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3 months ago ::
Feb 26, 2013 - 2:26PM
#11
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Date Joined:
Apr 15, 2007
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Lol, all I mean is, it's fine if it's presented as being intelligent, like it talks or does something to indicate it has a mind and will of it's own. But if it's just some random trap and it dominates someone, it probably should have some kind of program to determine what it makes the dominated characters do, otherwise it makes the same amount of sense as allowing a dead creature to dictate the actions of a dominated character.
"You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies." -The Doctor, Remembrance of the Daleks
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3 months ago ::
Feb 26, 2013 - 4:04PM
#12
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Date Joined:
May 28, 2009
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But rather than spend time defining a program (unless you happen to enjoy doing so), you can just decide what it does during the encounter which then becomes what it was programmed to do. Retro-fluffing?
Even dead or unconcious creatures choosing the dominated creatures actions could be justified. Imagine the dominate condition being similar to earlier edition's Geas spell, or Mass Effect's indoctrination - depends a lot on how the power causing the condition is described to begin with, but all fluff is optional...
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5 days ago ::
May 17, 2013 - 1:48PM
#13
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New one for you, but a hyptothetical. It's an idea I'm toying with, but want to know if there's a precedent.
Players are in the crowd of a packed football stadium. Totally sold out, and it's standing room only for 's one night performance. But, suddenly SOMETHING happens out on the ampitheatre floor, and the players have to get down there and save the band.
Empty stadium seating would probably be difficult terrain, just because of how narrow the lanes in front of seating usually is set up. I've never seen anyone argue with that.
But with a packed crowd, what if it was just, "Moving through any square occupied by an audience member counts as two squares of movement." Not difficult terrain, but two squares.
Does the distinction make sense? Is there any precedent in RAW (or even something sanctioned, like LFR or Encounters) that's established that, "No, it's not difficult terrain, but yes, it still costs 2 squares to move through?"
As a DM, I find it easier to just punish the players no matter what they pick, as I assume they will pick stuff that is broken. I mean, fight after fight they kill all the monsters without getting killed themselves! What sort of a game is this, anyway?
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5 days ago ::
May 17, 2013 - 4:24PM
#14
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The cool thing about D&D: you're the DM, so you can just, like, do that.
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5 days ago ::
May 17, 2013 - 6:35PM
#15
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One thing I've learned about D&D, especially since the 3x days and the democratizing of the game because of the internet... "You're the DM," isn't good enough for players anymore, generally speaking.
Trying to do something "different," or too far beyond RAW tends to provoke grumbles at the very least, and stand-up arguments at their worst, without precedent or policy to back the idea up.
As a DM, I find it easier to just punish the players no matter what they pick, as I assume they will pick stuff that is broken. I mean, fight after fight they kill all the monsters without getting killed themselves! What sort of a game is this, anyway?
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5 days ago ::
May 17, 2013 - 7:24PM
#16
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One thing I've learned about D&D, especially since the 3x days and the democratizing of the game because of the internet... "You're the DM," isn't good enough for players anymore, generally speaking.
Trying to do something "different," or too far beyond RAW tends to provoke grumbles at the very least, and stand-up arguments at their worst, without precedent or policy to back the idea up.
I don't think this is due to the internet; it's because D&D has become crunchier over time. Crunchy systems give more powers to players relative to DMs, because players can predict exactly how the rules interact and how their choices will affect play. (See Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering for more on this.) Thus, in your example, if a player made a lot of choices to obviate difficult terrain, and then you told him that this isn't really difficult terrain but has the same functional effect, I'd think he has legitimate grounds for complaint.
A more extreme example: a player makes his character very difficult to hit, in that he has high defenses. Then a DM creates a monster that doesn't "attack" the character but instead "strikes" the player, where striking is different from attacking in that it doesn't have to overcome defenses and so hits automatically. If I was that player I'd be very frustrated.
Fortunately, I think the distinction between bleachers-as-difficult-terrain and moving-through-a-crowd-as-something-else makes good sense, and there's a perfect game concept, other than difficult terrain, that can apply to moving through a crowd: squeezing. Also, burst / blast effects that target creatures will hit all the bystanders too. (Mwahahaha!)
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4 days ago ::
May 19, 2013 - 4:06AM
#17
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Is there a table, in RAW, that talks about the distribution of consumables as treasure versus permanent magical items? I'd like to include some as part of the "magic item of level x+y," but I don't want the response to be, "That sucked. They're consumables."
As a DM, I find it easier to just punish the players no matter what they pick, as I assume they will pick stuff that is broken. I mean, fight after fight they kill all the monsters without getting killed themselves! What sort of a game is this, anyway?
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4 days ago ::
May 19, 2013 - 5:00AM
#18
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Is there a table, in RAW, that talks about the distribution of consumables as treasure versus permanent magical items? I'd like to include some as part of the "magic item of level x+y," but I don't want the response to be, "That sucked. They're consumables."
you could just reduce the amount of gold by the value of the consumable
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3 days ago ::
May 19, 2013 - 1:10PM
#19
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Is there a table, in RAW, that talks about the distribution of consumables as treasure versus permanent magical items? I'd like to include some as part of the "magic item of level x+y," but I don't want the response to be, "That sucked. They're consumables."
The DMG treasure parcels (pages 126-129) already include an option for consumables.
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2 days ago ::
May 20, 2013 - 10:24AM
#20
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2004
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I've seen traps that dominate
Agreed: controlling a dominated creature does not require an action.
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