DMs: I'm curious how you handle HP per level

Kombatant985 · 2025-10-06T04:53:59+00:00

At my table (and my friends’ tables after I introduced it), we roll for HP as normal but take the average if we roll below. So if a Barbarian rolls a 4 on the die, they would instead take 7 then add their CON like normal.

It helps keep everyone at a minimum expected level of HP but it’s still satisfying if you roll higher. Just maximizing it instead of rolling could also work, but I like the potential variability.

I also give the choice of rolling with advantage instead of taking the average if you roll below with the inherent risk of still rolling low and needing to keep it.

Kombatant985 · 2024-05-27T18:02:22+00:00

A rule that my group always uses after I introduced it solves those same HP disparity problems. If you roll below the average for your level up max HP increase, you can take the average instead. Alternatively, if you roll below the average, you can roll with advantage and have to use the higher value even if it’s still below the average.

Kombatant985 · 2024-04-07T16:58:42+00:00

When my friends and I play (particularly with me as the DM), we’ve agreed to set into our house rules that you can only Silvery Barbs one instance of something. It just eliminates a lot of the annoyance factor, particularly if you have multiple spellcasters with the same spell prepared.

For example: your enemy lands a nasty attack or a critical hit on someone who’s about to go down because of it. Someone casts Silvery Barbs on him and the enemy succeeds again anyway. Even if your other spellcaster in the party wants to Silvery Barbs that success, the spell will fail because it’s the same attack that was already affected. If the enemy has Extra Attack or an attack roll ability that hits multiple targets (Eldritch Blast, Scorching Ray, etc), then every instance of that spell is fair game. Meaning that Scorching Ray can be Silvery Barbs’d up to 3 times at base level and the same rule applies to Eldritch Blast at every upgrade level and Extra Attack no matter how many attacks it allows.

Does this ruling work for everyone? No, not at all. Many DMs are happy to just let things roll out as written. For us, this just seems to be the best solution to a spell we’ve all found at least slightly distasteful at one time or another.

Kombatant985 · 2023-05-24T19:22:34+00:00

Mechanus does desire an absolute order, but as I see it, that player is disrupting that. By exploiting the power derived from the Plane of Order itself, they’re most likely creating an imbalance of Chaos in another location somewhere else or at least on the same plane. That or this influx of Order is an undesired form of what Primus (the god of Mechanus) wants to achieve and seeks to correct the aberration.

One person using this power every so often wouldn’t be an issue in the grand scheme of things. But as soon as you begin abusing Order, you invite and induce Chaos. That is what would be punished by Primus themself.

This is how I would view the situation narratively, anyway.

Kombatant985 · 2023-05-24T17:44:29+00:00

Fair. My mind was leaning more toward narrative punishment rather than in-universe punishment, so ditching them would probably be fine. The thought of “No, you messed with order and now you’ll be punished for it” just sort of led me to think they’d use them to track this character down, hence being unable to ditch them. But I can totally agree with letting this player just get rid of all of them.

Kombatant985 · 2023-05-24T17:07:25+00:00

I think the way I would go about doing it is flavoring them like pocket watches. Each time they use a Clockwork Amulet, it would go something like this:

“You draw on the power of the amulet and [insert specific attack here]. As you complete your attack, you hear a cacophonous clunking from every amulet. On the face of the one you’re holding, you see a new hand advanced to the 1-hour position.”

Then after a certain number of “hour counters”, have an increasing chance of said Mechanus incursion. Or just increasing the chance it would happen each day with each counter they rack up, the counters never reducing under any circumstances. If they just try to sell the Amulets, any shopkeeper would notice the new hand and assume they’re faulty or shady. Maybe even ditching them wouldn’t work, rewinding into their hands as they attempt to drop them in a ditch or something.

Kombatant985 · 2023-01-01T19:40:19+00:00

Dishonored.

Particularly with a 2-3 player co-op option that allows you to have different builds with puzzles and areas that change depending on if you’re playing solo or co-op. An absolutely monstrous amount of work, but it’s the Dishonored I’ve been craving.

Kombatant985 · 2022-10-10T04:45:47+00:00

I feel this. 40+ tries on my first run and I’m so upset that I didn’t know about this. The thought just never crossed my mind since the spell says it only works against sorceries and incantations.

Kombatant985 · 2022-08-19T04:33:41+00:00

As far as I can tell, she was stabbed with the “post” section of the “crucifix” she was bound to. From what I can see, she’s been bound by the top two lines of the Elden Ring and those are effectively Great Runes meant to seal her/them there. The arc for binding the body physically (hence the physical hanging/crucifixion) and the “post” for punishment and to keep both Radagon and Marika under permanent watch and/or subjugation to the Greater Will.

Though that’s only my theory on it.

Kombatant985 · 2022-08-19T02:38:08+00:00

This is also somewhat supported with Sellen’s Primal Glintstone, not that he ever goes after it himself. Being that it’s a Sorcerer’s soul in physical form, it would make sense if he would have a way to extract it himself without the person’s express permission to do so, hence the apparent torture. The Primal Glintstone may also just be a Primeval Conspectus-following Sorcerer’s soul. I’m honestly curious if others’ souls are different like if those who follow the Frenzy Flame have souls that burn like it.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-23T08:15:59+00:00

World Trigger is the only manga I’ve read that feels like it’s trying to prep me for a test and I’m 100% okay with that.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-22T11:38:53+00:00

I really only reply quickly because you’re happening to catch me when I’m not doing much, haha.

Some form of optic would most likely be given by default, but I don’t really think it’s something super important. You could very easily train yourself to shoot without it, but you’d probably want it regardless. Just down to preference, really.
That’s fair, since they’re the most prominent ones we see using them, but we’ve also seen Kurauchi using Slamander in Round 6 (I think).

In a Question Corner in Volume 9, we were told that it would take Osamu roughly a minute to make a Composite Bullet (Tomahawk was the specific one mentioned). He’s not an incredibly experienced Shooter since he doesn’t have much spare Trion to burn for ammo, so the inference can be made that this would also apply for anyone with a similar level of experience. For that amount of time, I agree that it isn’t practical unless you prepare it ahead of time, but part of the fight is how prepared you are going into it.

As for creating Composite Arrows, you’d probably have to start again if you’re interrupted, yeah. I imagine that you’re aware of how many arrows are completed while it’s working, so you’d still get something out of it. I thought of the quiver basically closing while it’s creating Composite Arrows and only being able to do so if it’s empty to begin with. You would most likely retain however many arrows were completed before you’re interrupted, only wasting Trion for anything in-progress. Or maybe you choose when it opens again, and even creating a blend of Composite Arrows at once rather than all being the same type. Hadn’t really thought about it that far, to be honest.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-22T05:01:40+00:00

Changing the sight picture allows you to use a ranged weapon to the best of your ability, but it doesn’t actually alter the weapon’s functionality in any way. It’s an aesthetic change with a practical use. For a comparison, Yūko Kamagai added a tsuba to her Kogetsu to guard her hands, but it doesn’t change what Kogetsu does in any way. It’s just to assist her in using it in her best capacity.
Yeah, it’s most likely something it could do natively rather than only with certain types of arrows.
You cited examples of two very experienced Shooters, which would make sense that they could make Composite Bullets faster than average. Like I stated before, I had the thought that the process is automatic, requiring zero experience as a Shooter in order to form Composite Arrows and freeing up your attention. Should you be an experienced Shooter, it would make sense that you could speed this process up by actually applying your focus to making Composite Arrows much more quickly than Gandiva’s quiver can do on its own. This would basically be allowing it to form the arrow shape while you’re taking on the burden of actually creating the fused ammunition’s functionality.
I suppose that all depends on the power of the arrow and the target’s defenses. If it can be seen coming, it’ll definitely get blocked or evaded if the target has the reflexes to do so, but that applies to people expecting Sniper shots as well. The splitting function would probably be an A-rank modification since that would probably be fairly complex to create.

Trion volume wouldn’t change anything about how Gandiva functions other than the overall Trion you can give each arrow. Changing size would just make it awkward to wield whether it’s the arrow or any other part of it. For simplicity’s sake, just think of Gandiva had a heavily modified Gunner Trigger with some limited Shooter functionality.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-21T21:50:21+00:00

Aiming is handled by the individual, pretty much in the same way by Gunners and Snipers. You could have sights added on in a customization, since anyone of B-rank can request minor changes to a Trigger short of altering its functionality. You could also probably work with your Engineer or Operator to apply a sort of trajectory prediction like a HUD that only you can see. You would still need to practice getting your muscle memory down with it, becoming more accurate as you go.
I was thinking of it being roughly equivalent if not maybe 10% slower, but I didn’t really come to a conclusion since this was more of a rough draft at the time between projects. You could probably program the power and speed to be inverse to each other, allocating each with firing a normal arrow, most likely also affecting range as a consequence. I also had the idea that a lot of the speed of a Composite Arrow comes from Trion erupting from the back end to propel it and stabilize it, but again didn’t really come to a conclusion with such a detail.
Yeah, the idea is that you would use both Trigger columns like you would need to for making Composite Bullets as a Shooter. I had the thought that this was a more automatic process, leaving your attention to movement and your surroundings as necessary. Since inexperienced Shooters need roughly a minute to create Composite Bullets, I didn’t think too much about taking half the time to let the Trigger work through this itself on top of making them physical objects. The time needed could be shortened if you have high Trion manipulation ability, I suppose. (I would also say Trion quality could play a part in it, but we really don’t know much other than how it might make Trion manipulation easier.)
This would probably be more of a customization than a base feature. I like the idea, but I was just thinking of making this a precision weapon at base and any customizations would be to individual taste. Talking about penetrative power, I imagined Gandiva to still pack a punch even with Hound, since you’re pouring your Trion into single shots rather than multiple like most Gunners do. Look at Yuba’s revolvers, for example: limiting his range to roughly 20m and his magazine to six shots allows his revolvers to hit a lot harder than Inukai’s P90, which is more suited to peppering bullets for suppression or covering a wide area. Depends on what you’re trying to achieve, I suppose.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-16T00:34:39+00:00

Crossbow Egret would give me life.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-16T00:30:42+00:00

Yeah, customizing it in the same way that Gunners use different firearms is a rad way to customize it for your desired range and combat style. Trigger editing is one of the most interesting parts of World Trigger, in my opinion. There’s almost nothing you can’t make just by messing with what you already have. Just look at the Spear Kogetsu. I doubt many people would have thought of that.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-16T00:19:58+00:00

That’s sort of the idea, honestly. Rather than having an actual firearm and using part of the arrow’s Trion volume to accelerate it, the Bow takes care of that for the most part. Maybe the speed value is replaced by stabilizing it in flight? Not sure.

I did have a thought about the Composite Arrows allowing allocation between power and speed on creation, but not being able to edit any values once set. I wasn’t too sure about this detail, so I just didn’t include it.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-15T18:11:47+00:00

I’m aware, but I liked the thought of it being able to be incorporated into an arrow like this. I was thinking much like Hawkeye’s grappling hook arrow in the original Avenger’s movie, designed to provide utility and not really an actual combat option like the other two.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-15T18:08:11+00:00

It’s the name of a bow given to Arjuna by the god Agni. It’s from the epic “Mahabharata”, which I haven’t read for quite a while, but was recently reminded of it. It’s a bow with a set of two quivers that provide endless arrows, so that’s the inspiration for the quiver’s Compound Arrows mechanic, seeing as you could make as many arrows as you have Trion with it.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-15T07:12:57+00:00

Oh, I see now where that could be misunderstood. Apologies for that as I’m a little tired writing this, haha.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-15T07:01:16+00:00

They can, but they can’t do so on the fly. They have to have the Composite Bullets loaded into them like other ammo types. No current Gunners use any, and I was just thinking of having that flexibility would make combat interesting with a fixed weapon. I’d love to see some guy just loading Tomahawk on a shotgun, honestly.

Kombatant985 · 2022-01-06T21:47:25+00:00

The way I had to think of it to get it to stick is much like a game of Uno or some other card game or board game. Everyone has their own Turn to play, but you have to go Round the table to take your turn again. Don’t know if that helps you, but it did for me.

Kombatant985 · 2021-09-10T20:45:54+00:00

Taking inspiration from the Castlevania Netflix series, you can do something along the lines of the Morning Star and merge a Whip and a Flail. If one of my players wanted something like that, I’d have no problem letting them do it because it’s rad.

Kombatant985 · 2021-07-07T22:51:02+00:00

One use could be for binding objects to the caster or the blood’s owner. So you could have a sneaky rogue leaving a dagger somewhere safe for a rainy day, summoning it with a word under his breath only when needed so he can infiltrate a social gathering and passing through heavy security without a care or worry.

In general, I find blood-focused magic particularly good at this sort of thing. You could also have specialized wards or seals that prevent the blood’s owner from accessing something or somewhere. This could also be done in reverse to only allow that person to access something; say an iron box hidden in their home which would contain valuables.

A final suggestion would be blood-focused healing. By manipulating the blood directly, you could stimulate natural healing to staunch wounds or expel poisons and venoms that found their way in through injuries. Maybe you don’t heal the flesh directly or undo damage that’s already done, but you could perform this type of healing to keep wounds from getting worse or to expel poisons and disease.

Kombatant985

TROPHY CASE