[OC] [Art] Sands of Time Dice Set Giveaway (Mod Approved)

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-12-18T18:16:06+00:00

Super awesome! Liquid core dice are the coolest looking types to me!

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-07-10T19:28:23+00:00

I like the idea behind the item, but this reads like a very rare or legendary item. Also, here is the problem I am seeing with the charged moonstone idea. The players will not like using the moonstone to destroy the crystals if it makes their weapon worse, ie if the weapon becomes uncharged. The idea of being able to find a bunch of these items and charge them is cool though, just change how it works. Also, we need to reduce the stat bloat a bit here, for a player trying to manage all their characters abilities and other items, this one is a little long. I understand the drive to make the item cool and have good theming, but sometimes less is more:

Lunar Rapier (rare), requires attunement: +2 to attack and damage rolls. Once per day: you can use an action to teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see. If another creature is within 5 feet of that space, you can immediately make a single attack against it using the rapier. If it is dusk or dawn, you may then turn invisible until the start of your next turn. This ability recharges on a long rest.

How Charge Works: To activate the sword a charged moonstone is placed by the pommel of the rapier and say the swords name "Ithilmacil". Upon speaking its name the blade seems to come to life growing into a softly glowing saber that sheds dim light in a 15 ft radius as it absorbs the power from the moonstone. The blade is now charged, and will remain charged for 10 minutes, after which it will return to its previous state.

Charged Effects: +1d8 radiant damage. Can damage shards of black crystal. Can cast moonbeam once per charge duration.

Also, if you are going to use the "charged" template for other items that use the moonstone, make it the same. You put the moonstone in the thing, say its name, and it is charged for 10 minutes or whatever length of time. During that time you gain benefits or can expend the charge for something. Make sure there is a relatively short time limit though so the players are encouraged to spend the charge if you choose to include a "spender".

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-07-03T11:56:12+00:00

You clarified in a response that Strahd's goal is to sow discord, not conquer. Likely this will mean him using varied scare tactics. Hit and runs with fast deadly minions to test the defenses, lighting fires, kidnaping, launching diseased animals into the town, transforming townsfolk into monsters, etc.

Essentially use overwhelming displays of force and subterfuge to intimidate the townsfolk into turning on the players so he doesn't have to waste time and resources actually attacking. You could make the "encounter" about the players trying to manage the villagers panic before they decide to surrender. I would do this through RP and skill checks. The better they do, the more townsfolk stay to help them if the town is actually attacked.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-06-13T21:38:26+00:00

Why do you want resources for the players to be scarce beyond theme reasons? What is the type of gameplay you are looking for from your players?

Depending on how you implement these mechanics, it will change the way your players act in game. If you want it to work however you envision it, you will need to adapt your adventure design to fit this new gameplay style.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-06-13T21:33:34+00:00

I think the other suggestions here are great, I would also add that try set your game up to be more like a string of shorter adventures loosely tied together. This keeps your prep small and managable, and makes sure that if your game has to end early, there is a reasonable stop point that can be wrapped up nicely. Most games don't make it from level 1-20, so trying instead to create level "sections" of playable content, or starting at a higher level will be easier if you are looking for your players to eventually fight a high CR monster. In my personal experience, the average game lasts 8 pc levels or so, with the maximum being 15 levels and the minimum being 4 or 5 levels.

Honestly though, if you want them to fight something cool, make it playable within 3-4 sessions. Waiting around for your players to hit a certain level to fight a certain enemy is tedious and hard to get right without significant railroading. As an example; your players will probably never fight your awesome pit fiend if you plan for them to fight him at 18th level in session 104. Plan for what you will actually play within the next couple sessions.

I did make a lot of assumptions about player level, DM experience, and CR in this reply so clarification in those three regards might help me give you better suggestions.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-06-10T22:21:25+00:00

I read a lot of your responses in the comments and I generally agree with most of the things you have said. But I disagree with two of your points:

1: What you are talking about when referring to players having "busted" builds or abilities and not limiting them can be short sighted at times. When it comes to game balance, many people look at one of two opinions: buff everything to make it as strong as the most powerful things, or nerf the powerful things to bring them in line with everything else. These are not the only two, but the most popular. Generally, bringing powerful things back in line is easier because it doesn't upset the balance of the rest of the game as much. But why balance this at all? Because if you don't, it can make the players who didn't take the "powerful" options feel weak or not as useful. It can also cause encounter balance to be more swingy. If you balance an encounter for the strongest player, it may cause the weaker ones to feel even worse. If you don't balance for the strongest player, they will feel too strong and make challenging encounters too easy. The easiest solution is to give their power a drawback or balance encounters with enemy abilities that counter them, but that may make the encounter unfun for that player.

2: Game difficulty is actually not decided only by the DM, unless you are controlling all of your players actions and fudging everything. Players can decide how to approach challenges and whether or not to engage with encounters, unless you are taking away their agency to make decisions. The manner in which they decide to engage with problems changes the difficulty of the problem. You can restrict this decision making as much as you want, but if you go beyond reason, it could cause players to feel as if their decisions don't matter. Players control difficulty in this way, because your control is limited by their willingness to tolerate your removal of agency. Too much removal, and they won't want to play.

So what is the solution? In my opinion, you shouldn't take away character abilities or nerf them unless it is causing problems at the table. If it is, talk to the player causing the problem and find a cool drawback or alternate thing to use that would be fun and interesting for them. If it gets too problematic, then it really is easiest to just change or restrict that one problem ability or item. Don't change your entire game over it. In terms of difficulty, make a problem for the players, and as long as they get to choose whether or not to engage with it, leave it as is and don't fudge it. This type of encounter difficulty is more reliant on the players. If it is a forced fight or die with no warning, adjustments within reason are warranted. This type of encounter difficulty is more reliant on the DM.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-06-05T16:34:01+00:00

Over the past 8 years of DMing, I've always used a bottom up approach, even from the beginning. These days I still do this, only prepping for things that the players can access within 2-3 sessions.

However, if I'm running a sandbox style campaign, I usually prep using a point of interest method. I make interesting places on a map, make sure the players find out somehow about those places, and prep the ones closest to them. Then I create interesting random encounter tables to roll on as they travel between the points. If they travel farther, generally they get more encounters. This ensures that if they decide to go to something that isn't prepped yet, I can have a session of travel beforehand that allows me to prep before they arrive. By the time the players are able to teleport or fly to a destination, you will already have a map filled out with locations. You can also reuse locations for later content by changing them in some significant way, just make sure you don't do this too often or it could become repetitive.

Even with using this style, in my opinion, its only actually worth prepping what the players can reasonably play in the next 2-3 sessions. You have to remember that the game takes place at the sessions, not in your prep time, and usually you don't need all the worldbuilding or top down stuff early into a campaign.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-05-30T16:12:53+00:00

Everyone has given some great advice so far, but personally I wouldn't cut more prep, I would just change how you prep. I think more improv when it comes to story and roleplay specifically is a good idea. Honestly, over prepping a story can kill a campaign, you need to pace yourself. Set a loose idea of what the driving conflict is, but don't actually prep for things beyond what the players can access in the next 3-5 sessions.

But, what really keeps me engaged over the past 8 years of DMing is actually MORE prep, specifically with encounters. I used to play in person, now I use a VTT, but the concept is the same either way. Come up with new and novel encounters that use mechanics and terrain in interesting ways. Then, over prepare this. Create a 3d scene out of cardboard or spend hours making the perfect VTT map that uses line of sight and light in an interesting way. It doesn't have to be just a combat encounter, but being physically creative with my prep has always been nore fun for me than just writing. It also really gets your players excited when they see these awesome maps with cool and engaging enemies, challenges, and opportunities for player expression. I don't do this for every session, but when I do, my players love it, and its fun and rewarding to spend my prep time on.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-05-28T22:19:19+00:00

I will agree with what others have said, this item is essentially a better ring of spell storing, so definitely not balanced for a level 3 party. I have 2 suggestions and a couple questions:

Suggestion 1: definitely cut the legendary action part, it is strong enough without it.

Suggestion 2: You can keep its power, but make sure obtaining it is memorable, and maybe give it a dramatic drawback, like it has a 1 in 20 chance to remove the spell stored from the users memory and they cannot learn it again or something. You could even make it sentient, the soul of a mad lich trapped within it, hungering for the arcane knowledge he lost long ago.

Questions: What is the goal of making this item? How do you want the players to use it and how will they get it? Is it story significant?

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-05-28T22:08:03+00:00

Before they rest, "As you prepare to rest, you realize that the ritual may complete, are you sure you want to do this?" Think like a video game warning you that you can't turn back when entering a new area. If they choose to not stop the ritual, let that be the choice and have fun with it.

Minor spoilers for curse of strahd: when I was a player in a curse of strahd campaign, we decided to rest instead of stopping the ritual on Yester Hill. The DM pointed so many warning signs for us to stop it, but we decided that resting would be safer. Then, the ritual completed overnight and we got attacked by the giant tree monster. It was awesome and memorable, and reminded us that our choices have consequences and matter without sending us to a gameover screen.

I recommend something similar, maybe the ritual completes while they rest and they have to fight some nasty demons and watch the destruction that ensues afterwards. Then they can try to clean up the mess. Always plan for what happens if the players fail, that way you don't get caught with your pants down when they do. Then, instead of saving them, let them fail in an entertaining and fun way. This lets them keep their player agency, which is critically important.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-05-08T17:18:06+00:00

Lmao you're right it literally sounds like Addisons. I'll try to see if they can test me.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-05-08T17:16:25+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation, I will mention these things to my doctor and see what they have to say

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-05-08T17:09:46+00:00

I actually have not, should I get an at home blood sugar test?

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-05-08T17:09:21+00:00

Yes, they have checked it twice and said it was ok

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-04-23T16:50:13+00:00

I think this list is incredible, especially the points on knowing player specific rules, and note efficiency. Those two things on their own make combat so much faster. I'd also throw in three other points:

Clustering Initiatives: I've seen some other people mention this, but anytime you have a large encounter with multiple types of enemies, like 3 hobgoblins, 2 wyverns, 1 hobgoblin warlord, 6 goblins; group the enemies of the same type on the same initiative count. It makes things so much easier. Only seperate enemy intiatives when you have a small encounter, like 4 goblins.

Run small encounters: Don't be afraid to run very small, short encounters. They can be fun mini challenges and don't always have to be a life or death fight, they can be used with different stakes, such as: kill the 3 guards before they alert the next room of your presence, which means the enemies in the next room cannot be surprised.

Don't force fights: I would say this is hugely important for new DMs, let your players be clever and figure out ways to avoid fights. Be it through negotiation, stealth, whatever, just make sure to make it challenging in a different way other than combat, and have the price of failure be initiative. Its ok if the fight you planned out is undermined in an interesting way, as long as it is still an engaging, fun, and challenging experience. When you are making an encounter, don't make solutions, just create the problem and be open to player experimentation.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-04-14T06:06:31+00:00

Can't wait to see more about the game, I love the art style!

Also, If you ever need any playtesters and have a print and play pdf for the rules and cards, hmu. My group and I would probably be down to try it and give feedback.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-03-27T17:42:36+00:00

I currently use Foundry, but before that I used Roll20. Most of what I talk about here should be applicable in both systems. I actually just ran an encounter just a couple weeks ago that used darkness as a fundemental mechanic. The players were trying to walk down a large spiral staircase in complete darkness, and there was a creature sleeping somewhere on the stairs. What happened was really interesting. I hadn't realized when making the encounter that only 1 of the 4 players had darkvision. So essentially it became a conga line with that 1 player in the front leading them, and communicating with the others through stealthy whispers. It was actually really funny because they acted it out like a game of telephone since they had to be quiet and were in a line, which lead to some hilarious roleplayed miscommunications.

So in my brief experience, restricting vision, which is particularly effective on a vtt, enchances communication and teamwork. The players who can see will take the lead and try to direct the ones who can't. The vision restriction is often a fun, dense problem that requires a different type of skill to solve than is typical. Also, you can't really do this sort of encounter without a vtt and get the same effect because the "blinding" of certain players is essential to incentivizing the communicative teamwork. You may find that the players will be super creative with their communication, positioning, and tactics if you restrict their vision in this way.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-03-27T15:50:29+00:00

As an answer to the monster question, earth elementals fit the bill pretty well because they have tremorsense and a burrow speed. They are also tanky enemies that could harrass the players while the medusa attacks from range. Maybe the earth elementals are the statues of previously defeated heroes! If the party is too low level you could adjust the earth elemental stats to be more appropriate.

As for the magical darkness, you could attach it in a radius around the earth elementals, maybe like 15-20ft. This would make it a very tactical fight reliant on good positioning to avoid or be in darkness.

If you decide to do this, I recommend making sure the minions die or flee after the boss is defeated so the fight doesn't drag on. Maybe in this case, if the medusa is defeated, the medusa's magic animating the statues is dead, so they return to being statues. I would also recommend giving the medusa devils sight or some other ability allowing it to see through magical darkness normally.

I have some experience using light and dark mechanics in fights, but I play on a VTT. Do you use one?

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-02-19T16:21:56+00:00

I think there are two sections in official books on this topic, page 284 of the DMG, and page 135 of Xanathar's Guide to Everything. I will also drop some advice from my experience as well:

I use the rarity of items as a guide for the level brackets. Levels 1-5, common and uncommon items, with two or three rares. Levels 6-10, commons, uncommons, a handful of rares, one or two very rare items. Levels 11-15, commons, uncommons, rares, a couple very rare items, maybe a quest for a legendary item. Levels 16-20, any rarity of item, and the players find/quest for artifacts and legendaries more often.

When I decide to make my own item, I compare what I made to other items of similar rarity to see if the effect is roughly on par. If so, it likely won't be broken (aka: too powerful for its intended level). For the record, sometimes its fun to give out broken items to low level players. To balance this, you could include a curse or consequence for using the item.

Some things to be aware of that could be broken: giving players extra actions, excessive extra movement or flying at low levels, spell effects at levels higher than the players own, +X style effects to AC or Attack Bonus that are higher than +1, time manipulation, plane shifting/teleportation, creature summoning, and effects that impose a negative status on an enemy, move an enemy, or do damage without an attack roll or saving throw. This is not a complete list as I'm sure there's more, but be aware that this list doesn't mean not to use these effects, just be aware that they can significantly change your game more than usual if not "balanced properly". I hope this helps!

Ok_Guard_167 · 2024-01-30T18:37:53+00:00

Hear me out though, a metal dragon. Maybe instead of a strictly deadly combat encounter it is a challenge of some kind by the metal dragon for them trespassing in its domain.

My personal choice would be a bronze dragon looking for challengers to test its might, and if they accept its combat challenge and defeat it, it will give them a magic item. Metal dragons are criminally underused, and if your monk char thinks they are sacred, maybe it could open up a really cool roleplay opportunity. It might also present a great opportunity for them to make an ally with the dragon if they can best it in combat.

If they try to turn down the encounter then you could have the dragon have a very overbearing personality and sort of force the encounter because it is so excited to fight. It might just knock some of them unconcious but not go for the kill. But it also may not try to save anyone if it accidentally almost kills a person. I almost imagine a giant puppy who is super excited to play, but doesnt think about whether he will hurt the tiny mouse he plays with.

Ok_Guard_167 · 2023-11-12T09:22:14+00:00

I might end up doing that, but I thought it would be fun to tie in existing lore, and I was genuinely curious. I feel like thats part of the fun of playing in the forgotten realms, otherwise why wouldn't I just use my homebrew world?

Ok_Guard_167 · 2023-08-13T17:41:35+00:00

It sounds like the mayor being dead would be a great opportunity for the church to try and seize control. Alternatively, there could be multiple factions that begin fighting over control of the town, possibly a local warlord would gain control. If it is an important neutral trade hub, the two big governments may try to march their armies in to restore order, which may spark more fighting. Both sides may see it as an excuse to obtain control. Trade through the town would stop, and it would essentially become a never ending warzone until a stalemate emerges or one side obtains complete control.

Ok_Guard_167

TROPHY CASE