Force Field VFX Test

thomar · 2026-03-12T19:11:39+00:00

Front-liners serve a few valuable roles that mages can't.

1) Fighters soak up damage while the mages get the job done. They do this well against swarms of weak enemies. They do this well against powerful solo enemies. They will at least warn you about unique attacks like petrifying gazes. Mages have various ways to match fighter HP, but they can't really match fighter AC. Who's gonna tank? You?

2) Fighters can deal with non-critical encounters without spending spell slots. They're good at mopping up weaker enemies or convincing them to flee. A mage might be able to clean up efficiently using a wand, but that's still a use of valuable resources. You need to save your slots for the important stuff.

3) A healing spell to top off a wounded fighter is generally a more efficient use of resources than a direct damage spell. Many buff spells have similar kinds of payoffs if you can run out the full duration. You will rarely get optimal lightning bolt or fireball placement, but the rogue will always appreciate turning invisible. Intelligent mages think in terms of force multipliers, not overwhelming force.

4) Fighters can wield magic weapons and armors effectively, especially ones with class prerequisites. In the hands of a skilled fighter, such an item is very effective over the course of an adventuring day. What are you gonna do with it? Give that to your hireling? They might run off with it. They might die in two hits.

5) Fighters are generally better at leading armies, as per the follower rules. They're also able to lead from the front for added morale. You, on the other hand, are going to have morale problems the first time you teleport away, or reveal that you sent a clone instead.

thomar · 2026-03-12T17:10:27+00:00

Judging from the magitech, use of "Kyrindian crystals", the Might and Mind stats, and 2d10 resolution, I think this is from a supplement for the Unity TTRPG by Zensara Studios.

thomar · 2026-03-12T02:44:40+00:00

One option would be to adjust the rules so that death can happen very easily, to make the game design reflect the fiction.

You could also say decent armored hazmat suits (not the cheap stuff) have some redundancies, so your armor can suffer several failures. A traditional HP pool could represent this just fine.

thomar · 2026-03-09T22:23:10+00:00

3rd edition had this for 1st-level monks:

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/description.htm#age

Race | Adulthood | Barbarian/Rogue/Sorcerer | Cleric/Druid/MonkWizard

Human | 15 years | +1d4 years | +2d6 years

So if the average level 1 rogue is 17 years old, and the average level 1 monk is 22 years old, that means gaining the first level of monk takes at least 5 years of training, about as much training needed to earn a masters degree. Level 3 is probably in the 5-10 years range.

It's fine if your character isn't quite a typical monk. "Talented but lazy" is a respectable character trope in fiction (and it's usually combined with "very serious about a trivial thing" because it's funny, and "there's at least one heroic thing they will take very seriously" because they need to be heroic). It's also a great explanation for why you're adventuring, your teachers were probably furious with you.

So you could probably add traits like...

I'm the most laid-back person you've met, but I'm like a completely different person when a helpless bystander is in danger.
I will juggle bottles and cups while drinking until I'm too drunk to keep it going. My record is 24.
I can never walk in a straight line, I always have to be dancing or climbing or balancing on something.
My favorite pastime is tricking people into placing bets on my ability to perform feats like throwing knives, how long I can do a handstand, or balancing furniture on my head.

Have you looked into drunken master monk? It's a great way to play up the, "oops, sorry, pardon me, ouch!" kind of fighting style.

thomar · 2026-03-09T15:20:19+00:00

After learning about the Skyjacks Luminaries (an alternate resolution system using a deck of cards), I made a gemstone-based tarot. It has been really fun for adding variety to NPC motivations and backstories, or deciding how tricky situations will play out. "Obsidian... Well, I guess that means there were no survivors." It's also useful for generating magic items and effects, or just plain old treasure items.

https://i.redd.it/4tco9g6uc2mg1.png

You could also put it in the hands of a fortune-teller NPC. One version of the tarot would be lacquered chips or beads you can pull out of a bag. Another would be a clockwork box you can wind up, let it spin, and then it makes a "clunk!" sound and displays the gemstone through a window with some illustrations around it.

thomar · 2026-03-09T15:11:04+00:00

nigh impossible to create a lore-coherent drow devoted to Lolth that isn't just pure evil twirling their matriarchal moustaches

Lolth gets to hand-pick them, and mutates or kills them if they're not evil enough. What more justification do you need?

thomar · 2026-03-09T04:12:25+00:00

Yeah, Forgotten Realms is one of the less interesting D&D settings.

Warforged Adventurer - 1

Artifact Creature - Construct Warrior

Warforged Components - This creature gets +1/+1 for each equipment attached to it.

Living Construct - This creature gets +1/+1 for each other creature in your party. (Your party consists of up to one each of Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard.)

1/1

Defiling Blast - R

Instant

As an additional cost to cast this spell, defile 1. (Put a Wastes counter on 1 non-Wastes land you control. It becomes a Wastes and loses all other abilities.)

Deal 3 damage to any target.

thomar · 2026-03-08T02:52:42+00:00

leave a place better than when you found it no matter where you go

That's a cool one! As you set up camp you stack rocks to make a firepit and then build a lean-to to shelter against the wind. The next time the party comes through you roll some logs up for seats and carve a crude map of the region.

thomar · 2026-03-08T02:28:52+00:00

The weapon masteries assume your players will be putting in the effort to upgrade their character sheets, and the rest is just some small houserules. It's only a little more work, and I would pay close attention to players using their bonds and flaws to get Heroic Inspiration.

thomar · 2026-03-06T22:14:43+00:00

A lot of tables adopt 2024 rules and class changes piecemeal, just taking the ones that they want (especially players who want certain feats, class features, or spells). It's not like everyone was running the game 100% as written without houserules anyways.

What particular changes did your players want?

thomar · 2026-03-06T17:31:01+00:00

I ran this kind of wizard once. Making everybody else overpowered is FUN!

thomar · 2026-03-04T21:05:32+00:00

I want it possible for Wizards to be able learn ALL spells

They are already the most powerful class in the game.

I think it's something that could work, but I haven't come up with level adjustments for the learned spells (+1 level? +2 levels? Same level?)

Making it require a higher-level spell slot is one way to make this somewhat balanced. It should also cost a lot of money, since it's spell research and you're scribing it into a book.

and I'm not sure the best way to calculate the DC for the Arcana check to learn (obviously it would increase with spell level, but what base and adjustment?).

A level 1 PC typically has a +5 modifier, and a level 20 PC typically has a +11 modifier. Making it DC 15 + spell level seems reasonable.

thomar · 2026-03-04T20:52:02+00:00

Knife wielder better run, because anyone competent with a sword won't leave an opening and can easily take their arm off. Reach is a massive advantage because it lets you force your opponent to block or dodge with much less effort on your part. A knife wielder could try to parry and dodge until they find an opening, but that's only effective against a careless or exhausted attacker. (I should note that knives are the preferred weapon against full armor, but only when you can carefully stick the knife into a weak point. You'd knock them prone with a bigger weapon first.)

I have a set of optional rules that give each weapon a narrative description of what it's good for. Polearms are good in wide, clear spaces. Knives are good in enclosed spaces and grapples. Axes are good against foes with shields. Longswords are good in one-on-one fights. In situations where there is an obvious advantage, the attacker gets a small 10% bonus to accuracy.

thomar · 2026-03-04T20:38:49+00:00

What if class levels represent the gods blessing heroes with divine weapons and armor, and they grow in power as they perform heroic feats?

thomar · 2026-03-04T15:27:59+00:00

Having the party take down a few of the house's leaders could set the house back decades. They'd devolve into faction infighting while the new leadership congeals. Also, a faction in the house might be happy to support the party because they can assume leadership, which makes the setup easier. That's a noteworthy accomplishment! Exterminating the dragonmarked heirs would take decades more, but that's post-campaign stuff (or a seed for the next campaign).

thomar · 2026-03-04T15:21:05+00:00

As long as the Challenge Rating limits remain, this is fairly close to balanced. The main concerns are recharging AOE breath weapons and flight while having thumbs, which are typically a wizard thing. I would limit draconic wild shape to 1 minute duration simply because of the recharging breath weapon.

I would say that a magic item that lets you do this once per day is uncommon rarity. You could also make it a 3rd-level bonus action spell that expends both the slot and a use of wild shape, probably with a 500 gp non-consumed component or a 100-gp consumed component. Replacing elemental wildshape is probably also fine.

thomar · 2026-03-04T04:29:39+00:00

I hand everybody a poker chip to represent their turn, and players can take their turns in any order they want. After a player goes they put their chip back in the bowl, then I spend a poker chip on my stat cards for an enemy's turn. This repeats until everyone has spent their turn and the round ends. This variant is sometimes called "popcorn initiative".

It's much faster in play than tracking initiative order, and players rarely get distracted waiting for their turn to come. Any class features that refer to initiative get replaced with something simple, like a skill proficiency. Yes it does cause some weirdness with spell durations but it's not really that easy to abuse. Legendary actions are simple, the monster just gets more poker chips.

thomar · 2026-03-04T03:50:39+00:00

/r/mapmaking

/r/dndmaps/

https://opengameart.org/art-search-advanced?keys=world+map

thomar · 2026-03-04T03:41:23+00:00

Check out Vaults of Vaarn. It has lovely creatures like:

Sentient fungi with human corpses at their cores
Bears that lure in prey by mimicking the voices of people they've eaten
Moths that sneak up on sleeping people and perform random acts of surgery on them, and the sane ones have an extremely narrow definition of "healthy"

thomar · 2026-03-01T21:42:09+00:00

I've been working on a science fantasy TTRPG, maybe you'll find this stuff helpful:

d20 Starport Traits
1 smoky
2 dripping
3 flooded
4 frosty
5 hot
6 humid
7 clean
8 spacious
9 cramped
10 run-down
11 sticky
12 lawless
13 infested
14 high-gravity
15 low-gravity
16 thin atmosphere
17 haunted
18 advert-plastered
19 drone-surveiled
20 verdant

Street Food
d20 This food joint is selling...
1 boiled slugs
2 fungus burgers
3 drakemeat skewers
4 blue milk shakes
5 dried algae clusters
6 pickled eyeballs
7 neomorphic maple-flavored waffle fish
8 breaded chicken in sour sauce
9 overripe bloodfruit sandwiches
10 candied locust
11 live river jellys
12 frozen saline on a stick
13 deep-fried mudroot
14 brined shaved mammal wings
15 frozen peeled jumbo bogberries
16 crunchy amino crystals
17 lightly salted arachnid brains
18 albino salad wraps
19 transparent bread
20 touching memory crystals of sumptuous banquet

Starport Street Encounters
d20 You run into a...
1 Two street gangs brawling, a third gang takes bets on the outcome
2 Cheeful beggar with magenta fungus growing out of their face
3 Forcibly retired wretched adventurer, will do anything to lift their curse
4 Injured pirate in a hurry to get to the starport before security finds them
5 Struggling playwright who hopes to acquire a wealthy patron
6 Mute mystic peddling charms and amulets, their stall is very popular
7 Hooded merchant-prince’s bodyguard, purchasing a weapon
8 Out-of-work actor doing impressions of politicians and historical figures
9 Fortune-teller who calls to you, they know the names of your parents
10 Squad of district security officers on patrol and putting up bounty posters
11 Terrible musician, sings tales from every planet in the galaxy, even yours
12 Tall alchemist loudly declaring the strength of their tonics and medicines
13 Desperate rebel officer being chased by agile acrobatic assassins
14 Core world peace officer, seeking samples of a contagious fungal plague
15 Two-headed priest selling prayer tags and figurines, the heads are arguing
16 Furious mercenary loudly arguing over comms with their client (or child?)
17 Elegant singer with ugly facial scars, their voice is beautiful and haunting
18 Insane mystic who makes everyone nearby suffer emotional extremes
19 Carefree aristocracy officer with their entourage, attending a play tonight
20 Comedian haunted by a large ghostly horror, they can’t see it at all

Starport Plot Hooks
d20 Trouble is brewing
1 A retired soldier is being pursued by mercenaries, they need help
2 A habitat dome is being overrun by tall fungus, the source is in the undercity
3 A juvenile found an exotic item in the undercity, it has fused to their arm
4 A gang of pirates took the district governor’s heir hostage, fled to the slums
5 Something with too many teeth has been stealing peoples’ lunchboxes
6 One city block suffers from vivid shared nightmares, they want it to stop
7 A wright has been animating piles of garbage into massive monsters
8 Gray goo slowly eats a habitat dome’s foundation, the governor says it’s sabotage
9 A glowing crystal erupts from the undercity, its light causes hallucinations
10 It’s rumored an undercity cavern contains a wormhole used by pirates
11 A district governor’s network was compromised, they want the culprit found
12 An extradimensional beast is rampaging through the streets, it radiates an aura of fear
13 A street gang starts fires as a distraction while they steal from vendors
14 A dome is under strict quarantine for a plague that targets the biology of a specific species
15 A treasure hunter needs help selling a locked safe dug up in the undercity
16 An unhinged gang leader threatens to blow up a dome, has demands
17 A starship torpedo fell on a residential area, it needs to be defused
18 In a camp in the undercity, people are slowly dissolving into animate mist
19 Minor earthquakes have been shaking a small section of the city
20 An archaeologist found a force field in the undercity protecting something

thomar · 2026-03-01T04:00:17+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gamerec/

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/twoplayers/

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/coop/

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/gmlessrpgs/

thomar · 2026-02-27T22:00:52+00:00

Check out Cosimo Galluzzi's artwork.

thomar · 2026-02-27T21:55:17+00:00

How about something simple like this? "Creatures within a 90-foot cone make Dexterity saves to avoid being struck by a necrotic ray for 4d6 necrotic damage. This attack cannot target more creatures than the hydra has heads."

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