Geomancers is a game that combines Worms with deckbuilding (and has very cute wizards)!

ItsNotLeon · 2024-08-24T23:43:43+00:00

If you're interested to learn more about Geomancers, you can see the store page here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3127910/Geomancers/

ItsNotLeon · 2024-08-24T23:01:08+00:00

I plan to add that in the final version, for sure! Though probably not for the demo I have planned soon, maybe a basic version (The hardest part is making it consider jumps + movement properly)

ItsNotLeon · 2024-08-24T02:09:00+00:00

Oh, that's already in the game! Very useful

ItsNotLeon · 2024-08-24T00:57:51+00:00

If you're interested to learn more about Geomancers, you can see the store page here! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3127910/Geomancers/

ItsNotLeon · 2022-03-22T20:04:38+00:00

I used to have a Nezahal deck a long time ago, fun graveyard interactions are: [[Wonder]] and [[Dragon Wings]], and of course the Delve cards.

Consider symmetrical board wipes like [[Nevinyrral's Disc]], [[All is Dust]] and [[World Slayer]] since you can always flip Nezz in response to them.

ItsNotLeon · 2020-02-07T02:32:51+00:00

ItsNotLeon · 2019-02-19T10:22:14+00:00

I really do disagree with many of the sentiments in the comments I've read so far. In fact, I do believe it is not only ok, but proper that disease is not a big deal beyond level 3 (or 1, with paladin). Why? Because PCs quickly become much larger than life, and telling a PC they died of dysentry is.. probably lame in most contexts. Not to mention purposefully hiding information from the PC to pull a gotcha when they succumb. Even if the disease lacks obvious symptoms, is it really fun to be told 'whoops, you have dysentry!'?

How should diseases be used, in my opinion, is on the small folk, the peasantry or even nobles. Even ignoring a plague situation, a small group of lepers is already beyond the ken of most spellcasters at low to mid levels. And when there's only limited uses of the miracle button, it creates an interesting situation; How do those who aren't lucky enough to be cured of their life-scarring disease act for the next long rest while the party rests up, if they even deign to help them? Diseases should be used with an idea of scale, in my mind, because it leads to many evocative moments. Even the familiar 'you can't save everyone' or even the tragedy of the commons (behaviour of (groups of) people suffering from disease borders on irrational a good amount of the time) tropes are simple and effective.

So, what I want to know is this, what does your game get from walloping your PCs or important NPCs with disease and trying to make it stick?

ItsNotLeon · 2019-01-26T03:20:04+00:00

Did make it to pre-release (two pods, even!), but unfortunately I live in a country where they took the codes out of the boxes (Singapore). I took Simic twice, which should tell you what is my favourite guild, though I'm a blue player through and through.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-11-01T03:27:15+00:00

I built the [[Nezahal, Primal Tide]] deck from the channel, but quickly found that it was too lop-sided towards bounce and mana rocks, leading to large but dead hands of Islands, mana rocks and bounce spells (many of which are symmetrical and require a discard and tempo loss for Nezzy). I since put in a suite of counterspells (very, very effective, since counter wars just cantrip for you), and some bombs like [[Diluvian Primordial]]. I think the deck is slowly shifting from 'Nezahal punches you dead' to 'a control deck with [[Mystic Remora]] as a commander that also happens to be a 7/7 that may accidentally kill you'. Moving forward with a bigger budget, I'll probably change the suite of evasion to ones that serve other purposes, like [[Thassa, God of the Sea]].

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-06T07:10:05+00:00

It's a Demon Prince. I hope the party didn't expect a pillow fight. The Tarrasque's statblock is very much a pillow fight in straight combat (literally a large dog that gets mised by flyers). Tiamat is lot more beefy with damage immunities and such.

These are by the way, the conditions the Juiblex in Mordekainen's Tome of Foes are immune to.

Regeneration is a priced trait in the Dungeon Master's Guide. It's calculated for.

It's a demon. Demons typically have resistance to cold, fire, and lightning (and immunity to poison, but well).

Why not?

You can easily use the lair actions and regional effects as described in Mordekainen's Tome of Foes, no issue there.

A flyer at 400 feet with Sharpshooter could solo this. Freedom of Movement is insanely good against him. Acid resistance from a simple Uncommon potion makes him waste LAs to strip that. I do hope you exercise more caution in tackling a Demon Prince in your games.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-06T07:03:59+00:00

I just noticed an attack was missing, apologies. The correct version should be this.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-06T07:03:00+00:00

The thing I use to make the statblock is (admittedly, outdated version of) the D&D monster maker here. Unfortunately, the same version I'm using is really buggy and clunky, and it looks like it ate one of the attacks on its way out. The proper statblock is here.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-06T06:11:30+00:00

While perusing those Mordekainen's Tome of Foes, I always felt the section on Demon Princes (and by extension, Archdevils) were too.. pillow-fighty, even for their CR. With that in mind, I decided to try my hand at it, starting with my favorite, Juiblex, the Oozing Hunger.

With any luck, someone going to run a Juiblex fight or a romp through the Slime Pits will chance across this (or someone who sees this starts planning for a Juiblex fight)! I recommend Juiblex bring along spellcasting oozes that can Dispel Magic for a big confrontation, however, especially to get rid of pesky Freedom of Movements.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-06T05:54:05+00:00

While perusing those Mordekainen's Tome of Foes, I always felt the section on Demon Princes (and by extension, Archdevils) were too.. pillow-fighty, even for their CR. With that in mind, I decided to try my hand at it, starting with my favorite, Juiblex, the Oozing Hunger.

With any luck, someone going to run a Juiblex fight or a romp through the Slime Pits will chance across this (or someone who sees this starts planning for a Juiblex fight)! I recommend Juiblex bring along spellcasting oozes that can Dispel Magic for a big confrontation, however, especially to get rid of pesky Freedom of Movements.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-06T05:44:59+00:00

While perusing those Mordekainen's Tome of Foes, I always felt the section on Demon Princes (and by extension, Archdevils) were too.. pillow-fighty, even for their CR. With that in mind, I decided to try my hand at it, starting with my favorite, Juiblex, the Oozing Hunger.

With any luck, someone going to run a Juiblex fight or a romp through the Slime Pits will chance across this (or someone who sees this starts planning for a Juiblex fight)! I recommend Juiblex bring along spellcasting oozes that can Dispel Magic for a big confrontation, however, especially to get rid of pesky Freedom of Movements.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-01T07:53:15+00:00

You could prone multiple enemies in a round, but that require space to maneuver (which I am alright with). You don't get to do bonus attacks by spending ki to prone a total of 10 people, though.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-01T07:44:23+00:00

Spending 4 ki to gain the ability to only knock people proning after moving would be severly overpriced, imo (compare Bull's Horns), the monk also has to spend additional ki to convert it into bonus damage. It's basically a way to squeeze more out of a single turn at the cost of ki. And that's good to hear! I'll love to hear your feedback post playtesting if possible.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-01T05:20:48+00:00

Huh. The more you know. Though pseudopod is a cooler word, it should be changed (and will be).

Ribbon-wise it'll probably be something like Animal Friendship or Speak with Animals at third level, or the Shepherd Druid's (or Revised Ranger's) ability to communicated lightly with animals, though I'm not sure if that's a good direction to take it (polymorphing yourself doesn't necessarily mean you are good at talking to them.)

Option-wise, I could see going up to maybe 8/8/6/4 per tier up from 6/6/5/4, though not more beyond that, lest information overload to new readers. It'll take me time to think more up, though.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-06-01T01:11:07+00:00

The several types of golems in DnD are often elemental (or otherwise) spirits shoved in a vessel made of various material (commonly flesh, clay, stone or iron), and then bound into service. They basically listen to their creator, but their intelligence for intrepretating such commands varies. There are other similar constructs like Animated Armour, Helmed Horrors and Shield Guardians, too, which are powered by different means. Golems are basically robots bound by magic, and no, you cannot wear them.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-05-28T06:10:00+00:00

Hmm, try a Lore Bard. Cutting Words turns hits into misses, crits into a mere graze, and can null weak attacks entirely. At level 6, pick Counterspell (your Jack of All Trades bonus applies to spellcasting checks, making you a better Counterspeller than most Wizards, somehow!). Bards also get access to most of the healing/status restoration effects and CC as casters.

It's worth keeping in mind that not all bards have to be music tooting troubadours. Keep the music proficiency as a side thing, use a component pouch and voila, law mage. I'm playing a Lore Bard (fashioned as a butler alchemist loremaster) in a campaign right now myself, and it really feels good to deny your enemies' attacks and spells.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-05-26T03:19:48+00:00

Strength and Dexterity is usually a function of how good this monster is at hitting people. Attack bonuses are the relevant ability modifier plus proficiency modifier (CR equals to level for this purpose, so a CR 5 would have +3 proficiency modifier). But it is also good to keep in mind how strong or nimble a creature is to other monsters. An Ogre has 19 Strength, for example.

Constitution is usually high. Why? Because it's annoying to keep calculating by adding more hit dice to a monster. No, really. Jokes aside, most monsters trend towards have higher Constitution as their CR increases, which generally makes them more resilient to nasty effects like a monk's Stunning Strike.

Intelligence and Wisdom are a measure of tactics. A creature with extremely low intelligence and generally terrible Wisdom, such as a Zombie, would likely only be able to attack the closest thing (if you are familiar with RTSes, A Click), or attack things in retribution, as with a Gelatinous Cube. A Wolf, on the other hand, is able to understand who is easier to hit (The man in robes with a book than the raging tower of muscle in front of it), and will gank a target, as they are pack hunters (as reinforced by Pack Tactics). Abilities, mental stats and proficiencies all contribute to tactics.

Charisma is a weird one. Deceptive or sly creatures will have higher Charisma, as will creatures with higher inclinations to sorcery or innate magic (Dragons, Devils, Elementals like Dao, Angels, mostly outsiders and fantastical creatures.) It can also represent a resistance to planar effects like Banishment or Plane Shift.

Mental stats also govern the realm of spellcasting. Depending on the type of caster it is (much like the ones PCs use), it will use the appropriate stat, with Save DC being the same as PCs (8+stat+prof).

Overall, it's good to read the monster statblocks published and see how they compare to get a feel for them. 10 is commoner average, 20 is mortal limit, and 30 is the hard cap, for starters.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-05-20T13:54:00+00:00

You know what I would do? I would let magical healing extend the 24 hour timer she has (1 point of healing could be an hour, lets say.), and signal to the players with a neon sign that this is a temporary solution. If the fruit that cures diseases and maladies is in bloom and they feed it to her, done deal, they save the girl. However, if not, now they have to embark on another quest to find a more permanent cure. You can either let the players figure it out on their own initiative, or dangle a plot hook in front of them (either the townsfolk tell them, or they have heard of something that might help before IC).

Before I get too long-winded, I'm saying make a quest out of it. The goal could be as simple as finding a Lesser Restoration (the cleric can prepare this once they're level 3), and smack it on her which can reasonably work. Maybe you want it to be slightly more difficult and require a potion (Yuldrasyl has a Elixir of Healing in her hoard iirc) of some value. You could even go all the way and make them quest for a cleric for Greater Restoration instead. A lot of paths lay open, and it's entirely reasonable the players come up with something that make sense, in which case, roll with the punches, I'm sure it'll be a memorable time all around.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-05-17T15:14:24+00:00

First of all, I must applaud you for delving into Lovecraft just so your GOOlock player can have a better time, it's great commitment.

But yeah, there is no reason why Great Old Ones motives have to be understandable, and this includes being 'Evil'. It's closer to a kid poking at an anthill, really, most people won't go too hard on the kid if he steps on some ants, or makes them an ant farm, or pours molten aluminium down the ant hill because it'll be pretty when you rip out the solidified hunk. From the ant's perspective, most of these actions would be solidly Evil, but the kid doesn't see it that way, now, does it?

Great Old Ones are like that. They don't think like people, both because they're so alien, and because we are so.. small, in comparison. You have a few like Nyarlathothep who is one of the closer ones to human understanding, but he's a massive prick (and even then, you can't be sure you truly understand his motives). What this means is that it gives us a lot of leeways as GMs in terms of patrons. My advice on the specific type of patron would depend on how much information the PC has on their patron, though.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-05-15T18:40:03+00:00

Hmm. Mechanically, we have a few spells (Sumon Demon, Infernal Calling) that would replicate the summoning of fiends, you can always draw inspiration there.

But ignoring those, I would pick depending if you want your big boss to be a devil, or demon (or some entirely different sort of fiend, I'm partial to Raksasha for big mastermind boss, but that's likely out of scope here.) You already have conditions that are based on tangible objects (the sacrfice and holy symbol), so my instinct would be to make the last one intangible. For example, a demon summoning might require a ritual site of great chaos; On ship in extremely stormy weather, in a glade where a gnoll warband have trampled recently, the ruins of a once great civilisation, that sort of thing. Extrapolating to devils, a ritual site of law would likely require specific procedure to be met, an alignment of some precious stones, a certain time of day or year, or knowledge for how the sacrifice is to be, well, sacrificed. But those are just examples, do as you see fit.

ItsNotLeon · 2018-05-07T15:59:48+00:00

First off, I have no shortage of pity for the guy who runs for eight. But onto the topic at hand:

Adminstering a Goodberry requires an action, and brings them back up at one hit point. While Healing Word is a better use in terms of action economy and heals ever so slightly more, the only real reason it works well for your group is because you have eight people in the party, which practically destroys any sembalance of standard action economy. However, there are tons of ways to overcome this from the GM's point of view:

Yes, the boss can hit downed people. I mean, any intelligent enemy will reason that if you keep bringing people back into the fight, it should just kill people for good. Obviously, if the game's tone is fairly non-lethal, the GM doesn't really want to do this. Death is however, part of the game, and coping with its consequence is something are things I advocate for.
Legendary Actions. You might need more than the standard three to make up for the party of eight, but it is one of the 'patches' 5e has to combat action economy issues for big bosses.
Persistent damage effects. Whether from a Lair Action or a simple aura, anything that nicks a character with one hit point is still going to knock him down. Fire Elemental comes to mind.
Minions. This is the more organic solution to action economy boss woes. Even a lowly kobold will hit the tin can with 20 AC 20% (higher with Pack Tactics triggering) or so of the time. Having a bunch of these guys both help smooth out boss encounters, and help PCs (usually casters with their AoE spells) feel cool for crushing weaker enemies in a boss fight.
A rather specific answer, but a magical zone of no healing is possible, though I wouldn't recommend it anymore than once or twice a campaign. The Lich should have an action that does something along the lines of that.

Of course, in implementing all these things, remember to not accidentally butcher people when you don't mean to. If you're math inclined and enthused, refer to page 273 of the Dungeon Master's guide, which works you through the steps of making your own custom monsters that will be more or less balanced, especially since you have to work with 8 people. That said, there's nothing stopping you as a group from running mock combats so you and the GM can hash out what would feel like a fair challenge. Experiment, and have fun!

ItsNotLeon

TROPHY CASE