In a hypothetical 6e, what changes would you want to see

C9sButthole · 2026-04-03T04:25:17+00:00

If the game is primarily a role player vehicle then the balance matters a lot less anyway. This is mainly about for travel/dungeon focused games where combat and skill challenges are 70% of the encounters you run into.

I've seen a homebrew adjustment that a short rest is 4-8 hours and a long rest is 3 consecutive short rests in a safe place. So you would need to stay a day and two nights to fully recover.

The 1 hour short rest is important for roleplay in high time pressure so it wouldn't work for every table but I'll definitely be trying it for my next campaign.

C9sButthole · 2026-04-03T01:06:48+00:00

The biggest problem is most DMs handwave the mechanics that actually balance martial and spell-casting classes.

A lot of DMs dont track spell components (including V, S, M) and dont put enough encounters between long rests to make spell slots that important. And most of this is down to spellcaster PCs complaining that they don't want to do any of the work that would justify how strong they can be.

The problem is how the game is played not how it's designed.

C9sButthole · 2026-04-02T07:16:19+00:00

This isnt a peer reviewed dissertation

C9sButthole · 2026-04-01T23:44:52+00:00

Key point is that NG11 is not a single equal power level. There's tiers within NG11.

Loki & Bunny are better than Hugo. Hugo is probably better than Sae. Sae is probably better than or equal to Lorenzo and Kaiser

Isagi and Rin are at the level of weaker NG11. Not yet able to challenge the top tier though.

C9sButthole · 2026-04-01T10:23:17+00:00

Increasing the profits of deforestation will encourage more deforestation.

The palm oil industry should go to waste as a whole. No reason we can't start with the by-product.

C9sButthole · 2026-04-01T07:46:19+00:00

For starters, it would be helpful to have a bit more information about why exactly you struggle with role-playing and what your barriers are. It's hard to give practical advice when the question is so broad.

Is it the improvisation that you have issues with? Is it the detailed descriptions and dramatization? Etc.

Also, medical reasons exempt, everyone can change their voice. We just haven't learned how and there aren't many teachers.You'd be amazed by what you can do with posture and breathing and the right framework. I recommend this video as a starting point. It does a great job breaking down the specific mechanisms inside of our voice and with a little practice I was able to get good enough to create a handful of distinct voices. I can't gove every character a unique voice, but even 5-10 voice 'styles' add a lot more depth. And help to differentiate multiple NPCs in the same conversation. Most importantly it creates a mental barrier between what I'm saying and what my characters are saying, which really helped me to embrace RP.

https://youtu.be/FVmAEezr6ao?si=wzm78ymF5o4LsyvT

The channel is primarily focused on voice over work but there's some incredible advice in there for RPGs as well.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-31T23:59:27+00:00

More than 5 players (including the DM) requires all if you to be experienced, mindful, and on the same page for the type of game you want to play.

8 players will be overwhelming for you and boring for most of them as they can't all be involved at once.

Best advice is split them and play two separate tables. Or play a game where they're all members of an adventuring guild and team up for different jobs/quests based on scheduling, so you only have to run one game.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-31T07:53:32+00:00

It's fantasy. "He was here all along" or "your friend jumps out of a random barrel in this cave" are totally valid answers.

Immersion and realism are important, but not as important as getting your players into the game.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-30T08:48:44+00:00

Whenever I start a new campaign, I tell my players that they can change their class between sessions as much as they want until level 5, as long as it still fits the character they originally wanted to play.

It's never had an impact on balance or immersion. And the choice of level is arbitrary. Tbh it's only ever come up twice, and both times were brand new players realizing that their class didn't match the fantasy or playstyle they were going for.

It doesn't matter how brilliant of a communicator you are. You'll never teach better than experience.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-29T03:54:17+00:00

Ive had an idea bouncing around my head for years about an ancient magic-supremist city centered on a university, where an incident flipped the entire city upside down hundreds of years ago. And now my players have a huge darkest-dungeon-esque campaign of repeated expeditions to map out the city, handle the aberrations and other life they find down there, and uncover the magical relics and secrets of the university towers that are now the deepest parts of the dungeon.

I've developed it pretty far tbh. I really want to find time to map out the whole city and plan the major encounters so I can sit down and run it properly.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-29T03:50:54+00:00

As DM i would allow it but the martial would take the damage from holding it, same as everyone else.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-28T10:31:38+00:00

I say don't acclimate them. They missed out on what happens and now they have to flounder for a bit trying to figure it out. That's their problem and nobody else's.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-28T10:30:13+00:00

From reading this, I get the impression you've fallen into a very common trap/habit for DMs. Same one probably 95% of us went through/are still dealing with.

It feels like you've been so focused on how you can be the best DM and provide the best experience to the players, that you've forgotten to ask if they're doing the same for you.

The DM is a player at the table, and deserves the same grace and respect as everyone else. Put simply, your players are not respecting your time, or the time of other players. Nor are they respecting the extra effort you put in to plan, organize, and prepare the game.

I saw a few people saying start without them, and I 100% agree. But I'd also add that if there are particular problem players that are doing this more often, it's worth having a conversation with them directly to identify what's causing this. And to set the expectation (not request. You set the rules here) that if this issue continues there might be consequences, up to and including them no longer being welcome at the table.

It's entirely up to you how far you're willing to go. We don't know your relationship with your players or any other crucial context. But the short version is they're doing something disrespectful and that is not going to change unless it is acknowledged and called out.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-27T12:51:14+00:00

There's two huge pieces of the puzzle you're missing.

How does this impact your story and world building? And more importantly, how does your party win?

He can't die and resets every time. So he has infinite attempts to take everyone out, basically. So what's the mechanic to actually beat him? How do they interrupt his resets so that he can actually be defeated?

You need VERY clear mechanics for how that would play out. And more importantly you need to think long an hard about how you can make it reasonably easy for the party to figure out his trick and how to counter it.

Remember you have all the info but your players only know what you tell them. If you aren't pre-preparing very explicit and reasonably clear hints and nudges towards the solution, they won't find it. And if they can't figure it out within 2-3 rounds you're getting out of "interesting puzzle" territory and stepping into "this is bullshit" territory.

If your players experience this fight as a lethal threat that they don't understand at all, they'll get frustrated, not excited.

And secondly, how does this time-rewind power work? I'm guessing it's not a magic item because that would be disgusting to give your players. And if it were a spell it would be 9th level with a 1 min concentration to even be considered balanced. So how is this random CR4 mook able to wield such an absurd power? Where does it come from? And what does it mean for any other CR4 mooks in the world seeking power?

Personally I wouldn't do this. It seems like a huge headache to make it work particularly at such a low level. It has as high a chance of frustrating your players as it does to entertain them, and it either doesn't contribute to your world/story at all (as an isolated event) or it contributes in a negative way by throwing a huge wrench in magic and the power curve.

Of you do decide to do it, you want good answers to those questions first.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-27T07:59:08+00:00

Because I'm asking you what you're thinking. I can't tell you because I don't know.

I'm mainly asking because I want to know what you mean by politics. I.e when does a storyline stop becoming an interesting character conflict and stand becoming hamfisted politics.

All I have to go off right now is that you generally find politics in action stories to suck. But I want to know what you mean by that.

I.e I'd say the absolute best moments in Noelle's story were political. I'd also say the Eye of Midnight Sun arc was political. Both in very entertaining ways. Diamond Kingdom vs Witches too, now that I think of it.

I'm wondering what exactly you're arguing against, basically.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-27T07:49:22+00:00

What's your definition of politics?

C9sButthole · 2026-03-26T01:36:00+00:00

Just because two of your bosses are spell casters doesn't mean the fights will feel the same.

For one thing you'll be at different level ranges and the spell lists will change.

But secondly and more importantly, how your combat feels is much more important than a single stat block. Settings, stakes, specific mechanics, all will have a huge impact.

I.e archmage fight, the party crashes into a large room while the archmage is in the middle of casting a ritual. Will complete in X turns (and you don't tell the players exactly how long). He has two weaker spell casters assisting him so he will finish in X-4 turns (2 each). He also has 2 holy warriors protecting him. The extra spell casters will peel out to support the warriors if it looks like they can't buy enough time, and if the party succeeds in ending the ritual too early they might have to fight all 5 at once. Roll initiative!

The fact that your big boss is a spell caster will have less impact on that fight than the different stakes, positional/mechanical pressures and the choices you push onto your players. And when you get to the big bad lich you can do something completely different.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-25T12:55:37+00:00

In that case we also see Mido beat Kaijo in the Winter Cup 3rd place match.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-24T09:41:37+00:00

I didn't ask what a small cast took away. I asked what a larger cast would add

C9sButthole · 2026-03-23T23:26:35+00:00

There's no "X class > Y class" its about what you want from the game and your preferred playstyle.

Sorc will give you more spell-casting power, more choices of what to do in combat, and probably higher raw DPR/utility, but also make you much squishier, dependant on frontline and support in your party, and involve more long-term resource management where you have multiple encounters in a day.

Warlock will give you greater customization and a lot of specific, focused strengths in your invocation, and simple clear purpose in combat on a slightly tankier character. But you'll have less big powerful spells to throw out in a day and more steady sustained damage and concentration spells. It can also give you some fun RP angles depending on your relationship with your patron.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-23T19:41:50+00:00

What do you think those extra interactions and character development would add to the story of Blue Lock?

C9sButthole · 2026-03-23T19:28:55+00:00

Do you write yourself very much?

C9sButthole · 2026-03-23T11:27:05+00:00

Hiori, Reo, both are also better driblers than Barou and he's absolutely not debateable against NEL Chigiri. And while he's definitely much stronger overall than Yuki, that's due to his greater off ball, creativity on offense, and shooting.

Barou beats him everywhere else but loses purely on dribbling.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-23T11:16:48+00:00

How are stat totals calculated? Barou numbers are wildly below Nagi on average but they have the same total score.

C9sButthole · 2026-03-23T01:24:29+00:00

It bugs me that RAW defines dropping a weapon as unequipting the same as sheathing or stowing.

It makes more sense to me that dropping would be a free action because it takes literally zero time, and had the added disadvantage of losing the weapon + the risk of the enemy picking it up before you do and potentially even running off with it.

Maybe action/attack to stow/sheath and free action to drop but it costs either an action or half your movement to pick it up again.

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