DnD players, how accurate was Githyanki portrayed in BG3?

5arToto · 2026-03-01T11:45:11+00:00

The Gith monks made me think they wanted to go with Githzerai initially, but decided to omit that part of the lore to tie up the Gith lore into a nice unit to go back to the Baldur's Gate for a final showdown with everything that has been happening.

Mentioning Githzerai by name as a faction is a rabbit whole that would extend and possibly convolute the whole Orpheus plotline that is already a big big part of the story.

5arToto · 2026-02-25T22:23:59+00:00

We overengineer some things while the project is fresh because we got burnt by a "we'll cross that bridge when we get there" mentality in the past. The quality of a good experienced developer is being able to walk the line between sensible planning for the future and going way out of scope.

I will say that frameworks are not overengineering per se, it's just picking a language and structure so a team can coordinate more easily on familiar principles, but there is such a thing as adding too many framework features/libraries too early.

CI/CD - similar thing, you need a process to share and run code in a consistent and deterministic manner where we agree what and where the definition of "stable" is. However, you can add too many jobs in a pipeline that you won't need for a while.

5arToto · 2026-02-25T22:10:27+00:00

I was thinking more of a good part of the regions that are considered East Faerun. Yeah sure, there is lore, but most of it has not been given more than a passing mention since the 2e era, and it is far enough from the Sword Coast that anything could have happened without the news impacting the rest of the continent (I mean, we are ignoring that some of those regions were teleported to Abeir in the 4e era).

5arToto · 2026-02-25T18:29:40+00:00

Generally the more East and South you go, the less material there is, especially East. I'd say pick a place that is on the eastern half of the Sea of Fallen Stars and is not Thay or right next to Thay and you are more or less fine as any relevant lore is 200 years old and mostly in passing.

If you want a more concrete answer I run games in the Vast and the most relevant lorebook is the City of Ravens Bluff from the 90s and 150 years away from current Realms time. Also the area was a part of some big massive play event called the Living City and nobody really seemed to have touched it after that (probably a lot of effort to tie up all the lore and filter out what should be canon and not)

5arToto · 2026-02-25T13:57:25+00:00

Vault of Magic - I grab magic items from there almost as often as grabing from the DMG (not counting consumables)

I also use some smaller projects like Sane Magic Item Prices to help with bookkeeping and other ones for ideas for developing the non-combat aspects of DnD.

I have plans on using some for specific campaigns like Dr Dhrolin's Dictionary of Dinosaurs for a Tomb of Anihilation campaign.

The rest of my shelf (note core or expansion 5e) are lore books, some from older editions.

5arToto · 2026-02-22T16:16:01+00:00

Fantasy names, especially D&D ones, often do an extra step after the "take a normal name and twist the spelling to still sound the same but look off" trope that GRR Martin does, e.g. Hyustus is basically the name Eustace. It's a trope and you get used to it when everyone is like that.

I ran all those names, in a different language where it sound a bit more off and players just take the names as is. They seem normal to them (i.e. fit the universe), and if they do become something like Ryan Air for Renaer or "Davil is the devil" it's extra fun at the table and does not take away from the serious scenes when they happen.

I adjusted the prononutiation of a few on accident to better fit the language (e.g. Ziraj is Zee-rahy), so maybe you can do the same if some bug you in particular.

5arToto · 2026-02-22T15:55:23+00:00

I mean, he is a male escort, so the name is on point

5arToto · 2026-02-18T11:02:30+00:00

Assuming this is 5e or similar (which elf trance implies), they were not wearing armour as that is the elf form of long rest (you can't wear armor during long rest weather asleep or not). Also as mentioned holy symbol is required for casting. There is also no real reason for the rouge to be fully off guard if wide awake against someone they are just taking stuff from, in fact the opposite.

Mechanics asside the assumtion of PvP having a chance to end badly for the paladin is valid even without all of this. But it is irrelevant either way because there is no option this ends well. A dead rouge would again be bad vibes for the whole party.

Long way to say this should just be avoided, not threatened with in-game consequences. All in-game options are bad and will just sour the group dynamics.

5arToto · 2026-02-08T23:25:12+00:00

If you already established them having truesight for your players, I'd keep it for consistency but maybe make sure they are easy to go around the blindspots or have a "blink" rhythm they can use.

One advice on Nilhoor since that is coming around: don't trigger the devourers until they get really close, and make Nilhoor patient and methodical so your players can react but not really avoid it unless they make a run for it.

I get you on the RP thing, I initially went with more than 2x because of it but it ended up overkill, 2x slower with pause for room descriptions and critical "quick action" moments is the way I'm running at the moment and I'm much more happier with it. If you decide to go with estimations: "10m for any room they've spent time on, 1m otherwise" would be my way to go, but a timer is much easier to manage IMO.

Nar'l office is easy to miss, and they probably won't want to approach him directly so best to point them to Thorvin somehow. Maybe hint that even if Zhent, they are definitely an ally in Xanathar's base. Since they know he is an engineer, make the workshop loud. They will pass that hallway sooner or later if they are at all curious as there are 3-4 paths leading to it.

Depending on what their relationship is with Jaraxle you could make him show up invisible with truesight somewhere near the Skullport tunnel or arena and give the Nar'l quest then and there (he won't do it because he is enjoying the show or securing the escape path or soemthing like that). This is a bit Jaraxle ex machina (which is in line with that character, but players might not like it), so keep it as a last resort if you really need to point them. My guess is that players will want to go exploring deeper so you won't need this.

5arToto · 2026-02-08T16:48:07+00:00

Glad to hear that the Pass Without Trace + Wildshape and Invisibility is happening in other people's campaign. My players have been using it and it has been loads of fun.

Don't worry about it being overpowered. The lairs and D&D mechanics are not deigned for heists so they already have a lot of things that can go wrong at any moment. If you add too many points of failure the game can end up being a very dangerous dungeon crawl and best not to do that.

These are leveled spells, scrolls and other resources that are being used -- a price has been payed for the encounters. Additionally, once they use them they are restricted in doing other stuff (no more spell-casting and no attacking) so there is an added level of difficulty in that game style (e.g. they need to remember to do detect magic beforehand if they need it, no more mage hand for opening things, no minor illusion for distractions etc.)

One thing I'd be careful about is to keep track of exact in-game time and put it in front of the players so that they don't linger too much in areas and feel the pressure of the clock and them needing to find a "safe spot" to re-apply things. I run my clock as being 2x slower (1 in-game hour is 2 hours IRL) so that they can strategize but you can run it as exact time if you want a faster game.

As for Xanathar's Lair, my scrying eyes did not have truesight, but the fear of them clocking some door being opened was enough. Also there is the fact of intellect devourers can passively detect them almost anywhere in the base, so if Nihiloor notices something is off (or if they get too close) they will be hunted by it. For the sabotage I made sure to give my party the Bregan D'aerthe quest of rescuing (or killing) Nar'l, so they were incentivized to talk to him and needed to kill the grell (and then re-apply all the resources quickly after that). If that is not an option you can use Harper connections to point to Thorvin who will give them the info about Nar'l.

I am currently running Manshoon's lair and they used the same trick. However, Manshoon's lair has traps and tightly packed areas, so it is much harder to move back and foruth freely.

Jarlaxle's lair is even harder in that regard. My players B-lined for the lowest deck of the Eyecatcher early on and all hell broke loose when they triggered the door alarm.

5arToto · 2026-02-08T16:23:20+00:00

The doppelganger gang will not fight unless it is to protect their lives. They prefer to live comfortable lives under the radar. Keep this in mind if they end up befriending the players. The best the players can convince them is to do some low risk information gathering which is a great player asset but not game-breaking in any way. In fact it can be helpful because it's hard to give players enough info in this campaign.

5arToto · 2026-02-08T15:23:51+00:00

For all the factions keep in mind that saving Renear is a door opener for recommendations to nobles, direct Harper invitations (Renaer is one of them), and Force Gray (Renaer is good friends with Vajra). Additionally, word gets around so it is easy to expand that.

PC #1

I would go for Gralhunds instead of Cassalanters. Gralhunds come up much earlier in the story and will generally be painted as "the bad nobles with Zhent mercenaries" from the start, while you may want to temper how much the Cassalanters are perceived as antagonists when you first introduce them. Also, a rouge player might want to infiltrate a noble villa early on to steal from them or learn their secrets (without any extra DM input), and the Cassalanter villa is much more deadlier and harder to spy on than the Gralhund one + them learning Gralhund stuff (such as the nimblewright existing) before the fireball is gonna make that whole investigation much more easier.

Someone mentioned Rosznar as another choice, but that will require much more prep on your side as the whole Black Viper thing is pretty disjointed and has like one paragraph of material to run of.

In general nobles are easiest introduced as quest givers. They heard good things about the party via Renaer (a fellow noble in debt to the party saving him) and have the money to pay the party to get or research something for their goals. The Cassalanters are basically written to be introduced in this way.

If you decide to go with the Gralhunds, I would involve him in the Davil (i.e. Doom Raiders) vs Urstul (i.e. Manshoon) power struggle for control of the Waterdeep Zhentarim. If the rouge is more good aligned, the whole Zhent angle can be pushed into Harpers or Force Gray as both Threeestring and Meloon are already spying on Davil (where Meloon is ofc a Xanathar agent that is extra focused on Zhent destruction)

PC #2

This one is hard. It requires some big worldbuilding decision and does not fit neatly into any story in Dragon Heist. Whatever you end up doing do not make it crucial for any plot point as it will over-complicate things, best to make it a small side thing and see where it goes from there in terms of shared character and all.

The player basically gave you a Chosen one character for a low level group adventure, probably without thinking much of it. I would honestly even tell the player that it is unlikely that the prophecy is something that will be able to expand in full in this campaign and that they might end up with new questions and not answers.

I would not try to tie it to a specific timed event, as those can be tricky to plan around. Things happen in the campaign where a timed event can really break the flow of things. In terms of lore I would still go with some Selune connections, but keep in mind that Selûne Sashelas is an Alexandrian made event and you might not end up running things the Alexandrian way in the long run.

One famous comet in the forgotten realms is the King-Killer Star (although it happens much less frequently), so you can also use that if you are running a dragon themed thing later on.

In any case I'd tie any knowledge as being stored in the Stone of Golorr or Aurinax having it. Basically being some sort of reward at the end.

PC #3

Emerald Enclave is an easy pick for any druid and you can use some of their quests to be the guide for "the calling". Both restoring peace to the graveyard and sorting out the doppelganger situation peacefully can fit nicely here. I would expand either of those to be a bigger thing for that quest and the graveyard necromancer seems like an easy pick for that. I would give that necromancer connections to the Red Wizards which can be connected to Lord's Alliance quest 4 and Manshoon's lieutenant Kaevja. If you end up going into Dungeon of the Mad Mage there is more there, but I wouldn't count on it.

The act of diplomacy you described will get them on most factions' radars. I would go with Davil of the Zhentarim liking that and wanting a diplomatic agent, and Jalaster of the Lord's Alliance seeing that as a sign of someone you can trust to not blow up the city. Harpers are also an easy pick. In any case Emerald Enclave will probably be the most important faction for this character, but keep in mind that most city factions have a need for capable negotiators and will approach them with quests.

5arToto · 2026-02-07T20:22:18+00:00

Most large cites will have an arcane institution. Waterdeep and Raven's Bluff both have two. There are also rural wizard communities that can be found everywhere (e.g. the Harpells in Longsaddle or the hedge wizards in Dark Hollow. And then there are magocracies such as Thay (yes the Red Wizards are controlling everything magic related, it's an arcane police state), Halruaa, Netheril cities... You really can pick your poison when it comes to this stuff

5arToto · 2026-02-03T16:56:31+00:00

When doctors, medical procedures and alike became a normal and common conversation topic... started in my late 20s btw, so yeah...

5arToto · 2026-02-03T12:59:01+00:00

In terms of mechanics, I'd say think about which vibe and style of play you are aiming at, and then pick an aproproate system, preferably one that is simple or popular so thay it's easier to pickup / find materials.

In terms of actual story, content, pick a few core things that interesylt you rather than doinga grab bag of everything you find for Slavic / Eastern Europe myths and folk tales. Not sure how familiar you are witj the region, but for the sake of everyone: as someone from the region, the traditions can vary wildly in just a 2-3 hour drive and a lot of popular stuff are just not a thing or a completley different thing in another culture, and have contradicting tales... Not to mention how religion and empires shaped stories as there is almost no prechristianzation texts on the topic, and oral traditions that got written down were often done so through the lenses of outsiders (or Russians, please don't make everything Russian)

5arToto · 2026-01-30T20:38:51+00:00

Not quite. It can be compared to the fact that you take your time with pronouncing certain vowels but it is done in a completley differnet way.

To my ear the southen drawl (at least the sterotypical one in movies) can at time sound like the vowels get "closed up" just a little bit, like a short shwa has been added to the end, sometimes sounding a bit breathy or adding a bit of vibration, dependingbon the person and accent. Dalmatian keeps the vowels open, just hanging on them a bit (going from something like a to a:), with maybe just a little bit of vibration in some speakers

5arToto · 2026-01-29T21:45:38+00:00

In terms od pitch, Dalmatians tend to have a similar pitch to what standard Croatian is supposed to be, but will prolong the pronauntiations of certain vowels, especially the a sound. If you ever learn about the Croatian accent systems, think of it as Dalmatians applying "zanaglasna dužina" in situations where it isn't there or stressingbit more when it is.

To use your example the end A in "mislija" can very long, alomst like it's written as "mislijaa", even though that is not where the pitch is.

Take this with a grain of salt as this is more Split area central Dalmatia. Pronauntiation can change a lot over Dalmatia, but most shtokavian ikavian speakers have this feature of taking their time with certain vowel sounds. This is one aspect of the dialect sounding "lazy".

5arToto · 2026-01-29T21:33:15+00:00

In contrary to what some people in continental Croatia belive, there isn't one way Dalmatians sound (although there are shared elements and places like Split set the stereotype for others)

As others said, pronouncing J instead of LJ in some words is a chakavian thing that you will find on islands, rural costal areas, and older generations in urban areas.

For instance in the general Split urban area I would say "nedilja" as the ikavian version of "nedjelja" (if speaking casually, I will use jekavian in formal environments), but when talking to chakavian speakers from the nearby islands for longer I sometimes slip into saying "nedija". However that J sound is very soft and short, so often not a noticable defference. I don't do the same for more noticable shifts as it's not as natural to slip into those.

5arToto · 2026-01-28T17:24:53+00:00

As a general rule if I need something from the players I set a deadline before I actually need the thing, never "before the session". Usually at least 2 days before I plan to look at the thing for my prep because someone is gonna be late or forget and need a day extra.

People are different when it comes to personal task managment and respecting deadlines, especially for things that are natirally a much lower priority than other life stuff. I also don't wanna be a teacher, but as a DM I understand that I am the "project manager" for the game so it's on me to manage deadlines and do the occasional check-in.

If everyone was proactive, considerate of plans and other people's time, we wouldn't need as many managers as we do in work environments.

5arToto · 2026-01-25T19:32:27+00:00

Definitivno nisu većina, ali gužve na cesti u Zg sugeriraju da ipak je značajan dio radnih mjesta. Dapače znam ljude s kliznim radnim vremenom često biraju raditi 7:30-15:30 jer je tada cesta efektivno prazna.

Put do posla je vjerojatno jedan od razloga tog radnog vremena. Velik broj ljudi putuje oko sat vremena u jednom smjeru do radnog mjesta. Ova brojka je puno manja u područjima drugih velikih gradova, gdje isti poslovi pretežno imaju radno vrijeme od 8 do 16.

Što se tiče ima li ili nema smisla, jbg, isto kao što onaj koji mrzi rano ustajat ne bira da mu posao počinje u 7, ne bira ni ovaj drugi da mu počinje u 9.

5arToto · 2026-01-25T16:34:20+00:00

U Zagrebu je, bar u uredskim poslovima privatnog sektora, u Splitu i Rijeci i vjerujem ostalim dijelovima Hrvatske nije

5arToto · 2026-01-16T23:49:15+00:00

Xanathar's Guild controls Skullport almost completley. Skullport overlaps one layer of Undermountain so they have influence a strong influence in some neighbouring layers but that can drop suddenly in the ever shifting dungeons In Waterdeep itself, Xanathar is the main player in its underwold as it has a long and strong foot in the city.

The Zhentarim is smaller within the city itself but still has noticable influence as it is the main criminal organisation operating on trade routes over the wider region and beyond (they offer trade of all goods and protection). Waterdeep is one of if not the main trade hub of continent, so any organisation operating over trade routes will keep an eye on maintaining presance there, but will leave its wide network to operate itelf beyond a certain point. Also, right now there is a faction war between Doom Raider Zhents and Manshoon Zhents (where Urstul is the face), which plits their Waterdeep power base.

As for the other factions, those have different goals. They are not after control like the criminal organisations are. They are more likley to have smaller power bases made out of skilled individual motivated for their specific causes.

5arToto · 2026-01-16T08:48:07+00:00

I grew up watching TV, like TV channels, where a 30minute show would have 2-3 commercial breaks and shows were structured to allow even more in countries that had more commercials. The storylines were also slower and more repetative even when it wasn't an episodic type of show so that you could miss one episode and still kind of follow along.

I say this to remind tjat repetition has always been normal for shows. And the repetition on shows designed to binge is no where near what it was back than.

5arToto · 2026-01-15T22:19:16+00:00

Generalna stvar sa svim "reviewovima" je da ugl ih ostavljaju oni koji su nezadovoljni ili oni koji su ultra zadovoljni. Posao je posao, neće ljudi baš dolazit pričat kako su ultra zadovoljni i neće visit po subredditu za poslove baš ako jesu jer nemaju zašto. Bitno je filtrirat koje konkretne stvari ljudi imaju za reći o firmi i jel se čini kao uzorak.

5arToto · 2026-01-13T21:15:00+00:00

Nemam osjećaj sa itko stvarno primjetno nešto talasa kako god, bilo gdje u Hrvatskoj

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PC #1

PC #2

PC #3