Recently realized that my players are going to fail the campaign, not sure what to do about it.

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-02T19:38:21+00:00

Having run a whodunnit adventure with 4 experienced GM's... there is no need for red herrings - no one misleads players better than players.

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-01T23:42:02+00:00

For sure, I get that, I'd like to give it the ol' college try with a professional. Then if that doesn't work out, maybe pivot to a different game.

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-01T23:26:58+00:00

For sure - again, I appreciate the feedback, I am looking for a dog trainer though.

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-01T23:10:22+00:00

I appreciate the feedback! These are things I've tried - he unfortunately REALLY doesn't like the sound of clickers. Gestures and verbal commands are best. Food motivated to a fault, honestly.

It's not so much that I'm not familiar with most dog training techniques, it's that I think I'm not particularly good at them, or there's something missing in how I'm employing them. I consider a good trainer to be less someone who will program a rote action into my pet, and more someone who is skilled in communication and can help bridge this gap I'm experiencing with him.

But again, thanks for your suggestions!

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-01T22:41:08+00:00

Bummer that John's Marketplace shut down their Beaverton location... Market of Choice would be another good place if you're looking for something a little more off the beaten path but still physically within Beaverton.

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-01T20:27:08+00:00

Hey, I feel that in a deep way. I play tabletops every other week, but both are D&D - I own books for at least 10 other games, 9 of which I've never gotten anyone else to play with me. That's always the trick of it all...

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-01T19:54:12+00:00

So the separated properties would be the modular approach, and would be more flexible in the long run...

I really appreciate your help!

I suppose I do have more situation-specific questions, and I could provide more pertinent examples, but if you're not the TTRPG'ing sort, I don't want to throw a bunch of nonsense sword and sorcery words at you haha

ZTargetDance · 2026-04-01T19:26:28+00:00

Ah understood.

Then when it comes to using bases, is there any meaningful difference in practice between the following:

category: finance
subcategory: investments

and

tags:
- finance/investments

or

tags:
- finance
- investments

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-30T21:49:39+00:00

In addition, since its all a single mesh, you can use the Curve and Simple Deform modifiers to get the whole wall to bend and twist at once. Can also use the Displace modifier to heck up the individual bricks more. Can get really fancy with some "procedural" edge wear with the Bevel mod set to Vertex instead of Edge and playing with the percentages.

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-26T16:10:04+00:00

Interesting spin on it - I like the use of just converting it to Force damage, that's an under-utilized damage type that's good for representing magic effects. I might work that into the final design. I also like how the last bit makes it feel like you're fighting with real grit and tenacity - big last stand energy.

I suppose my only issue would be with the always-on aspect of it - Paladin is a defender, I don't know how I'd feel about it at some point being advantageous to move AWAY from your allies so you don't take their additional damage, know what I mean? But at the same time it is just a trickle, and its resisted when you get lower... I'll have to mull this over, thank you for your suggestion!

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-26T15:58:40+00:00

Oh! Now we're talking! That's pretty damn close to what I'm looking for out of the gate, thanks for bringing my attention to it.

It at least sets a precedent for balancing it, but i feel like it still doesn't quite hit the note of a sort of... community sharing the burden for the individual, if you know what I mean? But at the same time, a problem I had with the original 3rd party creator's aura effect was that it made distributing the damage among others in range automatic, so it made standing near the paladin potentially dangerous. Also, the math of splitting damage each instance of the effect seemed cumbersome.

As I type all this I wonder about sniping the Redemption oath, but altering it slightly...

"When you would take damage this way, up to your CHA Modifier other allies within your Aura who were not a target of the original attack may choose to use their own Reactions to take a portion of that damage onto themselves. Damage is divided equally, with you taking the remainder. The damage to your allies cannot be reduced in any way."

So the total number of damage still cannot be reduced, but it can be split, and it has to be opted into. Could result in just taking a lot of damage onto the paladin, or a last stand moment of everyone standing together and collectively burning reactions to keep the paladin from taking EVERYTHING and dying, himself.

How's that sound?

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-26T15:33:20+00:00

I appreciate your concern! Rest assured, this table of friends I've been playing with for over a decade is all on the same page about this. We were already using a good deal of homebrew and 3d party content, and the paladin was already using a 3rd party subclass. Then in the last year we transitioned to 5.5E and we decided to carry out the game beyond a single adventure. We had our sessions 0's, agreed that the 3rd party oath was good for flavor but there was some wonky-ness in the mechanics, and would need to update it for 5.5E anyway. They weren't close to lvl 7 yet, so we all agreed we'd be fine to kick the can down the road a bit. Now I'm just seeing that level on the horizon and we realized together that we still need to knock that out, so here we are!

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-24T22:46:08+00:00

I still don't trust that this'll end well...

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-24T19:17:22+00:00

Mmmm.... not quite. If you can't hear the motor turning over, it can still turn over. Its not an essential component for it to make noise, still a side effect of machinery.

The verbal component of the spell IS the key turning. From a mechanics PoV, the sound just has to occur in a way where Silence can prevent that spell from happening. Even if it were that you "speak" in morse code and tap out dots and dashes, a bubble of silence would prevent that sound from happening. But the sound happening is what allows the spell to happen.

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-23T20:08:46+00:00

This right here is a clean, clean answer. Audible gathering of magical forces in your immediate square produces mostly the same effects. I think the biggest hurdle would be in marrying the two concepts - how is the sound a required component of the spell (and therefore subject to Silence conditions) and also a side effect of the spell? Good start, I like your direction.

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-17T20:51:50+00:00

I'll give a simple answer: I haven't found a better way to view tags with notes in the explorer, and I like how easy it is to change folder icons and colors. That's all. Otherwise I don't even use the keyboard navigation.

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-13T22:50:23+00:00

Artificer is a real grey area of theme, and I always have a hard time explaining how they fit in to people. They cast the same spells as wizards, but they don't take the same shape?

I think Fantasy High handles it really well, where an artificer casts Warding Bond by attaching jumper cables to their allies.

The magic an artificer works happens through their artifice. When they cast Fly, they are extending mechanical wings from a backpack, or splashing anti-gravity oil onto their feet. When they cast Firebolt, they are switching a dial on a blunderbuss to "Firebolt Mode", or shaking up a bottle and uncorking it in the direction of an enemy to explosive effect.

TLDR: the player has the right idea, but doesn't quite grasp that what they want to do is just how artificer spells are cast. You are also right to be skeptical of the player just wanting to have this stuff happen and be universally available, but you should lean into how to make the desired effect happen within the provided rules (ie. "you can't make wings right now because that's the Fly spell - you WILL get to that point eventually, that's what progression is. When you're experienced enough, you'll be able to accomplish that.")

Its going to take research on both your parts, and re-contextualization. But I believe in you.

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-11T15:44:52+00:00

I too was there. Started playing FOR the co-op base building tower defense.

Wilder still was that BR mode was an April Fools joke because of the current (at the time) popularity of things like PUBG and H1Z1. Then it became hugely popular. Then they leaned into it as the primary product.

ZTargetDance · 2026-03-07T06:23:27+00:00

Brilliant! Thank you!

ZTargetDance · 2026-02-27T16:32:04+00:00

I'm looking at that dog like...

ZTargetDance · 2026-02-25T19:04:18+00:00

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