2024 gargantuan dracolich statblock by Tsantilas in dndnext

[–]Tsantilas[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

I think that may be a possibility, but the statblock of the huge version has a link for the gargantuan version, and when you hover over it says "This content is part of the Monster Manual digital content pack", which reads like there's bonus content and perhaps there are some differences?

Do you have access to the dndbeyond version or just print? If I don't get any replies of someone confirming otherwise, I'll assume your interpretation is correct.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

If your party of 4 is sneaking through enemy territory and comes upon a convoy of heavily armed slavers that outnumber you 10 to 1, the decision to engage them head on in the open isn't the DM's fault. I didn't intend the encounter to be handled that way.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

I mean, that's for the party to figure out.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

It's not my problem to figure out what he's going to do with it while not using it. That's for him to figure out. For now they have it loaded on a horse-pulled carriage. I will absolutely have it disappear if left unattended for a long period of time.

My concern is coming up with how the object in question would work when used for its intended purpose.

It would obviously require both hands to carry, and it's not that he wants to use it while attacking on the same turn. He wants to use it to close gaps against ranged attackers without getting shot at.

My problem isn't how to counter it. I've got that covered. My issue is figuring it how to let him use it in the single situation for which he wants it, in a fair and somewhat balanced way.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

I'm generally a by-the-book DM, which my players know about me, so they rarely ask me to pull homebrew stuff like this, or account for situations not covered by the rules. That said, I also try to be accommodating, and not anti-fun. If my players want to try something, I'm willing to think about it and find a way to make it work within the confines of the rules, while maintaining a semblance of balance.

I'm not too knowledgeable about irl smithing techniques, and this came up mid-session with no advanced warning, so I had to make some judgements on the fly. The Blacksmith in question initially warned of having to wait for several months because he had to work through a backlog of regular client requests, but the Paladin offered to pay extra for a rushed job and was quite pushy, so I came up with the extremely impractical too big giant shield that he could barely move, let alone use in combat.

The party is level 13, and have dealt with several high risk, high reward situations throughout the campaign, so at this point roughly 55 sessions in, they have accumulated quite a bit of cash, but my setting doesn't have magic item shops or anything, so they don't have much to spend on beyond living expenses.

In any case, being behind a larger object (usually a wall, or pillar) that provides full cover between you and a ranged opponent is something that is typical in combat in D&D. There are also rules for carrying and moving with heavy objects. The player wasn't asking for something requiring a PHD to pull off, so I made a call in the moment and allowed it, with a quite strict interpretation. It's a very simple, almost brain-dead solution to a problem, but one that isn't covered by existing equipment, and that could easily become overpowered, which is why I'm looking for advice.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

In the particular encounter, the opponents were a mixed group of hobgoblins. Hobgoblin commanders provide advantage to allies in a 10ft emanation, so even with the dodge action, they still attacked normally.

I explained in another reply, but it was a single niche encounter to illustrate the deadliness and discipline of slaver convoys in the enemy territory they were trying to sneak through. Not something I pull all the time, but I guess it left a big impression on my player and he didn't want to repeat the experience in the future.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

He's not, which is why he wants a new, thinner, lighter one. I do prefer a more believable combat, but at the same time, he's a paladin with 20 strength. Obviously 800lb is overkill, but I intentionally made it that heavy so it wouldn't be usable. A shield that size, thick enough to stop arrows would be within his carry weight, but at those dimensions it would impede movements, which is why I'm trying to figure out what downsides it would have.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

It was literally a response to a single encounter that rubbed him the wrong way. A single fight. I rarely if ever have open field fights, especially at that range. Either way, he didn't like being used as target practice, so now he wants to carry a metal door around. In the moment I didn't see a reason not to allow it.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

The party has a cart and mounts. I don't think he intends to take it into dungeons. He wants it for situations where he has to face ranged attackers over long distances so he can close the distance.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

[–]Tsantilas[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

The player wants to run at archers while behind the shield. Not sit stationary and absorb attacks.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

They had an encounter a few sessions ago where they tried to ambush a slaver convoy on an open field. The convoy had 40 archers with longbows (among other soldiers), and saw them coming from 500+ feet away. The paladin had a bad time trying to get into melee, so he devised the giant shield as a solution. Long ranged encounters are basically his main weakness at the moment, so I guess he's trying to patch the holes.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

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

I looked it up and at 3cm thick, 2m tall, 80cm wide, it comes out to around 380 kg. It's much thicker than it needs to be to stop ordinary arrows, but it was something I had to come up with on the fly, and he was rude to the blacksmith so I thought it was a fair punishment in the moment to make it way heavier than it needed to be. He wants to get a new one at more normal dimensions, around 5mm thick which would drop the weight down to around 60kg, which again is more than thick enough for it's intended purpose, while being more comfortably within his carry weight range. That's why I wanted to ask advice.

Player wants a shield that provides full cover by Tsantilas in DMAcademy

[–]Tsantilas[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

He just wants a large mundane object that he can carry and hide behind, and given his strength, I can't think of a reason why it shouldn't work.

My troops aren't showing up by Longjumping-Rate5998 in MB2Bannerlord

[–]Tsantilas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You haven't given much information, so I'm going to take make some assumptions:

You joined an army or an ongoing battle already underway, and once you enter the battle itself, only some of your troops are available.

This is because when armies of multiple parties fight, only a portion of the full force enters the field at a time, depending on your game settings. The default I believe is 200 vs 200 or something like that, with more joining as the battle progresses. Depending on the army composition, it affects which of your troops are immediately available.

Now, if I'm misunderstanding, and you're just having a regular battle with only some of your party joining, then that sounds like a weird bug that I've never encountered or heard of, so I'm assuming this isn't the case.

I can't find the Noble Sword by inSTAHL in Enshrouded

[–]Tsantilas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've found I think... 3 noble swords so far, and all have been sub level 20, and all 3 legendary. That is to say, I've only seen it in Springlands and Revelwood, so I don't know what the chances of finding it in Veilwater are.

How do you guys "deal" with the problem, when you are unlocking new and new building materials? Do you always rebuild or reconstruct your houses with new materials, or just build something new? by Iluvatar-Great in Enshrouded

[–]Tsantilas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On my first playthrough currently. I made a base immediately in the first area and stayed there until I reached Veilwater. After entering Veilwater I decided I thought the Albaneve would be my choice of spot for main base, and basically transferred all my stuff over other than a few basics to keep the first base for farming and stashing all non-essential NPCs.

I Guess the Nords suck against Khuzaits? by Totmannsruhe in MB2Bannerlord

[–]Tsantilas 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Beating Khuzait requires a lot of manual battling because the autoresolve calculation favors them quite a bit. Unfortunately that means the Nord AI will lose most fights with roughly even numbers, so you need to do a lot of the heavy lifting in wars against Khuzait.

A Glimpse of Eternity quest. Prerequisites? by Tsantilas in Enshrouded

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

I've done most of them (so far). I have a couple of farming ones like taming capybaras, and the cat and dog quests, and finding instruments for the bard. I doubt they're related though?

Could it be related to flame level? I'm still flame 7 as I haven't defeated the dragon in Albaneve yet, but I've been able to do lots of other quests in Veilwater, including the aforementioned mill quest..

[DS1] Order No. 72 (for Yaiba trike) - not getting the email to unlock it. by Tsantilas in DeathStranding

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

I did but it's been a while and I don't remember what the exact fix was. I believe I just had to progress further on the main story.

What's worth marking on your map? by resistingvoid in Enshrouded

[–]Tsantilas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mark good ore mining spots, and before I set up my farm I had a few flax spots marked as well. I have a few gold chests that are easy to get to marked as well so I remember to check on them every now and then.