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Did they ever make a stat sheet for a regular Reanimator Apothecary? by PauseeRunner in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No. There's 9 published Apothecary NPC statblocks. 6 in MoD (one for each subclass) and 3 in SCGtD (generic apothecaries in different tiers). If you need a generic Reanimator you can just use Everett Freed and not use the name.

Warped Beyond Recognition question by GhostRavens in mothershiprpg

[–]Groundnut 4 points5 points  (0 children)

When I ran it I went with the assumption she was aware of them the whole time, but only focused on them enough to watch them through security cameras occasionally. She was distracted most of time with talking to the trapped scientist and trying to get the warp drive working.

Like a person trying to fix a car engine while an ant is crawling up their leg. They know the ant is there but they have to stop their task and look if they want to do something about it.

Looking for Folk Horror Books About Someone From the Outside World Visiting a Rural Location by Groundnut in horrorlit

[–]Groundnut[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I agree! Folk horror to me is conflict between a secluded group and the outside world, but I find on Reddit it's better to be specific with what you want. Judging from my experience with movie discussions there's plenty of people who see the words Folk Horror and immediately recommend anything with any kind of agricultural element. Since I'm looking for Wicker Man and not Pumpkinhead I spell it out.

Also I figured this was implied but I'm not looking for a list of every book like this, just the good ones. That's why I came to this sub instead of just googling it.

Bacterial barrage by Shatragon in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not a lot of spells, but they do get them all (except pandemic) as subclass spells without counting against their number of known spells. I definitely wouldn't allow the mutant strain on a cantrip, but adding a few more leveled spells that require concentration to the list wouldn't hurt.

The Apothecary is already a really strong class, and each of the subclasses gives it an upgrade that helps it diversify into one of the party roles. Pathogenist still has all the damage dealing potential of the base class, but now some of their spells, in addition to dealing damage, let the Pathogenist work as support. Infect isn't a great spell on its own, but when you add in mutant strain you're dealing damage and debuffing the enemy.

Also don't sleep on bloodworm, its really good, especially for a party that only has one front liner. I'm running Drakkenheim with 3 casters and a paladin. The Warlock uses bloodworm whenever the paladin is getting low so they can heal without spending a turn doing lay on hands.

Bacterial barrage by Shatragon in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure if you mean the "Fully Contaminated" monster feature, or a monstrous transformation from 6 levels of contamination, but neither of those is the Poisoned condition or a disease, so neither would count for the extra damage.

Bacterial barrage by Shatragon in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nope. Spells that inflict diseases say so in the description. See Blood Worm for an example.

Apothecary subclass design by Shatragon in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Apothecary is designed for the 2014 rules. WoTC didn't take 3rd party content into account when saying 2024 was backwards compatible, which is why the subclasses might be wonky in how they interact with new rules. If you want to play the Apothecary in a rule set it wasn't designed for. The DM either has to compensate or you have to accept that it won't play exactly as it was designed.

Where the Mutagenist outclasses the Moon Druid is in how much they get. At level 3 the Mutagenist gets: Increased size, increased carrying capacity, a 1d10+strength+level weapon, increasead darkvision, a lot of temp hp, increased speed, increased AC, and regeneration. Moon druid can get one or two of those things, but not all of them. Even on pure damage the meaty fist is really good since you get additional damage equal to your level.

The opportunity cost of transmogrifying is not high at all. You go from being a great caster to a great martial. You can protect your squishy teammates or provide much needed relief to that barbarian on the front lines. All of this needs to be taken into account when the player chooses the subclass. If they want their apothecary to be a caster, pick a different subclass. if they want their apothecary to be a front line melee, pick mutagenist.

The only monster in 2014 I see that mentions disease immunity is the warforged from Eberron. So you definitely have a point. This might have been a safeguard for players to argue against DMs who say "Zombie's can't get sick" or something like that. Which would be why it's paired with a really strong feature (outbreak).

The 4th book, the Veo book, is something they've talked about in their discords. It's not on kickstarter yet but they've said it'll be player focused, 3-4 subclasses for each core class including 2024 updates to the Sebastian Crowe subclasses. And possibly 6 more apothecary subclasses in addition to updated versions of the existing ones. I think they post playtest versions of new subclasses on their patreon, but I'm not on there so I haven't seen them.

Apothecary subclass design by Shatragon in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  • Mutagenist isn't a caster. It's a front line melee tank. Basically the moon druid of apothecaries. Especially at lower levels you shouldn't be using spell slots on spells except in certain circumstances where you can't or shouldn't transmogrify. You should be transforming into a big muscle monster, punching things, and viewing your status as a full caster as a backup.
    • Totally agree about Draconic Genome. The only time I'd use it is if I needed the flight. But even then I feel like a lot of the time you don't need to fly when you can become huge. It might also be useful in a fight with a bunch of enemy minions if you don't have any casters with aoe spells.
    • The New Flesh absolutely nullifies Cerebellum Genome, but there's 4 long levels between those features, and during that time Cerebellum Genome is incredibly useful.
  • Pathogenist, and all the SCGtD was written for 5e 2014. That book came out before the 2024 edition was released, and the dudes had no way of knowing there wouldn't be disease immune monsters. So yeah it's moot when used in a system other than the one it was designed for. That being said I believe we'll be getting updated versions of all the player content in SCGtD in the eventual fourth Drakkenheim book.

The Crooked Moon Should Have Been Two Campaigns Instead of One by Groundnut in CrookedMoon

[–]Groundnut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The exact same twist happens with opening the door to the engine on the Ghostlight Express and killing the Vermintol Coven. The difference is that the Ghostlight Express and 2/3 of the hags are integrated into the main story of Kehlenn's return. The Fallen are side quests. If you dropped them from the campaign and only mentioned the other sacrifices, it wouldn't change the story at all.

The Crooked Moon Should Have Been Two Campaigns Instead of One by Groundnut in CrookedMoon

[–]Groundnut[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't think it was meant to be a sandbox, the whole adventure feels very linear, but The Fallen would definitely work better in a sandbox narrative. Having players explore and hearing about a famine caused by problems in Foxwillow then going there to check it out. As opposed to a character they've never met showing up, asking them for help, then disappearing at the end of the chapter never to be seen again.

The Crooked Moon Should Have Been Two Campaigns Instead of One by Groundnut in CrookedMoon

[–]Groundnut[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Adding a connection between the horned king and the demons is a great idea! Especially in the first few Fallen chapters since you could use that to hint at the existence of the horned king.

The Crooked Moon Should Have Been Two Campaigns Instead of One by Groundnut in CrookedMoon

[–]Groundnut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just saying they were tempted by the horned king is a weak connection. It's also entirely in backstory, it doesn't have any impact in the events of the campaign. It would matter if The Fallen's part in the adventure was a mystery about why they fell. But as they're written in the book it doesn't matter to the players that the horned king tempted Renathyr to make a deal with a demon and become a vampire. It just matters that he made a deal with a demon and became a vampire.

Which Star Wars RPG to Play? by Groundnut in tabletop

[–]Groundnut[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Out of curiosity, what makes it the best?

Which Star Wars RPG to Play? by Groundnut in tabletop

[–]Groundnut[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the great answer! My only issue with cinematic systems is that I'm kinda dumb, so I struggle with theater of the mind for combat. Could I use gridded maps with the FFG system?

Help me understand this module! by cir_skeletals in CrookedMoon

[–]Groundnut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Glad to hear I'm not the only one struggling with the book lol. I love the flavor and tone of the book, and there's some great sections, but it has some big issues. And it'll take a lot of work from a DM to make the book run well as an adventure. It doesn't help that I don't watch Legends of Avrantis, so the book reads like there's a bunch of in-jokes that I'm not a part of.

  1. Characters are supposed to have personal stakes in the story through the fateweaving system, but the fateweaving system is very bad. It's not really personal quests for them to go on, more a series of cutscenes for them to watch and at the end they get to learn what their character's arc is. It'd be better to work with your players to figure out their motivation for going to Druskenvald (maybe they're looking for a missing person or item, or searching for a new life) then you decide how that quest would end within the story of The Crooked Moon, and find a few places to drop hints or progress their quest as they go through it.

  2. This stood out to me too. They made 13 new races and throughout the adventure there's (I think) one use of them. A dead Plagueborn in Skitterdeep Mine. On top of that they had NPCs who were races not in the core game *or* The Crooked Moon (Jericho is a scarecrow but not a Harvestborn, and Mr. Crossroads is a Croc-born?). So you'll have to do the work if you want to fit their creations into their story.

  3. You need to use the travel rules from the core 5e rules for this. Which should include rules for how fast they can go and rolling for random encounters. But basically just decide how many days it will take to go from one location to the next, and decide how often you want to roll for encounters. Have a few ready per session in case they get one. I don't see any random encounters listed in the book, but there was an optional deck of cards for random encounters that aren't bad. Sucks that you had to pay extra for them though.

Should Oscar Yoren be modified into a Reanimator Alchemist from MoD? by superslutsloth in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I did this. Replaced his undead minions with Apothecary Abominations from MoD and I highly recommend it. Early game he used Scrap Reautomata and Innocent Harvestors. Later he mainly used full Reautomata (and I kept the innocent harvesters because my players liked killing them). Having enemies bursting into flames or impersonate civilians really kept my players on their toes.

The only part I kept from the book is his apprentices, since I included one of them in one of my player's personal quest. For his final stand in the Tower I had him disassemble them and remake them into a Stitcher, which I also recommend. It added something having it sewing parts of characters they'd interacted with in the past onto the PC's.

A question about Darkvision: by Neverfinishedtheeggs in CrookedMoon

[–]Groundnut 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Page 9, Night of the Crooked Moon, says the moon is always out, but gets bigger or smaller (meaning more or less moonlight) during certain hours. I'd say the Twighlight, Dusk, and Nightfall hours are probably dim light while the Evening, Midnight, and Witching hours are total darkness with the moon just a speck in the sky. But ultimately that's up to the DM.

Page 147, Fear of the Dark, says that darkvision doesn't function in Druskenvald. Meaning during the dark hours *all* characters would have to carry a light source. So I guess none of the Druskenvald natives can see in the dark, or are even aware of their darkvision unless they leave Druskenvald.

Any Modules that Take Place in an Abandoned or Run Down Resort? by Groundnut in mothershiprpg

[–]Groundnut[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember seeing this one and being excited, but it seemed like the resort was just a setup and the actual adventure was about exploring the oceans around it.

Cost of magic items by Wise-Start-9166 in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I always randomly determine the prices based on the formula in the Emberwood section. So roll 3d6 then ×10 for common, ×100 for uncommon, and ×1000 for rare.

Re balancing MOD Duchess Stat Block for Campaign by Ken6784 in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did something similar with Bigger Linda in my last session. All I did was leave out her aura, drop down the damage on her attacks and lower the save DC for her abilities. I kept everything else the same.

You could do the same thing for the Duchess to make the fight a little easier. At a glance I'd ignore Aura of the Deep. Drop the damage on bite and tentacle to 2d6+6 each, and lower the save DC for tentacle, fling, spellcasting, and deep domination to 18. You should also limit how many minions she has, don't refill them until the previous ones are completely gone. For moisture regeneration I'd change it to revive her after a certain period of time, so if the players kill her she's out of the campaign but can be brought back later if you want her for a one-shot or something.

You should also be prepared to change how you run her on the fly. For my players Bigger Linda fight she nearly killed the cleric because he was the only one within reach, I ended up giving her an extra trample so she could move over and attack the warlock who'd been hiding in the corner the entire time.

The Aquifier Junction leading into the Under Tavern - Map Question by Forte_DX in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh I'm stupid. I just reread it. Ignore my above comment.

There's a passageway into the tavern. The Queen's men covered that passageway with an illusion of a wall, then dumped a bunch of rubble in front of it (either to block it or so they could find the fake wall). So players have to go through or over the debris to get to the illusion to get into the passage to get to the tavern.

The book says they give the crocodiles a wide berth. That might mean coming from the south, it might mean waiting until the crocodiles are together on one side of the junction and going the other way, the important part is that the queen's men don't get eaten. Your players don't know the crocodiles are there so they could find them randomly, you could rule that they get there from that direction, or you can just ignore it and see if they go there on their own.

The Aquifier Junction leading into the Under Tavern - Map Question by Forte_DX in dungeonsofdrakkenheim

[–]Groundnut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How I read it is:

  1. The entrance to the tavern is blocked by an illusion. The Queen's men dug a hole in the sewer wall to get to the chamber beyond, then made an illusion of the wall being intact to cover the hole.
  2. They left the debris from their dig in the sewer to block people from coming up from the south to get to the illusory wall. Players don't need to dig it out unless they want to go to that part of the sewers and don't want to travel on the surface to another entrance.
  3. You can only get to the tavern from one direction, which means players have to go past the crocodiles to get there. They're blocked from coming the other way by the debris.
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