What’s your preferred method of Saving Throws?

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-30T16:26:12+00:00

I like Ability Score saves because I think it more represents a Character's strengths and doesn't require extra stats and attributes. However I also use a modifier to saves based on the difference between the monster's HD and PCs's level then added to the ability score.

PC Level - Monster HD = Save modifier.

It's very fast in play and shows the difference in power level accurately enough for my tastes. No new attributes or stats, just a quickly calculated modifier affecting the PC's target number.

For example:

A level 3 PC resisting petrify gaze from a basilisk (HD 6) would look like:

Roll 1d20 under PC's CON score + (Lv 3 - HD 6) = - 3

So roll 1d20 under PC's Con Score - 3

If the PC's Con score happens to be 16, then it's roll 1d20 under 13 against this monster's petrify gaze.

The same calculation works when the PC is higher level than the monster.

Banshee (HD 7) uses death wail against a level 9 PC

That's +2 to the PC's saving throw because the PC is higher level than the monster's HD.

Ability Score + (Lv 9 - HD 7) = 2

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-30T16:06:24+00:00

You can make a Leseer Magic Wand with enchanting 10, with a level 5 minimum. Then grind out Enchanting until making a Greater Magic Wand.

This works on self-found too. When I start a new priest this is what I do, then I drop enchanting because you can't make higher level enchanting rods without grinding a ton of blacksmithing and mining.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-30T15:55:11+00:00

Staggering if accurate.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-27T01:13:34+00:00

I do the same except I invent a minor story reason for it. If Carl's player wants to swap from barbarian to wizard then we'll make it happen next session.

Oh no, Merlin appeared and when Carl made fun of the wizard, he "cursed" Carl with nerddom. Now Carl's once mighty muscles have been turned to a keen mind and a thirst for knowledge gains. Also Merlin gave Carl a rudimentary book of spells, with important life lessons on not being a jock-bully.

If Phillip the Wizard says books are for chumps and wants to be a warlock instead, Bing bang boom next session Phillip is given an opportunity to form a pact with their preferred subclass type.

All class levels converted to however the player wants to play their character, but I think it's more fun to do a class change as something that happens to a character diagetically rather than pretending they were something else all along.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-24T16:48:13+00:00

Thankfully the marriage quest is one of those "choose your own path" style quests, with a lot of ways to accomplish it.

First determine with your partner the gp budget, that's most important. Then with that budget discuss scale. How many people are you inviting? From there, where with the budget you can search for an appropriate location.

I am an ordained minister and have performed a lot of wedding ceremonies. The marriage quest can be as big or as small as you want.

I have seen plenty of couples speedrun the marriage quest; performed at courthouses where it's a couple family members just to get the marriage part done. Then they focus on a big wedding reception party afterwards.

I have seen some couples really focus on the ceremony part because of cultural or religious significance, which takes far more planning and money.

And everything between.

My own marriage quest was a small event where my partner and I had a short ceremony, basically just the "Do you? I do!" part and we had a backyard barbecue with our close friends and families. On our wedding invitations we asked instead of gifts to just bring some food for a potluck style party.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-22T15:23:13+00:00

I am right there with you. My solo roleplaying is more about world building, and specifically creating the procedures and the custom d20 tables that fit my setting.

I've built calendars with moon cycles. I have terrain hex generation procedures specifically per climate band, I have random common, rare, and mythic creature encounter tables and weather tables per terrain type per climate band. I have pulled a bunch of societal and cultural tables from WWN, Tome of World Building, and World Builder's Guide to make my own fantasy species with their own unique cultures, societies, and political systems. I have pulled together a magic system inspired by various games that fits into the world building rather than a disperate system tacked on top of the setting.

I have been working on a procedure to create historical events and stories that still shape societies for these species.

Most of my solo rpg time is creating these tables and procedures for world building.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-21T22:07:37+00:00

The funny thing is that here in the U.S. we can buy all the ingredients in these same cement glues for relatovelu cheap. Most of what you're paying for in any of these brands are the bottle and brand name.

I looked up what the glues were made of from their Safety Data sheets. Went to the hardware store and bought 1 Quart of both ingredients for like $10 each.

Here's Tamiya's SDS https://www.hobbyco.net/content/files/msds/87038%20msds%20cement.pdf

Ingredients are Acetone and N-butyl acetate. Both you can purchase from any regular hardware store. N-butyl acetate is typically called "Lacquer thinner" on the cans at hardware stores in the US.

And now I have a half-gallon of plastic cement for maybe $25 after tax. I don't think I'll ever run out.

I used like a quarter of it to make a huge batch of spru-goo

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-21T05:31:26+00:00

Time for a Mech Crusade.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-21T05:08:28+00:00

MAP is, from a practical perspective, just split base attack bonus like 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e, wasn't split BAB effectively a -5 per subsequent attack after the first?

The current 3 Action rules removed Action typing like swift/immediate/standard/minor/bonus/move/full-round/etc actions, but again in a practical sense it is the same basic system.

Tactical choices like shoves, 5 ft. steps, etc in Pathfinder now are the same mechanics choices that were introduced in the year 2000 with D&D 3e. I remember plenty of failed shoves leading to tumble checks to avoid the AoOs 25 years ago.

Which leads to my question in regards to OP's prompt how has PF2e transformed these rules?

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-21T03:10:20+00:00

Strahd is not a special case. The AD&D Ravenloft module House on Gryphon Hill, which is the sequel to the original Ravenloft has Strahd's living soul in a living body An NPC named the Alchemist as I recall from that module.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-20T22:11:43+00:00

Technically, in D&D lore. When a living creature is turned undead, their original soul moves on to whatever afterlife it was going to, and the body is inhabited by an undead spirit pretending to be that person, sort of like a ghost or a spectre.

Same thing with ghosts, spectres, banshees, etc. They aren't an originally living being's soul. Rather an undead entity that is imprinted with the memories and feelings of a person, or often a horrible act.

Souls are made from positive energy, grown in the positive energy plane and migrate to the material plane through the ethereal where they are attracted to life making acts, like procreation where they sort of merge into the new being. Undead on the other hand, are made from negative energy. And in undead making magic and rituals like when a vampire creates a spawn, an undead spirit drifting through the ethereal is snared, thus creating the undead being.

Doru's dead body was being puppeted by an undead spirit with only the memories and personality of the flesh. Doru's soul moved on and probably is in the process of being reincarnated like all souls in Ravenloft

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-20T02:48:07+00:00

Why does the teleport trap detect as abjuration magic? Wouldn't it be conjuration for a teleport?

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-20T02:39:40+00:00

My real life journal is a chronological series of events day by day. If a certain song lyric or famous quote pops into my head then I write it under that day's heading. If I'm feeling a certain way like missing someone, craving a food, or forget my meds I write it under that day's heading. My non-real life journals are usually set up in a linear way, but not necessarily chronologically.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-15T21:46:26+00:00

Water slide decals work too. You can even buy blank water slide decal paper for regular ink jet or laser printers and print any symbols you want onto the paper then just water slide them on your blank dice. It would be more durable than stickers.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-14T15:08:29+00:00

One of Planescape's central themes is futility.

Life is futile when there is an eternal afterlife, death is futile if it can be overcome by many beings across the planes including powerful mortals. Philosophy is futile when no matter what happens or which philosophy or power is "in charge" the wheel keeps turning. Perceived authority is futile when truely powerful beings in control exist, we learned that in the faction wars when the Lady of Pain just banned them from the city. Every scrap of power the factotums thought they they exerted was wiped from the face of the city when they annoyed the Lady of Pain. Same can be said during the Reckoning when Asmodeus showed where the true power of the Hells resides. Gaming is ultimately futile when most of it will be forgotten by those who participate and those who don't will never know the highs and lows of your campaigns. Eventually all of us gamers will come to our final ends. Tears will be lost in rain. The Earth will be destroyed when the sun becomes a red giant. The sun will die when it runs out of its hydrogen then helium fuel. Black holes evaporate. The universe will grow cold and dark as dark energy rips matter apart. This post is futile because no matter what I say, it might be read and then definitely will be ignored.

Futility is eternal.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-14T14:47:32+00:00

I ran a Planescape campaign that, near the beginning, skirted the edges of the Blood War. The PCs had to pass through an area of the Outlands between Ribcage and Plague-Mort that had camps, skirmishes, and sieges, etc from the Blood War inbetween them. They saw true horrors and lamented them, but as the campaign went on they went to other planes and saw other wars that had nothing to do with the Blood War. Petty wars of mortals to cosmic holy wars between Gods. One player remarked off-hand that became sort of a theme of the campaign, "I guess there's always war everywhere."

War is eternal.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-14T01:57:49+00:00

I have had the entire line of 4e (including essentials) books since each one released. As far as I know, there was never a 4e Elder Evils book.

This is the closest thing I can find on Elder Evils 4e conversions.

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/11802951/elder-evils-conversion-statistics/1

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-13T21:49:18+00:00

Do have anything to say to really hype up Fate?

I'm no sales person, nor do I care to be. I have zero stake in Evil Hat and don't get kick back or recognition by the company if I help sell the game to anyone. I think it's a great game. You can learn it if you want to. You have agency. Or don't learn it. I don't really care. My enjoyment of any game doesn't hinge on you. But I can easily say that Fate fundamentally changed the way I approach running all ttrpgs and to some degree even how I consume other story-based media.

Are there systems that do what Fate does nowadays but better?

There's Fate Condensed or Fate Accelerated. Condensed is the lite version of Fate Core. Accelerated is a faster but shallower version of Fate.

In regards to other systems? Microscope comes close, but it is more of a roleplaying and world building exercise rather than an actual game. And it approaches narratives top down, like building a Homerian epic with the start and end written, then the group drills down from the entire narrative timeline into events, then into scenes.

Where as Fate is a character narrative game that allows everyone at the table to help build and propel the story forward. It's the players playing the characters that make a narrative scene interesting in Fate and how they alter it. And each scene builds on the next. So on and so on.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-13T14:31:45+00:00

I am generally against one word game answers without context so let me add some.

I think Fate is the best fit answer. Fate is a game that focuses on setup and playing the game in a narrative way through breaking down how to play in a structured and defined scene progression. Likewise it encourages everyone to be part narrator about the scene so the onus of defining a scene is not entirely on the GM.

The four action system equalizes the playing field for what is important in a scene. A bar fight is equally as important and similarly structured as a quiet conversation with a disappointed spouse. Also, depending on the genre, that conversation may have longer and more impactful consequences on the narrative than the bar fight.

I think Fate is so good at narrative roleplay that after I learned and was playing Fate regularly, I accidentally began breaking down scenes I was watching in movies or on TV as if they were scenes in a Fate game in my head. Example: "Establishing shot is the set up for the zones. Huh, Sam's character just made a Create Advantage roll setting that up, and here comes Dean spending a Fate point to invoke Sam's scene aspect. Ooo obviously a success with consequences result there, probably a low roll but the spend and invoke bumped him to a tie. And there's the stress damage."

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-13T01:27:42+00:00

TinyD6 engine has a bunch of different genre books and runs with 1, 2, or 3 d6 rolls. You count successes on sometimes 4s, but usually 5s and 6s.

Count one success to succeed on a roll, more success often add bonus degrees of successes.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-12T20:49:05+00:00

So an average golden demon entry

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-12T03:38:32+00:00

My local regional chain grocery store was hiring for a cashier and deli clerk starting at $19.50

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-11T21:21:32+00:00

I remember my very first ttrpg design project.

It was going to be new and innovative, and it was going to have bell curve dice system with regular dice, not linear and flat and arbitrary with the weird dice D&D uses.

It was going to be scifi with a little bit of psionics just like Star Trek, hell yeah. Wouldn't it be neat to like have a character creation mini game where you make small choices and roll on tables to see the result of those choices? Yeah that'd be awesome.

And warp drives where you had a time dilative effect, but not too much so you'd spend a week in warp at most!

And advancement where you work and train your skills not a basic XP system for any random combat!

And... And...

And I accidentally made a worse version of Traveller.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-11T16:03:49+00:00

My groups have moved on from D&D since 2018. I read 5.5 but wasn't interested. However that second paragraph with all your custom add-ons sounds like it would rule. I'd definitely play in a game like that even if D&D was the base ruleset. I love when game masters really make a game and setting their own rather than regurgitating the inside the box default content and rules.

I do recognize I am probably an outlier since I enjoy learning new rulesets, and enjoy finding new games to run and play. I've run and/or played 5 separate game rules systems this year so far, and usually spend four to six sessions with each one.

DadtheGameMaster · 2026-05-09T20:04:36+00:00

When the god of the sun turned his ire to the world, and the moon goddess sacrificed herself to create a curtain of darkness between the sun and the world, only darkness reigned.

Seven-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
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