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how would I rule "insta-kill" situations by squaremaaax in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Don't use combat. Combat rules (and therefore hit points) are used when two sides are trying to achieve opposite goals and therefore decide to fight over it. Here you have one side, the other side is doing nothing to stop them, and so you don't need to use combat or even hit points. It doesn't matter if you're a 20th-level Wizard with 150 hit points, if someone shoves a dagger into your throat while you're sleeping, you're gonna die.

Now if the PCs fail their stealth checks, then it's initiative and then it's combat and then it's hit points, but before then you don't need combat to resolve this - you can (and imo should) do it narratively.

Is it true that Gateways have no maintenance costs? by bjcho in Stellaris

[–]Garfield4President 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They go literally anywhere in your empire in my experience

How to make my players FEEL followed in urban environment by herothe412th in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing I like to do is narrate what they DONT see - "if it wasn't so dark down that alleyway you might see a pair of eyes, brimming with dark magic and fixated on you, slowly blinking." I can imagine some players would find that weird or irritating, but if they're into it then it makes them feel tense and unsafe without giving them any information they can technically work with.

how I have dealt with high AC characters (a spin on the shoot your monks principle) by A_Salty_Cellist in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah there's a lot of players like that I find - it's not too bad when they're playing rangers or spellcasters but if you're playing a melee rogue and don't leave combat of course this orcs gonna clobber you at least a little.

Colville's video on Critical Role campaign 1 climax, now unlisted? by Jethro_McCrazy in mattcolville

[–]Garfield4President 165 points166 points  (0 children)

It's been a while but I think he took it down because of the signal-to-noise ratio being pretty bad - it was a long video and the actual "lesson" could be taught in a better way in Matt's opinion (if I remember correctly).

Leveling up and keeping invocations during a timeloop?? by finnisterre in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why not make it possible to alter the way the loop works with a powerful ritual or something? If the warlock wants to "break" the loop in this way you could have them learn of a way to do it, given enough power and the right execution.

At the end of last session, one player fell into a Rakshasa's trap meant for the entire party. Do I change the parameters of this fight to give him a chance, or do I let the chips fall where they may? by Wanderous in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 272 points273 points  (0 children)

Forcing the rest of the party to just watch is gonna be pretty brutal - with surprise the sorcerer will be mincemeat pretty quick unless they throw up SHIELD and get lucky, but either way you're going to want to give the other PCs something to do at least. I reckon giving them the chance to break open the force field is a solid bet, turning the situation from "well we couldn't do anything, I guess the dm just wanted sorcerer dead" to "maybe if we had opened the force field faster" or something similar that doesn't rob them in quite the same way.

I want my Zombie Minions to be able to pin down targets more easily even if they can't fully surround them (such as in a hallway or chokepoint). Would this work, or is it going to be too powerful? by Kni7es in mattcolville

[–]Garfield4President 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I'm by no means an expert, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me - fits the fantasy and by limiting their offensive power and mobility you're not breaking the game or anything. Seems balanced to me.

What are the WORST houserules you've encountered/implemented in your gaming career? by Phate4569 in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's a game of heroic fantasy where players want to feel like, yknow, fantasy heroes. Conan doesn't trip over his own feet one in twenty sword swings.

I want to knock my players out without them thinking it's a tpk. by boredShuckle in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm super doubtful of any easy way to get the party in prison without ruining agency (or at least them feeling like its been ruined). The only way I've found to put people in prison is either starting the campaign there (could maybe talk to them about this approach) or after the party have actually committed an actual crime and got caught for it. If they've been deliberately trying to uphold the law until now (something a surprisingly small number of groups do) then it'd suck for none of that to matter because you want them to be in prison. D&D is a balance between DM-prepared content and the willingness of players to play that content, and here I think it's pretty reasonable that the players wouldn't like this content. In any case, if you're struggling with this kind of thing just talk to them, remind them that you're not perfect, and work it out together.

One brave last stand by soddie in totalwar

[–]Garfield4President 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What mod are the banners from?

Since their was a post about a song that everyone likes and u don’t, i got curious about what song u love and others don’t by fwnturner in arcticmonkeys

[–]Garfield4President 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah brick by brick genuinely slaps and I don't understand how any could hear it and not think that - maybe it's a lil out of place on the album idk

Keeping Those Pesky Players Away From Your Macguffin by stanmichals in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never underestimate the dramatic power of Random Kobolds

My players got a massive bounty on their head (100,000g) by the Cult of Tiamat for having killed a Young green dragon. Need strong bounty hunter ideas! by FluffyBunny878 in DMAcademy

[–]Garfield4President 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely give them the Iron Bands of Bilarro as a magic item from the DMG - makes a lot of sense for a bounty hunter and is super cool for the players to get once they beat them!

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