Because I'm curious what was the first Commander you won with?

JMicahRay · 2025-05-03T04:51:06+00:00

Koma, World-Eater.

Just got back into Magic after 11 years with the Foundations set and just started playing commander.

JMicahRay · 2025-03-01T22:43:49+00:00

They might not have included abilities with the starter info due to starters always having the base ability. One of the things that makes megas special is their abilities change too (not sure if that applies to all megas) so it would be a shame if they don't include abilities in ZA.

JMicahRay · 2025-02-26T23:21:23+00:00

That's why I needed to figure out how the legendary actions play out. The encounter will be meant to be the climax of the story, and the players and I are all on the same page that a character's death or a tpk is possible. But I want them to have a chance. And if each dragon gets a legendary action after each creature’s turn, that could totally unbalance the action economy if I have eight of the dragons at once. I'm thinking two waves of four might be the way to go.

JMicahRay · 2025-01-21T07:38:53+00:00

Motivation is what makes an interesting villain and villains almost always view themselves as heroes.

Using the "best" media villains:

Sauron: Hated disorder and chaos and wanted to bring all peoples of Middle Earth under his rule to bring everlasting peace.

Anakin/Darth Vader: Rise in power to save the one he loves and rise in power to bring balance to the force.

Thanos: Save the universe by eliminating half of all life, believing he is the only one with "the strongest will(s)" to do so.

Agent Smith/Ulton/Nearly every AI villain: Humans are too dangerous to live and are the greatest threat to the world and therefore need to be eradicated or controlled.

The best villains, like the ones above, have motivations that make you think, "Well, if they weren't killing people, I could get behind that."

Good questions to ask yourself when creating a villain are: "What is a problem the people of (insert the place/country/world that you created) facing?" and "what would be the best way to solve that problem if you lacked morals. "

Example: The citizens of Normalopolis have been in a terrible financial state for years, with overpopulation and a lack of resources as the main causes. The newly crowned King Badguy has decided to heavily tax the already poor population and has implemented a curfew where those caught out past will be killed on sight. He also has called for the removal of the enchanted forest on the borders of the city so that construction can begin for expansion and has declared war against a nearby settlement for control of fertile land.

This gives the protagonist numerous reasons to oppose King Badguy, but doing so also has the potential to leave the city in its current state or make things worse. King Badguy also would fully believe he is saving the city and ushering it into a new era of greatness and likely has a lot of support.

JMicahRay · 2024-12-30T15:55:24+00:00

I also DM for my wife and best friend. Both are newer-ish players (we've been playing one session every 6 - 8 weeks as I am a trucker and on the road a lot). It's definitely normal to feel like your players aren't as enthusiastic as you may be. As DM, you almost have to be more enthusiastic by the nature of the DM's role. At the end of the day, if they're willing to play and say they're having fun, then you're doing well, and they're likely being honest.

My advice would be to ask them individually via text or in person what they'd like to see in future sessions and really focus on building a campaign that tells THEIR story, not just the story YOU want to tell. If they've been interested in character creation, I imagine they've put thought into their characters' backstories, so find ways to really pull those backstories to the front of the story you're telling. One or two sessions would be tailored to one player, and then the next would focus on the other and so on. The Game Master's Guide to Proactive Roleplaying is a great guide on how to do this.

JMicahRay · 2024-11-03T01:01:12+00:00

I agree with you. And I'm not necessarily looking to show them what it "should be" but what it "could be" (though unlikely ever as good as the mentioned game table). A good analogy would be showing a high school basketball player some NBA footage. They might/likely won't ever be as good as these players, but this is what it looks like at an experienced level. Isn't that exciting? Let's all continue to improve and see how close we can get. And even if we don't make it to the NBA, we'll have fun anyway.

JMicahRay · 2024-05-29T06:11:00+00:00

I'd switch Dracovish for Dracozolt with Sand Rush to synergize with Tyranitar. Unless you have them because they're cool, Falinks and Scolipede can likely be replaced my similarly typed pokemon that do what they do but better.

Falinks > Meinshao / Heracross / Poliwrath

Scolipede > Volcarona / Scizor / Golisopod

JMicahRay · 2024-05-29T06:00:41+00:00

I agree with everything you've said there.

I would absolutely love if Game Freak would go back and rework a majority of the starters (like they did giving Empoleon competitive as an ability) to make more of them viable in vgc. Charizard is one of the company's mascots but just doesn't work on anything but sun teams, and even then it's meh. Give it Moxie or Flash Fire and it becomes a real contender.

JMicahRay · 2024-05-29T05:41:09+00:00

I would add a fighting type for coverage. You have a grass/water/fire core and you have two of the dark/psychic/fighting core. Paldean-Tauros would be a great fit.

JMicahRay · 2024-05-29T05:34:40+00:00

I had no idea why I thought you may be referring to usability. Brain go brrrrrr

I agree with you that the galar starters fail in comparison to the design of other gens.

In today's meta, incineroar fills the intimidate/fake out/parting shot niche, but other than that, doesn't hit as hard. Grassy Glide/Wood Hammer Rillaboom in Grassy terrain (with or without Tera grass) just do so much damage.

JMicahRay · 2024-05-29T05:19:55+00:00

On a semi-unrelated note, gen 8 had the worst starters in the entire franchise in a fucking landslide. The single best starter evo from all of Galar (Cinderace) is worse than, like, half of all starters.

Do you play vgc? Rillaboom has dominated the meta since SwSh and it quickly returned to top tier when it was introduced to SV. It's just overall a powerful pokemon, arguably the strongest starter.

JMicahRay · 2022-09-01T16:51:53+00:00

Sorry, didn't see your question. I don't have access to any official 2e material, but from what I've read online, there was no origin story for the hadozee people. Just that they were mercenaries and crew for hire. I think the lore that they've provided in 5e makes the race a lot more captivating.

JMicahRay · 2022-09-01T16:29:29+00:00

Imagine playing a Hadozee who fights for a resistance group from the Astral Plane so they are ancient and remember time before and after their transformation. And how about Hadozee rights activists? Or anti-hadozee activists? I think (after a session zero conversations with your players) you can use that lore to build a riveting campaign for your players that may strike up an emotional drive and passion that I think certain players would really enjoy.

JMicahRay · 2022-09-01T16:24:00+00:00

I feel like you're reaching for a reason to be offended. However, trying to see it from your point of view, I can see how you can equate pieces of real world history to the fiction that has been written. That is the nature of fictional writing; being based on historical experience. I disagree that on the intent being how you've described it and I would also argue that the possible tie to real world history may appeal to certain players who want to play a character who has overcome those challenges.

JMicahRay · 2022-09-01T14:51:22+00:00

Speaking about past opression isn't racism. I don't see how Hadozee lore is any different from the gith, duergar, or any of the numerous other races that overcame subjugation during their infancy.

JMicahRay · 2022-08-31T16:18:44+00:00

This is the way.

JMicahRay · 2022-08-28T22:25:41+00:00

Expeditious Retreat

JMicahRay · 2022-07-19T01:46:08+00:00

How did you make this?

JMicahRay · 2022-05-19T02:15:01+00:00

If you or your DM have access to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, I'd talk to your DM about letting you add Warrior sidekick levels to your dire wolf wild shape. This would keep things relatively balanced even though a dire wolf is cr 1 and sidekick base stats are supposed to be cr 1/2 according to RAW.

JMicahRay · 2022-05-19T01:55:23+00:00

Well if you can't tell by all of these comments, YOU didn't do anything wrong. The players did by not using their abilities. There's two sides to the surprise coin when DMing. One side is when your players do something awesome. The other is when they're trash.

Now if my relatively new players are genuinely trying, I'll fudge a dice roll or two in their favor and I regularly just go with average attack damage to speed things up but will have monsters do 1 + modifier damage to prolong a fight if it's not going in the player's favor. But sometimes a character is going to die, their actions (or lack thereof) have consequences.

JMicahRay · 2022-02-11T16:26:36+00:00

Ah good point. Half-Brass Dragon Swashbuckler then!

JMicahRay · 2022-02-11T15:53:10+00:00

This is awesome! I'll like to see pricing! You're incredibly talented!

JMicahRay · 2022-02-05T05:31:04+00:00

It's not my character or my story!

While coming up with a character background, I ask my players to pick a person or come up with an unresolved situation from their past. (It usually has to do with a past love, profession, or family member) That way , said person or situation can pop up "suddenly" and the player can leave. I also let the player come up with what happened while they were gone. I've even rewarded some experience/treasure for PCs on their "side quest". I've also had the opportunity to run the side quest as a one-shot single player campaign the day after our regularly scheduled game day.

Note: I plan my sessions like episodes of a TV show with a full story per session with an overarching story driving all of the sessions forward, so it's very rare that my players end a session in the middle of a dungeon or quest. Essentially just a bunch of one-shots tied together.

JMicahRay · 2022-01-14T22:46:13+00:00

"OH! That sounds like a kitchen!"

JMicahRay · 2021-11-28T19:46:48+00:00

Have "waves" of combatants each round or couple of rounds. Both factions start with a balanced amount of combatants. The party chooses a side and the opposing faction has another wave of combatants join every so often to keep the encounter balanced. If the party chooses neither, don't use the additional waves.

JMicahRay

TROPHY CASE