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Messages - RealMarkP

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41
Homebrew and House Rules (D&D) / Negative HP/Stabilization
« on: June 22, 2012, 10:47:43 AM »
I never really liked the idea of negative hit points. I'd like to keep 0hp as the floor, and have another mechanic for dealing with the void left by negative HP (and the resulting stabilization mechanic). I'd like to hear your ideas as well.

My Idea:
Dying (condition) - Once you hit 0hp you are knocked out and unconscious. You are considered in dire need of medical aid. Each round you take a -1 to CON of ability damage. At 0 CON, you're dead. Stabilization works the same way as hit point loss at negative hp - the character has a 10% chance to become stable. Recovering lost CON follows the rules listed under Ability Damage.

Rationalization:
If you're damaged to the point where you're bleeding out, or have broken bones, etc. a healing spell will only close your wounds and fix up bruises. Your body still needs to regenerate blood and grow new tissue. Hence the CON damage.

Quote
Ability Damage
Points lost to ability damage return at the rate of 1 point per day (or double that if the character gets complete bed rest) to each damaged ability, and the spells lesser restoration and restoration offset ability damage as well.


42
Gaming Advice / Re: Adepts - does rest matter?
« on: June 22, 2012, 08:55:48 AM »
Quote from: Kethrian on June 21, 2012, 10:35:40 PM
And for the divine casters, only if you pray for an hour at that time.
This makes sense to me. As does resting one's mind (wizard, etc) during sleep or meditating. Maybe I'm looking into it too much :).

43
Gaming Advice / Re: terms
« on: June 22, 2012, 08:51:39 AM »
What does the term 'Respect' mean under people's avatars? My profile summary doesn't explain it.

44
Gaming Advice / Re: An oily grappler
« on: June 22, 2012, 08:38:08 AM »
Quote from: SneeR on June 21, 2012, 05:36:57 PM
I'd say +10 and no penalty, but oil does tend to dry and get sticky with a coating of dirt after a while. Say it only works for maybe an hour before they need to wash it off and apply a new coating. Do they have soap?  :smirk
I'll give him the full +10, but now I'm thinking of penalizing him for being dirty. I wonder if the oil would attract bugs and wildlife when sleeping outdoors? Perhaps the dirty character would have a hard time booking a room in an Inn. So many possibilities!

45
Gaming Advice / An oily grappler
« on: June 21, 2012, 04:59:07 PM »
If a player wants to lather themselves with oil before running into a grapple, what type of bonus would you give him?

If I was to apply the same bonus as the Grease spell for grappling purposes, it seems a bit overpowered to have it on all the time??

Quote
"A creature wearing greased armor or clothing gains a +10 circumstance bonus on Escape Artist checks and on grapple checks made to resist or escape a grapple or to escape a pin."

46
Gaming Advice / Re: Adepts - does rest matter?
« on: June 21, 2012, 03:51:24 PM »
Quote from: SneeR on June 21, 2012, 12:41:56 PM
Downside is that your loadout must last you for a full 24 hours.

I may be a stickler for these things, but doesn't it seem silly that exactly at 12:00.00am all your spells become recharged? I can faintly hear a oven timer going off and the adept is ready for blasting.

47
Gaming Advice / A combat flow chart
« on: June 21, 2012, 02:24:58 PM »
With newbies, I'd like a quick and easy way to educate them on how combat works. Something like:

I want to attack:
- Is it a melee attack?
--- Yes, roll this, add that, do this.
- Is it a ranged attac?
--- Yes, roll this, add that, etc.
- Is it a spell?
-- Do this, roll that.

I want to defend:
- Look up this number, add that, roll this... etc


And so on.

has anyone create a flow chart of something like this?? Google images yielded nothing. My googlefu is weak today.

48
General D&D Discussion / Re: Your "table chatter" tolerance
« on: June 21, 2012, 02:17:02 PM »
Alcohol definitely promotes the Beer and Pretzels group type. People get quite chatty.

The last campaign I DMed, most of the guys were the B&P type and one guy was more into the game. I could see tension building. It's the DM's role to pick up on this and try to bring some balance to the group. Else you'll piss people off and your campaign might fall apart. Luckily, in my circumstance, I was able to bring some order to the table (reluctantly, since I'm a B&P type of person too).

I would caution against breaking the 4th wall and using the game a disciplinary measure. As an experiment to bring order to my games, I told the chattiest of players that they seemed a bit distracted in this fight and didn't notice the rogue sneak up behind them. A sneak attack later, he was less chatty and I was labeled a dick.

Also, picking up people's pizza-greasy dice is rather nasty.

49
Gaming Advice / Re: Adventure suggestion for newbie players
« on: June 21, 2012, 10:29:32 AM »
Quote from: Azremodehar on June 20, 2012, 04:59:18 PM
Actually - can't believe I didn't think to ask this to begin with - you said they're new to D&D, but are they new to tabletop gaming?

And on a related topic, do you know what classes they're interested in playing? Because that would give you some idea of tailoring a campaign to the abilities of a given class.
They're not strangers to video game RPGs, such as Neverwinter nights, Skyrim, Diablo, WoW, etc. They know that many of the mechanics that the computer calculates for you are done via dice and brain power. But, they are new to tabletop gaming and role playing in general. I'm also following another thread about encouraging role playing (my friends are math and computer science nerds).

I gave them an option of trying a short adventure first, like the Sunless Citadel which was mentioned above, or starting into a grand campaign. They voted for the campaign. This gives me a bit more flexibility in tailoring a tutorial session.

Quote from: kurashu on June 20, 2012, 10:47:30 PM
Showing them the ropes of grapple, flank, trip, et cetera is a matter of putting them in those situations.
I had an idea this morning on my commute. If I was to give the group an NPC, who claims to be "an expert tactician from the grand army", I could use him as a in-game commentary on tactics. After each battle, he can approach each character and teach them about flanking, grappling, tripping or full withdraw. As an example, he could say:

"I saw that both of you were having trouble with that one Orc. May I offer a suggestion? If one of you would flank him from behind, he would have a hard time countering your attacks."

I can easily get rid of the NPC once the party gets a hang of combat. The flip side of the coin, the non-combat (socializing, persuasion, skill usage) portion to D&D, might be hard to guide. I could use the NPC to teach the group but at the same time they might become reliant on him.

50
Gaming Advice / Re: Encouraging Roleplaying (as DM)
« on: June 20, 2012, 01:26:09 PM »
There is a good article here and here. I've run into problems where my players were not motivated enough to role play and it felt as if they were going through the actions of D&D instead of enjoying the game. My solution was to ask for a character background, their motivations, and life aspirations. I would sprinkle the life aspirations into the story so that they would feel as if they are accomplishing something.

Players, when they design a character, want they to be something. You, as the DM, should facilitate that without breaking your campaign (as in, they get too OP) and without alienating the other players. If a character wants to be a blacksmith, allow him to make items for the entire group. Make certain items hard to come by, forcing him to craft things.

I would avoid personalized quests for characters because they tend to be hard to fit into a campaign. It is also favoritism if done within the larger group.

EDIT: One more thing I like to add is that during a social encounter, one that involves roll playing, pick a handful of skills (randomly) and see how you can fit them into a conversation. As an example, a greedy merchant is closing up show for the day but the players want to buy/sell. He is frustrated and denies their request... unless they amuse him. "Do a backflip" he says or "Kick your friend in the groin". Soon, you have something to talk about. Another thing that I found fun was to employ racism/sexism into the game. Make the merchants as sexist or as racist as possible. The watch your players react.

EDIT 2: Have your players pick flaws or Traits that changes their behavior. Being lecherous was always the most amusing flaw.

51
Gaming Advice / Re: Adventure suggestion for newbie players
« on: June 20, 2012, 12:46:13 PM »
Quote from: Eagle of Fire on June 20, 2012, 12:08:45 AM
This thing is, are you new to D&D?
I've DM'd quite a bit, but mainly with experienced players. Luckily, the newbies are gun-ho about D&D and are reading into the rules and lore. What I specifically wanted to do was to run a quick adventure that gave them experience with the trickier sides of D&D, such as grappling, certain skill checks, and so on.

Quote from: Azremodehar on June 19, 2012, 07:51:18 PM
As for level, start them at first level.
I was actually thinking of starting them off around level 3-4. That opens up their characters to a plethora of wonderful abilities, spells, and skills. The down side is obvious - they are getting a large amount of data/new concepts thrown at them.

52
Gaming Advice / Adventure suggestion for newbie players
« on: June 19, 2012, 04:48:10 PM »
Soon I will be DMing a bunch of newbies to d20. I'm looking for a 2-4 session adventure (~10-14hrs) that could I could run that will showcase most aspects of D&D. What would you recommend? What level would you start the players off as?

53
General D&D Discussion / Re: Applying conditions when sustaining massive damage
« on: June 19, 2012, 10:02:23 AM »
Quote from: RobbyPants on June 19, 2012, 08:23:21 AM
Are you going to apply it to monsters as well? It seems like a pain to keep track of, but it wouldn't be fair if you didn't.
Yes, I will be. I'm using a software program I wrote to keep track of these things, so managing it is not that big of an issue. It may become tedious for the PCs to maintain counters on all the conditions that they sustained. At higher levels, some of these conditions are seldom used because many characters are immune to them (or can be).

Quote from: RobbyPants on June 19, 2012, 08:23:21 AM
Just realize that the end result of this is that it will raise the difficulty of the game on the players, sort of like how crits favor monsters. Also, it gives them incentives to stock up on wands of Cure Light Wounds to stay at full HP between fights, and you might find them reluctant to press on if they're below 75% health.
These conditions would only be applied if a single blow does >25% or >50% in one single attack. They won't be applied when the character is below 75% or 50% life. What I want to avoid is a PC getting hit by a flying boulder, sustaining 99% damage, then getting up and charging back without hindrance.

Quote from: Unbeliever on June 19, 2012, 08:56:33 AM
And, not to knock on the idea further, I think it's weird that it favors guys with one single big attack (e.g., Shocktrooper charging builds), but does nothing for someone doing a ton of damage over multiple attacks (e.g., Rogues, Swift Hunters). 
I forgot to mention that I will be using the 'Armor as Damage Reduction' variation, which will lessen the impact of a single blow. But I see your point. I was thinking of extending this to the amount of damage sustained within a single round, rather than a single blow. Thoughts on this?

Quote from: Unbeliever on June 19, 2012, 08:56:33 AM
If I were going to do something like this, I'd probably just introduce a couple of conditions based on having low hit points.  Something like "bloodied" at half hit points that inflicts some penalty and "wounded" at a quarter that enhances that penalty.
This is not a bad idea. If there are more ideas like this, keep them coming :).

54
General D&D Discussion / Applying conditions when sustaining massive damage
« on: June 18, 2012, 04:53:27 PM »
I'm thinking of employing a massive damage rule in my 3.5 game. If a character sustains 25% or more damage in one blow, they are subject to a minor condition (ie. Shaken, Flat-footed, knocked prone, stunned). If they sustain 50% or more damage, they are subject to a "major" condition (ie. Exhausted, Staggered, Unconsciousness, Death).

Has anyone tried something like this? Is it too much to ask for?

EDIT: I should have mentioned that I'll be running this campaign with the Armor as Damage Reduction variation. This should lower the amount of damage taken by the PCs so that this massive damage rule is less likely to apply.

55
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Alternative to item weight in Inventory
« on: June 14, 2012, 02:39:48 PM »
Quote from: Unbeliever on June 14, 2012, 11:20:22 AM
No.  Most awesome heroic spellcasters in literature do not haul around shops full of bat guano and tiny scraps of tin.  It's not cool and creates bookkeeping, therefore we ignore it. 
It feels as if the material components were a bit of a joke to begin with, back when D&D was full of micro-management and bookkeeping. It still is, to a degree (ie. Sesame seeds for the Passwall spell).

In the last game I DMed, players had the option of buying a magical component belt or a harness with pockets, which would generate common materials for spells from Core books (similar to Eschew Materials, but for a specific level). A belt covered one specific level and drawing from the belt was a free action. Exotic spell components were enforced (anything non core) but could be added to the belt in some fashion. Given the fact that you can only wear one belt, it became easier for the caster to swap belts mid-fight (ie. free action to unclip and drop the belt, move action to put on). A minor inconvenience which the players didn't mind.

56
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Alternative to item weight in Inventory
« on: June 14, 2012, 11:06:18 AM »
Cool, I'll probably ignore it or maybe put a cap on how many "big" items you can carry.

Another, similar question: Do you enforce material components for casting spells? I enforce divine focus only, but don't really care about any material component.

57
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Alternative to item weight in Inventory
« on: June 13, 2012, 01:25:24 PM »
As a player, this was the general consensus and we all ignored it. I didn't realize how much this impacted the game when, as a squishy wizard, I was carrying around massive tomes, armor, swords, etc. I managed to exploit it purely by accident.

Maybe, as a simple rule, say that you're allowed to carry X heavy items, where X is your strength (or mod?).

I'd like to keep a cap on the amount of crap you can carry. An alternative, as a DM, is to issue portable holes for everyone at the start of the campaign. Seems a bit much, IMO.

58
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Alternative to item weight in Inventory
« on: June 13, 2012, 11:21:24 AM »
The one aspect of D&D that gets overlooked is the weight of items and resulting encumbrance. As a DM, I sometimes forget to say the weight of an item and as a player, I sometimes forget to write down weights. So, Is there a better way of doing this, one that does not require reliance on weight (lbs)?

One concept that I'm trying to mull over is using weight categories: none, light, medium, heavy, etc. A character can carry X number of light items, Y number of heavy, etc.

59
Gaming Advice / Re: Enticing first session for Newbies
« on: April 08, 2012, 07:41:33 PM »
Quote from: weenog on April 08, 2012, 07:01:11 PM
If anyone gets fed up waiting for 10-20 minute rounds to pass, they're less likely to stick around to see what else the game has to offer.

This is true. And I've yet to devise a streamlined system to help with the learning curve. In previous campaigns with a new player, I have the experience of the other players to lean on. The group ends up helping the weakest link.

In this case, the encounter depends on them failing so that their stuff is stolen and them being knocked out. I could make the encounter overpowered, which will give them a taste of combat but not enough to drag it on for several hours. Railroading the players on their first encounter comes with its own set of problems. :(.

Maybe this encounter idea wasn't the greatest. Or am I over thinking this?

60
Gaming Advice / Re: Enticing first session for Newbies
« on: April 08, 2012, 06:54:11 PM »
Quote from: bihlbo
Each player makes character backgrounds and identities. I build the character sheets, and each character is a level 1 NPC class. [...] Then picks class.
I have thought about this, but for a campaign that never took off (due to real life issues). We had two sessions, where the players stared off as NPCs, with NPC jobs and skills. It worked quite well and I highly recommend trying this for those that are reading this thread. However, for newbies, it might be hard to swallow. They want to be a super hero right from the get go and starting off as a boring commoner might dampen their fun.

Quote from: SneeR
ALSO: MAKE SURE THERE IS AN INCITING INCIDENT!
What I mean is, have some incident that ensure the characters want to do something together as a group OTHER THAN the fact that they are all PCs and should work together.
I read a post on the BG boards a while ago, where one DM started the campaign off with an encounter. No words were exchanged, just dice rolls. The RPing came afterwards. I'm thinking of following this set up, but with a slight alteration.

I will start with an encounter, where the players are part of a caravan heading from Town A to town B. Before the combat starts, the players will stand up and (in character) say who they are, why their there, and what will they be doing once the caravan has arrived at its destination. By doing so, it will be assumed that during the day(s) of travel prior to the encounter, the passengers of this caravan exchanged pleasantries and got to know one another. Then the encounter will start. Bandits will raid and kill people, leaving only the players to survive and possibly retrieve their belongings. There is nothing stopping them from parting ways afterwards, so it is up to me to shove them into an unknown place where they need to rely on each other for support. Having a noble pay for their training was mentioned and that is a very good idea.

For those of you who have played with inexperienced players, do you think that diving knee-deep into an encounter is the best course of action?

EDIT: I stumbled into this plot hook which I'm thinking of using in conjunction with the Caravan idea. Once the tomb has been plundered by the PCs, they might get picked up by the authorities and thrown in jail together - again, to foster group cohesion.

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