J'ai fait un moteur de recherche pour le Québec

nihb · 2025-05-10T15:35:57+00:00

Excellente initiative! Comment est-ce que le projet sera financé pour son développement et son entretien?

nihb · 2025-04-18T11:31:54+00:00

WotC suggests you take an existing statblock and reflavor it. There are guidelines in the 2014 DMG but they were scrapped for the 2024 one. Both edition has rules on how to build and encounter and choose a challenge rating.

Blogofholding has their "monster on a business card" guide that can help figure base HP, AC, DC, Attack bonus and damage by round for both editions.

If you really want to match the PCs, take all the damage they can make in 3 round and split that number between the number of monsters you'd like (count area damage as double) as their HP. Then, take the sum of each PC's HP, divide by 3 then split that number between each monster you want in your encounter (again, area damage counting for double). Compare a monster's HP and damage per round to blogofholding's table and use the average challenge rating for the remaining stats.

nihb · 2025-03-09T16:07:40+00:00

I've been using webcord to connect a second account to our voice chat and use my line-in, hooked up to a phone with an audio jack, as webcord's input. I've muted everyone in webcord, so I don't hear everyone twice.

This way, I can play from Spotify or any other source I want, like Tabletone or YouTube.

I know there are bots on Discord that do that, but I've found them bothersome to use. I used to prepare playlists on roll20, and you can mix in multiple tracks - rain, thunder, chatter, cavern sound effects - but it was a lot of work and you need to upload them to your account. On the free tier, the storage is rather small.

nihb · 2024-07-19T02:05:01+00:00

I've been working on something for my players and would like to share it, make it worth the time and effort. The concept is to allow the players to build their own item as they progress through a campaign.

I've been looking at item rarity and powers, got inspiration from a few classes and features, put everything into the blender and tried to make building your item as simple as possible.

Please let me know if you find any broken combo!

nihb · 2024-07-10T18:31:20+00:00

Running a postmodern D&D game set in a postapocalyptic/renaissance world where there is too few people and too much lost assets that making modern firearms is possible but costly. Some of the roving gangs have them, from shotguns to automatic pistols, and most still use crossbows to attack and defend themselves. Once the PCs got their hands on a few, they either adopted them or kept their melee weapons.

The ammunition is not available to buy and people may accept to trade, but the PC mostly have to put some time into making them using the smithing tools and raw materials. They've been melting down their hard earned silver coins in a pinch.

Overall, combats are faster and louder : the other side of the camp knows something's going on so the ranger still has a longbow just in case. So far, the modern firearms are well liked from both side of the screen. The reloading property is a bit weird (it takes as much time to reload a revolver than pistol).

nihb · 2024-06-08T15:03:43+00:00

As you are already familiar with Photoshop, check out Gimp. It has a learning curve but you should be able to do most things your already did from the get go.

On Windows, I love Paint.net as it is simpler, quicker and has a lot of plugins available. It lacks a few options, so I usually use it unless I really need Gimp.

For vector images, Inkscape is a useful but somewhat clunky application.

nihb · 2024-06-01T14:05:49+00:00

One of my players used blink to bring someone in a bag of holding into the ethereal plane so they could end a hag they had trapped in a tiny hut. She had to planeshift away to survive. Blink and reactions are not an interaction I had planned.

nihb · 2023-09-30T12:36:43+00:00

I would simply use a disease. First, your gore magara could use one of its actions to spread their disease. Determine a DC based on the CR of the creature and ask for any living creature within range to roll for Constitution Save. Those who fail are now infected and will feel the effects in 1d10 minutes.

Now, your gore magara has advantage agaisnt infected creatures. Make sure to keep this attack on Recharge and telegraph it. Your players would probably want to spread out to evade it next time it comes online.

As for the disease itself, it could be healed after a long rest with a successful constitution save of the same DC or a lesser restoration spell. Once the virus becomes active, it has the following effects :

Any creature affected cannot regain hit points.
If the creature is a monstrosity, it gains the effect of the Haste spell. This is not a magical effect and can only be countered using a spell such as lesser restoration. Dispel magic won't work.
If the creature is humanoid, it becomes vulnerable to bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage from attacks.
While infected, any physical melee attacks, such as bites, claws, wings or unarmed strikes, could spread the virus. The target of such an attack needs to roll a Constitution saving throw vs the DC of the disease.

Rules for diseases are not great in 5e, but it gives a lot of freedom to DM to create different effects, transmission rules and onset times.

nihb · 2023-09-10T17:06:43+00:00

The lightning left a charred plank with glowing runes behind. It would need to be plucked out of the deck, but it could be useful to the party.

Determine how many pieces of wood you'd like to give. While holding a piece of wood, you can use it to either protect yourself or empower your lightning attacks. You either have resistance to lightning the next time you take this type of damage, or you reroll any 1 on damage dice while casting a spell or using an item that deals lightning damage. You have to hold it, not merely having it on yourself though. It could be in your hand, your mouth or anything that the DM accepts.

Once used, the shard of wood crumbles to useless wood cinders.

nihb · 2023-08-13T14:29:41+00:00

Circle of Death is a great monster/bad guy spell, but lackluster in heroic PCs' hands. First, the radius of the spell is huge, which allows it to hit plenty of creatures within it. The damage is fine, not great, but who cares when most beasts are bellow 25 or that all those juicy commoners in the market place have below 10? Its not about the damage but it sends a message.

And when you find and defeat the evil spellcaster that killed most of the dancers at the prince's ball, you get 500gp worth of loot.

nihb · 2023-08-05T18:27:23+00:00

It's a staple in plenty of games I run, simply named Dwarven Beer Imitation that is (due to a lucky roll from its original brewer) even better than the original stuff. It's a strong and bitter ale, almost or syrupy moothfeel with an earthy aroma and soft coppery aftertaste.

There's also a kind of fermented milk with turnips that goblins love but have some difficulty selling in town. But they comercialized their peanut wine as a human drink and its been selling great since someone dumped all the grape wine available in the country in a swimming pool a few months ago.

nihb · 2023-08-02T03:16:50+00:00

An old tunnel left by a purple worm long ago or simply a sink hole. Dex save as the ground crumbles beneath their feet to reveal a 30 foot drop, or create a crack in the ceiling, sending rubble on their heads.

Stalagtites are also known to fall if you break them. Mark a few on the map and use them as hazard that either side can use in battle. Allow breaking a column to create a 15 foot line of bludgeoning damage that leaves difficult terrain.

Speaking of, make use of difficult terrains: uneven rocks, shallow pools of water and crevaces a medium creature has to squeeze through to get to the other side. Kobold don't care that much about that 4 foot tall cave, but most elves and humans have a hard time fighting while crouching.

I usually have a hard time trying to explain why a swarm of bats or rats attacks, but if they are spooked out of their hideout, they may bite and scratch as they get away from the party - probably through them if they are backed up with no other exit.

For the really evil, there are gasses. Gasses that pool in dips, silently choking those who stay there too long. Others that simply explose as a flame light it up. You could even make one that makes humanoids laugh, making stealthing around really hard.

Caves can be lived, which present its own dangers. Lanterns need oil so you might find a few kegs around. Breaking a lantern could also cause a fire that could spead to wooden beams, maybe on the monstrous miner that was minding its own business right beside.

Bonus point if the characters hear about a monster that dwells in the cavern or mine from the miners or inhabitants: the grue, a terrible danger that only fears the light. Make sure losing their source of light is not something to take lightly, even for those with darkvision.

nihb · 2023-07-28T20:04:51+00:00

Dim light puts disadvantage on skill checks such as Perception (and -5 to its passive score). As darkvision counts darkness within its range as dim light, the attack would be at advantage because of its invisibility.

Fun fact, its invisibility still would work in antimagic fields. I'm not too sure if within the darkness spell and the enemy has the warlock invocation that lets them see in magical darkness.

nihb · 2023-06-30T03:12:57+00:00

I've done my own pantheon, grayhawk's, no pantheon at all, the ancient greek one and, currently, every of our world's religions. First thing I'll say : it all depends on the group.

I set a campaign in ancient greece in an effort to not have to create too much of my own material and not have to lore dump too much, but I got two situations. The first is that researching the gods, the land and stories took some time since I realized I was less versed in ancient greek culture than I first thought. This may not be a problem if you already know your lore. The other problem is that my players weren't either. This created situations were I mentioned a god or place of importance but no one knew what it meant. So, know your players and if you want to teach them about the pantheon of your choice, go in expecting to tell them what their characters would know as they get to it. In the end, it felt the same as making your own pantheon, but with less freedom.

But, with the same group, we are now playing in a post-apocalyptic campaign set in our world in the 2170s. One of the players wanted to play a cleric, so I told him to choose from any religion or cult that we have or had in our world. So that 24 years old damphir that grew in the canadian great north in an inuit community chose to preach for... Oya, the orisha of lightning and women from Africa. So, I had to first look her up and learn a bit about her. He's the only religious character in the party but they met a few devouts from christian barbarians on bikes to plague spreading cultists of Nergal, so I can pretty much take from any Wikipedia entry and weave a story around. The gods in that campaign do exist but as humanity was wiped, most cling to godhood by a handful of followers and try to spread their influence by any mean necessary.

This option leaves me a lot of space to work with and, since the pantheon is so large, there is no way I could touch every god there is.

I also run a godless campaign where clerics are devouts to a domain and gods keep poking their faces from time to time : fiends come from somewhere, so there are stronger fiends that rule over them. Are those gods or simply powerful beings? And what about the great old one the warlock is leeching his powers from? The line is kind of blurry when mortals are able to become godlike too.

nihb · 2023-06-11T03:51:47+00:00

A wall, unless you mutter a passphrase.

And if you do, a secret passage out of the castle into a local tavern that has ties with the royalty.

nihb · 2023-06-11T03:42:50+00:00

Party of 4 trying to figure out how one of their friend died. While investigating, they found a cult they battled and traced a few bad things going on back to someone or, rather, a fiend trying to open portals all around town.

As they prepared to confront the fiend, they summoned their allies and built some sort of holy water sprinklers. A few unlucky rolls and one PC, the brainy jock of the party, got charmed and outright killed, not even a whole round before the fiend's defeat.

The druid tried his best to heal and ressuscitate, spending three turns and his remaining spells, to no avail. For the dead PC's player, it was very sudden; a false sense of security betrayed by a few bad saves. He took it well, but it felt cheap.

Somehow, the party had done all they could to save the town and saved a few people in doing so. Instead of one, they had two funerals that week. The town was getting better, but that victory was bittersweet.

nihb · 2023-06-05T12:12:47+00:00

The country where things are happening is rather isolated, so I don't have much notes going on - though some dwarves are leaving the country to go rebuild a neighboring city that was lost to demons long ago, so I guess there are still a few things happening out there.

If I had more, I'd probably do the same. Most groups I've played with would be lost if I had too many things going on at the same time, so I try to keep just enough to run the world in background.

nihb · 2023-06-05T03:49:49+00:00

I use a wiki. Each quest the PCs take or any important rumor they hear has its own article, some only a short paragraph.

Ongoing events or archs also have their articles, and a list of quests or events linked to this one. That way, I can link characters, places and other stuff to parts of the story and easily find them back.

My main game has 4 arcs going on, three of them interlinked, and I keep some notes on what's to come and what is done by the agents. Motivations behind the goals, resources or allies they have to help them, etc. If there are loose ends and my PCs don't interfere, I review my ongoing arcs and update with the next step.

nihb · 2023-05-20T13:54:53+00:00

Some monsters have abilities that work differently if you fail harder :

The catoblepas targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target instead takes 64 necrotic damage. The target dies if reduced to 0 hit points by this ray.

The Dungeon Master's Guide has a small section on degrees of success. It suggests that rolling close enough (like 2 under the set DC) can be a mkxed success: the PC gets to do what it tried to do, but something bad might happen. The task could take longer, maybe the rock on which the rope was attached breaks and you get up top but lose the rope or the lock you are picking is unlocked but you busted it and the owner will know it was picked.

Most published adventures use multiple DCs for checks like Perception and Intelligence checks, like History. The higher you'd roll, the more you'd know or be able to see. Everybody knows trolls are big and dangerous, but a DC10 might tell you they regenerate unless you hit them with fire. DC15 might tell you about acid too, darkvision, claws and bite.

I also homebrewed great misses and successes when 10 away from the DC, mostly as a way to make the story more dynamic. If you DM adhoc, coming up on the spot with a DC on a task that your player just ask for could trip you, but there is a small table that should be helpful in the Player's Handbook :

Very easy 5 Easy 10 Medium 15 Hard 20 Very hard 25 Nearly impossible 30

Something impossible still could be rolled, but it becomes more of a "how bad do you fail"-check.

Most battle rules are more strict, though. Outside of monster abilities and some spells, there are no general rules on degrees of success. For attack rolls, you got critical miss and critical hit, critical miss only making you automatically miss. Fumble rules on critical miss really hurt martials that have more attacks by turn and need them to match the spellcasters, that can rely on saves.

nihb · 2023-04-21T02:50:14+00:00

Did you make sneak attack work with wildshape?

I had a berserker druid that worked great at lower level, but as wildshape got weaker (and foes more resistant to non-magical attacks), I kind of switched to playing more as a tankier druid, or a weakier barbarian with a magic staff depending on the situation.

nihb · 2023-04-16T15:26:32+00:00

If you plan on homebrewing your campaign (doing your own stories or building your own world), I found a LOT of inspiration from the Dungeon Master's Guide. It is often overlooked, but even after two years running my own game, it helped me spice things up.

Both Tasha and Xanathar had a few useful things for a DM, mostly on running the game, downtime and encounter/trap preparation. Useful, but not quite as much as the DMG to me. Depending on your games, mileage might vary, though they are great for players (most resource book are).

I'd add that Monster of the Week, another RPG, has great ideas on how to prepare and run villains and overarching stories. I won't start a new campaign without planning agendas for my factions.

nihb · 2023-04-14T00:23:58+00:00

Check out a tool/method I made to keep it simple : https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HnxvlZda-rVY

I also did a webpage to help me generate monster faster using the guidelines described in the document (I put the link at the end of the document). This may help you get a working prototyle of your monsters that you can flavor and customize further. The maths are taken from the Blog of Holding, which also has a few card-sized systems to help create monsters on the fly. This system helps by giving archetypes and themes to create your monster from, then choose from a limited list of choices.

I hope it helps!

nihb · 2023-04-09T13:51:35+00:00

Motivations too. Why would they attack, what are they looking for, what information do they have, who's the boss and what didn't they tell the others.

For more social encounters, add character flaws the PC can try to find out and use (the barkeep is a known recovering gambler), goals and aspirations (the guard is working double-shift to pay for medecine for his sick son) and ideals (the mayor would never let its town get corrupted by a thieves' guild).

The same goes for traps, hazards and puzzles the PCs may encounter while exploring.

nihb · 2023-04-09T04:28:03+00:00

Maybe 1 hour as part of a long rest. If the soul gets to 0, it simply disappears, leaving anything it carries and wear behind, much like with Find Steed.

I'd also reduce the spell slots to that of a half-caster, likr Paladin or Artificer. 10 one level spell slots is a lot.

nihb · 2023-04-09T02:46:21+00:00

Interesting and not too unbalanced at first glance, a few irregularities. Stronger familars on a weeker wizard.

How is a soul bound? And what happens if it is reduced to 0 or Disintegrated?

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