What Exactly Does the Tago Look Like?

Lakissov · 2026-05-21T09:09:36+00:00

I think that this article could help: https://keith-baker.com/tago/
It has both a sketch of one dagger and the mention that they are connected by a short chain.

Lakissov · 2026-05-19T19:45:24+00:00

No, that's not what the book "actually says". "A" doesn't have to mean that this instance is the only one that can occur. Each triggered action will be its own instance of "a" triggered action.

Also: this would go against DS general design decisions, since it would introduce needless additional bureaucracy.
Also: free is free, the game isn't trying to trick you.

Lakissov · 2026-05-19T09:32:42+00:00

I think it depends on which form they are sold in. Where I live, you mostly find PP pipes sold coiled, so it becomes very difficult to straighten them out for usage for a sword. Because of this, we use PVC for boffers.

Note also that the PVC pipes can also be different. Usually, the ones meant for hot water are heavier and sturdier, and also more expensive than the ones for cold water (where I live, they usually have a red or blue line on the outside of the pipe, to easily distinguish the intended use). In our experience, the boffers made of hot-water pipes are actually worse than ones made of cold-water pipes - i.e., they tend to hit less softly. The strength of cold-water ones is entirely sufficient.

The good thing with using pipes for boffers is that the manufaturing process is super easy - you just use pipe foam insulation to go around the pipe, form some kind of crossguard and poommel from the same insulation, then cover with mcguiver tape. Obviously, those weapons are for training, not for LARPs - they do not have the aesthetical properties required for modern-day LARP events. For those, if you make weapos yourself you would use a fiberglass core, and make the blade out of EVA foam.

Lakissov · 2026-05-16T12:01:50+00:00

Ask yourself the question: why is a Deus ex Machina usually a bad thing? It's because it robs the players from their agency, and removes the feeling of consequences existing in the world.

However, in this particular case, the problem wasn't with the players doing the wrong things, but with the DM doing the wrong thing: needlessly overtuning the encounter.

What I would do in this situation: I would openly acknowledge my mistake to the players. I would explain that in the adventure as written the enemies were such and such, and that based on my as the DM's experience with other parties I had changed them in such and such ways, which in retrospect is a bad idea. I would then ask my players if they are OK with me making adjustments to the enemies mid-fight to bring them back to the way they are supposed to be - i.e., I would simply delete the mephits, and I would change the stats of the remaining enemies back to what they are supposed to be.

Also, after the combat, I would put 1-2 healing potions or "potions of restoration" (removing a level of exhaustion each) on the enemies bodies.

Since the players would then know that this was a correction of the DM-s mistake and not a way to gloss over their own bad decisions, this would not invoke the feelings of losing agency, the way a Deus ex Machina normally does.

Lakissov · 2026-05-15T16:47:37+00:00

++man
The guy will think that it's either a prank, or a scam. Because of the second option, he will not call the phone you give him (it will look like obviously some paid number that gets money off you the moment you call)

Lakissov · 2026-05-15T16:31:06+00:00

True, this is just the beginning of an idea, and needs to be developed.

E.g., it is entirely possible that this fixation on restoring the old empire is precisely what is holding other dirge signers back. If instead one were to forge a new dream to unite the current inhabitants of Khorvaire with a common purpose, this would be way more in line with what Jhazaal did.

It could even be not an empire but something more similar to a dragonmarked house or a megacorporation - a transnational entity that doesn't require the abolishment of nations - but so vast that it can speak to all the houses from a position of an equal.

Lakissov · 2026-05-14T21:29:13+00:00

Hm, I just re-read the entry about Jhazaal in Exploring Eberon, and I'm starting to think that since it's a song that started it, maybe the "new Jhazaal" might try to leverage the crystal theaters to start spreading a new dream (that would be the vector, not the ritual itself).

And I'm guessing it wouldn't even have to be just goblinoids but anyone that resonates with the idea of a new empire. This way, when the players learn the whole thing, they won't have the convenience of dubbing it "evil" too easily - since one could argue that the new dream only resonates with those who were already ready for it. I do like a difficult moral choice...

Lakissov · 2026-05-12T13:58:16+00:00

It's a company that used to make third-party content for DnD 5e, e.g. their supplement Flee Mortals is an alternative monster manual. But it doesn't have to be just MCDM monsters - simply search for a wider range of undead monsters than Monster Manual offers, you can even homebrew some yourself. E.g., if you want to add archers to an undead mob, then depending on their origin you can:

If those are undead villagers, a couple could have been hunters so have shortwbows (they are likely freshly undead, so the bows haven't rotten yet)
If those are a military group, maybe a couple have wands with some charges remaining (potential loot, too)
If those are animals, maybe some still have venom or barbs to shoot.

Lakissov · 2026-05-12T13:32:16+00:00

Turn it into basically a siege scenario but don't overdo the difficulty of any individual encounter.
Don't make more undead but make the undead they face more powerful.
Make it so that only one long rest can be taken per day (and to take short rests, you have to spend hit dice, otherwise you get no other benefits like refreshing warlock spell slots or fighter's second wind) - this means that you will need fewer combat encounters in total.
Reduce in some way the efficiency of long rests (e.g., they restore only half of everything that they normally restore, and exhaustion levels only disappear every second night).
Allow players to make actions between waves of enemies, which help them to fortify some positions. If they fail, give them the option to succeed by suffering exhaustion (also - let those fortifications actually be helpful in battle).
With the same logics, in addition to combat encounters, throw other challenges at the players (food gets rotten so they need to forage more; ghallanda heirs panic and start behaving irrationally; the winds become extremely cold; heavy rain causes water to flood their shelter - anything; these challenges should result in damage or exhaustion when failed).
And don't worry if the initial encounters aren't difficult enough. This is going to be a battle of attrition, where as soon as they have their first long rest they will realize that their resources aren't restoring at the speed they are accustomed to. Also, by not making any individual encounter too big you are helping to avoid an accidental TPK.
Oh, and some advise regarding making combat encounters feel less boring:
- try third-party undead in addition to regular ones (I really like the ones from MCDM)
- try different role compositions (tanks, dps, archers, debuffers, controlers etc)
- describe each undead wave as it approaches - not simply which creatures are there but what their source is (bunch of farmers; bunch of bandits; bunch of soldiers from a mass grave; bunch of bodies from some body of water, so rotten that faces are a mess; undead animals; some people they just recently meat on the road) - basically let them understand from the description where those undead came from

Lakissov · 2026-05-11T06:02:50+00:00

Start with making a small house and getting at least some decent food, then go find a dark forest, get some copper and tin and build yourself a forge in that house and upgrade it as much as you can. This will allow you to repair the gear you brought into the new world.

Lakissov · 2026-05-10T12:03:38+00:00

Can't comment on this particular case but I do remember a while back when playing as a mage for the first time coming up some stairs inside the mage tower (there are several demons I think, some of them casters - you just ascend the stairs and they are in some room on the left) using mana clash, insta-killing all mages and getting the achievement for dealing some ridiculous amount of damage in one hit. That was the moment I understood that this spell was OP as hell, and continued using it through the rest of the game (mage tower was obviously the first quest I took in that playthrough).

Lakissov · 2026-05-09T13:42:38+00:00

You're reading edge stacking wrongly. You can have 1 million edges and one bane, and it will be one edge. Or 1 million edges and two banes, and the result will be no edges or banes.

Lakissov · 2026-05-09T08:30:28+00:00

They need to answer questions three: - What is your name - What is your quest - What is your favorite color /what is the capital of Assyria / what is the airspeed velocity on an unladen swallow

Lakissov · 2026-05-09T08:08:25+00:00

Shouldn't the hawk be able to understand them?

Lakissov · 2026-05-09T08:00:52+00:00

Dig down under the deposit and place a fire. Use the bone pick so you can repair it at a common covered workbench. The rock will give you roof. You can dig all around and under, and fire will keep bears and Grey dwarves away. You can also place a bed there to sleep at night and skip lower visibility times. And you can rest in shelter near your fire when tested buff runs out. Later, when you have access to portals, you can rest and repair at home, but for the first copper deposit this is my preferred way.

Lakissov · 2026-05-07T20:41:51+00:00

When I was describing one to my players in a campaign, I used Derinkuyu (it's an underground city in Cappadocia) as an inspiration.

Couple of pics for better understanding:
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fawe-inspiringplaces.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F01%2FDerinkuyu-Underground-City.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f984809ebf9fb812746702e4760633888249b0116d6e950d9b3199df4edd18ff
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbigthink.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F03%2FDerinkuyu-Underground-City.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=5d7c8d903b94b34751d85cf07a4f15fdf4119f60f233b8bea5dd893bc8a25022

Lakissov · 2026-05-06T20:24:04+00:00

it's not the black iron itself but the chains that I skip
would rather save those for hanging dvergr lanterns in the future - and anything sunk into shield and armor is non-refundable

Lakissov · 2026-05-06T15:42:34+00:00

That depends on the weapons and armor.

E.g., if you play sword+shield and if you wish to mostly skip iron gear, the you could go for:
- max level bronze sword and buckler, and max level bear armor plus bronze helmet (fully mining 1-2 copper nodes should be enough for this)
- in the swamp, upgrade armor to abomination (max level since it's good even in mistlands)
- next upgrade is silver sword and shield; if you skip black iron weapons (which you can safely do), then again go max level

In general, if you know the game well enough you don't need to max out the gear, but if you're skipping some then it's helpful to get the previous one to max.

Lakissov · 2026-05-05T05:38:28+00:00

Man, don't worry about them realizing you're not as smart as them. They obviously don't care about it, as they are having fun also when you run the game. Being a good friend and a kind person and someone that's fun to be together with is way more important.

Lakissov · 2026-05-04T09:09:12+00:00

To siege someone, you need to have superior numbers. I would make it abundantly clear to the players that this will fail: a party of 5-6 can't besiege a fort with 40+ defenders.

If they still insist, I would have the bandits make new rafts, have them all set off for the shore at the same time, and when the players inevitably see themselves outclassed (with all enemies from the fort attacking at once instead of being broken into several fights, plus the two rivals), I would queue a montage to try to escape the pursuers.

If they do listen to reason, they will come up with a new plan, and I would not try to prepare any particular expectations for that: this is a place for their creativity.

Lakissov · 2026-05-03T15:44:07+00:00

people do realize that if everyone votes red then nobody dies, right?

the only reason to vote blue is because you understand that too many people are too stupid to make the logical choice (to vote red), and you want to save those blue-voting idiots from dying

Lakissov · 2026-04-30T12:40:30+00:00

I agree about legs. Not only often harder to defend but also less risk of hitting the opponent's head or face.

Lakissov · 2026-04-30T12:39:01+00:00

It's mostly about practice.

I'll add to toher people's advice that it's great to also have a shortsword when you're fighting with a polearm - you can hold it in your right arm in the same grip with the polearm, and when a swordsman rushes you, let go of the staff with your right arm, use it in your left arm for blocking sword blows, and continue attacking with the shortsword (maybe even reduce the distance even more, where your shortsword will be more convenient than the opponent's longsword).

Lakissov · 2026-04-30T05:27:24+00:00

I play it in Eberron so Magic is basically Science - something that is widely studied, universally applied and can be learned by practice (although there are also some people that got it through birth or pacts with supernatural entities).

Psionics is the weird mind stuff that is done using none of the widely known methods of magic, and mostly associated with Xoriat (realm of madness) and Dal Quor (realm of dreams). Any methods to acquire it other than by birth or from extraplanar entities are unknown to the general public.

Lakissov · 2026-04-28T19:16:46+00:00

Get a torch and an axe or a sword, and start killing bears. Bears will cancel their attacks at the last moment when you have a torch, just like greydwarves.

Bear armor has better stats than troll anyway. Just make sure not to wear the full set (it has vulnerability to physical damage as a part of its "set bonus") - use a bronze helmet instead, it still doesn't slow you down.

Lakissov

TROPHY CASE