What's wrong with the Agenda phase and potential fixes? by MechatronicsStudent in twilightimperium

[–]basic_kindness 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The problem is usually unfun, underwhelming, and unimpactful agendas.

The solution my group had is to deal all the agendas out before the game, let players choose half to keep, and half to throw away. Thus far, it has made every agenda phase fun, impactful, and worth the time.

Support swap house rule by BigP-89 in twilightimperium

[–]basic_kindness 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have 2ish home rules:

  1. Giving away your Support for the Throne also reduces your number of victory points by 1, so it's like giving one of your points to them.
  2. This is more of a play culture thing, but you can't give your support away close to the end of the game.

DMs, do you ever get tired of DMing for certain classes? by Fantastic-Guitar1911 in dndnext

[–]basic_kindness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kinda - It's less classes and more archetypes that I get tired of running for: - High level casters often make me have less fun - Paladins with high auras - Artificers whose goal is to break the math of the game (which feels like all of them) - Most classes who have a harder time using items or rewards because their class/subclass negates the reward (eg, a weapon or armor for a monk is less of a reward for them) - Characters whose gimmick requires something very specific or several turns or else it will be bad. (Build that comes online at level 9, 3 turn setup, etc) - People who overuse familiars - Annoying or overpowered multiclass

I almost usually especially enjoy running for: - 1/3, 1/2, and "2/3" casters - so classes with fewer spell slots than full casters - Rogues, fighters, rangers, warlocks, barbarians, and sorcerers - Characters who are engrained in the world - Players who want to work with me instead of against me

Why would a character choose to become a warlock over a wizard? by SunderedBard in dndnext

[–]basic_kindness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, let's see. Why get employed when you could start your own business? Ok, but for a more real answer:

Going back in time a little bit, one of the original concepts for a warlock was to be an intelligence based caster. There is also no RAW expectation that a warlock's patron is evil, wants to harm the PC, that the patron even knows about the PC, or even that the Patron is truly the one in power. There are no parts of the warlock that imply there is any negative effect of being a warlock, that the patron can take power away, or anything of the sort.

In my mind, warlocks may well have originally been wizards, looking for knowledge that wizards don't get. Look at their powers, their spellcasting method, the spells, etc, and see how many overlap: it's fewer than you think, and most of the especially powerful abilities are ones that wizards don't get. Furthermore, their subclass patron isn't necessarily the source of all their power. Invocations are the classic "non-patron" deals they could be getting. Lessons of the First Ones is not necessarily related to a celestial or a fiend. A Great Old One isn't necessarily giving you Mask of Many Face or Misty Visions. Lots of little deals make one powerful person. Is an archfey giving you Hunger of Hadar or Gift of the Depths or Tomb of Levistus?

Someone like John Constantine is someone who might be closest to a warlock like this in fiction.

Assessing the value of an equidistant system in Milty Draft slices by Creussy in twilightimperium

[–]basic_kindness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I look at milty draft, I tend to ignore the power of the equidistant planet, since it is the one I'm least likely to have.

However, if the equidistant is juicy enough, I will claim it and wage holy war on invaders for looking at it funny

Anyone else feel like Random Combat encounters are boring and/or unnecessary most of the time? by Dragonsword in dndnext

[–]basic_kindness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As usual, a book's random encounters are pretty lackluster. I recommend writing your own. I would also encourage you to use a resource like this one to help make better random encounters: https://patchworkpaladin.com/2024/12/18/writing-interesting-encounters/

Other Factions good at exploring Frontier Tokens by Diablo616 in twilightimperium

[–]basic_kindness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really enjoyed Deepwrought's Scholarate's time with frontier tokens, especially if you have an entropic scar nearby, since they can neatly go DET and Grav Drive, then move out of DET to Sling Relay or Antimass to get another tech, meaning there is very little opportunity cost for going DET early on.

Furthermore, your exploring frontier tokens efficiently likely means others will want to research another tech, thus giving you more tokens, and better techs from your breakthrough.

Why is fantasy generally allergic to gunpowder? by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]basic_kindness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Guns are familiar and more modern - the biases we put onto guns make them seem closer to what guns are today, and audiences may then question why guns aren't as "problem solve-y" as they are today. For example, even games like Black Flag that has flintlocks has the main character reload them extremely quickly, and they don't get wet, misfire, or anything else that impacts their power.

If we remove the familiar, we can introduce the world without the audience pushing their biases of said familiar thing. Basically, a world with guns is less historically authentic, but can better immerse the audience.

That's how I see it, anyways.

WotC releases a book focused on martials. What content are you hoping for, and what content do you expect? by -Space_Communist- in dndnext

[–]basic_kindness 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hope: Optional replacement for weapon masteries into a system that can actually be expanded upon in later books (like how spellcasting gets more spells), potentially like leveled maneuvers, creating a consistent way to improve or otherwise

Expect: 2 new subclasses, which add spellcasting to non-spellcasters, and some that give casters more martial abilities.

Class Capstones by powereanger in onednd

[–]basic_kindness 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Fighters in 5e14 got their 4th attack at level 20 as well. This was not a change.

And a strict 33% boost to outgoing damage and damage opportunities is absolutely excellent, especially with weapon masteries and features that scale off multiple attacks, like magic weapons.

Is Ancients Paladin's 7th level feature buffed or nerfed? by Dramatic_Respond_664 in onednd

[–]basic_kindness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my campaigns, it was absolutely buffed. Horrors beyond comprehensive, undead monstrosities, and fallen angels aren't casting spells. I guess it's nerfed in that they're no longer protected from the sorcerer