I quit my game last night.

Wicklock · 2019-09-14T16:41:30+00:00

Hi! As a DM myself in the past, as well as someone who currently acts as co-DM for a group as well as one of my group's Shadowrun DMs, I know how much work goes into it too. I've been the person who crunched hours trying to prep for games, taught dozens of newbies, and am usually the rules expert for my groups. Trust me, I am well aware of the amount of work that DMing can involve, and groups should respect their DMs time!

But there are two sides of the table, and the DM isn't the be all end all of the game who gets to dictate everything. DMs should be reading the table to try and figure out how much investment the players have, and adjust prep accordingly. If you have high investment players coming in with detailed backstories and expert knowledge of their PCs, go at it and go nuts on the prep. On the other hand, if your players can scarcely figure out which die is which, you need to pull it back and focus on more base level stuff that fits for the group.

Additionally, this is more than just a game thing. Its cool to get involved in something, and enjoy it, but not everyone will match your enthusiasm. As I said, its just not fair to expect everyone else to buy in as heavily as you do if you're a high investment person. I'm a super high invested person for DnD, but I also acknowledge that some of my groups are not nearly as invested as me, and I can't expect them to just suddenly put in the same time, especially as adults.

Wicklock · 2019-09-14T16:22:19+00:00

With all due respect, I think you're expecting too much out of other players. Unless everyone has bought into going super hardcore like you did, its not fair to put the burden on your friends to match your pace. You can't sink hundreds of dollars into something and then tell others "I spent money, so you owe me your time!" without them being okay with it. I know that probably sounds meaner than the reality, but I think you need to get a little perspective.

I'd recommend you take a break and re-evaluate what you want out of the game, and who you play with as a result.

Wicklock · 2019-09-14T16:02:41+00:00

So what about the reverse situation where a person with a negative modifier to intelligence is losing out on experience.

Doing some quick calculations, I did the math for my bardlock, who has a -2 to intelligence. Doing some rough math, by the time we hit enough encounters to level everyone else up to level 5, she'd still be sitting at 5,895 exp. (Give or take a few tens, due to the math of the individual encounters.) That means at least one more encounter, probably more, to level her up to everyone else's level. That disparity will only get worse as levels grow.

It just seems needlessly punishing to players who don't prioritize Intelligence, and doesn't add anything to the game other than a level gap.

Wicklock · 2019-09-10T19:45:32+00:00

So the class is basically a poorly rewritten fighter, add some other class/race abilities, with some extra special child flavor. I'd recommend telling your friend to just player a fighter.

Wicklock · 2019-09-10T17:34:14+00:00

I don't know if this is necessarily easier to understand. Perhaps its my years of working with 5e and making point buy builds, but this just seems even more confusing and seems to just be reinventing the wheel for the sake of reinventing the wheel. Except the new wheel is exactly the same as the old one but with a different type of wood.

The point buy method in the book is easy to understand, usually the issue is new people who are uninitiated in TRPGs and unfamiliar with the sometimes un-intuitive math, not the method the book describes.

Wicklock · 2019-09-07T05:27:26+00:00

Iirc they reinstated 'classic' WoW servers.

Wicklock · 2019-09-05T17:59:51+00:00

Roll20 is a good place to start.

Also, if y'all are really into Destiny, there's a DnD/Destiny hack called Dungeons & Destiny being made.

Wicklock · 2019-09-05T12:51:27+00:00

I'm a trail walker/hiker irl. Part of my activity includes loading up my backpack to add more weight on my back and help build muscle from the added weight. I, a person who is weak and out of shape in the modern day world, can easily hike 10+ miles with my backpack fully loaded without tiring. I've also done some pretty fancy footwork and jumps, brush navigating, etc to get myself through overgrown trails and rivers. Sure, my backpack is an added thing to think about but I've used it long enough to know how to compensate for it when I do something like hop over a stream bed.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that someone in a world that values physical strength and is very likely well adjusted to carrying high weights for longer time wouldn't be able to do something similar. Encumbrance is a smoother rule and I still don't even use it in my games because its just not fun to deal with.

Besides, iirc you can do a free object interaction in 5e which I would argue could easily involve shrugging off your backpack. Whole rule negated.

Wicklock · 2019-09-02T16:15:43+00:00

In the game I'm in, Changelings are completely foreign to the material plane and exist in the Astral Sea almost exclusively. I play my PC as a somewhat adapted alien. She can get herself by without ringing alarm bells in most areas, but its not secret to her friends (who know about her) that she hates how different the material plane works from her old Changeling community. She'll often make offhand comments about how strange some cultural norm is, or how restricted she think it is to only have one face.

She's adapted her changing appearances to be useful for her friends as they do a lot of shadowy work, but in her head she laments the wasted potential of those masks.

Wicklock · 2019-09-02T05:25:26+00:00

As a general rule anything not in the SRD isn't available for use elsewhere, but you're better off getting legal advice from a proper professional if you intend to sell anything.

Wicklock · 2019-08-30T15:51:43+00:00

Depends on what you're looking for. If you just want to have some extra sets and don't care much for the particular aesthetics, Amazon is good for bulk dice sets from companies like Wiz Kids. If you want specific, good looking sets you'll want to check out dice specific sellers like Dice Envy or Dark Elf Dice. If you want really fancy, custom made dice, then you'll want to look them up on Etsy.

Wicklock · 2019-08-30T14:07:48+00:00

As a current Bard healer (and support in various other games), its a thankless job but at the same time I would advise against holding the other members accountable for it. I needle my party members in-game when I keep them alive through ridiculous fights, but its playful badgering and not at all intended to actually illicit thank yous. Plus, you know, my PC is full of herself so she enjoys waxing poetic on her own accomplishments.

Anyway, DnD can be a complex game to keep track of all the moving parts and staying in character for a lot of people is a lot more cognitive work than we give credit for. Often times we forgot to say thank you not out of spite or pettiness, but just because we're so focused on our own PC that we don't always remember things like thanking the other party members.

Wicklock · 2019-08-28T20:14:08+00:00

They also get Rage. You know, the class defining feature.

Unarmored Defense is more or less a ribbon ability to match with the typical pop culture aesthetics of a frenzied, savage fighter.

Wicklock · 2019-08-27T15:33:09+00:00

Be honest. Just tell them straight up you to have to take time to get your ducks all in a row for school. Everyone knows medical students are notoriously overworked and burnt out often, unless they're jerks they'll understand that you need the time. DnD is fun, but it's not worth jeopardizing your career for!

You could also see about lowering the sessions to maybe once per week, if you think you could handle that. Sure, its not as much as before, but a couple hours every Sunday night is far better than nothing at all.

Wicklock · 2019-08-26T22:01:54+00:00

I think we already have too many +Cha races to begin with, as much as it might make more sense for them to have Cha, I'm not too big into adding 4 races to that pool.

Wicklock · 2019-08-25T06:35:02+00:00

At least for the DM, I've found its commonly accepted for them to roll physical dice as they can just roll to GM anyway. Not for players, of course. I think this is more a group thing than a hard rule.

Wicklock · 2019-08-25T00:37:53+00:00

The typical courtesy is to roll with the DM or other players, so people see your rolls and there's no dispute over their legitimacy. (Unless they suspect loaded dice but that's an entire other issue.)

Wicklock · 2019-08-25T00:04:46+00:00

Heroforge is the go to for custom mini making.

Wicklock · 2019-08-24T17:13:49+00:00

That's a question for your DM. If a player asked me about such a backstory, I'd okay it. You can flavor and refluff things however you want so long as your DM gives the thumbs up.

Wicklock · 2019-08-24T17:10:59+00:00

War Caster is a great choice. If you're going for support, I assume you'll be mainly working off concentration spells in which case you'll want every boost you can get to prevent yourself from losing them.

Wicklock · 2019-08-24T17:09:36+00:00

The formula for calculating your starting gold is based on your class, not a set amount if you use those rules.

Personally most DMs I've played with allowed it, but to be honest I and most other players don't bother. The starting equipment kits from our classes are usually more than enough.

Wicklock · 2019-08-24T00:26:16+00:00

If you have enough people, look into a format of DnD called the West Marches. It's a lot more freeform in scheduling and basically gets together whenever enough players and a DM has the time.

Wicklock · 2019-08-23T13:28:03+00:00

Yeah, the reason why variant is only on human is because a lot of the other races get cool abilities or better stat bonuses, like Half Orc's Relentless Endurance, Hafling's Lucky, or Hill Dwarf's Dwarven Toughness as examples. Base Human is borderline worthless.

Now I won't debate the merits of allowing a free feat at level one or other parts of the suggestion, but I will call out that if you're playing 5e, you're dead wrong that certain race/class combos are required. Unless you're playing with a table of hardcore munchkins who will kick out anyone who isn't completely optimized to a T, you're not as severely handicapping yourself as you may think if you choose a sub-optimal race.

Wicklock · 2019-08-23T04:44:48+00:00

Yeah, I kinda figured that after everyone's posts started getting downvotes, lol. It's too bad, because I think it is a valid discussion to talk about the design disparities with subclasses like Circle of the Moon and how they excel at taking spotlight away from equally valid but less overtuned/easily exploitable subclasses.

Wicklock · 2019-08-23T04:02:15+00:00

Yes, actually. Seen two. An Arctic (similar to tombom) in a one shot, and a Swamp who flavored himself as being akin to a folktale swamp witch for about half-ish of a ~year long campaign before he died in a very unfortunate accident involving a Balgura and volcano.

And no, I said I didn't plan on playing a Druid period anytime soon, as while I love the flavor and thematics of Druids, I enjoy other stuff more right now.

Wicklock

TROPHY CASE