Thought I'd hate it. But all in all i came out of the cinema with a positive experience. The plot is kinda basic, but it captures a homebrew dnd campaign pretty well. It's a lot of fun
I love this. I especially love the “play at level 1 until it’s not fun”. Progression is secondary to a good story. Back when I was playing 1st and 2nd editions, new players would start as zero level characters, where we roleplayed short adventures around them being apprentices for organizations such as a thieves guild, a church, a fighter’s guild or for some wizard or going to an academy. The characters might end up meeting each other by having similar quests given to them and they become friends who evolve into adventurers.
Very cool! I’m sending this to my DM for a possible character in my next campaign. I do wonder if the shout could also inspire allies, as that seems pretty olympian to me, but that may be brushing too close to zealot and such.
The shout is actually pretty weak since most creatures at that level have fright immunity. It’s mostly for flavor. The heroic level effect is the +10 bonus after you roll, which is effectively a legendary resistance. Alternatively, you can use it to force grapple a powerful creature.
Critical Success Counteract the target if its counteract level is no more than 3 levels higher than your effect’s counteract level.
Success Counteract the target if its counteract level is no more than 1 level higher than your effect’s counteract level.
Failure Counteract the target if its counteract level is lower than your effect’s counteract level.
Critical Failure You fail to counteract the target.
(critical success and failures being when you roll ten or more higher or lower than the DC)
You expend a spell slot containing the same spell and roll to counter the cast spell, with varying possible degrees of success.
You can later specialize it in various interesting ways with feats, for example one that lets you spend a prepared spell from merely the same school, or with a spell that is especially thematically appropriate, or redirect the countered spell, or just eat it.
It’s a whole mechanic that you can build around, it’s exciting when it happens, you feel like you’ve earned it. It’s a reward for clever play as opposed to a button that you push.
I’ve heard of people implementing a rule where a spell being counter spelled doesn’t make them lose their turn. The person who is counter spelled loses the spell slot and the ability to cast leveled spells that turn, but doesn’t lose their action. Seems kind of a fun side step to the RAW rules.
That’s an interesting idea, and I can definitely see some groups liking that, but I don’t think it’s for my table. It would end up buffing enemies and skew balance towards casters. I do think it could be an interesting trait for a boss though, to represent especially potent spellcasting ability
This reminds me of an instance where my WM sorcerer counterspelled what I assessed to be a high-level spell, but then the bad guy counterspelled my counterspell and won. However, because we were playing with WM variant rules where the chance of it triggering are higher when higher level spells are used, a WM surge happened at that exact moment too and caused absolute mayhem.
A fun mechanic for spell casters to identify what is being used against them might be to have them automatically recognize any cantrips, or put it behind a low perception skill check, like DC 5 or 7, and increase the DC by 2 for every spell level or slot thereafter. In addition, the DC could be decreased by the highest level of spell known/available to that player.
This could be a special reaction only available to spellcasters that represents their instinctual familiarity with magic. I wouldn’t make it cost a reaction point, but I would limit its use to something like their proficiency bonus with a LR or SR recharge.
So, for instance, a BBEG casts disintegrate(lvl 5). A spell caster in the group uses this special reaction to recognize the spell, and knows one 4th level spell. DC would be DC = (5 + (2 * ESL)) - GSL, where ESL is “Evil Spell Level” and GSL is “Good Spell Level”. So being a lvl 5 spell, we would get:
DC = (5 + (2 * 5)) - 4
DC = (5 + 10) - 4
DC = 15 - 4
DC = 11
However, for that one dude in the party that took a multiclass level or two in warlock and would only know a lvl 1 spell, his DC would be 14.
Thats just my spitball answer though, but probably what I would start with.
Originally it would have come with an aluminum stylus but you could use a pen. It’s not recommended to use a pencil because of the risk of breaking off graphite inside.
I personally use an old Nintendo DSi stylus I had lying around.
Oh noes! Final proof that D&D iz da demon worships! Burn da witchez - burn dem - buuuuurrrrnnn dems!!111!!
I am old enough to remember the first time around the d&d is devil worship bouy and had this existed back then there would have been burnings at the stake…
It would have been fun to use the Crowley reading for the book of many things, but that wouldn’t be much fun from a game play mechanic.
This all turned out a bit rambly, gonna send it anyway. I hope you can get some positives out of it if you do decide to read it. The last three (real) paragraphs are more structured, so if you’re only gonna read part of it, make it that part.
I have noticed that playing on Foundry (or roll20 or any other VTT software) often leads to more video-gamey/war-gamey campaigns. VTTs assist the DM and players with a lot of the gamey aspects, but offer much less assistance, if any, for the other aspects of ttrpgs. This leads to a lot of the potential issues you described. In my experience, having virtual battle-map after battle-map (or a single large one) thrown at you leads to reduced creativity, especially in newer players who do have experience playing computer games.
It takes both time and conscious effort to realize that what’s in front of you is not the actual game being played but just a projection. This counts for both sides of the DM screen. Some people will never clear that hurdle or even realize it’s there. That is fine for some people who do love the video-gamey aspects but not for others who want the opposite, or at least more of a balance.
For example, personally I also DM a Pathfinder campaign on Foundry and I constantly have to remind some of my players that they don’t need to click on all the relevant buttons the system already has programmed in. They can just say what they’re doing and do a naked roll if finding the button takes more than a second.
In regards to your last paragraph. You did get an in-game reason from your DM, although they were a bit indirect with it. Your DM telling you you might have to roll up a new character also means your in-game reason is: “I feel like I might die if I try this.” My advice in that specific situation would be to lead by example and roleplay your character going through those thoughts/emotions. I know it can be awkward, might even get a giggle or two from the other people around if nobody else has done any roleplaying yet this session or campaign, but someone has to make the first step.
Also don’t forget that the players have a lot of power in shaping the game. You do not have to explore a huge cave. You can walk out at any time, go to a town and talk to people instead. It’s kind of a dick move though if you let your DM prepare this cave for days, letting them believe that’s what you were interested in, only to then not engage with it. Of course that requires all the players (or at least a good number of them) to be on board. To find out what you all want to get out of this game together, communication outside the game is required.
I’m gonna be devil’s advocate for the last three paragraphs of my rambling response:
Do you actually KNOW that the enemies you’re fighting are arbitrary? Do you know there is no explanation for the mimic and the gelatinous cube? No explanation for the moths and larvae? No explanation for the Morlocks? Is it possible that your characters just haven’t found those explanations? I’ve placed enemies in my games before and the players never found out WHY they were there (the characters never even bothered thinking about it in some cases) but there was always a in-universe reason. And even if your DM didn’t initially have a reason, I would assume they will be able to come up with one on the spot.
For example, Mimics are described as: “A mimic can remain in its alternate form for an extremely long period of time, sometimes remaining disguised in a dungeon chamber for decades. Regardless of how long it waits, the mimic remains vigilant and alert, ready to strike at any moment.” They do seek to ambush adventurers so hiding in a cave that would be attractive to adventurers is the #1 thing they’d do. It could’ve wandered in 10, 20, 30 years ago, biding its time. Saying something like “I investigate the area around where the mimic was, trying to find any hints whether it has moved recently” after combat could lead to you learning more context about how the mimic got there. Same with the moths and larvae, you could try finding out if they’ve been born and died in this cave? If something made them flee their previous homes (especially “easy” if you have anything to converse with animals), etc. I don’t think it’s the DMs responsibility to give you context unprompted. It’s their responsibility to give you context once you’re looking for context, and even then, you still might need to pass certain rolls to get context. In the end, most of the time, the DM shouldn’t and wouldn’t give you any info your characters wouldn’t have.
This also extends to other areas you complained about. If you want more information but your DM doesn’t immediately provide it, prod them for it through character actions. “What is this Morlock I’m fighting wearing?” “What’s the color of the stones here?” “How high is the ceiling?” “Can I hear anything at all?”
I think you’re on the right track with your Update though. Best of luck!
Don’t listen to the people saying you should just quit. Talk to people first, especially the DM. Tell them about what kind of game you’d like to play. This is something that groups should generally do before they start a campaign (in what some people call session 0), especially if they’ve never played together. It’s possible that the DM isn’t consciously designing the sessions like this and is willing to change it up. Maybe they’re even happy to get some feedback and the other players might also enjoy some more roleplay. Maybe the DM can’t see themselves running a game like that, but another player would love to.
If it becomes clear that the kind of game they want to play and the kind of game you want to play are incompatible, then it’s perfectly fine to say “this isn’t for me” and stop playing with them.
Playing in my 4e group, it’s all pen and paper and minis on a battle map that is drawn on.
I DM 5th and I use a battle map and minis, some printed mats, and a large books of battle mats (made by Loke). I also use dndbeyond to look up monster stats or quickly search rules and I play music via a Bluetooth lightbulb above our gaming table using Spotify. Finally, I use a laptop with google sheets for tracking initiative (and I kind of keep track of player HPs, AC, and spell saves) and google docs for outlining campaigns and taking notes.
My players for 5th use dndbeyond and can create characters using my resources I share and they are added to my campaign there so I can quickly review their stats/spells, etc as needed. Other players do it all pen and paper.
I made a few wooden grid boards with plexiglass tops so I can use a dry erase marker on them. I also ordered a ton of blank cards that I can use as items and status effects. Other than that players and I use pen and paper.
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