#it's been so long since i've been able to dm a campaign and i'm having so much fun

[chrisrin]

some fun quick doodles of d&d pcs and npcs from the campaign i'm dming!

bonus! my little guy:

#chris doodles #it's been so long since i've been able to dm a campaign and i'm having so much fun #we're only on session 2 but everyone's having a great time #so the doodle guys in order: #we've got azalea--a tiefling mage with 3 giant anglerbeast pets #(anglerbeasts are a custom creature i made taking displacerbeasts and adding a cool anglerfish bobble to the end of one of their tentacles) #(and if a player fails a saving throw they can get hypnotized by the bobble and will attack their fellow players for one turn) #next is adira--half-orc lady in charge of the beast's den #which is a monster/creature bounty sector of the silverhands mercenaries #a group of sellswords that run the majority of the security of the port town the party is in. #next is nakris--the dragonborn who hired the party! #an ancient artifact of his people #the amulet of the ironscale #was “accquired” (stolen) by a museum curator #he's been trying to do all the legal ways to get this ancient item back #but it hasnt worked so he's resorting to Crime and hiring the party to steal it back #which means i get to plan a heiiiiiiiiiiiiist mission!!! #its been so so fun #OH AND FINALLY the last one is reinheart! #who is one of our pcs! #a kalashstar war cleric #i plan to draw the other pcs eventually :]

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for kicking someone out of my D&D campaign for reasons not entirely related to the game?

This is long but the context is important I swear.

About a year ago, I (30X) tried to assemble a D&D group with my coworkers. After a whole lot of fucking around, the guy who was going to DM moving across the country, and a bunch of people quitting or getting fired, it ended up being me as the DM, my brother, a few other people who I met through a different campaign, and one guy who used to work with me.

This guy, J (23M), had a lot of personal problems when he worked for us, most of which contributed to him being let go. He had a lot of family issues that led to him missing a lot of work (and I mean A Lot. We have a Very good PTO system for the US that basically amounts to accruing one day off for every 50 hours you work, earning more the longer you stay with the company, and more allowance for attendance infractions than any company I've ever heard of in the states). He also had a lot of interpersonal issues with some of the employees, one in particular, K (21F), with whom he had some kind of situationship. I try not to get involved in work drama, so I don't know all the details.

J also has issues with money, transportation, and depression/suicidal tendencies. I'm not judging him for any of those, as I have experience with them as well, but he has been leaning on me pretty heavily around every time we hang out to play D&D. I would cover his 120$+ Uber rides home, which he would sometimes pay me back but sometimes not (if I couldn't afford it once a month, I wouldn't do it, but he insists he's going to pay me back; since he has lost yet another job I am not expecting it at all and don't hold it against him really, but I do think it's kind of shitty to insist you're going to when you clearly won't be able to), pay for his food, work with my family members to get him home, and let him crash at my house to avoid ordering an Uber. He also messaged me when he was feeling suicidal - bad enough to be institutionalized after I sent him the number for the suicide hotline. Again, no judgement, but it made me uncomfortable because I struggle with the same things. He seemed bothered that I told him I wasn't able to talk him through it, but that may have just been the crisis talking.

After all that, we come to a game session that involves more than just navigating dangerous spaces and fighting off wild animals. The rest of the party does fine, but J really botches the social interaction part, despite everyone telling him what he's doing is a bad idea and me doing my best as a DM to communicate that he should change tactics. He does not change tactics and instead doubles down and goes full murderhobo, which is not the kind of player I'm interested in playing with, something I thought J understood from previous conversations.

My original plan was to say something to the table at our next session about removing themselves from the game if the themes weren't something they were interested in engaging with, but then I get some additional info today about J and K.

Apparently J has been incredibly possessive towards K - someone who, again, he was not dating in any meaningful capacity - for weeks or months, to the point that she has blocked him on social media off and on. And then this past week, J has sent her screenshots of her location, contacted her ex who she still lives with for logistical reasons, made him upset to the point that K thought he was going to kick her out of his apartment, and harassed K's brother to try to get her to talk to him again. K is seriously considering taking out a restraining order against him at this point. J has also been updating his social media to imply that he is going to kill himself.

To say this behavior raises some red flags is an understatement. Clearly J needs help, but as a regular guy, that's really not something I'm able to provide beyond sending mental health hotlines, and I don't feel comfortable being his support system in the way he obviously needs.

All that said, I feel like I might be an asshole for kicking him out of the campaign full stop, because he's been really excited to play this whole time. But the combination of all this really worrisome, potentially dangerous behavior and the mundane reality of him just being a really annoying player kind of has me at my wits end, so, WIBTA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole #suicide cw

[pleasantmsp]

Been rewatching some of the Mighty Nein campaign cause I was missing them and also I'm excited for their one shot soon! I've seen a few people speculating about the one shot so thought I'd put my thoughts out into the void as well.

I honestly don't know at all what to expect from this one shot. I don't even remember what the description was beyond that it has to do with the apogee solstice stuff. I haven't kept up much with campaign 3 for my own reasons that I don't need to get into now. However, I did actually watch a couple of the episodes during the solstice and got lucky with watching the ep with beau and caleb in it. But otherwise, I barely know what's going on. I have no idea what the M9 will be dealing with. My theories include anything from getting Beau and Caleb back and dealing with cultists along the way to dealing with the Cerberus Assembly's/Ludinus' attachments to this whole thing to stopping Tharizdun or some other entity from doing some fuck shit. Honestly, I don't fucking know man. I don't even really think any of that shit will happen.

I don't know if it's been confirmed that Caduceus is gonna be the one in this one shot but I really hope it is him. One of the things that's been bothering me about this arc from the BH perspective (at least that I've seen) is that none of them or any that they've come across has been able to argue for the side of the gods and the good that some of them can do. As someone who really likes the worldbuilding and rp that gods can bring to settings like this, not having that perspective represented has been disappointing for me. (This is not the fault of the cast or their guests or anything like that, that is not what I'm saying. It is their choice what characters they play and it is Matt's choice as the DM which NPCs/areas they come across in wherever they decide to explore. I'm just mentioning my own preference and feelings as it pertains to the one shot which is what I'm talking about). Anyway, I hope it's Caduceus because I think he will bring an incredibly interesting perspective on this whole thing. And I think Fjord will too but not to the extent that Cad can since Cad and his family grew up as worshippers of Melora.

We don't know the fate of Beau and Caleb and while I don't think they're dead, I really hope they aren't gone for most of this one shot. Beau is my favorite character in any media ever. I fucking love Beau so much. And Beauyasha is my favorite couple, I love them. I will be literally so sad if Marisha isn't playing Beau for this one shot. Like I'll understand but also I will indeed be devastated. Beauyasha is like my Roman Empire (this joke will be aging this post LMAO but its a good comparison honestly), I think about them A LOT. I want to see more content from them. I was at SDCC, I was there when Ashley said she felt like she wasn't fully finished with Yasha and that's exactly how I feel. The Mighty Nein's story was so good but the way it ended felt so long and then so abrupt (but that's another post). I will always be wanting more of Beau and Yasha's story. I want to know as much as Marisha and Ashley are willing to give us. So I hope the one shot starts with Beau and Caleb and how they reunite with the Nein and then get to business. Or even better, with them already reunited for maximum Nein time.

Those are my main two thoughts for now. I actually need to go to bed cause I got work in the morning and it's been kicking my ass these last two weeks so imma cut it there and check back tomorrow. If you somehow see this, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings lol

#critical role #the mighty nein #beauyasha #beau lionett #yasha nydoorin #caduceus clay

[illarian-rambling]

Hello! I heard you like DnD!

What has been your favorite campaign so far? My current friend group is completing a 5e WotC one, but I have also seen some great homebrews done. Do you prefer WotC campaigns, or homebrews? What were some memorable moments? ✨

Oh god, you've got me started, now I'm never gonna shut up >:)

So, I've played in four games and ran one, all homebrew, over the course of my time. My first campaign I was a life cleric with a pet goat that I saved from being a sacrifice. I didn't really know what I was doing, as it was my first game, but I had fun. My second game, I was a rogue snakeoil (and crack) salesman, which started the trend of all my characters selling drugs. Game three, I played an evangelist artificer and fell in love with the class. I adore robots, what can I say? In my current game (which is an original story, but in the planescape setting), I play a barb/fighter hazily struck out of time. She's up to three mystery voices in her head now, one being the sword of Kas, sells drugs via cranium rats, and was in a pro-wrestling tournament.

Probably one of my most memorable moments was perma-killing my artificer, Gillaria. To start, Gillaria was a bit of dunce. She was smart, yeah, but had balls wisdom and even worse charisma. She tried to fly into a portal to hell once on a wooden broom so she could take an energy reading. She got kidnapped in like three separate alleyways and gave her full, legal name to a devil. This is all to preface with the fact that this character didn't make the smartest choices.

The other thing about Gillaria was that she was a priest of Relhan, the setting's god of innovation. She and her two robot buddies, Anatolius and Aenira, would preach the word of this dying god on street corners, since the main temple to him had been destroyed. Usually, given that the highest charisma score between them was an 8, this ended up with tomatoes being thrown.

Anyways, though the campaign was supposed to go a little while longer, our dm got a new job, so we had to end early. The party decided that our last hurrah would be to raid the Golden Trident, a rival faction we'd been eyeing for some time.

One Gillaria project she wanted to get done before the end of the campaign as well was the squirrel laser. The construction of such a laser is as follows:

The druid Awakens 6 squirrels with their magic staff. The squirrels are now sentient.

Our warlock signs these squirrels onto warlock pacts. The squirrels can now cast the cantrip Bonfire.

Gillaria has a Decanter of Endless Water and the spell Magic Mouth

Infinite steam power has been achieved

We did the math and we would've been able to power a railgun with this set-up, so our dm decided, fuck it, campaign's almost over, they can have a death laser. It was decided it would be a DC 16 dex save against being zapped into ash.

Anyways, cut to us raiding the Golden Trident. Our level 10 warlock is being chased by an anctient dragon, our barbarian fell off the airship (We had a dragon ghost powered airship. Long story, also Gillaria's fault) and we're being chased by the enemy's airship.

Gillaria tells Anatolius, her steel defender with an intellect headband that she treats like a son, to point the laser at the enemy skyship, ready to fire once it warms up in four rounds. Gillaria then flies over to the enemy ship, hoping to disable its engines. However, like any good artificer, she's immediately enamored by the engines themselves. At this point, I the player forget I have a four round count down.

Yeah, you can see where this is going... The dm has me pick high or low on a d100 to see what part of the ship my laser hits, and I invariably pick wrong. And that is how Gillaria got blasted to ash by her own automaton, wielding her own laser, atop her own airship. Her final consolation was finding out that her god was not, in fact, dead and being reincarnated into his steel and steam avatar.

This is one of sooo many dumbass stories for this character, she was a piece of work. Thanks for asking though, I love talking about dnd! Feel free to share a story of your own or ask any questions :)

#writing #my ocs #dnd #dnd stories #asks

[utilitycaster]

Hi I read your tags what character do you think it'd be fun for Travis to play if Chet dies in his sleep?? I kinda want Hardcore Caster Travis because Travis as a player with an abundance of spell slots is a delicious idea but idrk!

also throwing in this which I got in the interim!

[id: anonymous ask reading

I have a question/wondering about if (when if statistics have any thing to say about it) Chet dies what class you think Travis will play? Or your thoughts on type of character you would like to see?

(I myself kinda hope he goes for another high int character - maybe a gunslinger would be interesting to continue to balance out the martial classes with spell casters?

But I do think it would be interesting to add another cleric to the party as well. Maybe cleric of the Moon Domain from Taldorei reborn?)]

-----

Ok so Travis is, as I've discussed, on the (noncomprehensive) Emily, Aabria, Lou list of "I trust you implicitly with whatever character you make and even if I'm not initially won over I believe in you." With that said: I agree he should stick to high intelligence in terms of party composition. I also, anon #2, have really liked the idea of cleric. I know a two-cleric party is a lot to DM for but also I think Matt enjoys being able to really throw something big at the party, and while there are two full healers, Fearne is often better used in high damage and FCG's subclass does still make it difficult, plus were Chet to die that would be the loss of one of your three tanks. However, I think moon domain is a little too on the nose for this campaign. I actually would love to see a high-intelligence knowledge cleric: this would grant expertise in some of those key intelligence checks, and while it's far off, the level 17 ability is not unlike grim psychometry, which has already been an absolute delight to watch. I happen to think the read thoughts ability is obviously redundant in this part...but it also is, to be fair, fucking funny to have. Erathis or Corellon for the deity perhaps? I also happen to love twilight cleric just conceptually and for being incredibly powerful, AND for fixing the whole "no darkvision in the party" problem.

Other options: Eldritch knight, though that might be a little similar to Fjord in some of the flavors; or a wizard who is not too much of a glass cannon. Travis is on the short list of people for whom bladesinger would not make me roll my eyes because I think he could actually manage it (as Emily did so well in ACOFAF). I also would love to see another ranger on CR; the class has come a long way since Vex dealt with the unfortunate limitations of Beastmaster, I feel like a Horizon Walker would be attuned to the Moon Bullshit in a way that is different than anyone else in the party, and like...dump charisma and be smart to address the INT needs, and have twin scimitars like Drizzt except with less goofy names to address the Travis Needs Melee To Live (and He's Valid) needs. Really what I think is important is smart, not too glass cannon, low charisma for comedic purposes, and also I think playing someone younger and more obviously shippable even by cowardly people would create chaos in the party and the fandom in ways I would find highly amusing.

#answered #Anonymous #cr tag

[cryptidcariad]

Path of the Beast - Mutations/Adaptations

One of my favourite things about D&D (and other mechanically dense TTRPGs) is when you get your character concept and character build to complement one another. AKA Ludonarrative Synchronicity, AKA That Good Shit (tm). And I've had an absolute blast doing that with Thrash and his Path of the Beast Barbarian build. The campaign has been a great mix of fantasy, horror and D&D shenanigans, perfect for playing my angsty, cursed mess of a character. He still hasn't discovered the true nature of the monstrous form he was cursed with (mechanically he's a bugbear), but its defining traits are instinct and adaptability. In other words, when a dangerous situation arises, he mutates involuntarily in a way that helps him survive. Technically his form only changes when he rages or takes a rest, but I had so much fun with that idea we decided that it happens in smaller ways whenever he uses another ability. A larger snout for tracking things with Perception/Survival, a more simian shape when he needs to climb with Athletics, that kind of thing.

And since I've been doing more art trades with @werelocke, I have now have some sketches to represent those changes! So here they are, mostly for my own reference but maybe other character building / monster character aficionados will enjoy :)

Swimming

"You gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and you can breathe underwater."

One of the three 'Bestial Soul' options you can choose from every short/long rest with Path of the Beast, gained at Level 6.

Kinda situational but I really like being able to move through difficult environments easily. It's fun to imagine him using the 'jaws' mutation to bite and grapple an enemy, then do scary crocodile death roll.

Climbing

You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, and you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

One of the three 'Bestial Soul' options you can choose from every short/long rest with Path of the Beast, gained at Level 6.

At first I was thinking lizard/gecko for climbing, but I think a more monkey-like form adds a bit more variety.

Leaping

When you jump, you can make a Strength (Athletics) check and extend your jump by a number of feet equal to the check’s total. You can make this special check only once per turn.

One of the three 'Bestial Soul' options you can choose from every short/long rest with Path of the Beast, gained at Level 6.

I'm so impressed with @werelocke's art for this one. It's so scary! Even though this form is mostly just for leaping, I think it's super cool. It may sound kinda niche, but the ability to jump 20+ feet from a standing start is really huge for getting around the battlefield quickly.

Tracking

You are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you’re proficient in.

Part of the 'Natural Explorer' ability gained by Rangers at Level 1.

Thrash has decent Perception/Survival for tracking, wilderness survival, etc, but it was only recently that he got really good at them when the DM decided to give each of us an ability from a different class as a homebrew thing.

To me, this represents him finally learning to understand what his new instincts are telling him whenever he's outdoors, what all those intense sounds and smells and instincts actually mean.

Spotting Predators

Your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on initiative rolls. Additionally, if you are surprised at the beginning of combat and aren't incapacitated, you can act normally on your first turn, but only if you enter your rage before doing anything else on that turn.

As part of the bonus action you take to enter your rage, you can move up to half your speed.

Core Barbarian abilities 'Feral Instinct' and 'Instinctive Pounce', gained at Level 7.

'Fight or flight' is a big part of this character's mindset. He's a little like the Hulk; he has this side of him that he's scared of and can't really control, but it mostly just wants to protect him/itself. Except rather than anger, he's way more driven by fear. And it can be fun to play act a bit twitchy/paranoid and 'pounce' into action when a fight starts!

#my posts #d&d #dungeons and dragons #dnd #ttrpg #d&d character #barbarian #thrash #werewolf #monster #monster art #commissioned art #transformation #beast #beastman #character building #character build

[dovelydraws]

Tell me abt your ocs 👁👁👁👁

oh GOD I have so many asldjfljk um!!!

I'll start with my dnd/pathfinder character Revun, since I've been posting about them a lot recently!! I'm no longer concerned about sharing spoilers because I got all my party members to block campaign spoilers hehe 💕

^ Made this little icon of them for discord recently (he/they/she)

The backstory doc i originally handed to my GM was over 5k words long, (plus there's also been several nights of me rambling in their dms expanding on all the stuff I'd Already Written) so I'm gonna try my best to. condense this lmao

Revun's bio parents were both human; their mom made a deal with a daemon while she was pregnant to save her father's life from a severe illness that would have killed him, and as a consequence of that her child was born a tiefling.

The social stigma of having a tiefling child (everyone just immediately knows she made some kind of deal with a fiendish entity) became too much for them to handle, so their mom and grandfather chose to abandon them four years after they were born, and start a new life elsewhere where no one knew them. Revun spent the next seven years in an orphanage, until they ran away to go try and join a mercenary group that passed through town at one point.

Throughout Revun's life, they've been haunted by a spirit in the shape of a black wolf with gold eyes that match their own. It only appears when they are in the middle of having a near death experience- so far, that's been twice. The first was when they were 11, and they nearly froze/starved to death out in the woods after running away. The second was after a disagreement with their boss/somewhat father figure lead to him nearly killing them at 25.

While Revun never learned all the details of their mom's deal, they at least are somewhat aware that whatever she did saved their grandfather's life. They are convinced at this point that whatever happened must have created some sort of imbalance in the afterlife or something, and this wolf was expecting a new soul that day that never came. And now, it's stalking Revun waiting for them to drop dead, to take them as a replacement like some sort of debt collector. I'm unsure if this is actually the case since I decided to leave the details up to my GM, but this is what Revun believes and they are absolutely terrified of it.

Speaking of that mercenary group, they did take them in and save them that night, but it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Revun ended up spending the rest of their childhood in a pretty toxically masculine environment, and with an expectation placed on their shoulders to always follow orders and never try to argue, even if they may be uncomfortable or feel something was a bad idea.

A portion of the mercenary company was hired to act as bodyguards at a prestigious vineyard, of which had recently made some enemies with their business competition. Revun spent about a year and a half there, becoming very close friends with the winemaker's daughter, until the deal fell through and the company was offered more money to destroy the vineyard and kill the family/any workers on the property to make sure there were no witnesses. Revun nearly died getting their best friend to safety and trying to help any workers they could find, fighting against the only family they'd really had the chance to know.

They somehow managed to escape, and were found laying on the side of the road a couple miles away from the vineyard by some passing travelers, who were able to patch them up and drop them off at the next town. They'd been separated from everyone- their entire social safety net was gone, their worldview completely changed overnight. That was a Lot for them to handle, so they kind of just... Didn't.

They've decided to just try to move on, forget everything that happened and everyone that was ever important to them. Start a new life somewhere else. Don't think about it. Pretend it never happened.

All of this has ended up creating a guy with a lot of self loathing, abandonment issues, anxiety and paranoia, and a Very Stubborn "don't worry about it! :)" attitude.

I love them so much. They make me feel like this:

#campaign spoilers #asks #thank you. thank you so much for asking. you have no idea how much i've been dying to talk about this guy. #putting them in a little jar w/ airholes and then shaking them around violently #dove speaks #revun #I'm keeping it to just them for now bc otherwise this post would get insanely long #but I'm hoping to start posting art of my future webcomic characters soon! I'm currently working on character sheets for them

[morrigan-sims]

Party Name Pending - a D&D discord for simmers

So, about 1.5 months ago, I got a chance to join my first ever campaign. Thus began a hyperfixation on D&D that's still going strong. I've been talking about D&D on my simblr for 2-3 weeks now, and posting fantasy sims for much, much longer than that. And recently I saw some people on my dash talking about their D&D characters/sims, and I was like, hey, why don't I make a space where we can all hang out and talk about our sims and D&D? And so Party Name Pending was born!

More info under the cut!

Features: - D&D channels, sims channels, general channels - specific places to talk about your characters - a place to talk about D&D shows and campaigns. - places to find sims cc, share edits, post screenshots, and more. - channels for other assorted interests.

Plans & Goals: - be able to talk about our characters - have an active, welcoming community - someday, I'd love to run a few oneshots or maybe even campaign in here, but at the moment I don't have enough experience to run such a thing myself, so that's a long-term goal for now.

Rules & Requirements: - Must be 18+ - Must have a simblr. - Send me a DM for the invite.

I'm choosing not to make this server public because I want to make sure that the community in here is active and friendly. I don't want a server full of lurkers who never post, especially since I have hopes of actually running a campaign in there someday, or at least a oneshot.

I don't bite, I promise! Anyone who has a simblr and plays d&d is welcome to send me a DM or ask off-anon. You don't have to be an experienced played (I've technically never played), you just have to have a genuine desire and interest to participate!

Tagging some people who expressed interest on my post: @retro-plasma @sammyshuno @bluupxels @raiiny-bay @wastelandwhisperer

#ts4 #d&d #dnd sims #discord server #party name pending #feel free to give this a reblog if you'd like! I'd love to have more people! #but I'm serious - if you're just going to lurk don't join #lurkers are fine and I don't mind them most of the time #but for this specific server I don't want to have a server that's 50% lurkers #which is what most servers end up being.

[spatialapprentice]

Commission/Support Anything Helps

everyone im really struggling financially right now. My cat has been having urinary tract problems which have resulted in some considerate vet expenses including an emergency vet visit. I also haven't been able to see a dentist which I've needed to for months for a cavity I have. Most of my clothes are torn and worn and i haven't been able to buy any new ones in a long time.

My bank account is almost drained and I fear my cat is going to have another emergency. I dont make alot of money from my current job so if someone could commission me or even send a little bit of money my way and I can draw a little doodle or something it would really help.

I do some varied art at varied prices and I can do all sorts of stuff that fits any price range, and a draw wide array of things in general. Here's some examples of my art

I can do all sorts of stuff whether you want whether you want character portraits, concept art, landscapes, abstract

I also do maps/map tiles for videogames and tabletop games. Some examples of that work here.

I also do writing and game design especially for tabletop games! I'm especially good at making stuff for dnd 5e and I can make custom monsters, magic items, scenarios, etc. for your campaign!

In summary I can do all sorts of stuff for like all kinds of prices and I really need money. DM for inquiry. If you send some cash to my paypal I can draw or write a litle thing or whatever just send a message. Any thing helps please.

Even if you just share this post it would help a million please and thank you. Have a wonderful day

#commissions

[memento-morri-writes]

hey morri!

do you prefer dnd as a player or as a dm? tricky question i know :)

/rodentwrites

Hiii Harrison!!

I prefer it as a player, to be honest. I've only ever DM'd once, and it was for a oneshot. I'd love to do it again, and maybe even run a campaign someday, but I'm not nearly organized nor consistent enough to do that, at least not right now. Part of that is my ADHD, which is SO bad it's not even funny.

I love the idea of creating my own world, and writing my own story, and seeing people interact with it, but the amount of planning that has to go into a campaign, not just at the beginning, but on a weekly (if you play weekly) basis, is amazing. I am just about the least organized person you will ever meet, and I am the world's worst procrastinator. Between those two things, I don't think I could ever DM a campaign.

I'm such a funny goofy person when it comes to playing, though. All my characters have very detailed backstories and personalities, but when it comes to RP, I struggle. I know what my characters would do and say in most situations, but coming up with it on the spot is fucking HARD. Not to mention that I feel more than a little awkward doing it at some times. (Especially since I cannot do voices to save my life, and so all my characters just sound like me.)

I do absolutely adore combat, though. There's something about turn-based combat that just scratches such an itch in my brain. (Hence why I loved games like Wildermyth and Divinity: Original Sin.) I have the brain for it, since I have a really good understanding of d&d mechanics, and also a fair mind for logical strategy, at least somewhat. Actually, funny annecdote from yesterday's session: we were having combat at sea, and the rest of the party was floundering (at one point we had 4 people down), which they claim is due to their year-long curse where all water-based combat goes horribly wrong. Meanwhile, my character, Rook, was all by himself on the back of a whale with 4 enemies, and doing just fine. Was only down 5 HP for 90% of the combat. We joked the reason it was going so well for him was because he's a pirate, so sea-based combat is his natural environment. (The one downside, though, was that he never got to use sneak attack, which is like, the entire point of being a rogue.)

I'm in two campaigns currently (though one hasn't started yet, but will be in a week or two), and I'm having a blast. Even though I'm relatively new to playing d&d, it definitely is one of my special interests. (and I continue to amaze my DM's with my near-encyclopedic knowledge of the rules despite only having been playing for less than a year.)

Hopefully in the future, after these two campaigns, I'll be able to play more and try out more fun and interesting characters, be it with the same people or new ones.

What about you? What do you prefer? And why??

(Sorry this got so long, I am incapable of being to-the-point, especially when it comes to my interests.)

#Anonymous #morrigan replies #random asks #morrigan plays dnd #dnd #(if anyone wants to follow my personal blog where I talk about my d&d adventures more lmk and I'll share the url.)

[ask-the-crimson-king]

Tales from D&D: It Hurt Itself In Its Confusion!

It has been a long time since I've posted something like this.

Welcome to my Dragonlance campaign, using the 5e Dragonlance module cause it's being used as a bit of an interrim between larger campaigns and I thought it would be short.

I have o p i n i o n s about it. But this isn't the time nor place, because I will demonstrate how to kill an enemy by just stacking a bunch of conflicting effects on it.

I am the DM, and the known players required are Ianus Truesilver, the Watchers Paladin, and Ardonlir Fullbreaker, the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian.

This is what happened, put under a cut for spoilers: Specifically for Chapter 5 of the 5e Dragonlance module.

So. In Sunward Fortress, there is a room on floor 2 where there's a bunch of half-slaad abberations that are also kapak draconians, called dracophages.

Combat starts, and me, being CURSED with trash initative, have the dracophages go last. This is fine, I said, cause they can potentially infect the party with slaad tadpoles and that is Bad(tm).

The paladin is first. This is a Knight of the Sword paladin.

He casts compelled duel. For those who don't know, compelled duel means the dracophage is now aggro'd onto the paladin; disadvantage to hit everyone except him, so it's incentivized to hit him. Very nice spell, good for a pally, right.

So then. The paladin swings and hits the dracophage.

And activates his Knight of the Sword feat.

This triggers a Wisdom save against being frightened.

It fails. So now, it has disadvantage to hit EVERYTHING, and cannot move closer to the paladin, but is also compelled to duel the paladin. So it has disadvantage on everything and double disadvantage on everyone BUT the paladin.

BUT THEN IT GETS Worse.

The barbarian is next. It is an ancestral guardian barbarian. When you hit something while raging, the creature you hit has disadvantage to hit everyone but you.

Which means that, effectively, there is double disadvantage on both the Paladin AND the Barbarian, and triple disadvantage on everyone else.

The monk and bard also go, and are able to beat the ever loving shit out of him.

It gets to his turn. Genuinely am stunned at what the hell just happened and what's stacked onto this poor dracophage. I say, "okay. I'm going to have it roll a DC 15 Wisdom save, and if it fails, it'll take some psychic damage", with some being 2d6.

It fails.

This thing was left on 9HP and perfectly died to its own confusion.

My players literally gave it an aneurism and it died.

10/10 gameplay. What the hell.

#the best part is they didnt even plan these synergies at all #they just said ''cool #''im gonna take these spells and these feats for flavor along with this subclass'' #and then realized 'wait a minute' #one of the best D&D things ive ever had the pleasure of running #what a hilarious interaction #dragonlance #tales from d&d #d&d 5e

[noszle]

Yo Nosz! So that last post answers a question I had for a while about what 'Shattered Planes' meant. How does it feel to be in the DM's seat for the first time? How long have you been setting up the campaign? Were these arts something you prepared over a few months and are sharing now, or have you been cranking them out on an inspiration kick?

Hi Kami!

I'm putting this under a read more because....I talk a lot 👍

Yep I'm tentatively calling this world Shattered Planes because it's a world that have been slowly being eaten away by Void/Nothingness. If you get too close or go in you'll likely get warped too.

It's been super fun and addictive to be GM! It's an incredible outlet for a lot of creative energy. Making characters and world elements is the funnest thing in the world to me.

I was originally really nervous about starting a game myself because I'm not very confident about my plot writing skills and my ability to manage tasks that involve a lot of numbers and small numerical things to remember. That's partially why I chose the Savage Worlds system, because it is WAY less focused on combat and numbers and more on character building and role play. Which is my area of interest. It rewards characters for having flaws and playing into them in a way I like.

Anyway, my players have both been super supportive and patient with me as I figure it out. I've very grateful!

I started prepping and making things for a campaign about a year or so ago and have just been making things whenever I feel the creative pull. We started playing last month and so I've been making more as needed since then.

As for the character question, it's a little bit of both! For example, Bephelle was the first character I made and that was about.....a year or more ago? I started building the first town/quests around here and some other characters that I made around then.

BUT there are also characters that I've created last minute to fill what ever gaps need to be filled. Like the Law Keepers Dullem and Kassadene. I made them and drew them both THE NIGHT before the first session OTL In fact I finished Pallex's art AS I WAS TALKING to one of my players before the session he came in on. Shh don't tell them.

It's also been SO COOL to be able to have a big cohesive world for me to dump a lot of pre-existing characters into. For example I have put Bomaki's world/lore in, The Celestial Harpies (Odec and Shalla's world) and some REALLY ancient OC's from long past. There are even some characters that my players probably already know about but that are getting a little bit of a re-skin and re-work.

I hope that answers your question! And to everyone that actually read all that??? Hi you get a kiss on the forehead if you want one, thank you~ I hope you have wonderful day 💚🍵

#asks #talkies

[egg-exe]

hi hey? I think I love Relic and would love to know more about them/their story :3c Your writing is lovely, also

i've had this in my inbox for. a hot-ish minute. a lukewarm one (it's been 5 days)

thanks so much, anon! appreciate you. they're not a character i think of terribly often now since the campaign has been on hiatus for. over a year, and i left the campaign maybe a month ago officially. but! they are dearly beloved by the me.

(i put a cut here because turns out! even though i have forgotten a lot! i have an amount to say about them)

their story, summarized:

was made to (and did) fight in the blood age ("...a period of tremendous violence... The wars were so terrible that they shock even Lorehold students of today.") was good at it, and remains good at fighting. did not have a name at this point

in one battle, they were "killed" by a fireball. rather than dying, they woke up centuries later, with the blood age ended by the founder dragons, and an era of peace upon the world. of note is that they woke up with plants and rust on them, which prevented them from moving at all.

at some point after they woke up, they get found by researchers/archaeologists exploring the area (presumably to find artifacts from the era they were from). at some point, they probably heard one of the researchers refer to the recovered objects as "relics", and this stuck with them, and became their name.

they arrived at the school, having decided that going to this place that was founded by the dragons was the best plan. or at least a plan. mostly wanted to learn how they ended it, and to understand their motivations, since relic is very much at a lost as to what to do now

the campaign never really expanded beyond what was in the Strixhaven Book, although our dm was potentially thinking about diverging after we began our second year.

this did mean that most of the encounters we steamrolled. beyond encounter two (which were the only enemies that had a dex save attack rather than an attack roll), relic never took any damage. i don't think any of our party beyond encounter 2 ever took damage bc the dm mostly stuck to attacking them, and i am. unfortunately. a bit of a gamer (derogatory) and relic has good ac.

due to that, never got to implement my Relic Has A Good Day (lie) when they got reduced to 0 hp during combat. or other reasons i suppose? yeah. given that the last time they were unconscious they woke up to their entire world changed to something unrecognizable, i think they would been fine with it. i'm lying lol

some various tidbits:

all of their belongings post timeskip (of a sort) were destroyed due to the natural wear and tear of many many years. they mourned their sword the most, probably. they asked if it was possible to recover, but it had long since been rusted to disrepair

ended up grabbing a familiar. owl :) it's very round. i wish i was able to develop their relationship more. i think it would've been a source of comfort, given enough time, since it was something that could not be taken away from them, even if another Many Century Rest occurred

has a very, very distant sense of humor that does not get the chance to see the light of day most of the time. they were. unfortunately. rather taciturn. and probably would only ever think them in their head rather than say them aloud. would probably be a little embarrassed/flustered if they ever did voice them

their preferred food/beverage is whatever the person they were accompanying ordered, so that they could hand it off to them

ah. i just remembered that they chose to go into lorehold (alongside the kenku wizard of our party. i miss rustle. man). chose that school bc they did want to learn about the past (and was From The Past) and this was the best way to do so. probably is living in the past too much, and would need to learn how to balance it with looking towards a potential future. but! never developed that far

they're a little frustrated/confused at other lorehold students for being so. reticent? apprehensive? of learning about the blood age, or finding it "too violent". it's not like they know that relic was a part of it (that's something that isn't really. shared) but it was fine, for them. it was just their life, and they. maybe not "enjoyed it" because that implies a level of joy that they don't really feel, but they were happy enough to live it.

it's been a while since i've thought about them as much as i have for this ask. so thanks again! it's been nice thinking about the aspects that i like about them. blorbo in my head, slowly simmering in the soup somewhere in there :^)

#egg.txt #egg.eml #<- forgot i had this tag :novemblur: #to anyone i know irl who's following me: don't look at me

[kquartz]

I love the designs for Hardulin and Navid! If you have the chance, would you ever be willing to share more about them? I'd love to hear more about them!

Omg I am more than willing of course!

So I am the DM for this campaign but it's also homebrew and I've had to create the whole plot and world from scratch and some tropes that I know. The two of them are NPC's that I play and both of them dated my girlfriend's character, Prospect.

Navid, on the bottom there, has been a part of the political plot since since I gave the world's events summaries at the beginning of the campaign. He's your basic king arthur story, son to a king but raised as a peasant unknowing of his bloodline until he meets a wizard who apprentices him and shows him his true origins. 'Cept before he became an apprentice he went to law school so he could do political work and he took on the wizarding thing as an internship to get him an in to the castle so he could eventually be an advisor to the king (but he ended up liking magic a lot) and it got more complicated from there accidentally.

Navid met Prospect three years before the campaign began in an alleyway behind a bar he was working at. Prospect was a homeless raccoon man fighting over trash with the other rodents. Navid decided to do some community service after finding him again and again in other trash cans. Then, decided to feed him and, after getting to know him, eventually house him temporarily. They grew close together in that time, became boyfriends, and then Navid ended up catching Love feelings to which he confessed. Prospect ran away in the night without a word and regrets it to this in-campaign day. He's been slowly reintroducing himself to Navid through letters and it's been cute.

HARDULIN on the other hand is a very self indulgent character where I get to be the meanest bitch alive and still be cute. They were a request for one of several exes for prospect's character, a pirate with an insatiable appetite for himbos.

The two met a few months before meeting Navid while Prospect was working as a temp on Hardulin's crew and they saw his amazing pair of pecs. They had a week of passion, which was a week too long for Hardy to be in port and not get caught by authorities and be thrown into exile on an isle for dragons. They gave themself a stick and poke tat for every day they were there. They managed to train the nicest dragon, that they've named Amore, into giving them a ride off the isle which actually ended up accidentally saving and meeting Prospect again. They're a very morally grey character and I'm excited to see if the team will be able to convince them not to be an asshole villain character or not- but either way I'm happy playing them.

#text #ask #anon

[gaudebo]

Ahhh thank you for the long response!!

Mostly his story with free will was because I had watched a campaign once where a guys character (non-orc. It was a different type of character, a made up one by the dm) had a similar storyline but very much more slavery-ish. So I had tweaked it a bit and made it into my story because slavery definitely made me uncomfortable in general since it's not my story to tell. I do 100% get the ickyness with the way it was beforehand, I think In general I had less of a slavery Outlook because he chooses to be a part of the group and can change his mind whenever and leave and stuff like that, but there are a few things that could be tweaked especially with the way I describe them!!

Ever since I realized the racism with orcs I started thinking of ways to re-work the "work for hire" thing and I was thinking maybe a guild like you were talking about !! (kinda like the companions in Skyrim) and I do enjoy that idea a lot better because instead of his whole story being "wow I do what people tell me even though I could choose not to" (which didn't really make sense 100%) it can be more "I am MORE than what I can do for people, and too many people underestimate me and I deserve to be happy even outside of my family, who I've lost, and can find people who appreciate me" kind of thing.

I'm really glad I read what people had to say on orcs and racism because before I did, it never really clicked for me. So I didn't put together how these things are because of that and how orcs stories have been so problematic because of that and I never would have thought about the possible issues with it (your post from like 2022 included lol).

The story is staying between my friends and I for the most part but I still wanted to change things once I realized everything.

I really like the idea of my friends character genuinely wanting my character and his help and because of that my character is a bit surprised because hes not used to people needing him for more than what the job he's accepted said of him.

I think a main reason I thought of the "does whatever they say thing" is 1.) Because of the other campaign I watched. I loved the other character because he was so well played and his interactions with characters and stuff were fun (I also like big guys who are secretly very caring which this character was) and 2.) Because in my head the services were usually very "you're being hired to follow me into this quest" thing, whether the quest was long or short. But I like the idea of it not being him being told what to do all the time and more "this is the job. you need to get the job done to get paid. If you don't get it done you don't get paid." and maybe sometimes people act as the "leader" of the group and kind of boss him around and he doesn't always listen to show he doesn't have to.

Also about the Skyrim npc thing I totally get that! I don't like how there's not many really good orc npcs and 99% of them are just violent. I just love being able to play one and giving him the life he deserves, a happy little house with a chest filled with cool stuff and a garden. And a bookshelf with all the books he collects.

I'm sorry this is so long I'm just glad to have someone to talk about this ! Ive been in love with fantasy lately (ever since I finished the book legends & lattes and loved it) and especially orcs and im excited to start making a story with my friend and maybe solo stories. - ✨

Hi again! Sorry once more for my late responses, I am in the blender in life.

I always think it's good when people reexamine their biases especially with things they enjoy! It's easy to overlook the negatives with things you're passionate about so I am glad you're taking the time to think about how to make things Better. Especially with fantasy and even More especially with DND and similar settings, there's a lot of being inspired by what's already been written but there's a tricky balance there too as much of the pre-existant lore is... unfortunate!! (I am looking at you, orcs. and drow also.) I'm happy to hear about your orcs that are living happy lives and making interpersonal connections and doing well for themselves! We need more of that!

No need to apologize ^^ my ask box is open! If you ever want to DM me I am usually lurking around for that too. It may take me a bit to respond (oof) but not because I'm not open to it! Have a nice day :]

#orc anon #fantasy racism #god. i have witnessed so much fantasy racism this week. and yet #i love the genre i really do #anyway that's not the point! always happy to get messages #long post

[speaker-traveler]

so, i'm a little... embarrassed, about this fictomere. primarily due to internalized cringe-culture that i Still need to pulverize into the dirt, because i'm afraid i'm faking or that this isn't a "valid" kintype.

but i've been Varic ever since the first campaign he was in ended. that was way before i'd ever heard of fictionkind, let alone otherkind or even therians. so i didn't have the words to apply the stuff i was feeling & experiencing.

information about Varic tended to just come to the surface in a way unlike any other character i'd made for ttrpgs. even in the early stages of character creation, i had a really solid grasp on who he is, his motives & goals, etc. in-game, making decisions & even role playing felt... natural.

not in a way that i was projecting my personality onto this character, but in a way that i understood what was driving him & why.

that first campaign didn't go on for very long, and the second "campaign" he was in was only a single session before it fizzled out due to schedule stuff. on top of that, due to just how homebrewed a bunch of his key features are, i haven't been able to use him in any of the newer games i've been involved in. (they've been run very by-the-book & by a new dm.)

but something about Varic made me keep coming back to him, even when i didn't have any active games going on or couldn't include him. i've been fiddling with his concept for over a year at this point, and after i accepted the possibility that he could be a kintype, things are at long last starting to piece together in a way that feels right.

thus far from what i've been able to gather, the main point of difference between this fictomere & my others is that i... kind of don't have a set canon. maybe it's the nature of having a tabletop game as a source, but my "story" feels flexible. some aspects are immutable - my home, family, and class/pact. there's some "set-piece" moments that i know of, because i'd pre-planned for them to happen at some point in-game (such as my very first encounter with a necromancer, in which my party sees me get genuinely angry for the very first time), but other than that, everything beyond is a fog.

and i think i welcome that. it's kind of exciting! it's a significant difference from my other fictomeres, where their whole story is laid out and mostly known to me. and part of me thinks it'll continue to be that way, because of my source being a ttrpg system. might change, but i'll never know until i can get another game going.

i'm still a bit nervous about being public with this fictomere, but also incredibly fascinated. i'm excited to see how these experiences evolve!

#imagithrope #ockin #fictionkin #fictionkind #dndkin