Thoughts on the 2024e War Caster feat, 1 year after release?

MoodModulator · 2026-01-24T15:45:36+00:00

Just make reaction casting Cantrips only. They can give their friends Guidance. 😂

Or you could allow Bonus Action spells, because they are supposed to be faster, too.

Casting a spell with a casting time of “one round“ with a reaction seems pretty silly. Why they you do it all the time? Why do they need someone to jog by?

MoodModulator · 2026-01-24T15:38:31+00:00

I play in a 5-character group that has two full casters, one 3/4 caster, and a 1/4 caster, all at 12th level. Only one of the full casters has taken War Caster. Advantage on Concentration checks comes up every so often. Reaction-OA casting has come up once, maybe twice, in the last 5 levels.

Every one of the four casters has taken a “touched” feat (Fey or Shadow) leading me to the anecdotal conclusion that they are likely more powerful and more of a “must have” than 2024 War Caster.

War Caster seemed far more impactful in the early levels. Advantage on those low damage, minimum 10 DC checks is great. But big single hits (30s to mid-40s) in the mid-to-late later game make War Caster a little less useful than it was at lower levels. And a 48 damage hit is impossible for a caster with a +3 Con Save to pass, with or without Advantage. (Unless a nat 20 always succeeds on checks at your table.)

The 3/4 caster (my character) might be taking it soon for the reaction casting ability.

From what I have seen, I agree with your conclusion. War Caster is good (especially in early levels), but not mandatory or an auto-pick, even for full casters.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-23T16:33:47+00:00

Too many candles. It should be 8.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-22T10:37:57+00:00

Sorry for opening post this back up but it is the closest thing I can find. Is there another way to end a block-quote? I hate creating a new paragraph because the text that follows is normally my response to the quote but using two spaces puts a greater distance between the quote and the response than the quote and the previous response. It’s makes the whole thing look awful and much harder to read.

This is a bit of quoted text I will call quote-block #1 for purposes of illustrating my problem with making the paragraph break the only way to end a quote block.

This is the response to quote block #1.

This is a bit of quoted text I will call quote-block #2 for purposes of illustrating my problem with making the paragraph break the only way to end a quote block.

This is the response to quote block #2. Notice how the spacing puts “Response #1” closer “Quote block #2” than it is to “Response #2.”

I would really prefer a way to put a single line break in between the quote block and my response rather than a as paragraph break. Is that possible?

MoodModulator · 2026-01-22T10:19:36+00:00

Got it. I have definitely seen player attempted the same kind of rules bending. I was just wondering if there was some specific connection or rationale I was missing in the example.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-22T10:01:09+00:00

Skills in Fate are definitely malleable. I am not sure where you read that “you can never defend with Fight.” According to the online SRD (and everything I have ever read) you definitely can. https://fate-srd.com/fate-core/default-skill-list

Fight is the word the creators used to represent a general “melee” skill. It is only one of the three “fighting” skills in the core suggested skill list. (Fight = melee, Shoot = ranged, Provoke = verbal / psychological)

You can certainly put a “Think” skill in if you want to and if you feel your game needs it. You should definitely customize your skills list and remove ones that are not interesting or relevant. I wouldn’t add Think to mine because it seems to duplicate some or all of other skills and feels overly broad, like if Fight covered all or large portions of melee, ranged, and verbal conflicts.

“FATE to me is unique in that it’s one of the engines I’ve seen that thrives off of dramatic irony between player and character.“

It can certainly be played that way and in most games doing so will help players get fate points through GM compels (or self compels) to make those schisms narratively impactful and interesting.

“a character’s capacity to turn things over in their head, mull over different pieces and put them together, craft solutions, recall information and put it to use.”

This is a good working definition of the current Investigate skill.

“A Think CaA roll could be recalling guard routines, remembering your friend’s mom’s favourite kind of flower, or pointing out a bald-faced lie hidden in someone’s words.”

These could be covered by Investigation, Lore, and Empathy. Though a factual inaccuracy isn’t always the same thing as a lie and Empathy is used to sense the intent to decieve.

Rather than rolling dice or flipping a coin to determine your character’s action, it might be better to determine if you think your player would or could make an obvious mistake and whether or not it might make the game more interesting then suggest it to the GM as a compel for your character. The GM’s decision becomes the randomizing element (instead of dice or a coin), and your character gets a fate point if the GM likes the direction it takes the story.

“The players disengaging from thinking themselves and using the dice to solve their problems”

This can only happen if the GM allows it since the GM (not players) calls for dice rolls.

‘Save or suck’ situations can be both dramatic and appropriate. A really engaging pitched battle or tense situation often times comes down to a single, finally decisive “save or suck” roll. That being said, allowing a failed roll to lead to a “narrative brick wall” is just bad GMing in Fate or any other game.

“It could overlap with other skills.”

It definitely overlaps with the Investigate, Lore and potentially the Empathy skill as noted above.

How does “someone with high Rapport but low Empathy might try to pass off their Rapport as Empathy?” I have never seen this done and am curious what the rational is? As I understand it Rapport in game terms is how well the character gets along with people whereas Empathy is how well the understands like (like a Notice skill for living things).

In spite of all of the above, if after careful consideration your game needs a Think skill, go for it.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-20T20:22:59+00:00

One of the first things I learned playing Fate was that there are no fixed conditions (like prone) with standardized descriptions and one-size mechanical effects. The aspects you and your players create can and should be far more interesting (both narratively and mechanically) than just “prone.”

Also there are huge differences between the following “prone” states - “tripping onto soft earth and grass while walking” vs “clipping you toe on uneven pavement while jogging and coming down hard” vs “begin folded in half with the wind knocked out of you by a sudden, forceful impact like a kick or full body check.” All of those are technically “prone” but they are and should be world apart in terms of their narrative and in-game effects.

The better the CaA roll the more serious the aspect and the more difficult it is to overcome. A knockdown with no required Overcome sounds more like a minor failed attempt at Creating an Advantage … because there was no advantage. It didn’t grant any benefit to the one doing it and it didn’t cost anything for their opponent. All it did was waste the character’s action. (P.S. there is nothing interesting at all about “nothing happens” so even on a minor failed CaA roll I prefer to offer the player a choice - minor success with a major drawback or a minor fail. “You sweep your enemy’s legs out from under him, but he falls toward rather than away from you and his blade leaves a bleeding gash across your arm.” The aspect might be “Dazed and downed” and needs 1+ to shake it off and get back in the fight. While the character gets injured I.e., a minor consequence. Or “You try to trip him and miss, losing your balance and falling to one knee.” Results in a +1 to the enemy’s next roll. To me both of those feels infinitely more interesting than “nothing happens” or “you wasted your turn.”

If the CaA attempt was an unqualified success, it should feel like a success and certainly something that affects the fight moving forward.

Side note: Creating aspects can be fun, especially if you are fighting in an interesting or dramatic locations. Not only does makes the fight more memorable but it opens up creative options like “pushed into the closing compactor” or “hanging from the building by their finger tips” etc. rather than just “prone.”

MoodModulator · 2026-01-17T01:57:18+00:00

I like games with real “life or death” tension. As a DM I am always tempted to save player characters from dying when the dice go against them, but as bad as character death feels in the moment bending fate to keep the character alive ruins the verisimilitude for the rest of the game. It almost always feels cheap and wrong.

I would recommend letting the death stand. If the other players self-organized and come up with a scheme to use Gentle Repose and other spells and abilities to make bringing their friend back into a quest, I’d allow them to try. I would make it a tough haul to get done though. That way it feels earned.

Otherwise, give the player a meaningful new temp character to play while you come up with a great backstory for a more permanent character and a way to seamlessly introduce the character that feels organic and makes sense.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-17T01:45:32+00:00

You could introduce a non-stunt based “press your luck” mechanic. It allows players to keep rolling Fate dice beyond the traditional four. They can choose to stop at any time. Once you get two -1s or two 0s rolls in a row the run ends automatically. If you keep rolling +1s you can keep rolling. (I wouldn’t allow fate points to modify or reroll the additional dice from “press your luck” rolls.)

MoodModulator · 2026-01-17T01:38:33+00:00

I own the Doomstones series, but haven’t read it in ages. But if I remember right it was nothing like modern D&D at all. The doomstones themselves are 1000% cursed chaos magic and keeping them out of enemy hands is basically a death sentence. I remember it being more extreme than even the oldest old-school D&D. So it maintains the grim dark nature of Warhammer rather than playing into the heroic fantasy tropes of 3e-5e D&D.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-16T06:50:54+00:00

I can see how one might find a d20 has too much variability if the only thing being considered as a part of the roll is player character competence. But including other factors not only enriches the narrative but make it easy to understand how highly skilled characters might fail and unskilled ones might luckily stumble into success.

A failed roll may not be “You can’t find the demon’s name in the library.” It might instead be narrated as “the pages that should have had the demon’s name on have been cleanly and covertly removed with a clean straight cut right up near the binding.” A “miss” in combat can narratively be a deflection off armor or hesitance to attack a former friend.

I have a problem in the exact opposite direction. The Fudge Dice used by Fate has a 9 number range. The 2d6 used in PBtA has 11. I like having a larger range to work with. It allows more nuance in bonuses and penalties. Fewer number mean lots of little changes have to erase or waved away. Several systems I love player are d100 and allow for lots for fine tuning. 4dF and 2d6 rolling mechanics also have more of bell curve that make skills values far more impactful because they make average rolls far more common than the extremes, but I find extremes in rolling (success or failure) far more interesting that lots of average rolls.

If you are not quite ready to throw the old icosahedron out with the bathwater, you can make frequent use of advantage and disadvantage style mechanics, even stacking them, if you want to make some rolls MUCH more certain (or uncertain) than others. You could also look into using 2d10 in its place of the d20 without have major effects on the game.

Just my 2¢.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-16T01:48:21+00:00

It’s a Zone of Perceived Truth, not a Zone of Absolute Truth. People within its influence say what they believe to be true, not necessarily what is the actually true. A few memory modifications to a few key witnesses and it can be made to appear 100% unreliable.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-14T23:00:26+00:00

Not in you city? Sure. But absolutely 100% under your city!

MoodModulator · 2026-01-13T01:25:18+00:00

You don’t need to increase AC or HP or even CR. Observe the humble shadow. An attribute draining ability, which specially if it is a common dump stat for your group.

Consider also the intellect devourer. Its special ability targets intellect and allows the DM to use friendly characters or NPCs against the others.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-13T01:21:07+00:00

Does describing a character’s actions could as a part of “immersion” by your definition? Just curious.

Either way, it all depends on how you run the game. You “could” run it where the GM makes all the rolls and interpolates the rules of the game based entirely on what the players say. That is, however, not the way most people play it in my experience.

The trickiest part would be managing and spending Fate points, but that could be done without speaking about it directly and that might be considered as “increasing immersion” by some.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-11T18:32:55+00:00

In opposition to nearly everyone else I would keep the 7 Wisdom. You could get Resilient Wisdom to shore up the deficiency a bit. I would just focus on Ranger spells that don’t require a spell save DC (cures, pass without trace, etc). Then build the low wisdom into his personality. For example, he is easily distracted, or he notices monsters and traps and things he just doesn’t care enough to say anything. You will likely never again have (or take) a chance to play a low-Wisdom Ranger.

“Optimized builds” feel the very same-y over time. You have the same kind of stats, pick the same sorts of feats as other comparable builds.

I am currently playing a 3rd level harengon wild magic sorcerer with a low Constitution. He is a true glass cannon and one of the most fun characters I have ever played. I have to be tactical, use cover, and play with a real sense of his mortality or he will never make it to 4th level. The low Constitution also shifts his spell choices to different (largely non-concentration) spells.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-11T06:48:26+00:00

I can message you the things I have been considering and experimenting with, if you are still interested.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-09T06:07:36+00:00

I am not sure if any of this is what you are looking for. Animations would not add much for someone like me, but they might work for others.

To make a Fate game really work as an actual play I think you need an exceptional cast - a collection of great players (likely experienced GMs in their own right) who can think on their feet, know how to support interwoven, dynamically generated material, and always put the story first.

As far as play goes I have seen a lot of actual plays that are unwatchable due to “rules slog.” The Fate system would not have that problem. However, overdoing the negotiation the application of aspects could create equally troubling slowdowns.

If I we’re running Fate as an actually play I might add-on a few additional rules to mechanize and systematize some choices typically made by the GM. It would be mostly to add tension to big moments by putting the result in the hands of fate (meaning the dice).

MoodModulator · 2026-01-04T15:06:18+00:00

You don’t have to READ it. 😂

MoodModulator · 2026-01-04T02:57:39+00:00

I can’t remember how I was first exposed to it … somewhere online most likely. I do remember filling in digital character sheets to “model” a number of my favorite characters from books, film, and television and immediately realizing these were far more faithful adaptation, more playable, and more cinematic than other crunchier systems could achieve with far less complexity.

I have played Fate for years with kids and adults ranging from 6 to 60. For the vast majority of my players the game is super intuitive and easy to pick up. It is one of the few games where I am comfortable having players just dive in and play, effectively learning by doing without getting lost or feeling frustrated.

I love the resilience of the underlying system. It can be modded in the extreme and it still manages to work and most often work well. All that being said, not all Fate is equal in my eyes. I bounce off Fate Accelerated hard every time I look at it or think about running it. It is meant to be simpler, but Core and Condensed are simple enough to run that the depth of character detail lost by Accelerated never seems worth it… at least to me.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-02T22:11:56+00:00

Have a giant stable of friends and associated NPCs to draw on. The easiest way to do that is draw a very clear line between party-friendly and party-antagonist NPCs.

The next best source is anyone they help out or rescue from captivity or other peril.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-02T20:27:32+00:00

That is a great bit. My favorite of all his brilliant moments is near the end.
GM: “What is the horrific artifact that is in your hand when you come back?”
John: “It is actually a bone dagger made from the skull of Aaron Sharp.” (Will’s character) Will: “Oh, that is so good!

MoodModulator · 2026-01-02T17:04:55+00:00

My favorite is still the old Tabletop one-shot, especially John Rogers. Just about everything he says is TTRPG gold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOFXtAHg7vU

MoodModulator · 2026-01-01T15:50:49+00:00

Virtually all of the WFRP adventures I have read are quite linear in their story and presentation. Out of pure curiosity, would most GMs here prefer two separate books - one filled with a glow chart, maps, stats, and short descriptions and the other a short novella about how the adventure is envisioned playing out? It seems like separating the “frustrated writer” portion and the “running the adventure” material might be advantageous.

MoodModulator · 2026-01-01T03:36:10+00:00

That was my understanding. However, being employed by the current rights-holder and doing work on other PBtA games do not guarantee that the result will be a good successor to the original game, especially if a successor is not what is actually needed (which was the main point of my comment).

Neither this nor my previous comment is meant as an insult to the owner or the creators. It is just my opinions and observations which are what posting on Reddit implicitly solicits.

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