Anyone have tips on homebrewing guns into D&D 3.5 and actually making them somewhat viable in the end game? Played in a few games where guns exist but are rarely (or never) used by the players as the already existing weapons in the PHB are far better.
Port the guns, Gunslinger, and gun rules from 1st ed Pathfinder. Back on the topic of monks, one of the players in my 3.5 group played monk after I told him that monks suck severe ass. Recently, he came to me and admitted that monks do indeed suck ass and he's overhauling his character to a better class. Honestly, it's a good idea since we have a cleric, a warblade, and a barbarian. In other news, I've been juggling around my 3.5/PF1 PDFs and I really want to try out a Half-Nymph Elf Bladebound Magus. So much flavor potential and if the campaign goes into epic levels, I really want to slap Warlock on it for more flavor.
The D20 Star Wars stuff basically sucks. In the older pre-Saga version, using the force damages Jedi, you burn the HP-analogue in the game for force powers. And the force powers were all feat trees, shitty feat trees, think 3E D&D fighter feats bad. Saga was a proto-4E in that they gave each class a list of 'powers', but the bulk of those maneuvers were lackluster and seldom had a compelling reason for use over standard attack stuff.
The only moder SW RPG that's been any good is Fantasy Flight's, and they just fired their whole RPG department, so that's probably ominous.
The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms builds on the core mechanics of Modiphius’ Fallout: Wasteland Warfare game system, but has been rewritten and reworked by designer Mark Latham ( The...
www.modiphius.com
Anyone know if Modiphius has a parent company? They get a lot of major IP's.
TELL THEM THEY CAN'T JUST PICK WHATEVER FUCKING SPELLS THEY WANT OFF OF THE PFSRD! Limit it to Core Rulebook Only. For fuck's sake, learn the phrase: "No, you can't have that fucking spell. Eat a dick."
If you want to be even colder, port over the 1E AD&D "Max Spells in Spellbook by Intelligence" from 1E, only cross out the "Unlimited" for a 19 Int and keep moving it up.
Make the fucking spellbook use up pages. (1 page per spell level and a seperate version of the spell for feat adjusted versions) Make them tote around the spellbook.
Make them rely on spell components.
If they're a sorcerer or whatever gay ass "I don't have to memorize spells or have a spellbook, tee hee" bullshit they yank out, then YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DETERMINES WHETHER OR NOT THEY CAN ACCESS A SPELL! Stop being a fucking doormat and control your fucking game.
For Divine Casters?
Well, feel free to fuck them straight in the ass with Divine Portfolios and then dividing up the spells by Domain. Insist on Primary and Secondary Domain adherence. (Primary Domain a divine caster can access [eventually] up to 9th level spells, Secondary Domain they can go as high as 5th. Spells outside the Domain as high as 3rd level. Opposition Domains to the Primary CANNOT BE CAST)
And, well, they get their spells from a God. That God can look down and go "Um, no, I'm not going to let you blade barrier a bunch of my nuns and orphans who worship me. As a matter of fact... BURN!"
I mean, if you're that worried about the casters fucking up the game to the point of "Mister Magic and those other worthless assholes tagging along behind him" then take control of that shit.
Plain and simple.
Oh, and remember: Players are a dime a dozen, good players are harder to fine, but DM's who can keep together a story, run a world, and hold a group together are a lot rarer.
Well, my Pathfinder 1E group made it to the city where they can salvage a "para-elemental steam core" from the ruins. They had to cross ice with freezing weather. One of the Gods of Winter/Cold/Ice died up there, so the weather is Cask of Winters terrible. Snowflakes laden with arcane energy (light blue flakes that glow like fireflies), necromatic energy (purple flakes), negative plane energy (black flakes), positive energy flakes (gold flakes), and other hazards. Remorhaz, undead ice giants, clockwork creatures, on and on. They had to go with standard "furs and wishes", the druid managing to whip up a cream out of Remorhaz blood to help combat the cold without attracting abnormal snow.
Along the way they found a trail up a hill to a stone building with a large metal tube sticking out. They followed the trail up and found a small building set into the stone of the building. The building was stone with a faded illegible mural on it. Inside was shelves full of strange oddities and behind a counter was a figure in a cloak with a metal mask. It chattered at them in an unknown language, pointing at the shelves.
It was at this point the players realized: It was a tourist souvenir shop.
They used the old coins they'd found on undead to buy gloves, scarves, hats, and a few fun items (like snowglobes and lanterns and spyglasses) as well as goggles. The rogue used her shadow-elemental companion to help conceal her, snuck over the counter, through the door with strange runes on it (Players figure it said "EMPLOYEES ONLY") and found a safe. Two nat-20's and a 19 got the safe open, where there were trays of coins. She stole those, closed the safe, and managed to sneak back out to the party.
Up at the top, the players realized it was an observatory still staffed by clockwork servants that would stand in a coffin-like rewinder powered by small steam cores, so they stole some of the cores (go go rogue powers), and went out to the observation deck.
Where they saw a gondola systems that just needed power. Remembering the broken down magical carriages and chariots (and ignoring the 2 crystalline pink clouds chained to the railing after the Ranger practically threw himself off the cliff messing with it) they manged to salvage 2 steam cores from the chariots (only exploding 2 bronze horses) which they used to fire up the gondola system and ride that the last 15 miles instead of taking 3 days to hike the distance.
That's where we stopped.
For fun I was using the old Gamma World 1E Artifact table for them trying to get this ancient gearmancy stuff to work. I got the idea to have the ice-bound civilization to be roughly 1800's steampunk tech when, back when the game first started, one of the viewers was wondering if the party was robbing the ruins of a post-apocalyptic IKEA store. One of the jokes during the 10 minute break was now they were worried about running into a clockwork "Fisto" while exploring the ruins of the city.
So far it's working good. The players realized that only about 30 feet of tower until the clock face is above the ice, there's only about 20 feet of spire above the gondola platform, which means the entire city is buried under the ice.
They have to get down to where they can get the steam core so they can find something referred to as "LMS-338" in order to find the Anvil of Hate so they have weapons that will enable them to take on Those Who Dwell Below so they can restore or free the God of Earth and Sky before the sun goes out.
TELL THEM THEY CAN'T JUST PICK WHATEVER FUCKING SPELLS THEY WANT OFF OF THE PFSRD! Limit it to Core Rulebook Only. For fuck's sake, learn the phrase: "No, you can't have that fucking spell. Eat a dick."
If you want to be even colder, port over the 1E AD&D "Max Spells in Spellbook by Intelligence" from 1E, only cross out the "Unlimited" for a 19 Int and keep moving it up.
Make the fucking spellbook use up pages. (1 page per spell level and a seperate version of the spell for feat adjusted versions) Make them tote around the spellbook.
Make them rely on spell components.
If they're a sorcerer or whatever gay ass "I don't have to memorize spells or have a spellbook, tee hee" bullshit they yank out, then YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DETERMINES WHETHER OR NOT THEY CAN ACCESS A SPELL! Stop being a fucking doormat and control your fucking game.
For Divine Casters?
Well, feel free to fuck them straight in the ass with Divine Portfolios and then dividing up the spells by Domain. Insist on Primary and Secondary Domain adherence. (Primary Domain a divine caster can access [eventually] up to 9th level spells, Secondary Domain they can go as high as 5th. Spells outside the Domain as high as 3rd level. Opposition Domains to the Primary CANNOT BE CAST)
And, well, they get their spells from a God. That God can look down and go "Um, no, I'm not going to let you blade barrier a bunch of my nuns and orphans who worship me. As a matter of fact... BURN!"
I mean, if you're that worried about the casters fucking up the game to the point of "Mister Magic and those other worthless assholes tagging along behind him" then take control of that shit.
Plain and simple.
Oh, and remember: Players are a dime a dozen, good players are harder to fine, but DM's who can keep together a story, run a world, and hold a group together are a lot rarer.
Well, my Pathfinder 1E group made it to the city where they can salvage a "para-elemental steam core" from the ruins. They had to cross ice with freezing weather. One of the Gods of Winter/Cold/Ice died up there, so the weather is Cask of Winters terrible. Snowflakes laden with arcane energy (light blue flakes that glow like fireflies), necromatic energy (purple flakes), negative plane energy (black flakes), positive energy flakes (gold flakes), and other hazards. Remorhaz, undead ice giants, clockwork creatures, on and on. They had to go with standard "furs and wishes", the druid managing to whip up a cream out of Remorhaz blood to help combat the cold without attracting abnormal snow.
Along the way they found a trail up a hill to a stone building with a large metal tube sticking out. They followed the trail up and found a small building set into the stone of the building. The building was stone with a faded illegible mural on it. Inside was shelves full of strange oddities and behind a counter was a figure in a cloak with a metal mask. It chattered at them in an unknown language, pointing at the shelves.
It was at this point the players realized: It was a tourist souvenir shop.
They used the old coins they'd found on undead to buy gloves, scarves, hats, and a few fun items (like snowglobes and lanterns and spyglasses) as well as goggles. The rogue used her shadow-elemental companion to help conceal her, snuck over the counter, through the door with strange runes on it (Players figure it said "EMPLOYEES ONLY") and found a safe. Two nat-20's and a 19 got the safe open, where there were trays of coins. She stole those, closed the safe, and managed to sneak back out to the party.
Up at the top, the players realized it was an observatory still staffed by clockwork servants that would stand in a coffin-like rewinder powered by small steam cores, so they stole some of the cores (go go rogue powers), and went out to the observation deck.
Where they saw a gondola systems that just needed power. Remembering the broken down magical carriages and chariots (and ignoring the 2 crystalline pink clouds chained to the railing after the Ranger practically threw himself off the cliff messing with it) they manged to salvage 2 steam cores from the chariots (only exploding 2 bronze horses) which they used to fire up the gondola system and ride that the last 15 miles instead of taking 3 days to hike the distance.
That's where we stopped.
For fun I was using the old Gamma World 1E Artifact table for them trying to get this ancient gearmancy stuff to work. I got the idea to have the ice-bound civilization to be roughly 1800's steampunk tech when, back when the game first started, one of the viewers was wondering if the party was robbing the ruins of a post-apocalyptic IKEA store. One of the jokes during the 10 minute break was now they were worried about running into a clockwork "Fisto" while exploring the ruins of the city.
So far it's working good. The players realized that only about 30 feet of tower until the clock face is above the ice, there's only about 20 feet of spire above the gondola platform, which means the entire city is buried under the ice.
They have to get down to where they can get the steam core so they can find something referred to as "LMS-338" in order to find the Anvil of Hate so they have weapons that will enable them to take on Those Who Dwell Below so they can restore or free the God of Earth and Sky before the sun goes out.
A-fucking-men! Dude, thank you for being the one to say it. Everyone slams 3.5 for how awful it is to martial classes and the spell slingers rule the roost. There is a clear bias, you'd have to be blind not to see it, but it's not the broken mess of an edition people make it out to be. You have a mature DM who knows how to run a fun, but fair game, and a group of players who are actually respectful and not a bunch of howling autistic faggots deliberately setting out to break the game, you won't have any problems.
Well, I flat out stole the ice-crawlers from Frostpunk along with some stuff from various Steampunk comics and the like for tomorrow's game. Like I've mentioned before, we're playing Pathfinder with a couple of homebrew rules (Move INTO a threatened square causes an attack of opportunity if the character has Combat Reflexes, which works out for the PC's more is just one) to tailor it to the campaign setting.
The city they are at the street level is 200 feet down. 200 feet of ice locking the city in. Which means they'll have to travel from building to building via the old skywalks and the like and through tunnels dug by the degenerate spawn of ancient suvivors from 400 years ago. The interiors of the buildings will be largely ruined, with unstable floors and the like. I downloaded the Starfinder race codexes to use "mutants" (ala Gamma World) to populate the city with. The players have already found strange magic items (flying chariots pulled by bronze clockwork pegasai, glittering crystal clouds that you can recline in and steer, none of wich they've gotten to work) so they're down with the whole thing.
Kind of looking forward to this weekend and them working to get down to the level where the old Ice Leviathans were built so they can get a para-elemental steam core. Once they do that, they have to go to the wreck of the LMS-338 (Laternius Mechanical Ship-33, put in the para-elemental steam core into the secondary engine in order to power the Ice Leviathan enough that the party can open doors and don't freeze to death in -175F temps. Once they get that, they have to access the Anvil of Hate in the hold.
There it's guarded by an angel who's less than thrilled to see mortals. Now, the thing is, they're working for a Lord of Hell (LE: "I CAN'T DO MY JOB! HOW CAN I PURIFY THIS SERIAL KILLER'S SOUL IN TIME FOR HIM TO GREET HIS GRANDMOTHER IF I CAN'T PURIFY HIS SOUL!") who is suffering severe dissonance because he can't do his job and Hell is frozen over. By the setting's lore he's a former angel who waded too deep into the darkness to fight Those Who Dwell Below and was warped and twisted, but he still follows the tenets laid down in pre-history. It's kind of funny, since the Hell Lord doesn't move through time the same as they do. It was explained as: "This soul right here, this woman who tortured and murdered children and infants while pretending to be a caring person shall be tormented for a 1001 years. But she must be purified so that she can meet her mother who went to heaven while she was a teenager. Time is important like that!" so the players get it that Hell's time is subjective so the Hell Lord might not be available to help them out and all that good stuff.
Which means, I decided to go "Prophecy" series (Christopher Walken Prophecy) and "Legion" route with the angels and demons. The Arch-Angel and the Hell Lord will largely offset each other, with the PC's being able to jump in and lend a hand during the fight. The Arch-Angel will use his major attacks on the Hell Lord, so the PC's will have to watch out for secondary attacks and summons adds. This is a Mythic Challenge so it's supposed to be dangerous and threaten a near wipe.
I keep forgetting to reveal that we did Night Horrors, so for those who haven't seen it, here you go:
Also, will admit I finally got motivated again to do another book in that class analysis thread I started; I finished the base classes for it, just have the PrCs left to go.
Does anyone else write notes or journals in-game about what's going on in the story or is it just me? Sometimes I feel like one of the NPCs in a Bethesda game. I do it even when I'm not DMing, writing things from my character's perspective to give the other players something interesting in the event my character dies or goes missing. I feel like it really does a lot to help me understand my character and step into their shoes.
Sorry in advance if these notes aren't particularly interesting or something. I just figured I'd put them somewhere since no one else will ever see them.
These notes in particular where written during the last campaign I played in wherein I was a 600 or so year old Eladrin soldier who was a famous bowman and war hero. The notes I made mostly pertain to her early thoughts on her new allies and whether or not they can be trusted, though I had other notes at some point.
Reliable. He may be an idiot but he's strong and resilient. More
specifically his ability to endure punishment and his sheer size
make him a durable and easy target. A suitable distraction to say
the least, he provides the window I need to rain hell down upon our
enemies. However, he doesn't trust me and I don't think I can trust him
considering his oafish sense of morality. Should we come to blows I doubt
he would be a threat in either close or ranged combat. As far as escorts
go we could be doing a lot worse.
Though he's easily the biggest threat of the group his greatest shortcoming is
ironically his incredible aptitude for close combat. Using my teleportation magic
in tandum with a bit of quick footwork I can exploit this weakness. I doubt he
currently has any means by which to close a ninety foot gap and so he'll be
forced to rely on his shotty bowmanship if he hopes to defeat me.
There are perhaps a few very specific circumstances whereupon he would have me at
a disadvantage, at least one of which I now have a contengecy for. The first of
which being a scenario wherein we find ourselves in a small sealed room. Though I
hate to admit it I have no solution for this hypothetical dilema as of yet. The
second scenario however now has a solution. With the addition of Tracer Arrows
to my ever expanding arsenal I now have a means by which to manage his knack
for vanishing. I doubt it's a perfect or permanant solution but so long as I can
put distance between us it will do the trick long enough for me to pick him off
with explosive arrows.
Amusing and innocent. Another civilian, this one some manner of local
celebrity though apparently her grasp of bardic magecraft while somewhat
lacking is certainly nothing to scoff at. She's a bit of a hopeless ditz
but she has a sickeningly infectious charm not unlike a sort of magnetism.
She's proven herself to be incredibly useful as a diplomat. I can certainly
see why she was chosen to join our effort.
I'm not actually sure how I'd deal with her in a combat scenario as of yet.
Honestly, I have to admit that I really haven't kept a close eye on her combat
capabilities. I can however safely say that I know enough to surmise that she's
certainly no Thagen on the battlefield and yet some of her spells still give me
pause. Shatter is easily her most powerful spell so far as I'm aware and I'm
guessing if I can survive that at least once or twice I'll have her down by way
of explosive arrows. I don't want to take a chance on this one especially
considering I don't know what sort of range she's working with.
Ultimately harmless. As far as I can tell he's just a civilian in over
his head. I can't imagine why someone like him would have been chosen
for a job like this so I'll have to assume there's something more to
his skill set that I've yet to see. He seems to be as danger prone as he
is lucky, a frightening combination to be sure. Still he's seems more
sensible than the giant-kin at least so that's something, and he's
funny. Mostly though he's just a dork, but I can trust him.
Thus far I don't require any contengecies to deal with Suiadon, after all he
can't beat Lyra much less myself or Thagen. He poses no threat whatsoever.
Does anyone else write notes or journals in-game about what's going on in the story or is it just me? Sometimes I feel like one of the NPCs in a Bethesda game. I do it even when I'm not DMing, writing things from my character's perspective to give the other players something interesting in the event my character dies or goes missing. I feel like it really does a lot to help me understand my character and step into their shoes.
Sorry in advance if these notes aren't particularly interesting or something. I just figured I'd put them somewhere since no one else will ever see them.
These notes in particular where written during the last campaign I played in wherein I was a 600 or so year old Eladrin soldier who was a famous bowman and war hero. The notes I made mostly pertain to her early thoughts on her new allies and whether or not they can be trusted, though I had other notes at some point.
Reliable. He may be an idiot but he's strong and resilient. More
specifically his ability to endure punishment and his sheer size
make him a durable and easy target. A suitable distraction to say
the least, he provides the window I need to rain hell down upon our
enemies. However, he doesn't trust me and I don't think I can trust him
considering his oafish sense of morality. Should we come to blows I doubt
he would be a threat in either close or ranged combat. As far as escorts
go we could be doing a lot worse.
Though he's easily the biggest threat of the group his greatest shortcoming is
ironically his incredible aptitude for close combat. Using my teleportation magic
in tandum with a bit of quick footwork I can exploit this weakness. I doubt he
currently has any means by which to close a ninety foot gap and so he'll be
forced to rely on his shotty bowmanship if he hopes to defeat me.
There are perhaps a few very specific circumstances whereupon he would have me at
a disadvantage, at least one of which I now have a contengecy for. The first of
which being a scenario wherein we find ourselves in a small sealed room. Though I
hate to admit it I have no solution for this hypothetical dilema as of yet. The
second scenario however now has a solution. With the addition of Tracer Arrows
to my ever expanding arsenal I now have a means by which to manage his knack
for vanishing. I doubt it's a perfect or permanant solution but so long as I can
put distance between us it will do the trick long enough for me to pick him off
with explosive arrows.
Amusing and innocent. Another civilian, this one some manner of local
celebrity though apparently her grasp of bardic magecraft while somewhat
lacking is certainly nothing to scoff at. She's a bit of a hopeless ditz
but she has a sickeningly infectious charm not unlike a sort of magnetism.
She's proven herself to be incredibly useful as a diplomat. I can certainly
see why she was chosen to join our effort.
I'm not actually sure how I'd deal with her in a combat scenario as of yet.
Honestly, I have to admit that I really haven't kept a close eye on her combat
capabilities. I can however safely say that I know enough to surmise that she's
certainly no Thagen on the battlefield and yet some of her spells still give me
pause. Shatter is easily her most powerful spell so far as I'm aware and I'm
guessing if I can survive that at least once or twice I'll have her down by way
of explosive arrows. I don't want to take a chance on this one especially
considering I don't know what sort of range she's working with.
Ultimately harmless. As far as I can tell he's just a civilian in over
his head. I can't imagine why someone like him would have been chosen
for a job like this so I'll have to assume there's something more to
his skill set that I've yet to see. He seems to be as danger prone as he
is lucky, a frightening combination to be sure. Still he's seems more
sensible than the giant-kin at least so that's something, and he's
funny. Mostly though he's just a dork, but I can trust him.
Thus far I don't require any contengecies to deal with Suiadon, after all he
can't beat Lyra much less myself or Thagen. He poses no threat whatsoever.
This is why WorldAnvil exists, go sign up for that platform and organize your world properly. I did and it's made my life, my players engagement, and new people who join so much better with information at your finger tips.
Does anyone else write notes or journals in-game about what's going on in the story or is it just me? Sometimes I feel like one of the NPCs in a Bethesda game. I do it even when I'm not DMing, writing things from my character's perspective to give the other players something interesting in the event my character dies or goes missing. I feel like it really does a lot to help me understand my character and step into their shoes.
I take notes on characters when I play just because I have issues with short-term memory and can't for the life of me remember the name of that important NPC the party met a few minutes ago.
At the beginning where he show the fascism section in play reminds me of PSAs messages shown in 80s-early 90s cartoons only more preaching and outright insane this time.
New store opened this year. Seems to be mostly for CCG's sadly. Only place now for Yugioh Tournaments after the game died out five years ago or so. Those wont last, the number of remaining players can be counted on both hands. Seems to be a good place for trying out new MtG formats though. Place is large enough for role playing and they have a small selection of D&D books so hopefully they'll branch off from card games. There's enough places to play MtG (like 10).
Only issue I see about it is that it's a terrible location. You'll need to drive there or be willing to walk a few blocks from the nearest bus stop through a bad neighbourhood. They're also close to a better store that offers more products.
I have a copy of V5 Chicago by Night and I just had to jump to the character section when I got it.
The Good...
-The layout is nice (and I like most of the character portraits).
-It's fun to see the characters I remember from the previous editions again. So far, I'm in the Nosferatu section. I think Kevin Jackson is a good choice for the new Prince.
The Bad...
-Limiting the ancient/low generation's stats was a stupid idea. It makes them feel weak and too easy to take out.
-So far there are two SJ-style characters as in "they" pronoun users who one is a "queer, non-binary transgender" and the other one I think is just plain non-binary. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the trans Toreador character or the drag queen Caitif, because their pasts make sense for who they are. (Heck, I even made a trans Vampire in one of my books.)
I don't mind Sascha Vykos having those pronouns since they can change gender and form at will and their mind has evolved beyond human understanding. It just feels like SJW pandering when it comes to others.
It also makes me wonder if these types of folks even play games like this, because it seems like every time we try to appeal to them, it fails. (See Marvel comics, fem-GhostBusters, etc.) Or maybe it's just my own prejudices and the fact that social justice has soured my feeling about these alternative gender people that make gender a confusing, pretentious clusterfuck.
It also makes me wonder if these types of folks even play games like this, because it seems like every time we try to appeal to them, it fails. (See Marvel comics, fem-GhostBusters, etc.) Or maybe it's just my own prejudices and the fact that social justice has soured my feeling about these alternative gender people that make gender a confusing, pretentious clusterfuck.
I wholeheartedly believe that most of the times of these cunts never pay for or play games like this, and just reee repeatedly and sneak into those communities until they fuck it up and go homeless again.
The ST system stories though are unfortunately one I can believe they actually play though, because hahaha holy shit the oWoD Werewolf groups...
I have a copy of V5 Chicago by Night and I just had to jump to the character section when I got it.
The Good...
-The layout is nice (and I like most of the character portraits).
-It's fun to see the characters I remember from the previous editions again. So far, I'm in the Nosferatu section. I think Kevin Jackson is a good choice for the new Prince.
The Bad...
-Limiting the ancient/low generation's stats was a stupid idea. It makes them feel weak and too easy to take out.
-So far there are two SJ-style characters as in "they" pronoun users who one is a "queer, non-binary transgender" and the other one I think is just plain non-binary. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the trans Toreador character or the drag queen Caitif, because their pasts make sense for who they are. (Heck, I even made a trans Vampire in one of my books.)
I don't mind Sascha Vykos having those pronouns since they can change gender and form at will and their mind has evolved beyond human understanding. It just feels like SJW pandering when it comes to others.
It also makes me wonder if these types of folks even play games like this, because it seems like every time we try to appeal to them, it fails. (See Marvel comics, fem-GhostBusters, etc.) Or maybe it's just my own prejudices and the fact that social justice has soured my feeling about these alternative gender people that make gender a confusing, pretentious clusterfuck.
, put in the para-elemental steam core into the secondary engine in order to power the Ice Leviathan enough that the party can open doors and don't freeze to death in -175F temps. Once they get that, they have to access the Anvil of Hate in the hold.
