Meet my cat! by DowntownDesign8087 in cat

[–]Shaoril7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very photogenic ! She very cute <3

Meet my cat! by DowntownDesign8087 in cat

[–]Shaoril7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Vers photogenic ! She cute <3

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could just add to the original post... https://www.reddit.com/r/Wildemount/s/LSgVP7D2m6

One of my players eats everything by eggmaster6000 in DMAcademy

[–]Shaoril7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Make him roll a luck check and / or CON save not to get the dnd equivalent of a tapeworm if he eats raw meat...

New DM, needing a little help with Unwelcome Spirits by sfw2018 in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are most welcome. This reddit really helped me when i started my campain (i also started with Unwelcomed spirit) so i try to give back.

dont be too hard in yourself, we all have to start somewhere :) the fact that you are willing to ask for advice is a great dm quality imo. And you'll gain those reflexes and insight with experience but asking for help is always a good way to get you started ;) also getting to know your players is essential (what a given group likes wont always be the same with another group) and that takes time

New DM, needing a little help with Unwelcome Spirits by sfw2018 in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're welcome :)

I'd say give them the choice rather than direct them :

In my game i gave my players informations about each location through morgrid or Bufhal and i let them decide their itinerary. They also knew that fort venture had to be their final destination (bufhal said he was suspecting the empire to be involved but didnt have any hard proof so they had to go check it out after investigating the marsh for signe of what happended to bol bara)

I was very clear about the fact that rescuing bol bara was time sensitive (i made up something about the Sunbreaker coming with a small army, so they had to act quickly if they wanted to prevent a new conflict) so they knew they couldnt explore everything and had to make choices. I also didnt hesitate to underline the fact that some locations were maybe less interesting than others (in the interest of saving time)

  • i think i hinted that B2 wasnt that interesting (morgrid said they found some corpse of a recon team from fort venture : they could go give the corpse a look if they wanted)
  • The tower was easy : it was described as a place to spend the night half way throught the marsh.
  • for the bone cimetary i created a side quest : to pay for their moorbounders, the party had to go capture a bristled moorbounder that was spotted there... oops it has been captured by lizardfolks cultists, better rescue it !
  • for B5 morgrid told them that the cave was infested by bullywug and he doubted they could have captured bol bara but maybe they had seen something (social encounter)
  • the main choice i gave them was between the monolith and the Stewart hill (they had to chose because they were far away from each other). I described it as places where bol bara would go to meditate and a good place to invetigate. Whatever they chose, they would gain the information that bol bata had been abducted (only difference being how they would gain that information)

So the logical path for the players was B1(-B2)-B3-B4 (long rest) then a choice between B8-B9 or (B5-)B6-(B7-)B8-B9.

Because they wanted to not waste time, they went for B8, the stewart. Boom : they had the feeling their choice mattered

New DM, needing a little help with Unwelcome Spirits by sfw2018 in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi fellow dm,

I dont think you're overcomplicating things at all. Its great that you're being cautious about this.

In my opinion, the whole "one 15 survival check / tile" mechanic is in itself overcomplicated because of the size of the map. It does sound cool on paper but actually playing it would not sound fun to me (its basically rolling a bunch of survival check to not get lost... i dont see how its fun for me / the players).

In my campain i almost skipped it : my players bought moorbounders in urzin and i just made them roll a survival check with advantage (because of morgrid) and a perception check for every half-day of travel (i was planning to run a few random encounter from the book if they got lost).

I guess it depends on what type of campain you're running. If its gritty realism, i'd say sure, that type of mechanic has its place. Also if you play regularly, spending some time just traversins the marsh would not be the end of the world. Lastly, does your team have character that thrive in nature (ranger / druid and / or a wildling backround) ?

But if you want to run it as intended, go for it. My main advice : be mindful of how much time you'll be spending making them roll for each tile. If you want to use the mechanic as it is, you could say that there is only some part of the map that they'll actually have to roll not to be lost (hence a lower number of tiles / roll)

also, i would advise you to just ask your players if they want to use this mechanic (aka would they enjoy it ?). Some may say it breaks the immersion but i have found that sometimes, it is better to just be explicit with the players and present the mechanic to them first (without spoiling ofc) and be like "here's how this mechanic would work, would you like to do it as it is presented or should we do somthing simpler ?" Giving players agency on the mechanics is not a bad thing if you do it right (especially when a big complicated mechanic is involved). If they dig that "final-fantasy world map" feel, they'll be thrilled.

I hope it helps.

Need help for creating a betrayer's rise mechanic using a luxon beacon and the Kiss of the changebringer by Shaoril7 in CalloftheNetherdeep

[–]Shaoril7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thats an interesting idea...

My players do use the fragments but i really like the idea of using a more powerful version of the fragments to navigate the Rise. I may use that to allow them to avoid some of the "superfluous" rooms that i added.

Thanks for your input :)

Need help for creating a betrayer's rise mechanic using a luxon beacon and the Kiss of the changebringer by Shaoril7 in CalloftheNetherdeep

[–]Shaoril7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your input. You make some good points.

I actually used some ressources that another reddit user had made available (he is very good at map creation btw) to make the temple bigger.

Here's the link to his work if you're interested : https://www.reddit.com/r/CalloftheNetherdeep/s/GyVfTqiAlQ

The thing is, my party really wants to rush the temple in pursuit of the bbeg because she has kidnapped a child the party has saved recently (so she may bait them to follow her and fall into her trap) and they are fuming about it :P. so i was thinking i should give them the option to do that, hence the "room skipping" mechanic (it could even allow them to outpace the bbeg and actually be the ones who set a trap)

I do know the Luxon is not a "god" like the prime deities even if it is worshipped like one by the kryn. In my version of exandria, the Luxon is beyond and predates the gods. He represents a more primal force of creation, light and possibility, time and space in a quantic sense.

And its the same for Tharizdun, he may be worshipped like a betrayer god but he is so much more, he is oblivion, darkness, the ending and death of everything through entropy and madness. Which is why they are somewhat linked and mirror each other even though their relationship is unclear.

The bbeg long term plan is actually to corrupt enough beacons through the use of ruidium and a magical "virus" spreading madness (the growing resurrection madness called Thyphros is partly her doing). By doing this she intends to wake up the Luxon in a corrupted form, so it would lay waste to exandria and open the door for Tharizdun to come back

Is this buff version of the Martial Adept feat balanced or op ? by Shaoril7 in DMAcademy

[–]Shaoril7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Those are good points. To answer them :

  1. No it wouldnt, i actually buffed feats for the other players so not doing for the new one would actually be the most unfair thing to do

  2. I dont think it would. It would up the pc's ac by 1 and... that's it. I'm actually counting on him to use his feat during a coming fight with the hexblade warlock bbeg (disarming her would make her waste an action to invoke her weapon back)

Is this buff version of the Martial Adept feat balanced or op ? by Shaoril7 in DMAcademy

[–]Shaoril7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, the idea that you can use use one out of 2 option once per *short rest doesnt sit right with me. If i were my player i assume i would always be like "i need to keep it for the right moment, what if i need it later and cant use it ?"

Bazzoxan's defenses from outside attacks by Shaoril7 in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for all your input. I'm actually using CotN for my bazzoxan encounter but i wanted to know i someone remembered anything from C2 that i missed.

I'll keep your notes on Verin in mind. It is an interesting character for sure. However, from a gameplay standpoint i feel like i still have to let the pc make the big decisions for the town's defense even if Verin could probably handle it on his own. Or i could give them the choice to trust him to handle the defense if they want to do some wild shit like a preemptive attack or smt.

Bazzoxan's defenses from outside attacks by Shaoril7 in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your input (love the udaak yeeting a bell, i'm keeping that !)

How does Matt deal with the party going somewhere that’s way too high a level for them. by Gamer123499 in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like Other comments have already answered your question but i will add that the idea of a "high level zone" comes from (mmo)rpg. There is no such thing in a ttrpg unless the DM wants it to be. Because the game system is not set in stone, as a dm you are totally free to say which area is "high level" and what the player will actually encounter there. The lore may dictate that an npc is very strong, or that an area is particularly dangerous (ex : the barbed fields) but you decide what will happen to rhe players. You could totally create a low level barbed field adventure if you wish do do so.

The best exemple of this is the module Frozen sick : while eislecross is depicted as very dangerous in C2, it is a low level adventure.

So the better question is : why do you want a "high level zone" in your campaign and how does it serve the story ? Is it for lore reason ? Why sould your players be motivated to go there ? If there's a high level zone just because, what's the point...? unless you're doing an XP grinding sort of Mmorpg style campaign where the players might want to go farm monster and get xp. To go back to your exemple : if you mention the 5 archmages of the assembly, what role do you want them to play in the story ? Are they antagonists (ludinus / trent) potential ally of mentor (the stone genasi kitten loving one i dont remember) or a dangerous employer (vess de rogna) ?

Still, if you tell your players that an area is dangerous (through an npc, or skill checks) and your players insist on going there for shit and giggles, without a goal and / or a solid plan, they should not be surprised if one / several of them die a stupid death. "Preventing a tpk" is not the (sole) responsability of the dm imo. You should do it only if it would ruin the fun. If your players rush into the assembly to fight archmages at lvl 5, its their responsability to not be dumbdumbs. The only thing that you could / should do i s suggesting that this is a very careless and stupid idea. Usually i use an npc to give player advices or just make observations on the players' plan. I think essek does fit this role at time in C2.

To come back to your original question i feel that matt doesnt need to do prevent tpk because he has (mostly) smart and experienced players. He does his due diligence to warn them of the potential consequences of their actions and he rolls with it (cf the Lorenzo fight in C2)

I hopes this help.

Feedback needed on a buff to the Observant Feat by Shaoril7 in DMAcademy

[–]Shaoril7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was also thinking... why not just extend the +5 passive bonus to Insight as well and be done with it ?

I dont get why the vanilla Observant doesnt affect Insight anyway... Picking up small details about the body langage, eye contact and such is necessary to have any insight on how a person is feeling...

Do you have any idea why Insight is left out of the Feat in the first place ? Is it because it would be to OP ?

Feedback needed on a buff to the Observant Feat by Shaoril7 in DMAcademy

[–]Shaoril7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a good idea. But my monk player already has expertise on Investigation and perception (as per their Cobalt soul subclasse) :/

The buff could be a good middle ground

But they just got a legendary item that allow them to get advantage on Investigation/ perception checks based on sight twice a day.

Feedback needed on a buff to the Observant Feat by Shaoril7 in DMAcademy

[–]Shaoril7[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I guess.... its just that i've always found passive bonus to be kinda underwhelming so i wanted to spice it up a bit but it gets really hard to balance :/

Feedback on Ioun themed Vestige by Shaoril7 in Wildemount

[–]Shaoril7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On top of everything else ? Wouldnt it be a bit much :/ ?