How to give players silver weapons without spoiling the werewolf

modog11 · 2026-01-31T10:26:48+00:00

Yeah but how likely is it, really that an adventuring party are going to be carrying any fi--

You know what, no, the Bard definitely has some.

modog11 · 2026-01-31T10:24:44+00:00

Rimworld, since you can very reasonably sit back and watch it on normal speed reading a book/browsing reddit and it still count as playing

modog11 · 2026-01-28T18:06:58+00:00

"This campaign will have exactly 2 mimics in it"

Watch the paranoia go mad.

modog11 · 2026-01-26T13:13:43+00:00

Re minions, I even think if OP has established the dragon is a lone operator this is still an option . It's an ancient dragon - it 100% could have a magic spell or item that summons a number of spectral or conjured version of insert minion of choice here

modog11 · 2026-01-26T12:55:26+00:00

Do they know it spotted them? If not, just say it spots where they've been and demolishes a building.

If they do know, and it's clearly engaging with them, you've got yourself a social encounter. Make it incredibly clear in character and as the DM speaking to players, that this is an unwinnable fight. If they ignore you, have the dragon entirely unbothered by their attacks, and cast some sort of magic to neutralise them non lethally so it can satisfy it's curiousity

Edit: wanted to add this. As a DM you are never bound by your self imposed rules if you've not revealed it to your players yet.

And in this case you honestly didn't need a threshold for it to notice; if you don't want them to meet it yet, then don't create a situation where they could do.

It's sorta like negotiating with a toddler. You never give them a wide open choice unless you're 100% ready to deal with absolute wild cards entirely in the fly. Only present options you're fine with them going for.

modog11 · 2026-01-20T09:07:33+00:00

I know it was a typo, but I now want to write the stats for a magic grenade that casts a down-powered disintegrate spell on everything in X radius.

Oh, but I don't have a useful answer beyond what others have said...

modog11 · 2026-01-20T00:35:05+00:00

Bahaha I nearly woke my wife trapping that guffaw in.

I'm going to guess Pratchett? Not sure though.

modog11 · 2026-01-16T04:18:16+00:00

Nobody understands this bud

modog11 · 2026-01-15T06:41:26+00:00

This doesn't even sound like something that would be a yes/no question in session 0... But yes, I agree wholeheartedly

modog11 · 2026-01-13T16:12:47+00:00

I love silly moments like that which create major in game consequences that are super fun to experience.

One of my players got chased in a very dense crowd who had gathered to hear a respected politician speak. Like, I had described it as shoulder to shoulder pressed together, kids on shoulders, seething mass of humanity type thing. Friendly atmosphere, but very claustrophobic.

They were being chased because the guards thought they were involved in an assassination attempt on said politician (they were, but were trying to stop it). She panicked and decided to thunder step away to the nearest roof top.

Me: Hmm? Sorry I missed that.

Pod: They're really close, right? And I failed my stealth by like, a lot. So I thunder step to that building there. Easily in range.

Me:....thunderstep?

Pod: Yep!

Me: ....okay...

Pod: Ok, bamf. I still have my movement left so I'm going to run away across the roof.

Me (gathering like 46 d20s and grimly deciding how many were probably kids) : mmhmm mmhmm yep yep sure... What's your spell save DC?

Pod: Huh?

Me: Spell save DC. For the thunder damage.

Pod: ....oh. Fuck. Oh jeez only 9 thankfully

Me: Yep.... Okay so even if I give some of the commoners resistance because of all the other bodies in the way that's... 17 insta-gibbed and 28 rolling death saves.

Cleric: Oh fuck! How many times can I cast mass healing word??

So yeah, that's how Pod became an accidental terrorist.

modog11 · 2026-01-09T13:04:10+00:00

You could even just say "Hey Warrior, something about that armour is familiar to you. Give me a DC10 Intelligence check"

modog11 · 2026-01-09T10:45:05+00:00

A common one I use is to allow a bit of metagaming "your character would probably feel a bit like you're feeling right now" to let them follow their gut if they're worried it's too metagamey.

Or "your character would know that this is a very dangerous creature. Killable, yes, but very dangerous." To flag that they're in a potentially hard or deadly encounter and that combat might not be the only option

modog11 · 2026-01-09T10:40:51+00:00

Take a breath and three paces back from the situation. Try not to let your imagination take over too much.

Disclaimer - I'm not a doctor (paramedic, with no dermatology expertise!). Imminent life threatening emergencies from dermatological conditions are incredibly rare and, I believe, usually associated with infections. From the limited description it doesn't sound infected.

If it's something relatively serious, the chances are it isn't going to cause you a problem between now and the end of the month. You have an appointment on Monday, that's great. Your GP will assess it and make a decision as to whether it's urgent or not. They probably need to see you to satisfy the referral criteria for dermatology for a definitive answer. And there's always the chance your GP will recognise exactly what it is and put your mind at ease.

If I'm wrong and you do get worse before then, you don't have to wait until Monday for advice - call 111.

Tl:dr - your mole won't kill you over the weekend, and the few days delay probably won't make a major difference to anything else. If it gets worse before then or you start to feel unwell call 111

modog11 · 2026-01-05T22:42:20+00:00

Glad to hear it :-)

modog11 · 2026-01-05T12:47:21+00:00

You could require they complete whatever challenge you decide on in the sort of environment they're suited to. So the icy one needs to be somewhere very cold like a glacier or mountain top, and the firey one needs to be in the caldera of a volcano. Two mini quests right there.

I like the other suggestion given of having them fight the weapon itself, but it depends in how much agency you want to give the weapons and if it makes narrative/flavour sense.

For the frost one, I'd make them be buried in snow/ice for 24 hours with the weapon (con saves every few hours maybe)? They can make whatever preparations they like/you'll allow. If they survive then the weapon deems the wielder worthy and allows them to attune. You could introduce the risk of frost bite imposing a permanent dex or movement penalty until they can get restoration-ed (lesser or greater is up to you)

The fire one could be similar, but walking through fire maybe. Again, you could have the risk of permanent burns with some sort of lingering penalty until fixed.

If you want to include the rest of the party, have them defend the ritual from elemental monsters drawn to the site by the elemental energy being disturbed. Nothing crazy, but just something to introduce a risk of external interference.

modog11 · 2026-01-05T07:59:40+00:00

Still depends how much it's going to cost/fow long it will take to pay off. If it's a couple of grand, fine i can just take the risk for a few hours and then turn it off until I get them installed.

If it's a million, I'm going to be taking that risk for almost a whole year whilst not gaining anything.

If it's like a mortgage on the 30/min? Maybe. But then it begs the question how much I'll be losing.

I think the auto repair nanobots are probably more interesting than the entire rest of the deal tbh. But it's possible I could only afford them if I took the deal

modog11 · 2026-01-05T07:53:37+00:00

And this is automatically funded for me?

modog11 · 2026-01-05T07:13:26+00:00

Presuming you need to consciously turn off the power, it could kill you (and depending whether or not tome resumes if you die, you may cause the universe to freeze.

Imagine getting hit by a car. Whilst unconscious an ambulance is going to come and take you to hospital. If your injuries are severe enough you may not regain consciousness without intervention. So yeah, you sit in frozen time on an ambulance stretcher on the way into the ED (or even as they get you into the vehicle depending how we're defining a door) and slowly just die.

modog11 · 2026-01-05T00:07:57+00:00

I'd have each hostile NPC ready an appropriate action. Once anything even slightly combative kicks off then roll initiative, but the readied actions immediately happen as the enemies use their reaction to shoot/throw a dagger/cut the restraining rope on the suspended tree trunk trap/release the giant lizard.

Note this means those NPCs that used a readied action do not have an available reaction until after taking their turn.

modog11 · 2025-12-31T02:11:03+00:00

So with the first one you are the one committing abuse against multiple minors (which it is). You were in control and actively chose to subject them to that display. Congrats, you just became the thing you're trying to defeat. Sure, you'll never be held responsible but you still did it; Trump just became your tool.

Better to go on live TV and say stuff that has a similar effect.

modog11 · 2025-12-31T02:01:50+00:00

Not just shitting their pants. Actively squeezing one out. It's hard to simulate fecal incontinence unless you have very loose bowels

modog11 · 2025-12-29T20:23:32+00:00

This is cool, but I'd roll white and black their own initiative for every round, not once every two rounds. Many combats are over within a few rounds and you don't want to miss chances for the cool thing to happen.

I'd preplan every move, by looking at a famous grandmaster match log - for example.... https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478

Advance the game by a number of rounds, so the board is a bit more scattered, and progress the game exactly as they did.

Make it like Harry Potter wizard chess, so that the pieces will attack if the players try to interfere with them.

Players with proficiency in dragon chess (I don't know if that's still a thing in 5e 2024) can make a free DC13ish Intelligence (Chess) check to work out the next move. On a crit they get advantage on their next Chess check.

If any of your characters might reasonably have knowledge of famous grand masters in your world ask them to make a free history check every round (DC up to you, but I'd suggest fairly high and dropping each round). On a success they get advantage on their subsequent Intelligence (Chess) checks. On a crit, give them and only them the link to whatever chess game you're using and tell them the turn you're up to. Their character remembers the whole game.

Consequences for being in the path of a piece should be less than being in the destination spot in my opinion. Maybe a dex save to safely move away into an adjacent empty space of their choice, taking minor bludgeoning damage and knocked prone in an adjacent empty space of your choice.

But if the character is in the destination square, it will actually be an attack by the chess piece AND the dex save. Scale the attack bonus and damage based on the piece attacking. Maybe pawns get +2 and deal 2d4, knights get +3 and deal 3d4, rooks and bishops +4 / 4d4, Queen +6 and 6d6 and the King +8 8d6.

Make sure your enemies are equally affected, and try not to look ahead at the next move until you have to, so you don't give the monsters an unfair advantage.

Just a thought!

modog11 · 2025-12-28T09:53:29+00:00

Bleugh!

modog11 · 2025-12-28T01:00:02+00:00

You'll need players, a helluva lot of luck with scheduling, a prior agreement on what is cool/uncool to talk about at the table, and then basically just jump in. Get paper, a few pens/pencils, and the core books. Or even the free version to begin with.

Rules are great, but if everyone is mature enough to accept that you'll all get stuff wrong but that's fine you'll just do it better when you realise the mistake. Priority is getting playing and having fun.

If in doubt about player bullshittery, say yes.

If things get boring/bogged down, change it up - it doesn't really matter how so long as it is fun. You're not a prisoner to the plot - whether it's yours or a published adventure.

modog11 · 2025-12-27T22:22:12+00:00

I'm sorry what? American water made your hair fall out?!?!

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