Dungeons & Dragons Thread

[Lying Cat]

On 22/12/2020 at 00:20, phresh said:

The only depressing thing about all of this is that it's taken the two groups i'm playing with until our late 30's to discover it!

 

Honestly, it might well be better this way if you manage to sidestep all the "why can't I be a Katana-Vampire, I found this homebrew and it's clearly balanced?" questions, and the endless trips (or attempted trips) to every brothel in the game world, where the GM attempts to force exciting RP opportunities on either a player of the sex they're attracted too IRL or failing that, the closest player who looks uncomfortable with the whole thing.

[phresh]

A quick perusal of D&D horror stories on Reddit makes that abundantly clear! I think the most difficult thing coming to this a bit older is getting players to come up with more creative solutions, but that’s a process I feel.

[Lying Cat]

29 minutes ago, phresh said:

I think the most difficult thing coming to this a bit older is getting players to come up with more creative solutions, but that’s a process I feel.

 

The fact that your players are coming up with solutions is amazing, though - remember that the game grinding a halt doesn't mean a good time for anyone unless you're a just a dickhead adversarial GM. I often find that the players getting creative just ends up with quality (or alternatively "quality") content just writing itself.

 

I'm thinking about running a forum one shot, which is going to hinge on players getting "creative" as I (like much of the country) am in Tier 4, and it would be nice to do something.

[Seamonster]

OK, really really basic question:

 

No one has really been using magic in our campaign... up until now. And as a result I'm reading the PHB about actions and spells and I'm getting mildly confused.

 

If a spell has a casting time of '1 bonus action' then that indicates how long it takes to cast the spell, but does it mean that someone who has learnt the spell automatically gets a bonus action on every combat turn with which to cast the spell?

 

 

 

[Graham S]

34 minutes ago, Seamonster said:

OK, really really basic question:

 

No one has really been using magic in our campaign... up until now. And as a result I'm reading the PHB about actions and spells and I'm getting mildly confused.

 

If a spell has a casting time of '1 bonus action' then that indicates how long it takes to cast the spell, but does it mean that someone who has learnt the spell automatically gets a bonus action on every combat turn with which to cast the spell?

 

 

 

 

Basically yes.

 

The rules about bonus actions are as follows:

 

Quote

Bonus Actions

Various class features, spells, and other abilities let you take an additional action on your turn called a bonus action. The Cunning Action feature, for example, allows a rogue to take a bonus action. You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or other feature of the game states that you can do something as a bonus action. You otherwise don't have a bonus action to take.

You can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.

You choose when to take a bonus action during your turn, unless the bonus action's timing is specified, and anything that deprives you of your ability to take actions also prevents you from taking a bonus action.

 

So yes, you do get one bonus action on your turn, but only if you have something that lets you make a bonus action, otherwise you don't have one. A common one available to most classes would be

 

Quote

Two-Weapon Fighting

When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you're holding in the other hand. You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.

 

One thing to watch out for with bonus action spells is that their are limitations on casting two spells in the same turn:

 

Quote

Bonus Action

A spell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast the spell, provided that you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell during the same turn, except for a cantrip with a casting time of 1 action.

 

[Seamonster]

Thanks @Graham S!

 

For me, I just think the spell listings combined with the line from the PHB you quoted above (‘You can take a bonus action only when a special ability, spell, or other feature of the game states that you can do something as a bonus action’) don’t quite mesh and cause the confusion, for a hardened pedant such as myself. Most spells with casting time of ‘1 Bonus Action’ don’t explicitly state that you can perform them as a bonus action. Whereas Cunning Action and Two-Weapon Fighting do. Conversely, a spell with a casting time of ‘1 action’ doesn’t grant me an action, but a spell with a casting time of ‘1 Bonus Action’ does grant me a bonus action...

 

I get it now, but there’s something about the above that’s not quite consistent enough.

 

[Graham S]

Yes, I think players find the action / ready an action / bonus action / reaction / free object interaction all a bit complicated and you can imagine this being simplified in a new edition. I tend to help players through it, and as most low level PCs don’t have features that allow bonus actions most of the time it doesn’t come up until they’re ready for it. 

[Captain Kelsten]

My character died tonight. Like, dead dead. 
 

I’m playing Pathfinder with some friends. Prior to lockdown it was once a month face to face but since about April it’s been fortnightly. We’re playing the Giantslayer campaign and have been playing about two years now I reckon. I’m playing an Alchemist, I’m level eight now. I’m focusing on mutagen, turning into a big beastly Mr Hyde type and am the party tank, more or less. I’ve got 67 max health and 27 AC buffed. 
 

Tonight we took on a boss of a chapter, a big giant who had two dire bears and two stone giants. My party took out everything but the boss. We’d hurt him but he healed for 250hp, basically negating all the damage we’d done. I’ve taken one hit and am at 55 HP. 
 

I get across to him and he casts bane, then triple hits me. 62 damage, which puts me to negative 7, plus another 20 from bane, which puts me below my con level. That’s it. Character dead. 
 

No heroic death. No epic story moment. Just ‘sorry man, your character is dead’. Felt really ignoble and anticlimactic. 

 

Was told I can either try and wait to see if the rest of the party can res me in a couple of weeks (they’re not high enough level yet), or roll another character. 
 

Not really sure what to do. 
 

 

[Sardan]

20% off bundles at D&D Beyond and a new Player Bundle

 

https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/bundles?utm_source=ddb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=resolution21&utm_content=01_07_2021&utm_term=Special Offers

[Seamonster]

On 03/01/2021 at 00:49, Doctor Shark said:

My character died tonight. Like, dead dead. 
 

I’m playing Pathfinder with some friends. Prior to lockdown it was once a month face to face but since about April it’s been fortnightly. We’re playing the Giantslayer campaign and have been playing about two years now I reckon. I’m playing an Alchemist, I’m level eight now. I’m focusing on mutagen, turning into a big beastly Mr Hyde type and am the party tank, more or less. I’ve got 67 max health and 27 AC buffed. 
 

Tonight we took on a boss of a chapter, a big giant who had two dire bears and two stone giants. My party took out everything but the boss. We’d hurt him but he healed for 250hp, basically negating all the damage we’d done. I’ve taken one hit and am at 55 HP. 
 

I get across to him and he casts bane, then triple hits me. 62 damage, which puts me to negative 7, plus another 20 from bane, which puts me below my con level. That’s it. Character dead. 
 

No heroic death. No epic story moment. Just ‘sorry man, your character is dead’. Felt really ignoble and anticlimactic. 

 

Was told I can either try and wait to see if the rest of the party can res me in a couple of weeks (they’re not high enough level yet), or roll another character. 
 

Not really sure what to do. 
 

 

That seems.... unreasonably harsh. 

[phresh]

Started using onenote for the last few sessions and that has been quite helpful, certainly just in terms of having easy access to my notes. In what I imagine was no small task someone has also converted all of the SRD resources into a one note notebook (available here http://www.cryrid.com/digitaldnd/). It's nothing that can't be found online or in a rulebook, and it's obviously limited to the SRD contents, but it's so much quicker to search than any of those. Well worth a look if you're using onenote.

[bridger]

The next 5th Edition title has leaked. Apparently being announced tomorrow and releasing in March.

 

[Sardan]

Most of the speculation  I had seen was for an adventure anthology. 
 

is there a limited cover?

[bridger]

I guess we’ll find out later today. 

[bridger]

[Sardan]

That’s the first alternative cover I haven’t thought was loads better than the standard one. It doesn’t really fit with the other limited covers. 
 

I’ll still buy it though. 

[Sardan]

@IsaacWelcome!  

[MDY]

Matt Coleville, writer of the Strongholds and Followers book that was sucessfully Kickstarted a couple of years back has just published the first issue of his latest venture - Arcadia.. which is due to be an ongoing periodic digital D&D 5E magazine...

 

It's free for his Patreons and $7 per issue via his website for a download..

https://shop.mcdmproductions.com/products/arcadia-issue1

 

Each issue is presented as a PDF including a full several hour quest/side mission/one shot adventure complete with maps etc.., newly invented/playtested rules/subclasses/spells etc..  The first issue contains an adventure set in a wizard's workshop that has developed a mind of it's own, a new sorcerer class, a fully featured ruleset for mounted combat and a high level enemy creature complete with detailed lore to be an end-game boss for your own home campaign..

 

Early word is that the content is excellent and the accompanying text for DM's is much better at detailing implementation and suggesting ideas etc for it's use than the official WotC books are..

 

 

[bridger]

Ah I wondered what Arcadia was when I saw it in my YouTube recommendations but never got around to taking a look. 
 

I’ll definitely chuck $7 at the first issue and see how it is. I’ve had way more than that amount value from his YouTube videos. 

[Cyhwuhx]

On a slightly bizarre tangent, Polygon are promoting a module for you and your first-time-D&D-playing friends: Curse of mother-effing Strahd. 
 

https://www.polygon.com/2021/1/25/22240563/dungeons-dragons-best-campaign-beginners-curse-of-strahd

 

I can only understand this to be an infomercial, because that’s pretty much the worst thing you can recommend to a starting group imo. The thing is lethal both to play and to prep. Just wow...

[phresh]

One thing i'm struggling with (and this is with both groups) is running any sort of dungeon crawl (however small) where there are multiple encounters with low level creatures (think the piles of goblins in Cragmaw Castle). I understand the concept of wearing down the party but it's a real struggle to make the combat interesting. Even the pile of Goblins in the kitchen/dining area were reasonably easy to dispatch and it was only when getting to some of the Hobgoblins that they took a few hits. How do people generally approach these sorts of combat encounter as part of a crawl?

 

On the flipside the group have for some reason decided to take a short rest in Cragmaw Castle despite a couple of enemies escaping . So i'm going to do one (or both) of the following;

 

1) Have the hobgoblins lure the Owlbear to where the having the rest and barge through the door

2) Have the doppelganger pretend to be Gundren and infiltrate the group

[Kzo]

22 minutes ago, phresh said:

One thing i'm struggling with (and this is with both groups) is running any sort of dungeon crawl (however small) where there are multiple encounters with low level creatures (think the piles of goblins in Cragmaw Castle). I understand the concept of wearing down the party but it's a real struggle to make the combat interesting. Even the pile of Goblins in the kitchen/dining area were reasonably easy to dispatch and it was only when getting to some of the Hobgoblins that they took a few hits. How do people generally approach these sorts of combat encounter as part of a crawl?

 

On the flipside the group have for some reason decided to take a short rest in Cragmaw Castle despite a couple of enemies escaping . So i'm going to do one (or both) of the following;

 

1) Have the hobgoblins lure the Owlbear to where the having the rest and barge through the door

2) Have the doppelganger pretend to be Gundren and infiltrate the group

 

Generally a lot of the LMoP encounters don't challenge my PCs, as written. I buff them up a bit, change out monsters or add additional ones and also try to use some tactics if applicable (the book/blog The Monsters Know What They're Doing is a great resource for this).

 

LMoP Cragmaw Spoilers

Spoiler

E.g. for the kitchen fight, I gave the cook an extra ability or two. He could fling goblin soup from his cauldron for AoE damage and a bonus action to command one of his minions. Some of the goblins flipped tables over for cover and shot at the party from behind them, using their bonus action hide. Another couple skirted the meat shields with their bonus action disengage to attack the squishies. The goblins tried to run once the cook went down and the racket attracted a couple of hobgoblins. I had one of them hold the door, just using dodge, while the other ran to alert King Grol (party managed to stop him though was successful in adding some tension/urgency).

 

Goblin fights are easier to make interesting than say, a horde of skeletons, because I can RP throughout the fight and give them some character and fun voice lines. More difficult with beasts or automaton style monsters.

 

[Kzo]

LMoP final dungeon spoilers

 

Spoiler

So my PCs have shoved a Flameskull into their Bag of Holding...

 

Can it get out or does someone have to open the bag?

 

[Cyhwuhx]

3 minutes ago, Kzo said:

LMoP final dungeon spoilers

 

  Hide contents

So my PCs have shoved a Flameskull into their Bag of Holding...

 

Can it get out or does someone have to open the bag?

 

Spoiler

"According to the item properties in the DMG, no, it can only be opened from the outside. Specifically, items inside require an action to be retrieved.

(To satisfy those who have asked: the word retrieve, as used here, is a transitive verb with an implied indirect object, usually the same as the subject. The direct and indirect objects of a transitive verb can very rarely, if ever, be the same in English. Therefore, no, something can't retrieve itself, because that doesn't make sense.)

However, YOUR bag of holding does not have to be the bag of holding presented in the book. If you say that it can happen in your campaign, then it can. Never let minor mechanical details get in the way of the story (being mindful of your players, of course)."

 

(I only know to paste this answer because I had to look it up myself this one two three times.)

[Clipper]

6 minutes ago, Kzo said:

LMoP final dungeon spoilers

 

  Hide contents

So my PCs have shoved a Flameskull into their Bag of Holding...

 

Can it get out or does someone have to open the bag?

 

Spoiler

Is it dead? I am assuming it is dead!

 

In which case no it can't escape. But as soon as the skull is removed it will reanimate (assuming more than 1 hr passed). Time passes as normal in the bag... so they might assume or INT check and think that time stops for it in the bag so they have 1hr once they take it out. I would have it inert int he bag not on fire so it is not obvious (no oxygen in bag so skull wouldnt flame)

 

Remember contents of bag of holding turned inside out empties it - so they are holding a ticking time bomb.

 

[Kzo]

Cheers! It's not dead (!) so I suppose it'll zoom out next time they open it (hoping for their sake that's before it gets its 3rd level spell back). I don't think this will be the last time they try this 

[Sardan]

Isn’t it undead?

[Clipper]

1 hour ago, Kzo said:

Cheers! It's not dead (!) so I suppose it'll zoom out next time they open it (hoping for their sake that's before it gets its 3rd level spell back). I don't think this will be the last time they try this 

ok according to RAW no it cant leave when they open it as the item inside has to be thought of/chosen when you reach into bag - if you look in open bag it looks empty. But as stated above your bag can have your rules.

 

God knows how they got it in there but in theory it is stuck until they reach in and grab it - or if someone turns bag inside out.

[Sardan]

Ideally you want them to forget about the thing in the bag and then engineer a reason for them to have to tip everything out of the bag - surprise! 

[phresh]

5 hours ago, Kzo said:

LMoP final dungeon spoilers

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So my PCs have shoved a Flameskull into their Bag of Holding...

 

Can it get out or does someone have to open the bag?

 

 

I think Dungeon Dudes did quite a good piece on the bag of holding, I can't remember it exactly, and it wasn't RAW, but think about it like a box with a lid, if you wanted to escape out of that in game then you'd allow some strength checks or something. Maybe they then have to wrap the bag in rope to stop anything escaping. A lot of the base rules for the bag seem to be geared towards inanimate objects rather then actual creatures. Also make sure it trashes anything and everything they already had in it.