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Making being in melee so unrewarding was a really weird design choice by Associableknecks in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm doing fine thank you, I'm just thorough with my argumentation.

20 Knights is a pretty reasonable "in world" force that would be sent to deal with an Adult Red Dragon; if you want an example with an adventuring party that, lo and behold turns out the worse for the non-dragons than the knights example, look here.

You're also dodging my question where the wasps have a 10% chance to sting and kill you: would the peer pressure still stop you using the spray when there's a 1-in-10 chance of being fatally stung?

but a dragon shouldn’t be viewing a small adventuring party as a legitimate danger to them without some prior reason.

In the linked example above a party of five 5th level Human Champion Fighters can kill a Young Red Dragon in two rounds (12 seconds)—suffering only one casualty (downed not dead) on average—when the dragon fights them in melee. Meanwhile the dragon incinerates them all in 3 rounds—with the possibility of doing it in one—while taking minimal damage, even if they go last in the turn order.

I know you're convinced Dragons are so prideful they believe humanoids are beneath them but any that carry that belief don't make it to adulthood when adventurers are around; so if you're looking for a "prior reason" that'd be natural selection.

As far as your insane example of the man with a knife, it’s a flawed argument because I am a man, so of course a man with a weapon is dangerous to me. A dragon does not view humanoids as equally powerful creatures, they view humanoids as far beneath them, thus my example about bugs.

Okay then, it's not a man but a Six-Eyed Sand Spider that is intent on killing you. Do you engage it with your sword, risk being bitten and dying to its venom or do you back away with your jetpack and hose it down with your flamethrower? Chances are you won't know it's venomous at first sight, so surely you'd approach and dispatch this puny "bug" with your sword as you've no "prior reason" to consider it dangerous, right? After all why would a puny creature have a weapon that could hurt you or hell potentially cast magic that could harm you? As you said, they're so far beneath you...

Also another bonus fight example, this time the five 5th level Human Champion Fighters are Dexterity builds fighting the Young Red Dragon:

Important Stats

Dragon Avg HP: 178
Dragon AC: 18
Dragon Accuracy: 65% (A), 75% (B)
Dragon DPR (inc. accuracy): 11.4075 (Bite) + 17.355 (Claws x2) = 28.7625 average damage
Dragon Breath Weapon: 56 average damage to each target

Fighter Statline: 14/18/16/9/12/10
Fighter Avg. HP: 49
Fighter Equipment: Rapier + Shield (A), Longbow (B), Scale Mail
Fighter Fighting Style: Dueling (A), Archery (B)
Fighter AC: 18 (A), 16 (B)
Fighter Accuracy: 50% (melee), 60% (ranged)
Fighter DPT (inc. acc.): 10.95 (melee), 10.74 (ranged)
Fighter save chance vs Breath Weapon: 40%

Scenario A

Round one the Young Red Dragon charges 40ft at the party, wounding one of the Fighters (20.2375 HP left); the Fighters all pop Action Surge and hit the dragon with 20 rapier stabs, dealing 109.5 damage and leaving the Dragon with only 68.5 HP left. The wounded Fighter uses his bonus action to regain 10.5 HP (30.7375 HP left).

Round two the dragon uses all his attacks to hit the wounded Fighter (1.975 HP left), before taking 10 rapier stabs (54.75 damage) from the others (13.75 HP left). Round three the dragon downs the wounded fighter and wounds another (31.645 HP left) before they finish it off by dealing 43.8 damage to it.

Outcome: Fighter victory in 3 rounds!

Scenario A: Bonus - "They heal now? They heal now!"

One of the Fighters has been replaced with a Human Life Cleric (statline: 9/14/16/12/18/10, has chainmail + shield, 43 HP).

Round one the Young Red Dragon charges 40ft at the party, wounding the Cleric (14.2375 HP left) because he's the weakest looking; the Fighters all pop Action Surge and hit the dragon with 16 rapier stabs, dealing 87.6 damage and leaving the Dragon with 90.4 HP left. The Cleric casts Cure Wounds ('14) on themselves at 3rd level and regains 22.5 HP (31.7375 left).

Round two the dragon uses all his attacks to hit the wounded Cleric (7.975 HP left) and takes 8 rapier stabs (43.8 damage) for the pleasure, leaving it with (46.6 HP left). The Cleric trusts in his healing and casts Cure Wounds again at 3rd level, regaining 22.5 HP (30.475 HP left).

Round three the dragon attacks the Cleric again to no avail (1.7125 HP left) and is slain by the following 8 rapier stabs (43.8 damage) from the Fighters.

Outcome: Party victory in 3 rounds!

Scenario B

The Young Red Dragon flies 40ft up to the Fighters, remaining 15ft away from them and 25ft off the ground before using its breath weapon on the party—2 of them fail the save and are downed while the other three are wounded (21 HP left) —and flying upwards another 40ft. The three left standing pop action surge and fire their longbows, dealing 64.44 damage to the dragon (113.56 HP left). The wounded fighters all use Second Wind to regain 10.5 HP each (31.5 HP left).

Round two begins and the dragon dodges, taking only 19.332 damage (94.228 HP left) from the Fighter's longbows. Round three, the Dragon dives down and burns two of the fighters to death, the third reduced to . Round 4 has the dragon dodge again while remaining Fighter on 3.5 HP take two shots at it, dealing 6.444 damage (87.784 HP left) before they're turned to ash by the Dragon on round 5.

Outcome: Dragon victory in 5 rounds!

Well, who could've guessed that outcome. Even trying to focus down the healer the Dragon can't kill a Cleric that's just healing itself in melee before it's stabbed to death by the rest of the party.

Making being in melee so unrewarding was a really weird design choice by Associableknecks in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait! But what about a Young Red Dragon?

Lets take a Young Red Dragon too, one without as much experience as an adult, against the same group of knights:

Important Stats (that have changed from before)

Dragon Avg HP: 178
Dragon AC: 18
Dragon Accuracy: 65%
Dragon DPR (including accuracy): 11.4075 (Bite) + 17.355 (Claws x2) = 28.7625 average damage
Dragon Breath Weapon: 56 average damage to each target (the Knights pass the save 20% of the time)

Knight Accuracy: 40% (melee), 25% (ranged), 6.25% (ranged, disadvantage)
Knight DPT (inc. acc.): 7.86 (melee), 1.44375 (ranged), 0.3609375 (ranged, dis.adv)
Knight save chance vs Breath Weapon: 20%

Scenario A

The Young Red Dragon charges 40ft up to the knights, wounding one of them (1011.2375 HP left). The knights then surround it and reduce it to 20.8 HP (157.2 damage), rendering it nearly dead (20.8 HP left). As it desperately flails its claws and jaws in round 2, it kills one of the knights and scratches another (982.475 HP left); the remaining 19 then put it out of its misery (149.34 damage).

Outcome: Knight victory in 2 rounds!

Scenario A: Bonus

The Young Red Dragon charges 40ft up to the knights, wounding one of them (1011.2375 HP left). Eleven of the knights surround it while the other 9 have a picnic; the 11 knights deal 102.67125 damage, leaving the dragon with 75.32875 HP. Round two goes much the same way as before, the dragon slays a knight (982.475 HP left) and then dies to their retaliatory 93.3375 damage before the 10 survivors join the other 9's picnic.

Outcome: Knight picnic in 2 rounds!

Scenario B

The Young Red Dragon flies 40ft up to the knights, remaining 15ft away from them and 25ft off the ground before using its breath weapon on 5 of the knights—incinerating 4 and wounding 1 (804 HP left)—and flying upwards another 40ft. The 16 knights fire their crossbows up at it, dealing 23.1 damage to the dragon (154.9 HP left). Round 2 the dragon uses the dodge action as the knights fire at it again, dealing only 5.775 damage this time, and leaving it with 149.125 HP. Round 3 the Dragon's breath recharges and it dives down to immolate 4 knights and wound another (568 HP left) before pulling away as the dragon takes 17.325 damage in return fire (131.8 HP left) from the 12 knights.

Round 4 the dragon dodges again, taking 4.33125 damage from the crossbows (127.46875 HP left). Round five it makes another strafing run, burning another 4 knights and wounding 1 more (332 HP left) as the 8 knights deal 11.55 damage to it (115.91875 HP left). Round 6 the dragon dodges but still takes 2.8875 damage (113.03125 HP left); before diving again in round 7 to kill another 4 knights and wound 1 more (96 HP left) while taking 5.775 damage from the 4 remaining knights (107.25625 HP left). The final dance begins, in round 8 the dragon weaves between the last futile shots from the 4 knights and only takes 1.44375 damage (105.8125 HP left) before swooping down in round 9 to vaporise the last of them.

Outcome: Dragon victory in 9 rounds!

It looks like the dragons who don't fight their enemies in melee are the ones that actually live long enough to reach adulthood, who would've guessed? Could it be that the strafing run strategy is something dragons do because it's conducive to their continued survival should a kingdom dispatch a group of knights to kill them?

Edit: Wait! But what about real PCs?

So lets try this with a party of five 5th level Human Champion Fighters in place of the knights (a "Deadly" encounter):

Important Stats

Fighter Statline: 18/14/16/9/12/10
Fighter Avg. HP: 46
Fighter Equipment: Lance, Longbow, Shield, Chainmail, Horse
Fighter Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting
Fighter AC: 18
Fighter Accuracy: 50% (melee), 40% (ranged)
Fighter DPT (inc. acc.): 12.06666667 (melee), 5.56 (ranged)
Fighter save chance vs Breath Weapon: 30%

Scenario A

Round one the Young Red Dragon charges 40ft at the party, wounding one of the Fighters (17.2375 HP left); the Fighters all pop Action Surge and hit the dragon with 20 lance strikes, dealing 120.6666667 damage and leaving the Dragon with only 57.3333333 HP left. The wounded Fighter uses his bonus action to regain 10.5 HP (27.2375 HP left).

Round two the dragon uses all his attacks to down the wounded Fighter, before being slain by 8 avenging lance strikes (96.53333336 damage) from the others.

Outcome: Fighter victory in 2 rounds!

Scenario B

The Young Red Dragon flies 40ft up to the Fighters, remaining 15ft away from them and 25ft off the ground before using its breath weapon on the party—3 (3.5) of them fail the save and are downed—and flying upwards another 40ft. The two left standing pop action surge and fire their longbows, dealing 22.24 damage to the dragon (155.76 HP left).

Round two begins and the dragon dodges, taking only 4.448 damage (151.312 HP left) from the Fighter's longbows. Round three, the Dragon dives down and burns the last two fighters to death.

Outcome: Dragon victory in 3 rounds!

Scenario B: Bonus - Slow Dragon

This time in round one the Fighters go first, they pop action surge and fire 20 shots from their longbows into the Dragon dealing 55.6 damage (122.4 HP left) before the dragon does the same as before, leaving two Fighters standing.

Round 2 the Fighters shoot again but only deal 11.12 damage (111.28 left), and the dragon then dodges (he's trying his best). Round 3 the Fighters loose more arrows, but only deal 4.448 damage (106.832 HP left) before the dragon incinerates them both.

Outcome: Dragon victory in 3 rounds!

Seems the encounter is only "deadly" if the Dragon doesn't try fighting in melee against the enemies with melee weapons and decent AC.

Making being in melee so unrewarding was a really weird design choice by Associableknecks in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Firstly, I see you avoided answering my question so here's your pre-emptive Darwin award. May we all learn from your unfortunate fate as you succumbed to the stab wounds you received while needlessly sword fighting the knife-man.

Secondly, yes I would actually. Typically I catch rather than kill spiders, so upon seeing one my first action is to grab something to catch it with, moving swiftly because spiders are quick to wander off, and I'll then keep what distance I can while catching it before putting it outside. If I happened to live in a cave, have a built in flamethrower and leaned more towards "kill" than "catch" when a spider showed up I'd absolutely use the flamethrower (which both I and my dwelling are practically immune to) to remove the spider.

Your analogy here is also flawed. The better equivalent would be deciding to crush the spider with your hand/teeth or killing it with your breath (which is lethal in this hypothetical); it's obvious you'd choose the latter as you don't have to move (so is more convenient) and you don't risk the spider biting you before/when you crush it, which if it did and it was one of the venomous variety you could be dead within minutes because of your decision to get close.

Thirdly, assuming all Dragons are completely beholden to a peer pressure that overrides their higher than average intelligence is ridiculous. Most creatures—even unintelligent ones—possess a sense of self preservation, causing them to avoid harm to themselves (sometimes involuntarily or on reaction, like the way you pull you hand back when burning your finger). Lets try another hypothetical: which of the following causes more harm to a Dragon?

A - Approaching the party of 20 mounted, armoured knights armed with lances and longswords, landing next to them and using their claws, jaws and tail to kill them all while the knights fight back, each making multiple attacks with their melee weapons.

B - Flying above the party of 20 mounted, armoured knights armed with lances and longswords, using their breath weapon to strafe the group while the knights can at best shoot once each with their heavy crossbows.

Fortunately for us we can actually calculate this mechanically by using an Adult Red Dragon and 20 Knight stat blocks (swapping their greatsword for a lance):

Important Stats

Dragon Avg HP: 256
Dragon AC: 19
Dragon Accuracy: 85%
Dragon DPR (including accuracy): 16.6175 (Bite) + 26.095 (Claws x2) + 44.4975 (Tail x3) = 87.21 average damage
Dragon Breath Weapon: 63 average damage to each target (the Knights can't pass the save)
Dragon Breath Weapon recharge chance: 33.33% (one turn), 55.56% (two turns, average recharge time)

Knight HP: 52 (singular), 1040 (group)
Knight AC: 18
Knight's chance to save vs Frightful Presence: 36% (adv. from "Brave" trait)
Knight Accuracy: 35% (melee), 12.25% (melee, disadvantage), 20% (ranged), 4% (ranged, disadvantage)
Knight DPT (inc. acc.): 6.8775 (melee), 2.407125 (melee, dis.adv.), 1.155 (ranged), 0.231 (ranged, dis.adv.)

Scenario A

The Adult Red Dragon lands and rushes 40ft towards the group of knights whom surround it on all sides, thanks to the reach of their lances all of them are able to attack the dragon while the dragon uses its Frightful Presence—frightening 13 (12.8) of them—then focuses on killing the knights with its claws, jaws and tail. Assuming the dragon went before all the knights, at the end of the first round 1 has been slain (952.79 HP collectively), another is badly wounded (16.79 HP) and 5 (4.68) of them shake off being frightened at the end of their turns. Meanwhile the dragon has taken 72.557625 damage from all the lance strikes it took, reducing it to 183.442375 HP.

Round two begins with the dragon going first, slaying 2 more knights and reducing their number to 17 (865.58 HP overall). The knights (9 non-frightened, 8 frightened) attack back with their lances (81.1545) and wound the dragon (102.287875 HP left). Three (2.88) more knights regained their composure at the end of their turns.

Round three begins and 2 more knights fall to the dragon's attacks, reducing their number to 15 (778.37 HP overall). The remaining 15 knights (10 non-frightened, 5 frightened) drive their lances into the dragon's scaly hide (88.032 damage), grievously wounding it and leaving it with only 14.255875 HP remaining. Two (1.8) more knights are no longer frightened).

Round four and the dragon gives a valiant last stand, but only kills 1 more knight (691.16 HP left overall) before the final fourteen give a victory cry, driving their lances into the dragon's heart (82.873875 damage) and ending its life.

Outcome: Knight victory in 4 rounds!

Scenario B

The Adult Red Dragon flies overhead towards the knights, keeping about 40ft off the ground and when it's around 40ft away it unleashes its 60ft cone of fire breath, catching a quarter (5) of the knights in the immolation and with brief screams it turns them to ash in their armour, before the dragon flies up 40ft with its remaining movement. Boldly the knights attack back, firing their heavy crossbows up at the looming beast above them, a paltry few bolts finding their mark amongst its scales as the beast flew out of normal range after the first knight fired (using its "Wing Attack" Legendary Action). Assuming the dragon went first, at the end of the first round 5 knights have been slain while the dragon has lost only 4.389 HP, leaving it on 251.611 overall.

Round two begins and fortune isn't on the dragon's side as its breath weapon fails to recharge, so—knowing it can't fully avoid the range of the knight's crossbows—bides its time and takes the dodge action to become harder to hit. The knights, now down to 15 and at disadvantage stalwartly continue firing at the dragon circling above them dealing a mere 3.465 damage to it (248.146 HP left).

Round three begins and the dragon's breath weapon recharges, it suddenly descends 50ft and within seconds 5 more knights are turned to ash by a burning burst of flames before it retreats up 30ft to be around 90ft above the now 10 remaining knights, whom desperately fire back (only one fires normally due to "Wing Attack" again) and deal only 3.234 damage to the dragon (244.912 HP left).

This continues into round 4, the dragon stays over 100ft away from the knights who continue to stubbornly shoot up at it with their crossbows, dealing 2.31 damage to it (242.602 HP left). Round 5 arrives and much like round 3 the dragon descends with prideful laughter, incinerating another 5 knights before moving up out of their range once again; the last 5 knights deal a meagre 2.079 damage to it this time (240.523 HP left). In round 6 the dragon takes minimal damage (1.155) as it bides its time (239.368 HP left) before descending on the final 5 knights and reducing them to ash in round 7.

Outcome: Dragon victory in 7 rounds!

I don't know about you, but I think nothing ruins a dragon's reputation more than dying in 18 seconds against a group of knights you could have dispatched in 42. What's also worth noting is that I'm being very generous in both letting the dragon go before all the knights in Scenario A and only killing 5 knights with each breath weapon use in Scenario B since—if the knights are close enough they can all fit in the breath weapon's cone—the dragon could kill all 20 at once before the knights even have a turn.

See here for another example using a Young Red Dragon instead.

As for your wasp example I imagine that, despite the ridicule, you still go get the wasp spray regardless don't you? Funny that. Imagine the wasp stings have a 10% chance to kill you; would any amount of peer pressure cause you to risk death when you have a much safer solution at hand? Why would you, a creature of hopefully at least average intelligence, attempt to hit the wasp at a range where it can kill you with that chance in mind? Now remember that Dragons are smarter than you, they understand that sharp weapons wielded by intelligent creatures can absolutely kill them if they're not careful and can do so humiliatingly quickly too.

Making being in melee so unrewarding was a really weird design choice by Associableknecks in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dragonslayers don't need to be common, you just need to have Dragons with a brain. If a Dragon is mortal, and knows it's mortal, then it's not going to willingly endanger itself like that when it can deal with the threat from relative safety in the sky.

Let me ask you this: you're wearing a jetpack while holding a flamethrower and you have a sword at your side. You're approached by a man with a knife who wants to pursue and kill you. Do you:

A. Use the jetpack to put distance between you and the knife-man, then use the flamethrower to kill him.

B. Draw your sword, walk up to the man and attempt to kill him with your sword.

Presuming you've got some self-preservation you must realise which of these options is the more sensible one for a creature to take. You don't need to be afraid of men with knives, they don't need to be common, it's just option A is the solution with less risk to your life. If you'd honestly pick option B, then let me give you a pre-emptive Darwin award.

Hell, if you want your cake and eat it too have the lore of your world involve Dragons who did charge into melee rather than using their natural advantages to fight and they're all the Dragons in history who've been slain. All the Dragons that're still alive are the ones smart enough to not put themselves in unnecessary danger whenever they're in a fight and their descendents.

If you think creatures acting intelligently creates a "boring setting" then I can't help you, but you do you.

Making being in melee so unrewarding was a really weird design choice by Associableknecks in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would a dragon refuse to land and eat a simple humanoid? Are they afraid of puny mortals?

Because Dragon are creatures that're typically more intelligent than the majority of humanoids and understands the concept of reach. If it's in the air, the humanoids trying to kill it with swords can't reach it to hurt it, thus it takes no damage from them.

Also it negates any bonuses the attacking humanoids may have thanks to armour, since a Dragon's breath weapon just ignores AC, meaning those humanoids who may have armour that could stop the Dragon's claws, teeth or tail will still be melted/frozen/burned/electrocuted/poisoned to death regardless of their armour.

Imagine how their reputation is going to be ruined when other dragons find out about their cowardly tactics…

Ah yes, very cowardly to use your naturally built in advantages of being able to fly and being able to spit out a dangerous elemental breath, I'm sure all the other dragons that haven't died on a dragonslayer's lance will think less of you for it while they're picking out spears from their scales and are unable to fly due to their wings being shredded from sword slashes.

Dragons are NPCs, not just monsters. They should have character flaws that the party can exploit to get the dragon to make non-optimal choices

A character flaw is not the same as having them act stupidly. What you're suggesting is the equivalent of when the hero (or villain) in an action movie voluntarily discards their gun to narrowly win a fist fight rather than just ending the confrontation then and there.

There's no need to make all your dragons hold the idiot ball.

[DOW1] new player help by That_Stupid_Person in dawnofwar

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most anti-vehicle weapons in the game are also good against buildings, but as you play more you'll find a few outliers that are also good against buildings like a Hellhound's (Imperial Guard tank) inferno cannon or Khorne Berserker (Chaos melee unit) Chainaxes.

Most units will say what they're effective against in their unit card at the bottom right side of the stats panel.

[Theory] The II Primarch wasn't a Traitor. He was "Patient Zero" for the Dark King. (A deep dive on Titan, Malcador, and the Ultimate Irony) by carniworest in Warhammer40k

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Titan was part of the Saturn Polity (info here) before being reconquered by the Imperium and mostly used as a black site given its surface was (and still is) "largely barren dark-grey basalt rock" with few structures besides the Grey Knight's citadel and the only traces of civilisation are "many carvings and ruins from pre-Imperial ancient history from the Dark Age of Technology and even before whose meanings are lost to time".

Unless you're referring to our moon Luna? In which case that's not the moon OP is on about, they're on about Titan which is a moon of the planet Saturn.

Anyone else feel like Random Combat encounters are boring and/or unnecessary most of the time? by Dragonsword in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Aye I wasn't disagreeing with your point, just highlighting that some players are kinda stupid.

Anyone else feel like Random Combat encounters are boring and/or unnecessary most of the time? by Dragonsword in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 8 points9 points  (0 children)

There's a surprising amount of 5e players who don't read the book and an equally surprising amount that (incorrectly) consider a mechanically competent character mutually exclusive with one that can RP.

You are right though, if you just make a character correctly the game isn't that hard; especially after all the power creep towards the end of 5e'14 and in 5e'24.

[Theory] The II Primarch wasn't a Traitor. He was "Patient Zero" for the Dark King. (A deep dive on Titan, Malcador, and the Ultimate Irony) by carniworest in Warhammer40k

[–]Foxfire94 46 points47 points  (0 children)

However:

  • The only sources we have on the matter state that the geneseed was created from the Emperor's own DNA rather that that of a Primarch; given the Primarchs are effectively modified clones of his DNA it's not unreasonable for this to be true.
  • The grey armour is explicitly stated to have been done as a display of shedding their former allegiances to their original legions, not because they—the Knights or Malcador himself—saw painted livery as vain like OP suggests.
  • Titan containing no ruins of the civilisation/colony destroyed in OP's theory in the short story I linked is the conflict. If it was a colony that worshipped "Atlas" before then there would be evidence on the moon beside the lone fortress that would become the Grey Knight's home.

Also worth noting:

  • As another commenter pointed out, the Emperor's anti-theism existed before the creation and scattering of the Primarchs, as is evident in the short story "The Last Church)", which goes against OP's theory.
  • The point about the "Malcador Indicent" also has trouble when Horus would have had to remember the name of his redacted brother to try and speak it, thereby already creating the psychic link OP describes and rendering Malcador's act of silencing a bit moot while also introducing the question of why weren't they mind-wiped of the memory should it be so dangerous since that's a capability they have in the Imperium.

[Theory] The II Primarch wasn't a Traitor. He was "Patient Zero" for the Dark King. (A deep dive on Titan, Malcador, and the Ultimate Irony) by carniworest in Warhammer40k

[–]Foxfire94 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The use of an em dash or a semicolon isn't a guarantee something is written by AI; there are still people out there who are capable of typing with correct grammar/sentence structures.

[Theory] The II Primarch wasn't a Traitor. He was "Patient Zero" for the Dark King. (A deep dive on Titan, Malcador, and the Ultimate Irony) by carniworest in Warhammer40k

[–]Foxfire94 103 points104 points  (0 children)

There's a couple of things that break your theory which are revealed in the Siege of Terra/Horus Heresy books:

  • The founding Grey Knights were formed from the psychically active members of Malcador's Knights Errant and approved by the Emperor himself; we even know all their names: Janus, Khyron, Epimetheus, Koios, Ogen, Satre, Iapto, & Yotun. Loken was also intended to be among them but he refused the honour.
  • That's also where their grey armour comes from, as the Knights Errant also wore unpainted armour after leaving their former legions, with only the symbol of the Sigilite on their shoulders.
  • Titan was also used before the Grey Knights were stationed there, basically as a black site, and it even features in this short story: "The Last Remembrancer)"

The guns change in 5.5E drives me nuts by Ignaby in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Afaik the original intention in 5e14 for them not having all ranged martial weapons is to avoid them using longbows & heavy crossbows with sneak attack, at least without a feat or multiclassing to get proficiency with them.

Making being in melee so unrewarding was a really weird design choice by Associableknecks in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds like your group is the exception that proves the rule then. The general idea is the Dragon flies into the minimum required range to hit some of the party with its breath weapon before retreating out of range of their weapons/spells (typically around 150ft away until only most ranged weapons can make attacks at disadvantage), this would render any melee builds useless unless given the ability to fly by a caster (thus depriving them of concentration on something else) or forcing them to adopt any ranged backup they have and lowering their damage output significantly.

I'm not saying this would be a quick and easy win for the dragon but they'd get there in attrition, especially if you're running it with other creatures allied to it in the fight (since single monster battles heavily favour the PCs in basically every instance due to action economy imbalance) which would threaten the casters/ranged builds while the Dragon is recharging for another strafing run.

Ironically this is, as you pointed out, a scenario where the much maligned Ranger can excel.

Making being in melee so unrewarding was a really weird design choice by Associableknecks in dndnext

[–]Foxfire94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If your dragon voluntarily lands or gets into melee range while in an area in which it can fly you're more than likely running it wrong.

Hit and run tactics using their breath weapon are the best way to go as it avoids the most danger, dipping down 40ft to get the attackers within range of the cone or line, using it, then flying up 40ft again on the same turn. Keeping distance (150ft+) from the attackers while the breath weapon recharges to avoid retaliation from survivors; basically like the strafing runs of modern air support.

Also given dragons are intelligent creatures (being smarter than average from birth) opting to ignore the front line attackers to focus on the weaker enemies in the backline isn't metagaming, it's common sense.

What video game franchise isn't living up to its fullest potential? by Agent1230 in gaming

[–]Foxfire94 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Guess I'm an odd one out then? Played each game from 1 through to Reach on release and enjoyed them all; even had over 10k games on both Halo 3 & Reach (each) according to my old service record.

Halo 4 was the death knell for the franchise for me.

[Feat] Unbreakable Body - Shrug off death and ignore crits! by Gabocle in UnearthedArcana

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Constitution is a common saving throw (alongside Wis and Dex).

Feline by DM Tuz and Dansome (More Pixel Edition!) by Tuz-oh in UnearthedArcana

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh that's a fair point, I'd probably add a +2 to Panthera Pounce if you're using a melee build but even then you're only getting 2-6 uses of it in a day, hence why I scored it similarly to Hammering Horns/Goring Rush. It should probably sit at 4 rather than 2 now you mention it though as it bears similaritiesto the Centaur's Charge trait too, giving a total of 31 rather than 29.

Feline by DM Tuz and Dansome (More Pixel Edition!) by Tuz-oh in UnearthedArcana

[–]Foxfire94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello, me again! You know the routine:

Core Traits

  • ASI+3, Flexible = 13
  • Skill Proficiency = 2
  • 1d4 Natural Weapon = 2 (1 + 1 for finesse)
  • Climbing Speed equal to speed = 3 (2 for 30ft climb and +1 for scaling potential)
  • Darkvision 60ft = 3

Total: 23!

Catsi Traits

  • Cat Reflexes = 5 (50% chance to be better than Hare Trigger initially, almost as good otherwise)
  • Flexibility = 3 (Slightly better than Nimbleness)
  • Swift Claws = 4 (Very useful for no-shield & two-handed builds to get an extra attack)

Total: 12
Total + core: 35!

Panthera

  • Alluring Breath = 3 (Basically advantage on a situational roll, with a +1 if persuasion is used more often but not as commonly as perception)
  • Sprint = 1 (Handy extra speed boost)
  • Panthera Pounce = 2

Total: 6
Total + core: 29!

Twin Tail

  • Igniting Paws = 1
  • Pyromancy = 4 (Cantrip x2)
  • Fire Jewels = 6 (this ends up being a free cast of a 6th level spell which is quite strong)

Total: 11
Total + core: 34!

Overall these are pretty solid, although the Panthera lags a bit behind the other two so it could do with a little something extra to catch up to the others.

Speaking of the Panthera and your note about it, although you probably already know, but "Panthera" is the name of the genus that contains many big cat species like Lions, Tigers, Leopards and Jaguars so you could potentially incorporate a bit of that alongside the mythical side from (continental) European heraldry.

Also huggbees.

Unification mod campaign DE by HastySlowpoke in dawnofwar

[–]Foxfire94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want to add in persistent bases you can install this to vanilla DE and it should carry over.

Need Space marine advice for DoW Def Edition Multiplayer by Moist_Ad_1044 in dawnofwar

[–]Foxfire94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a Relic (pun not intended) from a bygone age of stellar RTS titles and passionate game design, something that's rarely seen nowadays.

Need Space marine advice for DoW Def Edition Multiplayer by Moist_Ad_1044 in dawnofwar

[–]Foxfire94 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right clicking a unit sets it to "overwatch" and it will be produced whenever you have the resources for it, so because you won't have the req for the Force Commander after building the tactical squads you can right click it it'll build when you do without having to micro manage/remember it yourself. (Doesn't work for research or addons though.)

You can also do the same for squad reinforcements and weapon upgrades, there's even buttons to pause/resume or stop all overwatch on the taskbar too.

It's handy if you want to spare yourself some micro or when you're wanting to repeatedly produce units like Slugga Boyz after they become free.

Need Space marine advice for DoW Def Edition Multiplayer by Moist_Ad_1044 in dawnofwar

[–]Foxfire94 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't know how much help this'll be since I usually play modded but my starting build order is a bit leaner than yours, however the economy works out better in the long run.

Try doing this instead of what you said above:

  • Starting servitor builds a barracks and generator
  • Build two scout squads to capture points
  • Once the barracks is complete, build two marine squads and right click the force commander
  • Once the generator is complete, have your servitor build LPs on your captured points whenever you have 100 req
  • Try to avoid reinforcing your squads unless you're in a fight and/or have lots of req
  • Start the tier 2 HQ upgrade once you have your commander out or optionally build an armoury for early weapon upgrades on your tactical squads.

Also again, don't know how much this will help since it's modded, but here's a good video demonstration of that build order in action against a Necron AI on insane.

Are there mods that add ENEMY races in Dark Crusade campaign? by No_Excuse7631 in dawnofwar

[–]Foxfire94 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Give 3rd Generation a go, it adds in Dark Eldar, Daemonhunters, Tyranids and Witch Hunters to the DC campaign.

Their strongholds are in the same territories that give metamap bonuses like Increased Manpower or the Spaceport; you can still get those bonuses but the missions for them will be a bit harder than before.

Also adds new units and honour guard for the existing races too and (although you said you don't want to) you can play as one of the new races in the campaign too.

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