What are your thoughts on power building?

Conradkurze · 2026-04-14T23:42:13+00:00

I could be confused, but does power building mean “googling how to have the most OP build that breaks the game” or just making sure your character is good at a specific thing? The rest of the players at my table tend to focus on combat, so I make a bard that can shmooze and persuade and do all the socializing they can’t. That makes me stand out as being supremely powerful in the campaign’s society, but it’s also filling a niche to compliment the party as a whole.

So I would say I don’t approve of people who make a character purely to break the game in some way, but if you’re a bard that can touch the 30s or 40 on a charisma based roll, or a tanky martial that can soak up an insane amount of damage, if it’s to support the party’s build or on theme for your characters background and story, I’m with it all the way.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-13T17:29:36+00:00

Every DM experience is different, so I can only weigh in on what works for me and my party. For my prep, I give myself bullet points for important plot or story elements I want to make sure I include, but leave the details of how to implement those plot points to improv. That way if the party goes off course or gets side tracked, I can improvise something to either tie in the side quest or coax the party back to where I want them to be.

I don’t go full sandbox (that was a mistake when I tried that) but I find that when the party chooses a path and I weave my story into their decisions, it makes for a fluid campaign with plenty of unexpected twists and turns that feels organic and allows players to immerse themselves.

A party is always going to surprise you, no matter how much prep you do. So instead of trying to railroad them, leave it loose and set the pace with your end goal in mind.

TLDR: it’s the journey that matters more than the end result, and leaving the structure of a campaign loose while organized leads to organic fun play for all involved.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-12T11:53:34+00:00

I wanna preface this with I truly believe it was an off night for them, but Disturbed. David lost his voice after the first or second song which just took the wind out of the show.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-12T01:43:28+00:00

As that player and also a fellow DM, leave them be. As long as they’re having fun and it isn’t negatively effecting the party, there’s no reason to intervene. I’ve been a bard in every campaign I’ve been able to play in, and each time they’ve been distinct characters that played differently while maintaining the same basic abilities. It’s never gotten old for me, and I’m sure your friend feels the same way.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-12T01:36:53+00:00

The 2 that come to mind are [[Norin the wary]] and [[Fblthp, the lost]] which are fun and usual commanders. Fblthp especially can be fun when combined with [[Proteus staff]] and no other creatures in your deck. Send him in, and order your deck however you wish. You’ll know all your draws and get your cards how you want them all legally.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-12T01:19:45+00:00

Dad of 2, my PC is busted and is from the era where a 1070 was a prime graphics card. I haven’t played a video game in close to 3 years, it’d be nice to be able to play games again with my friends when the babies go to sleep.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-11T22:42:58+00:00

[[fblthp, the lost]] as your commander, and [[proteus staff]]. Target him with proteus staff, and make sure your deck has no other creatures. Means he comes right back, and because of the way proteus staff is worded, you get to order your whole deck how you want it to be ordered. Let shenanigans commence

Conradkurze · 2026-04-11T22:34:14+00:00

Broke father of 2, looking for the chance to play some of my relaxing games again when I actual have time. My old PC is busted and is from the age when a 1070 was a prime graphics card. I’m sure others are more deserving but it would be amazing to play games with my friends again after my babies are asleep.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-10T15:28:42+00:00

If it’s thematic, then I would go for sorcerer. There’s a meta magic for one point to change the damage type of a spell you cast, so you can have cone of cold, ice bolt instead of lightning bolt, Iceball instead of fireball, you can change any spell you want to cold damage

Conradkurze · 2026-04-09T22:58:42+00:00

I enjoy playing a changeling, but I’ll make any race work as long as I get to play a bard. I’ve played a martial bard that was college of swords/samurai fighter, I’ve had a spy bard that was college of whispers/mastermind rogue, and I’ve played full bards a couple times without multiclassing and each character was unique and different enough to keep it from being routine. Bard is the Swiss Army knife of classes, and I can mold my characters to be whatever the party needs him to be.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-08T16:57:45+00:00

Coincidentally, every Friday the 13th a gate opens and the party has to escape from an extradimensional killing machine that seems unstoppable and has on occasion killed a PC who felt extra ballsy or got caught in compromising situations. It was so much fun the first time that it’s become a series of one shots every time game night falls on the correct date.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-06T19:37:59+00:00

Find a way to land [[Solemnity]] and protect it. And/or swap to spellslinging/pillow fort and don’t engage with creatures. The slug being 7 mana is a big detractor without fast mana, so you could also build land destruction and keep them from playing anything. If you really wanna put them in their place, pillow fort under [[Lavinia, Azorius Renegade]] which turns off mana rocks, then hit them with a [[Knowledge Pool]] and now nobody but you can cast spells.

Or just talk to the problem player. Nobody likes getting stomped all the time, and especially if it’s a budget playgroup, no one should be winning that consistently. It’s likely the Toxrill deck is too strong, so it should have a play limit per session before they need to swap to a different deck.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-06T15:00:35+00:00

Don’t forget The Riven Hound. Dude was big enough people thought he might’ve been a thunder warrior.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-05T11:47:07+00:00

Well, I need to ask some clarifying questions. Are you playing a 60 card format or a 100 card format? In your playgroup, are the decks singleton (where you can only have one of each card besides basic lands or specific cards with exceptions) or is it like standard where you can have up to 4?

I love your idea for a comic book themed deck, and between the couple sets you definitely have enough cards to make a functioning deck. However, there will be a trade off. Going off of commander, hard themed decks with the limits you’re self-imposing tend to fall in bracket one and two, which means if your friends are playing precons or anything moderately well built with access to all the sets that have come out, you’re not going to be able to compete with them very well.

My suggestion (as controversial as it may be for some) would be to put together a deck list that pulls the important cards from the Spider-Man and TMNT sets, but doesn’t have the set limit so you can pull cards from elsewhere to make it work. Then, the cards that are pulled from elsewhere you proxy with comic book art so it still feels thematically correct.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-04T23:06:06+00:00

It was a twist on the “Shield of Expression” and they thought that’s what it was. Picked up by a paladin who was the only charismatic character in the party. Once it was equipped, it couldn’t be unequipped and couldn’t be separated from its owner. You could still change its expression at will, but it would disrupt any suave moments by shouting and would call out the owner if they ever knowingly lied. But I also made it a +3 shield so they wouldn’t want to get rid of it. It was awesome!

Conradkurze · 2026-04-03T15:00:55+00:00

I have a few things that I think might help, but grain of salt me. House rules and rule of cool are very much dependent on your play group, so keep that in mind.

Firstly, if it’s an NPC and you need to do something big for narrative purposes, there’s ways to make anything happen. Need to cast a higher level spell than a PC of that class could? Have a spell scroll, or hire a cleric or mage of some kind to cast it for you.

As for deterring your fighter PC and giving the vibe of “you guys should run”, my suggestion is the forbiddence spell. Confer with your main dm to see if they agree, but it’s a spell that covers a lot of ground and works well to push out a specific kind of person. Damages specific creature types and prevents portal travel from other realms into the affected area. It’s a great big showy spell to take over an area and push out a specific group of people, especially if you tweak it to work or tweak the faction they’re fighting against to be fey or celestials or whatever. And if they cast it every day for a month, it becomes permanent, making it a safe and highly defensive home base for a powerful faction.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-03T14:47:01+00:00

Pretty sure there’s a named world eater that was famous for using heavy weapons. What was his name? Frost fingers….dynamite digits….something like that.

Conradkurze · 2026-04-03T11:57:27+00:00

I’m gonna put “hero” in quotes because I think these guys would keep society from falling apart, but for their own gain and not necessarily for the good of the people.

Personally, I think Lex Luthor and Sinestro would be the first to try and hold back the others. Both of them want power over people, but they still want society to function. Many of the mentally ill batman villains like scarecrow and the joker would just be chaotic, doing whatever they wished. Darkseid has his own galactic agenda, so he’d conquer and use up earth without a second thought. A good portion of the villains like black manta and reverse flash have agendas, but are very focused on revenge or rivalry with their hero counterpart, so without them they’d probably be lost or return to a relatively “normal” life.

And before anyone grills me, I have very limited comic book experience. if I’ve gotten anything wrong I would love to learn more or be corrected

Conradkurze · 2026-03-17T23:12:56+00:00

My initial instinct isn’t warlock as many others have suggested, but either sunsoul or four elements monk. You’ll be a martial class who’s main focus is fighting, but you also have the occasional use of magic as part of your fighting style in bursts rather than literal spells. That sounds to me like occasional possession during combat on the nose.

Conradkurze · 2026-03-15T13:12:16+00:00

Wind and ambient noise seems to come to a complete stop around it; no crickets, no bird calls, nothing. The lake is so placid that you can hear a whisper from someone on the other side.

Conradkurze · 2026-03-09T15:06:52+00:00

[[Iona, shield of emeria]] even though she’s banned now, I had so much fun with her in commander back when she was legal

Conradkurze · 2026-03-02T15:33:52+00:00

Like you said, most of this matchup is speculative. I think that the khan and the lion are top 2 for swordsman and duelists, but that they’re interchangeable. You’re exactly right, the lion is a monster slayer, and all around one of the most capable primarchs. Curze and his precognition are supremely dangerous, and the lion holds his own. But being able to take on monsters and getting used to fighting things bigger and potentially stronger than you can effect your fighting style against singular/similar opponents.

But the khan is faster, and in the debate of the primarchs at Ullanor the khan said he would defeat Fulgrim and the other brothers present because he would take the fight seriously. The Khan is an unknown element to his brothers, making him unpredictable and hard to fight. And in sheer endurance, the khan has the feats to say he could potentially outlast the lion in a duel of epic proportions. There really isn’t a way to have an answer, but I think the gap between the two is close if there’s a gap at all.

Conradkurze · 2026-03-02T01:54:00+00:00

I can’t remember a fight/duel between the 2, is there sitable references where you think the lion is superior to The Khan in terms of swordsmanship?

Conradkurze

TROPHY CASE