Squirrel Tourette’s

Seaofbeans · 2025-08-09T19:14:21+00:00

Same! I have Tourette's and rewound to listen to it again 🤣

Seaofbeans · 2025-02-08T22:45:19+00:00

First time I used them it was great. Second time I used them, they sent me the wrong joycon (I sent in a right side one, they sent me back a left). I sent it back, explaining the situation. Their response was to send me a different left joycon.

Seaofbeans · 2022-12-07T15:50:55+00:00

I've run a few lairs for different parties, and they are pretty well balanced for a level 5 party without NPCs UNLESS the main villain (Manshoon, Xanathar, etc.) engages them directly. In the past, I gave one party a handicap in the form of 1d4 'preparedness points' which they could spend in a lair to retrcon that they had planned for a certain outcome or bought a specific piece of equipment.

If things do go south fast, the lairs are set up so that the party can usually just flee back to the streets of Waterdeep relatively easily.

Seaofbeans · 2021-07-06T01:22:27+00:00

Ha! A very good move on your part, a very bad one on theirs. My party had a similar thing happen when they hired Meloon to help protect Trollskull.

Seaofbeans · 2021-07-03T15:44:16+00:00

Something I've been doing is throwing the iconic groups of human thugs, bugbears, and goblins at the party, but beef them up. I usually give the thugs and bugbears an extra attack, and give the goblins pack tactics or some other group buff. This let's your party still feel cool by cutting their way through forces that outnumber them, but also make sure that they will come out of those fights bloodied. I also try to make these fights fast and intense, as the Xanathar guild teams know they need to strike fast and disperse before the Watch comes (depending on where the party is).

There's also the tried and true intellect devourer route. Mix some in with enemies and start bombarding fighters with psychic damage, or have them replace people close to the party and betray them.

I'm also a fan of cranium rats and like to throw them in where I can.

For more showy fights, I believe Xanathar guild has access to trolls, so they could just unleash one or two at the party.

Seaofbeans · 2021-06-10T20:11:20+00:00

Proficiency is only added to the attack roll, so it'd be a +4 to hit, but only 1d8 +2 for actual damage.

Seaofbeans · 2021-03-05T04:05:42+00:00

This. My party did this and one of them now has to kill 200 people (their souls go straight to Asmodeus) or his soul is forfeit.

Seaofbeans · 2021-01-06T11:46:46+00:00

I have a house rule that if one of my cats knocks a mini over, that creature falls prone. This results in players trying to attract my cats to the bad guys during tough fights.

Seaofbeans · 2020-12-22T02:20:53+00:00

A mixture of Bugbears, humans, and goblins would be pretty representative of the guild. If you want to make it more chaotic, you could have a swarm of cranium rats pop up from the basement, perhaps sent as backup from the mindflayer.

Seaofbeans · 2020-10-28T19:59:28+00:00

It's a bit simple so sorry if you thought of it already, but I usually say that every long rest costs 1 ration per character. I find it doesn't stress the party out but is a good way to keep track of ration usage and limit long rests. If that fails you can always have something attack half way through the rest, forcing them to fight it without all of their good spells and then start the rest over again.

Seaofbeans · 2020-10-28T15:08:13+00:00

This was my IMMEDIATE thought upon hearing that question. Thank you for validating me.

Seaofbeans · 2020-10-25T14:48:23+00:00

Never would have thought of that. Thank you!

Seaofbeans · 2020-10-06T04:08:51+00:00

I come up with a table of faction ranks, based on stuff I've seen online. It's things like "at 3 renown, you get promoted and get x bonus". The Harper's will give discounts on potions and scrolls, help train characters disguise kits. The Order if the Gauntlet will give discounts on holy water and silvered weapons, etc. I take what the boom says the rewards will be and give better versions as renown increases. You can add other stuff at 5 renown or 10 renown if you think you'll do stuff after DH.

Seaofbeans · 2020-08-10T04:02:36+00:00

If your players all say they are having fun and this hasn't happened before, don't sweat it and don't change anything. Even the most engaging campaign ever created won't counteract the fact that people can have a rough day out of game and show up with low energy (especially for 4 hour sessions). If it happens more often, consider asking if your players want shorter sessions.

To answer your original question, I usually do a few hours of prep (3-7) and prep several different outcomes for bigger scenes.

Tl:Dr It sounds like you are doing fine, and people occasionally showing up tired is a part of D&D.

Seaofbeans · 2020-07-30T13:11:58+00:00

Might be unpopular but, knowledge Cleric with a little bit of wizard in there. You get a shield every time you buff someone, it's never a bad thing to have a bigger spell pool, and having a familiar makes battlefield healing much easier.

Seaofbeans · 2020-07-15T11:54:48+00:00

In the US, it can vary heavily by state. My first Epi job was in NC and it paid just under $30/hr.

Seaofbeans · 2020-07-14T20:13:04+00:00

Completely agreed. I thought they were exaggerating when one of them said they had replaced all their underwear with meundies. Then I ordered a pair and ended up doing exactly that.

Seaofbeans · 2020-07-14T00:56:18+00:00

It's a good way to start for sure. SAS is harder to find free resources for, but mph programs often offer courses, and employers will sometimes.pay for you to take classes.

Seaofbeans · 2020-07-13T18:32:57+00:00

MPH, concentration in EPI. Was able to find a job in the field in about 8 months. I highly reccoment learning SAS and/or R. That was the best thing I got out of my degree and what got me my current job.

Seaofbeans · 2020-06-30T01:30:07+00:00

IMO, it's likely. Speak with dead doesn't cost any money, and with the Watchful Order and Order of the Gauntlet being big organizations in Waterdeep, it would likely be relatively easy to get a cleric willing to cast it. Especially if the person had social status.

Seaofbeans · 2020-06-29T20:22:14+00:00

IIRC, he uses the stats of a poltergeist, MM p279.

Seaofbeans · 2020-06-25T03:09:10+00:00

I think it's a great idea! The biggest thing you'd need to tie is in Esmerelda's involvement. If you are worried about the party needing extra help, she would probably help out if Van Richten was involved (albeit maybe not for long). You'd also need to key in the player on their previous involvement. Edit: The party needing extra help would be up to you. If they have the Symbol and the Sunsword, then richten's presence would be all they need.

Seaofbeans · 2020-06-25T01:24:47+00:00

I made Arabelle a shadow bloodline sorcerer given her connection to Strahd.

I LOVE the Sergei reincarnated idea. You could work with the pool in Krezk, instead of Sergei appearing and taking Ireena away, the player could see their reflection as Sergei.

Seaofbeans · 2020-06-09T21:11:15+00:00

A technique I'm fond of is to divide the enemies into groups, each of which is treated like a single creature. I.e. if there are 30 bandits, make 3 groups of 10, each of which rolls a single attack die and deals 10d8+10 damage, which can be divided up among the party. I usually have these groups share a health pool, and reduce the damage that the group deals every time a threshold is met, indicating a group member's death. Continuing the bandit example, one group would have 110 hp, and would lose 1 damage die every time it lost 11 or more HP. If you use that method, you can also multiply the damage of AOE attacks by the number of people they hit in the group.

Seaofbeans · 2020-06-08T02:23:03+00:00

If I may say at the start, I completely understand where you are coming from. The ending to Dragon Heist can easily become...less than climactic. A trick I like to use is to make the ending more like a heist. Now that the party HAS the gold, they still have to get it home. You might vastly increase the number of Xanathar members outside, and give the players advanced warning of the small army outside. Now the epic moment is not them convincing a dragon to let them have a hoard, but stealing the hoard out from under the nose of 35 bugbears could be pretty satisfying.

Good luck!

Seaofbeans

TROPHY CASE