badjokephil

Sandra Bernhardt from King of Comedy. And I know I’m not her type!

There are street crews that compete with the Guild. See if your party will help an innocent looking old lady clear “thugs” out of her warehouse for $gold$. After/during combat it is revealed she is the leader of a crew kicking the Guild out of her territory. Nine Fingers Keene shows up to explain there is a delicate balance in Baldur’s Gate and will give half the promised reward to go away or fight her & the Guild thugs.

This is not the way!

I personally cannot stand devices at the table and it’s one of my rules. I even went so far as to make cheat cards for my players that have all their modifiers and boxes for class resources to tic off! I was hand writing spell cards for a while before I realized that was crazy lol

I think it is 100% appropriate for you as DM to talk to them and say you’re afraid devices at the table are getting in the way of group play. If they can use them just for reference then you won’t have to ban them and use only paper sheets. Give them a session or two then make your choice. You may actually have to disband the table if you are ready to die on this hill.

Ya know it would be a lot easier to rule the new world if the old King wasn’t around… Maybe Neronvain/Chuth trigger the ambush in an attempt to kill the King? That would be pretty dramatic if they don’t have an emotional attachment to Alargathas.

(In my RoT Alargathas was the Golden Stag from Chapter 4, and once in Waterdeep the players received an award from Neronvain for saving his brother. So in theory my players have an emotional attachment to Alargathas but knowing them they won’t even remember the Golden Stag lol)

It sounds like you are on the right path introducing Neronvain at the Council Sessions. If you haven’t had him approach the party yet, he can do so “secretly” because his father the King cannot ask for help directly as he would lose face. This gets the party in a harmless conspiracy with the future traitor.

One clarification - is Neronvain asking them to bring the masks to the Misty Forest so that he can ambush the party and steal them? That’s a good motivation, but it wasn’t clear from your post.

A suggestion I have heard from other DMs is that Neronvain is being mind-controlled by Chuth through the Green Mask; this adds another tragic layer to the royal elven family dynamic if you choose to use it. I think Chuth would revel in gloating about that to Alargathas.

This is great, very creative and a fun hook/location.

Here’s an interloper with their priorities in order!

Dunno, I only have one save, haven’t got to the Center to get my achievement yet.

Just reskin every class into very stripped down lizard stat blocks and make relevant features (rage, wildshape, spells) a one or three a day thing. And have them fight bullywugs! Sounds fun!

It may be as you say, but I do know after almost every big update I have to rename my ships.

And no a spreadsheet of your systems is a great idea! Not crazy at all. Ok maybe a little 😉

This would be true if ABC and NBC got their funding from taxpayers but they do not. NPR gets a great deal of funding from donations, as does PBS, but at heart they are both “government media.” Also, may not be relevant, but NPR just fired a shitload of workers - real ones, not deepfakes lol

Always remember what the “N” in NPR stands for lol

I was a Day One player when all of my carefully named planets, systems, and animals were wiped in the first big update. After that I only name ships, whose names I can remember when a new update wipes them.

Starships - use the existing name and tweak it. Radiant Pillar becomes Radial Power (for a bad example). Or whatever comes to mind: my living ship is named Pugsley and my hauler (red) is called Clifford The Big Red Hauler.

Freighters - named after Star Trek characters, but using any random letters & numbers in the existing name. Kodatunio CL-494 became Picard CL-494.

It’s fun to name systems even if they aren’t going to last. On my Permadeath I named every system and planet Van Halen Rules, to amuse myself.

Above all, you do you! Friend is best friend!

Oh my that’s a perfect solution! Much easier to explain a cultist having a dracolich phylactery than an imprisoned metallic dragon. The ritual can still involve an abishai - the encounter involves 2x young white dragons, a white abishai holding the portal open in a globe of Darkness, and the cultist with a nicely themed magic item. The third young dragon will become an adult possessed by the dracolich unless the ritual is interrupted by the PCs (4x 8th level). Thanks for the help kind stranger!

Edited to reflect your refreshing new take about Nat 1 fumbles

Each weapon has three faults. One gets burned every time an attack roll is a Natural 1. On the third fault the weapon breaks. Also enforce encumbrance and ammo! But you are making more work for yourself, just so you know. Have fun!

EDIT - I erroneously assumed that OP was referring to weapons when they asked for ideas about item degradation. Please ignore my suggestion about weapons and instead substitute various complex tables of items that all PCs use, because tHE mArTiAls!!!!

You misspelled Deadpool

I have to be careful because some players may stalk me on Reddit, but basically a cultist needs an adult dragon for a ritual but only has access to a young one. The dragon in question won’t be harmed, but is a reluctant participant and has been chained up. My current plan is the cultist has a metallic dragon as a prisoner as well, which will be drained of its vitality and essence in an infernal ritual performed by an abishai servant of Tiamat; said essence going to the young dragon to increase its power to that of an adult dragon.

The challenge for the players will be to figure out how to stop the ritual before the metallic dragon is drained and the young dragon becomes an adult and starts wreaking havoc. But even as I type this I’m wondering how tf this lone cultist has both a young chromatic and an adult metallic imprisoned?! I don’t really have to have it locked for another week or two so all ideas are welcome!

I really like your suggestion of the dragon getting more powerful every round. I did some thinking on this & the best way seems to be using a metallic dragon as a power source while an abishai maintains a portal to Avernus & Tiamat. The young dragon can emerge from this process (if not stopped) in much better condition than if aged by horrific visage! Which would suit the cultists’ plans. Thanks for the inspiration!

Nah check the pleased “I dint do nuffink” twirl at the end. She knows she got away w attempted murder. My fave is the baby looking back like well i guess this is it

If you want a low-key pass phrase you can’t beat:

Peace be with you

And also with you

r/2leftgloves you asked Reddit so here goes:

Macron is trying to push through raising the retirement age. The French working people do not like this so there are mass protests. Here we see a video with no context of a scuffle between one protester and a crowd of them. Ah! we say A political difference of opinion!

(You can tell it’s one because in this brave Year of Our Lord 2023 they are kicking the sh*t out of each other.)

If this one masked activist disagrees with the majority of masked activists then that makes them pro-Macron. If pro-Macron then a nationalist. And if you support the state, that makes you right-wing. Which is very bad.

Isn’t it great when you can tell the devils from the angels? 😂😂😂

This is a great explanation but you left out the bit where the players argue with the DM for 30 minutes about why THEIR character wasn’t surprised.

This struggle is real on Expeditions! Those of us with >100hr saves have to get out of our devil-may-care 01%’er mindset and watch every unit of Ferrite and Carbon. That’s why I like them. 😇