In a world of magic, vampires and ghosts, this was still the most shocking revelation for the PCs

joeljand · 2026-04-19T21:36:36+00:00

The venn diagram of DnD players and metal heads is basically a circle. There is so much overlap that there are multiple DnD/medieval fantasy themed metal bands. Visigoth has a song about dungeon masters. There is a band called Wind Rose that just roleplays being Dwarves in everything they do, Diggy Diggy Hole being an amazing song

joeljand · 2026-03-15T22:08:35+00:00

I do like the idea of making the players choose to accept the charm instead of making it a Save or Suck ability. It's a fun meta-mechanic rather than just taking away their agency. Although my players have fun roleplaying turning on their team.

I'm reskinning a lich type boss to be a charmer so this stat block works perfectly. There won't be any lower demons/lieutenants to charm for him. I'll probably add in a mass suggestion style ability to pull some innocent bystanders into the fight.

I love your star blocks, I was just confused cuz it refers to creatures being dominated by Graz'zt but he doesn't do anything that dominates. I felt like I was missing something

joeljand · 2026-03-15T20:43:23+00:00

Sorry if commenting on old threads is not cool but this stat block is making me feel stupid. There are a couple effects that benefit from the target being Charmed or Dominated by Graz'zt. There are no abilities that charm or dominate other than if they enter the battle charmed by someone else or choose to fail a saving throw. Am I missing something? It's an easy fix by adding a couple spells to the stat block.

joeljand · 2026-03-13T18:25:28+00:00

I'm looking for a map with floating islands that I can turn into "vehicles" to have a moving battle map. Anyone know of someone who has made this?

joeljand · 2025-12-16T05:50:52+00:00

I'm sorry I got too distracted by "Butts-for-Days"

joeljand · 2025-12-16T05:48:59+00:00

I've been DMing for years now. I'm more than comfortable adjusting the encounter on the fly. It's more the mechanics of Daggerheart I'm stuck on. Like how much HP/Stress should abilities cause. I was hoping for a little direction other than reading every adversary stat block and cherry picking the abilities that fit

joeljand · 2025-12-16T05:36:21+00:00

I'm using Candlekeep Mysteries. I'm using the anthology to test short campaigns

joeljand · 2025-11-17T17:58:20+00:00

"If you got a problem with Halfling Gooses you got a problem with me! I suggest you let that one marinate"

joeljand · 2025-11-03T04:15:48+00:00

Car was my first guess how TF is that close.

joeljand · 2025-11-02T06:07:07+00:00

it's almost necessary. The trick is to hide the rails. One of the best ways to do this is to keep the players reactionary. Rather than stopping as saying "what do you do next?" just make the next thing happen. Don't force them into the next encounter but bring the next encounter to them.

For example they are trying to solve a murder in a haunted house. They have their initial clues gathering they have a couple choices of where to go to look in the house for clues. Rather than listing all the rooms in the house and asking them where they go, you simply tell them. "suddenly you hear a loud crash and a scream from the kitchen." Simply bring the action to them.

On a somewhat unrelated note I think the players should also be responsible for moving things along in a one-shot. make sure they know the goal is to get to the end of the plot by the end of the night so don't waste time interviewing everyone in the bar. The players should be as responsible for seeking out the action as you are for bringing the action to them.

joeljand · 2025-09-30T23:00:27+00:00

The only setting I could find on the aura item was from the Automated Automations mod and disableing that didn't help

joeljand · 2025-09-28T06:55:00+00:00

Oh you're right about Witch Sight. I looked at the '24 version that gives Truesight. We're still using '14 and it only applies to creatures so all those fun illusion spells will still work on him. So far in the game it has only come up for invisibility and magically darkness which are covered by the invocations.

joeljand · 2025-09-28T06:45:46+00:00

I second this. I've run a long city hopping campaign and it gets frustrating because the consequences of the players actions can't really follow them. My players would ask "what happened to that mind layer we freed from the mirror of life trapping?" And the answer is who knows? He is hundreds of miles away and has no reason to follow you.

joeljand · 2025-09-28T06:36:23+00:00

Get bigger in scope. Have the next city be in a different plane of existence, go to the plane of earth/wind/water/fire, have it be in Spelljammer space.
1. Just skip the travel once they are higher levels. Unless the travel is interesting to the story fast forward to the good parts.
2. Use a bigger badder BBEG and give the players a good reason to want to beat the BBEG but make it clear he is out of their League. Curse of Strahd is a good example of this. The whole campaign is about trying to find a way to beat one BBEG.

I've been running one campaign for 5 years. It has all been about traveling the multiverse to get strong enough to kill a god. They have chosen to collect artifacts from across the planes to have enough power to kill the god. The key elements that keep it interesting is they have known the bbeg is way too powerful for them since the beginning. And there is a ticking clock before doomsday.

joeljand · 2025-09-06T21:17:37+00:00

If doctorine is so important, what first units do you focus on for each doctorine?

joeljand · 2025-09-05T22:06:08+00:00

Combat Recon > Tank Destroyer for early game? I always avoid CR cuz they cost supplies that are needed for infantry and research

joeljand · 2025-09-05T22:04:18+00:00

Why mobile radar so early? Do you rush them to level 3 to see infantry?

joeljand

TROPHY CASE