invisible.
Possess. If a creature dies to the nanomachine swarm, they may possess its corpse, creating a Nanomachine Zombie. If the Nanomachine Zombie is not killed with Lightning or Thunder damage, they escape.
Actions
  • Drill (swarm has more than half HP). Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm's space. Hit: 10 (4d4) piercing damage.
  • Drill (swarm has half HP or less). Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm's space. Hit: 5 (2d4) piercing damage.






Nanomachine Zombie Template
The creature gains the following traits:
Type: Undead
-6 Intelligence, -6 Charisma
Damage Immunities: Poison, Psychic
Damage Vulnerabilities: Lightning, Thunder
Condition Immunities: Charmed, Frightened, Poisoned
Regeneration: At the end of a turn, regains 3 Hitpoints. Does not heal damage caused Thunder and Lightning damage.
 
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[5e]

I hope this isn't too silly:

Molefolk
+2 Constitution, +1 Wisdom
Size: Small (Stand Between 3-4 feet)
Speed: 25 feet
Languages: Molespeak (Variant of Common), Dwarf
Digging Claws: When unarmed and not restrained, you may make two Strength-based 1d4 slashing attacks as a regular action and burrow through 5 feet of dirt as a movement action.
Poor Eyesight: Has disadvantage on ranged attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Tremorsense: 60 feet
 
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[5e]

I hope this isn't too silly:

Molefolk
+2 Strength, +1 Wisdom
Size: Small (Stand Between 3-4 feet)
Speed: 25 feet, 5 feet tunnel
Languages: Molespeak (Variant of Common), Dwarf
Darkvision: 60 feet
Digging Claws: When unarmed and not restrained, you may make a Strength-based 1d4 slashing attack and burrow through 5 feet of dirt as a movement action.
Poor Eyesight: Has disadvantage on ranged attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Sunlight Sensitivity: While in sunlight, you have disadvantage on all Attack rolls.
Tremorsense: 60 feet
If you're giving them tremorsense, they don't really need the dark sight. Also, I think you mean that they have a 5 feet burrow speed.
 
If you're giving them tremorsense, they don't really need the dark sight. Also, I think you mean that they have a 5 feet burrow speed.
Why wouldn't they need dark sight? Flying creatures are a thing.

Edited. Also, do you think they're OP?
In exchange for tremorsense and what amounts to dual-wielding daggers, you take a major hit to all ranged attack rolls and many Perception rolls, and also have Sunlight Sensitivity.
I can see how they might be a problem in specific campaigns due to very niche cases, but I don't see why you have two crippling effects on them.
 
The thing is that this is what descriptive mechanics are for, you dense fuck. For example, first line of Enervation out of the SRD:

The bolded section is a portion of the "how" for the mechanical effect. Almost nothing in D&D has no flavor text, it's overwhelmingly at least slightly descriptive. The justification for doing the effects of Enervate, in universe, is quite literally "I'm a Wizard casting a spell", which involves incantations and physical motions. The details of how that works are all over the place, because spell slots as they are in-game really don't work in narratives and the underlying metaphysics isn't really in the ballpark of the great majority of writers, but on the level you described, it's sufficient.

The point I'm trying to make is that there exists a how within the described game-setting combinations. What you are suggesting is answered in-game, on a meaningful level, and as such is not necessary to roleplay. Because licensed products exist, because setting-specific source books exist, because game-book fluff as a whole exists. If you want to roleplay in Star Wars, there's multiple licensed TTRPG systems for it that handle the great bulk of how you resolve the challenges, with all the fluff work being "you're playing a game in Star Wars", and as such what you are mentioning is completely beside the point of the damn product. As it is for White Wolf products, which also merge the mechanics and fluff to a considerable degree.

The entire point of TTRPGs, as a full industry, GURPS included, is offloading these sorts of questions onto a pre-defined rulebook to some extent. Inverting the questions, going from "how are you casting Fireball" to "what does casting Fireball do", pulls out the underlying thing you seem unable to understand. That TTRPGs are a labor-saving device for roleplaying, giving rules to structure all sorts of things. Which very much can extend to what you insist is a necessary skill for roleplayers, that of the "how" for mechanical effect. White Wolf products, licensed products of all stripes, D&D to varying degrees based on which mechanics you're using and what edition you're playing, a great deal of the TTRPG market is descriptive to the point where what you're calling a vital skill is entirely beside the point of the product.

The "How" isn't a vital question, because you have a book of rules that is capable of offering the answer right alongside the rules themselves. Being able to come up with the in-universe "how" is not a vital skill, because most systems pre-answer it, for their particular setting assumptions, to a sufficient degree as to be able to focus on what to do with those abilities, which is what is the actual role playing. You, however, have a visceral hatred of a major aspect of the system you're playing with (the default spellcasting), and keep using it for settings it doesn't have mechanics for (science fiction, high-Wuxia, various other such things that D&D doesn't describe at all). So the way you play means you're left with a great many square pegs for round holes, and are left with needing to do a great deal of fluff work because you keep going into things that don't have a presence in the system you're working with.

Even if it's just "martial mastery can be great, too", D&D is not a system built for that, and rather than even do so much as whitelist homebrew Disciplines (you mentioned not taking home brew ToB stuff when you were listing off alternate magic systems), you practically throw out a third of the rule books to have players use any mechanic for any character concept, making for a greater amount of storytelling and DM legwork in the process by making the worldbuilding need to cover the basic mechanics that the product is specifically intended to be about covering.

And some people do not work with needing to come up with the fluff. Roleplay and worldbuilding, which is what writing up fluff for mechanics is, are separate skill sets, and your position is that you're bad at the former if you don't like the latter.

o_O

Roleplay is worldbuilding. You're building a characterization of your character, and their history in and links to other things in the word, which means by definition you are creating details about the world.

if you are incapable of worldbuilding, you'd incapable of roleplaying anyone but "you, except maybe with better stats."

The vast majority of D&D games use homebrew settings or variations, and the players should shoulder part of the work of worldbuilding if they can.

that's been my entire argument from the beginning. There's already a too-large burden on the DM to start with. Giving the DM more work is asshattery.

players should be stunting. Players should be creatively adding detail to the game. Otherwise you may as well be playing a cRPG.

everything I said in that whole discussion was about reducing load on the DM. Learning alt magic (even multiple systems of alt magic) is MUCH less work that fixing the complete mess that is spellcasting.

DMing is work! Hard work. (Usually) Unpaid hard work. Players who want the DM to do the player's work as well as the DM's work are bad people, full stop.
 
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