your 10 men killer monster would be a mega beholder or king beholder essentially, it can put down or delay melee and can counter spell against mages. look at volo's origin of beholders for a flavor explanation for its existance.
Hello! I enjoy your content, but with this multi-topic video format, some timestamps in the description could help a lot. Since the whole video is of you talking, there's no visual way to identify where the topics change, like a splash screen for change of topic. Thank you!
Really enjoy your videos. In this one in particular the portion about the GOO's was interesting. I'm a big Lovecraft/Mythos fan and so that was an interesting way to look at the warlock's relations to their patron. That being said, I have a question: do you still feel the same way about 5th ed now (Dec of 2019) that you did when you made this video back in 2017? My guess, from watching the videos I've seen so far, is that you might have softened/warmed up to 5th ed a little bit. But I could be misreading. Obviously its not a huge thing, but I was just wondering b/c you guys have some pretty strong opinions about it. I haven't played 5th ed yet - the last edition I played I think was 3rd, and I started playing (A)D&D in ye olde times of 2nd ed. **added: with regard to firearms in D&D - when you think about how much magic can accomplish in the world of D&D, ultimately the only limits on technology really are the imaginations of the most powerful wizards in your world's history. In some ways it kind of contradicts the medieval setting of traditional D&D - when you think about what could be done using high level magic. So with that in mind, I think firearms - perhaps run by magic rather than gunpowder, unless the gunpowder itself is created magically - are perfectly reasonable for a D&D world if you are willing to take magic to its potential or logic extents.
Personally, my Warlock's GOO patron wants my character to maximise sentient happiness. It just prefers the flavour of a happy brain. Once Utopia is finally achieved, there will be a brief moment of universal bliss, a sudden crunching sound, then a burp.
One interesting take on GOO patrons is to look at the relationship between Old Ones, the Healing Church and College of Mensis in Bloodborne. The Old Ones themselves never have any expressed goals (except perhaps "miraculous" conception of a child), but there are multiple factions trying to leech wisdom and power from them whether through study of scripts and ruins or more visceral means. A warlock could be connected to their patron through a third party such as the Choir who attempt to contact the equivalent of the Far Realm or the Mensis Scholars who conduct all manner of experiments to ascend to a higher plane of existence and become like the Great Old Ones. By filtering the patron through an organization (who lack the full picture but have all manner of beliefs) it enables a GM to incorporate the pact without having to do the harder work of creating motivations and characterizations for an unknowable being beyond human mental comprehension. p.s. Ludwig, Holy Blade could be adequately recreated using the Hexblade patron or a GOO blade pact. Start as a paladin and multiclass to Warlock when he discovers the Moonlight Greatsword. Just to really piss off alignment grognards.
Well, the Great Ones in Bloodborne had one other sort-of motivation: they were "Sympathetic in spirit". When mortals called out to them, they had a tendency to answer and provide boons. Like the Great Ones saw how the simple creatures cried out, and did them a kindness. Naturally, because the Great Ones are alien beings beyond mortal concerns or values, their kindness could be as harmful as their antipathy. But for a Warlock, it could provide rationale for their patronage that doesn't saddle them overmuch with responsibilities. Their Patron has decided that this mortal in particular is one they like, so they'll give them knowledge and gifts. Like a person feeding a raccoon because she thinks it looks cute.
In terms of difficulty I think Matthew Colville had an innovative idea when he suggested taking bits and pieces of 4e monsters and adding them on to existing creatures. Due to the powers and abilities being so modular it is easy enough to have monsters have auras, extra attacks when at half health, more damage to enemies at full health, even the ability to nullify certain resistances. While I do agree 4e isnt my favorite edition I do believe that it has options that make an excellent supplement to the current edition.
Love the way you answered the Great Old Ones question. My personal favorite Great Old One archetype is a kind of Hermaus Mora (from the Elder Scrolls universe). A pure seeker and hoarder of knowledge. You find interesting secrets, and sell them to this knowledge hoarder for some special abilities so that you might go unearth more secrets. A most impersonal, cold force that has agents searching for lore across many universes, and has no problems "cutting their losses" if one of their emissaries stops bringing home the goods. One of my players made a warlock like this in our CoS campaign, and it gave the PC some awesome interactions with places that hoard ancient lost secrets and powers, like the Amber Temple, or with their experience with the Celestial in the realm (trying to not give away too many spoilers). 10/10 would recommend ;)
My favorite GOOLock is when the GOOlock has to give his knowledge to gain knowledge. He has to sacrifice previous memories to get new info. So he's a lock that has no recollection of his prior life and is probably driven mad by the fact that he remembers almost nothing about himself, but only that he's meant to serve the GOO. This also gives the DM tons of opportunity to mess with his backstory, since you're basically giving him the reins ;)
I agree with the 5E Death scenario difficulty. I totally pissed off a player when a ghoul literally "kept chewing" on the PCs carcass after he fell to the ground. He party was unable to rescue him in time to sufficiently save him. Totally believable...but the player was so used to "oh...I drop....wait a couple of rounds....and I'm back in the fight" complex.
The Novice DM I actually died in my very first session of 5e, went down to a new player not understanding his cone shaped spells and then the combo of the 3 thugs over me and bad rolls resulted in my poor rogues death.
"You enter a nondescript, but lively tavern for a night of drinking and merriment with your associates." "Once things begin to wind down, you exit the tavern.. or so you think. You seemingly enter the same tavern, but the party seems to have just started and maybe there's a few more people than you remember? You must not have noticed them before, right? Does that duck have a martini?" "You attempt to leave yet again, but yet again, you enter. This time there's no party and barely anyone around. The tapestries hanging are all bright violet. Were they always that color?"
I like the whole GOO thing to be basically insanity. The GOO doesn't have to take an active interest at all. The warlock could have just decided in their budding insanity/zealotry that they had made a pact, and that act on its own will bring chaotic elements that might benefit the awakening of GOO like you guys say. The apparently arbitrary (insane?) actions of the warlock may very well unlock more than his own powers - maybe more because of his belief that they will, than any actual action. Congratulations on reaching 50K, you beautiful bastards.
to whomever edits the videos: a nice advantage of having multiple camera angles is that you can use the side cameras while you adjust the center camera for a better shot. you can also cut to a different angle when trimming filler. its such a minor thing, but always a few moments in each video where i'll see the camera adjusting its distance or i'll notice a jump cut from the same angle and its rather distracting. your production quality is already leagues ahead of any other d&d channel regardless of some occasionally sloppy editing. if you could just nail that, the presentation would be flawless. if you got the cameras all set up, you may as well use em to their fullest! congrats on 50k, here's to 50k more!
I love thrown weapons. I wish there would have more stuff for thrown weapons. I remember the first time I threw my axe, it lodged into the shoulder of a shape-shifter who then stole it and left the play area. I'm still searching for my axe..
You could also try writing a Benevolent Elder God! _(I'm certain David Bowie's "Starman" is all about some kind of being like that)_ A "Starman" Warlock would still be insane, of course, but in a kind of a "hazy cosmic jive" sorta way! Plus the obligatory tie-dye.
From a certain perspective, the Christian God is kind of a benign eldritch horror. Unfathomable power, beyond the bounds of time and space, and thinks in a manner completely alien to mankind's natural impulses ("God's ways are not man's ways."). The angels He sends are, in and of themselves, horrifying, if you examine the old descriptions of them (and not just looking at the wholesome winged humanoids of medieval art). There's a reason the angels prefaced every interaction with humans with the phrase "be not afraid"; it's so the poor humans wouldn't freak out at the beast-faced, multi-winged divine horrors that just appeared before them. The solace believers take from such a fearsome, infinite, unknowable deity, is that He apparently loves us, and works in our best interest. But, being an entity beyond human understanding, sees the "best interests" of man much differently than man himself does. Will heap hardships upon humans, in order to make them tougher or to teach them abstract lessons. Will make them hurt, in order to inspire understanding. Like a wise parent that does not spare the rod, lest He spoil the child. Like a master who won't finish fretting over a beloved dog, washing and brushing and training them - until the dog is worthy of affection. Neither the child nor the dog understand the greater figure's reasons, and so feel mistreated. Such a deity's love might seem more terrible than His apathy. For if He cared less, He might leave humans alone and not bother them.
Bluecho4 I gave that same answer to a friend of mine when he asked what I thought about God. Although in answer to the OP, I think Kthanid (I think that's how you spell it) would be a good candidate. He's Cthulhu's brother and is as benign as his brother is evil. He looks a lot like his brother but has golden/Brown skin instead of black and has bright golden eyes full of compassion. He's also pacifistic and isolationist though, and tends to wipe the minds of all who come into contact with him in order to continue hiding from his wicked "family"
A naga monster hunter alchemist that uses his own venom and the materials he can collect from his prey to make deadly poisons for his weapons or something like toxic clouds in a bottle.
I remember seeing this channel at around 2K subs. I always thought that they deserved more subs. The content has been great since day one, keep it up lads
The next character I want to play: a fighter that has a "Throw Anything" like feat, and proficiency in improvised weapons, and then spends combat just taking random junk out of their pack and throwing it wildly.
I played in a short campaign where my friend was playing a kensai monk with tavern brawler. we snuck him into a secret meeting in a coffin and when it was opened he critically hit he guy with a thrown teapot, and killed him with one strike afterwards.
I would love to see a longer video breakdown of the failings of 5e. If you did a compare/contrast against other versions of D&D or systems that you enjoy, it could be very informative from not only a DM perspective but from a game design perspective.
Dude! That's Great I played 3.0 and 3.5 since forever but I want to start playing 5e now and I just want someone to compare both edition so I can take my conclusion to the fullest. Yet I like how balanced 5e is
I grew up on 2nd ed. I just recently (last 2-3 years) got into 3.x, and I still have no interest in doing 4th or 5th, but I'm at least interested in looking at 5th ed. for new ideas.
"...what is Hastur doing..." - he's re-reading Judge Dread comics from the beginning, and finding that Judge Dread was LN, arresting felons, not the "judge jury and executioner" that he somehow became later on...
I just wanted to drop in and say that as someone who has been doing a lot of research and watching a lot of D&D videos on youtube and you guys are the only channel I've subscribed to. You're entertaining, well-learned on the topics that you speak about, and the quality and production is impressive. Keep up the good work!
About Great Old Ones pacts, what you said reminded me of Contractors, from Darker than Black anime (great show, by the way). From Wikipedia : "Contractors are thus named because of an involuntary compulsion to 'pay the price' each time their power is used, which can range from eating particular foods or completing meaningless tasks, to self-harm and changing their bodies in peculiar ways."
The number one show i want you guys to discuss is about this edition! Its flaws, potential fixes, places you want WOTC to go in future development, and maybe a few speculations/ ideas on 5.5/6th edition. Jims feelings about this edition almost mirror my own so I'm glad to see I'm not alone.
@ 3:10 You cannot smite with a thrown weapon. It works with a Melee Weapon Attack, which indicates that it is a Melee Attack with a Weapon, per Jeremy Crawford.
My evil nasty baddies would gladly drive stakes through pcs that are down. Its something evil nasty baddies would do without even thinking about it. "Look! Enemy down! Slash it as you pass! Let the blood run freely!"
In 3.5 I was running a bard/barbarian with aspirations into the War Chanter prestige class. He got insta-gibbed by a goblin with class levels in Assassin and it was glorious.
on a note, it seems like the battle master's maneuvers can be done with any "weapon atack" or "Atack action", exept things like lunge or sweeping strike, cuz that would be weird... well you can actually push an enemy 15 foot by throwing a dagger to them so... yes its possible, with the dm's approval
death in fifth gets more real once the enemy gets aces to AOE attacks nothing like getting dropped losing your first saving throw only to die to a fireball
Our DM spiced up and made the world dangerous, and we love it, we try to play smart but sometimes dice just don't roll as you'd hope for and yea... last time my PC died was a few months ago from a random encounter. We just started out and wanted to test our team with a random encounter, came across wild BIG Buffalo like creatures... I got crushed to death by a few ton heavy beasty, instant death, no death saves.
the Tal'Dorei campaign setting by Matt Mercer has a feat called Thrown Arms Master that's pretty sweet for people who want to do that. i would house rule that the sharpshooter feat applies any weapon with a range increment. And the same guy made a really good gunslinger fighter archetype that's available on DMs Guild.
As someone who has used a muzzleloader I can say that even with paper cartridges (premeasured powder and ready ball) and going fast it still takes 15 seconds at best to load a Percussion cap gun. A flintlock takes 20-30 seconds and a match lock is closer to 45 seconds. Pretty impractical compared to a crossbow
With the GOO question, the whole "every person has to wear a red shoe" could be acceptable enough for a prophecy for its return to the planet that needs the beings of the planet to "stand upon blood red foundations" or something along those lines. Many of the Old Ones have bindings that prevent them from returning to the planet, so the Warlock may have an unconscious drive from its patron to undo those bindings
About the "tavern campaign" idea - I've always loved the "traveling tavern" idea. (which I think was scetched out in some kind of D&D literature I read at some point - it's not my orignal base idea) While traveling the high moutain passes the party is surprised by a massive storm. Unable to find shelter they are surely about to die a frozen death - except... there is light in the distance... A highly unlikely tavern full of good cheer presents itself as a lifesaver. Turns out though that the tavern shifts in location seemingly randomly - though it often seems to be found where it is most needed. and people are just drawn to it. Even the resident innkeeper doesn't really know the how and why of how this works (but has his own story for why he ended up with this unusual occupation). The problem is now the party has no idea where they are or how to get home... The overarching campaign is about discovering more of the history of the traveling tavern, interacting with the very diverse patrons who come and go, and finding out how to eventually get home. Is the tavern guided or maybe even has a mind of it's own? Did it want something in return? Maybe it is not in fact randomly relocating but bringing people to places they need to be in order for something to be corrected - or to serve some higher purpose... There are so many ways to easily spin this into many mostly self-contained chapters while keeping the overall continuity - each in a new location - introducing new characters and plots ect. Also the initial premise is just weird and wonderful enough to get people hooked and interested while having the capacity for a lot of depth if you want to add more layers to it. The tavern could just be a base of operation for typical D&D missions, but it could definitely also support a mostly roleplay/social angle.
The other thing with GOO's is that much of the time your contract is somewhat one-sided, like there's occult means of drawing power from them, but they're almost incapable of noticing your entire existence. That being said, as with Lovecraftian mythos it's easy to say just the presence of the Old One in your mind is enough to start driving you insane, so rather than the GOO giving you 'tasks,' it's symptoms of your own madness. Are you painting every third cow blue because that's what C'thulhu wants? Hell no, you're doing it because you're batshit bonkers and that's the only course of action that makes sense for you at that exact moment!
In my game, I play a Great Old One Warlock and my DM and I worked together to create a random chart to determine what I would have to do. This includes, convincing a town not to eat fish, start a cult based around rabbits, light a lake on fire, etc.
I think that firearms ar handled well by Matt Mercer's Gunslinger homebrew, but slow reloads that may take entire turns are a good drawback to force. Realistically, nobody can reload a flintlock (or even any xbow) in less than 6 seconds.
My response for when my player's get to ballsey is to toss them into a Kobolds dungeons, traps, traps, traps. If the body is lost can't bring them back.
I've always like the idea of a tavern scenario whereby a bard, or any player really is telling of the adventurers travels. You can one shot a bunch or crazy stuff and when you're ready to continue the adventure you swing back to the tavern with your character surrounded by an eager audience. They can big themselves up if you want to jump up a few levels, or they can be realistic and talk about stuff they've actually done. Good way to break away from what you're stuck into at the moment. A campaign full of undead? Maybe the bard tells the patrons of the time you raided a Yuan Ti temple in the jungle, and saved the day!
This may have been talked about already but, this kind of show could great way to make a list of stand-a-lone shows off the topics that were talked about in short amount on this kind of show. I would just love more then 5 minutes on each topic. Great show, i would love to just sit around and talk about whatever with you guys. Love the channel.
Personally, I'd like a long video where you go into the nitty-gritty issues with 5e that you referenced and overview some ideas you have or changes you've implemented yourself that might remedy some or all of them.
I like a "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" tavern campaign idea. I have a trickster God that loves making havoc for my parties and trapping them miniaturized in a tavern with rats, spiders, and all sorts of monstrous pests.
so for question 10: What about some sort of Mirror monster that could animate a party's shadows or create some sort of copies of their opponents? or maybe it had the ability to reflect attacks or bounce them around so it's sort of a puzzle monster where sheer force/numbers isn't enough to take them down. Maybe it creates illusions of itself like "double team" and so the trick is to find the right image or remove light from the room so it can't manipulate illusions.
Hey guys, great video! On the topic of guns in D&D, a huge draw back should be that they are loud. If you fire a gun in a dungeon, every monster in the dungeon is going to hear that shot. A good concept would be to increase the damage one die tier for a loud property.
How about a Behydra, which is a Beholder-Hydra mix. It's eyes shoot rays and each head can also attack with a bite. It's tail can trip opponents as well, along with some legendary actions.
I had a player that wanted to do a gnome in a power suit. All I did was give them a suit of +1 platemail that made him count as a medium creature. Then whatever powers they wanted were up to them... based on the class they chose. The only advantage: it was a +1 magic item and it gave him a few extra feet of movement. The disadvantage: it took up on of his attunement slots.
I always got the impression that a lot of older editions' added layers of danger and caution and specificity worked if you were running weekly games, where you don't mind if you're getting through a major chunk of the adventure in one sitting because you're working on this very granular level but I find 5e works far better at letting people dive back in, make big character driven choices, and generally role-play more for not having the weight of imminent death if they don't plan every step - and if you can only meet a couple times, even once, a month? that means more actual "play" than sitting around mulling over the pros and cons of minutiae
Hey, I was the one asking about the 1v10 monster (or one of the people if there's another poor DM out there trying). I ended up going with a lot of spells/spell-like abilities that did keep it hyper-mobile, a lot of AOE type spells, room mechanics that split the party or clumped them up nicely for AOE or to break up synergy. The basic chasis was an Oni with more health, AC, and legendary actions (including spells) stapled on against a 5th level party of 10. Worked out pretty well, all said.
That Old-God talk... love it. I'll be running a game with a couple of new players and some of my more veteran players in a couple of weeks, and one of them wants to be an Old Gods Warlock. I think I might have her always have a strange sense of direction, towards a certain spot, that is always moving. She might also feel strange impulses to leave objects pointing towards it ("you are done with your soup, and put the spoon down. The conversation carries on, and later on, as you look down, you can see the spoon points perfectly towards the "pull", as do all but one of the utensils at the table...") The idea is that the point she is "pulled" towards is the spot on the planet that allignes with something pointing directly at the planet from the other side of the Galaxy. What might happen, if the right items are placed in the right places, all pointing towards the same spot?
My warlocks patron doesn't even know my warlock is a thing. Ever since my warlock was a kid he just heard the voice of the GOO in his head. He was kind of born into / forced into the pact. My warlock just listened to the random stuff the GOO was saying, and thats where hes learned all his warlock-y abilities. The GOO honestly couldn't care less that someone can hear its voice, its just doing its own thing in its realm.
I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons in high school, and I and my friend are just now getting back into the game with 5e. I have been watching all of your videos for the last two weeks trying to learn as much as you can. You guys really know your stuff and it's a pleasure watching you
Dude, cool mechanic to fit the power armor: it has it’s own high HP, but looow AC (not agile/perceptive from within such an armor) and healing the armor can only be done by repair checks, say up to (2HP+1/cl.lvl.) per hour working on it. Or something. Makes you a strong combatant when prepared, but getting beaten on is a long lasting punishment and a tough enough enemy leaves you vurnerable until you can get the time to fix it. If reduced to below 0 it’s incapacitated until repaired above 0 and exiting is an escape artist action or summat
28:15 A monster with a constant 60f stinkinking cloud effect that phases in and out of the material plane and can split the party with a successful grapple making the game take place in the material and ethereal.
I have a homebrew class that's currently on the DMSguild called the "Industrialist" and one of the subclasses is called the Enhancer, which is essentially the power suit idea you were talking about! : )
In the campaing setting of tal 'dorei at page 109 Matt Mercer create a cool feats name thrown Arms Master -Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20. -Simple and martial melee weapons without the thrown property can be treated as if they have the thrown property. One-handed weapons have a range of 20/60, while two-handed weapons have a range of 15/30. -Weapons that naturally have the thrown property increase their range by +20/+40. -When you miss with a thrown weapon attack using a light weapon, the weapon immediately boomerangs back into your grasp.
The one handed/ two handed throwning isn't really OP. You throw your greatsword you aren't exactly left which much "firepower" left unless you just carrying a bag of two handed/one handed weapons
that's true of anything in the hands of an efficient Min/Maxer because Min/Maxers ruin everything. So it's sort of a silly quibble to have once that's considered.
For the battlearmored gnome, I would re-skin The Moon druid circle, make it a Monk sub-class and give the animated armor stats to the shape shift (with a don time of 1 minute). Ki points would become Energy Surge Points. I would also make a system that allows the gnome to re-invest those points (every long rest) in upgrades (lasting until the next long rest) for bonus damages or HP.
0:46 Problems with thrown-weapons support? 3:54 How would you DM for a Great Old One Patron warlock? 7:46 What do you feel are some of 5e's issues? 12:58 How does a high fantasy setting change after fire-arms are introduced? 18:16 How would you stat a gnome wearing a combat suit? 20:49 How would you run a Dragonlance campaign? 20:50 Design a campaign that takes place entirely in the same tavern. 28:11 How would you make a monster that can fight 10 people? 31:56 Lightning round. Interesting character creation combos?
best combat suit i have made was a dwarf forge cleric but 2-20 you go sunsoul monk. So you are running around in heavy armor launching lasers, but you are all dex and wis.
In the Critical Role series, Vax (half-elf rogue) uses Sharpshooter when he throws his daggers. So it an be used or modified to support throwing weapons, at if you're seeing it more as a homebrew rule.
TAVERN campaign: All PC are essentially reliving the quests that the tavern patrons have gone on. The Narrator/DM is actually the Barkeeps daughter that is entralled by adventurers and their amazing stories of glory. The jist is while she listens to the story the PC are her imaginary warriors living in Glory.
Dude great advice on GOOs. Never thought of using the universe as a giant combination lock with the idea that without intervention all those things will never happen
My idea for having a "power suit", you'ld play a gnome or another smaller race, your class is Artificer/mech. Your suit would be based on a larger race and class, example bugbear barbarian. So you have two character sheets. I'd say if you're in your suit your xp goes to the suit and allows it to level up as if it's the creature you based the stats on. The upside is you're able to make it better on a regular basis, but the downside is you don't level up unless you do something to get xp outside of the suit. Seems balanced that way with a really cool roleplaying side.
Alternatively you can choose where the xp goes, either to your base character or the suit. Still balanced that way. If you level up via milestones or something else, the player could choose to level up himself or the suit at each milestone.
24:44 I love this concept and I am running with it! I'm kinda surprised they didn't say what immediately came to my mind which is, all of the players own and run the tavern and the adventures are them dealing with different patrons and emergencies
If someone's looking for inspiration for a GOO patron or an encounter involving such creatures, the movie Void is a great leaping off point. It will help you tremendously with just conveying the body horrors so often overlooked by psychological horror. High recommend movie by the way.
The biggest problem with the question of "what does a GOO patron want?" is the idea that these outer gods and lovecraftian forces even think in the same sense as we do, or that they are even consciously aware of our reality. The Archfey will get board and start fucking with people or some intrigue in the Courts will call their attention creating demand for mortal agents. The Fiend actively wants to gain power through the action of their warlocks, in one fashion or another. The Great old Ones don't care, they are not human enough to even have the capacity to care.
When you guys started discussing the idea of a neutral ground tavern and all the back stabbing that could happen what if the PCs were in charge of maintain the neutrality and are attempting to stop the attempts and keep stability of regions because VIPs come to this location.
haha! awesome my favorite D&D show hits 50K subs! that's amazing guys, i don't think I've ever watched and rewatched so many videos on a channel before, you guys are just so much fun to listen to. love the consistent quality, and a segment on great old ones too, sweet! surprised you didn't mention bloodborne during it. either way keep making great content, Jim, Pruitt and disembodied cameraman!
My Great Old One Warlock was a prehistoric elf who worshipped the gods of her time- after her god kept her preserved in amber so that he would still have one devout worshipper in the future (the present of the campaign) and continue with his power (drawn from faith), she was considered a Warlock of this “old one” instead of a cleric because no one sees her god as a god anymore. And also her magic was Warlock-like even when they considered him a god.
On the deadlines of 5th. This is coming from someone that has only ever played 5e, so I have no experience with older editions, but I've noticed when people complain about the fact that it's less deadly, it mostly comes down to the fact that they still craft encounters as if they are playing older editions, instead of making ones that work in 5e. And in my opinion, it's good. You have to be way more methodical about crafting monster encounters and traps if you want to put them in danger, and have a better understanding of what the monsters can do. Singular monsters aren't scary anymore when you meet them in level, and I like that, because honestly, this isn't WoW or something. You aren't fighting through the dungeon to fight the big boss in the last room alone all by himself, because if he's smart, he has guards, companions, and things reasonable people would have. I sometimes feel like complaint about difficulty come from people treating DnD monsters as video game monsters, instead of creatures in a world with lives. Also, random idea for the "Gnome battlesuit": Use Golem stats, and go up from Flesh to Iron as you improve it and level.
I agree, regarding the deadliness of monsters. On the gnome batllesuit guy, how about firmly using the moon druid structure as a base and swapping beast transformation to construct (clockwork contraptions only) "transformation". Working out with your DM a set of construct monsters that exist as choices (it has to have a minimum size, at least one category higher than the gnome, obviously. And it doesn't appear and disappear also).
+Preston Lawson While I think you're right that deadliness can depend on HOW the monsters are run, I at least personally have still had trouble making monsters and enemies challenging and dangerous. I try to run my bad guys as self-preserving and real as possible, They have guards, they have minions and allies, they have healers, everything. But even when my spirit naga has a bunch of darkling elders with her, or the evil knight has four bugbears, it feels like the party nevertheless always manages to just focus fire the naga or the knight, and the bad guys never do enough damage fast enough to seem to matter. Then, once the main baddie's down, the fight's an anticlimactic mop up of enemies that can't meaningfully threaten the party on their own. I concede it may well be that I am nevertheless failing to utilize these stat blocks to their fullest, but it sure seems like it's /really/ difficult to get it right.
CalvinballAKA I think that strategy/tactics have a huge role on this regard as well. The death knight might (and should) have not only an escape plan, but a known place nearby he can retreat to. All the while draining more the PC's resources with retreating fire, back ups calling and/or traps on the way to the new location. Not to forget the use of the environment, like bottlenecks to hinder the party's attacks, the advantage of flight, fighting in places that blocks teleportation, having walls/high places to hide behind and shoot from etc.
Preston Lawson. I agree, in the game I currently play in (most characters are around 8th or 9th level) we've already had 2 permanent deaths and many of us have come very close to it. And that is with what many people would consider extremely OP characters (we're all min-maxers and our DM has been very lenient so far, sue us). Anyway, the deadliness is where you want it to be.
Would the "Meatgrinder" rules Chris Perkins used on Stream of Annihilation help scratch that deadlines itch? Bumping death save success to 15 made a huge difference in that game and had a lot of characters dropping in situations they would have survived.
whats hilarious is that daggers cant RAW have sharpshooter, but using a longbow as an improvised melee weapon can use both sharpshooter and GWM, as it still has both the ranged and two-handed properties, and sharpshooter specifies only that it must be an attack made with a weapon with the ranged property, not that the attack must be ranged
At my table, I completely threw out the death saving throws systems and replaced it with a mortal wounds system. Instead, when you get hit to zero, you remain conscious but you roll a d12. I consult a chart per the type of damage, and tell you what happens. It goes from 1 to about 30 becoming more and more deadly as it goes up. Like a said, you are still conscious and if you get hit again from any meaningful damage source (like an enemy attack or effect) you roll an additional d12. Hope that makes sense XD I find it works very well for my table, keeping the fear of death alive but also making it cinematic,
For the gnomish ironman concept, My though would be look at and convert the pathfinder summoner class. The Eidelon becomes your power armor and every so many levels you gain tech points to spend on new attachments to the armor.
In the game I was running, the player with the 5th level monk got beaten to death by 2 invisible gorillas and a Imp in a single turn. 7 attacks total, the 4th dropped him unconscious, the gorillas' last 2 got him to one death save, he was finished off by the Imp. He decided that he will no longer walk into rooms alone after that. Another time, our 3rd level Warlock got crit'd by a Triceratops and died from massive damage with a single attack. Other than those two glorious examples, I have found that player death is very rare after 2nd level.
I don't know if Jim realizes that the lack of thrown weapons options and good non-firearm ranged weapons in a pirate game might be the same problem... Awesome episode!
I would really love to see a full video on guns like you mentioned. I would also love to see a video about how to create and balance a world that is both sci fi and fantasy. Meaning both science and magic existing together. Love the show guys :)
For the tavern game, I've actually been wanting to do a Rodents campaign. Translate all of the races into small rodents or animals. The tavern suddenly becomes a whole city.
my wife's Old One warlock discovered an old tome in a forgotten section of an ancient Elven library that was essentially the journal of a "mad" man who's mind had brushed the consciousness of an Old One and discovered how to siphon power from it. (the PHB says that an Old One patron may very well be entirely unaware of the mortal that has made a "pact" with it). this knowledge did eventually drive the writer of this journal mad as his mind was broken by too much exposure to the Great Old One's thoughts. so as she studies this tome (as a game mechanic "her mind opens to deeper understandings of the words within" as she levels up) she has to make Sanity Saving Throws. i have the DC match the level she just gained. that way it is steadily becoming harder for her mind to stay hinged. so her patron doesn't "want" anything from her...she just may go mad from siphoning energy from its mind for too long.
For a campaign in a 'tavern', I would try a massive interplanar las vegas style casino with different turfs and gangs meeting for trade and deals, death and intrigue not far behind. Easy to fit in pit fights, downtime/crazy games and mysteries and item bazaars and whatever else you need for a good time. Could even have a dungeon crawl a la Roy from Rick and Morty.
Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Get our podcast here: www.patreon.com/webdm
* rolls a 1 on topics *
* discusses politics *
your 10 men killer monster would be a mega beholder or king beholder essentially, it can put down or delay melee and can counter spell against mages. look at volo's origin of beholders for a flavor explanation for its existance.
Hello! I enjoy your content, but with this multi-topic video format, some timestamps in the description could help a lot. Since the whole video is of you talking, there's no visual way to identify where the topics change, like a splash screen for change of topic. Thank you!
Really enjoy your videos. In this one in particular the portion about the GOO's was interesting. I'm a big Lovecraft/Mythos fan and so that was an interesting way to look at the warlock's relations to their patron. That being said, I have a question: do you still feel the same way about 5th ed now (Dec of 2019) that you did when you made this video back in 2017? My guess, from watching the videos I've seen so far, is that you might have softened/warmed up to 5th ed a little bit. But I could be misreading. Obviously its not a huge thing, but I was just wondering b/c you guys have some pretty strong opinions about it. I haven't played 5th ed yet - the last edition I played I think was 3rd, and I started playing (A)D&D in ye olde times of 2nd ed.
**added: with regard to firearms in D&D - when you think about how much magic can accomplish in the world of D&D, ultimately the only limits on technology really are the imaginations of the most powerful wizards in your world's history. In some ways it kind of contradicts the medieval setting of traditional D&D - when you think about what could be done using high level magic. So with that in mind, I think firearms - perhaps run by magic rather than gunpowder, unless the gunpowder itself is created magically - are perfectly reasonable for a D&D world if you are willing to take magic to its potential or logic extents.
13:00 I'm still waiting for that gun show! 😁
Personally, my Warlock's GOO patron wants my character to maximise sentient happiness. It just prefers the flavour of a happy brain.
Once Utopia is finally achieved, there will be a brief moment of universal bliss, a sudden crunching sound, then a burp.
Nick Williams I love it!
That is one of the funniest things I have ever heard.
That's greaaat story
That is just perfect
One interesting take on GOO patrons is to look at the relationship between Old Ones, the Healing Church and College of Mensis in Bloodborne. The Old Ones themselves never have any expressed goals (except perhaps "miraculous" conception of a child), but there are multiple factions trying to leech wisdom and power from them whether through study of scripts and ruins or more visceral means. A warlock could be connected to their patron through a third party such as the Choir who attempt to contact the equivalent of the Far Realm or the Mensis Scholars who conduct all manner of experiments to ascend to a higher plane of existence and become like the Great Old Ones.
By filtering the patron through an organization (who lack the full picture but have all manner of beliefs) it enables a GM to incorporate the pact without having to do the harder work of creating motivations and characterizations for an unknowable being beyond human mental comprehension.
p.s. Ludwig, Holy Blade could be adequately recreated using the Hexblade patron or a GOO blade pact. Start as a paladin and multiclass to Warlock when he discovers the Moonlight Greatsword. Just to really piss off alignment grognards.
Well, the Great Ones in Bloodborne had one other sort-of motivation: they were "Sympathetic in spirit". When mortals called out to them, they had a tendency to answer and provide boons. Like the Great Ones saw how the simple creatures cried out, and did them a kindness.
Naturally, because the Great Ones are alien beings beyond mortal concerns or values, their kindness could be as harmful as their antipathy.
But for a Warlock, it could provide rationale for their patronage that doesn't saddle them overmuch with responsibilities. Their Patron has decided that this mortal in particular is one they like, so they'll give them knowledge and gifts. Like a person feeding a raccoon because she thinks it looks cute.
Happy to find Bloodborne lore fans here ;)
Turns out Hexblades could get the "Eldritch Smite" Invocation, which works likes a Paladins smite, so no need for a paladin dip.
In terms of difficulty I think Matthew Colville had an innovative idea when he suggested taking bits and pieces of 4e monsters and adding them on to existing creatures. Due to the powers and abilities being so modular it is easy enough to have monsters have auras, extra attacks when at half health, more damage to enemies at full health, even the ability to nullify certain resistances. While I do agree 4e isnt my favorite edition I do believe that it has options that make an excellent supplement to the current edition.
Love the way you answered the Great Old Ones question. My personal favorite Great Old One archetype is a kind of Hermaus Mora (from the Elder Scrolls universe). A pure seeker and hoarder of knowledge. You find interesting secrets, and sell them to this knowledge hoarder for some special abilities so that you might go unearth more secrets. A most impersonal, cold force that has agents searching for lore across many universes, and has no problems "cutting their losses" if one of their emissaries stops bringing home the goods.
One of my players made a warlock like this in our CoS campaign, and it gave the PC some awesome interactions with places that hoard ancient lost secrets and powers, like the Amber Temple, or with their experience with the Celestial in the realm (trying to not give away too many spoilers). 10/10 would recommend ;)
My favorite GOOLock is when the GOOlock has to give his knowledge to gain knowledge. He has to sacrifice previous memories to get new info. So he's a lock that has no recollection of his prior life and is probably driven mad by the fact that he remembers almost nothing about himself, but only that he's meant to serve the GOO. This also gives the DM tons of opportunity to mess with his backstory, since you're basically giving him the reins ;)
I agree with the 5E Death scenario difficulty. I totally pissed off a player when a ghoul literally "kept chewing" on the PCs carcass after he fell to the ground. He party was unable to rescue him in time to sufficiently save him. Totally believable...but the player was so used to "oh...I drop....wait a couple of rounds....and I'm back in the fight" complex.
The Novice DM I actually died in my very first session of 5e, went down to a new player not understanding his cone shaped spells and then the combo of the 3 thugs over me and bad rolls resulted in my poor rogues death.
a mummy with a small powder keg hidden in it's torso.....Tutankham-BOOM
CCs Welding *Facepalm*
CCs Welding sounds very contemporary
Skip the m and it becomes less forced; Tutankhaboom.
"You enter a nondescript, but lively tavern for a night of drinking and merriment with your associates."
"Once things begin to wind down, you exit the tavern.. or so you think. You seemingly enter the same tavern, but the party seems to have just started and maybe there's a few more people than you remember? You must not have noticed them before, right? Does that duck have a martini?"
"You attempt to leave yet again, but yet again, you enter. This time there's no party and barely anyone around. The tapestries hanging are all bright violet. Were they always that color?"
That's a fun idea.
Is this like that show Russian Doll?
Sooooo the first arc of Acquisitions Incorporated The C-Team
@@kid14346 it’s an ancient tale, so yea and no
Nah, this is PT meets Cheers
I dunno, one of my buddies makes 5th edition look like Dark Souls every week.
Nosrak oooo sounds fun! Except with Dark Souls death isn't permanent...
Nosrak truei am on like my third charater at this point
I have a reputation to over estimate my party
I like the whole GOO thing to be basically insanity. The GOO doesn't have to take an active interest at all. The warlock could have just decided in their budding insanity/zealotry that they had made a pact, and that act on its own will bring chaotic elements that might benefit the awakening of GOO like you guys say. The apparently arbitrary (insane?) actions of the warlock may very well unlock more than his own powers - maybe more because of his belief that they will, than any actual action.
Congratulations on reaching 50K, you beautiful bastards.
to whomever edits the videos:
a nice advantage of having multiple camera angles is that you can use the side cameras while you adjust the center camera for a better shot. you can also cut to a different angle when trimming filler. its such a minor thing, but always a few moments in each video where i'll see the camera adjusting its distance or i'll notice a jump cut from the same angle and its rather distracting.
your production quality is already leagues ahead of any other d&d channel regardless of some occasionally sloppy editing. if you could just nail that, the presentation would be flawless. if you got the cameras all set up, you may as well use em to their fullest!
congrats on 50k, here's to 50k more!
One tavern? simple, the people are borrowers! or shrunk down to that size. suddenly that multi-level tavern is a huge mega-dungeon.
Honey, I Shrunk the Customers
I love it!
I have run and participated in a game that went for a few months. We never left the same tavern. It was amazing.
I love thrown weapons. I wish there would have more stuff for thrown weapons. I remember the first time I threw my axe, it lodged into the shoulder of a shape-shifter who then stole it and left the play area.
I'm still searching for my axe..
Did you ever find it?
You could also try writing a Benevolent Elder God!
_(I'm certain David Bowie's "Starman" is all about some kind of being like that)_
A "Starman" Warlock would still be insane, of course, but in a kind of a "hazy cosmic jive" sorta way! Plus the obligatory tie-dye.
From a certain perspective, the Christian God is kind of a benign eldritch horror. Unfathomable power, beyond the bounds of time and space, and thinks in a manner completely alien to mankind's natural impulses ("God's ways are not man's ways."). The angels He sends are, in and of themselves, horrifying, if you examine the old descriptions of them (and not just looking at the wholesome winged humanoids of medieval art). There's a reason the angels prefaced every interaction with humans with the phrase "be not afraid"; it's so the poor humans wouldn't freak out at the beast-faced, multi-winged divine horrors that just appeared before them.
The solace believers take from such a fearsome, infinite, unknowable deity, is that He apparently loves us, and works in our best interest. But, being an entity beyond human understanding, sees the "best interests" of man much differently than man himself does. Will heap hardships upon humans, in order to make them tougher or to teach them abstract lessons. Will make them hurt, in order to inspire understanding. Like a wise parent that does not spare the rod, lest He spoil the child. Like a master who won't finish fretting over a beloved dog, washing and brushing and training them - until the dog is worthy of affection. Neither the child nor the dog understand the greater figure's reasons, and so feel mistreated.
Such a deity's love might seem more terrible than His apathy. For if He cared less, He might leave humans alone and not bother them.
Bluecho4 I gave that same answer to a friend of mine when he asked what I thought about God. Although in answer to the OP, I think Kthanid (I think that's how you spell it) would be a good candidate. He's Cthulhu's brother and is as benign as his brother is evil. He looks a lot like his brother but has golden/Brown skin instead of black and has bright golden eyes full of compassion. He's also pacifistic and isolationist though, and tends to wipe the minds of all who come into contact with him in order to continue hiding from his wicked "family"
How about a Protector Aasimar Warlock of the Fiend, who has a little angel on one shoulder, and a little devil on the other.
Fallen Aasimar Bard warlock of the fiend that plays the fiddle.
Just be the devil
I thought of the asimmar warlock a while back and have been wanting to play it.
That's a fun idea!
A naga monster hunter alchemist that uses his own venom and the materials he can collect from his prey to make deadly poisons for his weapons or something like toxic clouds in a bottle.
Plot twist: the angel is actually the one sent by the patron.
Congrats boys. Love the work. Keep killing it.
I remember seeing this channel at around 2K subs. I always thought that they deserved more subs. The content has been great since day one, keep it up lads
The next character I want to play: a fighter that has a "Throw Anything" like feat, and proficiency in improvised weapons, and then spends combat just taking random junk out of their pack and throwing it wildly.
I played in a short campaign where my friend was playing a kensai monk with tavern brawler. we snuck him into a secret meeting in a coffin and when it was opened he critically hit he guy with a thrown teapot, and killed him with one strike afterwards.
Fantasy version of the gravity gun
I would love to see a longer video breakdown of the failings of 5e. If you did a compare/contrast against other versions of D&D or systems that you enjoy, it could be very informative from not only a DM perspective but from a game design perspective.
Can i second this? Every time I watch a new WebDM video, I think I know a topic and there are so many nuances that I've missed that they pull up!
I'll put it on the list.
JPruInc Thank you!
Dude! That's Great
I played 3.0 and 3.5 since forever but I want to start playing 5e now and I just want someone to compare both edition so I can take my conclusion to the fullest. Yet I like how balanced 5e is
I grew up on 2nd ed. I just recently (last 2-3 years) got into 3.x, and I still have no interest in doing 4th or 5th, but I'm at least interested in looking at 5th ed. for new ideas.
"...what is Hastur doing..." - he's re-reading Judge Dread comics from the beginning, and finding that Judge Dread was LN, arresting felons, not the "judge jury and executioner" that he somehow became later on...
I just wanted to drop in and say that as someone who has been doing a lot of research and watching a lot of D&D videos on youtube and you guys are the only channel I've subscribed to.
You're entertaining, well-learned on the topics that you speak about, and the quality and production is impressive. Keep up the good work!
About Great Old Ones pacts, what you said reminded me of Contractors, from Darker than Black anime (great show, by the way). From Wikipedia : "Contractors are thus named because of an involuntary compulsion to 'pay the price' each time their power is used, which can range from eating particular foods or completing meaningless tasks, to self-harm and changing their bodies in peculiar ways."
The number one show i want you guys to discuss is about this edition! Its flaws, potential fixes, places you want WOTC to go in future development, and maybe a few speculations/ ideas on 5.5/6th edition. Jims feelings about this edition almost mirror my own so I'm glad to see I'm not alone.
@ 3:10 You cannot smite with a thrown weapon. It works with a Melee Weapon Attack, which indicates that it is a Melee Attack with a Weapon, per Jeremy Crawford.
13:10 I was hella surprised to find my question on your d20 question table! Kudos, thanks for listening. You guys rock!
Want more character deaths? Attack characters who are at 0.
Auto crit if melee, and a crit hit counts as 2 failed death saves.
My evil nasty baddies would gladly drive stakes through pcs that are down.
Its something evil nasty baddies would do without even thinking about it.
"Look! Enemy down! Slash it as you pass! Let the blood run freely!"
You monsters
You have to kill confirm my dude
That just cheapens their death, that would be a good way yo create conflict between the DM and the player.
@discoandherpes , I disagree. If opp is intelligent, they know that this will put the fallen beyond popping up again with a healing word.
In 3.5 I was running a bard/barbarian with aspirations into the War Chanter prestige class. He got insta-gibbed by a goblin with class levels in Assassin and it was glorious.
Celebrity Jeopardy reference is LITERALLY THE BEST THING EVER! Or, as one might say, simply...stunning.
on a note, it seems like the battle master's maneuvers can be done with any "weapon atack" or "Atack action", exept things like lunge or sweeping strike, cuz that would be weird... well you can actually push an enemy 15 foot by throwing a dagger to them so... yes its possible, with the dm's approval
death in fifth gets more real once the enemy gets aces to AOE attacks nothing like getting dropped losing your first saving throw only to die to a fireball
Our DM spiced up and made the world dangerous, and we love it, we try to play smart but sometimes dice just don't roll as you'd hope for and yea... last time my PC died was a few months ago from a random encounter. We just started out and wanted to test our team with a random encounter, came across wild BIG Buffalo like creatures... I got crushed to death by a few ton heavy beasty, instant death, no death saves.
the Tal'Dorei campaign setting by Matt Mercer has a feat called Thrown Arms Master that's pretty sweet for people who want to do that. i would house rule that the sharpshooter feat applies any weapon with a range increment. And the same guy made a really good gunslinger fighter archetype that's available on DMs Guild.
As someone who has used a muzzleloader I can say that even with paper cartridges (premeasured powder and ready ball) and going fast it still takes 15 seconds at best to load a Percussion cap gun. A flintlock takes 20-30 seconds and a match lock is closer to 45 seconds. Pretty impractical compared to a crossbow
With the GOO question, the whole "every person has to wear a red shoe" could be acceptable enough for a prophecy for its return to the planet that needs the beings of the planet to "stand upon blood red foundations" or something along those lines. Many of the Old Ones have bindings that prevent them from returning to the planet, so the Warlock may have an unconscious drive from its patron to undo those bindings
About the "tavern campaign" idea - I've always loved the "traveling tavern" idea. (which I think was scetched out in some kind of D&D literature I read at some point - it's not my orignal base idea)
While traveling the high moutain passes the party is surprised by a massive storm. Unable to find shelter they are surely about to die a frozen death - except... there is light in the distance... A highly unlikely tavern full of good cheer presents itself as a lifesaver. Turns out though that the tavern shifts in location seemingly randomly - though it often seems to be found where it is most needed.
and people are just drawn to it. Even the resident innkeeper doesn't really know the how and why of how this works (but has his own story for why he ended up with this unusual occupation). The problem is now the party has no idea where they are or how to get home...
The overarching campaign is about discovering more of the history of the traveling tavern, interacting with the very diverse patrons who come and go, and finding out how to eventually get home. Is the tavern guided or maybe even has a mind of it's own? Did it want something in return? Maybe it is not in fact randomly relocating but bringing people to places they need to be in order for something to be corrected - or to serve some higher purpose...
There are so many ways to easily spin this into many mostly self-contained chapters while keeping the overall continuity - each in a new location - introducing new characters and plots ect. Also the initial premise is just weird and wonderful enough to get people hooked and interested while having the capacity for a lot of depth if you want to add more layers to it. The tavern could just be a base of operation for typical D&D missions, but it could definitely also support a mostly roleplay/social angle.
The other thing with GOO's is that much of the time your contract is somewhat one-sided, like there's occult means of drawing power from them, but they're almost incapable of noticing your entire existence. That being said, as with Lovecraftian mythos it's easy to say just the presence of the Old One in your mind is enough to start driving you insane, so rather than the GOO giving you 'tasks,' it's symptoms of your own madness. Are you painting every third cow blue because that's what C'thulhu wants? Hell no, you're doing it because you're batshit bonkers and that's the only course of action that makes sense for you at that exact moment!
In my game, I play a Great Old One Warlock and my DM and I worked together to create a random chart to determine what I would have to do. This includes, convincing a town not to eat fish, start a cult based around rabbits, light a lake on fire, etc.
If you guys do a guns episode you should read how mages reacted to gunpowder being invented in GURPS fantasy
will w
Go on...?
How did they react?
lots of great ideas this episode! i think a lot of these deserve their own video
I introduced a Dagger feat that treats Daggers and Darts interchangeable and both are light, melee and ranged at the same time. works really fine
These kinds of shows are great for getting the creative juices flowing. I highly recommend making as many as possible!
I think that firearms ar handled well by Matt Mercer's Gunslinger homebrew, but slow reloads that may take entire turns are a good drawback to force. Realistically, nobody can reload a flintlock (or even any xbow) in less than 6 seconds.
Congratulations on 50K guys!!!
My response for when my player's get to ballsey is to toss them into a Kobolds dungeons, traps, traps, traps. If the body is lost can't bring them back.
I've always like the idea of a tavern scenario whereby a bard, or any player really is telling of the adventurers travels.
You can one shot a bunch or crazy stuff and when you're ready to continue the adventure you swing back to the tavern with your character surrounded by an eager audience.
They can big themselves up if you want to jump up a few levels, or they can be realistic and talk about stuff they've actually done.
Good way to break away from what you're stuck into at the moment. A campaign full of undead? Maybe the bard tells the patrons of the time you raided a Yuan Ti temple in the jungle, and saved the day!
This may have been talked about already but, this kind of show could great way to make a list of stand-a-lone shows off the topics that were talked about in short amount on this kind of show. I would just love more then 5 minutes on each topic. Great show, i would love to just sit around and talk about whatever with you guys. Love the channel.
Personally, I'd like a long video where you go into the nitty-gritty issues with 5e that you referenced and overview some ideas you have or changes you've implemented yourself that might remedy some or all of them.
I like a "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" tavern campaign idea. I have a trickster God that loves making havoc for my parties and trapping them miniaturized in a tavern with rats, spiders, and all sorts of monstrous pests.
so for question 10: What about some sort of Mirror monster that could animate a party's shadows or create some sort of copies of their opponents? or maybe it had the ability to reflect attacks or bounce them around so it's sort of a puzzle monster where sheer force/numbers isn't enough to take them down. Maybe it creates illusions of itself like "double team" and so the trick is to find the right image or remove light from the room so it can't manipulate illusions.
Hey guys, great video! On the topic of guns in D&D, a huge draw back should be that they are loud. If you fire a gun in a dungeon, every monster in the dungeon is going to hear that shot. A good concept would be to increase the damage one die tier for a loud property.
Oh man, I've been waiting for this since you posted that tease this morning XD
This comes at a perfect time in my groups campaign. Thanks guys
I just made a "Arcane Thrower" class on DMsGuild a few weeks back. Its not exactly what you're looking for but it might scratch the itch.
How about a Behydra, which is a Beholder-Hydra mix. It's eyes shoot rays and each head can also attack with a bite. It's tail can trip opponents as well, along with some legendary actions.
I had a player that wanted to do a gnome in a power suit. All I did was give them a suit of +1 platemail that made him count as a medium creature. Then whatever powers they wanted were up to them... based on the class they chose. The only advantage: it was a +1 magic item and it gave him a few extra feet of movement. The disadvantage: it took up on of his attunement slots.
I love this. I don't think you can keep 40 daggers, but a thief that throws yes.
I always got the impression that a lot of older editions' added layers of danger and caution and specificity worked if you were running weekly games, where you don't mind if you're getting through a major chunk of the adventure in one sitting because you're working on this very granular level
but I find 5e works far better at letting people dive back in, make big character driven choices, and generally role-play more for not having the weight of imminent death if they don't plan every step - and if you can only meet a couple times, even once, a month? that means more actual "play" than sitting around mulling over the pros and cons of minutiae
Hey, I was the one asking about the 1v10 monster (or one of the people if there's another poor DM out there trying). I ended up going with a lot of spells/spell-like abilities that did keep it hyper-mobile, a lot of AOE type spells, room mechanics that split the party or clumped them up nicely for AOE or to break up synergy. The basic chasis was an Oni with more health, AC, and legendary actions (including spells) stapled on against a 5th level party of 10. Worked out pretty well, all said.
That Old-God talk... love it.
I'll be running a game with a couple of new players and some of my more veteran players in a couple of weeks, and one of them wants to be an Old Gods Warlock. I think I might have her always have a strange sense of direction, towards a certain spot, that is always moving. She might also feel strange impulses to leave objects pointing towards it ("you are done with your soup, and put the spoon down. The conversation carries on, and later on, as you look down, you can see the spoon points perfectly towards the "pull", as do all but one of the utensils at the table...")
The idea is that the point she is "pulled" towards is the spot on the planet that allignes with something pointing directly at the planet from the other side of the Galaxy.
What might happen, if the right items are placed in the right places, all pointing towards the same spot?
My warlocks patron doesn't even know my warlock is a thing. Ever since my warlock was a kid he just heard the voice of the GOO in his head. He was kind of born into / forced into the pact. My warlock just listened to the random stuff the GOO was saying, and thats where hes learned all his warlock-y abilities. The GOO honestly couldn't care less that someone can hear its voice, its just doing its own thing in its realm.
Malicious Hero love it. I sincerely hope your warlock is, if not completely insane, on his way there!
I played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons in high school, and I and my friend are just now getting back into the game with 5e. I have been watching all of your videos for the last two weeks trying to learn as much as you can. You guys really know your stuff and it's a pleasure watching you
Dude, cool mechanic to fit the power armor: it has it’s own high HP, but looow AC (not agile/perceptive from within such an armor) and healing the armor can only be done by repair checks, say up to (2HP+1/cl.lvl.) per hour working on it. Or something. Makes you a strong combatant when prepared, but getting beaten on is a long lasting punishment and a tough enough enemy leaves you vurnerable until you can get the time to fix it. If reduced to below 0 it’s incapacitated until repaired above 0 and exiting is an escape artist action or summat
28:15
A monster with a constant 60f stinkinking cloud effect that phases in and out of the material plane and can split the party with a successful grapple making the game take place in the material and ethereal.
I have a homebrew class that's currently on the DMSguild called the "Industrialist" and one of the subclasses is called the Enhancer, which is essentially the power suit idea you were talking about! : )
In the campaing setting of tal 'dorei at page 109 Matt Mercer create a cool feats name thrown Arms Master
-Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
-Simple and martial melee weapons without the thrown
property can be treated as if they have the thrown
property. One-handed weapons have a range of 20/60,
while two-handed weapons have a range of 15/30.
-Weapons that naturally have the thrown property
increase their range by +20/+40.
-When you miss with a thrown weapon attack using
a light weapon, the weapon immediately boomerangs
back into your grasp.
The one handed/ two handed throwning isn't really OP. You throw your greatsword you aren't exactly left which much "firepower" left unless you just carrying a bag of two handed/one handed weapons
Wait, I thought the Tal'dorei campaign setting didn't come out until August...
Pre-order started and a pre-order gets you the PDF now.
that's true of anything in the hands of an efficient Min/Maxer because Min/Maxers ruin everything. So it's sort of a silly quibble to have once that's considered.
I was just about to mention this. You beat me to it.
For the battlearmored gnome, I would re-skin The Moon druid circle, make it a Monk sub-class and give the animated armor stats to the shape shift (with a don time of 1 minute). Ki points would become Energy Surge Points. I would also make a system that allows the gnome to re-invest those points (every long rest) in upgrades (lasting until the next long rest) for bonus damages or HP.
20:50 You can have a whole campaign take place in the Yawning Portal. You can do so much with Undermountain.
Dammit, I just started watching your channel and now I have to binge watch them all. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!?
0:46 Problems with thrown-weapons support?
3:54 How would you DM for a Great Old One Patron warlock?
7:46 What do you feel are some of 5e's issues?
12:58 How does a high fantasy setting change after fire-arms are introduced?
18:16 How would you stat a gnome wearing a combat suit?
20:49 How would you run a Dragonlance campaign?
20:50 Design a campaign that takes place entirely in the same tavern.
28:11 How would you make a monster that can fight 10 people?
31:56 Lightning round. Interesting character creation combos?
best combat suit i have made was a dwarf forge cleric but 2-20 you go sunsoul monk. So you are running around in heavy armor launching lasers, but you are all dex and wis.
In the Critical Role series, Vax (half-elf rogue) uses Sharpshooter when he throws his daggers. So it an be used or modified to support throwing weapons, at if you're seeing it more as a homebrew rule.
TAVERN campaign: All PC are essentially reliving the quests that the tavern patrons have gone on. The Narrator/DM is actually the Barkeeps daughter that is entralled by adventurers and their amazing stories of glory. The jist is while she listens to the story the PC are her imaginary warriors living in Glory.
Dude great advice on GOOs. Never thought of using the universe as a giant combination lock with the idea that without intervention all those things will never happen
I loved the look of panic in Prutt's face when Jim was building up to talk about the flaws of 5e
My idea for having a "power suit", you'ld play a gnome or another smaller race, your class is Artificer/mech. Your suit would be based on a larger race and class, example bugbear barbarian. So you have two character sheets. I'd say if you're in your suit your xp goes to the suit and allows it to level up as if it's the creature you based the stats on. The upside is you're able to make it better on a regular basis, but the downside is you don't level up unless you do something to get xp outside of the suit. Seems balanced that way with a really cool roleplaying side.
Alternatively you can choose where the xp goes, either to your base character or the suit. Still balanced that way.
If you level up via milestones or something else, the player could choose to level up himself or the suit at each milestone.
Okay so during the entire tavern campaign talk, I was just shouting at the screen, "MICE! MOUSE GUARD! HONEY I STRUCK THE KIDS!!!"
Congratulations guys!
Thanks!
24:44 I love this concept and I am running with it! I'm kinda surprised they didn't say what immediately came to my mind which is, all of the players own and run the tavern and the adventures are them dealing with different patrons and emergencies
If someone's looking for inspiration for a GOO patron or an encounter involving such creatures, the movie Void is a great leaping off point. It will help you tremendously with just conveying the body horrors so often overlooked by psychological horror. High recommend movie by the way.
The biggest problem with the question of "what does a GOO patron want?" is the idea that these outer gods and lovecraftian forces even think in the same sense as we do, or that they are even consciously aware of our reality.
The Archfey will get board and start fucking with people or some intrigue in the Courts will call their attention creating demand for mortal agents.
The Fiend actively wants to gain power through the action of their warlocks, in one fashion or another.
The Great old Ones don't care, they are not human enough to even have the capacity to care.
When you guys started discussing the idea of a neutral ground tavern and all the back stabbing that could happen what if the PCs were in charge of maintain the neutrality and are attempting to stop the attempts and keep stability of regions because VIPs come to this location.
haha! awesome my favorite D&D show hits 50K subs! that's amazing guys, i don't think I've ever watched and rewatched so many videos on a channel before, you guys are just so much fun to listen to. love the consistent quality, and a segment on great old ones too, sweet! surprised you didn't mention bloodborne during it.
either way keep making great content, Jim, Pruitt and disembodied cameraman!
My Great Old One Warlock was a prehistoric elf who worshipped the gods of her time- after her god kept her preserved in amber so that he would still have one devout worshipper in the future (the present of the campaign) and continue with his power (drawn from faith), she was considered a Warlock of this “old one” instead of a cleric because no one sees her god as a god anymore. And also her magic was Warlock-like even when they considered him a god.
Re the intro discussion- Swap daggers for Discs and you’ve got the Sisters of Oriza from The Dark Tower
On the deadlines of 5th. This is coming from someone that has only ever played 5e, so I have no experience with older editions, but I've noticed when people complain about the fact that it's less deadly, it mostly comes down to the fact that they still craft encounters as if they are playing older editions, instead of making ones that work in 5e. And in my opinion, it's good. You have to be way more methodical about crafting monster encounters and traps if you want to put them in danger, and have a better understanding of what the monsters can do. Singular monsters aren't scary anymore when you meet them in level, and I like that, because honestly, this isn't WoW or something. You aren't fighting through the dungeon to fight the big boss in the last room alone all by himself, because if he's smart, he has guards, companions, and things reasonable people would have. I sometimes feel like complaint about difficulty come from people treating DnD monsters as video game monsters, instead of creatures in a world with lives.
Also, random idea for the "Gnome battlesuit": Use Golem stats, and go up from Flesh to Iron as you improve it and level.
I agree, regarding the deadliness of monsters.
On the gnome batllesuit guy, how about firmly using the moon druid structure as a base and swapping beast transformation to construct (clockwork contraptions only) "transformation".
Working out with your DM a set of construct monsters that exist as choices (it has to have a minimum size, at least one category higher than the gnome, obviously. And it doesn't appear and disappear also).
Yeah. The Golem idea I had was just the "I don't want to put alot of thought into it" idea.
+Preston Lawson While I think you're right that deadliness can depend on HOW the monsters are run, I at least personally have still had trouble making monsters and enemies challenging and dangerous. I try to run my bad guys as self-preserving and real as possible, They have guards, they have minions and allies, they have healers, everything.
But even when my spirit naga has a bunch of darkling elders with her, or the evil knight has four bugbears, it feels like the party nevertheless always manages to just focus fire the naga or the knight, and the bad guys never do enough damage fast enough to seem to matter. Then, once the main baddie's down, the fight's an anticlimactic mop up of enemies that can't meaningfully threaten the party on their own.
I concede it may well be that I am nevertheless failing to utilize these stat blocks to their fullest, but it sure seems like it's /really/ difficult to get it right.
CalvinballAKA I think that strategy/tactics have a huge role on this regard as well.
The death knight might (and should) have not only an escape plan, but a known place nearby he can retreat to. All the while draining more the PC's resources with retreating fire, back ups calling and/or traps on the way to the new location. Not to forget the use of the environment, like bottlenecks to hinder the party's attacks, the advantage of flight, fighting in places that blocks teleportation, having walls/high places to hide behind and shoot from etc.
Preston Lawson. I agree, in the game I currently play in (most characters are around 8th or 9th level) we've already had 2 permanent deaths and many of us have come very close to it. And that is with what many people would consider extremely OP characters (we're all min-maxers and our DM has been very lenient so far, sue us). Anyway, the deadliness is where you want it to be.
28:18 a mutatated roper that has absorbed many, many other ropers.
Congratulations on 50k subscribers! You guys deserve at least 10 times that.
The best highlight of my week: A new episode of Web DM :)
Would the "Meatgrinder" rules Chris Perkins used on Stream of Annihilation help scratch that deadlines itch? Bumping death save success to 15 made a huge difference in that game and had a lot of characters dropping in situations they would have survived.
whats hilarious is that daggers cant RAW have sharpshooter, but using a longbow as an improvised melee weapon can use both sharpshooter and GWM, as it still has both the ranged and two-handed properties, and sharpshooter specifies only that it must be an attack made with a weapon with the ranged property, not that the attack must be ranged
At my table, I completely threw out the death saving throws systems and replaced it with a mortal wounds system. Instead, when you get hit to zero, you remain conscious but you roll a d12. I consult a chart per the type of damage, and tell you what happens. It goes from 1 to about 30 becoming more and more deadly as it goes up. Like a said, you are still conscious and if you get hit again from any meaningful damage source (like an enemy attack or effect) you roll an additional d12. Hope that makes sense XD I find it works very well for my table, keeping the fear of death alive but also making it cinematic,
For the gnomish ironman concept, My though would be look at and convert the pathfinder summoner class. The Eidelon becomes your power armor and every so many levels you gain tech points to spend on new attachments to the armor.
In the game I was running, the player with the 5th level monk got beaten to death by 2 invisible gorillas and a Imp in a single turn. 7 attacks total, the 4th dropped him unconscious, the gorillas' last 2 got him to one death save, he was finished off by the Imp. He decided that he will no longer walk into rooms alone after that. Another time, our 3rd level Warlock got crit'd by a Triceratops and died from massive damage with a single attack. Other than those two glorious examples, I have found that player death is very rare after 2nd level.
I don't know if Jim realizes that the lack of thrown weapons options and good non-firearm ranged weapons in a pirate game might be the same problem...
Awesome episode!
I would really love to see a full video on guns like you mentioned.
I would also love to see a video about how to create and balance a world that is both sci fi and fantasy. Meaning both science and magic existing together.
Love the show guys :)
For the tavern game, I've actually been wanting to do a Rodents campaign. Translate all of the races into small rodents or animals. The tavern suddenly becomes a whole city.
that tavern thing happens in the republic of thieves by Scott Lynch
The way Jim's face lit up when he got to talk about running a Dragonlance game was amazing
At 20:50 -- he's truly delighted
my wife's Old One warlock discovered an old tome in a forgotten section of an ancient Elven library that was essentially the journal of a "mad" man who's mind had brushed the consciousness of an Old One and discovered how to siphon power from it. (the PHB says that an Old One patron may very well be entirely unaware of the mortal that has made a "pact" with it). this knowledge did eventually drive the writer of this journal mad as his mind was broken by too much exposure to the Great Old One's thoughts. so as she studies this tome (as a game mechanic "her mind opens to deeper understandings of the words within" as she levels up) she has to make Sanity Saving Throws. i have the DC match the level she just gained. that way it is steadily becoming harder for her mind to stay hinged. so her patron doesn't "want" anything from her...she just may go mad from siphoning energy from its mind for too long.
For a campaign in a 'tavern', I would try a massive interplanar las vegas style casino with different turfs and gangs meeting for trade and deals, death and intrigue not far behind. Easy to fit in pit fights, downtime/crazy games and mysteries and item bazaars and whatever else you need for a good time. Could even have a dungeon crawl a la Roy from Rick and Morty.