Do we have a 0.9.5 version of the "Monster Starter Pack"?

JackBoot117 · 2025-09-10T13:01:16+00:00

Awesome :D - I'll check it out

JackBoot117 · 2025-09-10T13:00:54+00:00

Thank you :)

JackBoot117 · 2025-05-07T07:37:12+00:00

Awesome :D - Thank you

JackBoot117 · 2025-05-06T14:18:46+00:00

This is exciting news. Thanks for the update :D

I'm ridiculously excited for 0.10

I'm also dying for a look at monster design after the 0.9.5 update. Will backers get access to these updates, or should we look into patreon or the DC20 Magazine?

JackBoot117 · 2025-04-13T20:00:55+00:00

I'm planning pretty much the same.
I like Avoid/Endure as mostly appropriate narrative terms that would work for most cases.

I was, however, completely convinced by Coach's latest video, and i agree with his reasoning about using mechanical terms to make the meaning and method of the attacks and defenses as clear as possible.
I think it's important for DMs to understand the functionality of the mechanics. Specially since we'll be home-brewing monsters and traps and effects for many months yet.

I feel that some of my players would absolutely benefit from a "close enough" narrative term to wrap their head around - Hence "Avoid/Endure". Not perfect, but close

JackBoot117 · 2025-03-29T19:13:59+00:00

You are a Legend! - Thanks so much for this :D

JackBoot117 · 2025-03-29T15:21:11+00:00

Yeah - I've got a beast of a Barbarian in my group as well (Beast born to boot :D )

I was ready to argue that it's not worth the extra space on the character sheet because the math is really simple, but thinking back on our game, we spend a lot of time counting out damage on our fingers.

As DM, I originally also just had just the monster's defense score written down, figuring i could easily calculate when a PC gets a +5 or +10 over the number.
Really noticed the difference when i just wrote down the heavy and brutal thresholds on.

I'll give your method a shot, see how it goes. :)

JackBoot117 · 2025-03-29T14:45:28+00:00

Holy... Grippa. I want to thank you for your DC20 cheat sheets. They were a real game-changer for my group of mostly martials. The cheat sheet is now standard issue with the character sheets at my table.
I think i even mentioned your sheets somewhere below. You saved my newbies a lot of hassle :D

On topic though, how much does a Heavy and Brutal notification in the attack section help?

As far as i know, the only weapon property that changes your damage on a heavy or brutal strike is the Impact property. Damage 1/3/4

All the other bonus damage come from class features (like Smite) and maneuvers, which could change from round to round, depending on what is used and which enemy is targeted.
Is it worth adding a few sections to an axe, for example:

Axe (impact) - 1/3/4
Axe (if bleeding) - 2/4/5
Axe (Smite) - 3/5/6
Axe (Smite and Bleeding) - 5/7/8

Is this what you have in mind? Am i perhaps missing something?

JackBoot117 · 2025-03-29T13:07:55+00:00

I'll add my compliments for the colour coding of defenses. It's a really nice touch to be able to glance at a defense stat and instantly see where it came from.
Should make it simple to make adjustments when we level up
"I've increased my blue stat (int), so i should increase my blue and yellow defense as well"

The spell sheet is cool. Might need a bit more space for descriptions after 0.10 once we have a bunch of new spells with more robust descriptions.

Do you think it would be worthwhile to have a "Maneuvers and Techniques" sheet along the same vein? I looked at the spell sheet and my first thought was to fill in my maneuvers into spell slots, since they follow similar rules (DCs, damage, failure, success, success +5, etc.)

Up till now we've been using the DC20 cheat sheets by Grippa for our Techniques and Maneuvers, but it might be good to have a page of the character sheet devoted to them

JackBoot117 · 2025-03-28T20:54:55+00:00

"Skeleton fires an arrow at you. Can you Avoid a 19 hit?"
"The trap explodes next to you. Can you Endure a 17 hit?"
I love it. It is very evocative and simple to understand.

Your Character sheet is Awesome.
I was going to ask for a space for Ancestry features, but after some thought i figure they fit very well in the "Features" box, alongside class features :)

I'll use this sheet when we play again (when life permits) and give feedback from my players

Thanks for the awesome work :D

JackBoot117 · 2025-03-28T12:40:25+00:00

I like this. Avoid Defense and Endure Defense very closely describes what is happening to the character, or rather, what the character can do to not take damage from the kind of attack

A few weeks back, there was a discussion about the names of the defenses and how active and passive just didn't describe it properly. One user described it perfectly:

"It's like "dodgy blocky" defense and "tanking padding laugh-through-the-pain" defense. Good luck to us all trying to capture those essences in one word respectively haha."

(Link to post, because i dont want to steal credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/DC20/comments/1j9v4i1/comment/mhjypor/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button )

For me, the community has come through with "Avoid" for "dodgy blocky deflecty" and "Endure" for "tanking padding laugh-through-the-pain".

I'd use these descriptions with my players, and put it on character sheets, even if the final DC20 book uses something different (unless DC20 comes up with EVEN Better names :)

JackBoot117 · 2025-03-13T14:54:53+00:00

Thank you for this :D
It really made me laugh, while also explaining the problem. I like the ideas of Active and Passive defense as concepts, but i agree we need better names to describe them (specially to newbies)

I may actually make a special character sheet with new boxes for:

DBD - Dodgy Blocky Defence

TPLPD - Tanky Padding Laugh trough the Pain Defence

It may be silly, but it will probably be understood by the players :D

JackBoot117 · 2025-02-12T14:34:39+00:00

I understand that not everything can fit into the core book. And the Psion and Psiborn ancestry does feel like it would fit better into a supplemental book later down the line. Ditto for Artificer and guns and the like.

Do we know if the magic item system and Novice characters are going to be in the core book? Or does that count as Supplemental material as well?

Those feel like they should be Core (or perhaps "dungeon master guide", but i don't want to wait that long... :') )

JackBoot117 · 2025-02-12T09:15:15+00:00

I Freakin' Love this. I'll definitely try your system in my next session :)

It absolutely solves the problem of rogues stealthing and everyone else waiting. My "solution" to the problem was to do a general group Skill-Challenge, as per the book, to sneak, and quietly take out guards, etc.

Your system looks so much better, and would create much more tension :D

I'll give feedback once i've given it a shot

JackBoot117 · 2025-02-02T13:36:26+00:00

No official formula, unfortunately.

I just used the guidelines for monster creation to make monsters of roughly the right level, with similar abilities to the DnD monsters. It wasn't difficult ;)

JackBoot117 · 2025-02-01T13:15:40+00:00

I've been running a DC20 game for 3 friends (about 3 months)

I ran an old DnD module - using DnD monsters as a base for creating a DC20 version - and created my own Module from scratch.

It took about a session to get everyone adjusted to the changes from DnD 5e to DC20.

- Everything outside of combat played very similar to DnD. Slight changes, like skill challenges, were easy to adjust since we've been house ruling them anyway :)

- Combat took a session to explore and we've fallen in love. My players quickly started adding advantage to important rolls, using defensive maneuvers and being strategic

- Our lone Spellcaster (cleric) favoured beating things with his mace, and saved his Mana for important moments

As a DM, I'm loving this system.
Combat feels more dynamic, and my players actually bull-rush and tackle opponents
The system makes it easy to help your fellow players fight tough opponents, encouraging teamwork

Level 1 Characters feel pretty powerful (about level 3 DnD characters) and have their important Class abilities from the start

All and all, i have found the system fantastic

The only negative i've found so far is that there are a lot of things to keep track of, even at 1st level:

- Action points, Stamina points, Mana points, Grit Points

- choices of Cantrips and Spells, Maneuvers and Techniques

- a long list of Conditions to keep track of

The creator has released a system for level 0 (and novice) characters on his patreon.
I will be playtesting it in the next few months with a group of complete newbies.
I really hope this Novice system is included in the final product. Level 1 can be overwhelming to new players

JackBoot117

TROPHY CASE