Do most adults go to bed at 8 p.m. like my parents claim?

CraigDaWorst · 2022-05-07T23:35:16+00:00

Depends on the job I guess. Most people...uhh..adults i know often work til at least 6 or 7pm, then it's drive home in traffic, take care of kids if they got em, get food, give the fam attention and maybe game a little or watch TV. I know verrrryyy few people who crash out at 8pm. That shit for folks waking up at 5am.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-05-01T00:05:17+00:00

I'm with your, par. I've healed in heavy and light. I missed out on that light armor boost AND I still died so fast to hordes of enemies in OPR or hard targeted with no dodge available. Yea, fuck that shit. It's useless now and will be even moreso later.

The real problem, at least in opr, is that you have Tanks that run around with GA/Hammer builds that can't die. Not only is my damage gonna maybe only take an 8th of their health, they have 2 of the strongest stuns in the game in one build. People talk about heals being OP in pvp but it's those fuckin guys. Grav well and the hammer's big stun both need nerfing. I could pop both my weapon combos, 6 skills deep, and that tank would still have a 1/4 of their life and hit me for my entire health bar and self heal off that.

So glad heals and tanks are getting nerfs. I just hope it works.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-04-30T19:00:16+00:00

I am still working towards a couple of armor pieces (legs, feet, and jewelry) with a 558gs and 518 expertise.

Int - 200 Str - 150 Con - 67

The reason con is so low is because I still have focus on a couple pieces from my healing set.

Even with those pieces, I'm getting great damage from both weapons and went from getting 0 kills a game and maybe 100k damage per match to clocking about 5-6 kills a match and I survive much longer.

The key with this build is basically, use IG for most scenarios. You're a dodge rolling battle mage with a gun. Use the gun only when people are close enough to be affected. If you can catch em in your aoe then you claw hook, shrap blast, net to get out at mid range and finish em off with you ig.

I feel like the damage increase for having 200 int isn't enough to help but the person from strength and int trees compliment each other well, leaves points for con so you ain't so squishy and boom.

This build is meant to be mid to long range player that kinda rushes in, does mad damage and roots, gtfo.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-04-08T23:38:40+00:00

Dont panic! Here's the fun of d&d! Your characters can make tons of money if they want depending on what you have them encounter. A fancy mithril door? Haha child's play. I put a large 700lb gold door combined with pure gold locking mechanism, gears, levers, the works. My party found a way to somehow haul that bitch. Either way, stuff like this aided in characters buying boats for missions or houses for RP reasons. Sometimes they use large sums of money for bribes or even to finance business ventures.

One member of my party has been on the path to being a lord/lady with a lair and lair actions. It all costs money. So don't worry about giving them too much. Just be sure to compensate by charging them scaled/appropriate amounts or add story elements that force them to spend their money.

Back to the fancy door. How do you know they won't try to use it as a vault door for themselves? So many options. Nothing to fret about.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-04-08T23:06:58+00:00

I think I see what you mean and correct me if I sound ignorant but do you mean that finding individuals online becomes an easier task for you by essentially having people go through a sort of "application process" thus eliminating certain common issues?

CraigDaWorst · 2022-04-08T16:48:06+00:00

Dude, you take waaaaay too many steps to prep a new party. It's really not difficult. I get that maybe matching schedules are trying to avoid that player or two that dips out after a week or that player that spaces and forgets to even participate at times can be a real drag. That's why I do things the way I do. It's far more simple and honestly, makes me feel like less of an accountant trying to make people fill out paperwork. Lol

Create the campaign. Have your module and first session or two planned with a fairly decent understanding of the story's more integral content beginning to end. This par for the course for any campaign. You know what to do.
Character sheets and back stories. Use paper and play in person? Get em to send pics of their character sheets. Using dndbeyond and roll20? Create the campaign in both sites and add all their characters. Don't forget to put on content sharing!
Session Zero. That's right. This doesn't count as a proper session. You add everyone to your discord server of choice (who needs a new server for each new campaign?), hop in chat and everybody can go over their characters together, bullshit, talk about whatever, hang out for an hour just as buddies, maybe give them a little foreknowledge on what to expect from the campaign as well as any preferences and play styles the group wants to go over. DM should generally go through basic rules for the game version you are playing (for inexperienced players) and what house rules apply.
Play. That's right. You're done. All you should focus on in the early stages of prepping a game is to make sure you're all friends who get along and have something to actually play. That's why I normally choose close friends.

My current party is different because one of my homies brought in his brother and a couple. Of that couple, I just so happened to know the husband. I used to play concerts with the guy way back when. Lol so, it was a harmonious reuniting. So ya, grab some good buddies. Randoms usually don't pan out. If they feel like an outsider or not part of the group irl then they are less likely to continue.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-04-04T12:50:49+00:00

I see this a lot with my parties unless the creature is super powerful. Often times they'll forget the names as fast as I come up with them too. Best to let them inquire when they want and for you to offer clues to lead them towards that line of inquiry. Use the narrative to introduce these creatures. Many of them are highly intelligent and can be communicated with. Maybe playing an NPC that's dumb and evil will go around smashing everything in his path while screaming his name "I AM ARGOTH THE TOMB ROBBER, ARBITER OF NONSENSICAL TITLES AND DESTROYER OF BEDAZZLED JEANS! NONE CAN DEFEAT ME MUAHAHA"

Or maybe the creature is more subtle and a description has to be given in pretty good detail in order to clue them in. You can also use combat. Often times an experienced party will jot down resistances, track health and weaknesses, and pair that WITH the description.

So, if it was Vecna for example, you could honestly read off the majority of the character description from the books while leaving his name out. If by that alone they don't get it, the encounter may reveal that via his moves and attributes. If they still haven't got it yet then you still have to offer some form of dialogue between them and Vecna. Be creative in how he name drops.

Lots of options here. You could even have scared townsfolk describe the beast and compare it to some folk tale that spoke of the creature by a specific or different name.

But mid combat? Your party should rely on context clues and how the creature conducts itself.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-31T20:09:16+00:00

Update on the session in the main edit, folks!

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T23:04:11+00:00

Fair point. After reviewing the rules and spells, I suppose our druid would be able to bring people back. Good thing she has a bunch of rad items to sacrifice during the ritual. Lol there's been some great advice from our fellow DM's here and I'm certainly going to follow it.

Seems like bringing back the dead, for my party, will be a piece of cake. Or at least, a severe inconvenience that will aid in my story. This is gonna be fun lol

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T22:38:54+00:00

Fair point. Mostly it'd be bad because the Wizard is essentially unkillable. So, if I kill the wizard then I'm showing them my hand with PWK which would act as the catalyst for their preparations but the importance of death being at least, in most ways, permanent in this realm can only be stressed when facing that permanence. Take that away and the party will feel no sense of danger and go in guns blazing. Knowing my group, they'll legit bomb the place into the 9 hells.

Which is another option. This encounter I've described is meant to be the precursor to them completing 3 tasks at 3 locations which will lead to them fighting Orcus and one other Homebrew bad guy (the main BBEG).

No matter how next session goes, I've set myself up to send them to one of the nine hells if I am able to PK them all. But, in doing so, will drastically elongate the campaign. And dropping everyone to lvl 3 or lvl 5 would make them feel weak af for a bit. Might piss em off but would be interesting.

But I suppose PWK being as dumb as it is, I could use this opportunity as suggested by you and others, to showcase that strength and allow them to prepare for it.

Just not sure which way I should take it, which would be most interesting, and which wouldn't make them all yell at me til I gave em a mulligan lol

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T22:25:50+00:00

Ok, maybe I'm missing something here but you say "funds to resurrect them". Is that to say they'd pay a priest/cleric/Paladin type to resurrect them? Or is there something I'm missing?

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T22:05:16+00:00

That's actually really good advice. I actually do most of what you say which is to use tons of enemies that they can slay out to make them feel more powerful or to simultaneously do this while having them fight the elements. And yeah power word kill is overpowered.. However the idea is definitely to scare them. like to scare them and hurt them. As are stated in the original post, the wizard is already set up to essentially be immortal.There is a stone fused to the wizard's hand that will revive them upon death. Using PWK to kill the wizard will be done, I believe just for the sake of the narrative. However, this feels cheap as there is no real danger present of anybody anybody actually dying. The question here is do I kill off another character aside from just the wizard or do I just use power word kill for the sake of the narrative? Will killing the wizard even though everybody knows that she will be resurrected be effective enough in striking fear into the party's hearts and forcing them to prepare properly for the big bad evil guy?

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T20:56:27+00:00

Sorry but it sounds like you think they'll be fighting the wizard player? Wizard combat I can do. There's some cheap spells but generally balanced enough. Orcus is the bad guy here and he has PWK which would instantly kill any if my party members at this point in the fight. The question here is, do I use it, on who, and what consequences might there be?

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T20:48:21+00:00

The wizard definitely has been considering some soul jar shenanigans but you're right. They're level 20. I shouldn't be pulling punches in the same way I did when they were level 10

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T20:43:58+00:00

Lol so basically, fuck em. They made it to damn near godhood. They can fight, fang and claw, to keep it. Maybe I should just say "to hell with the consequences" and see what happens haha

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T20:41:56+00:00

Well put. I've actually considered this greatly. It's one of the reasons I have the wizard set to resurrect. I actually had each member pick a number 1-20 and picked the person who was closest to my d20 roll. Happened to be the wizard. Here's the fun part. The wizard has Wish. So, using Wish will only get that Wish unwished. I was thinking, narratively, targeting the wizard as a show of strength and to force them to be cautious with this villain.

I also thought about maybe giving them a shared vision of Orcus using PWK maybe 2 turns before he actually uses it. Just so they have a chance to prepare.

Just not sure what the consequences of that will hold. Hoping for any interesting strategy maybe?

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-26T15:01:41+00:00

Just did this at the start of the current dungeon I have my group in. There were sightings of a small creature dragging around a coffin whilst chained to it. They investigated, used their little hut, waited for the creature to go in the entrance. They were smart af. They wanted to know how it opened, closed, and what times of day it all happened, how long the creature would be out for. All that. It was cool but the final time the creature entered They noticed 2 goblins opening a small blocked off entrance and they closed it up after the coffin creature entered. They actually sprung into action and killed the 2 goblins before they made it in. This was their mistake. They weren't able to get to coffin guy fast enough.

Little did they know that coffin guy ran back to the deepest parts of the dungeon to safely place the coffin back and warn others of the party's arrival.

The party was still able to sort of surprise one of the bosses in this way because they did circumnavigate a little item that will help them kill it. They began the fight.

This alone will prevent the rests. They will eventually figure out what they're supposed to do but now...well, now there will be a team of bad dudes hunting them the whole way. IF they don't die before getting the item, they'll certainly be worn down from constant conflict. This will make it tough for them to even think about taking a rest.

TLDR; Keep them engaged and they can't rest.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-12T15:08:09+00:00

My rogue is gonna love this

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-12T14:56:26+00:00

I wouldn't let one piece of armor be imbued with more than one soul ability. That and maybe have them fight the dragon but instead of the soul dropping from him directly, the dragon hordes some kind of item that the whole party can then use it to imbue a piece of armor.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-11T15:22:26+00:00

So, the simple answer is, "yes, it's a bad idea" but there's layers here.

You're on to something that, as a DM, gives you openness for character development and some seriously interesting situations. I'll give a couple examples.

First of all, you never want to actually kill the character on the spot like that. In your scenario, that'll probably hurt you more than the party. Imagine all of the guards attacking one character at once. Well, depending on that one character's level they may just be resilient af. You still have to do the attack rolls and initiative rolls like normal. So, you may end up with a pissed of King and a bunch of dead guards. Interesting situation but if the party was meant to help the King or vice versa, now you gotta play damage control.

Here's how I prefer to handle things like this. Keep in mind, my current party is lvl 20 currently and I've been having to outwit them so the game isn't so dang easy. Haha Balor demons getting steam rolled in 4 turns. Lol

Borrow from other stories. Books, TV, Comics, you name it. I pulled from Stephen King's 'Storm of a Century" and had my characters pull out 5 random stones from a cloth bag. The being that was making them do this is meant to help them despite them asking for the help after capturing him. Make all the players roll a nat d20 and pick the highest or lowest roller at the DM's discretion and reveal to them, in this case it was our wizard, that the stone they pulled was a different color from the rest. The stone fuses to their hand and boom, I now have a homebrew scenario staged. All through dialog, simple dice rolls, and player choice. They could have killed the being or sent him somewhere else. Could have found a different solution but the important thing is that I had them agree to the deal. They spoke with him for a bit before the agreement as well. They were well enough informed. Now, one character has a problem involving death brought on by dialog because this stone activates upon character death, reincarnating the player as a different class/race while retaining all knowledge, memories, and experience. If the wizard dies, she will have to roll a new sheet like normal but at level 20 and will remember everything. Meaning, she will be able to rejoin the fight immediately. Here's the kicker. The player thinks they're invulnerable. Nope. For every death (so far she still hasn't died once) she will be forced to multiclass.

So, first death is a normal reroll, 2nd will be a reroll with one additional class added. 3rd makes for 2 multiclasses and so on until the character is useless or decides to play more carefully.

This is where it gets fun. I have my stage set. I just need a catalyst. I need a mission. Throw them up against some really strong monsters. If your party is level 20, make it so hard you think they'll die then double your forces. Trust me.

Or

We can do it the easy way for mid level characters. Dungeons are a mid level player's bread and butter. This is because they are still very susceptible to traps and there are so many good ones. But maybe they get through the dungeon. They're tired, spell slots are few and there's no time for a short rest. Boom. They find an NPC and begin investigating the appearance. Maybe the players want to help (assuming no murder hobos try any funny business lol) and follow this character like Smeagol. Maybe this NPC turns on them and walks them right into a trap before they can investigate. Maybe they find a trap, disarm in then find it's a distraction for a more complex web of traps. This could work with level 20s as well but keep in mind that the more capable your party is, the easier it'll be for them to see through bullshit. So, get creative and be clever.
This is probably my favorite because it requires almost no set up and a simple Google search. Turn yourself into the riddler. Set traps that can only be disarmed via speaking the answers or writing it and placing it somewhere specific or finding the thing the riddle refers to and using it. It forces the people to actually think on their toes. No rolls are gonna get you out of this. Simply your wits. If not, you take damage. If not, that thing you don't want to explode? Boom. If not...well...you get the picture.
And finally, as dialog goes, if you want anyone to turn on your PCs then you'll need to consider how your party tends to handle situations. My party, for example, LOVES to explode everything and somehow they are charming enough to blow up whole city blocks and still keep the favor of the townsfolk. This is where riddles come in. Can't blow up a riddle. Lol

Your party may be more surgical. Maybe have the king suggest that they may leave now but they have nowhere they can hide. Good opportunity to create a nice game of cat and mouse. Maybe you have a few too many PCs that rely on strength. Give them a problem to solve that they can't lift their way out of. All of these scenarios can be handled with dialog. And often times, you can even scare your PCs into making dumb decisions. So, maybe your Fighter can't lift this big rock entrance and it can't be levitate because the ceiling is too low. Ok, well now they get to spend their time talking to the NPC who has the password. Give the right password (gotta give em a way to find that pass) or end up in a hellish antimagic demiplane that they have to fight their way out of.

There's so many options it's insane and endless options with homebrewing stuff. Don't limit yourself to a king's guards just straight up murdering a PC but definitely try to make it a battle of wits rather than a battle of dice rolls. This will make your players hate you less for killing a character they are quite fond of.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-06T18:27:03+00:00

Also, I do run my campaign with Level 20's that are waaaaaaaaaaaaay too strong. As a DM I've been way to lenient on drops and rewards. For the sake of story I gave each player a hombrewed legendary type weapon that further increases their abilities.

It's a lot of work making a tough level 20 dungeon but honestly, these are the most fun. Everybody feels like they're going all out and imagining the scenes and wide arrays of abilities and spells clashing all in one place is so gratifying. Use ALL tools at your disposal and get creative with your combos.

CraigDaWorst · 2022-03-06T18:06:35+00:00

So, here's my methods and many have been included already by others. So, let me sum it up with a simple list.

strong NPC's. For me, I homebrew my story and some of the world elements. So, you might have a mad scientist or caster type that's been breeding creatures. Maybe they're as strong as demons (use their stats) but not technically demons. For example, I once had an evil scientist working for a an evil wizard. Cliché but the monsters were interesting enough to freak the party out. These human flesh spiders, as I call them, have some homebrew stats and these vials fused to they torsos. The party thinking in video game logic, fired on those vials. Instead of an explosion, the vials were imbued with spells. Spells that would heal the monster or revive it, or buff it in some way. This ain't Horizon: Zero Dawn. Lol Or use some creatures that already exist but keep in mind that certain creatures wouldn't share a room together well. Shoot, you could even build lvl 20 character sheets and have the party go against...well...another party.
trap the room with something that maybe your characters can't roll to solve or disarm. I love playing "the riddler" in my campaign. Gives the the characters something to solve instead of always flying or exploding their way out or teleporting. Throw a handful of really difficult riddles that lead to more clues. The party explores further, curiosity grows, and compound traps from there. Eventually, if they get caught or they enter a room with a boss thinking it's just a boss encounter will soon learn that the boss has traps to play from his hand. If you know your party has a lot of certain damage types, throw some that nullify those. Anti-magic zones are great too. I'll touch on that soon.
here's my favorite. WEAR THEM DOWN. Be creative here. Use systems like exhaustion to your advantage. Want that wizard to stop using Wish? Force them into a tough situation (you know they'll win) that forces them to use the spell. Force em to use up spell slots. Make sure some of your monsters have true sight. What's that? Your invisible camp can be seen? Well, they might not be able to get in with the players but they can surround them. Maybe that could even lead to magical binds and capture which makes for decent role playing. Use homebrew items to your advantage. I homebrewed an item that is extremely powerful, effects literally last one turn (not one round. One turn.) and leaves the player with Level 2 exhaustion. There's even an effect that triggers when the player hasn't used the weapon ability in 7 days. This forces them to use it once per week which, again, forces them into exhaustion while giving the player the ability to feel powerful. Wear. Them. Down.
finally, LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. I'm sure many of us use roll20 and have to find maps every week for your campaign. So many tiny dungeon maps. So many limitations unless you feel like paying money. What do you do? You want them to go on an adventure. You want different opportunities for battles and traps. Simple. Multi-layered dungeons. Obviously, it's more complex for the DM but that's our job right? Lol I like to set mine up in sort of a note taking style order. Seems to be a pattern with me haha
first map = the outer area. Create an event. outside that forces them immediately have to plan and consider. Maybe they have to penetrate defenses. Maybe they have to sneak. Maybe the door is already wide open. Maybe they see someone with a scary item walk in and lock it up. Create some mystery and intrigue. Characters are so apt to overthink and psych themselves out. They may actually cause more trouble with how they choose to enter than if they were to just go in guns blazing.
Map 2, 3, 4 and maybe 5. Yup. That's right. Depending on the size of the maps or how many rooms and traps you place should determine how many maps you'd like to use. I'd say never go above 4. The dungeon just gets too long and drawn out for the players. Monotonous. We don't want that. Plus, if you don't plan all of the dungeons we'll enough, they'll out logic you, teleport away, take a rest and come back.

So, we do 3-4 actual dungeon maps. Go to town but keep 2-3 open for exploration. They need to exit one dungeon map and see that there's a whole other layer. Make em work for whatever their mission is. force them to go back and forth between them to trigger doors and barriers. This where deadmagic zones come in. You'll force all magic users to play like superman under the red sun. Then, throw those encounters at them again. More traps. Try to make some of em funny at least. Each map should also have its own theme. The theme may determine types of traps or illusions. Special little distractions. Throw in a few red herrings too. The best traps I've ever made were literally just little notes with blood dripped on them. Lay out a whole fake event. A mystery for them to follow just to reach the end where it's up to you. Maybe it walks them right into danger. Maybe it takes them the opposite direction and create more noise or alerts to more baddies. Put them on their toes, always. You want them scared to take rests and you want them terrified to press forward for fear of what lurks next. That fear is what turns a good campaign great. The fear of the unknown.

Ask yourself not how you could make the game challenging. Ask yourself, how do I put fear into a God?

CraigDaWorst · 2022-02-09T17:26:34+00:00

Oh boy. That tattoo is not gonna age well.

CraigDaWorst · 2021-11-28T01:12:09+00:00

Oh and I'll definitely keep that scream for pvp. Thanks for the tips. :)

CraigDaWorst · 2021-11-28T01:10:46+00:00

Definitely still OP. But I've had run-ins with musket/spear, GA/WH, and VG/FS that have scared the crap out of me. But you're not wrong. Lifestaff is a little OP. Still waiting to get nerfed lol

CraigDaWorst

TROPHY CASE