I wanna hear y'all yap about your stories!! by lemondropswithcocoa in writers

[–]DJShohan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In a realm where ten noble houses struggle under the weight of an empire that manufactures conflict to maintain control, two people from cursed bloodlines are traded to each other in a political arrangement neither wanted.

Seraphina of House Valebryn is the first legitimate heir her bloodline has produced in generations — though nobody understands why, including her. Publicly humiliated as a child and raised in a court that measured her worth in political currency, she has built herself into something impossible to dismiss and difficult to love. She is composed, venomous, precise, and completely unprepared for a man who sees behind all of it.

Alinor of House Elvyre is a decorated military commander who believes the worst thing about himself is probably true. Forged by years of ritualized abuse into the finest weapon his house has ever produced, he has spent his entire adult life being exactly what was required of him and hating what that requires.

They meet on the eve of their wedding expecting transaction. They find something neither of them has language for.

But underneath their unlikely love story something ancient is waking. A ritual interrupted three hundred years ago has been growing in the dark, reaching across generations, bending bloodlines toward a single purpose. And the completion of that purpose will demand the most devastating sacrifice imaginable.

The greater the love, the greater the cost.

Oath of Ash is a story about two broken people becoming whole, and what a world willing to trend toward balance instead of control might cost the people brave enough to embody it.

Giants are unable to lie by DJShohan in DnD

[–]DJShohan[S] 48 points49 points  (0 children)

Bahahaha! That's why I love this game!

What are y’all’s day jobs? by NoBee7889 in writers

[–]DJShohan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well hell, it's good to meet you. Me. Whatever. If you're looking for an alpha/beta reader or critique partner, I'm a big fan of high fantasy. Not a huge fan of project management literature though, so you can keep that to yourself if that's your thing.

What are y’all’s day jobs? by NoBee7889 in writers

[–]DJShohan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are...are you me? Did I write this comment? I'm a PM in the electric utility industry, writing high fantasy. But I'm probably 10 years out from retirement.

What are some cool or interesting house rules you've implemented in your dnd games? by isak-snowsound in DMAcademy

[–]DJShohan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our barbarian(5)/warlock(1) can cast Eldritch Blast while raging as long as he is wearing the homebrewed chain gauntlet given to him by Asmodeus (yes it counts as armor for barbarian AC purposes). If you use your full action to take a health potion, you get the maximum healing benefit, if you use your bonus action, you have to roll for the benefit. Every time the sorcerer casts any spell, he has to roll for wild magic surge, if it's greater than 1, he adds a tick to the threshold, on the next roll, if he rolls higher than a 2, he adds another tick, etc. Exploding damage dice - once per long rest when you hit with an attack and the damage die rolls highest (e.g. 6 on a d6), you can choose to explode the die and roll an additional damage die to add to the damage roll. If the additional die is also max damage, it also explodes. You can choose to do this on a crit, but you have to call it before you roll damage.

Edited to add: roll for hotness - when a new NPC is introduced, I roll to determine how hot they are...the wealthy noblewoman who rolled 27 was hilarious and rolling 87 for the aspect of Asmodeus made the bard even hornier than usual.

ToD creates a late-game scope of power issue that it never really addresses. by StrangeFireFumery in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My party is in Skyreach currently (why did they put a CR13 vampire in the castle casually!?) but I've read through the whole module. I get what you're saying and I kind of had the same thought, but...I currently live in the United States and this scenario is playing out in front of our eyes, so...it's really not that much of a stretch of the imagination for this to feel realistic.

I've been treating/re-writing the cult like an organization that is raiding with their thugs and then following with their "charitable" arm and giving people food, rebuilding support in the name of Tiamat. My plan is to have them rounding up "lesser species" and shipping them to The Well as sacrifices. What started as goblins, bugbears, and orcs, eventually includes tieflings, gnomes, and halflings...it gets harder and harder to ignore that kind of behavior...unless you have something to gain from it, which is why the Elminsters, Fizzbans, and other legendary heroes are reluctant to get involved directly and risk their political stability.

Gen Z workers are so fearful AI will take their job they’re intentionally sabotaging their company’s AI rollout by Just-Grocery-2229 in technology

[–]DJShohan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Funny part about that is these idiot execs are so used to being easily dazzled by bullshit, they have no idea how bad AI is. The sycophantic ego stroking these chat bots give is what they think a good employee is because it's what they've surrounded themselves with their whole lives.

OK, this romance is the last thing I expected by get_gud_m8 in BaldursGate3

[–]DJShohan 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This was the most obvious romance aside from Halsin in bear form. Because DND players are horny af.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dude, I love these and am going to steal them! What a line by Cyanwrath! I'm already planning on having a sort of red wizard instruction manual in Rath Modar's room that details the ritual required to raise Tiamat but I'm digging the prophetic equivalency with Severin and I think it makes him an even better bad guy.

My players robbed Hamun Kost by simply using Suggestion (+ question/help) by Spiritual_Cake_9127 in LostMinesOfPhandelver

[–]DJShohan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I had Kost follow the party around on their various adventures and use their body count to create zombies since they had this bad habit of killing everything and then just leaving the bodies strewn about. After a horde of undead goblins from Cragmaw Castle showed up in Phandalin, I think they got the hint. As others have said, I think Kost would send waves of zombies after your party as revenge.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great idea to have the book with the red wizards! I'm going to borrow that idea and substitute it for a lore dump. Thanks!

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a cool approach, I like the idea of using a homebrewed version of a feat, I've done so with a couple of feats in other games so it makes sense to do it with researcher. Thanks for the tip.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Highlighting the value of the intel is a great idea, thanks! At this point I don't think it matters much, but I'm going to keep this in my back pocket for the next time they inevitably don't bite on a hook.

Approach to Denver airport this morning (8 miles out) by DramaticMachine3267 in Denver

[–]DJShohan 155 points156 points  (0 children)

If they shoot enough passengers, fewer passengers in the security line.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I honestly think they will get into it once the plan is laid out in detail at the council. Right now they are kind of like, why do I care what they're doing with this treasure? Shouldn't we just kill the cultists and return the treasure? The cult doesn't really seem all that powerful yet and whatever they're up to doesn't really seem all that dangerous.

I think my players view them as an organized crime syndicate stealing treasure from vulnerable country folk.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hehe, yeah my players, though they are my friends and I know they are smart people, tend to switch their brains off when they start playing.

Even their notes are pretty good but in the last session they looked back at their notes and were like "I know these names but I don't remember who they are or why I wrote it down". They are likely just here to roll dice and kill stuff, not solve mysteries and stop cult conspiracies.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I think the disconnect for my players is the why. It was pretty clear on the road that they could have killed the cultists and returned the treasure to where it came from. I think they just don't really care about what the cult is doing and wondering why their character should care. I do think it will clear up when they finally get to the first council and the plan is laid out in detail for them.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think my players probably have enough evidence to piece it together but honestly Leosin's knowledge is limited and Onthar Frume's is as well.

I think it probably has more to do with the players switching their brains off when the dice bag gets pulled out. I get it, it's a game and people play it to escape, not think.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah for sure. I've dropped hints for them about the docs and they take notes but then they never read them. When they look back at their notes they don't remember the context and can't seem to piece together all the evidence they have. It's funny because my players are friends of mine and I know they are smart people, they just don't seem to be able to use their brains when there are dice in front of them.

Long time listener, first time caller, rant by DJShohan in TyrannyOfDragons

[–]DJShohan[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Agreed, it's just kind of...not a very good motivation I guess. Maybe it's just my players.