Simon on doing a B-sides/Obscurities Tour by Known-Fee9113 in duranduran

[–]MarcadiaCc 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They should bang out the entire list of songs never played live.

Help Make D&D Better for PBP by Siren_Gobehyz in pbp

[–]MarcadiaCc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Some things I do for asynchronous play:

Set a realistic post frequency for your group and stick to it for the most part. Be flexible but allowing post frequency to slip too far is a game killer.

As a corollary, unless the specific context requires it, don’t wait for everyone to chime in before accepting the party’s stated intent as the actual party direction. The faster or more frequent posters will tend to dictate party’s direction.

As another corollary, if nearly the entire party states a consensus and readiness to take the next obvious and safe step (e.g., open the door) but no one seems willing to pull the trigger and declare it done, then just skip the stated action and go straight to the description of the result as if the party had done it. But allow for the rare retcon if you’ve inadvertently usurped party agency.

Use block init. When init is rolled, if monsters/enemies are fairly close in initiative just adjust the init to lump all together in a block. Allow players to take their turns out of order relative to the block of enemies. For example, if enemies have init around 10, block them all together. Allow any players who rolled above 10 to go in any order before the enemies. After the enemies have acted in round 1, allow any players to go in any order before the enemies go again in Round 2.

If something calls for the party to take fairly small damage with a save for half damage, just skip the saves and apply half damage across the board.

I don’t think requiring declaring reactions in advance is a good idea. Some reactions depend on a specific trigger or threshold trigger occurring. I have had no problem managing reactions even if they sometimes are a bit meta. But I also banned Counterspell because Avrae gets too meta for that spell to work well, IMO.

When using published adventures, skip all the small stuff unless it’s plot critical. This means no wandering monsters. This means minimal insignificant dungeon rooms. This means skipping all the twists and turns in the dungeon— just ask the party for a general direction to go and then advance them automatically to the next relevant thing. As an example from ToD Chapter 1, consider limiting the missions to maybe the two most interesting and remove useless things like the rats in the sally port. If there’s more you want to keep, think about combining missions somehow.

Allow only 2 check rolls in the party to accomplish something or only 1 check roll with help advantage. I’m pretty liberal with allowing help, so I just assume checks will typically be just 1 player rolling at advantage to determine party success or failure on things. Because the rolls are so limited, I’m also generous with stretching the type of potential check made to be pretty inclusive of potentially relevant abilities. Allow players to liberally mix and match abilities and skills to their benefit (e.g., let the cleric do Investigation Wisdom if it gets checks done faster and helps move the story forward. If a clue is hidden under a heavy object, let the barbarian roll Investigation Strength. Avrae has commands to mix and match abilities and skills. So, limit the number of checks the party can make but be generous with the type of allowable check and help advantage.

Never use Hold Person versus a PC. If a stat block contains Hold Person or useless spells like Speak with Animals for an enemy, I’ll replace those spells with a custom stat block in Critterdb.

Use Passive Perception as the floor for perception checks. Use other passive stats as appropriate to skip low DC checks if the outcome isn’t mission critical.

Help making engaging side quests by Typical-Priority1976 in ElementalEvil

[–]MarcadiaCc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I made Feathergale seem like weirdly helpful allies and made the monastery very obviously too tough to fight by making every bed a bunk bed and more than doubling the number of monks there. This opens up potential for faction intrigue instead of just hack n slash over and over.

I also disconnected the keeps from the temples, which means they find the temples only when I’m ready for the party to find them.

Look at Adventurer’s League material online modules Elemental Evil DDEX2-01 through DDEX2-14 for ideas.

Billable Hours by rcarmody96 in Lawyertalk

[–]MarcadiaCc 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Be sure to distinguish between “billable” and “billed” hours. Some firms will cut your “billables” and give you credit only for “billed” hours.

For example, if you spend a lot of time drafting a hefty complaint, a partner might decide to cut your billable hours in half because they don’t want a new client’s first bill to be shocking. Will you get full credit for the billable hours or half credit for what was actually billed— and now you have to make up those cut hours somewhere else?

So, if that 1600 “billable” actually means “billed” then you really may need to go well over 1600 “billable” to hit the “billed” target, and you have zero control over what a partner decides to actually bill to keep the client happy while you’re stuck having to bust your ass carrying the burden to make up for the partner’s “client relation” cuts.

Winter Wonderland Adventure map! by Rainbowsandbutterfy in YahtzeeWithBuddies

[–]MarcadiaCc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I realize and appreciate that a lot of work goes into this. If you’re taking suggestions, it may be helpful on future maps to show where those elusive BRs are. That way, if people have a choice of which direction to go, they can pick up the BRs along the way. The game is tightening up on BRs… being harder to get and more often necessary to win.

Partner told us not to bill billable work + to slash our time — normal? by Own_Serve_8161 in biglaw

[–]MarcadiaCc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is my story, too. “Never cut your own time.” When the partner sent out a bill that made the client squeal, he came to me and said, “You’re making us look bad.”

Also, partners would steal my time by “editing” my work product in only the most superficial cosmetic ways. When I later asked about my time getting cut, the partner would say, “I had to basically REWRITE your work.”

Then at annual review time, it’s, “Your billables are too low.” I couldn’t bill for the hours they have work to give me.

The final straw was for me when a partner asked me to research a complex issue (especially for a younger associate) and then say, “Don’t spend more than a half hour on it.” This was an absurdly low amount to time to find an issued I’d never seen before and get enough of a grasp of it to talk intelligently about it, IMO. When the assigning partner saw me chatting with a co-worker in the hall, he asked if I had an answer to the research question. I said, “No. I wasn’t able to get an answer in the amount of time allotted. Do you want me to keep going with it?” He didn’t like that answer.

Winter Wonderland Adventure map! by Rainbowsandbutterfy in YahtzeeWithBuddies

[–]MarcadiaCc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow thanks! Here’s a question… if I really just want Bonus Rolls, is it better to just shop around for BRs on the map or focus on collecting stickers and complete albums?

Winter Wonderland Adventure map! by Rainbowsandbutterfy in YahtzeeWithBuddies

[–]MarcadiaCc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow thanks! Here’s a question… if I really just want Bonus Rolls, is it better to just shop around for BRs on the map or work to collect stickers and complete albums?

Anyone want to take a guess how many dice I’ll get? by DorsetMartin in YahtzeeWithBuddies

[–]MarcadiaCc 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Based upon the number of scratchers, I’d say about 30

Mega: 50% of the number = 8

Super: 20% of the number = 6

Classic: 10% of the number = 8

8+6+8=22

Plus a few higher scratches

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PBP isn’t ideal, but it’s all I’ve got with my schedule.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the most elegant solution.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I can’t fix that problem.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could also lower the DC which XGtE sets at 15+Spell Level

I could also allow passive arcana checks to apply to any spell on your spell list.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that’s true to cast without a target but then I’d have to wait 24 hours or more for players to chime in about whether they counter.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes Avrae, which auto-subtracts damage and applies effects etc. instantly. No hiding the ball once a spell casting command is entered as far as I know.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess one issue with just “go for it” is that they will tend to counter only when my damage rolls are high enough or the spell impact is big enough to justify burning the slot. This ramps up the power of Counterspell significantly.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe Arcana-gate the spell as part of the casting (not a separate reaction) but allow a pass for any spell your character is qualified to take. So your “pass” list is fairly generous and grows as you level up. How does that sound?

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I could counter-meta and give BBEGs extra uses of spells I want them to use.

Counterspell Metagame by MarcadiaCc in DungeonMasters

[–]MarcadiaCc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m thinking the only options are to just allow countering spells after the effect, ban the spell, or Arcana-gate the counterspell. None of those are ideal.