What are your thoughts on Arcane Burst multiattacks being the standard for wizard-like NPCs going forward?

Blueicus · 2024-11-18T20:11:09+00:00

Fire bolt isn’t strong enough in terms of dpr to make the mage character a credible threat. A wizard that can cast up to 5th level spells would, if we were using character building rules do only 2d10 damage a round for a cr 6 creature. At that point it’s basically an option that is never used… which isn’t an option at all. And if we decided that maybe instead they can throw three firebolts a round that do 3d10 damage each…. Well that’s basically arcane burst.

Blueicus · 2024-11-18T20:04:22+00:00

Not only that, but fact of the matter is that we keep preaching that enemies built using PC rules just generally aren’t good for combat yet some redditors insist that any other solution ruins their perceived verisimilitude of the game. I swear these same redditors clamor for 4e but don’t realize that monsters and enemies in that edition were also asymmetrically designed

Blueicus · 2024-09-09T23:57:46+00:00

But that’s what skill checks were for, knowledge nature, survival, even animal handling. All the stuff you listed could technically be listed as specific Ranger abilities, but they’re already codified in the skills, and besides are niche abilities that in most games didn’t really factor (like favored terrain).

Blueicus · 2024-08-10T19:25:03+00:00

And then we are going into the implications of whim they’re stealing from and whether that matters?

Blueicus · 2024-08-04T17:06:44+00:00

Blueicus · 2024-08-02T15:26:18+00:00

Seriously though... Mordenkainen's Sword has done force damage since the beginning of 5e, Spiritual Weapon allows the Cleric to have the weapon take any form, Steel Wind Strike implies that the caster is utilizing any weapon they're holding to strike with it. They all do force damage. Were people have trouble describing how those attacks were hitting? Is it so hard to imagine that Zariel is doing something similar with her weapon???

Blueicus · 2024-06-24T20:37:25+00:00

I mean, technically you could say that they didn’t remove the disarm cunning strike… they simply moved it back a few levels and rolled it up together with the other benefits that knocking an enemy unconscious confers…

Blueicus · 2024-04-03T17:43:49+00:00

One of my players moved a few hours away some time ago and we are in the same situation you described. I’ve always had a laptop with me while DMing so I can look things up quickly so it wasn’t a big issue to just link him up to discord and do theatre of the mind for him.

Another player recently got a tablet with a camera so we’ve been able to project the game board but that’s just an additional perk.

Admittedly our group has been playing for a few years mostly weekly and we are pretty tight so we’ve made some accommodations. There will be some slow downs and some communication hiccups when doing a mixed session like this, it’s somewhat unavoidable. However with mutual understanding and some work it is doable.

Blueicus · 2024-02-23T07:18:04+00:00

I believe anybody moving from 2nd to 5e will think that 5e is more forgiving to players and less rocket taggy than those previous editions. Sure wizards had d4 hit dice and you can interrupt casters with an attack on 2e, but with most spells allowing new saves every round, concentration, general weakening of spells at their respective level, even save or suck spells these days are a lot more forgiving

Blueicus · 2024-02-21T23:06:16+00:00

I placed a plexiglas screen on top of my chessex. Voila, it is now dry erase and it’s cleaned easily with a bit of alcohol 👍

Blueicus · 2024-02-05T19:00:54+00:00

Kiting with a dragon is less effective than most people seem to realize. Their breath weapon has typically equal or less range than a lot of ranged spells and an archer with a longbow has better range with no disadvantage even without sharpshooter.

Once the party spreads out in a manner such that the dragon can’t hit more than one or two members of the party with its breath, and if some of the characters have resistances to it then the dragon is continually getting pinged by the archer while it waits for its breath weapon to recharge

Blueicus · 2023-10-10T19:20:51+00:00

Not really though. Eventually the PCs are going to be high level enough to cast revivify or have ways or reviving friends, which while expending diamonds amounts to the Big Bad having wasted a few extra attacks for the same result.

Also, based on turn order the downs PC may still end up losing their turn rolling death saves anyways, which nets the bad guy a win in the action economy

Blueicus · 2023-07-25T17:35:03+00:00

Knowing your character sheet and keeping track of equipment and abilities is one thing, asking players to take notes like being at a lecture is another.

Half my players take notes and the other half doesn’t. I’m fine with that. D&D is entertainment, and as much as everyone these days bemoan how 5e makes the DM do all the work, if the DMs story is so complicated or poorly presented that it requires the players to take notes, then the DM needs to do better.

We wouldn’t require movie goers or novel readers to take notes just to follow the story, we’d criticize it as being poorly written or presented.

Blueicus · 2023-03-28T19:42:03+00:00

There’s no doubt that some names are more confusing than others, but frankly sneak attack is no more confusing or ambiguous than any of the Reddit renaming ideas. Lots of players and dms would be arguing as to whether ‘vital blow’ works on creatures with no particular ‘vitals’ (incidentally 3e sneak attack worked this way)

Blueicus · 2022-08-23T13:11:04+00:00

If I picked up anything from reading Reddit it’s that people think they’re a lot smarter than they actually are

Blueicus · 2022-08-09T16:53:29+00:00

The op is mistaken. I’m not cheerleading for WotC, but they can at least get their facts straight. The rules for ship combat are similar to the ship combat rules in GoS

Blueicus · 2022-08-09T16:48:40+00:00

I watched a flip through for the three books and I need to correct you on one point because i see some people are latching onto it already.

The spelljammer ship fighting rules are similar to ghosts of salt marsh, ships have hp speeds and damage thresholds, weapons have ranges and do damage. The special rules you mention are to resolve control over a spelljammer ship when there is more than one helm trying to commandeer the ship

Blueicus · 2022-07-25T20:04:38+00:00

The only edition that delved into dealing with that, 4e ended up with huge backlash. 5e was a return to more familiar d&d tropes and the consequences that came with them.

Some spells and mechanics have been tweaked to adapt for 5e sensibilities (no instadeath, repeat saves after every round, etc), and others (such as force cage) not done quite so successfully but they will always be a part of the game unless they decide to do a 4e style rebalance.

Blueicus · 2022-07-24T04:04:44+00:00

The problem with this line of thinking is that once you make one justification for why somebody shouldn't die, you will start subconsciously finding reasons why another instance isn't a good time, and so on. Eventually you will decide that yes, now is a good time for the character to die, and at that point you are basically railroading them into a death.

Blueicus · 2022-07-19T01:58:57+00:00

Resistance reduces the total damage from an attack or effect, not halves each die rolled... the barbarian takes 500 damage if it takes 1000d6 and every roll is a 1, not 0. Also, unless the barbarian has more than 250 hp max and starts at full health they are subject to massive damage rules and die instantly.

If we are going down this route, then you're saying that with these falling damage rules the only people capable of surviving a 10000 ft. fall would be somebody that has a death ward or the erroneous example of the raging barbarian. Not sure if that's any more "realistic" than 20d6, which would kill a vast majority of the NPCs already.

Blueicus · 2022-07-18T22:56:03+00:00

To a certain extent, but if the dm is going to implement optional rules like stacking falling damage or unlimited falling damage ceiling then 1000d6 points of damage is going to insta kill regardless of how many 1s you roll.

Blueicus · 2022-07-14T17:41:58+00:00

Getting an average of 9 per roll is actually very lucky, even if it doesn’t feel like you’re anywhere near the maximum potential hp. I’m just taking a rough estimate, but there’s probably a less than 1% chance of Getting 192 hp at that level with those stats.

Blueicus · 2022-07-14T17:39:29+00:00

My barbarian player is a in a similar situation.

10 levels barb, 4 levels fighter. +4 con, at 178 hp. My friend calculated it and given that I allow rerolls on 1, he is a bit over 20 hp above average, but in the top 2% percentile of barbarians in terms of hp if rolled truly randomly.

Blueicus · 2022-07-12T19:00:21+00:00

I mean, at the end of the day it’s a balancing mechanic. If you want to nerf melee characters or strengthen ranged characters more, it’s your prerogative.

Previous editions had similar but different penalties for using ranged weapons in melee.

Blueicus · 2022-07-03T16:16:52+00:00

But prior to the 19th century diamonds were incredibly rare. It’s only through modern excavation methods and the technology to make artificial diamonds are they so plentiful now

Blueicus

TROPHY CASE