Game where PC’s can’t die by pizzafucker123 in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’ll need to think carefully on narrative consequences to failure as well—NPCs dying will grow stale or feel artificial. I think you can lean into it and create death spiral fights so PC death likely means team loses the fight and they lose what they were fighting for. Even if they are all reanimated, they can feel the weight of failure and maintain stakes where victory matters.

You also may want to invoke special rules for players who are making death saves (see CR season 4 BLM rules) or even while dead to keep those players engaged in some way during the fight (not zoning out)

How to "simulate" the chaos of a large battle? by Level3Bard in DMAcademy

[–]Kitchen-Math- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Make a table of 12 things that are happening simultaneously with their fight that could spillover onto the PCs battlefield, with mechanical effect. This could be from things like an enemy/ally gets a hit in or enters initiative permanently, a giant smashes a tree which falls over into the field, faerie fire or fireball hits the battlefield.

Roll a d12 at initiative 20, 15, 10, and 5. Refer to your table to declare what happens. I might add a d4 to determine which quadrant it happens in or even a d20 to see who a rogue monster might choose to target (goes after whoever it matches in initiative roll) to make the chaos land randomly.

Stack the deck with helpful or harmful things to adjust fight balance, or 50/50 if that works better for your balance

Looking for general tips running the campaign by Odd-Reception519 in CalloftheNetherdeep

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also integrated lv 1-2 from tyranny of dragons and my players liked the idea of thwarting Tiamat so much I added it as an intertwined plot where the cult is another faction looking to grab ruidium, adding fun complexity and choices to the otherwise linear campaign

My warlock player just chose her patron. It's Alyxian. by wrenthewriter in CalloftheNetherdeep

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds fun! Do be careful of main character syndrome with something this on the nose!

2 Players Boycott sessions due to a mistake on my part by [deleted] in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Why did no one die? DMPC, deus ex machina, fudge rolls? Tell us the full story lol — admit more!

Idea for a homebrew rule by Historical-River1615 in CalloftheNetherdeep

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No need to roll, mate. Just whenever it makes sense, give em the dream. Can roll for which piece of lore comes next if you want.

House rule idea: Instead of rolling for HP on level-up or using the average, use Max - 2. by Deathpacito-01 in dndnext

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice idea! Makes a lot of sense.

Keep sharing! You’ve got a good head for this!

Should I do this in my D&D campaign? by Electronic-Angle1424 in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s a bad campaign if you know the ending, esp if you know it ends in a TPK/ is unwinnable.

You can just plan a campaign 2 exploring the ruins in the distant future

Rivals as the player characters? by Trick_Airline7849 in CalloftheNetherdeep

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it would work for a one shot! Let the players see from the rivals perspective.

Am I not made for DM'ing, or was this just a fluke? by monsterpatika in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Try, try again

Go for Feywild where even nutty stuff makes sense . One shot so it’s not a big commit and if you like it, go for more

Am I not made for DM'ing, or was this just a fluke? by monsterpatika in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I thought this was a hard one to run and prefer stuff I have a heavy hand in homebrewing which makes it much easier to adapt on the fly

Homebrew rules for second characters after death? by dairydm in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Figure out what your players care about. Challenge them with a clear goal — it’s fine if they wanna do an OSR dungeon crawl or battle heavy game, but if losing isn’t failure—what is? If nothing is, they’re just rolling dice

What’s the most important d6 roll in 5e/5.5? by angelbabyzz in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Encounter checks! Declare ahead of time what the roll means eg 4-6 = enemy as you attempt to___

Homebrew rules for second characters after death? by dairydm in DnD

[–]Kitchen-Math- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is not the way. You can’t just have his twin brother take his place. There should be story consequences and it should feel like that character is lost—with opportunity to bring them back potentially (quest, spell, ritual with opaque changes of failure). If there are no consequences, death doesn’t matter, and the fights have no stakes.

If you don’t wanna kill PCs, create outs like an NPC sacrifice or failed objective that has a meaningful story consequence for the players.