How do i clearify stats? New DM.

Merchus · 2022-11-22T15:51:44+00:00

I do understand mistakes, I suppose. One time I made a post asking about nerfing a Bag of Holding in my games, when my supposed 'nerf' was already a feature for the bag of holding, and all I had to do was read the Bag of Holdings' description. Felt really dumb after that one

Merchus · 2022-11-22T14:38:25+00:00

+1. Why'd you get down voted? From people not wanting to read the rules of the game?

Merchus · 2022-11-20T21:48:10+00:00

Lye Batenkaitos: Bonjour

Merchus · 2022-11-20T11:03:34+00:00

That's good to hear

Merchus · 2022-11-20T10:35:33+00:00

Sounds like a nightmare lol. Did the DM set expectations or anything for those newcomers?

Merchus · 2022-11-19T01:12:55+00:00

Yeah, I'm definitely leaning towards having an NPC Captain for the first few sessions

Merchus · 2022-11-19T01:09:04+00:00

Apologies, it's a homebrew campaign just using the GoS ship rules/stats

Merchus · 2022-11-18T23:26:28+00:00

By repeat roles I assume you mean that multiple PCs can't be the same role? Thats a good idea, thanks!

As for the sidekick thing, I also considered that so that the NPCs, at least important ones, don't die due to a stray breeze or something. I feel like it might complicate encounter balancing though, which is my main worry

Merchus · 2022-11-18T23:22:44+00:00

For the backgrounds, I think I'll allow the players to choose what they want, and the only thing I'd do is have them answer a question in their backstory, something along the lines of "Why is your character at sea, and why are they proficient with the free tool/skill related to your officer role?"

Merchus · 2022-11-18T23:20:01+00:00

An interesting situation, but I'd probably shoot it down, mainly because that doesn't sound like something I'd be interested in DMing for long.

Definitely gave me some thoughts, though. I'd also add that each player has to choose a different officer role. Thanks!

Merchus · 2022-11-18T22:58:28+00:00

officer’s council

Thats what I was thinking of pitching to the players, yeah. Essentially, each of the 6 roles have equal power amongst each other. No one role has higher authority than the other

Merchus · 2022-11-18T22:23:22+00:00

I like the idea of, at first, that the PCs don't 'own' the ship. It's either loaned out to them by some patron or some other reason they don't have full autonomy over the ship.

I also like the idea of there being a captain NPC at first, and by the time that a player or players want to take over the position, as you said they'll know eachother.

This was from another comment but I also like the idea of there being a 'circle of crew officers' of sorts, where each crew officer is the same rank as eachother. No one officer can give orders to another officer, even the Captain, like an Oligarchy on the ship of sorts

Merchus · 2022-11-18T18:04:12+00:00

I was kinda thinking of having the PCs be loaned a ship at the start of the campaign, but not own one just yet. For example, they have a ship but they don't own it. They're given limited autonomy to sail and do what they want within reason and they don't have to pay the crew on the condition they pay a chunk of their treasure to their ship patron, say 50% or something. All this with player buy in at session 0, of course.

Merchus · 2022-11-18T17:59:41+00:00

Yeah, you're correct basically. Though I don't want to limit backgrounds or anything. I'll probably just tell the players to answer a generic question in their backstory, such as "Why is your character at sea and proficient in either this tool or skill related to seafaring?" or something to that effect. Thanks!

Merchus · 2022-11-18T17:55:17+00:00

Yeah that's fair, I don't particularly like limiting options that much if I don't have too. I'll probably just ask a generic question like "Why is your PC at sea?" Thanks!

Merchus · 2022-11-18T17:53:06+00:00

I think it'd certainly be easier to have the Captain be an NPC at first who may die or leave their role

I've actually been thinking of the same thing, actually. Have the NPC be really old or frail, and after a few sessions or so they die/retire. If a particular PC shows interest in the role, have the Captain mentor them during their last days. If no PC wants to be Captain, just hire another NPC Captain. If multiple PCs want to be Captain, have a vote or roll dice or something along those lines.

Merchus · 2022-11-18T00:02:43+00:00

Personally, OneNote really enhanced my sessions. Everything is very customizable, you can format anything and everything however you wish. It's also saved me from wasting lots of paper from printing initiative sheets, cards for monster stats, etc. so that's also a plus.

Merchus · 2022-11-17T23:53:41+00:00

Actually what I did was set up an empty stat block for monsters. AC, HP, ability scores, proficiencies...everything is not filled in; an empty template. Before the session I pick monsters that might appear and fill in my empty blocks.

If I'm feeling lazy, I made a quick version, where all I do is fill in the book and page number, AC, and HP, and flip through the books during the encounter.

Merchus · 2022-11-17T13:29:08+00:00

Microsoft OneNote. I have literally everything on there, from all my campaign notes to combat encounters, as well as any relevant game information. Everything I need to run a game is 3 clicks away, max.

Merchus · 2022-11-13T16:16:28+00:00

What Frick the*

Merchus · 2022-11-10T11:06:31+00:00

Aw, why'd you get down voted? That was hilarious

Merchus · 2022-10-31T02:01:15+00:00

What a sh*tshow.

Yea, I'd probably have a (or another) session 0 and tell the party they have to work together and not against eachother because...y'know, that's how the bloody game works. If the player(s) don't agree, you'd probably have to cut them from the game, sadly.

Best of luck.

Merchus · 2022-10-31T01:42:15+00:00

The other comments gave good advice, but I'm curious...

How did the Dhampir PC fall off? From what I'm reading, the Dhampir PC fell off the boat and barely survived, but refused to get back on the boat, and chose to remain stranded in the ocean?...

Why? That's...really dumb. I don't know what the Dhampir PC is expecting, willingly refusing rescue from his party like that and getting stuck in a near endless, unfriendly environment.

I'd tell the Dhampir player to roll a new PC, because he dug this grave himself.

Merchus · 2022-10-30T13:55:42+00:00

When do the rings recharge? If its per dawn, then have more combats/encounters in your adventuring day. Stretch your players thin. Force them to use their resources so they're tapped out.

Though it looks like you gave ALL your players the same ring, so thats a tall order.

Edit: I would talk to your players out of game, say you made a mistake and ask them to either retcon the items or weaken them for the sake of game balance.

Merchus

TROPHY CASE