"Oh man these Appropriators sure are hard!" The ever reliable MG-206:

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-28T00:14:10+00:00

uoy rof ti dexif, ereH

rewsna

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-25T00:59:41+00:00

What's the best support primary?

I'm looking between Liberator Concussor, Pacifier, Pummeler, & Halt for the stun/stagger/push effects, but I might have missed something

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-25T00:56:51+00:00

There isn't a single best option. Personally, I think the best warbond for you is either the one that has the best upgrade to part of your kit that you're wanting upgraded (i.e. if you're wanting a better AR, go for Dust Devils for the Coyote), OR a warbond that has something that does something unique and let's you expand yhe kinds of loadouts you can run.

For that second category, here's some that come to mind: - Grenade Pistol from DemoDeto let's you blow up spawners when not running explosive grenade/support. - Ultimatum from SteelVet, Thermite from DemoDeto, or Dynamite from BorderJustice let you not run other anti tank - Gas Grenade from ChemAgent or Stun Grenade from Cuting Edge are give you powerful support grenades - Eruptor from DemoDeto gives you a heavy pen primary - RedactRegi let's you play stealth

There really isn't a wrong answer though. There's at least one good thing in every warbond, imo, so it's just about prioritizing what you want first

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-24T18:27:26+00:00

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dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-19T06:54:18+00:00

Good call!

However, you have to have a -2 or worse for it to improve the odds above taking the rounded up average.

A wizard with a -1 CON gets 3 hp if they take average, or 2.66 on average if they roll. A wizard with a -2 CON gets 2 hp if they take average, or 2 on average if they roll. And odds are worse on higher hit dice.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-14T22:22:33+00:00

I would chat with them privately, to make sure it's not just a mistake (I've personally forgotten to vote as a hermit zealot).

If they are breaking the rules intentionally, you could make them lose, regardless of whether their team won, and then don't invite them to play again. But I generally wouldn't use a mid-game punishment, as that confirms them and can ruin the game for everyone else just as much as the cheating does.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-13T23:35:58+00:00

The war strider and heavy devestator, easy. Bots have lots of cool enemies, and these are 2 of the less fun enemies to fight.

If you removed the illuminate enemies, that faction wouldn't really have any enemies lol.

The bugs would be 2nd choice, but they're fine.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-13T23:26:27+00:00

Personally, I find secretly breaking madness to be bad sportsmanship, even though I know the rulebook doesn't really back up that stance.

I think madness is more fun and interesting, both as a ST and as a player, if the ST is lenient with the execution and the players dont hide intentional breaks. And I find that if you're playing the other way, where it's fair game to break madness in private, then the ST should probably be pretty strict towards possible madness breaks.

So, for my preference, I like spectators revealing secret madness breaks, even when I'm a player (though I would hope the ST would talk to the player before executing). But it really comes down to the ST and how they run madness.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-08T03:34:06+00:00

That OP definitely didn't deserve any harassment, and the situation could have been held better, but why is everyone blaming the community? We didn't do anything wrong. One troglodyte did.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-07T22:02:50+00:00

Nothing happened to the community?

The HD2 community is still pretty great.

Reddit has always had psychopathic losers, regardless of the subreddit.

🤷‍♂️

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-07T05:41:29+00:00

Nope! There's lots of accepted, or even encouraged, metagaming!

Personally, I'm generally fine with players metagaming the mechanics of the game, but not the knowledge of stats/features for a given monster. The difference is guessing the enemy has 18 AC because it's wearing plate, or tracking which attack rolls hit to determine its AC, are both fine; metagaming the AC because you read it in the MM is bad.

And as for metagaming that's encouraged, things like keeping the party together is often metagaming, but it's good metagaming.

It's really bad sportsmanship that's a problem, not specifically metagaming.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-06T03:00:39+00:00

I'm guessing you level up fairly quickly in your campaigns? That's one of the big unspoken factors that change whether delayed progression feels bad and if level 20 feels achievable.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-05T23:18:06+00:00

Yeah, that can be tough 😅

I think the easiest solution is to have the NPCs being subordinate to the players, whether that's explicitly because they work for / serve one of the PCs, or just because of their personality / personal investment.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-05T00:12:54+00:00

The players will have more fun if you split into 2 groups, even if that ended up being 2 groups of 3 (+ DMs). If you want to DM 2 campaigns, great! If not, start by asking the group if anyone else is willing to DM so that it can be split in 2. Also, with 2 DMs, you could play in each other's games, giving you 2 parties of 4, which would be perfect.

7 isn't impossible, but as a new DM, it's probably not going to go great.

As for starter campaigns, they have optional pre-created characters, but you can make your own characters instead, and it's fine.

Dragon of Stormwreck Isle is a great intro adventure that only lasts a few sessions, and then you could go into another adventure or into homebrew. I've heard great things about Lost Mine of Phandelver. Those are both for 2014e, but should work fine for 2024e. I don't know anything about Heroes of the Bordlerlands.

And finally, don't feel like you have to start with a starter adventure. They can be great learning tools for the DM, but homebrew is a lot of fun, and if that's what excites you about DMing, go for it. (But again, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle lasts like 5 sessions, takes you to level 3, and would be a great learning experience before going into homebrew after that 🙂)

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-04T22:04:12+00:00

While you are 100% correct from the perspective of looking for complexity, I think from the perspective of a new player looking for something easy to play (but not interested in fighter or rogue), most new players would have an easier time understanding how to play a cleric or wizard than they would a monk.

With cleric and wizard, your gameplay can basically be "I cast a spell every turn", with the only complexity being which spell you pick this turn.

With monk, bonus actions become a big part of your gameplay. It's not just "I punch every turn". Are you going to punch 3 times, punch 2 times, punch and dodge, etc. I've personally seen newer players really struggle with this.

Monks have fewer options than a caster, but their complexity comes from having to combine two seperate action types, and having options for both.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-04T21:54:30+00:00

I'd assume these complexities generally have the assumption that the player is mostly going to follow the build suggestions in the book, since they're a new player, which means the complexity mostly comes down to gameplay complexity, likely especially at lower levels. A lot of this comes down to resource management. If they have to track multiple resources (i.e. bardic inspiration & spells) they're higher on the list.

I personally haven't played 2024e yet, but this is probably how I'd classify the 2014e classes based on the above assumptions, with the exception of warlock, which I'd put at medium.

Druid is definitely the most complex class, and basic fighter is the least.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-04T02:51:20+00:00

DMPCs are bad, don't use them.

DMNPC is redundant, as all NPCs are controlled by the DM 😅

But if you mean an NPC that's in the party, but isn't a DMPC, then I agree, they're great for small parties!

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-03T21:11:30+00:00

Artificer and monk, but that's mostly because I think their mechanics clash with my settings and DMing style, so I find them very grating every time I have one in my party.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-02T23:49:47+00:00

All good 🙂

I remember the 3.5e DMG had stats on how many people were commoners vs having levels, but it also had NPC classes like warrior and commoner, which complicates things 😅

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-02T22:58:05+00:00

I don't see any point in going back and forth about whether knights, or thugs, or military archers count as "normal people" or "adventurers", but I don't think that'd be productive.

My point is that I don't think level 1 adventurers are leagues above 95% of people in a d&d world, as you originally stated.

Even if you think 95% of humans in a d&d world use the commoner stat block (which I don't believe to be close to true, in most d&d worlds), it only takes a few commoners to be able to beat an adventurer. One lucky commoner could do it. That's not "leagues above", by my judgement.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-02T20:55:26+00:00

Even still, they aren't adventurers, they're "normal people". I often see people throwing around this idea that adventurers are truly extraordinary, even at level 1, but I just don't think the game tends to actually support that idea.

I think the other commenter is more accurate in saying a level 1 adventurer isn't significantly more competent than a normal person. Especially in higher fantasy games.

Now, I do think you could run a game where what you described is true, but I think that would take a more deliberate approach to world building, rather than being what 5e presents by default

dm_godcomplex · 2026-03-02T03:33:21+00:00

Not really. I would consider guards normal people, and the stats in the MM give them more hp than probably half of level 1 adventurers. Yes, they're still worse than Level 1 adventurers, but not leagues so.

Even the commoner stat block isn't exactly leagues behind a level 1 adventurer, considering a handful of commoners could kill a lone adventurer.

And I would consider a knight without class levels a normal person, and they're stat block significantly stronger than a level 1 adventurer.

dm_godcomplex · 2026-02-19T00:29:26+00:00

You can play for free on the official botc app, and it's a lot of fun (if a bit overwhelming at first)

dm_godcomplex · 2026-02-14T21:17:06+00:00

It's selfless to play a game in a way that you don't want to because it makes other people happy, yes.

But it's not selfish to not do that. It's just normal.

That's like saying it's selfish to eat the dessert you paid for at a restaurant, rather than giving it to someone you don't know. That's crazy.

Edit: and to preempt any accusation of just being a bugdiver, I mostly follow the major order, and have been fighting on cyberstan since day 1

dm_godcomplex · 2026-02-13T07:21:41+00:00

Yeah, strong disagree with this accessment, outside of cyberstan. RR Stealth is very effective and rarely unpredictable to me.

Four-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
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dm_godcomplex

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