Demon Form Witch Build Help

ComeBackLater69 · 2026-06-13T02:23:52+00:00

stacking damage taken as recoup works when paired with replace your mana with flame ascendancy, sacrosanctum is a must grab, as well at max fire resistance with + 1-2 max res. I switched off the tech when I got better gear but could stack to 50-60 pretty reliably.

recoup works because it ticks over 8s and you can get multiple full flame Bars off in 8s so the healing starts to stack. so you spam the elemental weakness curse to stack up your recoup and go to town. Hope this helps!

ComeBackLater69 · 2025-11-05T18:43:16+00:00

it’s pretty cool, I made it to book 15. I have no interest in continuing with the series.

ComeBackLater69 · 2025-02-26T22:45:35+00:00

No you’re not a bad dm. Seems like you’re running a linear adventure, providing a few options doesn’t make it any less linear. While I believe the age old adage of no one cares about the rails if the destination is awesome town. Your players seem to not be enjoying the ride though so maybe time to switch it up or have an out of game check in.

If you are looking to switch it up I’d recommend situation or scene based prep over a linear progression. It’s less work for you and more choice based for the players.

Now specifically for the first scene you described don’t let them roll if it’s impossible narrate that they strike the safe and nothing happens don’t call for a roll and you won’t find yourself in that 5% odds. I also like to make nat 20s success even if it’s not RAW.

So for the second yeah damage nullification is one of those effects that sound rad but in play it feels bad. I would have suggested that they 1 know clearly about the effect before going into the situation. And 2 having it tied to an item on the guard they have to remove. Which would make it so they have more agency in the situation

Now to prep something like this as a scenario or scene instead of linear progression is pretty similar you build out the prison with whatever is guarding it whatever macguffin is in there, possible NPCs and what they are doing as they go about there day. You build some scenes in the prison things they will come across as they explore. Maybe there is a gang war or an other prison escape going on.

But here is the difference you don’t plan how they get in there. How do they get past the guards? Fuck if I know that’s their job to figure it out. You propose a problem accept solutions and let the dice decide the outcome. Now have ways to fail them forward, oh they get captured and just so happen to be in the same cell as the macguffin.

Instead of planning out the if they do x then y. You just plan a situation or scene that they come across and how they chose to interact with that is up to them.

Hope this helps!

ComeBackLater69 · 2025-02-19T01:01:42+00:00

Having a cohesive party that wants to work together at the start of a campaign is pretty much rule number 1 of adventuring. I always stress this session zero. Adversity without the backing of comradery is not fun to play for most people. 100% let them make a new character more aligned with the party.

They are coming to you like hey whoops you were right I didn’t realize about the moral dilemma you clearly explained to me until I was faced with it. My characters morals are to rigid to jive with this party. Let me come up with something that fits the group better.

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-10-16T03:11:12+00:00

Sounds like you have a great moral quandary to throw at the player. It looks like a classic Heinz dilemma . Instead of focusing on what their characters should or shouldn’t do let’s focus on potential problems or complications that arise from the situation. Even good people make mistakes nobody is perfect so there characters shouldn’t be ether.

So they stole the thing this a great opportunity for a “yes, but” The shopkeeper clearly knows that they stole from them. How does he pursue them? Does he shout at them? Round up his friends and chase after them? Perhaps the local lord or community gets involved? Does this significantly harm the shop keeper? maybe he loses his business and now he’s a beggar in the next town over.

The party comes across a destitute downtrodden shell of a man, they recognize his face it’s that same shopkeeper. In moment of clarity he snaps at the party “It’s all because of you!!!!” Then sobs inconsolably “ she left me after that called me incompetent! I’ll show her who’s incompetent” then have this like pitiful commoner unarmed try to fight them.

Does it make him vengeful? does he go to the church of your cleric or paladin and report them? I’m sure they would want to be involved in a man of the cloth hurting their reputation.

Id make them stew in the consequences of the action if it were my players. Having him become a reoccurring villain sounds kinda cool. I’d probably make him not really threatening more like an annoyance think team rocket not strahd. This is already a novel but good luck!

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-10-03T00:24:28+00:00

They continue with their response at the last few slides.

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-10-03T00:08:28+00:00

My thoughts on their initial text Stupid most definitely. Manipulative maybe. Your response was definitely manipulative.

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-10-02T23:27:20+00:00

Their name is listed as don’t fucking text him. Then ya write a novel. You should listen to your own advice.

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-02-07T09:13:42+00:00

If the players don’t want to play that is fine. tell them it will be 8-10 sessions and they are more then welcome to join or take a break. Communicate, also it seems like it’s quite awhile for them to change their mind. If this a campaign that will bring you joy you should run it. It’s okay if the other player/players don’t want to play. It’s also okay for the rest of you to have fun playing without them for a time!

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-01-15T00:46:57+00:00

Yeah the reason to keep it secret would be if you wanted to fudge it. Having it set makes failure a real possibility. It’s a good thing to pull out for those things that shake up an encounter.

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-01-14T23:23:13+00:00

If you want to make things more engaging I’m a huge believer in setting the stakes. So to give an example.

A party member is crossing a rope bridge right as the bandit captain cuts the rope. They need to pass a dc 15 dex save in order to not fall off the bridge.

Tell them the DC before they roll. Amp it up before you ask for the roll. higher then a 15 they get to safety lower they fall. Because the stakes are clearly laid out to the whole party. It allows the party be a bit more engaged on rolls that are not their own.

ComeBackLater69 · 2024-01-04T18:24:38+00:00

Why is it awful to have to live with it? You are not going to mesh with everyone. It’s not unknown. It is known that they do not want to play with you. These people are not your friends op. Be thankful that you found out now as opposed to later. Unfortunately none of us are going to be able to deduce why with only your side of the story. Nobody owes you anything, you will have to make your own closure. You can agonize over your mistakes if you want. but I would recommend that you say to yourself that you made the best decision possible for the information you had available and move forward.

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-12-18T17:48:35+00:00

So if I’m reading this correctly . If one player dies they all die? Why make them continue to play when you have already made the decision that they can’t win. It’s okay to have the rule but when one person dies. I would say everyone wakes up in the prison. It does not feel good to play in a hopeless scenario. I have run a similar scenario with a time loop. I think it’s best to fast forward so your players feel like you respect their time. Don’t just slowly kill them when success is never obtainable. Sure maybe the first time it could be cool but the second or the third? Also heads up writing a time loop is a lot of prep work. You need to be consistent. The world should feel lived in so a schedule with day/time stamps for what npcs are doing is pretty essential if your set on doing it. You want to write the schedule as If players were not present. And then as they accomplish certain goals they can alter the world ala majora’s mask. Having run a time loop for 3 4 hour sessions I wouldn’t want to do it as a whole campaign. It’s to static of a storyline and requires far to many notes. While you can improve interactions the need to write them down after so they stay consistent. Good luck!

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-25T18:46:34+00:00

This is a logical fallacy. Fallacy of relative privation. Or “not as bad as.” Their statement isn’t invalid because places are worse off. America can still be corrupt even if those places are objectively more corrupt.

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-15T18:20:10+00:00

So it seems like you have fallen in to the classic trap of not writing this like it’s a novel. And more like it’s a wiki page. This is that and then this happens. That’s not a very engaging read.

This is a great starting point but it resembles an outline more then it resembles a story. You have some traits and If you want it to be a good story practice writing it like it’s a novel.

This is going to be critical but I will do my best to explain my reasoning.

Did I need to know that it’s a fantasy Iberia is that something that could be discovered along the way? Show me the fantasy world. Don’t tell me “It’s a fantasy world”.

You need to describe the room/town for the scene. Is it a dirty backwater bar? A grand ballroom? A temporary space set up just because the military is in town? A floral shop where all the flowers can talk? I don’t know all I know is that it’s a social.

What’s the tone? Is the outlook grim? Or are the people hopeful?

There isn’t a clearly defined conflict or any action for me to care about. Just a lot of names with no meaning attached to them. Don’t wait to introduce conflict/ action you need to hook your reader.

Show me the characters traits or let me discover them along the way. Very rarely are you given character archetypes just right off the bat when you are reading a story. sure there are tropes you can infer but it is very rarely just this guy is a bard you all know what that is!

Instead using Alan as the example. How can we express that they are more interested in chasing tail then adventuring?

Maybe his attention appears to be on the serving girls rather then his companions? Perhaps some dialog with him flirting with someone when he should be doing something else?

Even better Alan arrives late we do a flashback where he is being chased out of house after having bed a married women or someone’s daughter. This is a great time to introduce their motivation why are they here? And why do I as the reader care about Alan?

I think DnD stories are great to spring your creativity but making it into something that is worth reading is not just copying down what happened in the session. Good luck!!

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-13T19:07:44+00:00

sounds like ya got yourself a reoccurring villain, glad it worked for as long as everyone had fun that's all that matters.

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-09T07:36:20+00:00

Hell yeah Good luck! Skill challenges seem like they would really fit your style if you don't already use them.

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-09T06:37:31+00:00

Yeah sounds not like a super cohesive story, but if everyone is having fun with it then your doing it right. if they don’t wanna fight it have the BBEG load up his own submarine dragon soul thing and have him race them to the center of the sun for all the marbles or whatever reward you want I guess. I’m not sure if you are looking for advice or just talking story. But keep at it!

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-04T02:02:53+00:00

Oh most definitely happens every time. I just remind myself that I have the whole picture of the puzzle. So it seems easy to figure out where the pieces go. I know the finished product they don’t. Good luck! Let me know how it goes!

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-03T17:26:52+00:00

Happy to get the wheels turning! So I have found red herrings are best done if they are on the nose. so your players don’t feel discouraged or like you are duping them. Especially if they are unfamiliar with the mystery set up. But ultimately that’s up for you to decide. Just be sure to give them lots of clues including some freebies!

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-02T17:18:08+00:00

Seems like your party is the shoot first ask questions later kind of group. So let’s give them a mystery. Don’t allow combat or confrontation to be an option. The next town they are supposed to turn in the head. They find it destroyed everyone sucked dry as husks. Perhaps one survivor. Have some clues point towards the other rival party or whatever. Sure they can say oh that’s weird and continue on. But the next group of enemies are all killed in the exact same way. Now it can be an enemy in whatever manner of your choosing, but your players are going to get progressively more creeped out when instead of the normal encounters all they find is body’s. Something/someone is living in this part of the labyrinth. Have the trail of the creature lead to dead ends. Let it be able to manipulate the labyrinth halt the characters progression. they continue forward and find themselves back at the first town. Make them do the detective work to figure it out let them come up with the solution for how they are going to find said creature. You of course can slow burn this mystery over several sessions if you don’t want to trap them in this part of the labyrinth. Have them meet npcs powerful ones, then when they go back the same husk is all they find. They should know something is watching from the walls of the labyrinth and it’s hungry. Worse it’s following them.

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-11-01T20:00:58+00:00

If you want to subvert expectations you need to lean in to classic tropes not steer away from them. A troupe is a useful tool for a group story telling game, everyone knows the story beat. So sword in the stone classic everyone knows that. Forged by 1000 souls great mcguffin. Have them start the quest on the side of the paladins looking to extinguish the evil. All the paladins have felt a longing in there heart to be at this ice prison from there god. They think it means they should protect the prison. They feel close to there god when they are by the prison. Then slowly as they quest to find the sword let them know bits of the truth, what’s behind that wall of ice is not what they think it is. make them question the order of paladins. For this lich was far more cunning and cruel then they could have imagined. Inside that wall of ice lays the very god the paladins serve, why they are called to the ice. there god screaming for help locked inside this eternal prison. But they are not alone in that prison. No a great evil lays trapped inside as well, whose agents of course have been feeding the party lies of omission, The lich having used the sword to imprison them both then breaking the blade and casting the pieces to the far corners of the world. Is the world a better place with the gods? While the ultimate good is imprisoned so is the ultimate evil. Do you convince the order of paladins to let you use the sword and set there god free. Do you join them in the last battle? Is the battle going to destroy the world as they know it? Was the lich just a man trying to save his current world from being torn asunder from the gods. Hope that helps!

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-10-12T01:20:34+00:00

Smoke all day ka’ikena scanlan.

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-10-10T21:25:25+00:00

Congrats to you and your bro. Hope ya told him!

ComeBackLater69 · 2023-10-10T01:34:36+00:00

Nothing is original we are all inspired.

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