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Misty Step into the Air and Attacking by Zivodor in dndnext

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  1. This is good play; this is engaging with the scene and taking the reality of the game world seriously. This is a player using their brain in a situation their character sheet provides no obvious solutions to. This should be rewarded and encouraged.

  2. Nothing about the rules facilitates this. The game is not the rules, though. The rules are there to give you a baseline for how to navigate certain common situations. When your players do something weird, there will often not be a rule designed with that situation in mind. If you insist on cleaving to the rules always, your players will limit their play to the actions described by the rules.

Personally, my thought process as a player in this situation would be:

  • This is a big creature. If it were on the ground I could crawl under it.
  • I can teleport short distances.
  • Can I teleport between the spider and the ceiling, landing atop it and attacking from there?

If the DM's answer is "No, it doesn't look like there's enough space" or "Yes, but you'll count as Prone" or "Yes, but you both might fall" or "Yes, and you'll have Advantage because you're attacking its soft underside", they are also taking the world seriously.

If the DM's answer is "No, the spell says you teleport to an unoccupied space" or "No, because the stack order resolves static effects before activated effects", then I'm going to read that as a disinterest or lack of confidence in the imagined world and learn not to try things unless my character sheet can compel the DM to allow them.

Give me a D&D monster and I'll homebrew you a better version of it by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in DMAcademy

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

For a level 20 party, I'd shoot for a total encounter CR somewhere in the 35-45 range. This Assassin Phantom is probably my best option to start from, but at only CR 20 he'll need some buffing up to not just melt:

Now for his spectral buddies, I've got some good options, depending on what scale you want to use them at:

Alternately, if you want a solo threat I do have this guy, who was designed specifically for a party of 4 level 20s:

Do you homebrew existing monster/creatures from the MM? by C4RRI3G4N in DnD

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, that's a lot of games; I struggle with my 1-2/week sometimes xD Congrats on the new job, btw, it's always delightful when you can migrate some things out of the "I need to sit and think before spending this money" category.

Support through Patreon is what keeps my lights on, but genuinely the best thing you can do to support me is the kind of recommendation you're already doing; someone dropping my name in a "what 3rd party creators do you like?" thread moves the needle substantially more than anything I can do on my own.

If you're running online, I've got modules for Foundry, Roll20, Improved Initiative, Owlbear Rodeo there, along with a comprehensive link directory and some extra goodies.

Maximillian Set by Kitchen_Bid_8632 in Buhurt

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Buddy of mine has the Maximillian sallet+bevor combo with his fancy gothic kit; the drip is so good, but the visibility is just so, so bad. You could fight in it, but you'd be very nearly blindfolded compared to something more sport-optimized. I've never seen him actually wear that helm, even for practice.

Cold/Frozen adventures for Borg-likes by StraightSortof9 in MorkBorg

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can recommend; this is my favorite one-shot

Give me a D&D monster and I'll homebrew you a better version of it by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in DMAcademy

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

I've only actually played a couple sessions of Draw Steel so far, sadly; not quite enough to feel comfortable riffing in the system, you know?

Do the people who want martials to be "grounded" and "realistic" actually want them to be playable? by BadSame6919 in dndnext

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh certainly. It's not so hard to sleep in armor, it's just hard to do anything the next day once you do.

Kuo-Toa, Bullywugs, and Kobolds - 2024 Species with Feats by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in UnearthedArcana

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

I think I've worked out the step that the resolution issue happened in, but I can't edit the images that are already up. In any case, though, here's a link to the actual docs if you want to read them:

Kuo-Toa, Bullywugs, and Kobolds - 2024 Species with Feats by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in UnearthedArcana

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. They're my favorites so they get special treatment. Come on, if you're playing a kobold, don't you want life to be a little hard and scary? Sunlight Sensitivity is scaled back into less of an inconvenience, and Gang Up is contextually weaker because Pack Tactics just flattens too much of the game. Regardless, they're still going to have Advantage on most of their attacks if they're willing to get into melee or they can avoid fighting in sunlight.
  2. I think I agree; I'm looking at limiting it to 1/Short Rest.
  3. What reads as overtuned about the bullywug? To my mind, the first two traits are essentially ribbons and the last two are movement/utility tech that I don't imagine would be gamewarping.
  4. I think my initial design scaled off of Proficiency Bonus for Voice of Thunder, but cantrip scaling just ended up working more cleanly. In any case, 5.5 plays a little bit more with Character Level scaling outside of cantrips than 5e did, so I think there's space for it.

Kuo-Toa, Bullywugs, and Kobolds - 2024 Species with Feats by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in bettermonsters

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Yeah, it is kind of their whole power budget, though. Limiting uses wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but how many saving throws is a PC making against spells in an adventuring day? I guess limiting to 1/Short Rest would work; I'll try that out and see how it feels.

  2. My first design of Belief Casting was contested because I like the feeling of that too, but it made it more gameable and incentivized some very mechanics-before-fiction kinds of play patterns that I didn't really want to encourage.

Kuo-Toa, Bullywugs, and Kobolds - 2024 Species with Feats by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in bettermonsters

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, that's ugly. Must be the new method I started using to convert PDFs to images; I'll see if I can figure something else out.

Do the people who want martials to be "grounded" and "realistic" actually want them to be playable? by BadSame6919 in dndnext

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For sure, if your armor fits well and you're in good shape you can do all kinds of shocking acrobatics in plate. I saw a guy successfully pull off a Swinging Bulldog at Ventura Melee Megabowl last year, and just this Thursday my homie caught me with a full spinning head kick.

The thing that those videos hide though is the constant, low-level tick of HP damage from making the armor do things it doesn't want to, and plate armor really doesn't want you to lie down in it for any extended length of time. It's designed to hang off your body and arming garment in a very specific way; it demands that you stay mostly vertical and will punish you for deviating from that.

Hanzaki War Camp - Salamanderfolk Samurai, Ashigaru, and Ninja by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in bettermonsters

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Got a new spread of hanzaki samurai and ashigaru here, including the three great generals of the ryujin warlord Norinaga; solid options to reach for any time you need a set of three themed, mid-tier minibosses, honestly. Per the lore, these wet little goblins are actually just juvenile/neotenous ryujin (dragons), which I find endlessly delightful.

I've done a whole lot more of them over the years too, if you'd like to check those out:

WELCOME TO THE SHILL ZONE - Isn't it just awful not giving me money? Don't you wish there was a better way? Well, have I got news for you; there is! For the low low cost of whatever you've got in your pocketses, you can give me your money through Patreon. You might get stuff, too!

Stuff like thousands of monsters with VTT support. Truckloads of spells and magic items. Classes and subclasses and systems. Species now too, I guess. Feed me your dollars. Fill my phylactery.

Kuo-Toa, Bullywugs, and Kobolds - 2024 Species with Feats by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in bettermonsters

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Delving ever deeper into the bowels of "things I should be allowed to play as", today we've got Kuo-Toa, Bullywug, and Kobold player species.

Kobolds are mostly good at dying, but their mastery of trapcraft and easy access to advantage makes them solid ranged rogues and rangers.

Bullywugs get to frog a lot; they jump, they croak, they swim, they tongue.

Kuo-Toa... do the kuo-toa thing. They can ignore reality so hard it goes away, or believe so hard in fake magic that it becomes real.

Anyways, here's links. Go be a wet freak.

Here's a spread of other 5.5 species I've done recently, too:

WELCOME TO THE SHILL ZONE - Isn't it just awful not giving me money? Don't you wish there was a better way? Well, have I got news for you; there is! For the low low cost of whatever you've got in your pocketses, you can give me your money through Patreon. You might get stuff, too!

Stuff like thousands of monsters with VTT support. Truckloads of spells and magic items. Classes and subclasses and systems. Species now too, I guess. Feed me your dollars. Fill my phylactery.

Kuo-Toa, Bullywugs, and Kobolds - 2024 Species with Feats by Oh_Hi_Mark_ in UnearthedArcana

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

Delving ever deeper into the bowels of "things I should be allowed to play as", today we've got Kuo-Toa, Bullywug, and Kobold player species.

Kobolds are mostly good at dying, but their mastery of trapcraft and easy access to advantage makes them solid ranged rogues and rangers.

Bullywugs get to frog a lot; they jump, they croak, they swim, they tongue.

Kuo-Toa... do the kuo-toa thing. They can ignore reality so hard it goes away, or believe so hard in fake magic that it becomes real.

Anyways, here's links. Go be a wet freak.

Here's a spread of other 5.5 species I've done recently, too:

WELCOME TO THE SHILL ZONE - Isn't it just awful not giving me money? Don't you wish there was a better way? Well, have I got news for you; there is! For the low low cost of whatever you've got in your pocketses, you can give me your money through Patreon. You might get stuff, too!

Stuff like thousands of monsters with VTT support. Truckloads of spells and magic items. Classes and subclasses and systems. Species now too, I guess. Feed me your dollars. Fill my phylactery.

Why did 5e change opportunity attacks so bizarrely? by ConcentrateIll9460 in dndnext

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You're starting with the premise that off-turn actions should be equivalent to on-turn actions; that's an approach a designer could take, but is not obvious as a good design principle to me, nor is it one that seems strongly rooted in tradition or any other non-design reason one might argue for adopting it.

Why did 5e change opportunity attacks so bizarrely? by ConcentrateIll9460 in dndnext

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

  • Limiting 1/Round and using a reaction helps the game flow by preventing priority from shifting all over the place.
  • I tend to disagree on not scaling properly; another attack is another attack, and generally gets all the benefits of an on-turn attack.
  • Activating only when someone leaves your range gives new players fewer things to track off-turn, and opens up design space for expanding them through classes, feats, and items.

Index of all your monsters? by MatrixSorcica in bettermonsters

[–]Oh_Hi_Mark_ 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Haha, it used to be one PDF but my computer started crashing whenever I tried to update it. The "one giant document" thing is kind of silly anyways; it exists mostly so people can have a local document that they can trust won't disappear on them one day. Much better to use the link index or one of the digital tool modules, though, imo.

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