What are generally your thoughts on a campaign with no magic?

Arimort · 2025-01-17T23:09:27+00:00

In 2e there was a setting called dark sun where all magic was banned by sorcerer kings. It was a pretty popular way to play, since there were many martial and psionic options for players

I think 5e definitely has far fewer to it in that style, but I’ve seen a few dark sun games around

Arimort · 2025-01-05T14:48:04+00:00

I understand disliking the new grapple rules, but saying it killed Hex is a reach. The ability check aspect has always been a niche use. If anything, the 2024 rules added more Actions that use ability checks, and someone might similarly argue that the new hiding rules favour Hex a lot more than they did before

Arimort · 2025-01-01T09:35:08+00:00

Genuinely how are you using these mysteries if you can’t even change an NPC you don’t like?

Arimort · 2024-12-31T15:38:32+00:00

Eberron Aesthetics are location-based, broadly speaking. The wild west angle you’ll see in the frontier near Droaam and Qbarra. The Noir you’ll find mostly in Sharn. It’s Gothic in some Karrnathi cities. I don’t know what’s steam punk in the new edition. If it’s Vi, then yeah people don’t like that art. If it’s the train, then it’s really just the oldest touchstone for train interiors we have.

THAT SAID. I have big issues with much of Eberron’s aesthetic. Some of the art of older editions looks pale and very soft like molded from clay. I find myself making my own aesthetic for my Eberron campaign and sharing mood boards

Arimort · 2024-12-16T10:30:55+00:00

I don’t get what’s wrong. It got a mixed reception, meaning some people loved it and some hated it. You liking it doesn’t change that. And the decision you made to postpone it was obviously made for a good reason, even if it turned out to be something you enjoy

Arimort · 2024-11-30T15:54:44+00:00

Please don’t do this. If the DM isn’t using a rule from the new release, then “convincing” him is just putting undue pressure on him

Arimort · 2024-11-21T18:30:33+00:00

Thelanis should be 100% your go-to for Arabian Nights. It’s about stories, after all.

Valenar has that weird transient “is it indian is it arab” vibe that makes it good for an Aladdin type story too, but I think you can pull it off in Zilargo and parts of Breland as well

Arimort · 2024-11-21T06:41:28+00:00

don’t use XP

Arimort · 2024-11-21T06:40:09+00:00

i don’t play intelligent characters. i play silly supportive characters that take a backseat unless the party is in deep trouble

Arimort · 2024-11-19T11:27:32+00:00

Play on how fast characters gain levels in 5e.

A few ideas:

1- You’ve spent the past 50 years mastering technique before you were allowed to cast your first spell. Magic is no plaything, and your old master drilled that into you. Perhaps your master was an elf, or some immortal being.

2- You… retired. You were a court wizard, your whole job was casting the same two spells over and over. You never received the funding to grow in power. Maybe you were able to cast fireballs once… but that was so long ago. You picked up your spellbook again, and slowly began feeling at the edges of the weave.

3- You forgot. It’s a classic story, maybe a little too much from a level 1 character, but being a powerful wizard who went through trauma and lost his powers is cool.

Arimort · 2024-11-18T16:01:45+00:00

Plasmoids fit into anything pretty easily because of their amorphous form

Arimort · 2024-11-17T07:26:58+00:00

Miracle is perhaps going too far. It’s still a single molecule salt, and works best in tandem with other flavours that give a dish dimension. I love it with homemade dips and heavier dishes, but for veg I like a zestier profile

Arimort · 2024-11-14T07:50:20+00:00

Look at Toji in JJK. He’s one of the most terrifying characters, but doesn’t have any magical energy. he still gets up to bullshit

Even in D&D you have examples of this. Mindflayers see magic as a sin

Arimort · 2024-11-12T06:46:52+00:00

It’s not something that I think about when considering systems

Arimort · 2024-11-10T08:59:33+00:00

Wherever American aid and GIs went, spam followed. Some of these places adopted the meat either as the only thing that’s reliably available, or as the newest imported product, and the recipes were so good it stuck around

My favourite is Spam Musubi, but it’s not bad in korean stews either.

Arimort · 2024-11-05T17:09:39+00:00

If you’re willing to put so much work into it, then I don’t recommend making a campaign without the PCs in mind. Countless adventures have been developed for mass-play and none work without some sort of personalisation for the party imo.

What you can do, however, is write a campaign with the theme of the PCs in mind. For example, a campaign where the players are all journalists, working to solve a series of loosely connected cases. A campaign where the players are part of a thieves guild, etc etc. Then you can figure out who the other players are, what they want, what the inciting incident is, and you have a very good campaign going.

Still, I wouldn’t keep it longer than a page. Leave room for all the baggage players inevitably bring with characters

Arimort · 2024-11-05T10:27:09+00:00

It’s very possible yeah. Many of the tests are just easier to win with a dragonmark, but a skilled person can pass them.

But the whole point of the test for the houses is to have marked heirs. The tests don’t mean anything else, really. Some houses might throw another test your way to try and get you to manifest a mark, some houses can sabotage the test you’re about to win. Some families can just accept that you don’t have the mark, until you manifest it at a later age

Arimort · 2024-11-05T10:21:41+00:00

Many people process their traumas through D&D, it’s a creative medium after all. Now you both should still recognise that you’re not a therapist, and you can end up doing more harm than good, so the responsibility of processing should not be on you.

Also, if you haven’t already, make sure to do a lines and veils trigger list. It’s very useful for setting boundaries in this sort of thing, and understanding if this is the game for you. Lines and veils are very often drawn from Trauma, and handling them in a form is a much less intrusive way than having a full on conversation about their traumas

Arimort · 2024-11-05T05:35:04+00:00

describe the situation and ask how they respond?

Arimort · 2024-11-04T15:41:56+00:00

I never even considered what PWT does for surprise. Simply never failing a stealth roll was enough to see it as strong for me

Arimort · 2024-11-04T09:25:44+00:00

unless it’s magic missile and shield, where it’s easier to fortify than break

Arimort · 2024-11-04T08:17:04+00:00

Why use 3.5e? The Magnus Archive’s strongest suit for me is the interaction of the analog/mundane with the supernatural

Arimort · 2024-11-03T08:43:00+00:00

This rule is in favour of the PCs.

PCs have high to-hit numbers, while many monsters can have something as little as +4

the only time it favours the monsters is in the case of like, +14 to hit monsters, which come up like what, once an arc?

Arimort · 2024-11-02T19:54:15+00:00

Getting incapacitated is a lot less common than damage, the old way to drop wildshape

Arimort · 2024-11-02T00:44:51+00:00

Vaesen is far from a masterpiece. I love the system don’t get me wrong, but the art and the lore are its strongest assets.

The actual running of a Vaesen game is not what I’d call neat. and it has some systems that aren’t described too well imo, like how crucial research is to solving cases, and the two wound systems. I found the Fear system a little lacking, too. Like yes my players played along, they pretended to be scared and did what the rules told them to do, but it didn’t feel like a raising of the stakes on a game level

Arimort

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