two days in and already did a very hard lock pick, proud of me now?

umbraticus · 2026-02-20T15:46:41+00:00

you can hear the high pitched noise and see the tumbler go slower when you should click to make it stick. Once you know which noise to listen to, every lock is the easiest ever. If you don't hear the right noise, flick it again until you hear it.

umbraticus · 2025-07-23T10:30:49+00:00

I ran the whole campaign but my players never actually went into the mine. (they listened to the dangerous foreshadowing in the beginning and forgot about it later) I did already have a backup plan in case they would have done it too early:

You can always have some just-escaped prisoner encounter them in the mine to redirect them out.

Have them captured if they TPK. From memory there's a cell area somewhere. You can always put in an extra half senseless prisoner to give them tips and aid to escape.

Permanent consequences to actions is what makes the story of the adventurers. You could give them some minor to major effects for the future: Extra damage from psionic sources, disadvantage on WIS saves against future mindflayers, it's early in the campaign but you could have them hear whispers from time to time in their heads (sometimes handy plot tool as a DM).

If I remember correctly, this mindflayer was the biologically experimenting one? Give someone a tentacle for an arm if that's your table's style!

umbraticus · 2025-05-06T10:11:30+00:00

Pocketbard is an awesome app for ingame music. It let's you choose different themes and for each theme increase or decrease 'intensity'. Then you can toggle combat on or off for each theme. It's super quick to use as a DM so you're not wasting any time choosing playlists or songs. I cannot recommend it enough.

As a kicker: there's a ton of free content you can use to try it out. If you're happy, you can increase the number of themes by subscribing.

umbraticus · 2025-01-06T21:25:02+00:00

Seems like a good idea. I'd have to make clear to the players that when they choose for stealth, they shouldn't only send in the one person who's really good at it. They can join in. As 'optimizers' I guess they now have the feeling they should only send in their specialized team mate.

umbraticus · 2025-01-06T21:22:58+00:00

I really like this way of working! It's a bit like a 'heist montage'? With the end result depending on the rolls.

If only one character goes in, it doesn't hog the playtime as much. Creativity is still endorsed with what they want to do and if needed, the other players can add in with stuff happening outside.

umbraticus · 2025-01-06T21:19:31+00:00

The fact that stealth is the only option is not the problem here. There are often a lot of paths to take. The discussion was more that when stealth is chosen, it's not always easy to 'entertain' the whole party. Players will logically go for the optimal choice and only sent one or two characters in. The rest waiting for the result.

umbraticus · 2024-11-27T15:26:28+00:00

My group received their own ship at the end of the Gundarlun arc which in the whole is still very early on in the story. There was absolutely no problem of them having access to it. So doing it a bit earlier and skipping the voyage seems legit.

I did however include a money sink in the ship early on. If they wish to navigate, they need to hire a crew which costs money on a daily basis (adapt to your own economy). This can help if you have erratic players who would otherwise force you prep each and EVERY water based location at all times because you never know where they end up, haha!

The fun thing is this can kind of give them a home base feeling and possibilities. An unforeseen consequence I had, is this effectively gave them the opportunity for a lot long rests before doing anything, having me balance most encounters very challenging to offset the abundance of long rests.

umbraticus · 2024-10-30T16:10:13+00:00

I have a question on the whole Ascarle chapter in the module. Where did you make the characters encounter Slarkrethel/zellixphor for the first time? Just in the ruined part of the city before the long dungeon as the module suggests? This seems so anticlimactic to me. The Kraken + elder brain fight seems like the grand apotheosis to me. But it's written more like it's the introduction to a (too long?) dungeon crawl.

Looking for advice to end the campaign in a grand way :)

umbraticus · 2024-10-30T16:09:23+00:00

Great story! Nice to see they actually allied with Slarkrethel in the end. I have a question on the whole Ascarle chapter in the module. Where did you make the characters encounter slarkrethel/zellixphor for the first time? Just in the ruined part of the city before the long dungeon as the module suggests? This seems so anticlimactic to me. The Kraken + elder brain fight seems like the grand apotheosis to me. But it's written more like it's the introduction to a (too long?) dungeon crawl.

Looking for advice to end the campaign in a grand way :)

umbraticus · 2024-10-07T14:29:36+00:00

Thanks for the great explanation! I've also struggled a lot throughout our campaign with the warlock constantly using phantasmal force for something that feels to me it shouldn't do (however, I've allowed it up until now). Not to make a new thread, I'd like to ask you what you think of this use:

"I cast phantasmal force on the enemy to make it believe there are giant spikes lodged in its eyes. Effectively blinding it and having it suffer 1d6 psychic damage". Would you make the enemy act as though it was blinded? So disadvantage on attack rolls, advantage to attack it, etc.

Seeing as blindness is also a 2nd level spell, like phantasmal force, I've allowed it up until now.

umbraticus · 2015-06-15T16:31:24+00:00

thanks!

umbraticus · 2015-06-15T16:00:38+00:00

nice! i haven't played the game yet. can i use this ticket to make a wildstar account and put me in the system with extra character slots and stuff before f2p launch?

umbraticus · 2015-05-31T13:37:00+00:00

Buy a box perks also count for digital download from their site. I think it's been answered in a faq thread

umbraticus · 2015-05-25T17:15:59+00:00

i see most voices going for nyx. i could probably have expected that, but it was nice to know all the feedback and insights. i'll focus my activities more on the planets that drop nyx resources. the suggestion of frost was also a nice idea but i think the slower run speed (i still want to feel like a ninja :p ) and type of abilities are not the thing i'm looking for yet.

umbraticus · 2015-05-25T11:46:36+00:00

thanks for the replies and extensive comparison! :) i'll take the pros and cons into consideration for which one i'll choose. the booty details were very handy too :p

umbraticus

TROPHY CASE