How do you handle spellcasting services in your 5e games? Do you have a different approach for different systems? Thanks so much to WorldAnvil for sponsoring this video! Visit www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike and use the promo code SUPERGEEK to get 40% off any annual membership! www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike
@RyanZibell
Жыл бұрын
I handle things based on the level of resources the party has. Meta, i know, but if the party has plenty of disposable income it's reasonable to assume that the NPCs can use Insight to know how freely the PCs spend gold and valuables.
@sherbert1321
Жыл бұрын
We actually had a situation where a pc died and we were going to teleport to a temple to see if she can be revived - she was our cleric and the only one who knew Revivify. We ended the session right after she died, so we had a week to come up with a plan to revive her. DM said that anyone in the temple who knew a spell like that would only know up to revivify, and that’s only IF there is someone who knows a spell like that. It’s not a guarantee, and we would need to teleport in, find someone who can do it, and convince them to do it all within 1 minute. An extremely risky task. Then at some point I remembered that my former PC who I retired from the campaign knew revivify, and we could just teleport to him and ask him to revive her. He would immediately know what to do and not ask any questions, and we all knew exactly where he was. So that’s what we did! My former pc became a sort of pseudo-npc. I still played him for that session but he wasn’t a member of the party, and he didn’t interact with my current character because she stayed behind while the rest of the party teleported to him. It was a cool solution!
@michaelday6870
Жыл бұрын
5:15 I like the idea that Mike monologing about DnD is so normal to him that he has to be told that he's being recorded ^_^
I think a "Core Fantasies of Monsters" would definitely be an interesting video! Especially if you're doing it from a DM/narrative standpoint. For example, one of my fantasies with the Wendigo in PF1e was putting my players (who had an easy time with several of my encounters) on the back foot and forcing them to fight defensively or even retreat all together.
@BigKlingy
Жыл бұрын
I second this. When he talked about Strahd as a gaslighting predator, I realised vampires in general have been a metaphor for that throughout human storytelling history: the idea of someone outwardly handsome and charismatic who is secretly a monster who lures in and preys on the vulnerable. The "monster" and "prey" parts just become literal.
@alexpietsch7997
Жыл бұрын
Originally I was going to have magic items be hard to acquire in my campaign which is the second in the same universe. Then one of the PCs in campaign 1 wanted to retire by running a magic item business with his simulacrums. We now have magic Walmart
@Wipomatic
Жыл бұрын
Eeeh, a REAL sword? With an edge and metal and stuff? Ooof...
@theonetruejosh
Жыл бұрын
HAHAHAHA YES! Came here to say this! For the uninitiated: kzitem.info/news/bejne/2KKZnH-igYF6nnY
@pavfeira
Жыл бұрын
Wait, what do you want done to the real sword? Curse it?! Eughhh...
@danielbeshers1689
Жыл бұрын
$100
@CardboardMoose
Жыл бұрын
Just had to be real, didn't it?
@theawkwardpotato1973
Жыл бұрын
16:38 - For lycanthropy, an idea. I'd say if they cast it within the first day maybe immediately after the bite, the curse is weak enough at that point that it can be removed with a simple Remove Curse. It hasn't had time to set in, much like a transmittable disease I mean, it's a just-transferred curse, it hasn't had time to take full hold. However, after a certain amount of time (to be determined by the DM), it's too deeply entrenched in the person and must be removed through some other means, whether a 9th-level remove curse, a wish, or some other complicated ritual. And if I'm correct, in folklore, different circumstances can often change the potency of the same or similar curse. Maybe a person that was bitten on the night of a full moon can't be changed back at all in your setting. Up to you! Look at D&D as a modular set of rules, not a singular setting.
@pdubb9754
Жыл бұрын
Back in the old day there was no long rest to get your HP back after a night of sleep. Getting healed back at town was a necessity. To help not break the fiction, I remember an old Dragon mag article on the Cloistered Cleric, an NPC subclass of non-adventuring cleric. I don't remember the details, but maybe there are gods who don't give everyone access to spiritual weapon and spirit guardians but do recognize that the advneturers out saving the world can't also be responsible for healing the masses.
@under20over40
Жыл бұрын
I think the idea you had about the core fantasy for monsters is a great idea for a video series!
@cjpettie
Жыл бұрын
In AD&D, Resurrection (7th lvl Cleric spell) ages the caster 3 years. That's a sober choice for any caster to make. Also, Identification (1st lvl Magic-User spell) causes the caster to temporarily lose 8 points of Con and possibly fall unconscious and must rest for a full day. For both of these spells in AD&D, the caster would probably charge quite a bit of coin.
@RottenRogerDM
Жыл бұрын
And any spell which aged you require a System Shock Survival roll. A Constitutional save. It ran off your con score. So in 5E call it a DC 5 con save. I had a wizard cast haste on the party. Defeat the encounter only to drop dead of the heart attack.
@Scaramanga7
Жыл бұрын
@@RottenRogerDM and receiving a haste spell aged you a year, good times!
@crafciak31
11 ай бұрын
Huh, Infinity Engine games got rid of that rule, so I never knew it was a thing. Interesting.
@joshuawalsh3255
Жыл бұрын
On the lycanthrope topic - been having a lot of fun with a wererat cleric. He no-sells all the non-magical attacks and makes a show whenever he actually takes damage, it's great.
@johnroberts719
Жыл бұрын
The concept that 4 guys in a tavern available for odd jobs would have magic, but there wouldn't be established magic shops/services is nuts. I like how Critrole handles it with Gilmore's & Pumat. Temple's would sell cleric services (maybe only to members), cities (& large towns) would have connected teleportation circles (either only for official or noble use or for trade), etc. By the end of "Mines of Phandelver" we're 5th level & have likely found 4 rare items, a bunch of uncommon items & a very rare potion. Even fought (& we killed) a young dragon... How much are dragon bones & dragon meat worth? Also, how does trade/economy work? Every random encounter table for the road means farmers heading to town to sell grain would occasionally be running into bands of orcs & random ogres. On the Triboar Trail (MofPhan), every day & night has a >3% chance of up to 6 Orcs armed & armored. Jeb & his boys aren't gonna get their apples to the fair. A single "wall of Stone" spell could create a small permanent fort. Governments couldn't ignore magic. Bazaars would need to protect against charm, distort value, & linked weapons. I like the Sane Magic Prices and DMPG lists.
@marisacosmos
Жыл бұрын
On the point about magical healing... it really feels like this is tied back to the old school healing rules. It does make sense for gritty realism, but it makes more sense to me with how I think healing worked back in early editions of the game.
@mdpenny42
Жыл бұрын
Also the style-of-play - if I remember some of the stuff I've read about how Gygax & co used to play, each session was often "you go from the village/town to the dungeon, do some exploring, XP-ing and whatever, then return to the village/town"; and the "downtime" was used to sort out any healing, tally up the loot and identify (potentially) magical items. D&D has changed somewhat in its style of play since then 😋
@urfaes6878
Жыл бұрын
@@mdpenny42 Four important things (and yes, it's changed) One. You heal 1 hp/day. Period. Two. Gygax built upon Castle Greyhawk. It was a dungeon that went deeper and deeper. Three. A session was one day. Four, loot was the superior XP gain. You got next to nothing for killing a mob.
@patrickscanlon963
Жыл бұрын
You don't need to apologize for repeatedly name dropping Matt Colville; we're all here for the MC+MC bromance
@andrewjustice210
Жыл бұрын
Entertainment = Matt Colville x Mike Christensen…. Entertainment = MC x MC E = MC x MC E = MC² Matt and Mike are geniuses confirmed!
@anintellectualclone1475
Жыл бұрын
One spell service that I find would be really cool to tinker with is the sending spell. Its low level enough that it wouldn't be outrageous for some people to have it, but not everyone; and it would be convenient for the general population to pay services to someone to send messages, either for business or to keep connected with friends and family living somewhere else. Like a telegraph.
@cliffwarden5934
Жыл бұрын
I used to have a travelling merchant with an absurd amount of magic items. He preferred bartering trades rather than exchanging coin and had a weird sense of humor. He was secretly a god of merchantry who's avatar was trapped in a demiplane that took the form of a transpositioning tent that was bigger on the inside. ... He was also the big bad trying to trick the group into letting him out. He was the replacement of a previous merchant god who tried (and almost succeeded) to buy out other gods in a celestial hostile takeover. The replacement (an ascended adventurer that took part in the conflict) was sealed to prevent a repeat event
@BigKlingy
Жыл бұрын
I just thought of a setting where everyone in the world who offers resurrection services is a villain, and any bargains with them result in a "Joker's Favour" situation. "I'll bring back your friend, but you owe me, and one day (you won't know when) I'm going to ask you to do something and you WILL do carry it out." Might lead to interesting plots and make players weigh up the choice to revive someone.
@SupergeekMike
Жыл бұрын
A++ reference 😁
@BigKlingy
Жыл бұрын
@@SupergeekMike I've never even seen that episode but I want to. (I only saw 4 TAS episodes as a kid, thankfully "Robin's Reckoning" was one of them, amazing how they told his backstory in a child-friendly but still tragic way)
@AJ-wh1tw
Жыл бұрын
At our table I tend to refer to myself as the “yes, and” DM. If the players want to find a caster who can do something that is outside of their abilities, they should be able to find that NPC. The bigger the ask, though, the wilder the direction I’m going to send the hoops they have to jump through to either get that Npc to agree or to reach the person they’ve been told can grant their request. My general rule in my games: Anything is possible, that doesn’t mean it’s smart or will be successful.
@FrozenHollowFox
Жыл бұрын
So fun change you can make to spellcasting costs: make it cost more later on in the day. Sorceror or whoever is casting probably has been working all day, and that spell slot is more valuable now.
@DaBezzzz
Жыл бұрын
I recently sought out healing as a player in a game where we did gritty realism. It led to me going to one of the caves in a wall of the underground city we were in, lighting a candle and summoning Griselda-with-the-Eyes, like a Bloody Mary ritual. I gave her something valuable, asked for healing, and I was ready to go back to the mine we were clearing out. Even with my stupid high HP, I couldn't just take a short rest to get back into it.
@TheLordofMetroids
Жыл бұрын
Using Demon/ fay summoning to provide healing is an amazing idea that has never occurred to me before.
@dgthunderer
Жыл бұрын
Revivify can easily work as a town service if the PCs have Gentle Repose.
@AdellRedwinters
Жыл бұрын
One thing with high level npcs is…well it’s all an abstraction. So while an npc being able to cast a 5th level spell *implies* a certain character level or challenge rating, it absolutely doesn’t. An NPC cleric who can perform Raise Dead may only know that power, may still only have 10-15 hit points, and absolutely couldn’t go out solving the worlds problems.
@wolfox7776
Жыл бұрын
This has actually given me a pretty good Downtime idea that I might ask my DM about. Since I'm playing a wizard if we ever have some downtime I could offer some identifying on a market. For a slight fee.
@manueltorresart2345
Жыл бұрын
I want to think that Oreo si the one talking to Mike during the add hook. Talking about the topic, I'm more into making magic services moderately accesible. Not every spell is easy to get, but, as you said, trying to find someone because you need one spell can be an adventure itself.
@AlkanetEXE
Жыл бұрын
When Strixhaven came out, I renamed it and placed it in my homebrew world. Now if the players are looking for access to magic services or information, I have a well-outlined location to send them to. When one of my players wanted to run a different PC, he made her a graduate of the university - now their access is much easier, which tracks with the other ways that their access to the world is increasing as they hit levels 13 & 14.
@Delphi_star
Жыл бұрын
Actually chuckled at the intro to the sponsor. Was reading something else at the time, and it caught me the tiniest bit by surprise.
@MarianoPingitore
Жыл бұрын
My world's lycanthropy CAN be removed by a remove curse or greater restoration spell, but to be able to do that you need to use the blood of the creature that infected you as a material component. It spun a campaign arc that consisted of the PC's having to investigate the identity of the werewolf that bit one of them, discover that they were part of a pact, locating and hunting down said pack and stealthily kidnap the offender (all out conflict would've been deadly for the party). Of course, some time later the pack ended up hunting the PC's in revenge.
@brandonjohnson1358
Жыл бұрын
I’m pretty sure there’s an audio recording from an interview where Tolkien responded to the eagle question with “Shut up.”
@DaBogDweller
Жыл бұрын
Mike has quickly become one of my favorite ttrpg content creators, always look forward to new uploads :-)
@SupergeekMike
Жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@MorningDusk7734
Жыл бұрын
This made me think about how much a war that takes out a good chunk of the population would affect my world, and I think I came up with a good answer. Post-war, the people who survived were those who could protect themselves, and mages were no exception. Thus, magic-prominent bloodlines became a larger percentage of the population just because they didn't die as much as the magic-less. This means post-war becomes a bit more high-magic, but I can always run a low magic game by hopping earlier in the timeline to pre-war.
@RedCoyote
Жыл бұрын
In our campaign, our wizard died in a fight with a purple worm. While we were level 5 (so the druid and the cleric had access to revivify) we didn't have the diamonds, and we were also a couple days away from town. Thankfully, our central town had one cleric with Raise Dead, the head of the local temple of Ilmater. The way it was handled was that we were asked to get the required diamonds and perform a ceremony where each people makes a plea for the spirit to return while the cleric casts Raise Dead (it takes an hour to cast after all). I can't recall if there were rolls because it's been well over a year. Afterwards, since we basically asked for a miracle from a cleric of a god no one in the group actively follows, the cleric and the druid were asked for their help at the temple for a couple weeks during down time. A few of the others also helped at the temple as thanks, so I think it ended up being a good trade. Of course now the druid and cleric are more careful about having the diamonds for revivify, but it ended up being interesting on the RP end of things. So far when it comes to crafting magic items, the PC interested in an specific magic item is requested to retrieve components for the item. For example, a pair of Bracers of Defense will need 500g of adamantine, a flask's worth of Earth Elemental Blood or a corundum from the Plane of Earth, a vial of mercury, and a back plate from a bulette, as well as gold for labor costs. It adds some creativity and also plays to the strength of characters, not just the one looking to get the item made. Also I'd argue that it makes sense from a crafter's perceptive; I don't have time to get all the crazy materials for any possible items if I'm busy running a shop, so if the person interested in the item at least brings the materials, it both helps me get the product made as well as show that the person is serious about obtaining the product.
@TheAciddragon069
Жыл бұрын
in my world i have a Mages Guild with a guild hall in each major city, they offer minor services like identify and low level enchantments, they also offer teleportation to each Guild hall, and there is no other teleportation in my game so to teleport it's quite expensive. As foe healing or remove curse they need to go to a major temple. I find it useful to have these things just as it's a great way to separate my players from their gold
@ColonelMustache
Жыл бұрын
I actually only recently learned about the rule where anyone can learn about a magic item during a short rest - I made a reddit post about it, and a lot of people also seemed to be unaware of it...And I saw some very divisive opinons on it. Personally, my group really likes that rule now that we know. It turns Identify from a nigh-mandatory spell (at least in our campaigns that tend to have a lot of magic items) into a simple convenience. Still worth taking if you're a class who can, but not as necessary. We still have an NPC who can cast Identify for 25 gp, which has come up even since we learned about that rule.
@RJeremyHoward
Жыл бұрын
If I have werecharacters, it's BPS resistance in regular form. They only get immunity if they give in and risk knowledge of their wereform... and I make sure they know how that will likely be received by people who aren't their party. And the risk of giving the creature control... More often than not it's YOLO and fun times, but I make sure they know what a gift - and curse - it will actually be.
@Felsidian
Жыл бұрын
Hey, "Core Fantasy for Monsters" sounds like a cool video... And a video on death and resurrection would be interesting too.
@savnana3605
Жыл бұрын
Having experimented with gritty realism, it bumps into the same problems normal rests do, unless you ALWAYS have a ticking clock like "the world ends in 30 days". The best 'rest' system I've experimented with is that you can only take a long rest at a "safe place". This usually means a place with comfortable temperature, no keeping watch, a full meal, etc. At low levels this means trudging back to town or finding a cabin to take shelter in etc, allowing the DM to more easily plan for how many long rests the party might take on any given quest out of town, and giving more power to the 'safe travel' spells at higher levels. Tiny hut can grant you a full rest, but it means nobody keeps watch, and the dome is fairly obvious. Magnificent Mansion lets you long rest safely anywhere, but that's a seventh level spell. Maybe you cast hallucinatory terrain and hope for the best.
@Jarethenator
Жыл бұрын
Slight aside on the eagle thing mentioned: Sauron had also been trying to recruit actual, legitimate big fuck off dragons. Part of the whole reason for why retaking Erabor was such a big issue was because if Mordor had gotten control of it they would certainly have had a key strategic base in the north but also potentially Smaug as an ally. That would have been bad. If Sauron had caught credible wind of the eagles taking the long journey to Mordor he would have reasonable deduced why and would have doubled, tripled, quadrupled his efforts to get ANY flying defense he could. They would have been having roasted eagle down in Mordor for weeks!
@mkang8782
Жыл бұрын
My setting generally has low level (1st or 2nd level spells) spellcasting services available, but, stuff that's more useful in a town, city, or village. Higher level can be found, but, that generally requires an intermediary or some sort of status/reputation. Not all spellcasters advertise their capabilities and/or whereabouts; their reasons for remaining clandestine will be varied. Most will be mildly peeved (at best) if they are outed by someone else. Gold will be accepted for basic magic. Services and/or materials will be required for others. Though you didn't touch on it in the video, large cities are likely to have a magic school of some sort which can provide spell scrolls for a price (gold).
@TheXenioph
Жыл бұрын
Gotta respect the Gritty Realism plug. That being said, you fall into the ~GR is extra hard~ trap that many fall into. The difficulty increase seen in GR campaigns has more to do with more of the Adventuring Day budget being used. (That may have everything to do with the social dynamic at play.) If you want to maintain the difficulty of your game with GR added, just use that same diminished budget. GR doesn't have to be hard.
@andrewjustice210
Жыл бұрын
I love when I am watching a video from a creator that I like and I see something (like the intro to an ad break) that makes it very clear to me that they also watch a creator, of a totally different subject matter, that I also like…. The “im being recorded right now‽” screams “Some More News” energy
@heykak
Жыл бұрын
in regards to lycantropy, the loup garou in van richten has a much more complicated way of removing the curse (the inflicter has to be dead, which is more difficult with a CR 13 superwolf), it has to be a full moon, a con save is involved and if succesful the cursed takes 3 levels of exhaustion. if it isnt, you have to wait another month (which is a problem because there is now a full moon and a werewolf is in proximity) Also WoTC have "struggled" with how to convey werewolf imperviousness, and the what they have arrived at seems to be regeneration (and in the loups case it has to be a silver weapon)
@RiskPig
Жыл бұрын
I scrolled a long way down the comments to find a lack of acknowledgment of the thumbnail making a MBMBAM reference.
@lefterismplanas4977
Жыл бұрын
That gritty realism sounds fascinating!
@jacksharks6433
5 ай бұрын
[21:35] Revivify absoluteley needs to be on that list. That is what overly cautious spellcasters pick Gentle Repose for. One would have to have it prepared an cast it with a spell slot or use the Scribe Wizard's Awakened Spellbook but in either case it only takes an action and extends the time limit of Revivify by ten days.
@AMRosa10
3 ай бұрын
I think that for the Gritty Realism mechanic to work, Spell Slots for spellcasters would really need to be tweaked... something similar to what is suggested for Epic Heroism, but instead, it would be something like regain half spell slots after the 8 hour short rest and only regain all spell slots after a long rest... Another option could be to add something like an extended rest. You can use hit dice on short rests or long rests, and you regain 1/2 your hit dice on a long rest, but the only way to recover your full hit points is through healing spells, potions, or an extended rest which would be 7-days of in game rest. Critical Role did something like this when Matt described the time it took for Gilmore to recover from being near death after the Chroma Conclave's attack on Emon. I realize he was using it as a narrative excuse for why Pike would stay in Whitestone (covering for Ashley Johnson's work schedule), but it makes sense, even from a game perspective. You could maybe even think about doing recovery in a way that if the PC goes to 0 hit points and either is healed or succeeds on 3 death saves then they need to spend a full week resting and either burning a healing potion or having a healing spell cast on them each of the days to get back to full hit points. You could even combine this with the Exhaustion rules as Critical Role did with Percy's death at the hands of Ripley and subsequent resurrection. Maybe without the week's rest or the use of Greater Restoration, then the PC could only have 1/2 their maximum hit points and could not recover any Exhaustion Points without the extended rest, and the clock resets if that extended rest period is interrupted.
@RedPandaSquadron
Жыл бұрын
I just want to take a moment and do the required: Gritty Realism is very much a stylistic choice that everyone at the table must agree on and enjoy that style. It is not for every table and can have REAL problems of balance that come up if not prepared for. Personally, I refuse to be at a table with gritty realism anymore (hyperbole), because it's just not enjoyable. And that's OK.
@12sephiroth
Жыл бұрын
I would really like to know how you feel about resurrection spells. I adopted the Matt Mercer Idea, where every resurrection would increase the difficulty for success. But i also provide every part with *one* mysterious item, which functions as a "get out of jail" card once, for their first character death. So that they know how high the stakes are...
@SupergeekMike
Жыл бұрын
I like that approach! I’ll definitely do a video later this year about handling death in RPGs, no doubt
@peterk7931
Жыл бұрын
The ad segues are getting really smooth.
@charlottegoldman3580
Жыл бұрын
I like having spell services in larger towns/cities and only there. Its hard to make the idea of a spell service to work in a podunk village out in the sticks.
@alexdeveau9087
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for the MBMBAM reference, my girlfriend and I love that one..
@seanfulldark
Жыл бұрын
When the extra things I do with identify: how is this magical item constructed. Currently right now in my campaigns I have detailed the differences between mystical tinkering and then enchantments. Currently from what I've seen in the books they are completely identical I had to ask a lot people around some things just before I came up with the differences. Magical tinkered has rules and instructions and also requires sometimes resources in order for it to work. For example I bring up night vision goggles AK goggles of dark vision. Magically tinkered versions require recharging, attunement, and the recharge specification is that it has to be within direct sunlight for at least 4 hours. Meanwhile the enchantment doesn't have a recharge requirement sometimes it doesn't require two mints sometimes it does it depends on the effect but on the downside is that passively you are technically casting the spell so if you're a spellcaster you're using your spell slot while wearing the item(in my campaign everybody has this system called MP yes I stole it from video games but it's so useful, besides most spellcasters casting spells list their cost level, and if you're up level one player and you have more than four MP you are really good which means yes you cannot cast the levels 5 spell, granted there are some broken cantrips but hey odds are you're going to be casting them at higher levels anyhow in order to do something.) adding these little tweaks to identify might help out your party. Also I did add a little touch that magical tinkering has pros because you can technically stack it's not easy but you can, meanwhile enchantments you have to do a one time upgrade possibilities but that's about it. And what I mean by technically stack means that you can do updates onto your magical item or if the magical item became extra magical because of a side effect. IE originally you tweaked up the item to give you mystical armor like a magic flask then during the campaign you use the magic flask to trap a genie inside by definition it becomes more magical so you have no choice but to mystically tinker with your flask to allow the magical effects to not cause problems with the genie who's staying in there because they choose to live in it because it's a nice apartment. Insert your own joke about the magical housing market. [meanwhile if that was an enchanted item the jar would instantly break Jeannie would be angry because he lost chance at getting a new house and probably show exactly why you do not mess with the gin!]
@pLanetstarBerry
Жыл бұрын
Honestly, the Remove Curse deliemma is why I love Van Richten’s Guide so much. It has rules for setting up what I like to call "Big Boy Curses" and it specifies that spells like Remove Curse and Greater Restoration are only temporary fixes. You could easily apply that to other curses if you want curses in general to have more of an impact, but I've used it (mostly) RAW to signal to players that there's plot hooks afoot. RAW also specifies that the person being cursed has to be in the wrong, but I only apply that to PC's. Folklore and fairytales have plenty of examples of characters going overboard with their retribution, I just make those characters villains. My party has already met a cursed-since-birth NPC they took a liking to, and they are chomping at the bit to find the guy who cursed him. Like holy crap. I did not expect them to be so on board with wrecking the life of an NPC they haven't met, but here we are. In the meantime, since Remove Curse and Greater Restoration are temporary fixes, they are getting the ball rolling to help him break the curse. So here's hoping their efforts pay off.
@dresdenfire99
Жыл бұрын
You got me here with that good mbmbam goof on the thumbnail.
@Dunybrook
Жыл бұрын
It's such a great opportunity for adventuring hooks.
@seamusb9012
Жыл бұрын
I've played gritty realism and it's so much more fun to have the magic available to you imo.
@lefterismplanas4977
Жыл бұрын
You gave me a good wiritng idea. Gritty realism rules and no Services(in general) in town sounds to me like a scenario where the bad guys have won. Like if you've entered the land of a necromancer or something. So where where the sky is always gloomy and the town people are not people anymore. (But maybe can be cured) It sounds fascinating and could work for many levels, with the return to normality being the reward. Maybe tho the bad guy wants to recruit you ? You could even be the bad guy's companions, and be helping him. But have a complication happen and and get hit with the gritty realism(the magical artifact giving you authority and protecting you was broken , stolen or lost) and your quest is how to reach back to your friend/evil ruler with the whole land being your Enemy. I really like all these options. How do they sound mike? Feel free to steal this idea for D&D campaign. Im not planning on ever being a dm Myself 😅
@Gerendiell
Жыл бұрын
Being patrt of the evil faction and then something happens is the base for the video game Tyranny. It might not have the best gameplay, but the story was solid and it can serve as an inspiration if one is so inclined.
@Lurklen
Жыл бұрын
(Apologies for the long comment, read at your leisure if at all. I just wrote while listening to the video and got a little carried away.) So, when it comes to magical services, for me it's all about setting/location/fun (Though not always in that order). I'm not really worried about balance, or how the PC's spend their dosh, I have the ability to control for that. It's always about the narrative motivation, and whether I think the players would find this fun and/or interesting. Generally there's pretty limited populations of spell casters offering services in my setting, or at least in any one location. Players skew the numbers, but I try to keep the magic people as a notable minority, and different areas have more or less something like a level cap on how powerful the casters there tend to be. Where ever they are, there are far more entry level casters than higher level ones, and the higher level ones usually have their own ways of getting wealth, and don't need to take on consulting jobs to make ends meet. Most spell casters belong to factions controlled or overseen by the major powers in their region. They are either agents of the state, or a small population that works connected to them, but has relative freedom (think the Witcher, where there are independents, but also state advisors tied to a School or Body) in other lands they are literally the property of the head of state, or bound by religious doctrine (think Dragon Age) and in still others, they basically run the place (in this case it's a Ravnica-like flying city from a bygone age, that is insular, but also canny enough to essentially soft colonize through setting up magic shops with tracking curses in regions where this won't cause conflict, complete with marketing schemes and customer levels, they are the exception to the rule and it's really messing with everyone else in my world). There are far fewer Clerics and Paladins, then there are priests and holy knights. And the latter will have knowledge, but their power is limited and must be asked for (and thuse may be refused), they do not generally have prepared spells waiting to go. As for the actual services *needed* by players, it depends entirely on the party, and where in my world they are adventuring. I'll break it down by service like in the video. Most of this would be paid for in favours, questing, or an exchange (like trading magic items) but can be coin in some locations (that flying city has a robust magical economy, and a sort of state medical insurance, of course the medical practitioners are also fleshcrafting biomancers who will take a literal arm and a leg as payment, so people aren't rushing off to see the doctors). *Healing: Almost never if they have a healer of their own, unless they have received serious injury. I use a variation on the hardcore rest rules, but not with those timelines, mine works like this: With one use of a healing kit, you may use as many of your hit dice as you like on a short rest. You may also use your hit dice freely on a long rest. You only regain 1 hit-die per long rest you do not spend one. I also include critical injuries (as a result of crits and falling to 0 hp with a cap on severity on the former, and a minimum on the latter) , which can only be healed with time (and the possible application of surgery), or magical healing of at least 3rd level or greater, to the limitations of the spell (so Cure wounds will not regrow a hand, etc.) or 15 points of Lay on Hands, per critical injury. Without magical healing these injuries can take days, or weeks, or even months to recover from--if ever. So in those cases, magical healers are a godsend. So far this has made my PC's more careful, and they tend to go through resources at a rate that means they actually have to strategize a bit. *Identification of magic items: So I'm kind of all over the shop on this. But generally, common items can be identified with a short rest/some experimentation, uncommon requires some testing and Identify, anything over that is going to take a bit of work. The biggest change is I don't allow Identify to give you all the details of an item, unless you pass a check. All it will do is tell you the basics (It is magical, it has a certain amount of properties, it is attunable or not and by whom). Anything more requires a check by the caster trying to use the spell. Potions, likewise you can make an Alchemy test if you have the Prof, or try testing it yourself to make an arcana check. Experts are an option, and may not even be casters, just Loremasters and the like. But most parties have the skills needed to figure stuff out. You learn the properties of most items once you attune to them, but not necessarily any secret activation words or the like. *Restoration and Curse breaking: I find GR isn't too hard to regulate (how much diamond dust is just laying around?) but I also tend to create scenarios where a long rest doesn't cure your blindness etc. , so lesser gets some use too. This tends to work like healing. But I HATE Remove Curse. It's so boring. I don't remove it, but I make it a casting test, and if you fail there can be blow back (you can end up with curses I have from a list). As a bonus, more people can team up to help you break it (offering a +1 to the check) but then they too suffer the effects of a failure. It will cure basic curses and hexes (Bestow Curse and the like) without a test, if they are equal or lower level. It can also remove Vampirism, and Lycanthropy and other more severe curses in the very early stages (IF IT'S DETECTED), usually within the first 24 hours. But after that, the best it can do is hold the curses at bay or mitigate the effects. *Divination: This is actually one of the most common, and most restricted services in much of my setting. The ability to scry, or see the future is something a lot of people don't like being in the wild, so anti-magic sentiment comes from a lot of this (Fireballs don't help either). But it's also something everyone wants. So the great Oracles are honoured in places, but the hedge witch is burned in others. I actually include Sending (though I make it more like scrying with the save and all) and the like in this, these are things magical weirdos get up to, that are useful, and also creepy or invasive. I include these services more than most others. *Teleportation: Almost never. Few locations in my setting are robust enough to have a teleportation network, and those that are are not sharing it with anyone with some loot. It's high magic, and using it is dangerous. There are exceptions (that floating city for example), and though this is the case now, in ancient days there were networks of a sort, and some factions might allow access to those, for a fee. But we're talking like moving armies for a kings ransom, not like four mooks looking to kill a lich or whatever. Again, there are exceptions but they are the rarity. If a wizard is Teleporting you, it's because you are useful, or because you've pissed them off. (I do allow a wizard to Teleport more than written, if they have another caster to help them with the spell, but it becomes a longer casting time, and there's more that can go wrong, and they must both pass a check, though the secondary--or more, casters do not need to have the spell or be high enough level to cast it.) *Resurrection: Almost never. Few people have this power, fewer still are those the Divine find worthy to expend it on. You have to be someone a divinity would be willing to intercede for, for it to work at all, and also have the diamonds or tribute (something I try to regulate). It's not a service at a shop, it's a person reversing the course of death. It happens, but it's a big deal, and when PC's get this power it comes with a big responsibility. People notice when you start bringing back the dead, everyone has lost someone. Even when it does happen, it comes with bonds more weighty than gold, coin, or treasure. There's always a quest, either for the caster, or more likely for the god whose power they wield.
@kelpiekit4002
Жыл бұрын
Another thing for spellcasting services is do they bear any resemblance to caster classes. Adventurer casters are focused on efficacy in particular situations. They need combat spells, faster casting times, crowd control, and so on. A spellcaster in a town may have an entire library of spells considered prepared but all are at least a minimum of an hour of ritual casting, because they're focused on reliability more than speed, and most of them are super niche to their particular study, such as a "microscopic arcane eye" or "adjust ley line resonance wave slightly". It can be a way to handle high level casters if their spell levels are completely different than yours (Your cantrip drains them as a 4th level casting and vis versa for instance) and they could never get their head around a fireball because they never found it useful enough to work at.
@chapwolff
Жыл бұрын
The big reason I am adding spellcasting services because we don't have a Wizard or Sorcerer in the party.
@jaddriscoll
Жыл бұрын
I appreciate the reference in the thumbnail!
@detofox
Жыл бұрын
Think i found my fave worldanvil ad break
@rtaraquin
Жыл бұрын
The MBMBaM reference in the thumbnail got me for sure.
@kylethomas9130
Жыл бұрын
I have several NPCs available to make low level items and consumables. My players can acquire the method of making magic items in my setting, but no one seems interested in developing those skills. Currently they can't get anything greater than uncommon items. That's probably not an issue for most campaigns, but some of the upcoming quest lines will prove difficult.
@Joe-gb3lu
Жыл бұрын
I think you also need to consider how much you want to make your campaign all about 1 character. Unless everyone gets cursed/afflicted, you'll have them going off out of their way to be helping one person get better. That's not much fun for the rest of the party
@DeeEll1
Жыл бұрын
The most reliable spellcaster that my players purchase the services of is a magic shop owner who has many branches that lead to the same demiplane where his shop exists. He also greatly over prices his Wares because he knows there's not a whole lot of competition
@Just_Leo_kingofgods
Жыл бұрын
I would 100% watch a video about the core fantasy of dnd monsters
@ghqebvful
Жыл бұрын
When I had my first character death we did something similar to what you described. I rolled up a new character (a cleric that worships the god of death) to join the party at least for a time while they put my previous character on ice so to speak (I cast gentle repose and then asked the temple to cast it until we can afford a resurrection-type spell). Costly service and I only gave the idea we could do it if everyone else wanted to as we were all low level and basically hadn't explored any of our characters backstories much. Not sure how it'll play out as there was a story shift pretty recently, so he may be gone for good - though I still love the concept of the dead character
@patricks2645
Жыл бұрын
21:39 gentle repose has entered the chat
@leahwilton785
Жыл бұрын
11:25 "but in my defense..." he's matt colville. id talk abt him in every video too if i were you lol
@hollyw8085
Жыл бұрын
I really like the suggestions in this video, I just started a campaign with 7 players and no cleric, so having some of these services available might be really useful!!
@noctisastrum7495
Жыл бұрын
You could also maybe add in an npc that helps with healing like a talking book who was once a magic user, but their soul got trapped in book
@bristowski
Жыл бұрын
This is a good channel. I like Mike.
@TheWordN3rd
Жыл бұрын
I love how much your videos always make me think. And I've been thinking about this a lot bc our cleric is a fake cleric. I have been a VERY stressed DM these past few games. We have a druid, so they'll be okay if they can make it to the point where everyone realizes the cleric is not a cleric, but still... they've gotta make it to that point 😅
@Jwilhoftstg
Жыл бұрын
This is something I've been considering for my world since it's very high magic. Excited to hear your take on it!
@toffepajja
Жыл бұрын
I'm intending to have spellcasting services semi-available to my party of two, but I'm unsure of what I'll do with my party of three (currently three, we'll see if that might change once I'm actually ready to pick that adventure back up again, I have two players up in the air there). They're set in the same world and continent, the larger party taking place 50 years before the smaller party.
@orionspero560
Жыл бұрын
For me it feels right where a remove curse spell can either remove werewolf effect from someone who has never transformed can prevent one transformation. Similarly greater restoration should be able to remove wearable physm from someone who has never killed as a werewolf. But once you have seated stronger than tyes it becomes harder though achievable. There are a number of other transformations in this category also. Also my feel for how common magic should be. For any gthen p h b spell casting class there should be an average of One percent of adalts able to cast cantrips from that class (at least 1 a day). Of those half should be at least for level, and a 3rd of that half should be at least 3rd level, and a quarter of that 3rd should be at least 5th level, and so on. That said I do like to have a high level cleric around 2 can with enough persuasion do q number of these things. With enough reason that clarence can call in even higher level clarics over weeks or months if such spells are needed and the characters can provide such motivations. The 1st case should require one westmark session success plus the difference in the spell level of the player characters and the spell required. The 2nd requires that much just to bring in the high level character plus twice that as payment to the high level character. The win and moral character of the payments depends on the n b c's in question. This may mean you need to find an appropriate n p c alignment wise or the like.
@TwilitbeingReboot
9 ай бұрын
How do you think Gritty Realism resting rules ought to interact with the official downtime activities? Should players be able to take a long rest while working on a big crafting project, carousing, or training? I'm tempted to give Gritty Realism a try for an urban campaign I'm planning, but I also want the downtime activities to see some use, and I wouldn't want those two needs competing for time.
@notoriouswhitemoth
Жыл бұрын
Here's something to consider: One diamond worth 500 gold should not be easy to come by! A diamond equivalent in price to a pound of platinum is the kind of thing there are literally legends about! Think the Golconda diamonds, all of which were stolen from India by other nations that colonized them, the most famous being the hope diamond and the koh-i-noor. Diamonds aren't rare, but naturally occurring, large, high-quality diamonds are. With that in mind, the material component to cast Raise Dead could be a sacred relic of which there are only a hundred in the entire world.
@TheAciddragon069
Жыл бұрын
for remove curse, i homebrewed that it doesn't cure the curse but it tells you how to remove the curse with either another spell or having to find ingredients to brew a potion or kill the hag ect.
@aaronghunter
Жыл бұрын
I have made spellcasting services available, but often limited or expensive. A small town will have some casters, but as with magic items, few if any are openly advertised. If a character is part of a secret society, fraternal community, or religious order they may know someone who can put them in contact with someone. Beyond that, there are usually local figures who the party can suss out. There are also charlatans and grifters at times...
@aaronghunter
Жыл бұрын
Use a charlatan when the party is trying to revive a fallen comrade at your own risk.
@nickischilling
Жыл бұрын
The Nazgul thing has been bothering me every time someone brings up using the Eagles. Plus the Eagles would probably be very susceptible to the ring (even Gandalf refused to touch it) and that wouldn't go very well for anyone.
@Alex-cq1zr
Жыл бұрын
I kinda like how Brancalonia modifies 5e.
@RyanZibell
Жыл бұрын
Perhaps making something addressing the core fantasy for anti-heroes, for which the Werewolf is most certainly one? I can think of a whole blurb about the Death Cleric, a.k.a. the cultist, as well as Raistlin Majere a.k.a. the power monger and Damian Wayne (also Mara Jade Skywalker for that matter) as the reformed assassin
@trinitydalfae8478
Жыл бұрын
Those prices for spells seem like they were ripped right out of 3E. Magical healing was way more important when characters only heal their level in HP per full day of rest.
@OptimisticAudience
Жыл бұрын
I had to click on this because I saw the thumbnail and recognized that reference
@RottenRogerDM
Жыл бұрын
Yes when I was homebrewing. And yes since I an Adventure League DM. Currently in AL the casting are. SPELLCASTING SERVICES AVAILABLE Spellcasting Service Cost Cure wounds 10 gp Identify 20 gp Lesser restoration 40 gp Prayer of healing 40 gp Dispel magic 90 gp Remove curse 90 gp Speak with dead 90 gp Divination 210 gp Greater Restoration 450 gp Raise dead 1,000 gp Resurrection 3,000 gp True resurrection 30,000 gp Hey the clerics are having a 25% off sale from your chart. The current NPC services paragraph. NPC Spellcasting Services. Characters can receive spellcasting services from an NPC located anywhere that is at least town-sized (1000 or more residents) or has a specific NPC able to cast the spell(s) needed. In addition, the characters must be able to travel there in order to receive services during an adventure. Otherwise, characters follow the rules for post-adventure recovery as listed in the D&D Adventurers League Player’s Guide.
@RottenRogerDM
Жыл бұрын
Before 5E I was generally stick another quarter in the slot for another life so Cleric spells were easy to get. Arcana spells depended on the size of the city.
@RottenRogerDM
Жыл бұрын
Ok you are just the 4th person this year to make a 4 20 joke. Are we witnessing the death of a lame joke after 40 years?
@raylea72
Жыл бұрын
I caught your username while scanning the comments and wondered for a moment if I had posted a comment and forgotten? Doesn't AL have some pretty generous between session recovery rules? It has been several years since we played AL, and I seem to remember that we were able to have long rested between sessions (no matter the actual in-game timeline) in order to ensure that anyone who came in was on equal footing - resource wise - with everyone else. I may remember that wrong, though.
@RottenRogerDM
Жыл бұрын
@@raylea72 IF you are running in a book, a dm may say no rest between sessions due to time restraints like the store is closing. But currently if you are dead, cursed, paralyzed, blinded, deafed, prone, all these conditions are gone at the beginning of the next module. You can even go shopping between sessions in the middle of combat.
@girlie_p0p
Жыл бұрын
I am really not a fan of the Gritty Realism rest mechanics, simply put, it makes certain player options outright terrible, though to be fair, it does buff martials in an interesting way, especially Rogue and Fighter.
@davidgipe997
Жыл бұрын
Awe man, ice already subscribed though. ;) Another informative vid.
@nyanbrox5418
Жыл бұрын
One thing you didn't mention about asking for a favour to revive a fallen party member, is raise dead has a strict time limit, so if the party also has to travel through let's say dangerous woods, where they can only afford to move quietly some of the time, because it's far too slow, now you can introduce plothooks and things which are avoidable let's say there are 7 possible encounters on the road, each which requires different types of resources to overcome, and the party knows this, and what they are, but doesn't know the order of them, and while stealthing through an area it *doesn't* tell you what danger you avoided, now players might have to gamble with which spells they prepare, can they afford to try to have a spell for both unlocking an impenetrable door that only a knock spell can bypass without thay knock spell? perhaps not, or without fly it will be impossible for the barbarian to help deal with the harpies on the other hand, the party could move stealthy for longer, but run the risk of exhaustion, which could make the final encounter much more difficult and all of these things can be combined with gritty realism and variant identification, for some theoretically wild stuff
@lukerabon7925
Жыл бұрын
To be "fair", if a PC ever fully embraces Lycanthropy in 5e the MM does instruct that they immediately become a NPC. So the problem is "solved" the moment a PC tries to actually use it
@tbmin3d
Жыл бұрын
But I wanted to be a werewolf and was "cured" against my will... Player knowledge that I bit another PC in the fight, I made damn sure he was asleep during a long rest, put my finger in & then pushed his jaw... Yes, I inserted and worked is mouth while asleep, I am an asshole, but also wanted to "embrace the curse"
@annatar2140
Жыл бұрын
Love your stuff Mike!
@bryangibbs7191
8 ай бұрын
Meanwhile my players usually ended up going through 18 fights between long rests
@avengingblowfish9653
Жыл бұрын
Gritty Realism is too punishing for a combat oriented TTRPG like 5E. The alternative I prefer is to have all natural healing come from Hit Dice alone. Long rest still restores half your hit dice, but does not restore HP.
@tealeafonthewind
Жыл бұрын
What kind of sword?
@SupergeekMike
Жыл бұрын
A real sword
@brandonhaddix8937
Жыл бұрын
Ehhhhhh..... 200 dollars.
@bittipasuta
Жыл бұрын
Dammit that thumbnail text... 😅
@sam7559
Жыл бұрын
Not doing a video supporting drug use today is a good thing and I'm glad you didn't make a video about what drugs to use during your D&D session
@AdThe1st
Жыл бұрын
Can't wait for your weed video
@swirlingsun
Жыл бұрын
wait but how DO you curse a real sword???? 🤔🤔🤔
@SupergeekMike
Жыл бұрын
Wait, what kind of sword?
@cthulhucollector
Жыл бұрын
If the DM wants to sure. Yet again all those books are just suggestions not laws.
@happygoluka9367
Жыл бұрын
to me remove curse always seemed like a spell that should have a costly material component. It's situational and rarely cast during typical campaigns, but valuable enough that it's worth spending monetary resources to cast to fix the problems it can solve. Revivify is also 3rd level and requires 300gp. I think making versions of remove curse that scale like resurrect spells, but also have the same limitations. So 3rd level remove curse effect costs maybe 100gp but only works within a minute of being cursed, like revivify. a 5th level version maybe costs 200gp, but also only works within 10 days. and then finally a 7th level version that costs 500gp and works within a century. Anything over 100 years should need a wish type effect.
@happygoluka9367
Жыл бұрын
also while the base version always ends attunement on cursed magic items on common, uncommon, rare, and very rare items, you can't remove the curse from the item itself. maybe higher level magic like the 5th level removes the curse from those items, while ending attunement on legendary items and artifacts, and the 7th level version can end curses on legendary items, and 9th level from artifacts.
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