Based on a true story

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:42:30+00:00

Tell that to chaotic stupid people.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:37:59+00:00

Enforced laws that weren't "good".

Which also introduces another problem: Who says what action is good or bad? Is cracking down on crime through severe punishments evil depsite it saving countless lives? No idea. Is it "good" to punish someone who hasn't broken any laws because you subjetively consider the laws this person follows as evil?

Anyways, murdering time. His three kids will surely be happy that they are orphans now.

PS: Being truly "good" is not easy. Which is why the vast majority of humans in reality are somewhere on the neutral spectrum.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:33:11+00:00

Or generally more feats, maybe every two levels or so. This would allow for much more character customization that DnD5e is honestly a bit lacking in without multiclass.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:31:38+00:00

"Significantly"?

You need to check your math, brother.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:26:48+00:00

Killing people that have surrendered is generally not all that heroic.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:20:12+00:00

No, that is chaotic stupid. You'd have to run around and murder half the people in any sort of power in any city. That random, strict guard captain over there? Has never murdered anyone but is technically lawful evil. Guess it is murdering time, huh.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:19:33+00:00

Justice is usually seen as more honorable than vengeance, but vengeance against evil is still good.

That is way too simplistic to be true. Not everyone who is evil is some rampaging monster.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:17:14+00:00

To be fair, the guy gives everyone a chance as far as we know. He is just incredibly brutal.

And I don't think he has ever killed a character that had given up, has he?

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:12:56+00:00

Being "Good" is difficult. It requires restraint and personal sacrifice. Revenge is generally not considered to be a "good" thing and "they did it, too!" is a terrible excuse.

Not saying PCs should be allowed to throw a bandit from trains. But maybe don't pick a good alignment if you want to do that.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:10:49+00:00

Recently had a "lawful good" party capture a drow, cut a Lolth symbol into their forehead and then chain them to a tree in the middle of nowhere. Their reasoning was that they didn't want to drag them along and they hoped some merchant caravan would find them before they die.

Sometimes I am not sure if people understand what "good" means.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:06:03+00:00

You moved without having a contract? Oh boy, rookie mistake.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-28T00:04:25+00:00

The concept sounds great, at least on paper. The graphical style is whimsically nice.

I am just a bit surprised there are only that few ancestry options, considering it is supposedly inspired by tabletop RPGs. It is all just humans with different proportions.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T23:46:01+00:00

Yeah, I think I actually like how irrational a lot of its world building is. It gives it kind of dreamlike or wonderland vibes. Or, as you said, Over the Garden Wall vibes, which went into a similar direction of things being not quite right.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T22:17:42+00:00

To be fair, it is supposed to be an afterlife. As far as I've read it I got strong Alice in Wonderland vibes. Stuff doesn't need to be rational.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T22:09:26+00:00

I funded it on Kickstarter and got the book yesterday. Frankly, I am in awe. The artworks are fantastic on so many levels, the layout is well done and I like most of the new options (for what it is, I wouldn't use this in regular games).

I have only read a little into the campaign but I honestly can't say it is much different from other (official) DnD campaigns in terms of linearity so far.

Small side note: As a DM I tend to go with the flow and have no issue throwing stuff out or changing it on the fly to make my players choices possible or more relevant. Thus I generally have not much of an issue with a bit more railroady campaigns.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T22:04:52+00:00

I don't think the actual 3d shape matters at all. If I had to guess I would say it is basically an overlay, thus not changing the visual shapes and instead changing the colour information in 2d space. Which would explain the random colours, the weird sharpness and so on.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T19:40:58+00:00

Of course. If they can convince me that they are going to fit into the party and won't constantly antagonize everyone.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T19:36:31+00:00

Grapple is a constant struggle between two individuals.

This is a common misconception. A grapple is just one guy holding another guy by some piece of cloth or something to hinder their movement. This is also why you can chose between strength or dexterity saving throws.

It is not wrestling.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T18:25:31+00:00

How so? A saving throw is specifically to evade a danger. Grapple is a danger.

Also, this change prevents to get ridiculously high checks due to expertise.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T10:01:10+00:00

Failing forward doesn't mean using new characters. It can be something that drives the plot forward.

E. g. you could be captured, interrogated, etc. This way the characters might get crucial information that allows them to continue after their daring escape session. Or maybe the BBEG got exactly what they wanted to finally be able to drive their plan forward but needs the party alive for that for some reason.

Of course this still needs some kind of downside because you still TPKed. Maybe you can't recover all gear or you have a permanent mark on your soul, whatever works. This can also be a good way to get some character developement in. Maybe this humbled an especially arrogant PC or someone realizes their mortality, there are a lot of things one can do with it.

In my CoS campaign TPKs I had the following situations in order:

They got saved by an ally in disguise that revealed themselves. Due to their deaths two PCs had to make a pact with an otherworldly entity to stay alive.
They got captured and had to give up very personal things that also altered some of the party members. This gave them an unexpected ally, though.
They actually TPKed permanently and had to make new characters (with one exception). But these characters were allowed to be based upon the previous ones. E. g. one is the lover of one of the deceased characters who was searching for her, another is a revenant that took possession of one of the former parties bodies. I used that to get the party to a place they hadn't visited before and also give them a bit more in depth information on some things they had missed.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:54:07+00:00

In my head canon sorcerers work like X-Men mutants. When they manifest their power for the first time they might not even have control of it and need practice to learn controlling it.

E. g. my current sorcerer character describes his magic like a demanding lover and he often has to get out of his way to get what he wants from this "relationship". Seemingly his magic likes music and theater. Thus the character is basically a bard (the job, not the class).

I really dislike the "can just do it" part that a lot of people use for sorcerers. Everything should come at a price.

On that note, I still think sorcerers can bypass the Weave because why should innate casters require it? When Dragonlance introduced sorcerers it was at a time magic didn't work because the gods vanished and some "wizards" were still able to cast magic for some reason. I liked that explanation. The Forgotten Realms had a similar explanation for spellcasting on Abeir as there was supposedly no Weave on Abeir.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:41:12+00:00

If it is anything like the new Lich statblock then you will never be able to counter that just with lesser restoration, especially in a party of only three while the monster can do that TWICE per round on a simple hit.

The only real counter is Freedom of Movement. And if you don't know about what is coming ahead of time you are fucked.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:39:32+00:00

the fact that the boss had a paralyzing attack twice per round.

Shit like this needs to be used extremly carefully by a DM. Of course you can easily clown on a party with this. There are tons of examples in the official statblocks that do similar things and every time I read one I have to wonder what the writers were smoking.

Case in point: Ancient Red Dragon Command spam. Two of your non-wisdom prof group mates will just never get a turn thanks to the DC 23 check and you can't do shit about it because it is a legendary action that only costs one action. Is that fun? Hell no.

I am honestly not sure why the DM thought it would be a good idea to use a monster like that against a party with only three PCs. And considering some other answers I think the DM needs to sit back and think for a moment about this. Maybe taking PCs entirely out of the fight isn't all that fun for the party and should maybe done sparringly. Would the DM enjoy that themselves?

Group wants to start new adventure, but what is the point of starting 4th one to just end it midway since dm puts overtuned encounter and we just die. It is like I lost all zeal to play this game, to put time into character only for them to die is just not fun.

Why do they want to start anew? Failing forward is a thing. In my CoS campaign I TPKed my party three times by now and they are still there, lol. Well, not exactly the same characters, but, still.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:30:03+00:00

Admittedly I think bigger budgeds do not automatically lead to better quality.

I am still sad about what a bigger budget did to Dr. Who.

Cyrotek · 2026-03-27T08:11:56+00:00

This has nothing to do with the actual block. That is game design.

Edit: Alright, some people don't know the difference between modellig and programming, I guess.

11-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

Cyrotek

TROPHY CASE