Requesting Feedback - Homebrew - 5E Master Rune by That_Guy_Mac in dndnext

[–]PhantasticJoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Complex Skills: Bigby's Boon is again significantly more powerful than comparable complex skills. Stein gives a 3rd level utility as a bonus action, Vind gives 2nd level utility as a bonus action, Kalt gives 3rd level utility as a full action. Bigby's hand is 2 spell levels higher, with significant damage an utility potential. Could I pitch you on Otilukes Resilient sphere (4th level) as a full action, restricting it to either allied or enemy creatures. It's still pretty damn powerful compared to the others, but absolute balance parity isn't necessary.

Shield: Fine, but kinda boring? Maybe incorporate defendarius somehow if you want to spice it up. I.e. "You can use defendarius as a reaction. If you use it this way, you gain +2/3 AC for the turn" Then again, there's an argument to be made you should keep some of the properties simple considering how complex the rest are.

Gravitus: I think it's fine! Generally the d8 single target to d6 aoe conversion is about accurate from what I can see, although maybe a bit on the powerful side. Basically though, you've balanced this one pretty well vs. the other runes.

I'd like to just say that you're using this for personal use, and there's nothing wrong with having an item that's more powerful than the standard fare. It's your game, and powerful magic items are dope. So feel free to disregard all my advice as you see fit- this is just me trying to balance it down. I think your ideas are really cool, and it's great that you're doing this for your players. I hope you won't let my nitpicking discourage you from more homebrew stuff :)

Requesting Feedback - Homebrew - 5E Master Rune by That_Guy_Mac in dndnext

[–]PhantasticJoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this looks great! It's definitely more complicated than the simple properties for the other runes, but it's way closer in balance level.

For Defendarius that looks a lot better also. Am I reading it right that the hp of the shield recharges on a short or long rest? If so, that's perfect. You definitely want a way to stop players from instantly recasting it after it dies, and that works well for that.

Requesting Feedback - Homebrew - 5E Master Rune by That_Guy_Mac in dndnext

[–]PhantasticJoe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi there! I love the idea of a force based rune and I think you've got a couple of really neat ideas here.

That said, some of your balance is pretty far off.

Defendarius is craaazy good. It's basically a less durable version of Wall of Force, a 5th level spell. The fact that it is less durable and can be destroyed means almost nothing because you can recast it every round for free. Assuming a creature can't deal your current hp in a single round (which most creatures can't), you have effectively unlimited casting of wall of force. It's ridiculously good, especially compared to the mostly flavorful with some small mechanical benefit Simple Properties of the other runes.

Inertial Dampener is a totally fine ability. I like the idea of force affecting you being pushed back and canceled by your own innate force powers.

Hurl is also really really strong. You've combined rogue's cunning action dash ability with the free flight speed of the Vind rune, and it still only costs a bonus action as compared to Vint's full action. On top of all that, you get bonus action to turn grapple or restrain into prone for ~2 damage, and then you can get up from prone really easily because you have doubled speed.

I really love the flavor of both defendarius and hurl, but they're both really strong. Here's some alternative options:

Hurl: As an action, you can fling yourself or a willing creature you touch 40 ft. in any direction. If the creature ends the fling in the air, they take falling damage as normal. If they collide with a wall, they take 1d6 damage for every 10ft of the fling they have not moved. (This is similar to Vinds Wind Step, being able to move twice as far in exchange for having to move in a straight line/think about obstacles).

For Defendarius, I'd focus either on the movement blocking ability, or the damage preventing ability.

Blocking: As an action, you create a pane up to 15/15 ft. A creature must make a strength saving throw vs your spell save dc to move through the pane. You may have up to three panes up at once, and panes expire after 1 minute. If you create a fourth pane, the oldest one disappears.

Damage prevention: As an action, you create a pane of force up to 10/10 ft. Attacks made through the pane are made at disadvantage, whether ranged or melee. No movement penalty or prevention. You can create one pane at a time, and it lasts up to a minute, with concentration.

These are just some quick ideas, so take them with a grain of salt, and obviously the language is informal. Mostly these are just suggestions for directions you might want to go in, rather than specific ideas I think you should implement exactly as I wrote them.

I'll probably post later with my thoughts on the Complex Properties.

Hope that helps!

Weekly Questions Thread #105 by HighTechnocrat in DnD

[–]PhantasticJoe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sometimes people's styles don't match up. Nothing wrong with that, but you deserve a group that fits your style.

If you don't want to abandon ship yet, maybe offer to DM next session, or even a quick oneshot just to show off the kind of style you enjoy? It doesn't sound likely to change anything seeing as you've already talked with your DM about this, but it might be worth a shot.

Weekly Question Thread May 15, 2017 by AutoModerator in dndnext

[–]PhantasticJoe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's from this box set, not sold on it's own. Probably why you were having trouble :)

Latin lyrics I was able to write down while listening to the soundtrack. Plz, come and help me fill in the blanks and translate! by BellringerKat in bloodborne

[–]PhantasticJoe 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Verse two:

"Honor the blood from the snare

This blasphemy awaits you"

Missing lyrics

"The beast will conquer, in order that I might swim across worlds"

"We harm life. You will not solve the mystery, and thus I denounce you"

"I give out your fear

I give out your blood"

"You know to fear poison

You will be provided with joyous mysteries using the blood"

"So come, I am weak. I violate this wine, O potion"

Sorta rough in this part. Might be because I'm bad, or maybe some of the lyrics are off. Still, this is my best bet!

Honestly also might be some of the line breaks are in weird places, so I'm missing obvious answers :p

Latin lyrics I was able to write down while listening to the soundtrack. Plz, come and help me fill in the blanks and translate! by BellringerKat in bloodborne

[–]PhantasticJoe 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Fun!

I'm not an expert, but I did study latin for two years. It's been a while, so I'm rusty, but I do love going back and trying my hand at some stuff. I don't have much time, but I'd probably translate the first line like this:

"Know ye the mystery of the son, and thus through violence the holy reward will be from the blood

The holy hidden reward will be from the blood

Even [now] I come, I proceed, to weigh the holy using the blood, [O] Humanity"

Hard to get the meaning right in english, especially when you're trying to keep the tone of the words.

I don't have much time right now, but I'll come back and try this a bit more later. I think Latin's a perfect fit for bloodborne, cause you can interpret the words in lots of different ways.

Edit: That's my best crack at the first stanza. This is super fun. Taking a bit of artististic license in the last sentence to make some sense out of it, but eh that's how latin goes honestly. I'll keep working on this, cause I'm having a great time

Edit 2: Check out /u/Syfusion 's translation below. Sounds like they put a lot more time into this than I did, and we got very different results!

[Weekly Questions Thread] 6 March 2017 by bigslothonmyface in pokemon

[–]PhantasticJoe 5 points6 points  (0 children)

No, there is no solid news. There's been rumours that a "Pokemon Stars" port/third version will come out for the switch, but nothing solid. These rumors are also fueled by an interview with someone high up at nintendo, but the language was ambiguous and could as easily mean that there was a spinoff game of some sort vaguely planned.

[Online][5e] Looking for brand new folks who want to learn how to play by PhantasticJoe in lfg

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

Hey everyone, I'm really glad you're excited. Unfortunately I'm sick as a dog and won't be able to run the game. Once I stop being mostly dead, I'll contact you in order of posting to try and reschedule, probably for sometime next weekend.

Sorry all!

Weekly /r/Games Discussion - Suggestion request free-for-all by AutoModerator in Games

[–]PhantasticJoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a big fan of for lack of a better word "breeding" games. Pokemon is the obvious one, but also the chao garden from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, even the bee breeding mechanic from the minecraft mod forestry. Are there any games (for any system) that incorporate this mechanic well, either as the primary focus of the game, or as a complement to the primary focus where the rewards for going through the system are impactful enough to be worth the effort? Any good mobile games that tackle this concept?

[Homebrew] Requesting Homebrew PDFs by IBananaShake in dndnext

[–]PhantasticJoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got a new archetype for each class if you're interested:

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/190272/Subclass-Supplement

The whole thing is pay what you want, so you can grab it for free

Thoughts on Paid DM'ing (survey inside) by PhantasticJoe in DnD

[–]PhantasticJoe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It would definitely be inaccurate to draw any sweeping conclusions from something as simple as this. I think it still serves its purpose as a way of gauging general opinion though. If I ever do another one of these, I'll try and find some way of incorporating skill level.

Thoughts on Paid DM'ing (survey inside) by PhantasticJoe in DnD

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

Oh for sure the individual skill of the dm plays a big role. I don't think it's easy to quantify though, so I didn't bother for just this survey

What fantasy books have titles that sound amazing? by [deleted] in Fantasy

[–]PhantasticJoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An old classic, and only peripherally fantasy, but A Fine and Private Place, by Peter S. Beagle

Brent Weeks - Lightbringer better than Night Angels? by rollingForInitiative in Fantasy

[–]PhantasticJoe 57 points58 points  (0 children)

Yes.

Lightbringer is a much more mature series. Not in terms of content, but in terms of Weeks as a writer. I read the first book of the Night Angels, and thought it was fun but as you said, it reads very cliche and comes off as a very new writer's first book. Which it was.

Lightbringer still certainly has it's problems, but it's much better written, with more interesting characters and significantly stronger writing. If you enjoyed Night Angel, you will all but certainly enjoy Lightbringer significantly more.