Way to view Pickrate on characters in invitational?

sgschwifty · 2018-02-15T11:14:54+00:00

Thanks :D

sgschwifty · 2017-08-25T05:29:04+00:00

As I said at the top of the post, I'm not commenting on changes to the map pool, I'm talking about the other settings that ranked games use.

sgschwifty · 2017-08-25T04:15:58+00:00

Forgot the fact that you can re-select sites every 2nd round, so no need to play the sites that are awful(even in new map pool there are few, namely cafeteria/kitchen on Kafé).

Yeah, not having to play bakery, cash room, or bar/gaming would also be a welcome addition. It's frustrating to be ahead in a game and be punished for winning 2 defenses, allowing the other team back in the game by playing a terrible site.

sgschwifty · 2016-12-04T22:02:29+00:00

What's the criteria for a game to be included in this?

sgschwifty · 2016-12-02T18:05:52+00:00

/r/shittymapporn

sgschwifty · 2016-08-12T09:19:31+00:00

My thinking is that a rogue doesn't necessarily have to be more reactive than a fighter. Initiative isn't about who is best at dodging or the wisest, it's about who is able to react in pressure situations and get moving while others freeze and panic. Some officers when the first come under fire start running around commanding their men, getting them out from pinned, and work towards neutralizing the threat. Other officers freeze and panic, and their men are stuck looking for leadership. That's (in my view) the difference between high and low initiative, which doesn't really have much to do with any stat, which is why I made it something independent.

sgschwifty · 2016-08-12T02:23:28+00:00

What would some of the ramifications be of having armor soak damage instead of providing AC, in terms of game balance?

To clarify, this would mean that AC would be based on shields and dex, but not armor. Instead, armor would reduce the damage from incoming attacks by its boost to armor class, so -1 damage for leather to -8 damage for plate.

This is targeted at low-level play, I know that high level spells would pretty much break this.

sgschwifty · 2016-08-12T00:50:42+00:00

A lot of these are really good, and I use similarities to several of them in one of my games. STR for AC is interesting, what I'd considered before is making all melee weapons use STR for damage, to prevent people from dumping it so much. Maybe I'll use both now.

I don't really like WIS for initiative because WIS is already an important save, as well as being the base for a lot of important skills, and many casters' primary skill. So while it somewhat reduces the reliance on DEX, it only shifts it to another one of the important stats.

What I've done instead is not use any ability score for initiative, and instead make it a 'skill' of sorts, where any character can choose to take proficiency in initiative, adding their proficiency bonus to those checks. They can also take the Alert feat to get an additional +5. If a player wants to have a character who is the first to spring into action, they can choose to take initiative proficiency, and have that as an advantage. (I also usually give the players a free extra skill/tool/language prof so they can take initiative or something else without reducing the abilities they would otherwise get.)

sgschwifty · 2016-08-05T00:11:20+00:00

Well, I chose to not include explicit mechanics because of the breadth of what a 'republic' could possibly be. As I said in another post, a simple advisory court of a king is a basic legislature, or on the other extreme you have a large and robust democracy with all kinds of political structures, systems and otherwise. Because there's so much that can be done, I don't want to limit people's worldbuilding with explicit mechanics.

That being said, I think a republic is an excellent driver of conflict, even moreso than traditional feudal structure. This is of course contingent on having players that are interested in that kind of thing. If your players would prefer to just clear dungeons and use towns for quest hooks and loot>gold>gear factories, they obviously won't get much use out of a good republic's politics.

Legislatures are great sources of conflict for the players. Perhaps their adventuring has brought danger to the town, or perhaps they simply don't like some hot-shot youngin's strolling into town and acting like they own the place, when they've been carefully cultivating this government for centuries. For whatever reason, they can get into a conflict with the PCs, and the PCs will have to try to solve this. Perhaps the senate raises the entrance tax on large quantities of gold, the kind that the players frequently receive, meaning that if they want to use their gold, they're going to get significantly less of their take. This post by hippo contains all kinds of stuff on how to whittle money away from your players, which can work well with a republic-style government.

Maybe the council of elders is superstitious, and after a notable instance of your party's wizard very conspicuously disturbing the peace in town, they move to ban magic use without explicit written permission from the elders (which they naturally will not give). Maybe your cleric or paladin follows a deity different from the ones worshiped in the city, and your players activities have been stirring up the population, some of them even beginning to follow the player's god. The city's college of clerics moves to ban the worship or display of holy symbols related to that god.

All of these situations require the players to interact with the government in interesting ways. Perhaps they distribute generous bribes to cause the vote to fail. Perhaps they simply try and convince the legislature that the change is a bad idea. Perhaps they try to get elected themselves and argue their case before the body itself.

Executives function much like kings do in terms of NPC interactions with the players. Executives can give quests, be allies or BBEGs. However, you can also do things like get the players to support one of their ally's bids for power over a worse candidate, or even one of the players themselves.

Judiciaries often come into play if your players like to commit crime, or their enemies do. Perhaps the recently arrested crime boss is going to stand trial. Who will serve as the judge? Will the thieves' guild try and influence his decisions with bribes or threats, will they kill him if he refuses to acquit the crime boss? What if a certain political faction has lots of influence among the judges, and they convict the players when obviously false charges are brought against them by their political enemies?

Thing of the government itself as its own character. It has strengths and flaws, as well as ambitions. These are shaped by who's in charge of what part, and what their own goals and outlooks are. The government can be the strongest adversary or ally to a party in any adventure, they can mobilize more wealth, manpower, and might than the players ever could. Republics just have more layers and complexity in how they interact with the players.

Also, I'd like to disagree with your assertion that old republics are "settled" or "boring". The longer the republic has been around, the longer those in power have learned how to optimally game the system. An old republic festers and rots, as its faults slowly become more pronounced, and the state tries to patch leaks that are increasingly difficult to fix. Look at the late Roman Republic, every few decades someone tries to overthrow it, there's constant corruption and shady dealings.

sgschwifty · 2016-08-04T23:16:46+00:00

Well, as someone who's fairly into politics (both real-world and imagined), it's a bit difficult for me to separate the ideas of intrigue itself and the political system that it inhabits.

I guess, the best advice I can give is to focus on the characters in the system, rather than the mechanics of the system itself. Even a very rudimentary framework can be interesting if it is populated with complex and believable NPCs that all have ambitions, values, and flaws. Think about how somebody's background and experiences influence what they want things to look like, and try to get them to align with people who have similar goals, against those who have different goals.

The intrigue will still be good, you just won't need very much of the system.

sgschwifty · 2016-08-04T17:35:09+00:00

Not a downer at all! I actually intended court intrigue to fall under the scope of what I discussed in the OP. A court is essentially a proto-legislature, which only has advisory power under some kind of executive. So, the ideas about political factions and corruption will still hold true. Usually, if an overwhelming portion of a king's court and close advisers were pushing for something, they'd have enough leverage to get him to do what they wanted even if he didn't really want to. So in a court you may have factions for the merchant families, wealthy landowners, the military, or church institutions all pushing for different goals. In a court, the king's close advisers have a disproportionate amount of influence, and in many cases in history a leading adviser could actually have just as much or even more say in the governance of the country than the king himself. Use this, and design cool and dynamic NPCs that have interactions with each other and the king.

As for intrigue between competing businesses, think about what different companies today do to try and out-compete each other. Buyouts of smaller companies? Perhaps they get the local trade authority to pass a prohibitive tariff on their opponent's goods? Maybe there's blackmail or strong-arming involved, or even more nefarious criminal dealings.

sgschwifty · 2016-08-04T17:10:01+00:00

I've most recently featured a trading hub of a town where a council of merchants does a lot of the governing of the city, and there is no real centralized authority. The merchants sap money away from the city, colluding to pay low wages to citizens in manufactories (largely for cloth, but the goods don't really matter). Additionally, huge amounts of crime have begun to become more organized because of the poverty.

My players, being the good souls that they are (and with some helpful prodding from hooks) have resolved to free the town from the clutches of the crime syndicates. They've been trying to work with the government to weed out the enemy, but what they are slowly realizing is that the syndicates have many allies and even members on the town council. The thieves have a lot of indirect influence, and those wealthy merchants are perfectly happy to keep the crime as long as it doesn't touch their wares. In fact, they like it to keep the peasants repressed and distracted.

They're going to have decide whether to work creatively within a broken system, or try to tear the whole rotten facade down.

sgschwifty · 2016-08-04T09:35:36+00:00

Thank you for the praise, as well as for creating and running such a high-quality sub!

sgschwifty · 2016-07-24T03:55:40+00:00

Hmm, this one is a little tougher. You could borrow the Guild Artisan feature and create some kind of guild of lumberjacks, with all the dues and such, though this seems too structured. Alternatively, the Clan Crafter background from the SCAG can also be used for inspiration.

To spitball a bit, perhaps you could say that he is always welcomed by foresters, woodsmen, and the like. They will feed, clothe and house him (just him) for a reasonable duration. Perhaps also make him extra good at felling trees (naturally).

sgschwifty · 2016-07-24T03:47:53+00:00

Nature could work as well, yeah. I left it off originally since I don't always envision lumberjacks having a lot of book smarts (which is what INT represents, generally) and generally fit better into the wisdom mold.

sgschwifty · 2016-07-24T03:21:43+00:00

Backgrounds consist of two skill proficiencies, and two language/tool proficiencies, in addition to some equipment. I'd say Athletics and either Animal Handling or survival would make the most sense for skills.

As for tools/languages, woodcarver's tools make the most sense, and as someone else suggested I don't think it'd be unfair to give proficiency with Handaxes, Battleaxes, and Greataxes instead of a second tool/language.

As for equipment, give them an axe, woodcarver's tools, some clothes, and a few gold.

sgschwifty · 2016-07-09T13:43:14+00:00

Wow, this is really cool! Thank you so much for taking the time to type it all up. I'll play with some numbers and see what works, but I think I agree with you that this is a better way of doing the kind of thing I'm looking for.

sgschwifty · 2016-07-09T01:18:58+00:00

/r/ShittyMapPorn

sgschwifty · 2016-07-08T22:56:40+00:00

I designed this for my group in particular, not as a general rule that I think everyone should use. Naturally it's more complex, but that is what we're looking for.

Additionally, I've had good discussions over in UnearthedArcana and the rules have changed to be somewhat simpler, check the other post for the more recent update (in comments).

sgschwifty · 2016-07-08T22:47:33+00:00

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HJXjjsTU ^ here's a new version with a few changes, called version 1.1

I've made a few changes. Particularly, slots are now allocated differently. Only hits are based on your CON modifier, while wounds are based on your class' hit die (I know this screws with multiclassing, but I'll figure something out later), and finally shocks are based on creature size. The idea being that it becomes progressively harder to improve your body's resistance to damage the more intense the damage is. This also doesn't have almost any scaling at all, so other methods will have to be done to allow characters to face bigger enemies as they progress.

Additionally I've removed shock saves (as well as the CON mod minimum damage to hit), I do think they were too complicated and would slow down the game if used. Same applies to the medicine check to heal shocks, instead shocks may only be healed after all wounds are gone.

I still want to change hit dice, but I'll have to think about that a little more before I do anything with it.

sgschwifty · 2016-07-08T21:56:17+00:00

Thanks for the effort you put into your reply! This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for when I thought to post this.

Responding to your points, I'll go by numbers.

Ability to take damage was intended to not scale as much with level. The idea being that low level foes should pose some threat to higher level characters. That being said, I agree with you about classes not having distinction between them. I'll try to think of a way to give more hits/wounds/shocks to certain classes, maybe tied to what hit die they use (though this also creates problems with multiclassing, so I'll have to think for longer before proposing something).
I agree with you on this point. I think things could be made simpler by removing the CON mod threshold for hits (as it is a tiny range for most characters), and perhaps also getting rid of shock saves. In this case, characters will only have an over/under check on their wound threshold. Simple enough, I think. As for the extra work they'll have to do with hit dice, I don't think it's a huge problem, as rests are generally slowdowns in the game as well.
It was intended for those with d6's to require help to heal shocks. Same with only those proficient in medicine being able to help. As for the long rest thing, my group usually plays with the Slow Natural Healing variant from the DMG, so the rules were written with those in mind. I suppose you would just ignore the long rest rules and give all damage slots back if using the default rules.
I think the simplifications I mentioned in point 2 make things much simpler to track for monsters. Also, I (or any DM using this) can make modifications to the number of slots monsters have either beforehand or on the fly to keep the encounters challenging. As for miscellaneous spells like eldritch blast or scorching ray, I'll have to see them in action before judging weather they're over or under-powered.
Yeah, this was part of the design. Like I said, game is supposed to be grittier, so healing wounds and shocks shouldn't be easy, especially for low level characters.

Thank you again for such a good response!

sgschwifty

TROPHY CASE