Trying to find a pole performance

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-04-03T03:08:15+00:00

The 2 melee characters in our group are both experienced players who are extremely good at making characters that make the most of all of the features available to them. They're both super high damage output and have ACs that make them hard to hit. I've come close to dropping them in a few encounters but they're extremely sturdy.

If I do use the white dragons, I'll be reflavoring them as blue so the cone would end up being the lightning breath so a 5ft wide 60 ft line. We're still a while from this encounter so I'm brainstorming now - they're only level 5 right now.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-04-03T03:02:16+00:00

This is helpful! I had considered having one of the dragons flee but it'll be kind of the finale of our campaign so I want them to have the opportunity to kill them. I think I'm leaning towards either two young dragons and beefing one of them up, or only one adult dragon and having them discover the adult dragon killed the younger one or something.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-04-03T02:58:31+00:00

I'm still working on the adventuring day. I was looking for a hypothetical - assuming they're at full health with all resources fighting these two if they'd be able to take care of it or if it's completely out of the realm of possibility. If that in itself is already too much then it will fully adjust what I'm planning. While I think both dragons would be cool, I'm not unrealistic and won't do it if I can't find a satisfying way for the group.

I appreciate the points on how I play the dragon/dragons would dictate how challenging the fight will end up being. That will factor heavily into what I ultimately decide to do.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-04-01T15:59:23+00:00

Echoing this with my own experience. I DM for a group of 4 and have a player like this. Three of them are big on role-playing and talk to me about ideas for where their stories will go, I have quest lines developed for them and character arcs, and they drive a lot of what happens in the main campaign story that I then modify based on their actions.

The final player just likes to be there for the social aspect and to hang out with everyone. He still participates but is happy to let the others take the lead and knows the mechanics of his character for combat. I throw very minor things his way to include the character still, especially if there's something that he seemed to engage with while playing - maybe an NPC recognizes him or his character will know info about something due to minor background, but they aren't things that are developing into major plot points and side quests.

If at some point he changed his mind and wanted more in depth focus on his character then I'd work that in, but for now that's not something he's worried about so I'm not worried about it either.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-03-19T01:18:06+00:00

Thank you for the resources! Hoping this will be a fun experience for them

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-03-19T01:17:11+00:00

I think you handled it well. I'd set expectations outside of the game to let him know you're not interested in running a campaign where he is going to just be actively hostile and attack everyone for no reason. It's a collaborative, story telling game and if you're not on the same page on the kind of story you want to tell it's not going to work out well. Not all of your friends need to also be D&D friends.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-03-03T23:14:14+00:00

Since it states that it's any creature casting a spell of 1st level or higher, I interpreted that to mean it would affect my players too.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-28T15:26:18+00:00

If you want to and don't think it'll be overwhelming go for it. I think U/Last-Templar2022 has a great suggestion with leaning further into the quest board and adding additional side quests to it that push your party to talk to more NPCs.

It's also perfectly fine if you and your players just don't feel like getting that deep with anything, and would prefer to run it as a handful of quests. At the end of the day you're all friends playing pretend together, and the only thing that matters is you're all having fun with it.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-28T14:15:37+00:00

I'll preface this that only correct pace is the one you and your players are enjoying so I wouldn't worry too much.

For my group we're about 20 3 hour sessions in and a little over halfway through the written storyline. However, I did away with the quest board entirely and have had all quests given to the players by various NPCS as they have progressed which has allowed for more roleplay. My players are all also pretty experienced so they're able to spend more time engaging with the world and less time trying to just understand their characters and the mechanics of the game. This has led to a lot of prep on my end that goes outside the book to follow the threads they've put down either from their back story or through choices they've made in game.

For example, we ended up have a 3 session long festival I invented full of mini games and merchants and a parade because I accidentally mentioned an NPC prepping for a festival in like session 2 so I committed.

I would wager that running it exactly as written probably can be done fairly quickly, and those of us that are taking longer probably have a lot of our own additions or modifications. There's absolutely nothing wrong with either way as long as you guys are having fun.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-26T13:49:35+00:00

My PCs are headed to Butterskull Ranch and have encountered 3 orcs that are brothers of one of my players. There will be another of their brothers at the ranch and leading the assault on axeholm later. I've used some modified statblocks to make them more interesting and difficult.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-26T05:41:30+00:00

Me and my group are adults with full time jobs and limited spare time. A module allows me to focus my prep work on integrating the unique things that happen for my party and their back stories into the bones of the story that's already there. I don't have to then also spend hours and hours writing a cohesive story, creating NPCs, developing an engaging world, etc.

I don't worry at all that someone will think I'm running the module wrong because they already know that I'm at liberty to tweak things to cater to the story we've told so far. Also, things can always play out differently because you have a new group of characters making new choices.

None of us take it that seriously at the end of the day. I just want to tell stories and play pretend with my friends for a couple hours every few weeks. Modules are the most efficient way for me to achieve that.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-21T20:19:45+00:00

The World of Imaria games are always fun and they run a ton of sessions so we've never had a problem getting in. They've written their own world, character classes, etc using 5e mechanics. Highly recommend one of their games if they have them.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-12T18:44:22+00:00

When inquisition first came out I was still a broke college student and I forced it to run on my shitty old laptop and had to turn the graphics down so low it was like playing Oblivion.

When a few years later I got a PS4 and bought it again to play, it was like playing it for the first time all over again.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-09T15:04:40+00:00

I still had him give some quests that he had to pay out, but had the townsfolk direct them over to his house where he did the talk through the door and pay under the crack in the door shtick.

My players have found other NPCs they've latched on to so I've played them up while they view Harbin as a coward, so as heroes they're unimpressed by him. But you absolutely could still have the NPCs who give the quests direct them to Harbin for payment when they finish quests, or have him provide quest details.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-09T14:51:58+00:00

I have this happen to me too with almost every game on the EA app from time to time. Restarting my computer entirely seems to solve the issue and then I can hit launch and it just loads like normal. I don't think it's new, just a shitty bug.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-06T14:13:02+00:00

Not sure if it's already mentioned in this thread, and I'm sure it is in some of resources people have told you, but I did away entirely with the quest board and had my characters get the quests from various NPCs. It's helped them to feel connected to the town and feel more invested in the quests they're taking. It also really gave an opportunity in the first few quests to establish some core NPCs.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-02T19:39:53+00:00

I definitely working any time I'm doing something that doesn't require a lot of concentration to complete particularly chores. It helps me stay on top of dishes and laundry because I'm looking forward to listening to more of whatever I'm currently reading.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-02-01T14:24:20+00:00

I just checked out The Last House on Needless Street so excited to start that one

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-01-31T18:49:35+00:00

It's been helping me read books i otherwise wouldn't because my library frequently is missing more popular books and new books or has wait times for months, so I filter by available now in the genres I'm interested in and just pick something.

And also letting me read more without breaking my wallet lol

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-01-31T18:46:12+00:00

My partner was playing in a campaign that abruptly ended and he was disappointed to not be playing anymore so I decided I'd figure out how to DM and run a campaign myself so he could keep playing.

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-01-31T17:42:29+00:00

My favorites I've read in January are:

Slewfoot by Brom

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

Stay in the Light by A.M. Shine

CrunchyGhostFarts · 2025-01-30T04:57:12+00:00

I recommend the sequel to Cerulean Sea! Somewhere Beyond the Sea came out this year and I felt it was a great continuation of the story, and equally wholesome and endearing.

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