#and it's cool if you go back to 5e afterwards but try to have more experience with rpgs before designing your own

[sisterdivinium]

I think someone mentioned mixing WN with D&D on Twitter a while back and I hope that, if so, "D&D" was being used as a synonym for RPG rather than actual D&D 5e (which you shouldn't really do because they aren't synonymous, but I know it's a common thing).

Adapting Warrior Nun into 5e rules seems a bit like fighting the system rather than working with it, at least to me.

Here is a game that depends on character classes -- how will you make it work when all characters will probably share the class of sister warrior? If the idea is to differentiate them through skills, then isn't it better to just ditch the concept of class altogether? Maybe take inspiration from something like Knave, Maze Rats, Cairn if one wishes to stick with a D&D-ish aura.

Fights in WN aren't all that long if you think about it; so how will you conciliate that with the HP sponges that 5e characters are? (An anecdote: the other day I saw someone complaining about their weak initial character, who had some 20 HP. Playing old school D&D, I've had players start with 4. Ask them if they weren't scared shitless of dying -- and if this fear didn't make them play smarter and end up valuing their PCs much more when they levelled up!)

The economy system of 5e (well, of D&D as a whole, really, including older editions) has very little in common with the one our favourite ass-kicking nuns would use -- would it even be necessary, if we assume the Vatican is responsible for providing them with gear?

I'm not asking any of these questions simply because I dislike 5e (which I do, I admit) or to dissuade people from mixing WN and RPGs (I even did it myself once and might or might not be doing it again with another play style and basic system in mind), I just ask that they take mechanics into consideration. 5e can be good for what it's made for (or so I'm told), but in this particular instance it seems inappropriate for WN.

If I may be so bold as to offer amateur designers some suggestions...

I'd start by taking a look at Nathan Paoletta's RPG Design Zine, just because it helps you think about what the hell you're doing.

Generic systems are just that, generic, but they can be much easier to adapt than something so heavily-coded for a certain type of game as 5e is. They can be more complicated (maybe GURPS, though you could go for Lite and consider getting, idk, Religion, Martial Arts, Low Tech, High Tech... Go explore) or lighter. I am a gigantic fan of Freeform Universal Classic, but you could do something cool with FATE or FAE, Mini Six, hell, I don't know! There's a good deal of generic systems out there.

You could be a little more daring, if versed in PbtA games, and hack one up yourself, why not?

All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be wrestling with the system to make this thing. Have it work for you, not against you; find something that can "translate" the show more easily than 5e does.

There's a whole world of games out there, a wealth of inspiration to work with. A lot of creators stick to 5e because it's popular and it helps them get visibility for their products -- and I don't fault them for it, but you aren't going to sell this, are you? You're not the IP owner. Others use 5e because "everybody knows the rules" -- which isn't true and, honestly, if you're going to change the whole thing up so it matches WN, then what's the use of knowing how rangers in a high fantasy campaign progress if you're playing nuns with guns?

I guess my point is: just don't tire yourself out trying to make an apple pie out of ingredients meant for chocolate cake.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #198

Happy New Year! (If it is not new years, please disregard.) Today we're crossing into the 2020 servants; hopefully this build makes that clear.

Today we're building Katsushika Hokusai, the daughter/fatheroctopus painter duo, most famous for... waves? And also making a deal with Cthulhu. We're grabbing some levels in Creation Bard for the former, and Hexblade Warlock for the latter. Don't worry, it'll make sense as we go.

Check out their build breakdown below the cut, or their character sheet over here!

Next up:

Race and Background

Oui is a Human. Her dad's an octopus, which is weird, but we'll deal with that later. Also, we're making her a variant human for cool stuff. She gets +1 Wisdom and Charisma, as well as Animal Handling proficiency to get along with her parents and the Magic Initiate feat, which uses her Wisdom to cast druid spells. Since magical paintbrushes aren't an official weapon in D&D 5e, we'll call it a quarterstaff instead, which means you can use Shillelagh to make it fancy and magical for the duration. It also turns the damage die into a d8, deals magical damage, and uses your wisdom instead of strength to hit things and deal damage. You also get Frostbite to splash cold water on people, and Protection from Evil and Good. You can cast that last one once a day for free, and it'll protect you against aberrations (plus celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead) for ten minutes with concentration. They'll have disadvantage to hit you, and they cant' charm, frighten, or possess you, and any existing effects of that ilk you can shake off with advantage. No spoilers, but that'll come in handy soon enough.

You also get the Guild Artisan background, because you paint for money. That gives you Insight and Persuasion proficiency.

Ability Scores

Make your Charisma as high as possible. You paint good, and you have the mental fortitude to keep an elder god from yeeting your soul from your body. Good job. Second highest is Dexterity, painting lifesized waves in the air around you doesn't actually need all the backflips, you just like to show off. Your Wisdom is also pretty good, it's hard to paint things you can't see well, and again that whole "mental fortitude" thing. Your Constitution is pretty good, you handle all-nighters pretty well. That means your Strength isn't great, but we're dumping Intelligence. You're kind of a hick, after all. Plus, really? Swordbeauties?

Class Levels

Bard 1: You weren't born with the squid powers, so we'll grab those up a bit later. Right now you're just a plucky young artist with a dream. As a bard, you get proficiency with Dexterity and Charisma saves, as well as three skills of your choice. Performance and Nature will help you paint nature, and Arcana will help you find the squid guy in the first place. You get Bardic Inspiration, Charisma Modifier d6s per long rest, and you can give one to your allies to boost one attack, check, or save by however much they roll. Nothing like some tasteful nudes to get the spirits up. You also get Spells that you can cast using your Charisma. Friends makes it easier to pass charisma checks against a creature for a minute, but they'll know you magicked them afterwards. Thankfully, getting paid doesn't take that long. Minor Illusion helps you bring your paintings to life, but just a little bit. It'll create a still object or sound that lasts for up to a minute. Creatures can tell it's an illusion with an investigation check, or by touching it. You also get Animal Friendship- your dad can be hard to get along with. Color Spray weaponizes your paints to blind creatures in the area, and Illusory Script lets you write one thing, but really write another. I'm sure you can argue this should count for paintings as well. Oh, you also get Dissonant Whispers. You're a Foreigner, you can be a little creepy if ya wanna.

Bard 2: Second level bards become a Jack of All Trades, adding half their proficiency to skill checks they aren't proficient in. You're an anime character, it's an unwritten rule you should be good at everything. You also get a Song of Rest, adding a d6 to healing your party does over a short rest. On top of that, your bardic inspiration becomes Magical Inspiration, letting your allies add it to the damage or healing of a spell. Finally, grab the spell Silent Image for moving images, so now you can paint birds and/or waves and have them look just like the real thing. Now, third level of bard is where things start getting funky, so before we can do that, let's make a deal.

Warlock 1: Bouncing over to warlock lets you become a Hexblade, which sounds kind of weird, but there's a reason for that. You don't do weird mind stuff like the GOOlocks, and you don't really use Tentacles like the Fathomlocks. What you do need though, is a fancy magic brush, and a fancy magic octopus. There isn't a familiar-based subclass yet, so we had to go with the weapon-based one, and we'll pick up your dad later. Anyways, starting off as a Hexblade lets you invoke a Hexblade's Curse as a bonus action, dealing your proficiency in extra damage to the cursed creature, crit on 19s, and heal yourself when the cursed creature dies. The curse lasts 1 minute, and you can use this once per short rest. Hokusai also become a Hex Warrior, turning one non-two-handed weapon into a special weapon at the end of a long rest. Now your brush uses your Charisma to attack, nice. Unfortunately, this doesn't include magical damage, but you can stack this with Shillelagh if you really need to. You also get another set of spells with your Pact Magic. These slots recharge on short rests, and it means your multiclassing doesn't mix slots like most spellcasting classes would. You can still use one kind of slot to cast the other kind of spells though. Speaking of spells, grab Eldritch Blast for some paint splashes, and Mage Hand for a pseudo-octopus that'll grab things for you. Cause Fear lets you paint a really creepy thing one target can see, forcing a wisdom save and scaring them if they fail. Arms of Hadar will give you a little bit of tentacles, as a treat. They'll force a strength save on creatures near you, dealing necrotic damage and making them too gooey to take reactions.

Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, mini-feats to help you cope with only having two spell slots. Grab Armor of Shadows for free Mage Armor on yourself at will. Your family is your armor, and I mean that literally. Stop wearing your dad, it's creepy. You also get a second one, but we're saving that for the next level. Don't not take one now though, I'm just saying it won't matter in the long run.

Bard 3: Now that your pact is sealed, we can get the real living paintings going. If you're thinking 'bout an inking feel free to shuffle levels around, I just want to hit Font of Inspiration quickly. As a Creation bard, Hokusai gets an Inkling of Potential, adding extra effects to her bardic inspiration. Ability checks let the user roll twice, attack rolls deal extra thunder damage, and saving throws add temporary HP to the user. She can also enact the Performance of Creation, creating a nonmagical item nearby. Currently it must cost less than 20 times your bard level, and it has to be medium or smaller. You can do this once per long rest, or by spending a 2nd level slot, but doing so destroys the first object if it still exists. Right now this only makes medium objects, but a 5' wave of water is nothing to sneeze at. You also get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency them. Pick up Insight and Performance for the ultimate style-copying skills. Finally, you get second level spells. We can't focus too much on non-charisma abilities, but this'll give you a leg up on seeing the true nature of things. It gives you advantage on any one kind of ability check for up to a minute.

Bard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma. Now you have more inspiration, better spells, and a bigger brush. Charisma's good, you'll like charisma. You can also paint Dancing Lights and a Phantasmal Force now. The former lights up an area, the latter creates a phantasmal creature or object that only one creature can see for up to a minute. It can break the illusion with an Investigation check, but until then it treats the thing as completely real, rationalizing away inconsistencies. It also can take a bit of psychic damage if the illusion would cause harm within 5' of itself.

Bard 5: Fifth level bards become a Font of Inspiration like we talked about earlier, giving you inspiration recharges on short rests instead of long ones. Your inspiration also jumps to d8s. Finally, grab Major Image for more major illusions than minor image. It creates an object up to 20' on each side, and includes effects like sound, smell, and temperature, as long as they wouldn't deal damage. You can also move the illusion using your action. Same rules apply to breaking it though- investigation check or just touching it.

Warlock 3: Finally back in warlock, you get your pact boon, and the Pact of the Chain gives you Find Familiar as a ritual, and you can skip your own attack to attack with your familiar. Wildly enough, Octopus is already a rules as written option for Find Familiar. Awkward point; octopi can only be out of water for 30 minutes. Good luck with that! On top of that, Mirror Image lets you paint duplicates of yourself, making it harder to hit you. Boom, evade skill achieved. You get three extra copies, and every time you get hit, there's only a 25% chance of actually hitting the real one. If an illusion gets hit, it's destroyed, so the odds go up to 33%, then 50%. You also put in the Investment of the Chain Master, giving your dad a flying speed, the ability to attack as a bonus action, magical weapons, your DC for saves, and you can react to give the little bugger resistance to one instance of damage. Literally everyone else's dad is dead already, try not to add one more to the pile. Except for Romani's, but that's sad in its own way.

Warlock 4: Another ASI, max out your Charisma. It's good, you use it for literally everything. For spells, Mind Sliver deals psychic damage an makes the target's next save a bit harder to make. You also get a Crown of Madness, which gives you control over a creature's attack action. Just because you're less spooky than Abby doesn't mean you're not spooky.

Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks get a new invocation and third level spell. Summon Shadowspawn lets you paint one of three kinds of shadowspawn, creepy little things that can scare people by screaming at them. They'll obey your commands, and it'll last up to an hour, until they hit 0 HP, or you drop concentration. Your last invocation is the Gift of the Depths, letting you breathe underwater and swim as fast as you can walk. Now it's slightly less awkward to carry your dad around, yay. You can also cast Water Breathing for free once per long rest.

Bard 6: Finally back in bard now, sixth level creation bards can put on an Animating Performance, turning a large or smaller item into a Dancing Item with its own stats and everything. You have to use your bonus action to command it in battle, but you can inspire people at the same time. I'm not sure how well animating water would work, but it's something to look into. You also learn how to Countercharm, spending your action to give creatures near you advantage on saves against being charmed or frightened. For something better, grab Intellect Fortress. For up to an hour, you'll resist psychic damage, and you get advantage on all Int, Wis, and Chr saves.

Bard 7: Seventh level bards get fourth level spells, like Hallucinatory Terrain! Now you can paint a landscape- literally! It's only 150' in range, but that's still plenty of space to mess with people. It doesn't really change anything, but forcing people to look at non-euclidean geometry is its own reward.

Bard 8: Another ASI. Bump up your Dex now so you're less likely to get hit, then grab Phantasmal Killer to paint a scary creature that will follow the target around and beat them up. It's a shame only one creature gets to see it.

Bard 9: Ninth level bards get a better song of rest, but more importantly you get fifth level spells. Legend Lore will help you see the true meaning of things more easily, and the more you already know about something the more you'll learn. That's why your Arcana and Nature skills are so high. Oh, wait, sorry, one sec...

Bard 10: And that's why your Arcana and Nature skills are so high... starting now, with another round of Expertise. Your inspiration also jumps to d10s, and you learn Magical Secrets, two spells from any spell list you can cast. On top of that, you get Prestidigitation to paint up small objects. For your secrets, Conjure Animals lets you paint up some real animals that'll attack enemies for you. Alternatively, you can Control Water to make those waves we've been trying to do with way less fuss than a Song of Creation or Animating Performance. It does come with the limit of using existing water, though you can also Part Water, cause a Whirlpool, or Redirect Flow with this one.

Bard 11: Eleventh level bards get a sixth level spell, and True Seeing will help you see All Things in Nature, letting you see through illusions, invisibility and the like.

Bard 12: One last ASI; bump up your Constitution for better concentration and more HP.

Bard 13: Your Song of Rest is a d10 now, and you get a seventh level spell. Prismatic Spray is the return of Color Spray, but it's taken steroids. Now it deals plenty of damage of a random type to each creature in its area, or it has a chance to shove them into another dimension or petrify them.

Bard 14: Your last goody from the college of creation is a Creative Crescendo, allowing you to paint up to your Charisma Modifier in items when you use a Performance of Creation. Only one can be a biggun, the rest have to be small or tiny. Also, your max size is Huge now, and a 15' cube of water will make a pretty big splash. You also get another round of Magical Secrets, grabbing you Conjure Elemental for a more symbolic approach to flooding people, and Wrath of Nature to paint a landscape that'll really fuck with someone. The grass turns land into difficult terrain, the trees will slash at enemies nearby, Roots and vines restrain enemies, and Rocks will throw themselves at enemies, knocking them prone on a failed strength save. It's not mind melting geometries, but it's still mess with people's heads.

Bard 15: Your ultimate level gives you a d12 inspiration die. You also get one last spell, of the eighth level. Feeblemind will handle all the mind melting the last level failed to live up to, forcing an intelligence save and dealing damage regardless. On a failed save, the creature's Intelligence and Charisma drop to 1, and it can't cast spells, use magic items, talk, or understand people. The only ways to fix this are with another Intelligence saving throw (every 30 days) or using Greater Restoration, Heal, or Wish.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Like the regular Hokusai, this build has a great deal of flexibility, with pretty good AC, HP, and physical attack options to get up close and personal, as well as ways to buff allies and attack with spells at a distance.

Speaking of spells, they give you a lot of crowd control options. You can create extra allies with summoning spells and Animating Performance, blow them away with waves from Control Water or Performance of Creation, or keep them tied up with various illusions.

You're also really good at fighting other spellcasters. Spells like Protection from Evil and Good and Intellect Fortress will shore up most of your saves against fancier spells, and you can use Feeblemind to completely shut down anyone who isn't a wizard or artificer.

So piss off your patron and kick the ass of their flunkies, easy! Wait, there's still cons.

Cons:

Okay, so there are some problems with throwing waves all over the place: they're hard to control where exactly they end up. Also, your best wave requires real water, which won't always be available.

On a similar note, you specialize in summons and illusions, both of which tend to require Concentration saves. Yours aren't that great, and on top of that it means you can only have one up at a time. Unless you're cool with an elemental running around willy nilly, but that fits into Con #1.

Your Familiar can only stay on dry land for 30 minutes at a time. If you're going to play this in a landlocked campaign, switch the octopus and last invocation for something else, it'll be a pain otherwise.

Okay, she isn't perfect, just make sure you carry an aquarium with you, problem solved, right?

[theonyxpath]

With a bit more than a week to go, Legendlore keeps rolling, even through the traditional 3rd week KS doldrums!

For our part, we continue to try and spread the word about this integrally inclusive setting with panels and actual plays like these:

Now, the very cool thing about Legendlore, and why I call it “integrally inclusive” as well as “Not your Father’s D&D” is that Steffie and team have taken an existing aspect of the original comic book world setting – the transference of a real-world person into this fantasy world – and designed the character generation system so that you have complete freedom to create the sort of character you want to play.

What I mean is that you can or can not be a direct port of who you are into The Realm, or you can change the characteristics and even change your species, but the choice of just what that means in terms of both the setting and the game rules is up to you. Being in a wheelchair, for example, is only a limiter if you want that to be the case with the character – maybe for story reasons, maybe for personal reasons; either way you decide.

And in a different spin on that basic setting concept, the game also explores the idea of taking your character from a different 5e setting and importing them into The Realm. In fact, The Metal Scourge Actual Play linked to above, does just that with characters from the Realms of Pugmire and the Scarred Lands!

Finally, besides all the porting in from other worlds, you can also play a character that was born in The Realm or the other regions in the world of Legendlore. It’s an amazingly flexible set of options!

If a game that is specifically designed to give players the chance to see themselves in the setting sounds like what you’re looking for in fantasy gaming, here’s the direct link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0

TC: Aberrant art by Lee O’Connor

#OnyxPathCon Follow-up

Not only did our Monday Meeting crew have an Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention “postmortem” late last week after we got our heads back together after the con weekend, but a bunch of us sat down earlier today with Gehenna Gaming for a con follow-up.

So here are some numbers and what they mean to us:

#OnyxPathCon as a hashtag was headed to trending all weekend, although it didn’t make it over the target to actually do it, although we had more than 1,000 mentions, which is pretty cool.

We raised over $1550 for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and over $1600 for the Bodhana Group! Both extremely worthy charities that we are so glad to be able to donate to. Thank you all who contributed to this effort!

There were 34 games drawn from our many game lines, and the players expressed a 90% satisfaction rate in the after-session poll. This is so fantastic to hear, as so much of our impetus for the con was to provide our community a chance to play during a time their regular gaming might be curtailed.

Let the Streets Run Red art by Oliver Specht

We were also told anecdotally that while most of the attendees were familiar with Onyx Path and played their favorite game lines, they also took the chance to try out our other games during the con. Plus, we heard from players that were trying out our games for the first time! So, from a PR perspective, the idea that we were getting fresh eyes on our games was another piece of great news.

Our convention web-site had over 7,600 unique visitors, which, you know, is more folks than some presidential election rallies, so we’re pretty thrilled about that!

Now, lest you think it was all us patting ourselves on our backs, we also looked into the operational screw-ups and miscommunications that occurred as well. IF, big if, we did this sort of thing again, we’d want to use the experience of having done this one to inform our efforts.

We would definitely give ourselves a lot more lead time, which would actually help us out across several levels. We’d be able to set up more, and more varied, games to play, and have more options for GMs, panelists, etc.

Not saying we will do another, BUT I’m not saying we won’t…

TC: Aberrant art by Lee O’Connor

Today We Talked About:

Lots of talk today about our Jumpstarts, and if we are making them as we should be. Are they providing players with enough to get them started playing the game lines? Overall, that’s what we are aiming for: a quick and easy way to start playing ASAP.

We want to be sure that we’re following through on those aims when push comes to shove with the many creative hands that add their efforts throughout the creation of any given Jumpstart.

These sorts of reviews are vital when we consider the sheer number of projects we’re doing, and sheer number of creators involved. We try not build our releases with projects that aren’t just there to fill out a part of the setting or system, but which also fill an “ecological niche” in our release schedule.

Finally, we also talked about DriveThru‘s massive fiction sale, whose link is below in the Sales Partners area of the Blurbs!. A great chance to get ahold of some fantastic stories that reveal and expand parts of their game worlds that can only be touched on in the rulebooks.

One of the reason’s we try and include fiction in our Kickstarters ties into the idea behind the Jumpstarts, too. In this case, fiction is another method of exploring the game world that doesn’t require other players to insure that you can immerse yourself in our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

Blurbs!

Kickstarter!

The Legendlore Kickstarter funded and now we’re building towards Stretch Goals: the GM’s Screen, and starting the Legendlore Companion book PDF!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0

Grab your friends and escape to another world!

You’ve found an enchanted portal — a transition point — between worlds. The portal, called a Crossing, takes you to a world you thought only existed in novels and films: a magical land where dragons roam the skies, orcs and hobgoblins terrorize weary travelers, and unicorns prance through the forest. It is a world where humans join other peoples such as elves, trolls, dwarves, changelings, and the dreaded creatures who steal the night. It is a world of fantasy — of imagination.

It is the Realm.

It is Legendlore.

Onyx Path Media!

This week: a Game Designers Roundtable with Eddy, Danielle Lauzon, Travis Legge, and Monica Speca! They completely nerd out about game design for an hour!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

All our panels and games from Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention are all available on twitch.tv/theonyxpath!

All you need to do is head on over to the website and subscribe. If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can do so for free and access our entire catalogue of videos!

Don’t miss Jen Vaughn’s Legendlore actual play taking place on our Twitch channel every week on Friday night! Lost in the Crossing is an amazing story played through by a fantastic GM and excellent roleplayers, and handles the Legendlore world from the perspective of visitors and native inhabitants of the Realm! Make sure you’re tuning in every Friday or catching up afterwards by subscribing.

That’s not all for Legendlore, as we have actual plays by Steffie de Vaan and Corinne McCrory over on our YouTube channel, which you can find here https://youtu.be/UaQXSlEatDw and here https://youtu.be/ECRrErPLm64! Please give our GMs some support and tune in!

This week on Twitch, expect to see:

Behind the Screen – Scion

Realms of Pugmire – Paws & Claws

Legendlore – The Metal Scourge

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – They Came from Devil’s Reef!

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale

Legendlore – w / Steffie de Vaan

Mage: The Awakening – Occultists Anonymous

Legendlore – Lost in the Crossing

Scarred Lands – Purge of the Serpentholds

Get watching for some fantastic insight into how to run these wonderful games.

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more, including:

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale: https://youtu.be/7-hEqJ5D2KY

Scarred Lands: Purge of the Serpentholds: https://youtu.be/HZN4IlP1PP0

Onyx Path News: https://youtu.be/kpCNbIYzB4I

What’s up with Onyx Path #1? (from #OnyxPathCon): https://youtu.be/wGvD5LnWHaQ

Changeling: The Lost – Littlebrook Reunion: https://youtu.be/EXyXKxJ5usM

Legendlore – The Metal Scourge: https://youtu.be/ECRrErPLm64

Chronicles of Darkness – Seattle by Streetlight: https://youtu.be/JyOeb7X7Y5w

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

A Bunch of Gamers continue their actual play of They Came from Beneath the Sea! and conclude it with a mini review: https://youtu.be/qIMwcOZmR8k

The Botch Pit have released a wonderful new guide for Changeling: The Lost right here. Do give them a like and a subscribe: https://youtu.be/Bd0UZQZt2OM

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

Check out the Massive Fiction Sale at DriveThruFiction.com! Fantastic bargains on huge amounts of our fiction books!https://www.drivethrufiction.com/sale.php?manufacturers_id=4261

On Sale This Week!

Available this Wednesday, we offer the third in the Scarred Lands Vigil Watch PDFs on DTRPG!

Also available this Wednesday on DTRPG: Scion electronic wallpaper and the PDF Scion Screen!

Conventions!

Though dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, here’s what’s left of our current list of upcoming conventions (and really, we’re just waiting for this last one to be cancelled even though it’s Nov/Dec). Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with:

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Anima

M20 Technocracy Operative’s Dossier (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

V5 Children of the Blood (was The Faithful Undead) (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

CtL 2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Second Draft

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Development

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Manuscript Approval

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Editing

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Indexing

Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

Tales of Aquatic Terror – Handing off to Meredith to AD.

WoD Ghost Hunters (KS) – Prepping KS assets.

Aberrant – AD’d. Second new comic in.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Mummy 2

Deviant

Legendlore – KS running.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS)

Cults of the Blood God – Rolling along.

Scion: Dragon (KS) – Waiting on art notes.

Masks of the Mythos (KS) – Notes back to Chris for tweaks, hiring artists.

Scion: Demigod (KS) – Art rolling.

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (KS) – Finals coming in.

TC: Adventure! (KS) – Shen Fei cover art finishing.

Geist: One Foot In the Grave – Contracted.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

TC Aeon Terra Firma

V5 Let the Streets Run Red

Pugmire Adventure

Scion Titanomachy

Proofing

Trinity Aeon Jumpstart – Errata gathering.

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate – Inputting errata.

Contagion Chronicle – At WW for approval.

Cavaliers of Mars: City of the Towered Tombs

Magic Item Decks (Scarred Lands)

Yugman’s Guide Support Decks (Scarred Lands)

Dark Eras 2 Screen and booklet

At Press

Scion Companion – Awaiting errata from devs.

TCFBTS Heroic Land Dwellers – Prepping PoD files.

TCFBTS Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Awaiting color correction from printer.

Creature Collection 5e – PoD proof ordered. Traditional files sent to printer.

Pirates of Pugmire – Files at press. Prepping files for PoD.

Pirates of Pugmire Screen – Files at press.

Pugmire Buried Bones – Inputting errata.

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition Dark Eras Compilation – Inputting errata.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Three years ago, my good friend and one of the genuinely good people in TTRPGS, Stewart Wieck, passed away. He was the White Wolf, and without Stewart it’s doubtful that all the amazing game worlds that came out of WW and now from Onyx Path would have existed. Thank you, Stew, in your ivory tower in the sky, for giving so many of us the start for so much creativity and imagination!

[annakie]

So this past weekend I went to GenCon for the second time.

GenCon is the largest gaming convention in the world with about 70k individual attendees every year, held in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The first time I went was in 2009, with a friend from the internet, and it was a blast.  This time I went with a bunch of my everyday friends, some of my favoritest people in the world, and it was even more fun.

Part one of my long recap, including lots of pictures, below.

SOME PRE-GENCON NOTES

Our group does love boardgames, but we do RPGs (like D&D) together even more.  D&D actually doesn't have a very big presence at GenCon.  There was some D&D going on, but it isn't a main focus of the con and my friends aren't super into 5e anyway.  (We're actually doing a 4e game right now since it's one friend's favorite system.)  

So when we signed up for events, we were trying hard to get into a bunch of Pathfinder stuff, especially Pathfinder 2, which was releasing the first day of GenCon.  We got into two events, but ended up filling more slots with Starfinder.  None of us were particularly interested in Starfinder, which is a Sci-Fi setting also put out by Paizio... it was always like "Eh, we might check Starfinder out sometime maybe." but we weren't that excited about it.  But since we had gotten into two games to fill up some timeslots, we decided to go ahead and at least learn the system ahead of time for those of us who'd be playing in the SF games.

That would be Marcus, who is our DM most of the time when we play RPGs, Jeremy, and Brian, who is Marcus' oldest daughter's fiancee.  We created characters the week before GenCon and got together twice to knock out some beginning level adventures.

What we didn't expect, at all, was to fall head over heels into Starfinder.  Three of us ended up picking the same race (Lashunta, who are basically Mantis from GotG) and decided our characters were siblings, then decided so was Brian's character, even though he was a Vesk... a lizard-man race.  Jeremy's Operative (Space Rogue/Pilot/smuggler)Zafo is the oldest, my Envoy (space bard/doctor/xenobiologist/archeologist) Vikiri, and Marcus' Technomancer (Space Wizard/Computer whiz/K-pop rockstar) Alissia are twin sisters, and Brian's Soldier Kronk (Space Meatshield/Master Chef) is our baby brother.

We fucking LOVE these characters and the whole world of Starfinder, and also our dear Father and Mother, who we always strive to make proud of us.  Starfinder is really so much fun and we're running official modules as we're a part of the Organized Play Starfinder Society and they're... so good?   Anyway, here we are, playing Starfinder for like six hours the Thursday night before Gencon because that's the only day we could physically be in the same room. (the other time we played via Discord.)

WEDNESDAY

So anyway, then we actually went to Gencon!  Jeremy and I got flights together and rooms (separate) at the same hotel to make travel more convenient.  Everyone else, which was Marcus, wife Laura, daughters Gwen and  Kirstyn and Kirstyn friend Ally, and Gwen's fiancee Brian, drove.  14 hours from Dallas to Indy... Jeremy and I have talked about it for next year, we'll see.

I took Wednesday off to finish packing and relax, and then just before Jeremy came to pick me up, our flight got delayed two hours.  We decided we'd then have time for a leisurely lunch instead of fast food, and so we went to one of my favorite places to eat, a Canadian cafe.  The service was slower than expected, but we were still tracking to be at the airport about an hour before our original takeoff time, three before our “new” takeoff time.

And then... while we were driving to the airport... our flight got UN-DELAYED.  What.  The.  Fuck.  

Our leisurely afternoon turned hectic as we got to the airport as fast as possible then, I checked in our bags while Jeremy parked the car, got in line in Security, and oh nooo the line was long.  I started to get nervous about making the flight.  Apparently, we weren't the only people who had done the same thing.

We hoofed it through the airport, though and made it to the gate with like 5 minutes to spare until boarding, just enough time to take a bathroom break and get a bottle of water.  We got on the flight though!  And sat there.  And sat there. And... sat there.  And then got kicked off the plane for an electrical issue.  Then sat in the gate for an hour or so until another airplane arrived.  Turns out, our flight ended up being delayed... about two hours.

ANYWAY.  We made it, de-planed at Indy, collected our bags, taxied to the hotel.  We were staying at a Red Roof Inn outside of the airport area, we were trying to do this cheap and with each of us paying for a hotel room, staying near downtown wasn't an option.  $65/night for a hotel is a lot better than $200+/night for being closer, especially when you can split Lyft fares.  (Could have rented a car but we did the math... especially factoring in parking at $20-30 a day plus the hotel charging for parking... much cheaper to Lyft everywhere.)

After settling into the hotel we had to go to the convention center and get our tickets.  I had my badge mailed to me, but all events require tickets and Marcus had ordered all our tickets... and you have to pick up your tickets yourself.  The Will Call line at 10pm on Wednesday night was... an hour and fifteen minutes long.  So we waited in that.  Nothing particularly cool or terrible happened, but it's just one of those GenCon experiences.  This year apparently 15% of the events had electronic tickets.  Next year that's supposed to go up to 75%.  Let's hope so.  The GenCon provided Wifi was actually pretty good.

We headed back to the hotel afterwards and were both hungry again at this point, so we ate at the only available option... Waffle House... at like 12:30 at night.  Seemed like a good way to end our first night, as long as we didn't get food poisoning.

...which we did not. :p

THURSDAY

So another fun thing about GenCon this year that we found out a day or two earlier is that the entire freeway from the Airport to downtown was going to be closed all weekend.  Adding lots of time to our commute (and thus $ to our Lyft fares, but we still saved money.)  So we got up extra early, discovered how terrible our hotel's free breakfast was (very... most days I had a cold bagel with a scraping of cream cheese and if I was lucky, a banana) and got a Lyft into town.  Except it took 30 minutes to get a Lyft.  From then on, we scheduled them ahead of time.  

But HEY!  Eventually, we were there!  We found the room for our first game and met Brian and eventually Marcus outside.  Our first scheduled game was Star Wars, the Fantasy Flight Games system (which is now known as Genesys).  This is a system that Marcus ran Jeremy and I and other friends a 2+ year campaign in, so the three of us were very familiar with the rules.   Kirstyn and Ally also joined us, and Kirstyn had played it once before.

So I've mentioned before that Jeremy, Marcus and I go to a local con called GamerNation Con every year.  Two years ago the guest of honor was a guy named Sterling Hershey who is a well-known loremaster for Star Wars and helped write the SWFFG system.  We played in a game he ran that year.  Hilariously, Sterling was our GM for this game, as well.  It was a good way to kick off the weekend.

Jeremy played a Jedi and I was his Padawan, Ally and Brian played Clone soldiers ( the game took place in the Clone Wars era) Kirstyn played a shark-race diplomat and Marcus was her "get it done" operative type.  

Ally, Marcus and Brian.

The Table setup

Brian, Jeremy and Kirstyn

And of course, our DM.

Our next game was a 13th Age, with Marcus, Jeremy, Brian and I, plus two "new friends" and a DM who was very good at and familiar with the system.  We've been doing a 13th Age game as our "Main Game" for about a year, since our SWFFG game ended and like Starfinder, it's a system that we were all very skeptical about at first and have found ourselves LOVING.  

I really enjoyed this DM.  He did a lot to challenge us to roleplay, I think the only time we spend game time making up backgrounds for our characters and making any character creation choices.  (They were basically premades but he had us choose names and do some history stuff which only makes sense if you know 13th Age.)

 He did some really cool mechanics as well, like one that made travel interesting... one person would say something bad that happened in our journey and the next would say "But it was all okay, because..." and use that as a way to bring depth to the adventure.  Like one person said "It was bad when the owlbears attacked us..." and then I answered, "But it was all okay, because our supplies had been running low, and now we had plenty of meat to eat on the journey!"  Then I said "It was bad when we came across a village that had been wiped out by disease." and the next person said "But it was okay, because we learned a vital clue, and kept the disease from spreading!" and the DM gave us a clue about what was coming up.

I played a Bard in this game.... okay the thing is, I love playing bards.  Support classes in general, but I always have to pull myself away from the urge to play a bard.  But there were only a couple of character sheets left when they came around and Marcus wanted to play a wizard so I did bard.  Apparently, Bard is one of most complex classes in the game, and the DM said I did great.  We were 5th level (out of 10) so they were already pretty in-depth characters.  We're only level 3 in our campaign at home, so it was fun to see how powerful we'd become.

Also what I love about 13th Age is that the world is just... weird.  You think that Anything Can Happen in D&D but honestly, the world of 13th Age is just so much broader and weirder and it was fun to see this DM's interpretation of it.  One of my favorite games of the con.

Our fighter, Jeremy the Monk and Brian the Barbarian.

Marcus, our rogue, and the DM.

So that night, we had had a 3-hour break scheduled then were supposed to go to Lucas Oil to play the Call of Cthulu board game that night.  But then Jeremy and I had been talking the night before and were thinking... maybe we could play more Starfinder.

We'd been planning on going to the Nerd Night (which is a thing where you go and play games plus support a charity with donations) to fill in those hours, so we asked Marcus if he'd mind skipping the board game so we could spend those hours doing Starfinder at NN instead.  He gave in.

So we stopped and got some dinner at a food truck (had a pretty good burger and fries, we were starving since we'd just had whatever snacks we had brought with us for lunch) and then it took a little bit of time but we found Nerd Night, which was held in a hotel that had turned an old train station into a ballroom.  It was very cool.  After eating, resting, drinking lots of water, and doing some Starfinder Society paperwork, we got to work on Starfinder, finding a quiet table in the corner away from everyone to play at.  And the module was SO FUN, our characters were on a reality-competition game show in order to bring glory to the Starfinder Society (and our family).  And then a loud group of people decided to pick the table RIGHT NEXT TO US in an empty side- room to play their loud game at (seriously... wtf?  THERE WERE AT LEAST A DOZEN OTHER TAbLES NOT NEXT TO US TO PICK!) so we packed up and moved to another corner, that was actually quieter and not as cold.

Then they kicked us out of Nerd Night at around 12:30, after it had closed.  So we walked back to the ICC (Indiana Convention Center) and found a near-empty food court, pushed some tables together... and kept gaming.  Until like, after 2AM.  

We didn't officially finish the module yet but we were kicking so much ass that we had basically won it already anyway.

So yeah... back to the hotel... asleep by um... three?

The actual quiet corner table.

The Empty Food Court setup

FRIDAY, PART ONE

So the next morning everyone but me did True Dungeon, meeting at 10am.  I bowed out because my back was too fucked up to stand for that long.  It was a hard decision, but the right one for me.  Instead, I spent a little bit of time shopping in the dealer hall, taking sit-down breaks against the wall when needed, and decided on what I'd want to buy later.  Mostly I just went to three booths and peeked at a few more.

After a short hangout break, I went to a lecture I'd had my eye on anyway, all about Eberron (one of the "official" D&D worlds) by the actual creator of Eberron, Keith Baker.  This was definitely my hidden gem of the weekend. He took a bunch of questions BEFORE the panel started that he jotted down and answered in his talk, which I thought was a great way of doing it, and still had time for more questions at the end.  All the questions were also great, I thought, in contrast to a lot of con panels.  I really enjoyed what he had to say, not only about Eberron, which is probably my favorite of all the official D&D worlds, but about worldbuilding in general.  It was only an hour, but it was an hour well spent.  There were only about 100 people there but I hope he enjoyed the panel as much as I enjoyed attending.

Afterwards, it was time to meet back up with the guys for my first of four games in the Paizo room.  First up: STARFINDER!  

We'd tried valiantly, but had only barely made it to level two with our SFS characters, so we each picked a premade "iconic" character who was the same class as our own, and re-skinned them to just say they were our characters.  The module was pretty cool, dealing with a world that was a simulation that the inhabitants believed was real.  I was a little frustrated with the DM at one point but otherwise had a very fun game.

This is the only pic I took of that game, damnit. And this was because my mom texted and said to tell the guys hi, so I sent this back to her.

And after that game... I parted ways with my friends once again.  Because I had tickets... to Critical Role.

Okay this post is already really long, I'll finish up in a second post! Which I've already gotten a good chunk of written, so look for that later tonight or tomorrow night!

[zippdementia]

Part 70 Alignment May Vary: Escape from Hell

Situation: As the players destroy the chains around the demon train’s heart, they are forced through a passage that appears in the heart chamber, rushed up to the “brain” of the train, the front car engine room, where an old conductor with pits for eyes (and four eyes that may remind one of Verrick’s four eyes), tells them of their success in freeing him and his desire to help them murder devils. He also explains that Arbeyach has been left behind in a discarded train car, still living in the world that Arbeyach created for himself, but now unable to flee it.

Alyss tells the train their next destination: the tower of Mammon and the conductor smiles in anticipation. She uses her phone device to signal to the rebels where they are and their situation, then lowers herself to the ground to try and heal her hurts. Aldric returns her bike to her in a cool roleplaying moment and realizes that she is developing feelings for Carrick, which grows his enmity towards the Paladin.

The players also heal up: the soul stuff that Ratticus gave them heals their hurts completely and also cures the curse that was left upon them by Arbeyach.

Then, rushing across the desert towards the city and Mammon’s tower, the players have one more obstacle to face: they are waylaid by Hecate in her gunship as she tries to blow apart the demon train. 

The demon train fight I’ve set up to be an unusual one: the players are pulled inside the train’s “skin” and actually fight AS the train against the gunship, combining their hitpoints and using the following rules:

Their life force combined makes up their hitpoints. AC is 10. Each turn player can choose either defense, maneuver, or attack (only attack can be multiple players). Hecate fires her ship’s weapons at the beginning of the turn. The player maneuvering through the canyons gets to dodge Hecate, adding to their base AC of 10 by a d20+Dexterity or Wisdom roll. The player on defense can subtract damage by a D20 roll + either constitution or charisma. If no one is on defense, this doesn’t happen. Hecate has the following attacks, and DM either chooses or rolls randomly to determine effect each round:

Missiles: 5 missiles at 6 (1d4+4) each. Instant success.

Dual Lasers: fire twice +13 to hit for 27 (5d10) fire damage

Bombs: Player on maneuver must make a dexterity DC 20 save or else take 39 (6d12) concusive damage, halved on a save. Failure means players roll at disadvantage for all attacks.

Power siphon: a harpoon that steals life. +15 to hit. If it hits, steals 26 (4d12) life, no subtraction.

Then players get to attack. Each player in the attack area can use their normal attacks, using spell slots and all of that as normal, but everything is amplified as the train mimics the attack with its own demonic version (so an attack with Imoaza’s scythe may manifest as clawed hands erupting from the side of the train and tearing into the gunship), adding two more damage dice, but no damage modifiers.

Hecate has 212 hitpoints and AC 19. Her saves are +7. She can’t be affected by conditions. She is immune to poison damage. If there are more than three players, she gets an extra attack for each weapon for every three players.

After a drawn out but dynamic fight where Hecate’s rage builds more and more and her mother, Imoaza, continues to taunt her more and more viciously, Hecate’s ship finally blows an engine and she crashes in the desert.

The players are told to cure up, get a short rest and they’ll be at the vault soon. Mammon interrupts their journey with another psychic visit to his throne room, but the players completely ignore him while he tries to offer deals and a chance to join his side. Like I pointed out before, he’s really grasping at straws here, and they know it. Carrick finally loses his anger, telling Mammon that he’s the lamest devil they’ve come across, and that the players give zero shits about him. Mammon takes the revelation calmly and informs them that they are ants to him, ants he was debating whether to crush or not. But now he’s made his decision. The psychic connection is cut and the players arrive at Mammon’s tower in a fairly spectacular way: the demon train crashes into the side of it, ripping it open, and deposits them inside, as close to the vaults as it can. Then it races off to fight a new, horrible threat, while the Hells Rebels arrive and Puck flies down from the sky to join them in their race to the vault of the crystals.

The Conductor let out a gleeful laugh, the sound odd coming from his weathered and cracked lips and completely out of place with the rest of his austere appearance. “When a demon dies in battle, our souls return to the Abyss! My greatest foe comes. Today I go out in a blaze of glory! Today is the day I go home!”

I’m going to take a break from my structure here to chat for a moment about the difficulty of setting challenge in Dungeons and Dragons, because it is highlighted by the next scene.

I know Xanathar’s guide and the DM’s guide both have different methods for setting and figuring out good difficulty for fights, but you really can’t know how something will go in Dungeons and Dragons until you are playing it. I have three players at level 12. Xanathar’s guide suggests CR 5 monsters will be a decent match for them. I want this vault to be guarded by Abishai tasked with ensuring that those who enter the vaults are worthy, so I pick two black Abishai and a White Abishai (CR 7s and 6, respectively) and run a fight against them as the beasts drop down from among rows of statues of similar looking monsters. It’s a cool set up, the Black Abishai causing the vaults to become shrouded in shadow which then gives the Abishai advantage on their attacks.

But in three rounds, the fight is over: the players wipe the floor with them!

I was ready in case this happened, and have a Green Abishai standing by. He is a CR 15, and he comes into the arena with his fear effect blasting across the room indiscriminately, terrifying not only the players but the surviving White Abishai. This fight is a little more dynamic and long lasting, as Carrick and Imoaza flee in fear and the Abishai takes over Aldric’s mind, commanding him to turn on his fellows. The fight could have gone either way, but a mixture of poor die rolls from the Abishai and Aldric mean Carrick and Imoaza get a moment to break him free from his mind control and turn the tide on the Abishai.

Side note: there is a fun moment where the Abishai leaves a suggestion implanted in Aldric and Imoaza’s mind to flee from him and go stand in a corner, a suggestion that carries on after the Abishai is dead, and leaves Puck and Alyss and Carrick arguing with them to get moving. It’s also where we develop something deeper between Carrick and Imoaza: Carrick uses the bond they established on The Arc to take her hand and break her from the spell’s hold with soft words. Imoaza, not used to feeling anything and with her emotional wall weakened by the suggestion spell, feels a twinge of something for Carrick. It’s upsetting for her and strange, but maybe a little exciting too. Alyss catches the moment and believes that Carrick and Imoaza are already a “thing” setting us up for all sorts of romantic comedy action later... if we want to go there.

After all of this, the players rush back to the hole caused by the Demon Train, Alyss having stored a ton of crystals in a bag of holding, and leap out of the hole onto The Arc, which swoops down to catch them. The monster the train was fighting (in fact, died fighting, its soul returned to the Abyss) was none other than Tiamet, Queen of the Dragons.

A ridiculously tough beast, I know the players can’t defeat her in a fair fight. I use her toned down stats from the Rise of Tiamet final fight, but even then this is a beast capable of one-shoting an entire party with a single breath attack. And yet Aldric also hits like a beast, able to take off over 40 hitpoints each turn he attacks something. So I have to do a lot of tweaking as the fight progresses in order to achieve what I want this scene to achieve: a crazy final fight as the party flees from Hell.

Captain Krisp ran around the deck of The Arc, shouting orders. His generals and confidants: Ikbaldi the Barbarian, Star the Tiefling, Tinia the Cleric, Otto the Warlock, Jacobs his First Mate, and Geth the Rogue, all leaped to their battle stations, manning guns and turrets and swiveling them all to point at the rear of the ship as Tiamet crashed into them, her claws and talons wrapping around The Arc and hugging it close to her like a cat about to tear into a trapped mouse. Her five heads darted and dove down at the ship, tearing metal and wood apart, dodging bullets (or seeming to ignore them) as the gunners launched assault after assault upon her, raining down a barrage that would have destroyed a fortress. Aldric, Imoaza, and Carrick stood their ground on deck, Aldric laughing as gleefully as ever the Demon Train had at the prospect of facing such a mighty foe. He ran forward and leaped towards the nearest head, even as it swung around to regard him with fire in its eyes.

I recently did a podcast where I talked about setting difficulty for encounters in DnD 5e. In it, I come to the conclusion that one of the best ways to go about creating good encounters is to let the game world and your plot tell you what needs to be where and to worry about the challenge afterwards. Basically, don’t  build with numbers: build with story.

In this case, I know I want Tiamet to be the final fight and I want it to be tough, really more of a feel of surviving a siege than a fist fight with a god where they are going to knock her out. Tiamet is (and rightfully so) way above their pay grade. But I also don’t want the fight to be impossible or a straight party kill. That’s why I have Krisp’s team launching barrages of attacks at her, and also why Puck steps in to use some pretty incredible high level magic to shield and block the worst of Tiamet’s attacks (we don’t yet know the limits of Puck’s powers, but the effort does seem to wear him down).

I also don’t want this to be a fight without consequences, so I let the situation and character choice determine where the danger is. For instance, I let the players roll damage for all the gun barrages being launched each turn. I don’t use all of Tiamet’s legendary breath attacks. And when she does unleash her attacks, I make one of them poison (which Imoaza is immune to). Even when she finally unleashes her signature fire breath, rather than make it about pure numbers, where Tiamet’s attacks are left at their full power, I use Puck to reduce damage to a more reasonable place for the player level. I also really focus my attacks on Aldric, who is insistent on taking on Tiamet directly, which to me is letting the player character steer this fight. Aldric is playing it like a crazed bad ass, which means he’s drawing the focus of the attacks. After lasting two orounds in close quarters with Tiamet, he does fall unconscious, and here is where Krisp finally rushes forward with a rocket launcher, lobs a missile into Tiamet’s mouth, and calls to everyone to get below deck, that he’s got a final plan.

There is one last challenge I place here. In order to let Carrick grab Aldric and flee, Imoaza places herself in the line of danger to distract Tiamet for one more round. This works, but then Imoaza has one chance, one dodging roll, to get away from Tiamet before she gets hit by a bite attack from the Goddess of Dragons. She makes the roll, but had she failed, the damage certainly would have killed her and we would have to roll up a new character. It’s a moment that creates the mood I want, it takes this fight from the status of story battle to one of real consequence and danger, but I don’t just throw it in: it’s set by player decision and action.

Imoaza rolled forward through the open hatch leading into the belly of The Arc, jaws snapping shut behind her in a rush of hot air and sparks. She stumbled to her feet and kept running as the jaws tried to force their way through the narrow opening.

She soon caught up with Carrick and Krisp and Krisp’s commanders. Aldric was coming to, having been cured by Carrick’s magic. Krisp was yelling into a phone: “Alyss, is everything ready? The crystals are in place? Good! Then let’s do this!”

Krisp--talking a mile a minute about how everything had to come together in a spectacular fashion in order to make this all work and about how hell was never going to be his forever home--leads them down to the hold of The Arc, where the bottom of the ship has opened up to reveal The Surveyor’s repaired massive ship flying beneath them. Krisp tells everyone to jump down, and crew and commanders alike rush to obey, Carrick and Imoaza joining them. Last to go is Aldric and Krisp himself, who stands for a moment looking around the now empty hold.

“She was a good girl,” Krisp says, his voice uncharacteristically sad. “She served well. I’ll be sorry to lose her.” Aldric places a hand on his shoulder. “As a fellow captain, I know what it’s like to lose something. To lose your mount.”

Krisp smiles. “Well, if we are going to lose her, let’s let the girl go out in style, eh?”

He pulls a device with a large red button on it from his waistcoat, then pushes the button. He grabs Aldric and leaps out of the hold with him, shouting his catchphrase: “Let’s get Krispy!”

And behind them, there is a sudden roar as The Arc explodes in a ball of intense flame, engulfing Tiamet who is still wrestling with her prize. They do not see if it is the end of the Dragon Goddess, for they are pulled inside the Surveyor’s Ship and the hatches battened down behind them, and then there is a sudden jolt as the ship, their new Arc, blasts out from the atmosphere and leaves the world of Hell behind, for the vastness of space, and the first step on the long journey home.

Epilogue

Somewhere out in the blasted desert of Hell, Hecate pulls herself from the crash of her ship and rolls onto the hot red rock. She coughs up black tar and smoke and wheezes as she sucks in clean air. Her eyes are slits of rage as she looks towards the city where her foes disappeared. She shakes a fist of rage towards the sky as she manuevers her snake away from her crashed gun ship.

“Mother!” she screams. “I will have my revenge!”

And then, unexpectedly, a voice answers her from behind. She turns and sees something unusual discarded on the rock behind her, a sword, black as night, and emanating all the power that it had promised to its last bearer, before Aldric lost it and Carrick refused to bring it back. Blackrazor speaks to Hecate, and its voice is pure menace:

“Did I hear you say revenge?

[troglobite]

played one game w a diff dm who is also my friend and WHAT A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

i wasn’t punished for trying things, i didn’t have to make rolls every single time to try and persuade someone, sometimes my preexisting reputation and my ability to talk to them won them over, my shitty and my good rolls were treated fairly.

and now that i see how much leniency i’m going to get, i’m less afraid to try things and argue for something going poorly for me

AND i wanna support all of the other players more since i’m a little more experienced w 5e than them and looooooove to roleplay lol

it’s just nice to be like--oh, i really DID get to reinvent/reboot this character, my first ever dnd character, and now she’s getting cool art and the other players like her and she gets to be happy and business savvy and silly and gay. it’s just--so nice! i’m so happy for her!!! and she has a character voice which she didn’t really get the first time around. i did change my cadence and manner of speaking and my tone a bit, but yeah. lol

she was just so traumatized the first time around and surrounded by people who presumed to know how she felt and wouldn’t meet her where she was or respect her boundaries

but now she’s happy and experienced and capable of making friends and connections with just about anyone

and it feels--now, THIS feels like fantasy fulfillment. people like me! i’m good at my job! i can be confident and talk to people! i know people around so i can drop into conversations if i so desire!

and the other characters are funny and have their own stuff going on and theres’ not really any secrets that are hidden--it’s a totally different vibe and i really like it. and i think it’s gonna be fun in combat! 

we had our first combat and two of the characters were REALLY op and we uh. fixed that afterwards. lol way too much hp, way too much strength and massive bonuses. they DID roll their stats REALLY well! but anything above a 20 without a magical item--especially starting at level 3!--is just a lot.

but we played it and it was fine and it got resolved! so all good!

just like. it feels nice. no judgment no high stakes, characters and friends who like each other and wanna keep it light but also fucked up in some ways. very fun.

and it’s REALLY cool bc now my character was like “oooookay....so all of you wanna go on an adventure? well that’s my side gig is mercenary and security work. so. i guess. if you don’t all want to stay in the city any longer? once i wrap up my business you can head back to my hometown with me.”

and there’s ALSO a plot with some mysterious cultists going on that i’m sure will be a huge factor! it’s just such a funny way to have a group meet and decide to stick together. it’s lighthearted and weird but also with a promising and interesting world.

it does feel very dimension 20 in that it’s fantasy set in the past without modern technology, but also one character had a multi level marketing scheme interaction, and there’s a Worship Center instead of disparate temples, and one of the characters is the second heir to the kajit’s fortune, which is basically fantasy wal-mart. lol so it’s very fun. i’m enjoying it that we all have bizarro backstories but no one is TRAGIC!!!! very cool. 

i’m happy for my character. she gets her friend and her ex-gf and all three of her parents and now i’m getting to roleplay her doing her job! that i imagined for her 3 years ago! now i’m DOING it! and it’s fun! she’s a silly business savvy woman who genuinely wants to work with excellent craftspeople and rip off the rich asshats around! i love it. lol

ANYWAY hi cassie if you’re reading this you did a great job and we’ve started falling into a rhythm and i think everyone who’s a little more hesitant with roleplay will get into it as we go and now that i got a vibe for all of the players and their characters i can also help encourage them with that and it’ll continue to be fun! i’m excited ^_^

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #21: Leonidas I

Welcome back to Fate and Phantasms, where we’re bringing all your favorite servants to life in DnD 5e! Today we’re building the guardian of the hot gates, pride of the rear guard, and the king of Sparta, Leonidas I! We have three goals for this build:

Pride of the Rear Guard: Leonidas’ most famous achievement was holding off an army of 10,000 men with only 300, so get ready to buckle down on defense.

Hot Gates: A king is nothing without an army, so you’ll have one to help hold the line.

Warriors War Cry: One man doesn’t make an army, so we’ll need to whip the rest of the party into fighting shape as well.

As always, a spreadsheet for this build can be found over here, but a more detailed explanation can be found below the cut!

Race and Background

As is true of most servants, you are a Human, giving you +1 to all abilities. You’re the king of Sparta, so you could be a noble, but Soldier fits your personality a lot better, giving you proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation.

Stats

We use the standard array here, but feel free to roll if you want to, I can’t really stop you. Constitution is our highest stat; if you want to be a shield, you need to take some hits. Next is Strength, those abs aren’t just for show. After that is Charisma, it takes a lot of it to keep the Spartans in line, and it’s also moderately useful for some of your skills. Then fill Dexterity, holding the line doesn’t need finesse, but it’s part of the AC calculation so we’ll get some anyway. Next is Intelligence. You’re the smartest Spartan, but you’re the smartest Spartan. Finally, dump Wisdom. You’re a bit hotheaded, and we just needed other stats more.

Class Levels: 

1. Barbarian 1: Yes, I know, the shirtless man taking tons of damage is a barbarian, shocking. At first level, you can Rage, adding extra damage to your melee attacks, giving you damage resistances, and advantage on strength saves and checks. It takes a bonus action to go into and out of a rage, and lasts a minute unless you fail to hit or get hit by anything for a full round. The bonus damage and number of times you can rage go up as you level, so check the PHB for details.

Your abs become tough enough to stop swords with Unarmored Defense, which you’ll notice is a bit of a running theme in servant builds. This makes your AC equal to 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can also have a shield and still get this effect, unlike monks.

Barbarians have proficiency with all weapons, light and medium armor, Strength and Constitution saving throws, and two Barbarian skills. Pick Perception and Survival because you already got Athletics and Intimidation with your background and you’re not that natury despite your class pick.

2. Barbarian 2: At second level you get a Reckless attack, giving you on demand advantage on your attacks, as long as you’re willing to give that advantage to your enemies afterwards. You also have Danger Sense, giving you advantage on Dexterity saves caused by things you can see.

3. Barbarian 3: Picking a subclass for this build was actually kind of difficult this time around. I was really tempted to go with the Storm Herald to get all sorts of cool fire abilities for the guardian of the hot gates, but ultimately I had to go with the Ancestral Guardian. When you take the path, you summon Ancestral Protectors when you rage. The first creature you hit each turn become their target, giving them disadvantage on all attacks that aren’t heading your way. If the target hits someone else anyway, the other creature has resistance against the attack. As the name suggests, these are supposed to be ancestors, but I’d be willing to argue that the Battle of Thermopylae happened long enough ago that the 300 are a valid choice.

4. Barbarian 4: Use your first ASI to pick up the Sentinel feat. This gives you three abilities; hitting creatures with an opportunity attack reduces that creature’s speed to 0, disengaging does not prevent you from making opportunity attacks, and you can react to creatures within 5′ attacking someone else to make an attack against them. Unfortunately, we’re not grabbing the polearm master feat as well, though it is a very good idea if you want to focus on defense. We just needed the ASIs more.

5. Barbarian 5: You get an Extra Attack, letting you make two attacks when you take the attack action. We’re also switching up your feature with a UA feature, the Instinctive Pounce. When any creature ends its turn within 15′ of you, you can react to move up to half your movement to get closer to it, great for closing the line or chasing down anything that breaks through. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

6. Barbarian 6: Ancestral Guardians gain a Spirit Shield. When another creature takes damage within 30′ of you while you’re raging, you can react to reduce the damage taken by 2d6.

7. Fighter 1: Leonidas isn’t just strong, he’s also pretty smart. That means you need levels in a thinking man’s class; fighter! At first level, you get a Fighting Style, so grab Protection to react to impose disadvantage on attacks against a creature within 5′ of you. You also get a Second Wind, healing yourself as a bonus action for 1d10 plus your fighter level. You know you need to take a break to keep up the long fights, such as, say, fighting an infinite demon army. Wild scenarios like that.

8. Fighter 2: You get an Action Surge, letting you add an extra action to one of your turns once per short rest. There ain’t no turn like a Spartan turn ‘cuz a Spartan turn don’t stop (until everyone’s dead)!

9. Fighter 3: You put those brains of yours to good use as a Battle Master, gaining three maneuvers and four d8 maneuver dice in the process, which replenish on a short rest. Grab Lunging Attack for extra reach, Rally to buff a team mate when they desperately need it, and Goading Attack to make you an even bigger target than you were already. You also become a Student of War, gaining proficiency with one artisan’s toolkit.

10. Fighter 4: Use your ASI to round out your Strength and Dex because odd numbers make PCs cry.

11. Barbarian 7: You gain a Feral Instinct, giving advantage on initiative checks. Also, if you were suprised you can still take your first turn as long as you rage first thing.

12. Barbarian 8: Use your next ASI to grab the Inspiring Leader feat. It’s like Rally, but free, better, and takes 10 minutes. One’s for the climactic fight against the big bad, the other’s for when your plan inevitably goes off the rails and the wizard’s one solid hit away from croaking. 

13. Barbarian 9: You now have Brutal Criticals: you can add another die to your critical hits. Unfortunately the only lancer-esque weapon you can use with one hand does d6 damage, so damage output isn’t really a huge part of this build.

14. Barbarian 10: Ancestral Guardians can now Consult the Spirits, letting you chat up your bros to cast Augury or send one of them out on a spy mission to cast Clairvoyance for free. When you cast one, you won’t be able to cast either again until after a short rest. You don’t want to look needy in front of the Spartans, after all. Your Spirit Shield also increases to blocking 3d6 damage.

15. Barbarian 11: Your rage becomes Relentless Rage, because dying is for after the battle. If you drop to 0 HP while raging, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw to stay at 1 HP. Every time you use this feature, the DC increases by 5, but resets on a short rest.

16. Barbarian 12: Use another ASI to increase your Constitution. Abs mean nothing if they don’t protect the ones you love. And your internal organs.

17. Barbarian 13: You get a second die added to your brutal criticals, to make said criticals a little more brutal.

18. Barbarian 14: The Spartans finally get off their butts and become Vengeful Ancestors. Now using your spirit shield will cause the Spartans to reflect the damage they prevent back at the attacker, and that shield increases to 4d6. The Hot Gates are finally open for business! Or-closed for business? You’re good at protecting them, is the point.

19. Barbarian 15: Your rage becomes Persistant Rage, always lasting a full minute or until you choose to end it. This is great, since most of your damage won’t come from attacking, and your skills are based on other people getting hit instead of you, so they kind of run counter to Rage’s who purpose.

20. Barbarian 16: Use your last ASI to cap off your Constitution for the most health and best not-dying saves.

Pros: You have a lot of protective power thanks to your spirit shields, and plenty of health to burn through when the enemy focuses you instead. You have multiple ways to pseudo-heal your teammates if they’re in a pinch, and you have just a bit of mobility to make fights more interesting.

Cons: As stated above, your spirit abilities kind of run counter to your main barbarian abilities and each other. The first abilities you get at level three make you the most convincing target, but later levels want other players to get hit so you can use your Spirit Shield. So for a while you either need to not hit an enemy so they can hit someone else, ending your rage before you can protect them, or hit the enemy, draw them towards you, and not be able to use the shield. Aside from that, you also have relatively low damage output, with only a spear to attack with and a very conditional shield attack late into the game. For most of the game you’ll also have no magic damage whatsoever, so high levle enemies can be a pain. Finally, your combat abilities are strong but you have very weak saves, so evil bards can have a field day. Just try to stay away from ghosts and focus on your blocking and you’ll be fine.