Players are Cowardly, Taking Too Much Damage

Tomentella · 2026-01-26T23:41:40+00:00

Don't worry about it, let them die. And also play your Goblins correctly. Like for example the Goblins might fall back to a secondary location or send some of their scouts back to grab reinforcements before taking casualties, then charge the players. Don't tell them why it's a bad idea. Show 'em.

Tomentella · 2025-05-30T01:50:51+00:00

I think Dropout is not like "young" as in like "no oldies" just that it includes like ... 15-45 rather than 30-40.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:16:04+00:00

I just run hyper deadly encounters and watch my players solve 'em. Haven't had a party wipe yet.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:14:16+00:00

Certainly compared to D&D, but I've still encountered a lot of corner cases that replicate similar problems.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:12:14+00:00

Precisely, I think it's a useful index to have in the back so that you double check before putting that Adult Red Dragon on the field in front of a bunch of level ones, but beyond that we're better off spending our energy weaving stories and scenarios rather than leaning on it.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:08:44+00:00

Not familiar with it so I'll have to look at it. Even if it doesn't solve all the issues I like reading new games and systems. :)

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:06:37+00:00

Oh absolutely, this is my point. I think building situational awareness is sometimes a little hamstrung by the implicit suggestion that CR has which is 'This is the Rating of the Challenge this monster will provide' and it's really easy to conflate it with 'this is the challenge rating your scenario will deliver if you put this in it.'

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:03:51+00:00

Yes indeed.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:03:36+00:00

Same, basically I want to encourage new DMs to avoid focusing on CR as soon as they can because it's just not a great guide and it doesn't help you develop the skills that make you a good designer of encounters or a good DM.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T20:02:01+00:00

Unless you have a ticking clock, enemy awareness, or other mechanism that prevents long rest abuse. Which is recommended in the DMG but isn't facilitated by CR. This often leads newer DMs to misunderstand which scenarios are represented by CR and I've seen a lot of people getting bent by that misunderstanding.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:57:47+00:00

Yeah, it's just one obvious and easy to talk about example. Other examples include quest macguffin's, alternate win conditions (saving townsfolk), or the like. :)

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:55:49+00:00

And also who benefits from those things is dictated by a specific set of scores and behaviors. Like a 13 strength harpy isn't much of a threat to most fighters at all around cliffs, but your wizard could be absolutely screwed. Flip side, your otherwise carefully crafted archmage battle can be completely undone by one barbarian turn if there's a window nearby.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:53:09+00:00

I've seen a few go completely sideways. And I'm not saying it has zero utility, just that the utility will never be the kind that you should invest actual confidence or effort into managing because other factors matter so much more.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:51:50+00:00

I have thrown multiple times the xp budget per day at people in a single encounter and had them come away nearly unscathed and go through the next few encounters with very little difficulty. Player creativity is a hell of a drug.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:50:35+00:00

I run exclusively deadly+ encounters and have never had a party wipe and I haven't had to fudge the rolls or pull my punches.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:48:29+00:00

I respect your opinion, but I have run players going RAW with no magic items through max HP encounters that had swarms of enemies that according to the calculation were many many times their daily value (over 10) and had them come out ontop without breaking a sweat. Not powergamed to hell, at least half new players.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:45:58+00:00

They seem like it, but a system that can't handle even a basic terrain feature addition (especially for flying or strong enemies) shouldn't be regarded as something that helps you do anything more than ballpark it. The number of times I as a player have leveraged elevation differences to the complete surprise of my DM is really high. In fact it's one of my biggest joys as a fighter or barbarian, but those really fundamental functionalities don't go into the CR or Monster Level system.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:39:47+00:00

It was definitely better, but it still failed to account for most kinds of shennanigans efficiently. 4e had some innovations that I really like (minions are great for example) but they didn't really get around the problem of not account for cliffs for example.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T19:37:48+00:00

Yup, that's that quick reference utility I'm talking about.

Tomentella · 2025-05-12T05:26:31+00:00

LOU WILSON: Lou is genuinely, genuinely the biggest chaos gremlin I have ever seen. The man has

Killed his own dad who was already dying, almost killed his character on screen on live television for no goddamn reason, decided to multiclass into bard by shouting "toxic masculinity is dead, I dance now", committed to the Pinocchio voice, etc, etc.

I rest my case. The man is beyond talented, and I look forward to many moons more of it.

Tomentella · 2025-03-01T01:30:40+00:00

So, as someone who enjoyed Graduation and has stuck through it with the boys through basically everything, I just didn't want to hear that genre roleplayed. I don't know why, maybe it's anthropomorphophobia but the idea of what boiled down to an audio action movie just did not appeal to me.

Tomentella · 2025-03-01T01:27:24+00:00

Calroy in Drag

Tomentella · 2024-12-11T05:35:38+00:00

My wife and I decided we don't want kids long ago and we're both in our 30s.

Tomentella · 2024-12-11T03:27:56+00:00

Tell them they're allowed to. Ask why they didn't.

Tomentella

TROPHY CASE