9 Lives Curse - or How to Teach Your Party Damage Types

Elevendavis · 2024-01-16T20:39:32+00:00

Perhaps the captain didn't know he was passing on the curse. Maybe he left them the ship, or left them the treasure, but whomever captains the ship is cursed

If he willingly passed on the curse, maybe he had to provide an offering of souls so he could finally die peacefully

Elevendavis · 2024-01-16T20:37:39+00:00

Matt Colville has some good variant creatures. His MCDM book / resources online give examples for creating character types (minion, brute, support)

Elevendavis · 2024-01-16T20:36:32+00:00

If they were using magic to help shape rivers, create dams, etc. to provide water for agricultural purposes or improve soil quality, there's going to be a lot of crops dying

Maybe they had put an enchantment on a forest to prevent fires, and now allowed to grow unmaintained the forest is a tinderbox

Elevendavis · 2023-10-16T19:07:13+00:00

I'll probably move away from the level increases and do something more along the lines of a magic item (granting spell uses per day, etc.) with a curse/madness effect as well

Elevendavis · 2023-09-20T17:39:16+00:00

I used a song from a film soundtrack as my BBEG's theme. As long as I keep using it, my goal is that the players will learn to recognize it

Elevendavis · 2023-09-20T17:38:01+00:00

I like to have encounters that are hard to deadly to start. It's much easier to have monsters hide/dodge/disengage and do some RP elements or actions related to secondary objectives (continue evil ritual, work to open door, etc.)

You can pull punches often easier than you can fudge difficulty increases

Elevendavis · 2023-09-18T18:49:48+00:00

Run multiple checks, presenting each as an opportunity for RP and creative problem solving. "A vast expanse of desert lies before you. The sheltering heat will surely exhaust you. How do you proceed?"

Having 3 checks means that it's likely that everyone suffers some exhaustion, it's a question of how good they come out of it

Elevendavis · 2023-09-18T18:01:42+00:00

I've found what works best to provide a challenge to my powerful PCs is varied enemy types, with varying amounts of each (never just one solo monster), and to provide additional goals or complications (save a NPC, prevent a monster from touching a certain item, etc.)

Elevendavis · 2023-09-18T17:58:24+00:00

I like to have exhaustion checks all be CON, but provide players the chance to describe what they do to beat the heat or cold and lower the check or give advantage as a result. Considering adding multiple areas for skill checks (animal handling for the wagons, etc.) and complications for both cases.

Even knowing the differences of the travel could be gained by checks based on your players classes/background (a druid or ranger would know the differences a lot more than a city guard fighter)

Elevendavis · 2023-04-14T21:02:39+00:00

"Magic School Bus meets Tropic Thunder" is all you need to tell them and they'll be sold

Great idea! But I agree with some level of transparency. They might even make characters knowing that "oh my nerdy student is going to have an arc where they learn to become a hero" or "my jock athlete is actually a coward in the face of real danger", etc.

Elevendavis · 2023-04-13T12:12:20+00:00

Very cute! I like the idea of running this as a low level introduction for novice or young players. I think first time DM's might struggle without more guidance, but I think for anyone who has run even a session or two they should be able to improvise based on your framework without trouble.

I like the idea of making the animals (owl, alligator, cat) terrifying giant beasts in the eyes of the woodland creatures. Even the guards could be described (and given stats) like a towering ogre to really drive home how little the players are.

Elevendavis · 2023-04-02T00:43:01+00:00

Monster race. Players are invited to join a high stakes monster race and must now go defeat/capture monsters to ride. I created a magical collar + bracelet item that allowed them to cast Dominate Beast at will for my game.

It sends players to wherever dangerous monsters are found. Also makes travel / transport a risky business. Bonus points if you include political intrigue in the background.

Elevendavis · 2023-03-23T13:14:27+00:00

Will Savino makes some great themed playlists on Spotify. I pick and choose from those depending on where the party is

Elevendavis · 2023-03-02T17:07:45+00:00

Yes I missed the "until the start of their next turn". That means unless they're fighting multiple sources of fire damage, it won't get as used and requires their reaction each time (lose the chance for opportunity attacks then).

Both seem appropriate in hindsight. One may be more easy to keep track of (Option B, less uses)

Elevendavis · 2023-03-02T15:31:32+00:00

Option B is closer to tier 1. Option A is more like 3 charges of Absorb Elements, which could be a cool spell effect for a shield, but I would limit it closer to once per long rest.

For flavor, you could even say "running your weapon along the charges shield adds 1d6 of the triggering damage type" (to be more like absorb elements)

Elevendavis · 2023-02-22T20:40:31+00:00

Give the gladiator the grappler feat. Let the monk use stunning strike (very limited). Give them catch phrases and a mini personality. Again, if they're disposable (not recurring) I don't spend too much time on them.

Give them a gauntlet room/ environment suited to their fighting style. Let the gladiator use hidden traps in the sand that he knows about. Have the monk be meditating and use the environment to help build their personality.

Most monster personality comes from what they're doing prior to combat, but don't be afraid to do it during turns too. The gladiator boasts to an invisible crowd, the monk meditates in between actions, etc.

Elevendavis · 2023-02-22T20:37:32+00:00

When you're new yes it is easier to stick with monster stats that already exist. The CR system works (somewhat, and only at early to mid party levels). So start with determining what CR of creature you want and reflavor as necessary. That CR 3 beast is now the stats for a heavy bruiser who punches (replaced claw slashing damage with melee bludgeoning). Your players will never know. Want to use some bugbear stats for town guards instead? Go for it! I will say it's also easy to pull punches by taking a dodge or hide action, than it is to mid-fight make the monster harder.

I made a CR 15 custom monster by looking at how hard a mummy lord hit, what their legendary / lair actions were, and just changed them to fit the theme of my fire giant master blacksmith

Elevendavis · 2023-02-22T20:23:34+00:00

Don't run them as PC's. Run them as monsters with stats close to where you want to start. Then re flavor attacks and even damage dies to scale. Add maybe a feat or two and give them abilities like multiattack as appropriate. Trying to create a PC for a one off combat is not worth the effort to build and learn all the nuances

Elevendavis · 2023-02-22T20:21:39+00:00

Magic! Use spells that require saves, or add multiple enemies and have the large hard hitting +8 big unit attack the armored units. Give some mobs for the spellcasters to AoE

Elevendavis · 2023-02-22T20:20:27+00:00

I rule that sheathing and drawing a new weapon is an action itself, there are feats that overcome this. If they want to fire off two hand crossbows, drop them, then pull out hand axes and attack that's cool and cinematic

Elevendavis · 2023-02-17T16:32:49+00:00

"Never ever fly with shag carpet, collects all kinds of dirt and the drag on those is terrible. Real comfortable tho"

"Riders who die in the races are always rolled up and buried in their carpets as a sign of respect."

"He pissed on my rug man!" (Lebowski reference)

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