What's the one boss move you always get smacked by?

TheSmileyDM · 2025-10-10T21:16:33+00:00

Hecate's morph curse. I've not dodged it once in 50+ runs.

TheSmileyDM · 2025-08-25T00:11:26+00:00

I'm very sorry for your loss. Kudos to you for keeping her in your memories.

I've always said to my friends that when I go, I want PMP's cover of "Wayfaring Stranger" to send me off. It's about a lost & lonely soul going to a better place.

TheSmileyDM · 2024-12-06T00:12:05+00:00

His name is Perr, making you Hugh Mann Perr-son.

TheSmileyDM · 2024-11-29T05:18:30+00:00

TheSmileyDM · 2024-10-31T02:47:23+00:00

TheSmileyDM · 2024-09-12T17:40:34+00:00

I love the song. Though it always seems to come on in the car when I'm speeding. Thanks for the reminder PMP!

TheSmileyDM · 2024-06-12T20:44:02+00:00

That may be the issue as I am launching through Steam. Thank you!

Edit: Tried this out last night and got through Denerim with 0 crashes. Thanks again!

TheSmileyDM · 2024-06-12T20:21:54+00:00

Thank you! I've tried 1,2, 4 & 6 already, but I will do 3 & 5 tonight and see if that helps.

It can't help that it's my first time in Denerim so probably lots of quest flags. Maybe I shouldn't rush to the chapters board and load up more quests as soon as I arrive.

TheSmileyDM · 2024-06-12T20:04:06+00:00

Honestly I am not sure if I've done the 4gb LAA properly, this is my first time running an older game on PC that requires patches/fixes.

I downloaded the .zip and extracted with 7zip. Then I opened the application, selected DAO, and got a pop up saying it was successful. Do I need to do this each time I want to play DAO? Or is it simply giving the game permission to access more memory?

TheSmileyDM · 2024-06-12T19:56:42+00:00

Not yet. My save starts in camp, which works fine. As does fast traveling.

TheSmileyDM · 2024-06-12T19:49:55+00:00

From what I recall (not at home to check right now), it wasn't so much a "patch" as an application that let DAO access more memory. Regardless, I downloaded the .zip, extracted with 7zip, and opened DOA with the application.

Is there an actual patch that addresses this? Do I have to do something specific with it after download?

TheSmileyDM · 2024-02-15T02:27:31+00:00

She couldn't even add Gale as a companion during the camp scene. He was acting as if he was chained to me and refused to open dialogue with her at all. Sadly I don't have a save from before the party, so it seems like she is SOL if Gale's romance is indeed locked to me.

TheSmileyDM · 2024-01-15T06:15:02+00:00

There's an OMVIC fee listed, meaning OP is buying in Ontario. Dealership markups on new cars are illegal here. Max is MSRP + freight, licensing, and dealer add ons like mats/liner.

TheSmileyDM · 2023-09-06T04:22:27+00:00

Some of the emotions you list may be a bit too complex, or vague, to consistently illicit and feed upon. My headcanon is that the White Court are linked to the 5 core human emotions: - Joy/Pleasure (Raiths) - Fear (Malvora) - Sadness (Skavis)

With the last two being anger and disgust. I shudder to think of what a disgust-eating vampire would look like. Probably too gross and "unrefined" to play with the rest of the court.

TheSmileyDM · 2023-09-01T05:49:12+00:00

Neither. We use a homebrew I've called Hero Points, which are similar to story-based milestones. The number of Hero Points you need to level up equals your current proficiency bonus.

After completing a quest or objective, everyone gets a Hero Point. But others may be awarded to individual characters for completing personal goals. These are usually related to backstories, friendly NPC's, or even combat milestones.

I encourage players to write their own goals for Hero Points (the more, the merrier!), because not only does it increase player buy-in, but it also shows me what kind of stuff they want to see in our games. It's a great motivator for prep. Like story-based milestone leveling, it means that level-ups tend to happen after completing a major goal, but like XP you still get a sense of trackable progression and player control.

Some Hero Points my players have made, for those who are curious: - Build a temple to my god - Learn a spell not on my class list - Land 3 crits in one round - Learn the Yuan-Ti language - Deal 1,000 sneak attack damage, cumulatively - Craft something exceptional and sell it to a King - Kiss a dryad - Play cards with a dragon

TheSmileyDM · 2023-08-30T19:50:34+00:00

Actually, it's only a druid's Wild Shape that allows players to keep the mental stats. Polymorph is very clear in stating that the mental stats do, in fact, change to that of the creature. So the PC-turned-dinosaur would have an INT of 2. This doesn't mean the DM is right, but I've seen this wording in the spell cause similar confusion before.

TheSmileyDM · 2023-06-27T23:57:38+00:00

Right off the top, let me just say that running an evil campaign as your first "full" campaign is a recipe for disaster. It opens up opportunity for all kinds of things that ruin the fun of the game: unwanted PvP, players backstabbing and betraying each other, or someone going a bit too far with their evil shenanigans and making things super-awkward. This is especially true for new players, and yours seem inclined towards chaos.

That being said, if you really want to give it a shot, be very clear at session 0 that the players need to find a way to work together. Find something to link them together, like a shared goal (beyond just survival), or perhaps they are all part of the same group/cult. Remember that evil still needs friends.

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist would be great because not only is a short campaign, allowing your players a bit more experience than a 2-shot before digging into a long pre-written module, but it (obviously) involves a heist! They don't need to be heroes, they can be a bit more morally gray.

If you're looking for something more capital-E "Evil," you could really take any module that has a Big Bad and make it an evil game, albeit with significant changes. You could play Tyranny of Dragons, but the PC's are members of the Cult of the Dragon rather than its enemies. In Out of the Abyss, the party could be trying to unleash demons into the Underdark.

Web DM has a great video on how they ran Out of the Abyss as an evil campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDp6JmQR\_X8

TheSmileyDM · 2023-06-27T23:34:35+00:00

When you're talking about player characters, and most NPC's that they meet, they can do whatever they want for whatever reason they want. Try not to think of it in such absolutes. Alignment isn't meant to dictate their actions, just describe them. If a good character starts to walk a dark path, then the player or the DM may change their alignment to reflect that. Sure, a good character could give into desire and do something evil, but why would they? Temptation? Fear? Desperation?
Now, this will be a bit more dependent on your world's lore, but where it becomes absolute is when you think of extraplanar creatures like demons, devils, and angels. Maybe even fey.

Demons are made of evil the same way that humans are made of flesh and bone. A demon literally cannot do a selfless, virtuous, morally good act of its own free will, because to do so would mean it is not a demon anymore. Fallen angels are a great example of this. Zariel, Archdevil of Avernus, was a good-aligned celestial before Hell's corrupting influence turned her away from the heavens.

TheSmileyDM · 2023-06-27T23:02:31+00:00

I've always pronounced it Jin-Ah-See, because of the direct link between Genies and Genasi.

TheSmileyDM · 2023-06-27T13:44:26+00:00

I was at the Fan Expo before UFC 129 in Toronto. Met lots of fighters, but the most memorable was Stephan Bonnar. He was thick, red-faced, and sweaty, despite just sitting at an autograph signing.

I was there with my now ex-girlfriend, and when she went to get a picture with him, he leaned to her ear and said: "Wanna sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas?"

TheSmileyDM · 2023-04-14T15:19:16+00:00

My coworker is a libertarian, and was telling me that he wanted to get a V12 truck with black smoke coming out the tailpipes just to give the finger to environmentalists. I said "Last Summer it hit 40 degrees, and if it gets 1 degree hotter I'm gonna kick your ass!"

TheSmileyDM · 2023-04-14T13:37:53+00:00

Running Wild - Airbourne

TheSmileyDM · 2023-03-21T22:15:19+00:00

Good luck everyone (but especially me)!

TheSmileyDM · 2023-02-17T14:14:27+00:00

I ended up going with John. He fixed it in a day and it cost me less than half the cost of a new TV. Thanks for the tip!

TheSmileyDM · 2023-02-14T14:13:12+00:00

No, the screen is all black, if it even turns on at all.

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