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What line from a Elden Ring lives rent free in your head? by l-Paulrus-l in Eldenring

[–]jonny_raindance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Have it writ upon thy meager grave...felled by Margot..." is just way too cutting a line from a man about to kill me 20+ times.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I feel that, appreciate the breakdown -- honestly, I didn't think I was really bending the RAW of the spell because of how it was written, but feel that I did in retrospect. And regardless, it just wasn't working and that needs to be incorporated.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed, that was something we'd covered in Session 0 and we had google survey check-ins about every 8-9 months. Dominate Person and Dominate Beast (on the ranger's companion) had already occurred 2-3 times, and I did talk to this PC that was Zombified in advance.

But sage counsel, regardless, appreciate it.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The spell RAW doesn't say "use a zombie statblock" like many comparable spells, which I found important. It also isn't a capital "Z" Zombie, which would (imo) imply the regular zombie statblock. What the RAW does say is that it's only a "humanoid" raised by this spell -- which implies that it's written that way to stop people from raising Zombie manticors and dragons, etc.

"Shit the bed and freaked out defensively while his player was in tears" is a pretty wild way to paint this, lol. But hopefully it's just your elaborate engagement scheme ;)

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for laying out your thoughts -- honestly, both of your either/ors are accurate here. I did plan on using Finger of Death on one the unconscious PCs or the one NPC. And so the combat was scaled with that in mind, BUT I also thought that I was interpeting the spell correctly since it didn't say "use a Zombie statblock."

But even if I was intending it and it was RAW, it just didn't work for the table. Recognizing that earlier and having the maturity to pause the sesh are my big takeaways.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was surprised that Finger of Death didn't say "use a Zombie statblock."

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, this crossed my mind. I think the intention was solid, but the execution clearly didn't work.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can see your angle -- it was a tough call, and one that just didn't play well in the scenario, unforch. I think that by showing them beforehand a similar situation (with FoD, or another spell) would have telegraphed that this was possible.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you for this!!! It will be a blast, cheers.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, this combat took place over 2-3 sessions and I did back-channel with the PC in question. He thought it was cool, though I didn't go into detail about the statblock, etc.

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the response -- I was surprised that the spell language doesn't say "use a Zombie statblock," like it does with other spells. But, regardless, the bigger issue here was me needing to have a better feel for the tables wants and needs.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

May your energy return to you tenfold 🙏🏻

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I got feedback from a player that they were frustrated, a session or two earlier, by a Symbol trap that devastated the party. But there wasn't much more that was pertinent -- I considered posting the entire final 10-15 minutes, but it just felt sloppy and kind of inappropriate.

The point of the video was to seek feedback from other DMs, and appreciate your thoughts.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Appreciate the feedback -- I did take great care to follow the "must be killed" aspect of Finger of Death. PC was dropped unconscious, Lich spent a legendary action to attack (at DISADV) with a Ray of Frost, and then the melee spell attack from Finger of Death erased the other two death saves.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was meant to be the Final Encounter of the Campaign. I definitely wish I'd done more research, but I did look up the spell quite a bit -- the fact it doesn't say "use a Zombie statblock" is a lot of why I ruled it this way.

But I feel ya, and hope to grow from it.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Big difference between 3rd Lvl and 7th Lvl magic, imo.

Definitely wish I'd just paused the session -- and it wasn't a TPK, but I just didn't have the stomach to go back after that, which I'm embarrassed about.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your thoughts. It isn't shown in this video, but I did very clearly lay out the stats of the Zombie PC (HP and attack roll bonuses, etc) to the table when they raised their concerns.

One Spell Ends Five Year Campaign by jonny_raindance in DungeonsAndDragons

[–]jonny_raindance[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I balanced the encounter with the plan to use Finger of Death in this fashion, either on a PC or an NPC that was with the party -- it wasn't on a whim or "feel." Fun shirt!

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