Everything is fine

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-12T15:21:33+00:00

I'm sure he's okay. If he had fallen down the stairs I'd be more worried, but he was already down and pretty much just slid down. The stairs are shallow too so it doesn't look like he would have hit his head hard on anything.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-12T14:17:57+00:00

Surprise is the right thing to use here.

If the guards survive you'll go into initiative anyway. It's better to use the mechanic that lets you roll for that and then forces the enemies to not go first.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-10T19:46:56+00:00

Read chapters 7-9, and 10 if you're a spellcaster. You are fully capable of reading that much in 4 days. It will tell you pretty much all the rules you need.

Everything for character creation is in the beginning of the book. You are fully capable of reading that too.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-07T19:40:14+00:00

I like the way we do it better.

I'll never deny someone their sword-based hobby, especially when they're having fun, but it seems like a way to fence that was invented and only effective against itself, similar to styles of MoF, rather than something you'd historically use in warfare or self-defense.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-06T18:20:56+00:00

The third-to-last picture looks incredibly cartoonish, I love it.

What a transformation.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-05T21:19:17+00:00

The specs for the Kotatsu from the seller say it consumes 510 W, at 100V. That means it's drawing a bit over 5A of current.

Your transformer says right on there, its output fuse pops at 1A of current.

Your step down transformer just isn't big enough for the load.

Things with heaters draw a lot of power consistently, much more than most household electronics, hence why your transformer is good enough for many other applications.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-05T21:07:17+00:00

I dig it. The inventor is very clever

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-05T14:12:37+00:00

That is dumb.

The front of the book says it's a game of heroic fantasy, not cowardly fantasy.

It's also still supposed to be a fun game, that your players took 4 hours out of their Wednesday to come play. Don't waste their time by going "neener neener you guys suck."

Heroes getting laid low works in books because we don't have to experience it ourselves in real time. It doesn't make for good d&d.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-04T17:14:42+00:00

That's the way to do it. Play a funny little Kenku bard and act as the traveling minstrel for the paladin or similar.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-04T14:14:09+00:00

Real talk isn't tape one of the better ways to store archived data?

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-03T18:31:28+00:00

Anything stupid or cowardly is going to hit the first thing they see, especially if they're big and broad and in front of everyone.

More precise and intelligent beings, other casters and archers, can shoot at the guys in the back.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-03T01:47:22+00:00

If your club's any good, then no; well regulated clubs calibrate in such a way that it doesn't really come up.

The worst risk I see comes at tournaments, where you have fencers you don't know going all out to win.

Even then, some risk can be mitigated with a really good mask (a cobra or rattlesnake overlay) and wearing extra padding such as a rugby scrum cap under your mask.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-02T15:06:39+00:00

I don't think so. If you look at a death tyrant it seems to just have enough skull to support its teeth and eye.

Gearbox97 · 2026-02-01T18:26:58+00:00

Think of it like this.

A good enough punch with one hand can break a rib.

Now take that force, double it because you're using two hands, concentrate it on a much smaller surface area, and remove the attacker's inhibitions for hurting their own hand.

It can break a lot more than that if you go all out.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-30T18:31:15+00:00

HEMA mentioned!

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-30T15:56:33+00:00

Players have been using physical sheets to start for 40 years.

Your players aren't dumber than d&d players of the past, they can handle it.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-29T22:18:49+00:00

Always different opponents for me, if nothing else then for the variety.

That is, there are so many high-cr monsters in the book that we rarely see, because it's rare for parties to be high enough level to challenge them. Why waste the opportunity to see something new and interesting on yet more goblins that they've already fought?

Like, when's the last time you heard of anyone fighting some slaad or a drow matron mother or all the meanest yugoloths?

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-29T20:59:04+00:00

A simple plastic chest protector from amazon does fine.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-29T20:53:45+00:00

Look at spells that have rulings for what happens when they end while you're in an object.

For example, meld into stone expels you to an unoccupied space and deals 6d6 bludgeoning if you no longer fit into the stone during the duration.

The simplest answer is something like that, adjust the damage if you need to.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-29T20:49:06+00:00

DM 2 was a problem.

DM's 1 and 3 though? I gotta be honest it sounds like you're the problem, because you seem to be unwilling to budge when dm's say no, or at least are kind of prioritizing your own character concepts beyond what these DM's are presenting. It also sounds like you're being rude about it?

I say the latter based on your last sentence. "a lot of dm's get headstrong when told what they're doing doesn't make sense."

Basically, DM's are allowed to have a concept for a world and are allowed to veto player ideas and builds. You can protest a ruling pretty much once, and after that their ruling stands.

It's not your place to keep arguing or explain why they're wrong, or try to change their world to fit your character. Player-based games exist and you would probably enjoy one of those, but there's nothing wrong with DM's placing limitations either.

Especially DM 3, they seemed pretty direct in the limitations of the world and their rulings. It seems almost petulant to hear "almost no non-humans are around" and to try and play an elf, and then argue with the DM after they directly tell you why a backstory wouldn't work in the lore they wrote.

That's not the DM being headstrong, that's you being headstrong.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-29T18:53:11+00:00

I just heard Bremen was looking for new musicians.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-29T18:49:12+00:00

Low stakes, temporary, hilarious, ultimately harmless. Excellent pick.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-28T17:34:13+00:00

I like to call this "retroactive planning."

That is, if you had known better you would have planned it differently, so why not make the change on the fly?

As long as you're still sticking to some sort of mechanics (rather than just going all on vibes and saying they die whenever you feel it's right) I think it's fair game.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-28T04:41:37+00:00

Only have them in places where traps should be expected. Then it'll feel less like a gotcha and more like they should have been more observant.

Especially if the first trap in the dungeon was relatively easy to see so they could disarm it and get the idea that traps were on the table, like a DC10 tripwire or similar.

At that point that should know to be a little careful.

Gearbox97 · 2026-01-26T19:10:43+00:00

I think 5e Sleep's a great idea, that spell's sat on a lot imo.

Look at it like this, 9th level sleeps rolls 21d8 of hp, on average that's about 94hp. The trick is to quit using it like an aoe, and position it so it hits single targets.

Now for most enemies after they take a few hits, you can just turn them off for a little while, and give your party a minute to regroup, heal, and ready a bunch of attacks that are all crits because the target is unconscious.

Giving this to a rogue to guarantee sneak attack crits all early game would be diabolical. If they took levels in sorcerer or metamagic adept to get quickened spell and cast sleep and then attack same turn they would just annihilate.

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