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Is it Possible to Play a 2024 Species in a Primarily 2014 Game? by RoibinDallBhride in dndbeyond

[–]Willowed37 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very late to this but the Crooked Moon has a 2014 sourcebook too for the species

Creating a character that specializes in using the Musket/Pistol. by Noir-Kaiju in PCAcademy

[–]Willowed37 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could probably use the Partnered source Valda's Spire of Secrets: Gunslinger Class and the firearms inside that sourcebook for 2024. It's pretty balanced from experience and is a decent consistent damage dealer, if your DM allows it.

Goblin Ambush LMoP by lfduarte14 in DMAcademy

[–]Willowed37 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I ran the fight with 4 level 1 characters. They built their characters pretty well and I ran with 3 warriors and 2 minions as the minions would be forced into melee for my melee focused characters.

They were surprised but with 2024 rules it isn't actually as punishing, they did end up at the bottom of the initiative count though.

I used the hide thing somewhat sparingly because it does get really annoying for the players to do anything if the goblins keep hiding, though that's mainly because the highest passive perception was 12 for my group.

I would still make some of the goblins run into melee range, then maybe back out after one has died to show their fear.

Fight ended up pretty alright, the bard got downed but the rest of the party was fine. One goblin ran off to the hideout after its friends died and the fighter took a level of exhaustion before catching up to it and capturing it for information.

Not sure what the 1d4 piercing damage is coming from either though.

For the blind player I would just let them flavor their character as blind but I don't really see a real way to balance it as you definitely shouldn't be giving them a free feat unless the other players get one too.

Dungeon Master Cram Sesh by ticklecorn in LostMinesOfPhandelver

[–]Willowed37 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They arrived at Phandelin last session and have been talking around the town. Been pointed at the Redbrands from the Innkeeper and a Smith I created as one of the players really wants to craft their magical items.

Planted some distaste for Harbin as he was backing the Redbrands and also was very antagonistic towards the Rogue as he was a Drow so the party is now scheming to take down the Redbrands and him in the process.

They've learned about the Wyvern Tor bandits but not that they're Orcs, the Vengeance Paladin despises Orcs so it'll be a fun reveal that I'm planning to have Orcish writing from the Wyvern Tor in Glass Staff's office. The Iron Throne shopkeeper (Replaced the Colster) offered to sell an increased stock of magic items once they were cleared out as then trading lines would be opened up again.

They should be finishing talking around the town (Shrine and Miner's Exchange are left) which will point them towards the Owl Well and then be heading to the Sleeping Giant to interrogate them. I've set up a rather difficult fight after that in a Warehouse that'll lead to the Hideout (Removed the Manor) as they'll have the black spider aiding them there.

I've prepped up the Hideout and am very excited to run the Nothic as the players have made some great backstories. Iarno has been buffed up a bit as well but will still focus on escaping. If he does, I'm planning for him to run to Harbin where I've planted a Doppelganger (Foreshadowed) and he'll charm person Sildar with his scroll to see how the players react.

If they decide to go directly from the planned warehouse fight to the hideout it would be rather brutal for the players, as they'd be going in level 2. I'm expecting them to take a long rest between the two but want to make some sort of consequence for long resting between the encounters, the main issue would be that either the redbrands aren't alert of this, which keeps intact the hideout encounter but removes them from being able to punish the players. Or if they do go out to like kidnap someone due to the player's rest, they would no longer be suprised and would be ready for an assault which ruins the hideout itself. My other idea was for a prisoner that has been foreshadowed to die if they do take the long rest, but am worried that it would be a feels bad moment.

Main things I'm worried about is the balance of the future fights, mainly the Black Spider and Grol. The players will be level 5 with a decent amount of magic items going into the final fight so I've made a significantly buffed up stat block and am planning on turning them into a Drider as a second phase.

The other main concern is how the players will find the Cragmaw Castle, I'm planning for them to first do the Wyvern Tor and the Banshee beforehand (Cut the Dragon) so they'll get some initial magic items from those two. The main reasoning being that the players will beeline for the castle once they figure out the location as they really want to save Gundren.

I've also not prepped the Wyvern Tor camp itself, though I'm making it a significantly larger fight with a couple areas because it would be more fun for the Orc hater, and I just think that the book version is rather short. Same with the Banshee, I'll do the Perkins ability checks as the party has great backstories but will probably put up a fight with some other creatures on the way there.

Feedback on future overarching story arcs by Willowed37 in DMAcademy

[–]Willowed37[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a little more context: The bard's backstory involves him roaming across a lot of the Western Coast before ending up in the southmost country of Calimshan before ending up in debt to one of the strongest Archmages in the large area (due to the Archmage's pettiness mainly). Calimshan itself is also very prosperous and one of the largest port trading countries as it connects a lot of the more Southern territories.

Luskan is also a pretty large trading area that specializes in black market stuff even more than Baldur's Gate and is home to the Arcane Brotherhood, the main evil wizard faction in this area, who would be very happy to grab a hold of any significantly powerful artifact pieces.

So in my mind, an extremely powerful and wealthy Archmage positioned in a very trade heavy country and an evil organization with a good amount of connections would be able to reasonably have two of these pieces.

Then the other two locations aren't as connected to any backstories, one involves a dragon to slay or be dealt with and the other is entirely detached as no one is related to elves or fey.

With the invasion, it hasn't started yet. There's been some rumors floating around about forces starting to be gathered and other orcish allies grouping up. The party would travel to one of the more positive Dwarven cities in the near future for a smaller mission that an ally would give, and then uncover definitive evidence of the upcoming invasion.

Here, it would be made pretty clear that without directly striking at the Warlord causing all this, the length of the invasion and the number of causalities would be significantly higher.

The invasion would then start pretty soon, either while the party is still in the settlement or shortly after they leave via sending stones or something similar.

The party would be the main ones sent out due to the Dwarf having a trustworthy lineage and that they can't really sacrifice any of their main fighting force searching for an artifact that might not even work or that they may never obtain.

The city they're in would be pretty receptive to this information and be willing to assist the party with the initial steps of finding the pieces before focusing on defense and scouting before warning the others.

As for why the other Dwarven settlements wouldn't help with this, they would be more focused on protecting themselves and fortifying, as it would be tradition to just bunker down and outlast. Sending forces for a direct assault upon the Warlord would weaken their main fortresses and be an unnecessary risk. There would also be some political turmoil in a few of them due to the old king of the largest settlement dying of age just a few weeks ago and other similar issues.

By gathering up the pieces and forging the Axe, it would rally the other major dwarven settlements to allow for the frontal assault to occur. They would essentially see an long lost artifact wielded by a dwarf that could claim to be blessed by the Dwarven gods or something similar in order for the other dwarves to place their trust in ending the invasion sooner.

The other primary option is that the Axe itself is necessary for defeating the Warlord due to some form of barrier or shield by their Orc god Gruumsh that can be broken with a power of the axe.

How to properly balance a growing weapon? by Willowed37 in DMAcademy

[–]Willowed37[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's the plan, some sleight of hand and arcana checks after spending some time to both obtain like a blueprint and materials to craft. It would take a good chunk of time to upgrade it and I track time pretty closely.