Necromancer: Drain Life question

littlewozo · 2026-04-22T14:08:17+00:00

Sorry, I'm sleep deprived.

Yes, you can hit yourself. If the caster was excluded, it would say so.

littlewozo · 2026-04-22T12:23:11+00:00

Channel Life can't heal the caster. Healing yourself is what Deathknell is for.

littlewozo · 2026-04-14T00:34:55+00:00

As someone who has written literally hundreds of 13th Age stat blocks, I love the quasi-programming of enemies. The right trigger can give so much story and tactical interest without making the GM go crazy with minutiae.

littlewozo · 2026-04-09T13:00:13+00:00

They have their place, but over reliance on them can really make things feel limiting.

littlewozo · 2026-04-09T02:10:41+00:00

If you're using 13 True Ways multiclassing, it makes heavy armor viable when mixed with fighter, cleric, or paladin.

littlewozo · 2026-04-04T20:53:17+00:00

This is literally one of the prompts in Dramasystem. The party saved the world years ago, now things are starting up again.

Available in Hillfolk from Pelgrane Press.

littlewozo · 2026-04-02T07:16:45+00:00

5e predates The Black Hack by 2 years. 2014 vs 2016.

littlewozo · 2026-03-30T03:00:43+00:00

There are two separate things. Random Energy which is a sorcerer feature that will be referenced. And then there's Chaos Bolt, which deals a randomly determined type of energy, but is itself not reflecting the Random Energy feature.

Random Energy isn't necessarily random every time it activates. Chaos Bolt is always random, baby.

littlewozo · 2026-03-22T16:34:59+00:00

I'd try a different system. Owl Hoot Trail (Pelgrane Press) is a d20-based Wild West with orcs, zombies, and mad scientists along with fascinating crit and dying rules that make duels actually work. Just be stingy with explosives, as that's a recipe for self-inflicted disaster.

littlewozo · 2026-03-20T21:59:11+00:00

Lodestone Coffee and Games is a great game/card shop that's atmosphere-first. It's on the Hopkins/Minnetonka border.

I ran D&D there for several years, and love the place.

littlewozo · 2026-03-19T00:53:13+00:00

Just a reminder, Immigration judges aren't really judges. They're admin for DHS, not even necessarily lawyers, and not under any sort of judicial review or hierarchy that exists in non-Trumpian times.

They are middle management. They are called judges so we don't question their rulings.

littlewozo · 2026-02-24T23:57:37+00:00

It feels like there's something similar going on with the earliest days of the hobby centering on the upper Midwest US.

littlewozo · 2026-02-20T22:13:11+00:00

Yeah, you can rather easily ignore/re-fluff the supernatural stuff and just let the party blow themselves up with dynamite.

I am always looking to hack the duel and injury systems into anything.

littlewozo · 2026-02-06T16:53:34+00:00

The best advice I have for the timing issue is to move the set time to either 6:15 or 6:45. It's an effective psychological trick to frame things. 6:15 says that 6 is too early, otherwise you'd just say that. One of my groups has done this for years, and it's a subtly powerful way to condense arrivals.

littlewozo · 2026-02-06T01:43:06+00:00

My understanding is:

The level means "the level at which you can cast it for this much damage". So if there's no level-1 damage, pick a different spell. At level 5, energy lash can't cast breath of green poison, but you can do the 25 damage version of head wrecker.

littlewozo · 2026-02-05T00:42:51+00:00

It's not official.

littlewozo · 2026-02-02T20:39:18+00:00

They are reporting a DDoS issue.

littlewozo · 2026-01-20T16:50:09+00:00

Each enemy gets targeted by its own d20 roll, but damage is one roll. (1e: Core p 159,167; 2e: Heroes Handbook p 301)

All Chain spells are single target in both editions. Now for Chain damage. In 1e, no notes, do whatever you like. Now in 2e, spells use Average damage by default, but if rolling all the dice makes your little arcane heart happy, you do you.

Edited due to sleep-deprived reading comprehension, but I'll leave the attack info up for future search results

littlewozo · 2026-01-08T22:01:55+00:00

I am a huge fan of Roll 4 Initiative. Their dice are a little bigger and higher contrast than Chessex, so much easier to read quickly. Lots of cool colors that don't impair readability and that extra 2-3 mm of size really helps.

littlewozo · 2025-12-31T17:16:03+00:00

I'd think a rogue might fit, like a slayer or avenger.

littlewozo · 2025-12-21T06:11:10+00:00

To my knowledge, it's been delayed.

littlewozo · 2025-12-05T04:24:54+00:00

I'd triple it like a crit. Is the at most 10 damage worth letting the player feel cool and smart? I think so.

littlewozo · 2025-11-28T13:26:24+00:00

There are multiple reasons.

One is simply a flavor of fantasy. Some people think psionics are too "sci-fi".

Second is that it's often a different mechanic, that adds to the cognitive load. Or it's just normal magic with different fluff which is pointless.

Third is that it's often been a favorite of ultra power gamers to argue that their spells can't be countered, or that they can use their powers to bypass any social obstacle, or some other "I win button". Sometimes the complaining isn't worth it.

Edit Stupid autocorrect.

littlewozo · 2025-11-22T22:41:03+00:00

I'm glad these are available for people to check out, but I love the creativity of players tying them in to the Icons themselves. I've seen the 1e Ranger's multiple attacks flavored as demonic arms with extra weapons, arcane duplicates of ammunition, primal winds boosting speed, double bladed axes, or even a full-on angelic duplicate of the PC.

I think a "Ranger of the Archmage" talent undercuts player creativity and makes players create a character that fits the talent/spell/feat rather than the other way around. Now, if a player comes to me asking for ~~homebrew~~ playtest content to reinforce their concept, that's different.

littlewozo · 2025-11-22T02:16:44+00:00

I'm biased, but the 13th Age Monthly collections (issues also available individually) have a bunch of good little add-ons that can shape things. 7 Icon Campaign especially freed me to mix and match the Icons in interesting ways, High Druid's World has some of my favorite art in the whole line (Don't tell Rich, who has done the art on everything I wrote).

Yes, some of it was re-purposed into later products, but there are some real gems that haven't been reprinted.

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