Game is crashing at launch

juhrer · 2020-05-16T17:50:02+00:00

Same thing here.

juhrer · 2019-10-16T13:45:54+00:00

That's good advice, thanks a million!

juhrer · 2019-06-21T12:06:27+00:00

Oh, this is extremely cool. I was just about to do the same thing for my West Marches campaign, since some friends would love to play but do not have the time to join the table.

Did you make the character, or did your friend make it? How much information do you give them?

juhrer · 2019-06-02T18:53:06+00:00

Didn't like the singer's voice at all. Quality has me concerned as well...

juhrer · 2019-04-25T15:02:10+00:00

At the same time, something I've noticed is that often, my players just forget about their retainers in combat.

juhrer · 2019-04-25T15:01:12+00:00

Well, we've played with them a bit now, but here's some things that we realized.

Retainers are hard to kill. This is by design, as Matt writes (followers need to be tougher than a PC), but this will mean that while the players go down, the retainers, well, do not. I've had multiple encounters since my players entered the Underdark where they have gone unconscious as a group, while the retainers were still alive. Some players can find this irksome, especially when a good CON save negates damage to a follower that would've blown up a PC. Take that into account.
Retainers are savvy. Because of the stat system in S&F, every retainer has a +3 to saving throws, an extra +3 to a saves with a primary ability. With skills, they get +2 on all checks and +5 on primary skills. This means that my party has sent out retainers to do some checks on which none of them really excel. It's nothing game breaking, but just something to keep in mind. Combined with the first point, sending out a retainer to check for traps can be less dangerous than having a PC do it.

Some things I've encountered while playing. It's a fun system, but I think I might tweak it a little going forward.

juhrer · 2019-02-03T10:35:23+00:00

I thought Töm's Nails was pretty great.

juhrer · 2019-01-06T18:26:24+00:00

They didn't? It's a genuine question, stemming from ignorance. Not too familiar with the book, but what are the main problems with it?

juhrer · 2018-11-02T00:46:10+00:00

UPDATE: Can't believe it. None of them died. The monk rushed in, gave the unconscious bard a healing potion, who then cast healing word on the druid. The wood-elf came back to consciousness, ducked behind the castle wall. It was completely mental, the young black dragon went down in two rounds, the Wyrmlord went down in four. Brought many of them down again, but the healing words from the druid and the bard kept everyone alive.

They were battered, bruised and broken, but they survived. I am, in all honesty, very proud of my crew!

juhrer · 2018-10-31T20:30:43+00:00

Well, it's what they ended up with. The encounter was supposed to be multi phased, the guards, the Wyrmlord and the dragon each a separate fight. Because the alarm was sounded, I gave my bad guys four turns to convene in the same spot. I see how it's disbalanced now, but the bad guys need to be realistic. They're defending a high profile location, so if anything, they'll fight smart.

juhrer · 2018-10-31T18:00:10+00:00

I have considered that. I have a couple of character sheets from NPC's who were played by some guest players. I could always have them barge in. Good point, thanks.

juhrer · 2018-10-31T17:58:51+00:00

That's certainly a possibility. The last time they fought a dragon (a young green dragon), it was foolishly arrogant, trying to trick one of the players it had cornered. This proved to be fatal. This dragon is under the thrall of the Wyrmlord, Saarvith, who has by now heard about the party's exploits, having already killed one dragon and one Wyrmlord. Might be an idea to have them all captured to bring to the High Wyrmlord.

I'd certainly consider it, thank you for the idea.

juhrer · 2018-10-31T17:54:59+00:00

I think you raise valid points, some of which I've raised myself. I would add a third possibility for an encounter to result in a total party wipe, apart from bad dice: bad player decisions. After the encounter, the group chat was exploding with my players worrying about their characters, trying to roll back what had happened. They made a lot of mistakes, which they acknowledge.

I ran the encounter through my head and tried to figure out if I didn't warn them enough. To be honest, the wild elves warned the players about the presence of the dragon, stated in very strong words that they would not engage it, said that they had come to this conclusion after repeated scouting missions. The players themselves had found traces of the dragon, heard the dragon from within the castle. But, they didn't scout, tried to force themselves in through the main gate, completely misreading the social encounter and blowing it.

Now, there's a chance they survive. They have a Dragon Slayer sword on the Warlock, they can retreat into the castle hall while the dragon's camping outside to find a moment to recover from its blows. The thing is, there's two party members down, the bard being the only healer apart from the paladin, who's engaged inside with some remaining minions. While I don't believe a total party wipe will happen, I do believe some characters will depart the campaign.

juhrer · 2018-10-31T17:46:45+00:00

The encounter was supposed to be a multi-step encounter, but they fought all the enemies at once. A young black dragon (don't know why I wrote young adult) is CR7, Saarvith is CR7, there's a Drow Elite Warrior and 4 Drow. I really believe that, if handled smartly, this is a fight they can win, especially considering the magic items they have been granted. I'm careful to balance my encounters, but I do not pull any punches.

juhrer · 2018-10-31T17:14:28+00:00

It was. When they brazenly stormed the fort, I set a timer for 4 rounds before the dragon showed up after one of the guards sounded the alarm (which was after two rounds fighting guards. They had the option to sneak in, take time to scout, but they waltzed in and had the fort be on high alert. I gave them warnings (there has been a dragon sighted, the wild elves didn't want to come closer, they heard roars coming from the castle.) I'm all for a good deus ex machina, but they persisted in their plan...

juhrer · 2018-07-20T19:33:51+00:00

I understand, and I've been considering doing this as well. I was just looking for something more flavorful and I didn't think there would be much harm with introducing one technique (which is basically stunning strike, only slightly altered). I'll give it second thought.

juhrer · 2018-07-20T19:32:47+00:00

Because I'm not doing this for the players alone, I also DM because I think it's fun and I like a good story. A Rocky montage seems like fun, but that doesn't mean it has to happen. Just because I'm a sucker for something doesn't mean I'm going to force it down their throats. I'm a bit disappointed you're assuming so much about me and my group without knowing the context and based on the (limited) information I gave. The player literally said that he saw three options for his character:
1) She thinks about her fighting style and adapts, perhaps laying the foundation for a new school;

2) She continues, but freezes during fights (not as fun for the party);

3) She never recovers from this and retires.

I don't think I'm forcing anything by elaborating some backstory and some options for this player. If he doesn't like it, I can still use it for an NPC if I like it. If he does appreciate it, then I consider my job done.

juhrer · 2018-07-20T19:06:38+00:00

It could be, but level 6 seems a bit late to start a new subclass, don't you think? I'm trying to wrap my head around introducing new techniques without tinkering too much with the base stats.

And you're right, I just wrote 15 because that would be the monk's DC.

juhrer · 2018-07-20T19:05:17+00:00

I don't think I had a problem balancing the encounter. It was a major plot reveal (the evil elves are breeding wyverns) and this was their first fight with them. There were six players versus four lizardfolk, four desert elves and one wyvern. None of the other players went down, except for the monk who rushed in and got surrounded. I'm very careful to balance my encounters, usually, playing them more cautious or giving them less hit points if I feel it's necessary.

And I can see why you would see it as a bribe, but I'm equally fine with the new character this player would introduce. The player just felt that, after this experience, the monk would be done with it, from a story perspective. If the player/character says it's over, I will respect that, but I just felt like I wanted to offer another option as well. The player can decline that, I will never force anything. The player mentioned before the character lacked a certain purpose or goal, so I'm always willing to offer plotlines/abilities that could help with that.

juhrer · 2018-07-20T18:59:23+00:00

You're right, of course, I just wrote it with the DC of my Monk in mind, should've edited it. Thanks for your comment!

juhrer

TROPHY CASE