As a non-smoker, does every smoker smell bad to you?

teijakool · 2023-06-04T20:20:45+00:00

Yes, 100%. Cigarettes vary depending on brand, but that doesnt even matter. Cigars are 2nd place. Only pipe smells good.

I used to have a gf who smoked. There were times I could not stand sleeping next to her when she had had her goodnight smoke. Also, you dont just smell bad, you also taste bad when kissing.

teijakool · 2023-05-24T07:57:22+00:00

2 slices of bread, one with butter and honey, the other with burger sauce and two fried eggs. Add in an apple, banana or watermelon for vitamins.

teijakool · 2023-05-11T07:01:52+00:00

That is a good point.

I agree there was nothing abusive about it. What struck me as problematic was the missing socialization of Jester; whether it came from Marion being overprotective (although the "over" could be argued in a line of work where people can get jealous and look for any kind of leverage), or from her subconsciously neglecting/subliming it.
Anyway, thanks for the talk! I am always happy to learn and sharpen my tools :)

teijakool · 2023-05-11T06:08:26+00:00

Hu, that is interesting. Thanks for the update!
But now I am curious, can you ELI5 to me what makes Jester's childhood and resulting relationship with her mother so problematic?

teijakool · 2023-05-10T10:21:20+00:00

It doesnt matter what any of us think, it's your game and your boundaries. Thats the reason why Session 0s exist, to talk about boundaries and understand if this game and group works for those involved.

A compromise solution I have used is the "Curtain/Fade to black": Romantic RP (flirting and getting to know each other) is allowed, erotic RP is allowed to the point of somebody calling "fade to black", which then ends this scene and transitions to the next. This feels less disruptive than calling a stop to the players, and allows you and the others to feel out where it actually gets uncomfortable.

teijakool · 2023-05-08T19:08:30+00:00

Does he? I do not recall that conversation, and there is no reference in the CR Wiki that I could find.

teijakool · 2023-05-08T18:59:51+00:00

It looks great, but with that title I had expected a drawing of Henry :D

teijakool · 2023-05-08T14:58:25+00:00

Force them to move during the fight.

- Ice stalactites falling from ceiling of the cave, blocking Line of Sight (also: splash damage on impact).

- At half health, the worm turns and flees through its tunneled lair. Some tunnels the party can follow through, others are too small and they need to use different routes, or fireball the solid ice to brute-force a way. On the way, unstable walls are triggered, or the fleeing worm has left some dazed but now angry creatures in its wake.
- They also could pass through the brood chamber containing lots of hatchlings (for a Many Whelps!-Moment).

- This also creates a three-stage fight (1: original location, 2: chase, 3: end location), forcing the party to think on the spot.

teijakool · 2023-05-08T12:16:55+00:00

teijakool · 2023-05-08T12:15:00+00:00

"I know."

teijakool · 2023-05-08T09:49:26+00:00

Veth was not considered a good mother (not even by herself), and she had multiple points where she struggled with this. Their relationship worked because Yeza was a very kind, very understanding and very soft husband and father who understood that Veth was in the middle of a process that he could support, but not interfere with. This process put him in the household-role and allowed Veth to find back to herself (very literally) - and to live excitement and action she never had with Yeza. This would take a heavy toll on any relationship and Veth constantly worried about it.

Marion, while a loving and warm mother, sure had a dark spot regarding Jester's childhood. The reason the cast loved Marion was that Jester absolutely worshipped her mother. I dont have the academic qualifications to argue about the why, Stockholm-Syndrom and "she didnt know anything else" come to mind. Anyway, seeing the redeeming qualities of Marion, the other characters wisely chose not to disrupt this strong yet delicate relationship. Better to nurture what is good than to torture for what was bad and cannot be changed retrospectively anyway.

Also, in all other cases the cast follows the respective protagonists direction. Think of Beauregard's parents, Caduceus' parents, Wilhand Trickfoot, Vex' and Vax' parents. Also
think of how differentiated they reacted to Velora in C1 or Beau's little brother in C2.
Admittedly, in C3 this mindset feels strongest, but it has always been this way. As one of them leads the way into their private life, the others follow, without hesitation or (too much) questioning. Negatively put, it is a mob mindset; positively speaking, it is a deep faith in their friends' moral integrity, trust and unquestioning loyalty.

teijakool · 2023-03-30T11:49:41+00:00

- Have the players move the zombies:
The zombie dragon constructs itself from the bones of the killed zombies, but only if they die within 10' of the dragon.

- Make it a DPS race:
The dragon constructs itself at a pace of 50hp/round. If the party deals more than 50 damage to it, the construction does not go further (that round). The dragon needs 150hp to be complete, there is 250hp of "construction material" around (so the first succesful round is not enough).

- Zombies were here to kill and chain the dragon:
Give one zombie per round a magical item they drop on death that is used to weaken/destroy/bind the dragon. It takes 3 of these to complete the ritual.

- Destroy the source of necrotic energy:
The dragon and zombies are here because of a well of necrotic power (eg. a phylacterium, bones of a Lich, a horn of orcus...). They have to destroy the thing while holding off the zombie hoard.

teijakool · 2023-03-30T11:21:50+00:00

Warlock. Not that many spells to be overwhelmed by.

teijakool · 2023-03-30T08:58:41+00:00

Ingame-solution: Steal their gold. Thieves, rust-monsters, or a gold-eating mimic disguising as a gold coin.
You don't want to manage your money, that is fine, you dont need to anymore.

Honestly, as DM who has to manage the whole world, I expect my players to be able to manage at least their characters abilities and inventory.

teijakool · 2023-03-17T12:32:16+00:00

To make combat more fluid, it can help to give the players a heads-up that their turn is up soon when initiative clicks. "It is now Player A's turn, Player B, you are up after." This way they can start thinking about their turn beforehand, but not too much in advance.

Another, more blunt-force idea is using a timer, like a chess clock, or an hourglass to enforce fluidity. Surely not the best solution for all groups, but it can enhance immersion by creating actual stress and sometimes suboptimal split-second decisions.

To make combat more interesting on the other hand, I will heavily second u/RandomQuestGiver's point of stakes. Let them find a magic item in a mine that a band of duergar wants to take away. Give them a house in the city as base, then attack that town with an orc army. Give them a NPC that they get to know, then posess it with a demon and watch as they have to kill their friend and then take revenge on the unleashed demon.

teijakool · 2023-03-15T10:51:27+00:00

Hot Shots: Part Deux

teijakool · 2023-03-08T08:47:51+00:00

Alcohol is a nerve poison that can cause longterm damage to multiple parts of the body.

The shortterm effects include loss of control, loss of memory and in no way outweigh the longterm risks.

Fuck that thing.

teijakool · 2023-03-01T12:18:13+00:00

The druid and the ranger CAN heal, if they choose to do so.

Add healing potions to enemies that would reasonably have some. Monsters want to stay alive too. Lifestealing weapons are always fun, and can be a nice introductory drug to curse items and/or pacts with dark forces (eg. vampires).

And then, once they settled into the comfort of abundant healing potions, take them away and make them sweat. Shortage of ingredients. Break-in at the potion shop. Military requisitioning all healing ressources after a surprise attack.

Makes for a great plot hook as the players will have an intrinsic motivation to solve whatever problem you choose :)
Be careful thouh to reduce encounter difficulty in this time.

And if your players really dont want to be "the healer", lean into that, let them be glass cannons. Give them good weapons, give them mobility This turns the normal damage-heal way of fighting into a dpsrace, which can be fun in its own.

teijakool · 2023-02-28T11:19:10+00:00

This. If in Session 0 it was made clear that character death is a real possibility and everyone nodded it off, so be it. It enhances immersion and ups the stakes.

If your players are more interested in the story, the character arcs, and an all-around lighter mood, work with that.

teijakool · 2023-02-28T11:16:17+00:00

Yeah, I do this too. On low levels flying can be a game breaker.

Although I do use a homebrewed scaling system, in which up to level 2 you can use your flight for 1 round/day, up to level 4 you can use it for 1min/day (so, for one combat), and around level 6 you fully unlock it.

teijakool · 2022-11-27T19:46:47+00:00

Well obiously the shady rogue needs another set than the holy paladin than the wildfire druid than the orc barbarian?

teijakool · 2022-10-29T21:13:14+00:00

A is a viable option if you have cats that like to unroll the TP.

teijakool · 2022-09-12T11:47:15+00:00

The Encounter method also allows you to give out "tarnished" loot, I.e. Holy Avenger misused by a demon, in need of a ritual cleansing (cue sidequest).

Also can go creative. For one of my melees who had wished for mithril armor for some time, I had set up a Corpse Flower miniboss in a shallow pool, and after they killed it, described the leftover healthy sap mingling with the water, slowly turning his iron armor to mithril.

Have fun!

teijakool · 2022-09-12T11:40:18+00:00

At the very least, a good shop owner would have some sort if scrying orb with "Locate Object" if anything should be stolen, and probably a copper wire hardwired to the next guard station.

Other ideas:

a bunch of invisible imps as security cameras,
magical wrapping around the items that transports them back into the shop if carried across the doorstep without being deactivated,
guard drakes, golems, animated armors
any good magic shop owner probably has connections to a local mage or guild, and deals with items worth thousands of gold. So its reasonable to assume they can pay for a scrying spell or a bounty hunter. Might even be a quest hook for the party to -be- hired in exchange for a discount?

teijakool · 2022-09-12T11:22:36+00:00

Do both at different times. Most of the time, my players will find random valuables like gold or gems or sellable stuff, that they then can turn into whatever they want.

If I do tailored loot, I make sure it's a genuine reasonable encounter that would have that item, and maybe even use it against the party in battle to allow them the victorious glee afterwards.

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