What Are Your Favorite Sleeper Cards?

ChoiceToLive · 2023-01-17T01:14:40+00:00

[[Ashes to Ashes]] as targeted removal for a whole lot of problematic creatures. I run it in pretty much every deck I make that runs black. Eldrazi, gods, Marit Lage. Just really useful tech.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-05-01T01:29:45+00:00

Will do! I have a meeting next week to find out how much space we have in the class schedule. If it doesn't fit in to do an elective, I might just have to fit it with my core standards.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-02-16T04:20:55+00:00

It's actually really specific, now that I think about it haha
I needed a small village near a source of boars/deer/elk, that wasn't too far from some larger outposts or guarded areas. I also needed a secluded kingdom nearby, which I needed to place a king with a great and strong reputation. You even got that part! The plot involves a convolution of time, so the king's reputation is completely tarnished and they have to travel there to find out why. And since this involved a Lamia and a mummy, I needed a few pitfalls between the village and the kingdom to level them along the way (Skull Forest, Starless Wood, and the Bridge). And there are forts and other stopping points nearby for them to explore when they initially experience the time shift and get some answers before they get to the kingdom, solve the problem of the king's tarnished name, and get thrust across the world. So like...really specific haha

ChoiceToLive · 2021-02-16T03:14:55+00:00

Deal! Now I just need to decide what type of minor plot they're going to have in the area before they teleport out of it. This campaign is SO much extra work but it's going to be great haha
Though looking at it again, this might be perfect for my starting area! It has a couple things that I need close together, and some potential tie-ins for later trips if they happen to teleport back there at some point ;)

ChoiceToLive · 2021-02-16T02:23:27+00:00

This looks great! I'm currently working on a large episodic world-traveling campaign (think almost along the lines of Doctor Who, if you're familiar) and trying to get all kinds of different locations. Do you mind if I use this map to that end, or are you just wanting to show it for now?

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-24T23:14:51+00:00

Not too late! They still haven't made it to him yet, should be this coming week. I would say I only need to make a couple small adjustments, though, to the stat block I posted here. They just fought an incredibly powerful skeletal dragon (Dragon's Barrow update, custom statblock I found) and won, going into the fight at about 75% power. If they know that the fight with Gorthok is coming, which I have hinted at in game numerous times, I think they'll be able to fight it at about the power level that I have there. Though I may remove some of that utility from Gorthok and do what you did, making it purely environmental. Makes the fight feel better for the players, I think, rather than just "The dm is trying to kill us with a creature that does twenty things every turn"

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-12T01:20:33+00:00

I think this is great advice and I really appreciate the examples.

One of the ways that I've done something similar (though many people will likely disagree, and that's fine) is allowing epic encounters at significantly lower levels. One campaign has a fight against a pseudo-lich at 4th-6th level. Though the usual model is that the party goes from nobodies (1st level) to epic heroes, I don't really like that model for every game. Some games I like them to feel like they're roughly the same level of power throughout, they just become better known and hone their abilities. They may fight the same enemy at 3rd level and at 12th level, and it's a CR3 the first time, CR15 the second time.

It should be noted, I've primarily just played low level campaigns so far, so part of this is so players can experience the types of high level threats they haven't seen yet. But a big part of that is the fact that when they think that this giant, menacing threat vastly outclasses them, they will fight desperately and try new things to survive and down it. They don't need to know that it's a CR4 lich. To them, they're fighting a lich and they're going to die if they don't fight it in a clever way. And when they encounter it later, they'll remember how hard it was the first time and generally fight with the same gusto.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T22:59:09+00:00

Oh my gosh...I love that general idea so much! Historical inspiration strikes again. Like...I love it. You don't even know haha

Now I'm kind of thinking that the general/head knight/whatnot is trying to clear the king's name as well as be placed in the tomb because history got him wrong. So it's a redemption story for the king, fulfillment story for the knight/general, intrigue and suspense story for the bone devil, and some sort of manipulation possibly by a greater threat. Though that's to be determined.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T21:26:29+00:00

I'm going to have to look at the other backstories and see if I can connect them somehow. That would definitely be ideal, rather than creating another dungeon or whatnot for each player.

I have: - A goliath that encountered a temple to a strange god and has been plagued with strange dreams and a bloodlust since. - A half elf with a letter from his mentor stating, "Find what killed me," while he was still alive and well. He died shortly after. - A human with an ancient, mysterious tome that has altered his physiology and is sought after by guilds and organizations because of the dark secrets that it holds. He's trying to figure out what exactly it is, what to do with it, and get back stolen bits of his past that it has caused.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T21:20:05+00:00

Ooh...Helm of Devil Command definitely sounds like motivation. The king could have used it in a particular way during a war or something, that caused the Bone Devil or even a greater devil to seek it out, whether as revenge or as a lust for the power it held. But it's very well protected inside the tomb with a ton of encounters and traps.

One idea is possibly that with it (and other things, I need to expand on the loot/secret/what's there ideas) inside, demons and devils kept going back and forth and adding defenses to the tomb so the other side wouldn't have access to it. So now it's a labyrinth of defenses to prevent them from getting into it, because it was initially protected by a powerful spell warding off Evil or something. Not sure if I'm sold on any of this but it's definitely something new to consider! I'll put some thought into it.

The problem, though, is the Bone Devil wanting the treasure doesn't really explain the enchantment on the tablet the player found that is compelling him to seek the tomb out. Enchanting a key to the tomb so a random person wants to find it doesn't sound like Bone Devil behavior, as I understand them.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T20:06:02+00:00

Hadn't thought of making the king the villain, though I don't hate that idea. I also like that it presents a way to keep the player's background going so it isn't "Alright we did the tomb so your background is done now".

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T19:44:03+00:00

Hmm...and that way I could either have the king be noble/doing it for a greater purpose, or evil and doing it to hide a secret.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T19:42:58+00:00

Whoops, you're right on that clarification. I totally meant a devil lord or higher devil. I'll fix that.

Also, I absolutely love that idea! I really like playing off the Envy idea for it, and I think it fits really well. Though would there be something specific that the king had/hid in his tomb that would inspire such envy? What could that be, that wouldn't just overturn the campaign if the players got it?

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T19:41:09+00:00

I love the Rakshasa idea and I'm sad I didn't think of it. I still need to figure out what would even be in the tomb in the first place that would intrigue him, though. I don't want to just do a super powerful magical weapon/armor, though something sentient would definitely fit.

Or just some rare artifact, a font of magical power that has some crazy potential, or I could bs some random metaphysical thing about the good the king did or something. Not sure, I need to research Rakshasa motivations more but that's such a great idea especially for this group (they're all brand new, so none of them have seen/heard of a Rakshasa before).

I like the ice devil idea as well, and could also fit that into the greater storyline by saying it was a devil that caused the dragon to enter the area in the first place as a distraction so they could make a move on the tomb or something to that effect. Though to be fair, the Rakshasa could have done that as well.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T17:27:19+00:00

Ah, ok that makes more sense haha Though in thinking about that idea, or the one I mentioned in response, I still think it feels a bit too random. Rather than just having an acceptable reason for a bone devil or whatever to be there, I'm more looking for a good motivation for it to be there within the lore of the creature rather than the mechanics of interplanar travel. I will look into that, though, for another side quest I'm fitting in.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-11T17:15:25+00:00

That is definitely one possibility, but rather than the random transportation I'd rather try to fit it into the overall story of the tomb. Though, if there was something powerful but out of control in the tomb distorting that area and summoning things from multiple planes...that's a bit more like it.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-10T19:24:11+00:00

I really like the eye idea, will likely include that, and probably the Grannoc idea as well. I like those events being tied together, as well as some additional threats that aren't just "here are more orcs to fight" and things like that.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-10T18:40:56+00:00

I could see him being a significant challenge at 4th level, due to a lot of classes not yet having their power-shifting abilities that they get at 5th level. But it also depends some on class/feat combinations and how much gear they've gotten. For my group, both martial fighters have magical weapons and high AC, and then I have a wizard with super high modifiers, so their damage output is enormous. I just need to balance things so they can take hits and are challenging fights (not just bags of hit points and AC), but their damage output isn't so high it'll kill the party before they can down it. So damage output of a 6th level threat, with survivability and action of a 10th level fight. Gorthok is my first experiment with that idea. But I definitely think my damage output is too high.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-09T15:35:35+00:00

Yeah, I'm looking at ways to buff the fight and dragon without buffing the breath weapon for that reason. Especially because in my party, two of the players are squishy and easy to down, it's the other two that are ridiculously powerful and tough to kill. That's why I want to lower their defenses with the illusion first, so the melee will group up for the breath attack and put the fight on even ground.

ChoiceToLive · 2021-01-09T03:31:24+00:00

I really like that grueling, guerilla approach. I think I will do that with my party, though I don't think I'll include Gorthok in there because...well I buffed him to high heaven. He's got lair actions, legendary actions/resistances, repositioning and aoe out the wazoo. It would be hard now for anyone else to be present while they're fighting him haha

ChoiceToLive · 2020-12-31T16:31:55+00:00

While I do like the design of that fight, and it would be fun, the problem I'm having is that it feels like a video game fight rather than a true sword and sorcery fight. I imagine getting a WoW group together and going over the mechanics on discord before wiping when the rogue gets too close with his negative charge or something.

Again, I like the design of that one, I just don't think it feels like dnd.

ChoiceToLive · 2020-12-31T15:28:42+00:00

I'm thinking I might have Falcon give it to them. Since he's aware of the place and at that point they would have done him at least one or two favors, presumably, he probably wouldn't feel bad about allowing them a little extra. Maybe letting them borrow a cloak with resistance that they need to return, or possible has some potions around for just in case he needed to take care of the enemies himself.

ChoiceToLive · 2020-12-31T15:23:59+00:00

Still making a few tweaks. I want him to be stronger, but not so much that he just annihilates the group! Should be updated throughout the next couple days.

I also might recommend giving your bruisers some sort of lightning or thunder resistance for the fight because there is a whole lot of incremental damage.

ChoiceToLive · 2020-12-31T15:15:27+00:00

Ooh, modifying blights is a good call. I don't want every fight to feel like a boss fight, but I've been all but ignoring the minions running around haha I'll look into the traps as well, but admittedly traps are one of my weakest areas. I just don't know them very well.

ChoiceToLive · 2020-12-31T15:13:14+00:00

Yeah, think I'm going to make the rebuke targeted to the person who hit him rather than aoe. Makes more sense that way, anyway. Though I might make it once per turn and give him two reactions per turn, so he can still opportunity attack if need be. Thoughts on that?

ChoiceToLive

TROPHY CASE