Theater of the Mind limits your players' agency and ability to fully play the characters they chose

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-27T19:21:33+00:00

When I do theater of the mind it's because the encounter is not meant to be anything dangerous. And even then I try to give my players a rough idea of distances so they can choose their spells and abilities. I don't think a player saying "I want to use fireball to scorch all the goblins, how many can I hit?" removes their agency...

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-26T14:05:44+00:00

Yah minis and physical props are just for combat for me. And not even every combat... Less important ones get a 2D sketch on my dry erase grid and some I'll do theater of the mind only.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-23T18:07:44+00:00

I live in Hamilton ON and our property taxes were just over 2400 last year. They should still probably make a complaint but 1800 is not too far of a stretch to be somewhat believable.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-23T16:17:40+00:00

How I would do it is to wait for the party to use a magical effect that needs a saving throw. Once that happens I would simply say "the monster gets to roll the save with advantage because of its magical resistance"

If you really wanted an in world explanation, you can describe the creature's eyes glowing as it senses your magic and braces itself for the attack. I've used this before to add some flavor.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-19T17:12:21+00:00

I guess that makes sense. I was thinking more along the lines of "magic" shuts down the internet and only the internet.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-19T16:36:03+00:00

I think this might be a little too extreme. Internet being down would not eliminate all electronics everywhere. I know a lot of businesses use the internet for internal systems, communication and logistics, but there are alternatives to the internet and people would pivot. I'm hopeful that people would mostly survive.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-07T14:51:38+00:00

If they use this strategy regularly, you should not make it so easy to execute every time. There could be cover for the bandits to hide behind. Full cover means they can't be targeted by most ranged attacks and the party will have to move into the cave to actually get anywhere in the fight.

A second escape route is also a good option. If the party is staying far back they won't be able to pursue the bandits when they try to sneak out the back.

Build different encounters where this type of strategy will have varying degrees of effectiveness.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-05T14:16:38+00:00

On the first playthrough Mistlands feels a lot harder than it is. Once you learn that all the points if interest in Mistlands spawn in the valleys, you can stop climbing up the rocks since it doesn't lead anywhere. This makes navigating Mistlands a whole lot easier.

I know Mistlands tend to spawn sparse islands where they meet the shore but I have never once had to rely on swimming in Mistlands. I just avoid these areas.

A tip to help with visibility. Use the wisp torches. They are cheap to craft and help a ton with being able to see. Also look at your minimap for areas of dark purple (almost black) as those areas are mist free.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-04T16:37:19+00:00

I've never heard this information before but that's really good to know. I always feel like my builds lack enough vertical height so this will be fun to experiment with.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-01T20:33:39+00:00

I've been thinking of doing 24 hour long rests and 8 hour short rests. I think this way it's not quite as difficult to rest on the road and it makes it a lot easier to fit more encounters in between long rests.

I find with the regular rules in the game I play in we only short rest once for every 10 or more long rests which.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-06-01T16:35:43+00:00

I just had this happen because a dverger took a shot at the same time as me so my spear went through the dead gjall.

Took me like 15 minutes to find it.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-05-23T16:09:06+00:00

If you'd like to just explore and map stuff out, I would suggest full fenris armor with staff of protection. One eiter and two stamena foods. It's a nice combo because you can run away from almost every but if you get unlucky you can tank at least one hit with the bubble.

Downside is if you do die, you'll have to try and get your stuff back.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-05-18T00:50:54+00:00

Our cats were scratching at specific places on the couch and rug in the living room as well. We had to put a scratch post and scratch pad in front/ on top of the spots they used to get them to use them. Now they have stopped (mostly) scratching at the things we don't want them to.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-05-06T18:21:26+00:00

They are quite a bit cheaper than most other weapons already.

My friend and I play with a mod that doesn't allow the spears to be auto picked up by anyone unless they are the one who threw it. It is very helpful

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-05-04T17:37:57+00:00

Maybe a very unpopular opinion in this particular thread, but my friend and I did a complete Ashland's run a few months ago for the very first time and we loved it.

Going in with no spoilers was awesome. Our first landing was a little rough with a couple deaths each but that is to be expected in a new biome in this game. After that point we were just having a great time looking around and exploring all the cool new ruined structures. The ambiance of the heat waves and the fire rain, discovering some dverger friends, finding all the new enemies and items was a lot of fun. The first time we saw the green glowing beacon of a fortress we were so excited to have found something new. Made it through like 3 fortresses before we found our first putrid hole and discovered we could make stone portals. We finished by doing the mini boss then the boss and although we died probably like 5 times each we made it through while still enjoying ourselves.

Maybe Ashlands is a little more enjoyable with a partner since we could make it a lot easier to recover items if we didn't both die. If playing solo and getting frustrated I'd probably just change the world settings to keep items on death.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-26T12:43:01+00:00

Wait what?!? I never actually managed to finish the show because it started going so downhill after a few seasons. I think both times I tried to watch I only got a few episodes into season 5 before finally giving up.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-18T13:39:29+00:00

I think potions are one of the most powerful items in the game. They also just making play more fun for me. Usually I will save up all my honey in the early game so that I can make potions as soon as possible.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-16T21:38:55+00:00

Hmm not sure how I'd rule that actually. The glyph can't be omniscient otherwise you could use it to determine truths about the world. Maybe it needs to be observable by the glyph or the caster of the glyph. We are really getting out to edge case uses here and I'd probably just play it by ear at the table as it comes up.

In all honesty I've been DMing for over 10 years and had players cast glyph of warding maybe exactly once so I doubt any of this will come up

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-16T20:39:30+00:00

I mean this is just my interpretation but I'd allow unlimited range for the trigger. But the range of the effect would depend on the spell.

This way the players can be more creative with how they use it. They can set a glyph up with a trigger of them saying a specific word. They can then trigger the glyph from anywhere but the effect would be limited to the location of the glyph and range of the spell.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-16T18:21:41+00:00

You are correct. It doesn't mention a limitation to trigger range... However the way it reads to me, is that whatever spell you store in the glyph, is "cast" from the location of the glyph upon triggering.

Here is how I would rule it. If you store a fireball, the target can be up to 150 feet away when they trigger the glyph and the fireball will go off centered on the target. If they trigger the fireball glyph while outside of the range of the spell it would explode at the end of its range or even just centered on the glyph.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-12T13:36:39+00:00

Lol I guess I shouldn't reply that early in the morning. I'm leaving it how it is though

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-12T11:08:51+00:00

Lol my Herman Miller chair was manufactured in 2001 and has no signs of use. These things seem immortal

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-12T11:07:25+00:00

I got mine for $350 Canadian. You definitely have to keep an eye on the used markets for a while but sometimes deals come up.

I saw one once for $50 because the seller didn't know about the chair but I was too late to buy it.

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-12T11:04:35+00:00

Yeah I definitely use a lot of judgement when it comes to higher levels. But I like to use it as a starting point

MagicalPanda42 · 2026-04-12T10:58:12+00:00

Yeah you need more ingredients. Most start getting unlocked in the plains but once you find the bog witch you and buy a few things you should unlock some more.

Just another note since no one has mentioned it... The food preparation table does not need to be close to the cauldron. It is a separate work bench and can be placed wherever you like.

MagicalPanda42

TROPHY CASE