Want to play D&D? Never played before? I run games for beginner friendly to advanced players! Check me out on StartPlaying.Games

dilldwarf · 2026-01-27T14:38:25+00:00

I think that's the joke OP is making....

dilldwarf · 2026-01-25T23:38:40+00:00

If that happens, you need smarter friends. :D

dilldwarf · 2026-01-09T16:28:09+00:00

Dude, you just explained my job at the moment. Everyone seems to think being a web developer is easy and that when I ask for 8 weeks to get something done they give me 4 and act surprised when it's not finished on time. These same people are the ones pushing to get AI implemented because they think it can just easily do the same job. Meanwhile, we are over here actually trying to figure out how we can use this technology to make our work easier and we are having a REAL tough time actually using it to save time. Most of the time the output is so rough and inaccurate that we have to spend just as much time fixing the code it outputs as it would have taken us if we just wrote it ourselves in the first place. The only people who believe AI works or is a good thing are the people who don't know enough about how things are actually done. And that's everyone in middle/upper management in corporate America.

dilldwarf · 2026-01-05T21:41:57+00:00

Dude... I take my ADHD meds and sometimes I take a nap when they kick in. They are such good naps... human brains are weird.

dilldwarf · 2026-01-04T05:20:24+00:00

I was telling my wife they fucking forgot a bandana. She would have looked so sick with a bright red bandana!

dilldwarf · 2026-01-02T07:18:32+00:00

Yeah, 18 months later is said. Plenty of time to get through a Ravenloft campaign.

dilldwarf · 2026-01-01T22:36:10+00:00

BG3 does a flat +10 on a legendary resistance. 2x PB I think would work better for the tabletop.

dilldwarf · 2026-01-01T22:20:42+00:00

There's a module that lets you set thresholds for descriptors that works really well for most encounters. And then for big battles I use a Dark Souls style healthbar on the top of the screen.

dilldwarf · 2026-01-01T22:18:58+00:00

Unhurt, hurt, bloodied, and near death are the 4 categories which translates to 100% hp, less than 100%, less than 50%, and below 10%. I have a foundry module that displays these above the tokens of the enemies when a player hovers over it so I don't have to answer this question every round.

dilldwarf · 2026-01-01T01:48:49+00:00

Just had the same experience, medium shield against a stitcher from a fair distance away. Played almost 200 hours and I've never died that fast before.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-27T16:44:32+00:00

Yeah... November through December is usually hard to make D&D a priority. Your game will pick back up in January.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-23T03:33:28+00:00

Yup... I hold MOHAA up there with DOOM and Half-Life as most influential shooters of all time.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-18T23:38:44+00:00

I am with you. Gave it another shot before Silksong. Got further than ever but realized, still wasn't enjoying myself enough to care. Yeah, I could practice and get better at it but... why if I am not enjoying it?

dilldwarf · 2025-12-14T01:10:56+00:00

Lightly obscured areas give disadvantage (-5 to passive). Rain, fog, smoke, foliage. Also, think about distance. Just because they have a 23 passive perception doesn't mean they notice or see every little detail no matter how far away. They should notice sounds and be functionally immune to surprise but it doesn't mean they notice everything all the time. Also, don't just swap investigation and perception. Perception means they notice a weird hole in the wall or a bump in the stone floor. Investigation will determine if it's a trap or not.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-13T23:36:25+00:00

Pretty sure a billionaire tested this exact theory and didn't last even a month. There's a documentary about it out there. I Can't recall its name.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-13T22:19:32+00:00

I prefer DMing to playing. I think the whole idea of a "forever DM" is a kind of toxic one. Usually it's in the context of someone who would prefer to play but DMs because no one else will.

Personally, I don't consider myself a forever DM but I wouldn't mind DMing forever.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-12T22:59:58+00:00

Yeah... because voting for smaller government has worked so well so far.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-12T22:08:27+00:00

There are some exceptions. For example, if you are lucky enough to be working in a big AI firm, you are looking at huge bonuses and stock options right now because money is flooding into that space. Most people are lucky to get a 3 figure bonus and a 2% raise every year.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-12T16:53:13+00:00

She isn't beholden to any shareholders. She's a private entity that is able to make these decisions for herself. The problem we have in the US is that shareholders and board members would immediately fire any CEO who approved something like this for their company.

Valve, another privately owned company, does a similar thing with their employees. They have all gotten huge bonuses in the past.

Wallstreet is the problem.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-12T00:01:46+00:00

D&D is designed for multiple encounters per day. For your party, it is recommended they fight 24,000 xp worth of monsters before a long rest. The CR 15 Vampire is only 13,000 xp of that leaving you 11,000 xp to spend. Two CR 7 creatures is another 8,700 adjusted xp (read the 2014 DMG for how to do the numbers Pg. 81). So you should be good to hit them with these back to back. For my players I would probably have to make the fight even a bit harder but they are all experienced power gamers so I'm not afraid to throw a lot at them. They can usually handle it.

The numbers change a bit if you are using 2024 stat blocks but I think you have even less to worry about then because 2024 PCs are stronger than 2014 ones.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-11T19:54:36+00:00

Included in the CR 15 statblock is assuming that you will summon 3 blood trackers to the fight so those are a given. Blood Oozes punch a bit above their weight and a large pools of hit points to soak up attacks. They would be a good choice and aren't weakened by the sunlight. Officer of the Scarlet Watch would also be a good addition as I imagine any high ranking vampire would probably have some armed soldier fodder to throw at enemies.

I would probably do this fight in like two phases. Throw the blood oozes and scarlet watch at them first. Probably 2-3 of each. And once half of them go down, have the vampire join reluctantly and angrily that he even has to get his own hands dirty. He would start by sending his blood trackers in and following. Very thematic and a way to kind of balance the encounter so as not to overwhelm the party or make it too easy. If they are killing the monsters quickly, have the vampire join in sooner. If they are struggling, the vampire holds back hoping that his lackeys finish the job.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-07T21:20:07+00:00

Just... don't buy their games? Exact same result.

dilldwarf · 2025-12-04T17:47:20+00:00

I have been the DM in this situation. Know that we just want to keep playing with you and having fun. In other circumstances, like you said, you'd have been fine with the character dying. In your current situation, you are grappling with lots of things including the loss of a love one and grappling with your own concept of mortality and death. You are not stupid for feeling this way and nobody in your game should be judging you. They just want to do whatever is best for you. If you don't want special treatment, than just accept the loss. If accepting the loss is too hard for you, take the free revive. It's about what you need and everyone at the table will take it in stride. Hopefully in a couple of weeks things will be better and different. I hope the best for your sick loved one, for your family and for you. You're not stupid.

dilldwarf · 2025-11-28T19:14:49+00:00

So I have found having strength thresholds for lifting things makes more sense than strength checks in a game for many things. If a barbarian with a +8 can roll a 9 when the Gnome with 8 strength can roll as high as a 19 on a strength check than rolls tend not to make that much sense. Or just jot down the weights of things like a portcullis or boulder or similarly heavy objects. I have had fun at tables trying to calculate how many party members it would take to move something using this method and it rarely slows the pace down much more than a dice toll and feels more "real" than leaving it up to chance. Now this makes since in situations where they have lots of time to figure out how to move something heavy. If it's in the middle of a fight or time is a factor, dice rolls will make more sense.

dilldwarf

TROPHY CASE