Things I May No Longer Do while Playing IX: GNO GNOMES!

[DigoDragon]

*If I don't want to be mistaken for a villain when disguising myself as one for amusement purposes only, I should deliberately fail the disguise check and make sure it looks like a costume.
...?

So what happens if I purposely attempt to fail my Disguise check and I critically fail my attempt to fail?

[Anonymouswizard]

Ah, gotcha.


If you're still running that 5e game, as long as DCs stay in the 10-15 range and DC20 is pretty rare, and as long as you stick to the encounter guidelines, the players should be fine. "Deadly" doesn't mean "guaranteed to kill them," more like "one character is likely to drop to 0 and start making saves." It's harder to go overboard than you'd think as long as you stick to the guidelines.

And, eh, if a few of 'em die, so what. Adventuring's a dangerous business, or should be anyway. Maybe not as dangerous as AD&D, where a couple-three squirrels could kill a first-level wizard in one round if they won initiative, but more dangerous than this "the players are always supposed to win and should never have to retreat or bury their dead" thing that's common nowadays. Dagnabbed whippersnappers...

You could try going to quest-resolution or "milestone" XP instead of kill-monster XP, to de-emphasize the murderhoboing and have more social options. If the XP is the same for bypassing the monster or peacefully resolving a dispute, players will usually be less-inclined to go for the kill unless they need to. Makes it easier to determine socal XP, too, since XP comes from resolving something by whatever means, rather than being based on what those means were (since, outside of combat, d&d doesn't really have any good xp rules for it).

It's more I want it to be more deadly than 5e normally is, with a real chance of PCs dying, but not a giant chance of a TPK.

[JAL_1138]

It's more I want it to be more deadly than 5e normally is, with a real chance of PCs dying, but not a giant chance of a TPK.

Several ways to get there. I use Slow Natural Healing, Healing Kit Dependency (extended to Long Rests too because of Slow Healing), and Lingering Injury in home games--they don't heal easy without spells, and if they use spells, they run out of slots quickly. I compensate by allowing some fights to be bypassed and by using fewer per "adventuring day," but still stay in the Moderate-Hard-Deadly range unless it makes sense that they should roflstomp the opposition.

More generally, pace rests--wandering monsters and time constraints wear them down and prevent them from recovering HP and abilities. Hard to go into every fight at full HP and with full spell slots that way.

Soften them up with Medium or Hard encounters before using a Deadly one. This increases the chance that a Deadly encounter will put one or more PCs at 0hp.

Make it clear that enemies *will* finish off downed characters, and possibly implement a coup-de-grace houserule. A lot of Adventurers' League characters only survive because the unwritten rule at the shop I play at is to stop attacking them once they're down. If not for that there'd be a lot fewer make it through.

Massive Damage is one variant I haven't used, but as a gut reaction I'd say it ups the difficulty of every encounter by at least one class. Hard becomes Deadly, Deadly becomes "you're almost certain to kill a PC, maybe two," as a rough ballpark.


EDIT: If it looks like a TPK is imminent, let them retreat if at all feasible, and let them know going into it that they can and it's sometimes the best option.

[JAL_1138]

So what happens if I purposely attempt to fail my Disguise check and I critically fail my attempt to fail?

The multiverse implodes. Or rocks fall.

Rather, just don't roll a Disguise check, I guess, and say that since you didn't roll, you autofail and it's very obviously fake.

[cavalieredraghi]

So what happens if I purposely attempt to fail my Disguise check and I critically fail my attempt to fail?

Then you asking for trouble which you got.

[noob]

*Making an prestidigitator who is an expert who does not uses magic as a npc is forbidden because it is too much powerful.
**Especially is he make everyone believe he is a necromancer by sitting at a table and pretending he communicate with the spirits and make his foot bones crack for making people believe the dead hit the table.
***Scaring the players by faking death then standing up while trying to look undead is too much horrible and powerful tactics for scaring them.
****Mirrors are officially forbidden to use because true seeing does nothing against them and that they work in anti-magic zones.
*****Gods are not experts without divine rank disguising into gods.
******Even if it would explain why their stats are so weak and awful in gods and demigods.
*****in the prestidigitator line alchemist fire and range trigger-able mechanic traps are forbidden
******Making the wizard of the team of players use all his damage spells on decoys and traps and stuff of this kind is wrong.
*******a prestidigitator saying to the players characters to sit at his table to speak with the dead to scare the players and then use crossbow from atop of his table to fight the depleted team is not something that should happen.

[Anonymouswizard]

* If the PCs are working for a super secret part of the metropolitan police that deals with supernatural crime I should give it a cool name.
** May certainly not call it MPOS (Metropolitan Police Occult Squad).

For extra fun, it's not pronounced 'em-pee-oh-es' but 'em-pos'.

* They players should not have to spend an entire scene just working out what style of magic was used (the short list of magic systems in the setting: Hermetic, Shamanism, Demonology, Necromancy¹, Kabbalah, and Wild. Other traditions exist [e.g. Hoodoo] but are less important to the London area).

¹Technically a Demonology variant, and uses the exact same rules with 'ghost' replacing 'demon', but in-setting the London Occult Underground sees a big difference.

[JAL_1138]

*If any form of golem or warforged utters the phrase "You stay. I go. No following" before sacrificing itself, the players will throw dice at me.

[Anonymouswizard]

*If any form of golem or warforged utters the phrase "You stay. I go. No following" before sacrificing itself, the players will throw dice at me.

** Cannot base a warforged's death on any fictional robot.
*** Even if I'm reasonably certain nobody else has seen the show.
**** Cannot base characters off of Kamen Rider Chaser.
***** Can't base characters off Kamen Riders full stop. They seem weak, but they have a large grab bag of tricks these days.

[goto124]

** Cannot base a warforged's death on any fictional robot.

*** Cannot make the players cry.
**** Or the GM.

[DigoDragon]

*** Cannot make the players cry.

* If my warforged survives the first round of being submerged in lava after dropping into it with the BBEG, I'm not allowed to give the other PCs a thumbs up as I sink for another round of 20d6 fire damage.

[JAL_1138]

*May not take proficiency in bugle just to play "Taps" whenever someone dies.

[Sith_Happens]

Maybe not as dangerous as AD&D, where a couple-three squirrels could kill a first-level wizard in one round if they won initiative

You would like Magic: The Gathering, I think.

So what happens if I purposely attempt to fail my Disguise check and I critically fail my attempt to fail?

You fall off a cliff.

[JAL_1138]

You would like Magic: The Gathering, I think.



You fall off a cliff.

I used to play MtG, many moons ago. I quit when 6th edition hit. Partly because I didn't like the constant stream of errata, partly because I didn't care much for the new rules, partly because there was no community around it in the podunk town I used to live in (particularly after the comic shop closed and there was nowhere else to buy cards), and partly because crack is cheaper and I dislike the quasi-pay-to-win element of it. The current version of the game is unrecognizeable and essentially all Greek to me.

Edit: And I hate the way the cards look now, design/layout/art/etc. Dagnabbed whippersnappers, git off my lawn, etc., etc., so on and so forth.

[DigoDragon]

You fall off a cliff.

Pfffft hahaha. XD
Yeah that sounds about right.

Dagnabbed whippersnappers, git off my lawn, etc., etc., so on and so forth.

* No longer allowed to TP JAL_1138's lawn.

[Sith_Happens]

Partly because I didn't like the constant stream of errata

This at least has been functionally nonexistent since 2006 when all power-level errata was reversed and Wizards made it policy that cards would be errataed only for the purpose of keeping with current syntax and (occasionally) rules structures. They even had to ban Flash in Legacy (Type 1) not long after un-"fixing" it.

[JAL_1138]

Forgive me if I've mentioned this one before; I forget where I have and haven't mentioned it.
*If I'm dogsitting my folks' couple of mutts on a day I'm scheduled to host, must forewarn the group that both of them bark their fool heads off at strangers, and one of them doesn't so much bark as make an unholy, godawful terrifying noise that sounds like someone gut-shot a banshee and left it to die.

[goto124]

** May not stat banshee dogs.

[Rater202]

*We must not scare off a player.
**We must apologize.

[Sith_Happens]

* I may not use the Play on Words exploit to fill a trading floor with actual bulls.
** "It could be worse, we could be in a bear market" is the exact opposite of an excuse.

[JAL_1138]

** May not stat banshee dogs.

When she's not barking, she has a +20 mod to Adorable. Not a big dog, either, just a medium-sized friendly mutt. But still, that bark, yikes. It's a little like a hound's bark, but it's very hoarse and kind of breaks, so it sounds remarkably like the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" scream but in bursts instead of a single sustained howl. She can bark completely normally, too, without any hoarseness, but gives the banshee-bark when she's being territorial. Fantastic watchdog...

[goto124]

* May not stat advanced spambots.

[JAL_1138]

* May not stat advanced spambots.

**May not suggest that if it has stats, we can kill it, and thus by statting it we could clear up the general rpg forum.

[DigoDragon]

**May not suggest that if it has stats, we can kill it, and thus by statting it we could clear up the general rpg forum.

If only it were that easy.


* I may no longer have the War of the Worlds rock opera playing in the background as I write up a D&D adventure for my group.
** I may not bring alcohol for the resulting adventuring thinking '1 or 2 beers' should be fine.
*** Especially forbidden when I absent-mindedly start drinking the first beer with a straw.
**** If the kobolds invade the town in large numbers shouting 'Ulla', that is where you stop the game and get the GM a cup of black coffee and a sandwich.

[JAL_1138]

**** If the kobolds invade the town in large numbers shouting 'Ulla'

At least it wasn't "ACK-ACK"...? From Mars Attacks! for anyone who didn't get the reference.

[One Tin Soldier]

* I may not use the Play on Words exploit to fill a trading floor with actual bulls.
** "It could be worse, we could be in a bear market" is the exact opposite of an excuse.

The best WoD power ever created, right there.

* NPCs no longer allowed to use Play Dead to fake their death in front of the players.
** They are just too good at stopping the death from being believable.

[Anonymouswizard]

* I may no longer have the War of the Worlds rock opera playing in the background as I write up a D&D adventure for my group.

The chances of me doing this are a million to one.

He said. But still, the come!

[DigoDragon]

And now that ear worm is going to take all lunch hour to get out of my head.

Thanks.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

If only it were that easy.


* I may no longer have the War of the Worlds rock opera playing in the background as I write up a D&D adventure for my group.
** I may not bring alcohol for the resulting adventuring thinking '1 or 2 beers' should be fine.
*** Especially forbidden when I absent-mindedly start drinking the first beer with a straw.
**** If the kobolds invade the town in large numbers shouting 'Ulla', that is where you stop the game and get the GM a cup of black coffee and a sandwich.

***** If the Greek gods are still around, impolite speculation vis a vis their romantic habits and Her Majesty's Ship Thunderchild may be hazardous to my health.

[Sith_Happens]

* Gauru form is not to be used for sex, even if I have the facet that lets me try.
** I hereby forfeit all right to be either surprised or offended at the inevitable jokes about my only "lasting" Stamina + Primal Urge turns.