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@Chadok89
4 жыл бұрын
Probably a party with critical fumble + permanent -1 dex and char on a rogue... I left the game at that point (not just for that, but the GM was bad overall)
@Chadok89
4 жыл бұрын
I got the negative stats during a quest. We were following the tracks of someone in tunnels and ended up in a dead end with a magic portal and footprints going into the portal. After examining every rooms and walls, I jumped into the portal. The GM said it was a portal to some sort of hell and I lost 1 dex from a wound and 1 charisma because I was traumatized. When I asked him what we should have done. He shrugged and said go back to the tavern (we had no other leads to follow) but not jumped into an unknown portal.
@janthion3590
4 жыл бұрын
Initiative is not affected by Jack of all trades cause the DM doesn't see it that way, he gave the excuse that it's an inconsistency of the rule books. Even showed em tweets for Jeremy about the rule but still doesn't want to, he eventually said it won't work if your wearing heavy armor or med armor if it has dis on stealth. I was a Fighter Bard, I just gave up when I tried to have the rule repealed cause he started getting angry.
@twilightgardenspresentatio6384
4 жыл бұрын
the DM Lair no house rules is the worst house rule!
@Damnationization
4 жыл бұрын
!) I disagree with critical fumbles. I do not have a table, but it makes game play interesting. If you roll a 1 and your alley is near a monster he may hit you. The same rules apply for monsters. It's funny when a creature drops his alley with a misplaced shot. 2) I have done that in the past and agree it's to hard. When I did it I allowed the lower level player to get his equipment handed down, but even that wasn't enough. So now you start 2 levels less. 3) I agree. Leave Britney alone. I mean the XP system. :) 4) Never used and it's a bad idea. 5) People are idiots when it comes to alignments. I see alignments as general dispositions. So I agree. 6) I never did this. Sorry no Nerf guns allowed. LOL. :) 7) I did this a long time ago. But not today. You get to make your character. 8) The reasons are idiotic in your video. If a player can not do something, tell them so. Otherwise you are wasting everyone's time. A 20 should succeed, unless it's multiple rolls are needed. 9) I agree 100%. 10) Agree. I had a DM rule that some monsters snuck up on us and I was like WTF.
@schwarzerritter5724
4 жыл бұрын
"I convince the king to relinquish his throne to me! * natural 20." "The king laughs and sends you on your way." "But I had a natural 20!" "That is why you are not in prison for treason."
@D100RandomEncounter
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, that's pretty much how I treat nat 20 for skills. You succeed, in that you do the best result you could for what you have. Out of the examples in the video, the "Barbarian knowing what the rune means because of a nat 20 for an arcane knowledge roll" is the one where I'd have ruled the most in favor of the character, because "part of the few things he learned was a reference to that rune as an anecdote."
@zinkheroofyoutube8004
4 жыл бұрын
I’d probably give it to them just to see how’d they handle a kingdom and how long it takes before a rebellion starts or they accidentally(or purposefully) burn the kingdom down
@Mortlupo
3 жыл бұрын
@@D100RandomEncounter I use the rules as written for skills, how the party interacts with the king will determine whether the king takes the "suggestion" as jest or treason.
@monkeysk8er33
3 жыл бұрын
That's still a success then, technically. We roll skill checks to avoid consequences or achieve a goal. If you didn't achieve your goals, but you dodged all consequences, then your Nat 20 actually succeeded.
@matthewshimabuku
3 жыл бұрын
The kings gives a light scoff, narrowing his eyes at you. He raises from his throne, stepping to the side and gesturing towards the chair. "Go ahead," he challenges, "have a seat." The guards in the room begin to snicker. That, or he gives them the actual chair and commissions the party to find him a new one. A better one.
@MatthewCampbell765
4 жыл бұрын
With restarting at level 1, there's three big problems in particular: -It creates what's called an "unstable equilibrium" where a player who loses keeps on losing. -Level 1 in D&D sucks in general. Level 1's are made of tissue paper and the game doesn't really feel balanced until level 2 or 3. -It would be a bit odd for a high-level party to recruit a level 1 character into their group. A high-level party attempting to hire a replacement for a fallen companion can afford to be choosy and a level 1 simply isn't sufficient. On the flipside, a level 1 would be rather foolish to try joining a high level party, instead of starting off with something easier like fighting some giant rats.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Absolutely those are all excellent reasons not restarting a level one. It's also just not very much fun for a player who might be like say level 15 to restart a level one.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
I usually went with; lose a level, add the experience the party gained in the last battle, & that was the level you started at... (So you may or may not be a level behind)
@nickwilliams8302
4 жыл бұрын
@@aliendingus1991 I just let the player start at the level of the rest of the party.
@jtosety
4 жыл бұрын
I not only think new characters should start at the party's level, I reward the entire party with xp when one person does something I want to reward
@TheAntesse
4 жыл бұрын
As someone who has been playing for a long, long time, the start at level one concept is still terrible for modern games. There is part of it that people are getting a little bit wrong though. From my experience, players would have a bunch of characters at various levels, sort of like an adventurers guild, and they would play the characters as needed for adventures and modules. If one died, they died. But you probably had a handful of other characters at similar levels that you could play. New characters were started at level one but often traveled with parties a little higher to gain experience, acting more as elite henchmen rather than being in the thick of battle. It was different from the one campaign one character model we tend to see now.
@zane9464
4 жыл бұрын
Luke:” And the worst way to screw with the XP system is-“ Me irl screaming:” FINAL KILL.”
@claude-alexandretrudeau1830
4 жыл бұрын
That house rule is such BS. DnD is a cooperative game, not a competitive one.
@fhuber7507
4 жыл бұрын
I have group kills vs solo kills. Group kill: All of the party (or some subset of the party) was trying to get involved, though some may not have had a chance. Everyone who rolled initiative shares EXP Some PC that ran off on their own and wasn't there would not get a share. Solo kill: Nobody else was even thinking about entering combat. The PC is probably off on his own. That PC gets the EXP.
@twilightgardenspresentatio6384
4 жыл бұрын
Zanesushi Plays so true
@Cyberlisk
4 жыл бұрын
Even in video games XP aren't only awarded to the player who gets the killing blow. Dunno where exactly that idea even comes from, it just doesn't make any sense at all.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
@@fhuber7507 This is how I also do experience. You can't really award experience to those that don't participate (at least not in good conscience). If a player doesn't show up during a game, then they get no experience for the session (your character has something they need to take care of), unless they want another player to control their characters, for which they get combat experience (but no role-playing experience, which I hand out separately, & can exceed combat experience in some situations), & if something should happen to their character in their absence, then they just have to deal with it (usually if the character is in the middle of a quest or dungeon in which the character can't easily make an exit, then the character is played).
@FlyingDominion
4 жыл бұрын
Player: level 4 death DM: "Go ahead and roll a level 1 character." Player: "No, we're almost level 5. Cleric, just cast Gentle Repose and once you hit 5, Revivify me. I'll wait a couple sessions instead of being a significantly lower level permanently."
@emiledlund9559
3 жыл бұрын
Imagine playing that rule with milestone experience
@FlyingDominion
3 жыл бұрын
@@emiledlund9559 Oh, that'd be even worse, since milestones don't care what level you are to level you up. "Come on, we've had 5 adventures. Can I PLEASE be level 2 now?"
@naivety
3 жыл бұрын
@@FlyingDominion See that seems stupid to me. I'm using milestone leveling in my current campaign and if a PC dies I will be starting them off at a much lower level. Maybe not 1 if the party is at 10, but 5 instead. It's not like the party randomly stumbles into a superhero who wants to join random adventurers. But what would make the most sense there would be to have the level 5 player level up once per session or two taking longer the closer they're at 10. A level 5 defeating a bunch of Deadly CR monsters should be leveling way faster than the rest of the party and be able to catch up within a few sessions.
@FlyingDominion
3 жыл бұрын
@@naivety okay, but how do you determine when that level up should be?
@ShadowShogun50
3 жыл бұрын
@@naivety thanks, I will use this, my players had a time tracking XP so I just made the party to a lvl, but now I had the issue that they are high lvl. (Heh).
@filiplykkegaardkastrup1876
4 жыл бұрын
“If i die I can live with that” Luke 2020
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
I blame my video editor.
@filiplykkegaardkastrup1876
4 жыл бұрын
Would that by you Luke?
@ArkangelYT
4 жыл бұрын
Instead of saying, "That's not what your character would do!" I'll say, "Is that what your character would do?" As I tend to play with a lot of new players, this helps them rethink their lawful good oath of devotion paladin deciding to steal alcohol from the tavern with no reason other than greed. Don't tell your players they're wrong, but sometimes giving them a gentle reminder if they seem to be going off track is fine IMO.
@andrewfarmer6126
4 жыл бұрын
Also having standards, several standards of what a blah blah alignment is to you as a DM is a great way to help them eseapially if it's a reference they like like my son needs a bracelet that reminds him what would Batman do. To me Batman is chaotic good, breaking rules/ & entering to see the greatest good done is fine. But some one else my think a Dr Indian Jones is a great example of lawful Good. Just make sure that these standards have justification instead of the typical anime nerds response of it's cool so I don't need to justify it further.
@awesomechainsaw
4 жыл бұрын
Andrew Farmer Also as A DM I tend to prod my players to change alignments if their not fitting. I’ll give a gentle “Hey sounds like your not chaotic nuetral, and more chaotic evil.”
@dinobuckwell2999
4 жыл бұрын
My problem is when players make their characters with a bad personality but then just slap a good alignment on it and think they get to do what they want. It is incredibly frustrating
@BlackJar72
4 жыл бұрын
This is something were old version did have a good system -- basically, the character is the alignment they act like. I don't think most would sweat it if debatable, but the behavior is way off the DM would simply declare the character had the alignment that was being played -- no, neutral good serial kills and village slaughtering murder hobos are not really good in any sense. The player can play the character in any way, no penalty (at least, directly), but the DM would simply inform the player of what alignment they were. "You really liked going into the village and butchering the children, OK, you're actually chaotic evil" (and on the most wanted list, but that's another thing). Now, if they were killing baby evil monsters, its debatable if the lawful good paladin would show noble mercy or seek to destroy evil, so let it slide as reasonable interpretations of "lawful good." Now if the PC is under the influence of magic that forces a different alignment, that's a bit tricky, since refusing to play the curse alignment is effectively declaring the curse doesn't affect them because they don't want it to -- so a way to enforce that (part of the curse?) might make sense for those who won't play along on the honor system.
@rafaelroaf-esparza4176
3 жыл бұрын
What I have done in the past is say "Doing that will make your alignment shift, do you continue?" that allowed the player agency and chance to rethink if that was what they really thought their character would do instead of what the player wanted to do for lols.
@dominikzara5248
4 жыл бұрын
I do "permanent" injuries more temporarly in my game. It's there more to hinder players across longer and/or more numerous battles and when alls done, the party's paladin can use five LoH points to cure injury other than scars and PTSD, or atempt it with Medicine kit check. Two sessions back, our Blades Collage bard got PTSD when saving a capital city from demonic invasion. He and the paladin then spent one of their two downtimes with a therapy session that removed the nasty debuff.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yes I have a system like that as well. People get lingering injuries when they dropped a zero hit points but then when they receive magical healing and can take a short or long rest the injuries go away. So they are temporary and kind of a pain in the butt but they are not permanent.
@didnttrywoththisname3315
4 жыл бұрын
the DM Lair rules that you both have made are great. It’s a great tool to add to the story. Permanent injuries are just adding insult to injury
@TheodoreMinick
4 жыл бұрын
With the release of Rising from the last war, bringing with it the official inclusion of prosthetic limbs, and the ability of artificers to make them, I say, hack away. Cut off my hand? No problem! Now I can rocket punch!
@meris8486
4 жыл бұрын
@@theDMLair I'm glad you added this nuance cause I think persistent injuries are great, they add lasting consequences to fights and can make combat more dynamic.
@jeremiahlewis410
4 жыл бұрын
@@didnttrywoththisname3315 Unless the player wants to let it stand. Have a friend who loves his 1-armed archer. Excuse to multi-class. Plus it gave a nice little side-thing for the campaign, finding someone that could fix or replace the missing limb. But yeah, in general, the permanent injury thing is "permanent", not permanent.
@drewberrycrunch1417
4 жыл бұрын
I've experienced a few of these house rules, they're brutal. I avoided the permanent injury one though when the DM brought it up. I straight up said if I lose an arm or something my PC will just kill themselves and I'll roll a new character. That worked.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Experience is a great teacher. 😁
@FrogEnjoyer17
2 жыл бұрын
I’m gonna have my goliath player reach into the mouth of a giant wolf to get something and he will bite his arm off so his corrupted cursed sword will replace his arm 😈
@vanillaicecream2385
2 жыл бұрын
the injury one is actually good in the sense of them being like actual injuries, you have a limp? just put some ice on it and rest a few days, lost an arm? replace it with a fake one or try to reattach it with magic
@faerylnhiikira1053
4 жыл бұрын
0:47 For some reason, I'm imagining the wizard silently chanting "bibbity bobbity boo" when he's waving his arms about to cast the teleport spell.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
It's like you're reading my lips. Just don't say that out loud otherwise you two will teleport away. LOL
@cthulhufhtagn2483
4 жыл бұрын
Hocus pocus! Alakazam! Walla Walla Washington!
@fhuber7507
4 жыл бұрын
@@cthulhufhtagn2483 Oh Wah Ta Goo Si Am
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Anaal nothrock Oothvos bethod Dochel dee-engveigh! (The Summoner's Chant)
@JadeDRail
4 жыл бұрын
"Playing D&D by yourself" is just writing a book. XD
@commandercaptain4664
4 жыл бұрын
Technically, wasn't he doing that already in these videos? 😁
@necroarcanistxiii
4 жыл бұрын
I suppose if you're trying to write a novella or something, solo D&D might help you write events based on parameters instead of trying to make everything on the fly.
@TheDeadGunslinger
4 жыл бұрын
@@necroarcanistxiii I was actually thinking that. Imagine writing a story and RPing your characters, then rolling dice to determine the combat and interactions in you're stories. It could actually work really well!
@necroarcanistxiii
4 жыл бұрын
@@TheDeadGunslinger I've somewhat done it before for the campaign I'm running, mostly manually predetermining the outcomes of events the PCs don't take part in, while in-between sessions. That way, when next session picks up, I can say what happened and let the party react appropriately.
@TheDeadGunslinger
4 жыл бұрын
@@necroarcanistxiii I do similar things. Like it part of this campaign I run, there's a big outbreak of the draconic armies of tiamat, and my party was just taking SO LONG backtracking and doing other things, and the entire time I was internally role-playing the dragons destroying cities and towns. Players nowadays are so used to videogames, where things don't happen until they're scripted to happen, I put my world in real time.
@SetInMotion
4 жыл бұрын
I was DMing and my player ended up dying to a mimic chest.I instead made him lose his leg and permanently moved slower. Then had the blacksmith build a leg cannon to compensate
@fhuber7507
4 жыл бұрын
Eventually, Greater Restoration can put the leg back.
@kendrickrochelanzot2053
4 жыл бұрын
That's generous. I know dms have to be neutral, but I incline myself to the party's enjoyment while giving a fair challenge
@twilightgardenspresentatio6384
4 жыл бұрын
I like seeing your players character maimed instead of killed by an unlucky roll. I’d rather see heroes dragged home to retire than left bleeding out and helpless on the floor of an ancient subterranean temple.
@MadMagzB
4 жыл бұрын
I guess I'm super lucky. After I rolled 4, yes 4, consecutive 1s instead of my PC dying, our DM made me lose and arm. It turned in to a really cool side mission for our party that resulted in a unique flavor item. If done correctly AND with player consent, loss of limb is not a bad thing.
@kendrickrochelanzot2053
4 жыл бұрын
@@MadMagzB you are a legend. 3 Nat 1s (what travis did) is near impossible. The odds dont stack up, but 4 is even more impossible
@Em3.14re
4 жыл бұрын
“Okay, fine, I’ll just play DnD by myself then.” He’s becoming self-aware
@thechubbycreeperplays2350
4 жыл бұрын
nice like count.
@Connor_McKinnon
4 жыл бұрын
@@thechubbycreeperplays2350 not anymore. =)
@joem1480
4 жыл бұрын
Drax rolled a natural 20 on his stealth check
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Well done Drax. LOL
@twilightgardenspresentatio6384
4 жыл бұрын
Joe M should have been a critical for his level of skill and not some ultimate feat. For him, that just means shutting up while someone else sneaks past!
@Marshadow01
4 жыл бұрын
I love it
@Torthrodhel
4 жыл бұрын
That is the perfect movie clip to play to anyone arguing that their natural 20 on a stealth check should be an automatic success.
@commandercaptain4664
4 жыл бұрын
What chip? I DIDN'T SEE HIM EAT A CHIP. He's magic, burn him.
@alphathewolf583
4 жыл бұрын
The worst house rules I've seen, well in person I've seen people so stingy with dice, if your dice even mildly brushes an object, another die, the dice tray wall, you have to reroll, and that game had like 14 players so the game was already slow. I left after 1 session. One i heard from one of my players was that her dungeon master would deduct stat points for doing stuff like metagaming or killing non hostile npcs. Metagaming is a problem but that is extreme and the latter is a huge limit to player agency from a paranoid dm.
@nickwilliams8302
4 жыл бұрын
Actually, metagaming usually isn't a problem and when it is it's usually the GM's fault.
@supersmily5811
4 жыл бұрын
Using mechanical punishment is lazy. You know what a normal DM would do when you kill an innocent person? Send the guards after you, or maybe have investigators look into the murder and eventually hunt down the players.
@fhuber7507
4 жыл бұрын
@@supersmily5811 I love wanted posters and bounty hunters.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
DMs that take abilities away from players for their actions are showing their inexperience. I've already heard someone reply the most correct way to fix the problem... Even lawless lands have their own brand of justice... Maybe the people of the town form a militia & go after the perpetrators... There are many ways to deal with out of control PCs, but it must be done in-game for the players to respect it.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Players will often "test" new DMs with bad behavior to see what they can get away with. If you as a DM don't lay down the law, they will always seek to push you around. They & their characters need to know that there are consequences for their actions... Maybe they're on a quest & the only person who knew a crucial piece of information, they find out, was the guy they just killed. Sometimes karma can poke them back too. (Though doing this could waste a lot of work you as the DM have prepared, so don't use this unless you have a backup adventure, or another way to put them back on track...)
@Lcirex
4 жыл бұрын
I've used the critical hit wound table in my game before but when it was against the PC's it was strictly "cinematic" so any damage was cosmetic. My group was fine with losing an eye or having a limp but it did nothing game mechanics wise. It only added to character discription.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Sure if it's just a flavor thing then that's a totally different story. I do cinematic descriptions all the time that are purely meant for flavor and don't influence the game mechanics. That just makes things more interesting in my opinion. The issue is when it becomes part of the game mechanics and then that really sucks. In my opinion.
@Lcirex
4 жыл бұрын
@@theDMLair one of the players (sword and board fighter) insisted that he lost his left arm from the roll but wanted cosmetic. So compromised by putting a small buckle shield on his right forearm while kept on sword fighting with the same arm. Few things came out sounding cooler than his descriptions of one armed shield and sword fighting. PC's are amazingly adaptable when they want to be.
@PoldaranOfDalaran
4 жыл бұрын
Of course, you do have to remember what you've already done with those or it can get silly. "You mean I don't have any kind of mechanical issues having lost BOTH eyes?" Or "That third thumb Thog lose this week." That kind of thing. :P
@ikalimah
4 жыл бұрын
That last hit xp thing is the main reason most MMOs were very unsocial. Seeing another player near a mob you are farming and thinking they are friendly either for them to hit first and lock the creature on them or steal the last hit was a great way to make players hate each other.
@trinitydalfae8478
4 жыл бұрын
Worst house rule I've seen: "If your wizard wants to cast a spell you have to speak in rhyming couplets. If you can't think of an appropriate rhyme within a 'reasonable amount of time' you wast your turn and the spell slot."
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah that's an absolutely ridiculous house rule. Does the Barbarian have to skip rope in order to make attacks? Does the Rogue need to belly crawl across the floor to sneak?
@trinitydalfae8478
4 жыл бұрын
@@theDMLair There was no barbarian, but the rogue... I mean "ninja"... had the restriction that he couldn't let anybody (including fellow party members) know that he was a "ninja". Everybody in the party just kind of turned a blind eye when the group cook mysteriously vanished at the start of combat and a mysterious masked stranger showed up to help.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
I like the use of flavor, so writing a few magic-sounding words/chants for each spell would be a cooler way to announce I'm casting fireball... Which sounds better? I'm casting fireball... Or, Deus ignis exuret inimicos? Personally, I like the flavor...
@chrisrudolf9839
4 жыл бұрын
Ugh, terrible. Kinda similar to the German RPG DSA in which every spell came with a usually ridiculous rhyming formula in the rules and some DMs (not all) insisted that the player needed to know those by heart and quote them flawlessly if he wanted to cast a spell.
@xthebumpx
4 жыл бұрын
@@trinitydalfae8478 The cook/secret ninja actually sounds kind of fun.
@shawntoups2454
4 жыл бұрын
Classes are alignment locked, “evil” characters stealing stuff gain xp equal to the monetary value, or characters starting at level zero. I joined a game and built a LN Necromancer whose backstory was he was raised by this cult as their “chosen one”. He never felt like he belonged. He didn’t enjoy any of the evil things they made him do. He found out that his parents were killed and he was kidnapped because of some stupid prophecy. He ran away from the cult and was looking for a way to stop them. My new DM started me at level zero, with none of my backstory and insisted I was stealing stuff. It was a game already in progress, so I was already behind and that felt bad, but by the end of the session, “I” had stolen enough that I had gained enough xp to level up past the rest of the group. I didn’t go back after that session.
@SpookySquid14
4 жыл бұрын
That is actually stupid.
@josephduncan9634
4 жыл бұрын
Giving xp equal to the value of items stolen is a terrible idea. All it's going to do is encourage the party to actively steal from and/or murder each othe ALL. THE. TIME.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Agreed. Bad idea. I wouldn't have gone back either.
@SergioLeRoux
4 жыл бұрын
Steal the DM's wallet and ask for more XP.
@TheRacoonGhost
4 жыл бұрын
i don't really have an issue with starting a party on level 0 (if everyone agrees to it) espesially if the setting is a grittier Game of thrones setting and they start as nobodeys, but i wouldnt add a new character on level 0 to a existing party at higher level. also stealing for xp sounds mostly stupid.
@Chadok89
4 жыл бұрын
For xp, I just stopped giving xp and use the milestone's approach.
@Rokkiteer
4 жыл бұрын
Same here. It seems to be universal, at least where I live. Haven't heard a player talk about xp for years
@tristankendrick2582
4 жыл бұрын
Same, milestones and always keep the party level. As a player, there was nothing I hated more than being severely underpowered because I missed a session or twom
@marcuswestphal4955
4 жыл бұрын
Me too that makes it way easier at least if your using a module
@haveswordwilltravel
4 жыл бұрын
I do a mixture. For the first three levels I do milestones, then after level 3 I dole out XP so I can keep the advancement slas slow as I like
@Chadok89
4 жыл бұрын
@@haveswordwilltravel well, technically, you "achieve" a milestone whenever you want... But it probably avoid the "when do we level up?!?"
@markuhler2664
4 жыл бұрын
Easiest resolution: talk to each other & act like adults.
@rodshop5897
4 жыл бұрын
Mark Uhler for the win!
@dustrockblues7567
4 жыл бұрын
Unfortunately, this is a bigger ask than you might think.
@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself
4 жыл бұрын
And part of being an adult is accepting that if you don't like a game, you don't have to play. And if there is a player in the group causing problems, then you can get rid of that player. Not easy choices and not without pain, but better than sticking through a bad situation when you don't have to.
@achimsinn7782
4 жыл бұрын
About no 8 - if something is impossible to achieve I won't let my players even roll for it. If somebody tries to hide in an open corridor from a guard looking right in his direction I tell him that there is no way to hide in that situation. He can then decide to go towards the guard while being visible or to find a different approach that doesn't involve hiding where its imposible to be hidden. And if a player would actually have the nerves to walk into a throne room and ask the kind to give him his kingdom I would have him roll a charisma check just to see whether or not the king will have him thrown in jail or worse executed at the next weekend (could be a nice little inbetween adventure for the rest of the party to get their friend out of the trouble he got himself into)
@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself
4 жыл бұрын
It should definitely depend on context and details. The _only_ time I would tell a player that an action is impossible and to not bother rolling is if _the character_ would reasonably know how obviously impossible the task is. This is especially important if there are more than one PC in the party with different skill levels who could make the attempt. If it's DC 25 and one PC gets +4 and another gets +5, let both roll for it. My usual example is rogue vs lock. If it's a DC 25 lock and the rogue has 2 ranks (I'm using 3.5e rules here) in open lock and a +2 from dec, then I as gamemaster know that there is no way for the rogue to succeed (unless masterwork thieves' tools or the right magic shows up). But does a low-level rogue with only 2 ranks in open lock _know_ that this lock is beyond her skill right now? If it were a higher-level rogue with 9 ranks in OL and maybe a +3 from dex, then it would be reasonable for that character to know that a DC 35 lock was impossible. If it's a 25-foot gap to jump (DC 25) and the barbarian has +4 to jump from strength, but not from ranks (or I guess it's called proficiency now) in jumping, then go ahead and roll for it, big guy. (Exceptions made for barbarians with high Int, and so on.)
@brookshyde5663
3 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I had a player who was actively engaged with like 7 goblins try to hide. He had a Cloak of Elvenkind, but I was like, "There's no way you could possibly hide. You are literally right in front of them." He got upset about "taking away creativity." Dude was an "evil scientist" player who always tried to solve everything in creative and over the top ways. Another time, he tried to use his forgery skills from being a Kenku to cast a spell he just saw someone use. I shut that down so fast.
@risinghero13
4 жыл бұрын
I feel like the skills check succeeds on a 20 isnt really so bad. Its always really fun and satisfying when you roll a 20 and coming up with silly ways people succeed can be funny. If there's a situation where a skill check is improbable or impossible itd be best to just say that and not allow the roll at all.
@markuhler2664
4 жыл бұрын
"Remember that girl I was chatting up in the pub in town? She's an archaeologist & was telling me about 'x'". Could work for somethings.
@Her_Imperious_Condescension
4 жыл бұрын
Same thing with fumbles, really. Taking those out also takes out a lot of the risk IMO
@OneEyeShadow
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I really don't get the problem here. If it's impossible, don't allow the player to roll. If they get to roll, there should always be a possibility to succeed.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
An alternative way is to allow rolling up when a natural 20 is rolled for a skill check (rolling first odd or even, then if even, roll another d20 & adding it to the first roll). The DM should make near impossible rolls need multiple successes (which helps even things out). If using this system, then DMs may decide that natural 1's are botched checks that come with consequences... It's all in the level of realism you want to take it to as a group...
@lordbiscuitthetossable5352
4 жыл бұрын
I feel this is more the case for groups that allow rolls for all checks. Personally, if it isn't possible, I won't allow a roll to occur. The King handing over his crown? Nope. Some people just aren't interested in seduction e.c.t If the roll isn't possible, don't bother with the roll and just make it impossible. It's as simple as a discussion. "Would I be able to sneak out of here?" "Given the guy is watching you intently within your cell, I feel that something in your situation would have to change to make it possible." Likewise, I do not allow dog piling skill checks. If the party mage failed to make an Arcana check and no one else has the skill or reason to use know that lore, then the lore is simply unavalible at that moment. A ruined lock isn't going to yield, but maybe bashing it down might help? Or maybe a failed lockpick check means you get in, but whomever owns this place is aware of the intrusion, moving the story forward with interesting consequences.
@lapsiluco
4 жыл бұрын
"If I die, I can live with that"
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Ooh, did I say that? Lol
@commandercaptain4664
4 жыл бұрын
T-shirt worthy.
@RPGmodsFan
4 жыл бұрын
6:09 As far as Alignment, here is what I do: At the beginning, I tell my PCs not to specify their Alignments, and tell them just to role play their Characters the way they want to play them. After a few sessions together, I then have them vote on each others' Alignments (i.e., fellow Players determine your Alignment, which can be funny :-)
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
That is a super cool idea. I like it.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
If it weren't for certain spells, I would just do away with alignment altogether, as most people can't agree on where certain actions might fall. I do like using fame & infamy in my games though. In my games, fame & infamy are tied to certain locations (or sometimes factions), so you might have fame in your hometown where you're a respected citizen, but you may have infamy in another town where you accidentally (or not) injured a prominent authority figure. Having fame/infamy points also gives the NPCs a chance to know a character by reputation alone. In my opinion, a much better system...
@jtosety
4 жыл бұрын
@@aliendingus1991 I'm pretty sure in 5e the "good and evil" spells and abilities now apply to certain types of creatures like fiends and celestials
@RPGmodsFan
4 жыл бұрын
@@aliendingus1991 Ingenious. A Hero in one country can be the Villain in another. That is a more realistic system.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
@@RPGmodsFan We're all heroes or villains... It all depends on who you're asking...
@thomasallen3570
4 жыл бұрын
"This will encourage players to play classes they don't normally." Yes, because we ALL know how well FORCING someone to do something they are not ready to do. I can agree with the nostalgia comment, if I want to play around with nostalgia, I will break out my AD&D books. Times, and systems, have changed and its painful to try and relive the past and not enjoy the present.
@xerty5502
4 жыл бұрын
Hell I actually like being given something and seeing what I can make of it be it a stat line or a random pregen some of the best role playing I been involved in came from every one pulling from a stack of pregens and rolling with it stats abilities background personality you get what you get and trying to make it work or even better just having fun with it as your goal can be a great time but I do agree this is not for everyone
@thomasallen3570
4 жыл бұрын
@@xerty5502 I love playing something different and strange (hell Im in love with the White haired witch, Child of War, and Mad Dog archetypes on pathfinder), but not everyone can get into something 'new'. Years ago I was running MERP (middle earth role playing) and our "im always a fighter" chose to play a mage while our usual mage (now free to do anything else) rolled up a warrior. 2 encounters is all it took before the 'always mage' TOOK THE MAGE PC SHEET from our 'always fighter' because he was a middle earth wizard running into combat with a staff and almost getting killed each time. Playing something new/different is great but some people just aren't able to do that and a house rule that tries to force it kind of slaps them in the face.
@williamwontiam3166
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, it’s nice if you don’t know what to play, but if you’ve got something in mind(even if it’s just a class or a set of stats) than go for it.
@THEPELADOMASTER
3 жыл бұрын
I mean you can also get stupidly unlucky and get stats that are basically for the same class you already played before, when you actually wanted to try something else. It could be both
@lanestone1
4 жыл бұрын
the "nat 20's always succeed" requires a mix of the DM knowing when to allow a roll and when to say no. this falls to table etiquette between players and DM. players ask to make a roll and the DM needs to think. "would the barbarian even think to make an arcana check?" or, "would an acrobatics check on a 1000 foot fall really matter?"
@mjcordiner
3 жыл бұрын
Agreed... You should only ever roll dice when the outcome is possible (ie at least a 5% chance to begin with). Otherwise, just tell the players it doesn’t work!
@haku8135
3 жыл бұрын
technically the barbarian wouldn't think to make a check, because there's no such thing as "an arcana check" in the actual world. The Barbarian would look at these magical runes and try to understand them. Then the player would make the check. So if your barbarian wouldn't even think to TRY and identify these runes, then you can just say "Uh, he knows he doesn't know shit about magic, so no, but the wizard is right there, so go ahead and make an arcana check."
@Jaems_Scott
2 жыл бұрын
@@haku8135 = You're taking the context too literally. The Barbarian would have to think about whether or not he or she could decipher the Runes, which, in the sense of "Check", is going into his or her own head, to see if that information is even there. That is actually checking yourself. So, a Check is in fact a real thing. The question should be; Does this particular Barbarian even have the patience for it?
@haku8135
2 жыл бұрын
@@Jaems_Scott No, a check isn't a real thing. You don't need to think about things like this. You just know it. If I put hieroglyphs in front of you and ask you to read them, you're going to say instantly "I can't read that" because you just know you can't read them. If you were a DnD character, a check would not be made, because you do not need to check for information you know you do not have. A check is only made to see if you can recall information you've likely learned, or to see if you can solve a puzzle like a coded message. If you need to read something in Draconic, and your character doesn't know Draconic, there will not be any checks because you know you can't read Draconic.
@Jaems_Scott
2 жыл бұрын
@@haku8135 = If we are talking Arcane Lore, you absolutely have to Check, because that is the same thing as Contemplating and Remembering something. So, Checks are In Fact Real. Like I said, you are attempting to apply in too literal of a sense. No, in Real Life you do not stop to roll dice, hoping to spring that knowledge out of the ether. However, not everyone has Instant Recall on memory. And the term, Let me Check that, is a real thing. Sometimes, that is not something you would remember off hand. Sometimes, you know you will not retain that information on the fly, and choose instead to Write It Down. And, yes, there are people who carry books with other languages, to help navigate things they wont be able to without the assistance of a Guide. So, like it or not, Checks are very real ... even if you cannot admit to it.
@ratman505
4 жыл бұрын
Don't make the mage the new DM, XPtoLevel3 showed us how bad that can end!
@melonsaway3929
4 жыл бұрын
*smiles wickedly* ... Fireball
@mrsscreamgirl5332
4 жыл бұрын
The group I have made a one shot for should have considered that bevore they got excited
@ratman505
4 жыл бұрын
@@melonsaway3929 COUNTERSPELL
@Torthrodhel
4 жыл бұрын
A nearby divination wizard gives you 1s!
@commandercaptain4664
4 жыл бұрын
Other player: What's your character's name? Mage: Rockfalls Playerdies.
@noxicornu5558
4 жыл бұрын
I can’t thank you enough for mentioning how bad if feels to have a DM tell you how to play your character! I’ve been in a game for several months now where the actions of my character are dictated by the phrase “because a barbarian wouldn’t do that.” I had envisioned a rather intelligent barbarian - not dumb, just flies off the handle sometimes. Feed a healing potion to the companion that just dropped at my feet? No. A barbarian wouldn’t do that. Drop out of rage so that I can? No, a barbarian wouldn’t do that either. I once had to make perception rolls to see if my companions could wake me up when we were ambushed at night - rolled really low 3x so I slept thru most of the battle. If I could find another game, I would. Breaks my tiny barbarian heart - oh wait, no, a barbarian wouldn’t feel that.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yep DMs should never do that IMO.
@serbetlemons8475
4 жыл бұрын
A variation of the "playing alignment correctly" rule: I had a DM (in 3.5) who a. had a numerical scale with points towards each alignment extreme and if you got too many in one direction your alignment shifted, b. ruled that all healing was a good act, and c. had players (not myself) whom she had secretly asked to play evil characters in order to try and corrupt the rest of the party. Other than talking to the players she wanted to be evil about doing so, she told us none of this ahead of time. One of these evil characters blew their highest level healing spell on another evil character who was minorly injured, thus not healing a good character who was almost dead. None of us caught on because the two evil characters had a prexisting relationship from before the campaign, and since this was early on, they hadn't formed much of a relationship with the good character. When we found out later what the player was doing, we all thought it was brilliant roleplay. But the DM ruled this a good act and said that they had gained points towards good.
@OneEyeShadow
4 жыл бұрын
There's a reason we make fun of overly simplistic morality systems in video games.
@robwine8963
4 жыл бұрын
“Thousands died of polio, none of us want that again.” Anti-vaxxer: hold my beer...
@Owenbot3000
4 жыл бұрын
Most of us dont want that
@josephduncan9634
4 жыл бұрын
Lol. That was my first thought too.
@Marshadow01
4 жыл бұрын
More like “hold my crystals”
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
While Rob that's a great point. It's unfortunate that some people do want that again. How horrible.
@williamwontiam3166
4 жыл бұрын
Add polio itself to it.
@albertnorman4136
4 жыл бұрын
Death Restart: Rerolling a character at level 1 worked with OD&D and AD&D 1e, but that's because the xp structure made dying into 'lose one level'. That said, if a Level 16 character can't be rezzed, something is wrong. Permanent Injuries: I think there's room for them, but they need to be a failure state that characters can recover from with effort, rather than an actually permanent malus on the character. That said, this is for a playstyle where the DM isn't holding the fate of the setting hostage to force players into his Robert Jordan-esque 'epic' plot. Alignment: Okay, first, 'chaotic good' means 'selfish asshole with good PR', but whatever. I'd rather rework 'alignment' to be 'how do various entities see your character?', with different characters coming to the attention of different beings. Maybe something like Pendragon's sliding scale of various virtues (or lack thereof) on top of that. Ability Scores: D&D's thing about 'your ability scores never meaningfully change' is the real issue. Start characters off at 8-14 at level 1, give them the ability to condition their stats during downtime. Nat 20: In 1e, a 'natural 20' effectively granted a +5 to hit in combat. That's a nice bonus, but not gamebreaking, I think. Player Agency: But, if you allow players to exercise agency, how are you supposed to railroad them through 'adventure paths' and other such nonsense? Favoring enemies: You mean, Tucker's Kobolds were _cheating_? Gasp!
@detro225
4 жыл бұрын
I for one, absolutely hate the finishing blow character gets xp, as I have played this rule in the past and it severely damages the balancing of the PCs and NPCs.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
I think most players hate that rule except for maybe barbarians and Fighters. And crazy dungeon Masters who get it in their head that this is a good idea of course. LOL
@nickwilliams8302
4 жыл бұрын
I've literally _never_ heard anything approaching a convincing argument for awarding XP unequally.
@EricScheid
4 жыл бұрын
I was in a game where not only there was a "killing blow" bonus XP, but also you only got XP if you managed to land a hit during the combat. No hits, no XP. Every combat started like this: DM: "roll initiative" Players: "I run to hit the monster"
@detro225
4 жыл бұрын
@@theDMLair It was kinda ironic because I was a barbarian but the ranger would always finish it off, leveling up through my hard work. We even had an in-game argument about why the ranger was getting stronger while I dealt the most damage.
@twilightgardenspresentatio6384
4 жыл бұрын
Detro Deathblade why are npcs active in combat and gaining xp? Are they taking treasure too? Might as well five goblins a weekly allowance that they can gamble on the stock market!!! Why are npcs any more active in combat than the donkey carrying the gear I don’t know
@zakuraRabbit
4 жыл бұрын
"Only the character who made the final blow gets XP" would be good news for my Psuedodragon pet who took down a demon... with 1d4+2 damage... Our characters are level 9. Would that mean she gets all the XP, or since she's a familiar would my warlock get it? Heck I've had several situations where the final blow is just down to one or two HP.
@guitarmuser6150
4 жыл бұрын
I left a game once cuz one of the DM's house rules was that PCs did not get to know how many hit points they had. He would keep track and only he would know the actual numbers. I tried to keep and open mind and tried it for awhile but I soon realized this was absolute rubbish. How is a PC to know when they are being heroic (darting in to save a comrade while low on hp) or cowardly (running from said comrade needing saving with full hp) unless they have an idea of how many HP they have? Also, I just think it's part of the game, the PCs have the right to know, it's part of the fun, and it's not, it was DEFINITELY not fun not knowing. Tried to reason with the guy but he was stubborn on it and similar to the parody DM in this vid with a bit of a "god/control freak complex" going on. LOL.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I feel like a PC would know how beat up and close to death he was. It's like I know when my cough has turned into something bad and I should see a doctor you know.
@guitarmuser6150
4 жыл бұрын
@@theDMLair Exactly. That was definitely one of the most weird house rules I've experienced. Hey, keep up the great work! You're a content machine faithfully posting each week. Don't know how you find the energy or time to do it, but I'm enjoying it, it's great work and thanks! 8-)
@chadsmith8966
4 жыл бұрын
Honestly, this is the dumbest house rule I've ever heard. Why the hell would any sane DM want to keep the PC's hit points a secret? Why add more crap and math you have to keep track of along with the X number of goblins hit points, ect, ect (With minor enemies, I go by how many hits it takes to beat/kill 'em, usually one or two hits; don't wanna spend twenty minutes doing math. Bosses, on the other hand... they be getting hit points ). Why take that vital form of agency away from a player? Makes me wonder what this DM's turnover rate was like.
@guitarmuser6150
4 жыл бұрын
@@chadsmith8966 That's a fantastic question. I never checked back with him after I left the game, lost touch with them all, but I found the game in the first place via an online site where his group was looking for players. Only occurs to me now, after you ask that last question, that there was probably very good reasons he had to look online for players. LOL. But ya, I soon realized he did not have the heart of a servant (which all the most amazing DMs have) but instead just liked being a control freak and playing god.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
I have used this system in the past as a DM, & yes, it WAS a pain in the ass to keep track of, & yes, my players did protest at times, but it was a fun alternative option to at least try. As a player, you did have some knowledge of where your health was in my game: fully healed (no damage), wounded (any damage up to 1/2 hp), bloodied (1/2 hp up to 1/4), bad shape (1/4 hp up to 1/10), broken (1/10 hp to 1 hp), unconscious (&/or dying) (-1 to -9 [or - Con score in hp +1]), & dead (-10 hp [or -Con score in hp]). (I would often say characters died at negative their Con score) All a player had to do was make a heal check DC 15 (non-action, but could only be made once per round unless they spent a move action to check again), to get an idea of where their health was. If they missed the roll, then they weren't sure. This gave the players an idea where they were with hp, without giving all the details. This system isn't for everyone, but I thought it necessary to be able to at least be able to get an estimate of where you were health-wise... It was fun for something different, but did bog things down at times having to keep track of everything... If you DO deem to try this system out, I suggest keeping a calculator & a tracking sheet close at hand... I have used this system to try to deter cheating before, but decided that it's unnecessary if I call out players I think are cheating... Again, fun to try, but a lot of work (because you have to not only keep track of hp, but you have to keep a list of each player's hp levels). Way easier to play the old way...
@Vokoru
4 жыл бұрын
9:40 If the Barbarian can meet a DC 25 Arcana check, I think he might know some secrets about arcane runes
@thetimebinder
4 жыл бұрын
He cannot nat 20 to jump 1 mile.
@THEPELADOMASTER
3 жыл бұрын
@@thetimebinder but a barbarian getting 25 in arcana check means they have a +5 modifier. Which means they very well could know something about it, since clearly they have the intelligence for it.
@avengersteve
4 жыл бұрын
Had a DM that would TELL me what my character did in situations which was maddening. Even when I contested it and said that's *not* what the character did or my intentions for the character, I was ignored because the DMs plans were more important than my agency....
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yes that's exactly the horse crap I'm talking about when dungeon Master's take away players agency. It's a garbage and infuriating two players. And if it isn't it probably should be. LOL
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
You need to find a more experienced DM, that isn't so rigid. A DM SHOULD NEVER (at least as far as the players are concerned) FORCE A CHARACTER TO DO SOMETHING THEIR PLAYER DOESN'T WANT THEM TO DO! (There are ways to get most players to get on board with what you as a DM have planned, without taking their freedom of choice away!) You could try to pull your DM aside & let them know that this type of tyranny won't be stood for, but you might have to back up your actions with words (like actually walking out on a game if it bothers you that much)... The main problem with this way, is that it CAN cost you friends. If this does turn out to be the last straw, it's better to just agree that you can't play D&D together... If you're playing with a group of friends, it can make this choice much harder, & may lead to you allowing the DM's poor performance to continue. If this turns out to be the case, then continue to voice your displeasure to the DM after the game session, & keep trying to offer them alternative suggestions they may not have thought of (though save your suggestions for after the game too, so as not to ruin the other players fun). Most DMs will get the hint after hearing enough complaints..
@rodshop5897
4 жыл бұрын
That is indeed a terrible story, and when I'm DMing, I try not to ever tell a player what her character would do. However, I've also felt that players cry wolf on the DM a bit early sometimes. Let me offer a slightly devil's advocate take from my own game. In one session, the players were stuck with two options they hated. I was accused of rail-roading the players because they, "did not feel like they had a choice." Granted, the situation sucked, but they were playing high level characters in the Abyss, and the adventure path was set to the assumption that they would all choose the more heroic option. So, I ended the session and let them think on it until next time. When we resumed, after an hour discussion, they decided to go completely off-book and create a third path. By the end of the night, the third path was complete, and they were back to about where they started. So yes, it's important to keep the players in control of their characters. And for players, you may not be as forced into things as you think.
@kykisaky7841
4 жыл бұрын
I had a GM straight up tells me that my character killed someone, I told him I said I won't kill him(he was already mind controlled not to do anything, and I was a vampire so drinking blood without killing not to get attention was the goal), I asked him to ok let's ignore that, I didn't kill him, he said "too late you already did" and the guards showed up and took my character to the vampire queen where he was excuted for endangerment of showing that "our community" exists, then I wasn't allowed to play with him again or roll a new character(of course it was my first time ttrpg experience so I told him "please go easy on me", he said it is a hard game, but not where my character's animal instinct takes over without a willpower check! it actually put me off playing for long time and I had to tell GMs everytime we play not to take control of my character, then they ask me why would I ask that)
@katiem6728
3 жыл бұрын
Same
@brooksfaucette296
4 жыл бұрын
I think lingiring injuries sound like fun, the prevailing reason not everyone is an adventurer is generally because its a dangerous and risky job. But then once you actually start playing, most of the time encounters are designed with little or no risk of death or injury. As long as the players aren't brain dead, they will most likely win. I think it would be fun to play in a game where bad decisions often result in bad outcomes. And the players have to actually think whether or not to retreat, or even fight in the first place. It puts real weight on decisions and combat.
@xerty5502
4 жыл бұрын
I partially agree nothing inherently wrong with permanent injuries and no because you do not like your PC getting a permit debuff is not a good reason to not use them. The hard part with them is desiding on when and how they are gained and a solution that is great for one group may be unusable for another for most people they are not going to like something as simple as on a critical hit for me my 2 most preferd times from when I used this rule a few times in 3.5 were when you went into negatives or on massive damage ie the save vs death kind of massive damage.
@darcyw156
4 жыл бұрын
Strangely enough my players asked for crit fumble tables. They say that it makes for interesting combats. I give them the option , this is not a forced rule.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Cool. If they want it then rock on! I would check in with them every so often to see how it's going too.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
I like using them, but it can tend to slow down the game a bit. As an alternative, you could say that the first crit fail rolled by each character, each battle, just provokes an AoO, then if after that, go to the chart. On your chart, there should be a few rolls (1-5) where nothing of consequence happens (or something minor happens, as all crit fails shouldn't all be completely horrible), then go from there, getting progressively worse. You might alternatively have 1 or 2 results where the attack hits, but weapon gets knocked from their hand, takes damage itself, or breaks. DMs should make this roll in secret, so players don't memorize rolls on your chart...
@commandercaptain4664
4 жыл бұрын
They work best in dark campaigns, but what you said is how to session zero!
@matthewparker9276
4 жыл бұрын
I made up a table where you roll a d10 and add your attack modifier, then the effects are ordered from most to least detrimental, and a 10 or above gives no I'll effect. The idea being that attacking in a way you are not familiar/not proficient with, will lead to worse results on a failure.
@Vessekx
4 жыл бұрын
IIRC, the 4th edition Dark Sun campaign guide had the best ‘crit fumble’ rule I’ve come across. In that setting, steel weapons are exceptionally rare, with bone, stone & crystal all being far more common, but also comparatively brittle. When fighting with a weapon with this brittle quality, on a natural 1, the player could *choose* to miss, OR to hit but have the weapon break. It was entirely the player’s choice.
@LilliumElessa
4 жыл бұрын
Not all of these house rules are bad at their core, they're simply handled incorrectly as described. Some of them are very GOOD things to change, but any house rule requires a degree of finesse. 1 - I actually have had groups that enjoyed critical fumbles, HOWEVER it was a light hearted group and the rule was never used in long campaigns. It was only used for comedic value in (very) short term games, with a custom table of silly fumbles. But yes, I agree, these are not good for true use in a serious or long game. 3 - SCREW WITH THAT XP SYSTEM. Please, please screw with the XP system for any D&D, just ... Not how was described in those examples. Most games I've participated in have awarded XP to the group as a whole (including absentee players), never to individuals, but do so at the DM's discretion to control progression with the storyline. Many have scrapped the xp system entirely, in favor of leveling up when it's appropriate for the story, which is fantastic for games that are focused on telling that story rather than just fighting monsters and being cool. 5 - Alignments should be respected, but you shouldn't punish players for them... Instead address the issue and discuss an alignment shift. These days in 5e it's not the kind of big deal it was in older editions. 10 - Special rules around bosses, and only bosses, can often make encounters more interesting and make the boss feel more potent. But for general monsters? Yea, they don't need that. The more complex ones: 2- Rerolling characters lower sucks, but I ran a long campaign that had a small xp penalty (in 3.5, it was equivalent to xp lost during a resurrection) to new characters, either from death or elective rerolls. Anyone who was behind the group xp (for the many various reasons you may be in 3.5) I gave a bonus to xp until they caught up with the group xp, so this difference was only a temporary setback and they would be right with the group again a few sessions later. Most of the players seemed to like this approach to promote character continuity in a game that was pretty gritty. (Also, yes that did involve a lot of extra math, but I sort of enjoy the 'book keeping' of it, and tracked it openly for the players so they didn't have to get bogged down by it.) Rerolling at level 1 though? Hah, yes that's extreme. I think most people wouldn't even join a game with that rule these days. 6 - Mmm, lack of understanding is a bad reason to nerf things, yes. But having played a lot of 3/3.5, Pathfinder, and a couple of other systems, I am used to rewriting "core" broken features being extremely normal for almost any campaign. For a current example, rather than one of the myriad from older systems, in 5e the gold piece economy is very quickly a glaring flaw and the first thing I've personally seen most DMs have to deal with one way or another before the game even starts rolling. This usually involves ripping the entire economy out and replacing it.
@josephtramelli5250
4 жыл бұрын
Very well said
@Her_Imperious_Condescension
4 жыл бұрын
DM: If you don't like it, you can leave. **everyone leaves** DM: Hey, wait, you can't just leave! So which is it?
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
You CAN leave... But we don't WANT you to leave...
@Vasious8128
3 жыл бұрын
We all know the players will be back anyway as none of them will ever volunteer to DM
@TooLateForIeago
4 жыл бұрын
For me the big thing is removal of agency. I had a character come to the end of her story arc in the last campaign I was in. The DM declared that she was no longer a player character and couldn't leave her city anymore. I resented that very much and the choice to not walk from the game was a hard one.
@gorgit
Жыл бұрын
I would've run. The DM will just do this again. No need for ruining my characters like that.
@mr.bluesky4130
4 жыл бұрын
I don’t get the whole thing of critical fumbles as actual mechanics, I’ll sometimes say stuff like “your arrow slips out of your hand as you’re knocking it and you fail to fire off a shot in time” I see no need to actually punish someone.
@canadianbard1371
4 жыл бұрын
I don't even do XP anymore, I much prefer milestones
@kendrickrochelanzot2053
4 жыл бұрын
I do that too.
@user-ft3jq5vi2l
4 жыл бұрын
Hey, what on the material plane are these "milestones" everybody talks about?
@kendrickrochelanzot2053
4 жыл бұрын
@@user-ft3jq5vi2l like instead of giving out XP, you level up the party depending on something they did, like take out a boss, stop a war, and stuff like that. Like the party leveled up because we accidentally created a time paradox.
@stevdawizard392
4 жыл бұрын
It's easier to, and it really really works with story and plot reasons to
@apparition668
4 жыл бұрын
I abandoned XP a long time ago... I know how powerful I want my party to be at certain points in the game, and they level up accordingly. It makes sure party parity is in check, and allows me to plan out further.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
"Permanent" effects in D&D are rarely really permanent, since there are spells that can reverse just about any malady. I don't see a problem with permanent injuries because it adds a level of realism that the game can lack when healing is readily available. Something as simple as having a cleric in the party can fix most injuries anyway, as long as they are high enough level to cast the proper spell. One way to fix the system is to give each permanent injury a number that must be made on a d20 (modified by caster's level & spellcasting ability modifier) to overcome. This could come in the form of a Heal (or Medicine) check, a spell check, or a combination of both. Three failed checks could result in that injury not being able to be healed until the caster gains access to a higher level spell. More severe injuries would need multiple successes to be healed. Or, having to go on an adventure to get some magic item that could repair or even replace an injured body part. I see it as another opportunity to seek adventures... And isn't that what D&D is all about anyway?
@richmcgee434
4 жыл бұрын
You're not wrong, but if the frequency of maiming "permanent" injuries is too high you won't be able to find fixes for them fast enough to keep up, especially at lower levels before spells like Regenerate are available. I'm fine with traps or the odd monster with a shtick that involves people taking long term penalties - it's no worse than petrification, and maybe better - but having combat crits and fumbles produce them is likely to be a problem.
@THEPELADOMASTER
3 жыл бұрын
Sorry, but if you cut my arm off I'll probably won't show up next session
@aliendingus1991
3 жыл бұрын
@@THEPELADOMASTER It doesn't happen that often, but it CAN happen, which makes knowing that that's a possibility more realistic & terrifying for the players, so they tend to make choices that reflect the danger level. If there's no danger level because I have to worry about whether the player will come back next session or not, then I obviously don't know my players' comfort levels. It's not for every group though, that's why you should always have a game zero session with new players (& sometimes even old players), so you know what level of violence they are comfortable with. Some DMs only sever limbs with specific magic items that are designed that way (such as vorpal weapons & weapons like the original sword of sharpness). If you enjoy hacking off the heads & limbs of your enemies, then you shouldn't be surprised when eventually someone does it to you. Often when your limbs are hacked off, it's because your character is dead. I'm not one of those DMs that takes pleasure in the misery of my players. I enjoy when they can overcome the challenges they're faced with to become the heroes of the day. But if you can get over the fact that something so horrifying has happened to your character, you can overcome it. You might have to roll up a new character (maybe even a family member or childhood friend of your character) to go on a quest to help find a necromancer, doctor, magic item, priest, etc.,. to help them become whole again. Some characters, like some people in real life, prefer to take their own life when faced with such a challenge. If it's something that happens all the time, then I probably wouldn't want to come back next session either. It's all about what people can tolerate & find fun. Not that losing a limb is fun, but it does make for a more realistic experience. It's up to you to choose the level of realism that is right for your game. If you're not comfortable with something that happens in game, wait for an opportune time (like during a break) to pull your DM aside & voice your unhappiness. It's usually better to have any taboos out in the open before a game starts though.
@THEPELADOMASTER
3 жыл бұрын
@@aliendingus1991 sure yeah, your players make choices according to the danger level. But at some point, combat is inevitable, and it would be a pretty shitty moment to get hit with a 20 and whoops, there goes my arm. Guess I can't use my weapon anymore! Not a terrifying moment, just plain bad and annoying. Obviously, setting expectations is important if you're gonna use this. I'm just saying that if in a session 0 a DM insisted on using this I wouldn't come back for the first session
@aliendingus1991
3 жыл бұрын
@@THEPELADOMASTER Like I said, it's not for everyone, & it should NEVER be forced on players. Alternatively, I allow armor (or shield, parrying weapon, etc.,.) to do its job & protect you from a critical hit, destroying the armor in place of a limb. That way you can breathe a little bit easier, but still can be like: that sumbitch almost took my arm off!
@FiddlerForest
4 жыл бұрын
That nat20 on the Barb's arcana check: he heard it at trivia night at the local tavern. He knows a thing, but has no concept of what it means or its context. Kinda like a kid knowing E=MC^2. They have no idea what it means, but they could recognize it anywhere.
@kykisaky7841
4 жыл бұрын
I would totally go with this one, it is the first thing came in mind when heard that, DMs shoukd throw players a bone from time to time, specially on such plausable cases.
@thetimebinder
4 жыл бұрын
You cannot Nat 20 to jump 1 mile.
@FiddlerForest
4 жыл бұрын
@@thetimebinder depends on the lever arm of the catapult! *evil laughter*
@xerty5502
4 жыл бұрын
Guys that's what a difficulty 20 is I do agree that knowledge checks can get very subjective as to what the DC should be but other skills tend to be less hard to get a reasonable DC for and I'm sorry no unskilled oaf is going to forge a masterwork sword because he rolled a nat 20 if you think something should be possible and the dc is higher then 20 then perhaps the dc is wrong but you should not let a nat 20 succeed automatically it is far to abusable
@aetherius6221
2 жыл бұрын
@@thetimebinder your player attempts to jump one mile! They crit! You allow them to jump 1.5x the maximum described by the classic longjump calculation. Your party member performed as well as they could possibly perform given the constraints of physics
@torvus249
4 жыл бұрын
"Thousands died of polio, none of us want that again" So, funny story about the future of 2020...
@TheStilf
4 жыл бұрын
I played with a DM who demanded I pick a race and class before he would let me roll for stats. And they had to be in order. I didnt play with that guy again.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah no kidding. That would suck.
@noprobing6931
4 жыл бұрын
My players love fumbles, especially cause I use them for everyone. Had a BBEG hit the paladin, got a 1, so I ask the paladin if hed like to do anything, he said I'm gonna chuck his sword away, the paladin threw the sword to the monk who bolted away. The BBEG died quickly... I had a dm say no lawful characters, he also banned paladins and clerics. His campaign fell apart when all the players showed up as warlocks of the fiend...
@SangoSon12
2 жыл бұрын
I like listening to DnD campaigns that have the critical fumble rule. It can be epic when the players get a Nat 20 or so intense when they get Nat 1 or just hilarious!! One of my favorites is when the rogue got his acid dagger taken by the living rug carpet they were fighting. No other weapon the rogue used got disarmed as much as when he had that dagger.
@tivonor2
4 жыл бұрын
TL;DR: my most hated 'house rule" of 5e, is treating everything as an active perception. i have had too many DMs call for an active perception check when looting bodies or searching for traps or even eavesdropping. most circumstances like this would fall into the investigation skill. i have never rolled an investigation skill while playing. On top of this, rolling an active perception whenever passing by a hidden or invisible enemy/trap/door/etc. There is a passive perception for a reason. i also understand that there are some situations that will be kinda both, and I'm not knocking on DMs that rule it as *active* so the players get to roll (and have fun), but not for **everything.**
@andrewfarmer6126
4 жыл бұрын
Patting a guy down to find the 3 gold in his pocket is active though rather then hoping to here the coins clink in same pocket when he fell over after being stabbed which would be passive. Personally I think it's a silly mechanic. There are people who want to have the highest passive they can get and then never have to roll to find stuff. The hidden door with a DC 28 to find, nope passive of 30 so I auto find it with out looking is just a bad experience, to me atleast
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Something like looting enemies so just be a given. As long as my players declare that they are looting the enemies because sometimes they forget and don't but I just tell them what they find. No role is even needed. Unless of course one of the enemies is hiding something in a place that is more difficult to find.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Screw any rules you don't like. It's your game to run the way you want. If you find that you don't enjoy using the passive, then suggest using a different system... It's all about what floats your party & DMs boat... Make it fun for you & you can't go wrong!
@NekoMimiMisa
4 жыл бұрын
When I started playing d&d in highschool our dm was our friend's dad who was new to 3rd edition and mostly was used to AD&D. He had a lot of rules that were very strict and very stupid. He had the stats rolled in order one, and the starting at level one when you die, and losing con when you are brought back to life, and rolling a die 6 to open doors with normal doors requiring a 4 5 or 6 to open and heavy doors only opening on a 6 so we were sitting like idiots trying to open doors a lot of the time. He also had us roll a die 6 when we crit failed with a 1 on the die meaning a broken weapon and a 6 meaning we just miss. We had one guy in our group that kept breaking his weapons, including one adamantine vorpal sword, that we started calling his character Lucian the Swordbreaker. He also would unfairly punish players that would argue with him about rules, making one person's character permanently mute, and having another character get hit by a meteor.
@kendrickrochelanzot2053
4 жыл бұрын
Holy crap, it's the first time everyone walked out ot the table. How do you feel about plot armor? I think it's unfair.
@nickwilliams8302
4 жыл бұрын
Plot armor implies a predetermined outcome. It is thus totally opposed to the very _point_ of an RPG. So one PC is the last surviving heir to the throne of Kriegdorf? The campaign is centered around overthrowing the usurper who murdered the rest of that PC's family and restoring the heir to the throne? Cool. That doesn't mean the heir can't die a horrible death halfway through the campaign. You know you've got players of real quality when the other players decide that _their_ PC's are going to overthrow the usurper anyway, because that's what their friend would have wanted. The stories that emerge from RPGs are special and amazing precisely because no one can determine ahead of time what the result will be.
@kendrickrochelanzot2053
4 жыл бұрын
@@nickwilliams8302 in my case, it was a contract. The dm wanted the target to be a recurring npc, so he have him massive plot armor and knocked my character out for trying to kill a man I WAS BEING PAYED TO KILL
@nickwilliams8302
4 жыл бұрын
@@kendrickrochelanzot2053 lol "How is this dipshit going to get away _this_ time?" is a perpetual problem for GMs who want a recurring antagonist. But I don't think this justifies outright cheating. If you haven't considered the question, "What if the PCs win?" you're doing GMing wrong. In my current campaign, the PCs have run into a guy who calls himself "The Scorpion" twice now. Mechanically, he's just an NPC Swashbuckler with a bunch of magic items who runs around dressed like Cary Elwes' character in that movie. They totally almost killed him both times. He escaped because he's a coward. The point is, I want to drag this out as long as I can, but I _also_ know what happens when they finally kill the prick.
@fhuber7507
4 жыл бұрын
I don't give plot armor to PCs or NPCs. If I want a NPC to keep showing up over and over, I'll have a reason for it within the game mechanics. One solution: He may have a ring of "teleport wearer" to "location" (1 charge, recharges at sunrise) which contingent on being attacked will teleport the NPC home. The sword or spell never actually made contact. To kill him, you have to catch him at the location that ring sends him. (or kill him with AoE that won't trigger the ring) And when it tries to send him to where he already is, the ring crumbles to dust. its the ultimate protection contingency.
@kendrickrochelanzot2053
4 жыл бұрын
@@fhuber7507 this is not half bad.
@feedbacking6306
4 жыл бұрын
Crit Fumble table, me and my players love this! Failure is the greatest entertainment.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Agreed, as long as it doesn't take away from your fun, or get stale. If it does, then work on an alternate way...
@SanderTeunissen
4 жыл бұрын
I agree, I did balance it out with more extreme crits though. If the crit is confirmed (second roll would hit the enemy) than the player can apply max damage instead of rolling the damage. On a crit fumble you roll another d20, if above 10 all is well, just a regular miss. Below 10 I make something up depending on how low. Below 5 usually loses you a weapon or hits an ally. Another 1 breaks the weapon. (sometimes on a 2 or 3 too if it seems appropriate)
@SergioLeRoux
4 жыл бұрын
If I use Fumble table, I'll use one of the silly ones that have no effect on the game. Like "you lose your grip on your sword and it goes flying, and it keeps going across the entire battlefield, slowly curving and eventually heads back toward you, gently landing back in your hand like a boomerang."
@SanderTeunissen
4 жыл бұрын
@@SergioLeRoux depending on the type of game that could work out great :-)
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
@@SergioLeRoux I prefer a more realistic approach, but that's me... To each his own...
@wretchedegg5170
4 жыл бұрын
The worst house rule I've ever heard was taking the evasion skill from our rouge and rewriting it to: it only works if the environment allows it so basically he had to stand next to a tree to use it. P.S: I think the permanent injury table in the DM guide pretty much fits a dark theme campaign like Curse of Strahd when Characters are supposed to take scares out of it (who remembers the Madness he got in a haunted house anyway) also i find it unlikely that a lvl 20 barbarian who was eaten by a Kraken, a Tarrasque, got choped nearly in half by a Minataur just walks around without any disabilities just because one lvl1 Cleric casts Healing Word. Yeah the Injuries are pretty bad but nearly all of them can be fixed by magic. It also makes for great Character development.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
I wouldn't go so far as to rewrite evasion, though if in an enclosed area where the effected area is the same size as the enclosure (without anything to hide behind, including another character), then I think it's within the DM's rights to not allow a save for evasion (as there's no safe location to evade to), or at the least, to severely modify the number required (if there is something to hide behind, even if it's a shield [I know evasion doesn't really have anything to do with hiding or cover, but it DOES have everything to do with ducking out of the way, which may not be possible in certain situations]). Though the DM should try to limit over-using this, as it generally leads to dissension in the ranks when essentially cancelling a class ability. (Usually an effect has to take up all available space, including above & below to not get a chance at a save [though you still might benefit from the reduced damage from improved evasion)
@araccoonstolemyradiator
4 жыл бұрын
A good critical fumble houserule I saw was that they applied to enemy attack rolls too, and it just gives the next enemy to attack you (or until your next turn, whichever comes first) advantage on their attack, as if you had messed up your footing or dropped your guard. seeing a dragon roll to get back his breath weapon (the dm used a d20, if its above 10 he gets it back) and roll a critical one and start coughing as he tries to breath fire but inhales the flame instead is always going to be a hilarious moment.
@tiustutty1954
Жыл бұрын
Critical fails should definitely effect the enemies . Another interesting mechanics is to hand out inspiration points at the start of a session that can be used to gain advantage before a roll or negate a critical fail after the roll. The players have more agency and creative rival fumbles do not have to be removed.
@femmedracula6857
4 жыл бұрын
I never really thought of it as a house rule, but I've found that taking player agency from me takes away any desire I have to play that character ever again. I had one GM overrule one of my characters' actions (destroying simsense chips in a cyberpunk game) claiming that they were way too valuable for her to really go through with it. At that point, that character effectively ceased to exist. I no longer trusted the GM to trust me so that was it. I also really dislike GMs who let players play characters belonging to absentee characters. I've abandoned two groups for this, especially as in both cases they got my character killed by not even understanding how the character works.
@MatthewCampbell765
4 жыл бұрын
With knowledge checks in general, I typically try to offer an explanation for how a character might know something. So in the case of a Barbarian knowing an obscure arcane secret that the Wizard does not, I'd probably offer something like "Your clan has a legend of a time one of their old chieftians battled a wizard using magic resembling what you're seeing now".
@rikardosilva1754
3 жыл бұрын
Just use pathfinder rules for knowledge checks (and a few other skills) "If the check DC is higher than 10, you can't make a check if you aren't trained (has proficiency in D&D 5e terms", and your explanation is good enough.
@ring1313
4 жыл бұрын
Definitely movement counting as a full action, we have a large party already so combat you often have to wait 20 minutes just to move, it puts melee characters at a massive disadvantage and makes everything unfun in general
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah that sounds absolutely horrible. LOL
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Screw movement counting & CHARGE! If you do things your DM doesn't expect, then it usually puts you at an advantage... If you're too far away, then oh well... You run out of movement a little short... No barbarian worth his salt is gonna bother to waste a turn measuring out the distance to a hated enemy! Just charge anyway & eventually your DM will quit nitpicking & maybe even loosen up & have fun! Sometimes putting yourself at a disadvantage will appease your rules lawyer DM types, but I think as long as you're playing your character true to themselves, your DM will appreciate your character more. If your guy/gal is cold & calculating, maybe they WOULD waste a turn to measure the distance before charging into battle. Just play your character! (Some DMs stick to these types of rules to try to deter cheating or meta-gaming [Just because you know something out of game doesn't mean your character is privy to that knowledge in-game!], so don't let this be you!)
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Waiting for others to finish their turn can suck, so my suggestion is to pay attention to what others are doing, so you can alter your actions as needed, & be ready to go when it's your turn... You could always be thinking of a funny battle-cry!
@DeathxStrike18
4 жыл бұрын
Rule 1 our table loves them you just need a DM whos creative with it, i crit failed and when using druid craft instead of assisting the bard with falling flowers i threw grass on everyone and everyone got a laugh
@legendnetwork9153
4 жыл бұрын
I think we just saw Luke’s first Total party quit
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yep. 😢 I'll need to get new costumes for the next video! 😂
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Wow, don't think I've ever had a TPQ before...
@TalonSilvercloud
4 жыл бұрын
If people want to test out house rules, I have a suggestion that can make it a bit fun, and you can test the waters. Example: My players were in a dungeon where time was wonky. Initiative and rounds and all that could be considered expressions of time. In one room, in one encounter, initiative was rolled at the start of every round. This threw a few monkey wrenches into things, but it was fun as well.. The downside, you lose a few minutes every round wiping out the initiative tracker and rearranging it all. Upside, we gained some interesting shakeups, both for the players AND the enemies. But, it was only for one encounter. One that the players would have probably handled easily enough. We learned what worked, what didn't. After combat, the players encountered a mysterious gemstone plugged into a device. They smashed the device and took the gem, no more wonky initiative for the rest of the dungeon. But that right there was the end of the experiment. Instead of it just being a rule change because the DM says so, it was environmental. Like a trap or type of terrain. I had plans for them to pursue the gem further if they were interested in trying it out on a more long-term basis, but they sold it. The point is, try to have a mcguffin to explain the new rule, and let the players have some agency about the mcguffin to decide if they want to keep the rule or not. Especially if they want to game the rule further.
@Secti0nn
4 жыл бұрын
I've only ran two adventures so far, and I've used critical fumble's for enemies only. So far, it's been enjoyed
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Sure when it only affects the enemies. 😂
@erlanddrow7950
4 жыл бұрын
If permanent injuries could be cured with a healer's kit, like "lost arm" was just a broken arm which lesser restoration or a healer's kit could cure after a long rest, they could be good for a grim/hard campaign
@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar
4 жыл бұрын
Last time I was in a game where I rolled state in order, int was the second highest stat, but not high enough to be a wizard. And my constitution was 7. It sucked
@twilightgardenspresentatio6384
4 жыл бұрын
Instead of the DM being “God” I prefer to say that the DM “has the final veto” in all situations.
@DragonGunzDorian
4 жыл бұрын
Wow this popped up in my recommended list right before I was about to got to bed. Sweet just got a good sendoff to dreamland. Anyway solid sounding advice and good video as usual luke.
@DragonGunzDorian
4 жыл бұрын
Also about the intro, I wonder how the dm is going to play dnd solo. Hope he can develop a split personality or something to play the game with himself. oh wait...
@viktore8
4 жыл бұрын
Been both a player and a DM when it comes to using a fumble chart. We've all enjoyed it so far and don't see us changing anytime soon. Unless a player starts to not like it of course. Though i do see what you mean and i agree with what you said, spell casters have it easier.
@matthewbarker4109
4 жыл бұрын
Check out critical fumble cards by nord games keeps it pretty even across the board
@OWiseOwl
4 жыл бұрын
My players love our homebrew crit and fumble charts. Maybe you just need better tables.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
I don't see how individual preferences makes people or tables better or worse.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
You just need to come up with a comparable table for spell crits & fails... Using touch & ray spells still require a to-hit roll don't forget! Yes, you can crit with a spell if you have to roll to hit, so why not make one for spells?
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
@@OWiseOwl Ditto with my players!
@Twee9000
4 жыл бұрын
When player's character dies in any of my campaigns, I have the player roll up a new character one level below the current party level. Then I give them some chances to gain that level.
@xthebumpx
4 жыл бұрын
But why?
@thetimebinder
4 жыл бұрын
Don't know why. They are one of the weakest classes in nearly every edition except 4e.
@TheRedneckRoman16
4 жыл бұрын
Rogues can only use one of their dodging abilities (like uncanny dodge) once a day. Or that rogues cant sneak up on an enemy engaged with an ally..... my first dm reallybhated rogues.
@kyleward3914
4 жыл бұрын
Personally, I like fumbles, and they've led to some amusing situations in my games. I understand the aversion, though. In one combat, the enemies kept fumbling and accidentally shooting the same member of their own team to the point where that enemy decided he was switching sides then immediately died to another of his allies' natural 1's.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
Sometimes it does get almost comedic when nat 1 after nat 1 is rolled... It's like; wow, the Queen's guard are really inept... That's why I limited it to the second nat 1 for each character per combat. There were days as a DM that it seemed like I couldn't roll higher than a 10 on a d20... Makes you want to melt down your dice in a sacrifice to Pazuzu...
@binolombardi
4 жыл бұрын
Critical fumble rules affect different classes disproportionately. Classes whose combat potential are balanced with multiple low damage attacks have a much higher chance of being effected by these home rules. The first campaign I took part in had a paladin, a fighter, a cleric, and a warlock. The DM decided to use critical fumble rules. The fighter with action surge seemed to roll a fumble almost every turn. The warlock attacked at range with eldritch blast. The warlock was able to attack more often since they didn’t need to close any gaps usually. This also led to quite a few fumbles. The DM would rule that fumbles either meant you proned yourself, dropped your weapon, or “accidentally” attacked an ally in range. The warlock basically blasted the fighter and the paladin every fumble... this lead to quite a few arguments. Specifically how rolling a natural 1, which is always a miss, somehow bypassed the 18+ AC of the melee combatants. We brought up the variant rules in the DMG for hitting creatures granting cover but that didn’t sway the DM. To this day the DM still uses fumble rules, and because of this no one plays any classes with extra attack when he DMs.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Exactly. Well said.
@Tebow-1337
4 жыл бұрын
Looks like I’m only guilty of 2 out of 10 of these, thank god. But being a relatively new dm, I discussed with my players that were way more in tune with the game and we more or less decided that instead of the xp system, I allow them to level up at crucial points in the campaign. For example, after they fight a battle so tough that they almost all die. It’s worked relatively well so far and everyone enjoys it.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
That leveling up mechanic you mentioned sound similar to the Milestone mechanic mentioned in the dungeon Master's guide. It's what I use and I like it alot.
@TheBalthier12
4 жыл бұрын
Coming from a different system (The Dark Eye, much cheaper and more spread out over here in Germany), there are quite some things from the DnD system I like to take over as a homebrew rule (as an example the saving rolls; TDE has a serious healing problem). There are some things I like better in DnD, some where both sides go different, but still interesting ways, and then there is one thing DnD has and TDE doesn't where I'm really happy about it: The alignment chart! Pick character traits, that determine your characters behaviour: Sure, no problem. Make him a devout servant of a god and let him follow the rules of this deity (no lieing for the god of laws, no killing for the goddess of life): Really funny (and mostly spimple to draw a line). What I really don't like is putting a signon them like "This is a GOOD character and his brother is only NEUTRAL". Same goes with alignment showing spells and the like. Finding out someone is actually a demon or an angel? Well, yeah, those are extraterrestial beings, totally makes sense for them to be somewhat different. And finding out about some evil person's foul plans by reading his mind while he thinks about them also sound very possible in a fantasy realm. But imagine a villain running several orphanages, where the orphans actually have a decent life (with some mild indoctrination maybe). For the children, this man is a good person. He helps them. Does this somehow make him a neutral instead of an evil character, seeing the whole picture? Would he appear as a good person while doing good things and as a bad person while doing bad things? I personally decide to just roll with my game nad leave out that question. Let your characters (and players) decide to trust or mistrust someone by his deeds and words (or things they heard about him) and not by some "villain aura". About the crit-auto-success-stuff: Welcome to one of the easier challenges for DMs. I personally start with two questions: 1. How important is the succes or fail of this trial and what are the consequences? 2. Is this something a party member can find out/do/know about or this generally "impossible"? If something would really throw the whole campaign or setting overboard, don't let them succeed. If you don't like setting borders for your characters and let them roll on everything, let them understand they're not gods who can do everything. Example: "I roll persuasion to make the king make me ruler instead." *rolls critical success* "The moment you spoke these words, you realize you did a grave mistake that could anger the monarch to the point of him having you all executed. Thankfully he seems to think you were joking, smiles at you and then turns to the rest of the party." It is (in my opinion at least) a different thing, if you already planned to have the party succeed the roll and then for some reasons the dice decide that the wise wizard doesn't recognize the arcane runes but his dumb dwarven friend recognizes them. In this case: Let them succeed! It doesn't break the game if it's just a different person to succeed. BUT: Be creative about this! The barbarian identifies some runes as an arcane trap? "Oh, I have stepped into one of these before, bad memory!" A pacifist cleric, who never left his hometown before, knows about a war at the other end of the world? "I have tended to some refugees, who ran from this." Reading books, hearing stories, having visions, having a relative who works in the field in question, maybe a little bit of divine interventions, heck maybe the character is a creative person and is reminded of something he wrote in a novel or sang in a song. Knowledge checks can have sooooo many sources of information. When it comes to checks where a real physical interaction is needed and it isn't complete bs (fairy fire guy mentioned in the video), give it some "lucky chance" try. A not so dexterous person tries to disarm a trap? Something breaks so the trap springs but still nothing happens (maybe a construction mistake or if it's effect is single target only, it fires but misses). The thief fails at unlocking the door but the drunk dwarf crits? "Yer realized ya had ta pull, not push, 'right?" Don't fret making it a bit hilarious: It already IS a funny situation when the full armored fighter and paladin crit their sneaking and the sneaky rogue fails. Another option would be to combine these rolls, like the paladin and fighter rush through an alley behind the guards back, he doesn't see them but hears their armour, turns around and they are already but the rogue is suddenly in plain sight. Or someone has given up on doing something, since normally it's very easy for them, not realizing he was almost done, and the next character manages to push it just this little over the edge to succeed. As mentioned before: Just be creative!
@YooranKujara
4 жыл бұрын
I've said it before, I'll say it again: If it's not possible. DON'T LET THEM ROLL.
@jamesorth8231
4 жыл бұрын
Most of the time its players that jump the gun and just roll without being prompted "You look at a massive painting of demonic imagery that likely predates any of the recent eras of..." "I'm gonna make a History check...oh natural 20!" (Barbarian) "Well it would be more a Religion check and I didn't prompt you to..." "Ok but I still rolled a 20, so i know everything about it right?" Personally that is a small pet peeve that I have, characters making random checks and not even knowing what its for
@YooranKujara
4 жыл бұрын
@@jamesorth8231 the only time I roll without being prompted is if I'm seeing something for roleplay
@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself
4 жыл бұрын
This is an overrated and overused tip. It really has to depend on context. If the player's character doesn't have a reasonable way to know that it is impossible, the player should still roll. When the fail happens on the nat 20, it adds drama. The PC put forth the greatest effort and still failed - now they have a better, more personal, sense of how difficult it is. If it's obvious, like jumping a 40-foot chasm, yeah, just say that the character realizes it is not possible. If it's a DC 28 lock and you have two rogues in the party, one with a +7 to open locks and the other with +9 - let both roll. Who knows, maybe the one with the +7 (and guaranteed fail) will think of something to add that changes the outcome. To me, I consider not letting a player roll for an attempt is taking away player agency in a lot of cases. Again, only if it is a case where the player is overestimating ability, and the DM thinks that the character should reasonably know a task is impossible before trying it, should the DM not allow the roll - and explain why.
@YooranKujara
4 жыл бұрын
@@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself don't make them roll, let them try and fail if they really insist, but they don't have to roll
@chrisp.2852
4 жыл бұрын
So one time I had a npc with plate, and as a joke I did a "crit fumble" by getting the sword stuck in a gap in the armor, but when they went to pull it out it cut a strap on the armor removing part of it and lowering there AC, it would also have been accepted to push the blade further in, would have just been harder.
@nonbiri6966
4 жыл бұрын
There’s a reason we aren’t still playing AD&D, with THAC0 etc. It was just too complicated and cumbersome. So I have a strong bias against any house rules that add extra tables, charts and dice rolls, even when they add “extra realism.” They are usually hard to remember, and slow gameplay to a crawl. Like rolling a proficiency die each time to calculate your hit/save bonus, instead of using a fixed proficiency bonus.
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
It's up to the players & the DM to decide what level of realism they're shooting for... Which is why I think it's a good idea to give players a survey to determine what type of playing style they prefer. This will help the DM to decide how much realism, style of play, & setting, as well as giving players a chance to voice what they do & don't want out of a game... To each their own, I say...
@josephtramelli5250
4 жыл бұрын
There were alot of things in ad&d that were poorly done but that doesn't mean that charts are bad, charts were not the problem with ad&d. Further simple doesn't equal better, defacto. Some people prefer a little complexity. Oversimplifying often makes the game play more like a video game, much like 5e does now, which is why my players and I have no interest in playing 5e and much prefer 3.5 and pathfinder, or if we have the time a much more complex and realistic system like iron crown's rolemaster system
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
@@josephtramelli5250 4th edition was the one that seemed like a video game to me... 5th edition seemed more like a reversion back to 3.5, with a little 4.0, & some new stuff too... If you look at the players handbook, it looks a lot closer to 3.5 than 4th edition...
@josephtramelli5250
4 жыл бұрын
@@aliendingus1991 I will agree fifth is better than 4th... 4th was just. Train wreck, complicated beyond function, but fifth still seems like a video game to me. Also, I think the advantage disadvantage systems is one of the worst mechanics I've ever seen, it's simple yes, but makes absolutely no sense and really makes the game dry in my opinion, I much prefer stacking bonuses and penalties
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
@@josephtramelli5250 you can use both if you like, or just do away with advantage except for special situations, or even altogether. It's your game to play however you want, &/or however is good/fun for you & your players. That's the beauty of D&D... No 2 games are exactly alike, but are usually close enough to where most people can jump from 1 campaign to the next without much trouble. Nothing is written in stone (except maybe HAVE FUN!), so adjust as needed.
@15oClock
4 жыл бұрын
Most house rules based in nostalgia are from those who played it as kids who don't always know how the game works. As it turns out, when you apply those rules to adults that just bought a $60 book wanting to find an escape from the real world and thought their friend's childhood hobby was the way to do it, they hate that more than veteran DMs hate the Matt Mercer effect.
@daniellugo6461
4 жыл бұрын
Yup. Critical fumbles. Fun in theory, never fun in practice. Feeling like you are winning, and then having the DM introduce new danger is fun. Feeling like you are losing, and then rolling Nat 20's to save the day is REALLY fun! Missing is already no fun. And a super miss is even less fun. Critical fumbles on SKILL CHECKS however, 😎👍. RP gold.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Agreed. I feel like DM are the only ones who enjoy crit fumbles on attack rolls. Yes, RPing any critical fumble can be fun. 😁
@sharkjack
4 жыл бұрын
I generally have an enemy do an AoO on a players critical fumble. This sucks for the player getting hit, but exhausting that opponents reaction for the round can also create new opportunities, so it is not all bad (in melee that means you might move around an opponent for free or break off where you otherwise wouldn't have). It also helps spread damage around more evenly, as long ranged attackers tend not to get attacked back as much, and they are generally the ones who hurt more when they are. I generally avoid making the player feel incompetent after rolling a 1, because at 5% that just occurs so often (sometimes multiple times for one person in one session) that it just breaks any illusion of the PCs being heroes instead of zeroes. Instead, I make clear that a risk didn't pay off, or someone correctly guessed your timing and got lucky. That happens to heroes all the time, and then they grit their teeth and work through the pain like the badasses they are.
@daniellugo6461
4 жыл бұрын
@@sharkjack That is a great rule. In fact, it may even speed up combat a bit. Especially if I, the DM, fumble, and get AOO on me. I would like to test that at some point.
@marcuswestphal4955
4 жыл бұрын
For me when my players roll nat1s slash crit fumbles I just say you missed wildly and move on sometimes if it's precision to not hit an ally like shooting an arrow over the fighters head then they make a new attack roll against the fighter with disadvantage I hope that is fair
@aliendingus1991
4 жыл бұрын
@@sharkjack I've used this system too, & my players appreciated the idea of provoking an AoO on a crit fumble (Especially since I as the DM seemed to roll the most crit fumbles at the table...). But I did use a fumble chart (of my own design) after the 1st crit fumble of a combat...
@executiveelf8793
4 жыл бұрын
In regards to #3 something that my DM does that I love is that after combat, all XP is distributed equally to those who were involved in combatting a given monster. So if the Monk punches out a vampire all by himself while everyone else delt with something else, he gets all that vampire xp while everything else is split among the other players.
@daedalussass_5365
4 жыл бұрын
Critical fails help to make the game more fun by adding risk. Anyway, most dm's make it more inclusive by forcing spell casters and enemies to have the same risks.
@dokkabaerpg7896
3 жыл бұрын
"If I die, I can live with that." Funny to take out of context. Great content as always Luke
@gazzles
4 жыл бұрын
The flip-side of the auto-success on skill checks: auto-failure on skill checks. Sorry that you're an olympic-level athlete. You still trip while walking down the street every 20th step, because we have to have SOME randomness!
@THEPELADOMASTER
3 жыл бұрын
At our table we do critical failures on checks that are below 1. Like, the druid rolled a 7 and she put it on strength. At some point, she tried to lift a box and rolled a nat 1 for a total of -1. A -1 strength check! You can't just say "oh well, you can't lift the box" *it's a -1!* Nothing serious happens, usually it's just for fun, but she almost broke her fingers and she fell on her ass trying to lift a box with DC 8
@benjaminichelson9664
4 жыл бұрын
I agree with the permanent injuries thing. I once had a character loose his eyes permanently. No spell or healer could heal it. Quit the game two sessions after trying to cope with the disability, since the gm wouldn’t let me reroll
@Peter_Cordes
4 жыл бұрын
I assume you didn't have access to 7th level Regenerate? If even that didn't work, that's just ridiculous, and yeah quitting is totally justified. Regen's description only explicitly mentions "severed body members (fingers, legs, tails, and so on)", so RAW you could deny it I guess. Of course quitting is totally justified if they didn't let your character retire, either. Talk about stepping on player agency to RP their character's decisions! Losing your sight is pretty life-altering, even if you have a familiar whose eyes you can see through.
@Alresu
4 жыл бұрын
With TFS at the table you can see critical fumbles that are enjoyed. Especially, when the boss-enemy fumbles a few times in a row, slips on ball bearings and breaks through the bottom of the ship.
@hippo1701
4 жыл бұрын
As a player with only one DM I know, how do I tell him about the 20 on a skill check is wrong?
@Rokkiteer
4 жыл бұрын
Don't tell him it's wrong. Just explain what you prefer and let him come to his own conclusion.
@Garrabutartulo1
4 жыл бұрын
Tell them to read the book, specifically the part about skill checks, and show you where it says natural 20s are automatic successes. I've done it.
@GunarBastos
4 жыл бұрын
Point him to the PhB book, skill section. You'll see that it is stated that there is no critical sucess or fumble. You can roll a nat 20 and fail, and you also can roll a nat 1 and succeed. Skill checks are all about the DC, and nothing else. Also, do this out of game, like "look what I found!" thing. Usually people recieve the information in a less defensive way if you do that.
@SquatBenchDeadlift455
4 жыл бұрын
Rather than point him to skill section and telling him to show you where it is, I would instead point to the combat section and say "This is where crits being auto-successes comes from. In combat, on attack rolls. It's not applicable to skill checks or saving throws. A nat 20 on a skill check is just a character's best possible attempt."
@samuelbiondolillo2535
4 жыл бұрын
It's not really wrong. As other commenters have pointed out, if a natural 20 on a skill check wouldn't succeed, the players shouldn't be making the check in the first place. This is more of an issue of failing to engage with the fiction than anything else.
@Dzicozan
4 жыл бұрын
the only instance in which I've nerfed something was when a couple of irl friends and I were playing Dragon of Icespire Peak and I allowed UA content + everything else to be used from books, and a player wanted to play a Wizard with the healing potion spell. turning level 1 spellslots into 2d4+2 heal he can just carry around with him at no cost because he can just do it before taking a long rest. Furthermore, the campaign actually offers players to buy potions for 50 gp each, why would they ever do that with the wizard around? that's why I just said "your healing potions heal for 1d4+1 instead" rather than forcefully taking the spell away from him
@kasuscloud4805
4 жыл бұрын
"Back in the day thousands of people died from polio but none of us really want that again now do we?" I think the antivaxxer movement might be of a mind to disagree.
@cloudfair2
4 жыл бұрын
I agree with the permanent injury thing 100%. I’ve considered implementing it into a game and then I read through the effects and I hear a loud voice in my head shout “NO!!!”
@thecreepoid901
4 жыл бұрын
I dunno, my players cracked up when the evil necromancer's skeleton minion rolled a crit fail and ended up shanking him to death.
@leviwood3363
4 жыл бұрын
I have two house rules from two separate dm's that I absolutely hate, talking pathfinder here. One the spell ball lightning states that if you are high enough level to create more than one ball you can move all of them in one move action he had it that for each move action you can only move one ball. The other rule, the experience to next level is 1,000 times the level you are going to get, so level 2 is 2,000, level 5 is 5,000 and level 20 is 20,000, but after each level your xp dropped to zero. So instead of it taking of talking 2,400,000 xp to get to level 20 it only took 209,000. This seems like a weird thing to not like but it just feels like we level up too fast and there is no real challenge to level up. Hell one encounter took us from level 13 to level 26, he is trying to get us to level 35. We've only played 6 sessions and we're already level 26
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah that experience Point thing sounds really weird. I wonder if there's a reason your dungeon master is trying to level you up fast?
@aaronhumphrey2009
4 жыл бұрын
That's abnormally fast advancement. It's extremely rare to ever go up two levels ( unless it's for a PC that's fallen 2+ levels behind the party average) and nobody ever goes up 3+ levels at one time. Sounds like your dm is set on having an epic adventure develop 'overnight'. Epic 3.5 PC's and NPC's take a while to create, especially if they're spellcasters. Have fun storming the castle !
@canaannevin8494
4 жыл бұрын
8:40 .....I mean.... antivaxxers exist lmao
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah about that... 😬
@richmcgee434
4 жыл бұрын
So does the part of the OSR crowd that thinks THAC0 was a good idea. Both groups are crazier than bedbugs.
@sanned8310
4 жыл бұрын
In the game I'm playing right now we've got permanent injuries everytime you go uncouncious, you have to roll a d20(20 would be cuts and bruises, 1 would be loss of a limb or similar). We've just begun this campaign, so i do not know yet if it will be good or bad.
@thetimebinder
4 жыл бұрын
Wow, every time you sleep for a long rest, you roll for permanent injury? That's one way to balance the Variant Human. I guess everyone could just play elves in your games unless they want the challenge.
@animalchandler
4 жыл бұрын
My PC lost an ear in a campaign, which increased my intimidation checks. It didn’t seem to lower his charisma though so it just became a free increase to intimidation. In the same campaign he was given a limp for a few days, but again it didn’t really affect the gameplay so it did make me think what the point was.
@williamwontiam3166
4 жыл бұрын
Number 2 is exactly why I use a milestone system and keep experience as “coolness points”.
@williamwontiam3166
4 жыл бұрын
And in that vein, alignment is just the universes way of a hackneyed morality system. It basically tells you whether someone’s an ass or not, but nothing more.
@jacobjensen7704
4 жыл бұрын
I really, really appreciate the fact that you bring up the culture difference between older D&D players and newer D&D players. I've definitely seen this a lot already. Players that have been playing D&D for a long time (typically since 1st or 2nd editions) seem to have a very different mentality about what makes D&D fun than players who have been playing recently, especially players who have only played 5th edition. I've also seen it cause problems when older players and newer players in the group have different expectations. Throw in an old/new DM with old/new players and it gets even messier. I find it rather fascinating how those expectations for D&D have evolved, but also annoying when I'm playing the game for one reason (in my case, I like telling a cool story through a game) while other players are playing it for reasons that feel very foreign to me.
@davecam4863
4 жыл бұрын
I had a DM that made us roll stats in order and I hated it so much. It literally takes away your agency before you even create a character
@andrewthomas4636
3 жыл бұрын
Your DM advice is really awesome and straight to the point. I'm a new subscriber!
@theDMLair
3 жыл бұрын
I am the master of cheese. 😀
@SquatBenchDeadlift455
4 жыл бұрын
Love the video, the only point I would draw some argument with is number 7 (rolling stats in order). Now if you're gearing up for a long, indepth campaign, definitely go without this rule. However, there are situations where this can be enjoyable and bring variety to the table. Also worth mentioning is that when doing this, I did it using the Matt Colville method, where you keep going until you've got two or more stats at 15 or higher. The first case I've had found this rule useful for was when we were playing Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Since there's lots of small adventures which only take a few sessions each, there's no great dissatisfaction in rolling a character you're not enthusiastic about, since you'll be on to another shortly. Since I have some newer players, it served to give them a bit of exposure to a number of classes they knew little about, which helped me to get them to spend more time reading the PHB. (I think we've all known players who are content asking others what they add to initiative, or to hit, weapon damage dice, or their spell save DC...every fight) The second case is when you've got some players that make the same character(s) every campaign. In some cases it's because they watched a few "MOST BROKEN D&D 5E BUILD" videos and find themselves unwilling to play anything but Variant Human(Which was my case). Or, they may make joke characters for your serious campaign. Either way, this gives you an avenue to push them towards trying new things.
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
Sure if you're going to do a special Adventure 2 with a certain set of characters then it could be a gimmick to just roll those characters with stats in order. And I can see people having fun with that because it's it's a gimmick. It's a special feature of that Adventure you're doing. I just think over the course of a long campaign if I were stuck with a character I didn't like I might just suicide that character if I'm not having fun with it. In fact I could easily see players suiciding any character they get who has really bad stats.
@Parent_Gamer
4 жыл бұрын
Well made with exceptional points, though I do have a problem with one of them. The Nat 20 Skill-checks point. If a Natural 20 doesn't work, why did the DM ask for a roll? If it's outside the realm of possibility why is the player rolling a D20? And if a character is unsuited to knowing, then the answer changes. If the low INT barbarian wants to try and intuit something about a wizard spell book or arcane knowledge, and rolls high, why not answer, but without giving the actual answer. "You have heard tales of mages to the north of your tribe. Mages who could rend a warrior with a word. These runes remind you of those stories..." If the Persuasive PC wants to try and convince the King to step down and the DM asks for a roll (for some reason instead of just calling for the guards) the King responds: "I like a man who's not afraid to suggest something truly foolish. While i'll not step down, I invite you to sit at my next council meeting. Perhaps your insight could open some eyes..."
@theDMLair
4 жыл бұрын
I agree. If It's out of the realm of possibility, the DM shouldn't ask for a roll. But the DC may be 25, the player rolls a 20, but the total is only 22. It would bog the game down for the DM to look at every PCs sheet before asking for a roll just to see if it's possible.
@gamingman2720
4 жыл бұрын
A permanent injury is only supposed to happen when someone deals over half your health in one shot and you fall unconscious and it was probably made for use by the players against enemies
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