"If you can't remember, your character definitely can't remember." Like bruh, two days have passed in-game, while the last time we played is a month ago. Like bruh I am playing a wizard with a 20 intelligence, speaks 6 languages, and who can memorize the complex patterns and coordinates of a teleportation circle by studying it for just a minute. I'm certain that he can remember the details that I don't.

@KC24987

11 ай бұрын

Had a dm like that. I took "keen mind feat" just so I didn't have to roll history checks for something that happened a few in game days ago. Dm: that happened 1 week ago, roll histo.... Me: nope, perfect memory up to 1 month.

@LtFoeHammer

11 ай бұрын

@@KC24987 Also, History is for *historical events and legends* not personal experience.

@mikeesteves8427

11 ай бұрын

@@KC24987 a history check for something that happened a week ago is wild history isnt even abt your memory

@KC24987

11 ай бұрын

@@mikeesteves8427 my past DM made us roll for anything dealing with memory. That included remembering anything from things our characters might have seen or heard a few days ago. Keen Mind did away with having to roll to remember what my character did, saw or heard up to 1 month. It's in the feat description.

@KC24987

11 ай бұрын

@@LtFoeHammer I get that but my past DM didn't. To him history checks implied both historical and personal experience. Long term memory and short term memory were included in this. Keen Mind was the only way around having to constantly roll. Finished the campaign with him and never bothered with his table after.

I’ve actually played in a game where you roll for everything. Trust me, it’s never fun to just fail looking at something and basically being blind

@DooMeRocK

11 ай бұрын

"roll less - its a writen in a book"

@jaykenbeal5165

11 ай бұрын

My players will insist they need to make checks and roll for the most mundane things just so they can laugh at each other when they fail

@0PercentImagination

11 ай бұрын

Luck with dice rolls leads to some real silly situations especially if you roll a lot. I had a character that would fail pretty much every perception roll regardless of how low the dc was and kept missing attacks, yet when my character went half-blind and had disadvantage of attacks I hit all of them lol.

@jaykenbeal5165

11 ай бұрын

@@0PercentImagination oh for sure but I’m talking rolling for who has bigger hands, or if they find someone attractive.

@Aid5Patient

11 ай бұрын

@@jaykenbeal5165 bigger 'hands'

Its a huge pet peeve of mine when DMs say "if you don't remember, your character doesn't" - We haven't had session in a month and half, its been one day for my character. Give me a break here

@nekomancer47

11 ай бұрын

Counterpoint: why didn’t you write it in your notes? It’s not the DM’s job to remember everything for you, too I get where you’re coming from, though, and actually do agree with you. Like, if it’s a small thing that your character would obviously remember, then the dm should just tell you. But too often do I see players that just treat the dm like their almanac and dont bother trying to remember anything on their own, which is unfair and frustrating to the dm I’m sure

@CarbonTheCrab

11 ай бұрын

​@@nekomancer47counter-counter argument. Its the DM's world and their NPCs and the story is driven by them.

@manjoumethunder6282

11 ай бұрын

​@@nekomancer47I would like to counter your counterpoint Sometimes you just dont write something down because you dont think it will come up again. That it isn't that important. When however it somehow, due to some unexpected twist or something, does come up then you just dont have it because you didnt consider it important back then

@beautifulnova6088

11 ай бұрын

@@manjoumethunder6282 Another point, if I do have notes I'm not going to go leafing through them for twenty minutes to find where I jotted down a one liner that doesn't even fully answer my question when the DM clearly has this fact in mind and knows what's going on.

@hugofontes5708

11 ай бұрын

this is why I remember things out of spite just stubbornly refuse to forget in fact, I guess that's a quality I have as GM, recalling things from 3 months back my players have no memory of doing at all lol have no qualms whatsoever with giving them back any previous information their characters should have (events, conversations, sightings, etc) but if they want some actual insight or precise information I might occasionally have them roll to check if their characters' brains caught anything (correlations, precise wording, details) I just love when they realize something looking back or when they get that little jump from "oh, no/yes/shit! wait do I remember if X?" and get a thrill from rolling high enough

Me: "I cast lightning bolt in the water the pirates fell in." DM: "Ok, but I am not going to give any buffs to the lightning damage or effect." Me: "Ok, I won't complain" *Next week's session* DM: "Ok, so the lightning crab attacks and it is an auto crit since you are in the water. Because you are wearing metal armor, it rolls at advantage with a +12 modifier. Base damage is 10d12, so you take a total of 40d12 lightning damage from both attacks. Oh, and your character's back is broken." Me: *dies a little on the inside*

@Bookslayer10

11 ай бұрын

Bruh, metal armor would make lightning LESS damaging because it would flow through the metal instead of your skin

@Aredel

11 ай бұрын

@@Bookslayer10 Eh, it'll still flow into your skin. If the metal is impure or not a conductor, it'll just give you a little shock and make your mouth taste like copper.

@Aredel

11 ай бұрын

Me: shoots the DM with a taser

@Bookslayer10

11 ай бұрын

@@Aredel A lot of the energy would flow through the metal, probably not all of it, but it would definitely be a lot better than not having any armor at all. Saltwater is already a good conductor though, so it would mostly flow through that. It would be better if you were fully insulated in a wetsuit of course, as long as the lighting bolt isn't striking you directly and NEEDS to take a path through your armor/body.

@godofzombi

11 ай бұрын

@@Aredel THIS.

I think the one that really got me was when I cast "Wall of Force" on a BBEG and then immediately a friendly NPC ran up and used a warhammer to break the wall. I pointed out that Wall of Force is immune to all damage and can't be dispelled. The DM said "the NPC has a warhammer that's specially made to break Wall of Force." Why an NPC that's friendly to us would free the BBEG with a perfectly suited magic item is beyond me...

@Beem0b0t

11 ай бұрын

This kind of thing absolutely blows my mind. It makes me almost happy that I'm the typecasted DM for my groups because I don't think I would be able to handle the mental damage of trying gymnastic my way into believing a non-hostile NPC has an ANTI WALL OF FORCE WARHAMMER just naturally on standby for SAVING DANGEROUS PEOPLE!

@Sootielove

11 ай бұрын

omg that's actually "but I have a dinosaur that eats force-field dogs"

@chan1x

11 ай бұрын

Maybe friendly npc was working for BBEG, or NPC was really confused about wall :D

@HankHill11

11 ай бұрын

But.... But why? why do that

@user-ks5xd4xh9r

11 ай бұрын

That would fit perfectly if the game was in comedy genre.

The guy who refused to poke the thing is actually the wizard who will take lethal damage from it.

@theman6422

11 ай бұрын

Poor brother was a lvl 1 wizard who has a bad constitution modifier

@anubis7457

11 ай бұрын

Lmao true, the warrior, paladin, and monk all poke it and then try to pressure the 5 max hp wizard to do the same xd

@ghostchannel4766

11 ай бұрын

1d4 poking damage

@janelantestaverde2018

11 ай бұрын

That guy is Colton in their Icewind Dale campaign, to be specific 😅 And to be fair, I personally back his decision to not interact with whatever object it was that made them all fall unconscious or something, I don't exactly remember.

@serdash6548

11 ай бұрын

You know usually its the 20AC level 1 paladin that insists on never rolling for health even if everyone else does it

Yeah, the DMs that just HAVE to remind you that they're the ones in control and your fun is entirely dictated by them are... well, they really can kill the fun.

@Aredel

11 ай бұрын

*But you can*

@ijaydubb

11 ай бұрын

watching Jacob's chad DM video cheers me up when I think about this kinda situation.

In my defense, literally my first ever time DMing i killed a PC with Massive Damage on the very first turn of the very first combat with a single attack from a simple goblin. It's not that playing at first level sucks it's that DMing at first level is absolutely terrifying...

@hescoming4544

11 ай бұрын

Use average damage at the start, Critting the wizard will crush the players dreams.

@LordZeebee

11 ай бұрын

@@hescoming4544 Like i said, first time lol. Didn't know people used average damage nor what kind of HP my warlock player had. First arrow was a crit, i tell him the damage and he just responds with "oh...i'm dead. Like Dead dead...". Never seen such disappointment on a player's face since

@Bookslayer10

11 ай бұрын

@@LordZeebee Also just don't let enemies crit and deal extra damage, it's not fun for the players to deal with. Same with critical fails on the player's part, don't add on any extra punishment.

@ShadowGeek12

11 ай бұрын

@@Bookslayer10 Thats kind of a shit take, why would enemies loose the ability to make a crit its a fine part of the game equal for both sides? Critial failures on the other hand yeah if a rogue has +15 to picking a lock a nat 1 shouldnt make him auto fail

@Bookslayer10

11 ай бұрын

@@ShadowGeek12 Because it's not fun for the players, and that's what the game is about. It also makes combat harder to work around in a negative way, at least with a normal crit you get something positive once in a while, but the enemy just suddenly doing more damage isn't something that you should need to consider. IMO taking damage shouldn't always be a punishment and you should be able to work around it and predict it. With critical fails, if rolling a 2 doesn't mean you fail, I don't think it makes sense to be rolling in the first place, so they are kind of pointless.

One of my biggest pet peeves in any DnD game is when I try to do something cool or roleplay something (like punching someone because they insulted me) I fail a check and then nothing happens. Like, even though I failed I would like my action to have some kind of effect on the situation and not just say “oh you failed. Moving on”

@AllTheOthers

11 ай бұрын

You should definitely talk to your DM about that, its terrible etiquette. My players have been chased out of towns over punches and given 100gp+ bounties. Shit is serious, especially when you don't fully know who you are punching, and you look like a giant super powered behemoth. People recognize strength, its never invisible how powerful some ones character is.

@PeteTKing

11 ай бұрын

Depending on who you're trying to punch that might just be your DM keeping your character alive. or maybe they're tired of you trying to puch every npc.

@Merilirem

11 ай бұрын

@@PeteTKing the answer should still be something. Not responding is still an action. Its not kike nocs ignoring you trying to punch them means it didn't happen. It means the npcs canonically didn't care. They chose to do nothing. Doing nothing is an action. So usually its better to just have the npcs do something more understandable like throw a punch back or mock the pc for the failed attempt.

@flameofmage1099

11 ай бұрын

​@@MeriliremExactly. Maybe the NPC catches your fist because they are good fighters or you hit them but they're just unaffected and they say you'll have to punch harder. Literally anything is better. It's insane how many people just don't role play in a role playing game.

@nekomancer47

11 ай бұрын

@@Meriliremlol kinda concerning that autocorrect didn’t fix “kike” for you

there was one instance where the DM started having us roll for everything when we entered a temple. Turns out it was because the temple was dedicated to the God of Luck (both good and bad). It was annoying but we also got rewarded with some good ass loot when we left.

@Timorio

11 ай бұрын

hehe, ass loot that is good

@jokhard8137

11 ай бұрын

Gimmicks like that are fun once in a while :D In a campaign I'm currently playing in, we're exploring a dungeon which is situated on a nexus of wild magic -- every cantrip and spell has a chance of triggering a wild magic surge (on Nat 1's and 20's), as well as every Nat 1 or 20 in general. With the DM is using a 10 000 wild magic effects list, it's been great fun!

@Mastikator

11 ай бұрын

That makes sense in game, playing like that all the time sucks.

@Newnodrogbob

11 ай бұрын

See, that’s brilliant. In daily life, you don’t have a 5% chance of falling down when you try to open a door, but in the domain of the God of Luck-that works.

@soulcrow7651

11 ай бұрын

Your example and the wild magic example here both sound like an awesome touch!

That Persuasion check is the one that really grinds my gears. If our characters can benefit from being more strong and dexterous than we are irl, they should also be able to benefit from being more intelligent and charismatic than we are irl. Also, our characters LIVE in these worlds. They should definitely know, understand, and remember stuff about it, even when we, ourselves, don't.

@InquisitorThomas

11 ай бұрын

Yes but persuasion isn’t mind control and a good roll shouldn’t completely negate a character’s existing beliefs and knowledge, no roll is going to make “but have you considered the long term impact on the economy?” Turn around the entire beliefs of the Nihilistic Death Cult. My main issue is that the conversation was over after one roll, if the player rolled well but made an argument that didn’t line up with the interest of the NPC I would have still had the NPC talking since the PC seems like a reasonable person and drop a hint towards what matters to NPC. Like if the NPC’s issue with the argument is that he needs the money within the month and can’t wait for long term greater profits.

@user-ot5ub7ck8j

11 ай бұрын

In matters of persuasion, either you do acting or you do rolls. One excludes the other. - Okay, what do I need to get what I want from this NPC? - Two persuasion rolls (difficulty 14). Is this the RPG you want to play?

@noahbasara8529

10 ай бұрын

I agree with both here. I would however offer a middle ground to the "Either you do acting or you do rolls. One Exclude the other". While this is definitely a play style I don't like to negate my players need (or even want) to act out the persuasion in character entirely. Therefore, my solution to this is: - Player wishes to persuade person into doing something - Okay, what do you say/do to try and persuade them? - Based off of the players in character performance/attempt I give them advantage on the roll to not only reward them for the in character attempt, but also show that their characters (or in character) attempt was worth more than just for immersions sake. This also allows players who may have persuasion the choice to intentionally screw it up should they want to for character based reasons. Obviously what is considered a "good" attempt is going to also have to be based on your knowledge of the players themselves. Don't punish a player who maybe gave it their all but IRL sucks at phrasing and being persuasive/acting in character. But again that comes down to knowing your players.

@SebastianWeinberg

10 ай бұрын

@@noahbasara8529 Agreed. Some players feel too awkward to "act out" their character's words, and in any case, _nobody_ around the table has 18+ charisma in real life, so it's unfair to fail their attempts on those grounds. Having the player _tell_ you the approach they're taking and what arguments they use, followed by _rolling_ against a difficulty that represents how well the players argument aligns with the NPC's interest, is a good way to bring all elements into play equally. The *Player* decides what arguments to make, the *DM* decides how well-suited they are to the situation, and the *roll* decides how well the _character_ does in putting the player's arguments into pretty words and presenting them. A great roll shouldn't be interpreted to mean, "My character magically pulls exactly the right argument out of -his ass- thin air to force this NPC to act against their interests or beliefs." But sometimes it can mean, "Your character put things so eloquently and convincingly that they talked the NPC around, even though they were predisposed against it at the start."

@inckacraft9697

10 ай бұрын

As a DM I tend to ask first to my player what they say and how do they say it. And depending on how good they do I lower the difficulty for their persuasion roll.

The "then I hit him with my sword - this hard" made me do a full belly laugh. You got me good.

@godofzombi

11 ай бұрын

There's an RPG were when a spellcaster wants to cast a spell, the player must actualy recite the spell formula (a one verse rime) or the spell won't be cast. I always wondered what the fighter equivalent of that would be. I guess hitting the DM with a LARP sword is it.

@Deadpool-ri3rq

11 ай бұрын

Especially the perfect cut off scream!

@Marqan

9 ай бұрын

appropriate player reaction

@josephperez2004

4 ай бұрын

In a situation where someone needs to make a convincing arguement, I have them make the arguement first, then modify the roll by how convincing it was. Like if the player makes a good arguement and provides solid evidence the group the NPC is helping is going to murder him after they get what they want, that would be almost an auto succeed. Like +4 and advantage on your roll.

I take copious amounts of notes in my games I misspelled an “important” NPC’s complicated name and mispronounced him later. The DM ruled that because I couldn’t say the name, my character couldn’t remember the name. He was a wizard with a 18Int Score and History proficiency.. *dead* Edit: Making a video request -3- **CHAD PLAYER VS OP WIZARD PLZ** Edit 2: **HE FUCKING DID IT OMG**

@jonah6806

11 ай бұрын

absolutely insane ruling, hope that DM never forgets the name of one of their minor NPC or monsters cuz then they might just poof out of existence

@noman1118

11 ай бұрын

I feel this, happened to me in game as well.

@Just_som_Ottur

11 ай бұрын

This was also a DM whom didn’t use maps or anything else beyond verbal description, and if we couldn’t remember a place or the way something looked, then the same ruling would apply. And he talked _a lot._ Asking for repeats annoyed him lol Game didn’t last more than 10 sessions (surprised it even went that long)

@noman1118

11 ай бұрын

@@Just_som_Ottur Man this sounds like my past DM lol.

@logers8398

11 ай бұрын

The only moral counter to DMs like that is to take the Keen Mind feat and specifically abuse it to have photographic memory for the last month.

I've been exclusively GMing a Cyberpunk RED campaign for about half a year now, and hearing "Cyberpunk 5e conversion" gave me an aneurysm.

@kingofroses302

11 ай бұрын

Same bro. Cyberpunk Red is also a better RPG for beginers tha DnD 5e, It deserves more of a spotlight.

@falkyrie5228

11 ай бұрын

I've played Cyberpunk 2020 before (as well as Mekton Zeta) and... Unless Red is a HUGE improvement on Mike's core system, I would prefer to try my luck with a shitty 5E hack.

@StabYourBrain

11 ай бұрын

@@falkyrie5228 5e can never in a million years catch the feeling and mortality of being a Cyberpunk Character. Being downed and healed back up 57 times in a single battle just isn't the same.

@Runelee1

11 ай бұрын

​@@falkyrie5228never played 2020, but I've played shadowrun. I'd say red's the most accessible game in the genre now by far. It's a good breath of fresh air after 10 years of 5e.

@falkyrie5228

11 ай бұрын

​@@Runelee1 I mean, anything other than 5E is a breath of fresh air at this point 😂

For any dms out there, for the "not tracking hp" thing, there is a better way to deal with that. If you're trying to let the party get more interesting kills, track the hp as normal, but if a party member does something really smart or cool let them either get some sort of bonus, or kill the enemy early. That way the party can still kill them by just dealing damage (and thus they actually feel like their attacks matter), but you can reward creativity if you think someone deserves to get something cool.

@leezard7696

11 ай бұрын

That's what I do. Sometimes I'll fudge it a bit so everyone can get at least one hit in or otherwise contribute to the fight.

@steeledminer616

9 ай бұрын

That's what I do. If an NPC would deal the killing blow on an enemy, I let it survive on 1 HP so the player can have the cool final blow. Similarily if the players do something cool I let it do extra damage. But the fact is, it is still *damage*

@nahuelmat

9 ай бұрын

That's how videogames do things sometimes, it definitely works

@shatterhand01

8 ай бұрын

Also, Damage Resistance is a thing. If you don't want your monster to die quickly, have it have resistance that can be overcome by certain weapons of your choosing.

@DrgoFx

7 ай бұрын

I do a thing where I track damage until I feel the boss is past half HP and then I track that damage back down to 0. Normal enemies don't get this treatment cause I feel it's more so the bosses are the big story beats. But also sometimes my players do some cool shit and I'm like "oh...yeah they're dead."

In all honesty, I have flubbed HP before, but I do track it. One time my party was fighting a young green dragon, and one of the players had just gotten a lightening javelin and was really excited to use it. The party was in top strategic form with excellent teamwork and had been POUNDING this freaking lizard, and they were all super hyped, the energy was high, the dragon was so freaked out it was actually fleeing (it had very few HP left), and it was super cinematic. The attack hit. The dragon had like 3 HP left. I stared at it for a few seconds, everyone was watching eagerly, and I decided "heck it" and described basically what happens when you get a dragon to low health in Skyrim and they crash out of the sky, and the impact killing it. Everyone. Lost. Their. Minds. It was my party's first dragon, and they were so incredibly excited. I thought it was way more important to let them feel like their tools and strategies were useful and effective than I did be pedantic and have it brush off the LITERAL MAGIC ITEM only to die to a 1d6 arrow or cantrip the very next turn. They earned that victory fair and square in my opinion, if a few previous dice rolls had been a touch different on previous turns it would've died outright. I take some leeway with HP mainly for storytelling purposes, but in general I like it because it helps me be more impartial. I really want my party to be victorious and successful, and I really don't want to kill any PCs, so tools like this that help me actually challenge them and not go too easy are super helpful. A lot of the time I let them succeed on things simply because they came up with a really creative and clever solution or they roleplayed something excellently, so I use dice rolls mostly when either it adds suspense and uncertainty to what they're doing, or I'm concerned I might not be impartial or realistic about the ease of what they're trying to do. Rolls and the DM just making decisions both have their place, but in the end the most important thing is that everyone is enjoying themselves, players and GMs both. They are table top role-playing GAMES, after all.

@yoisakikanade_

11 ай бұрын

based dm, that sounds awesome

@ninjabgwriter

11 ай бұрын

Eyy, thanks so much, that's really sweet! I try really hard to learn how to DM better and better, so it's always nice to learn a lesson like this from a positive experience rather than a mistake (which I have made a fair amount of too). Also thanks for reading my comment, I really love getting to share stories like this. I hope you have a great day. :)

@samwannan4778

11 ай бұрын

DMing at youth centres with kids makes flubbing numbers almost a necessity sometimes to make everything operate on time. It all depends on the setting. But if you DM that way then just don’t tell the players ever!

@elbr3376

10 ай бұрын

I think sometimes in the first round or 2 of combat sometimes you do gotta add some hp. People act like it’s some massive cheat but really, you can’t be expected to balance everything perfectly, especially after your characters have a level up. Don’t go changing hp too much but if your pcs do 108 damage to your 150 hp boss in the first round cause of some pc power creep you shouldn’t feel bad tacking on an extra 100 hp so the combat doesn’t just end. Now, if your pcs do some massive collective play that took planning and careful movement and good rolls to pull off I would say reward that, but if it just a round of average attacks you can make your boss more beefy to make the fight interesting

@steeledminer616

9 ай бұрын

Ay that's how you *should* alter HP; Where the effects of combat actually skewed it. Otherwise alter HP *before* the fight.

I HATE the "not tracking enemies HP" thing. It makes you feel your efforts/strategies are not worth it.

@flameofmage1099

11 ай бұрын

Yeah that one comes down to knowing your table and how well you keep it hidden. If it becomes really obvious you're not tracking hitpoints or your table is very combat focused and number crunchy they won't enjoy it. But then there are combats where every player will do something but then the fight will be over right before that last player's turn. When it comes to that DM can always drop them to 1 hp so that player doesn't feel left out.

@lt3746

11 ай бұрын

Didn’t he do that in his gigachad video

@KILLERGUNZ27

11 ай бұрын

I always choose or make a stat block based on the average DPS of every character and closely track HP. In the event that the party kills the boss early through a series of good rolls and planning, then either congrats they win, or maybe a second boss allied to the first comes in for revenge. In the event that the boss has too much HP and the fight is really not in the players favor, then maybe he spares them, or maybe some of the party's allies (if applicable) arrive to help turn the tide

@Lathlaer

11 ай бұрын

@@lt3746 Yea he did, made it look like something awesome back then

@Derek147900

11 ай бұрын

​@KILLERGUNZ27 no you don't

My greatest reason for starting at level 3 is that i like to work my subclass into my background.

@Domowoi_

11 ай бұрын

You still can do it, just powers will awaken later in the story

@isaacsimpson8098

11 ай бұрын

@@Domowoi_ yeah this is very true. You can still have the subclass and flavour it so, just treat the first feature like you would with later features. Or you could be one of the classes that get subclasses earlier.

@destroyerofnirn3537

11 ай бұрын

@@Domowoi_ gross. starting at level 3 is just flat out better imo.

@sirsluggard7819

11 ай бұрын

@@destroyerofnirn3537 I think it depends on the group. I'm running a group of new players, starting at level 1 is beneficial because it lets them understand the few abilities they have instead of bombarding them with many options from the outset.

@destroyerofnirn3537

11 ай бұрын

@@sirsluggard7819 of course it depends on the group. even still, playing level 1-2 is boring af.

One of the worst for me is when you have to make this really specific check to progress (like lockpicking this important door), but the DM doesn't have any concept of "failing up" so you fail the roll and the story just stops.

@sirsluggard7819

11 ай бұрын

That idea of failing up is a great piece of advice, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

@carlosoros53

11 ай бұрын

Honestly, checks should only be made of both the success and the failure have interesting outcomes.

@Mastikator

11 ай бұрын

If the plot is behind a locked door then the key should be hidden somewhere nearby, and the door should be breakable. (in fact everything should be breakable)

@mslabo102s2

11 ай бұрын

I am a sinner that commited this multiple times, especially when a player tried to open a magically locked door without appropriate action. Please, I would like to atone for this but I don't know how I could've done it.

@carlosoros53

11 ай бұрын

@@mslabo102s2 time expenditure and noise, each attempt time passes so the evil is doing something or preparing more, noise means the character is getting frustrated, swearing knowing they can do this, etc. But this may cause a random encounter or the door opens with a surprise.

I get wanting a lore reason to start at a higher level, but as a DM I personally feel “I want you guys to be a little stronger out the gate so I can skip to some cooler monsters for encounters” is a valid argument. Plus it’s usually just more fun, the players can actually have a lot of abilities to mess around with right from the start and most of the time they find some way to incorporate their experience into their back story.

@Deadpool-ri3rq

11 ай бұрын

Plus, he’s so right. Level 1 play sucks.

@Manacra13

11 ай бұрын

@@Deadpool-ri3rq Fr. Doesn’t matter what class you are, combat basically is just “I swing my (insert weapon here) at it.”

@Smashface_McBourbondick

11 ай бұрын

That's definitely a valid reason to start at level 3, you kind of missed his point though. The problem wasn't that the DM wanted to start at lvl 3 for mechanical reason, the problem was that Jacob enjoys lvl 1 gameplay, and doesn't like to be told that it just sucks.

@jaysal_dies

11 ай бұрын

also just maybe your players put a lot of work into their characters and you don't want them to die to a stiff breeze

@Manacra13

11 ай бұрын

@@jaysal_dies And don’t even get me started on puzzle solving. Lame. Puzzles are way cooler at higher levels cuz the players can find interesting ways to use their spells and abilities to find a solution perhaps one the DM never anticipated which is cool and fun. But at level one, no one has cool abilities and the spell casters have so few resources they want to save them for combat so puzzle solving just becomes investigation, perception and dexterity checks until they finally get the simple, non magical, non trapped wooden door open.

God I feel that ending, I love D&D but other TTRPGs exist and people should DEFINITELY play them. Edit: Okay the level of "but this my group can't even remember X" comments I'm getting are a tad annoying so let me respond to them all in one swoop - _cool,_ then this statement doesn't apply to you and your group. If you can only run 5e campaigns because your party is a bunch of unorganized TTRPG newbies that's fine. But if you're party is experienced enough that you're trying out weird homebrew modules or "supplements" instead of just playing a different system, that's some 5e-brain if I've ever seen it. ESPECIALLY if it's a "5e supplement" for an ALREADY EXISTING TTRPG LIKE SHADOWRUN. It's like trying to mod Skyrim in a way that makes it DOOM.

@lagartopunkarra

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, I agree, if you have the time you should give other systems a try. I tried Call of Cthulhu once, it's an interesting system. A shame that the only session I had was more than an hour of reading text and me unable to even roleplay because other players stepped on whenever I tried to talk.

@Faith-sl1re

11 ай бұрын

I agree 100%, what i noticed with people who play 5e is, it's often their first ever TTRPG and they never wanna learn a new one because, to them, covnerting it to anything else is easier to them. This is more so annoying as i wanna GM for them, because they are amazing players and GMs but most don't want non 5e stuff. I would much rather GM Pathfinder 2e, City of Mist, Sentinel Comics, Lancer. 5e is fun and all but it's good to be open minded

@nojusticenetwork9309

11 ай бұрын

Just because they exist doesn't mean that people WANT to play them. While D&D is obviously the most recognizable brand, it doesn't blind people to other popular games. So if with those options available, they still pick D&D and play anything else, that's their choice.

@shidder3606

11 ай бұрын

@@Faith-sl1re I personally just don't want to learn an entirely new system. I've been playing 5e for a couple years now and there's still a, "how does x work with x?" every session as is.

@IamArock22

11 ай бұрын

The thing is whenever I say "Oh I'm playing Starfinder" they give me a very confused look so at this point I always just say "I'm playing D&D"

God only Jacob can be the only person on screen and have me fully believeing in the fact he absolutely hates off screen Jacob. 10/10 acting Also I swear the "not tracking hitpoints" thing has got to be the worst thing in this video, I'd probably leap across the table and hit my GM with his own screen if he pulled that on me.

@hugofontes5708

11 ай бұрын

wait that was acting

@pRahvi0

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, you don't necessarily need to track the hitpoints but you definitely can't say that outloud!

I actually, physically felt my brain short circuit on the last one. Every time I hear about a 5e conversion for something that has an excellent purpose-made ttrpg that deserves attention and love I lose like 12 years off my lifespan

@quakeroats6281

11 ай бұрын

I can understand the need for 5e conversions, many people are strapped for time and would rather spend the time they have playing, instead of learning something new every time they want to play in a more outlandish setting.

@lolusuck386

11 ай бұрын

​@@quakeroats62815e is a fairly complicated game. Most ttrpgs are actually easier to pick up and play compared to 5e. Not wanting to learn is not a good excuse.

@15PaperSpearsProtectTheWise

11 ай бұрын

@@quakeroats6281 I'd get it if the game was something like LANCER, but you could feasibly learn Blades in the Dark, FATE, or Cypher in an afternoon. Then there's stuff like Knave or Cairn, which you can learn in less than an hour. Lasers & Feelings is one page long.

@collegestuff2511

9 ай бұрын

​@@quakeroats6281Cyberpunk in specific is piss easy to learn and run, there's no excuse, I could run sessions with 0 prep time.

@user-ch6zy8hg2q

9 ай бұрын

Yeah bruh if you wanna play cyberpunk just play Cyberpunk Red instead of that homebrew nonsense

If your campaign doesn't have worldbuilding at all, like, all your choices don't matter because they won't change anything, then you're just playing a book

@Sivanot

11 ай бұрын

I think you missed the point of the related clip in this. The DM had worldbuilding. He just didn’t have a valid reason for why the players are doing this thing instead of other people, who would do it if they didn’t. Making them essentially pointless.

@kodidavis2819

11 ай бұрын

@@Sivanot so more or less like the real world.

@anubis7457

11 ай бұрын

@@kodidavis2819Yes, basically every achievement and accomplishment would have been done by someone else if the person who had done them never existed. But that’s not fun, so making scenarios tailored to the character’s specific backgrounds/personalities have generally better payoff. Real life isn’t fun, so games don’t need to aspire to perfect realism.

@Merilirem

11 ай бұрын

@@kodidavis2819 nah in real life things you don't handle yourself can easily just not be done even if they are important.

@AnasyaChantelimbe

11 ай бұрын

@@anubis7457 Sooo... What are premade campaigns then?

The one I hate the most is when you make a character specifically to handle one thing really well and then a not even that challenging opportunity arises to use that skill and the DM still makes you roll. Then due to horrible luck you roll terribly and fail miserably. Then someone who is really bad at that thing rolls very well and succeeds. Then that specialized character is made into the butt of the joke for the rest of the campaign. Yes - this has happened to me several times lmao

@aduboo29

11 ай бұрын

Niche protection is important. Standing rule in my game is 'If the guy who is best at it can't do it, neither can you' unless it's something they might be able to justify through their character's own experiences.

@archersfriend5900

11 ай бұрын

That's why we have dice.

@FacelessOne01

11 ай бұрын

@@aduboo29 yeah i dont allow rerolls from other party members unless they are also proficient in the skill check being done

@anubis7457

11 ай бұрын

That’s unfortunately a feature of the dice. Without that randomness, you’re basically just taking turns telling stories. Which is totally fine, but that’s a different kind of game.

@kierrathorn5945

11 ай бұрын

@@aduboo29 agreed. the way I handle this in my games is through help actions - you don't get to try the check if the bard with a +12 bombed it, but if you can justify why you'd be helpful, you can give them advantage. encourages teamwork and still leaves the glory in the hands of the niche expert where it belongs :)

I don't hate level 1 and 2, I just feel like most classes feel very samey at level 1, and only begin to feel unique at level 2 and 3.

@sixoffcenter80

11 ай бұрын

Yeah I don't so much mind the lower damage/health, but characters start feeling more unique at third. Especially when you're building your character concept around your subclass.

@GolfGuy32

11 ай бұрын

Level one sucks. I don’t see how starting at 2 or 3 is a bad thing

@RequiemWraith

11 ай бұрын

It's purely amounts of health that is the killer for me. Level 3 is where PCs can start taking a couple of hits without risk of instadeath

@fatethefox

11 ай бұрын

@@GolfGuy32 its not that is essentially a bad thing, but it would be nice for the DM to have an actual concept for the characters to start above level one as the examples he said

@RawCauliflower

11 ай бұрын

I can create some unique encounters at lvl 2, which I consider the real tutorial lvl, but at lvl 1 I feel way too limited from a story perspective.

Thank god for the RAW “take a 10 if your character has no time constraints or stress in completing the task”

@punishedwhispers1218

4 ай бұрын

Thats not a thing in 5e, thats a thing in a good game

A pet peeve of mine is rolling ability checks, instead of skills. In a campaign, I made my rogue have expertise in Athletics, because I wanted my rogue to be someone that has absolutely no magic but relies instead on his skills and physicality. He is like Batman, nothing magical, no powers, just pure athleticism and brains. But because he is a rogue he has +0 strength. So with expertise in Athletics he has +6. However, every time I want to make something athletic, the DM makes me roll an strength check or Dex check. So my expertise is wasted, I wanted to change it, and I can't because that is something I chose from level 1.... Likewise, when you want to determine something, and specifically say you are going to use history and the DM goes, "Nah roll Intelligence check". When ability checks are overused by DMs, it always feels unjust, like why do we even have proficiencies? It is even worse, for rogues and bards, whose whole thing is to be very skilled individuals.... yet, it is all wasted because it is an ability check. You see the mage being a demi God... but then, you want to shine by doing something skillful... but it is ruined because on the ability you only have +1.

@desktechies2175

11 ай бұрын

This is why I believe it should be a thing for a player to negotiate specific skills they want to use. I tell my players that they can do it in my games and I even borrowed a ruling from another DM for ‘skill actions’ which are basically actions to improvise something in initiative/combat with a skill check. So far it made my games a heck of a lot more fun for me and my friends whom are players.

@bren8511

11 ай бұрын

I think you have skill checks completely backwards but it's not helped by your Dungeon Master. As a player, you announce what you're doing, then ask your dungeon master if you succeed. If your dungeon master wants to induce variance, they request a specific skill check from you "I think my character might know that information", "No they don't", "Could I run a check"? "Yeah, roll an Arcana (INT) check to see if you do" should be the conversation, players should have no dictation on what skill is provoked at any given time because a good DM will use hints (Arcana/History/Nature/Religion/Medicine/etc) to 4th wall break to let the players know what sort of object or information it might be, unless the skill check is already dictated by the rules (Athletics for distance jumps, for example)

@nekomancer47

11 ай бұрын

That just sounds like a problem with your specific dm. A problem you can probably have fixed if you talk to them about it

@Cadaveralien

11 ай бұрын

Please ignore this, is not going to make feel any better and is very pedantic. ALL checks are ability checks, skills are the possibility to add proficiency bonus to some ability checks. No such thing as Athletics or History rolls. "Sometimes, the GM might ask for an ability check using a specific skill-for example, “Make a Wisdom (Perception) check.” At other times, a player might ask the GM if proficiency in a particular skill applies to a check. In either case, proficiency in a skill means an individual can add his or her proficiency bonus to ability checks that involve that skill." Again, a very pedantic point. Only thing relevant is that you can mix and match any ability with any skill, the example of the phb being STR(Intimidation) to intimidate by showing off your muscle. So your DM was not only short-changing you during STR and DEX check but potentially on anything you could realistically use Athletics

@condimentking3395

11 ай бұрын

@@bren8511 On the flip side, having players think about what skill checks they want to try to use and how they can justify it should be encouraged because it automatically flavors the actions the character takes, and introduces more a larger variety of problem solving. It also can really help people to attempt certain things that their character would have no justification trying otherwise. I like this approach more for 5e, but pathfinder I'm dead set on what you describe. The problem in 5e for me is that there are very common standards for skill checks that make no sense, like insight being only a lie detector when it is actually a vibe check skill

I had a dm that hyped up the world he homebrewed saying he had been working on it for nearly 5 years and that every area was fully flushed out and that it would be like an open world adventure game. We started captive on a pirate ship that we took control of and sailed to the mainland where we found ourselves in an empty field. There was nothing to see on the horizon and one player asked if there was a map we could reference. My dm asked if we had cartographer tools which we didn't so we just wandered aimlessly for like 3 sessions with basically nothing happening. We finally hit a small village who of course didn't have a map and the only quest was to collect cockatrice feet for a tiny reward. So we aimlessly wandered again. He also did the roll for literally everything garbage which slowed the game to a crawl and made our actions feel punishing. Terrible experience

This reminds me of a moment with one of my friends I GMed for, but it was kinda in a better context… My friend who was fairly new to dnd asked “can I roll to open the door” I told them they didn’t “need” to roll to open the door but if they wanted to roll for the Lols they could. They rolled a nat 1 They pulled the push door, and then another party member just went through, got a laugh across the group.

The "your argument isn't convincing even though you rolled well" got me. I've literally heard that from a DM lol.

The persuasion thing bothers me on both sides. You'll have a player that asks for a roll to persuade, roll good, and think that's permission to give a subpar or counterintuitive argument, like "hey Mr goblin, I actually tasted that lava and it tasted so good" causing the goblin to fling itself into into the pool of lava. Then you'll have a player give a completely logical and persuasive argument but then have a DM ask for a die roll and fail just because RNG.

@amaryllis0

11 ай бұрын

I feel like the way to handle that is adjust the check to the quality of the action. Like if your player has a really convincing argument, that's an easy check to pass. If it's a terrible argument that could only fool an idiot, you'd better hope for a nat 20

@kayohwai

11 ай бұрын

That's why, if they're not charismatic IRL, you don't ask them to give an argument, you ask them what effect they're trying to achieve.

@RhymesWithBeer

11 ай бұрын

I agree that bad charisma rolls shouldn’t kill the players arguments or persuasion. If they have a really strong case they could get advantage, or maybe just not need to roll. But good charisma does not make enemies do suicidal thing or make decisions to knowingly make a fool out of themselves to a complete stranger stranger

@ShugoAWay

11 ай бұрын

That's cuz too many DMs didn't read how social roll are done raw is your rp argument and standing with the npc set the DC so if you gave a bad performance your proficiency amount might save you and the other way if you ro well you might be able to get the dc low enough to stand a chance

@KC24987

11 ай бұрын

People tend to forget goblins are as smart as commoners and would know licking lava is bad.

"I breathe" "Roll Constitution" *Nat 1* "You suffocate from inhaling regular air....somehow"

As a dm who really wants to play other TTRPG, the last one killed me

@lolusuck386

11 ай бұрын

If you're the dm, you can just tell the group you're gonna run a different game.

0:22 i felt that in a Personal, *PAINFUL* way. i would die if i ever was that unimmersive in a campaign. even in an off day i'm like "Heh, i have some experience dodging blows to the face, and generally to be honest" before moving on

I feel like that when I take off my headband of intellect

One of the most awkward things about rolling for basically everything is getting a nat 20 on something pointless and dreading what your next important check/save roll will be because you're convinced you've used up your luck on said pointless roll. Though on the flip side being able to say you nat 20'd drinking some soup is amusing.

@eXJonSnow

11 ай бұрын

Nat 20’s don’t matter in skill checks, technically. Having people roll for everything and using nat 1’s and 20’s for skill checks can make for some funny moments, sure, but is garbage for game balance and greatly overvalues class abilities like Reliable Talent

@Mastikator

11 ай бұрын

@@eXJonSnow If your DM is making you roll to walk up a flight of stairs then they are not playing by the rules and technicalities mean nothing.

@LeChaosRampant

11 ай бұрын

That's not how probability works though :D

@thrawncaedusl717

11 ай бұрын

For me, I like making “pointless” rolls when the party is meeting new characters. “Okay, so you tried to jump onto the table to show you mean business, and you rolled a 3. Well, you are now on the floor and your new business partner looks worried about you. What do you do now?”

@feral_orc

11 ай бұрын

I'm sure it feels that way but I can assure you, it's meaningless

Some of my friends wanted to play the Avatar ttrpg, but when they learned the combat didn't use as much damage or d20 rolls, they started to then work on a 5e conversion and my soul shattered in that moment

@funnyconversationguys2213

11 ай бұрын

Tbf, avatar legends combat is not that good in actual combat situations (in my opinion), it's an interesting concept but it's built to really only have 1 or 2 exchanges and then they mediate it through roleplay. It also does not help that you AVERAGELY have around a 50% chance of succeeding EVERY roll as you really only start off with 1 minus stat which can be easily mitigated quickly. But i homebrew some dice rolls to add difficulty to things i believe require more skill. All purely my opinion.

@15PaperSpearsProtectTheWise

11 ай бұрын

Very late, probably, but there's a Savage Worlds conversion named Savage Avatar. It's really good.

@Stray_GM

11 ай бұрын

​@funnyconversationguys2213 it's because it's really narrative style combat, rather than crunchy rules heavy style like other games. Which is interesting, because I think 90% of 5e lifers would actually enjoy it if they gave things a chance.

@funnyconversationguys2213

11 ай бұрын

@@Stray_GM The issue I have is that it completely destroys the challenge of this game, the possibility of success is above 50% for every roll in the same (before any multipliers it's 50% success for every type of roll in the game). What my players enjoy mostly from my sessions have been that they have to be careful with what they say or do as the chance of death is real. on avatar, if it's something your character does something they obviously can't do they roll on "pushing your luck" and it's still an average a 50% chance of success (i know 7-9 is a success with a drawback, but still a success...)

@Stray_GM

11 ай бұрын

@@funnyconversationguys2213 I do believe that's kind of the point though. Outcomes are supposed to advance the narrative, pass or fail, and it's built right into the system. 5e does not work this way without some heavy lifting from the DM. There are plenty of "hard failure" rolls that amount to nothing.

When writing a campaign, I have a timeline, a list of events that happens, sketching out the skeleton of a plot. Then I have players write up characters, and this becomes the story of what would happen if this group had the starring roles, and figure out how to tie their backgrounds and goals to the plot. I do this because *it is their story.*

2:45 my exact reaction forcing players to roleplay when they're not comfortable or having their irl charisma come into affect is bullshit

@Nero-ii2sb

11 ай бұрын

I know right? its not like you have to go to the gym and get buff to play a barbarian, or adopt a religion to play a cleric. Roleplay is cool, I love when people are very into it, but talking in third person and describing your actions more like a narrator than an actor is also good roleplay.

@isaacsimpson8098

11 ай бұрын

me constantly playing 20 charisma characters when I can barely form coherent sentences:

@SquatBenchDeadlift455

11 ай бұрын

@@Nero-ii2sb It's also in the PHB. 5e allows for both "Active" and "Descriptive" RP.

@warmchoccy

11 ай бұрын

It was more of a situation of them making a bad argument, not being uncharismatic. The person they were convincing couldn’t be swayed by what they said, even if they were charismatic about it.

@kotor610

11 ай бұрын

I would just not allow the player to roll if they can't come up with a compelling reason. You're not gonna convince the king to renounce his throne unless you've done a lot of leg work to make that the best path forward for the king.

I have no issues with one of my players not wanting to poke the thing as long as they don't actively prevent others from having their fun. Not everyone has fun doing things like that and that's totally okay!

@Baltux

11 ай бұрын

Exactly, you can't try and force others to act a certain way and then be mad at them for not consenting. Not everyone thinks the same dumb joke is funny or feels like they have to break immersion if they can't imagine their character finding it funny or doing it either.

@Darkprosper

11 ай бұрын

Honestly, when it started, I completely expected that it would show the frustration coming from the player who doesn't find random bs funny, not the other way around. If people don't want to join in, just leave them alone and enjoy your joke with those who do.

@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD

9 ай бұрын

The other guy was using his no-fun autismo voice

@Jay-is6jt

8 ай бұрын

Honestly i think the problem is more like if the person not poking the thing acts rude and implies it's stupid / juvenile and makes everyone else feel bad for doing it and having fun. That's what I got from that clip at least

I kinda hate the idea of my character not being allowed to be smarter or a smoother talker than me. They sure as hell can be stronger and WAY more athletic. lol

i had a DM who just thought it was the funniest thing to make me specify in which direction i open the door, which required me to then ask "do i see hinges on this side of the door?" and then roll perception to see if there are hinges on this side of the door, then make a strength check to open the door. it was NOT fun, i like to assume my character can handle opening a door. it's not like a trick door, or a magical door, it's just a fecking door. "if you can't remember it your character DEFINITELY can't" that's not fair, for my character that happened like yesterday, for me it was a month ago.

My pet peeve is seeing those videos that are like "Play D&D in this new way LIKE THIS" and it's just hammering and duct taping this system from this other game into 5e *when you can literally just play the other TTRPG.*

I've always used the Seth Skorkowsky interpretation of CHA/Persuade rolls. Your CHA/Persuade result tells you how well you deliver the argument, not how well the argument will be received by the target. The strength of their argument in relation to the target should set the DC.

@kid14346

11 ай бұрын

I like the DMG explanation of how it works. An NPC begins as Friendly, Nuetral, or Hostile. You then roleplay your arguments which slides them either up and down between those three states. The DMG also suggests using Insight to get a feeling for the NPCs Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws so that you can use them in your role-playing. Once you finish the RP you role your charisma check and the number you roll corresponds to a table for each of the 3 states.

@kasane1337

11 ай бұрын

So rolling a 1 lets you talk like Dweebles and rolling a 20 lets you talk like Jack the NPC?

And this is why I play Skyrim, props to the dude pulling the witch king of Angmar’s sword on the dm XD

The "purify food and water" one got me as similar happened in a recent session. Encounter starts and one of the enemies is a Barbarian, naturally enters a rage. My character always tries to defuse the situation, so initial cast was "calm emotions". I wasn't trying to bypass the encounter, and I realize that it makes sense that'd do nothing to stop a planned attack, but I'd hoped it would at least halt the rage. The guy fails his save. Nothing happens. "Rage doesn't have to be anger, he has a hige grin on his face: he's *excited*!" THAT STILL ISN'T CALM, I spent a 2nd level spell slot on this and they failed the save, please just let this have some effect, even just a minor inconvenience...

Technically, "I want you to start more powerful and/or with your subclasses" is largely equivalent to "level 1 sucks." IF level 1 didn't suck, then you wouldn't need to start "more powerful." That said, I find level 1 works well for introducing the basics of the game. IT is quite literally, in 5e, designed to be at level 3 before the end of your first dungeon crawl. They're tutorial levels, and you're supposed to get through them fast.

@beautifulnova6088

11 ай бұрын

"They're tutorial levels, and you're supposed to get through them fast." And then there's me, who has only ever gotten to play games that use milestone levelling, and the DMs seem to think that a milestone is always something major.

@MarkD5678

11 ай бұрын

@@beautifulnova6088 something major, as opposed to "my first successful dungeon crawl as an adventurer"

@errorcringyname4044

11 ай бұрын

​@@beautifulnova6088my DM did that. We didn't hit level 4 until after killing a dragon two ogres and a swarm of skeleton archers. While another PC got plot level ups and passed us all while avoiding combats totally.

For me, level one is so much fun. It’s the anxiety of meeting something a little too strong, the openness of having a whole build in front of you, the simplicity of “hey Goblins took over my barn, I’ll pay you to kill them or convince them to leave or something.” Level one is great.

@DiegoRodriguez-jh4sd

7 ай бұрын

well put. i love the feeling of starting a new adventure when the numbers are small and each one counts that much more.

@josephperez2004

4 ай бұрын

Very much the same. I also like that low levels encourage players to work together because everyone is only a problem or two away from needing help. It teaches players how to work together and build a party that is stronger than the sum of it's parts.

a good way to fight the "the argument was bad so you dont convince them" DMs is to make an insight/investigation check to try to come up with some good arguments and then using them in persuasion

honestly, on 2:44, I can definitely relate to the DM here. "My murder-hoboing ways have caught up to me, and I don't like that. Let me talk these guards into betraying their nation to help random bandits they just met escape their just deserves." a few dice rolls later, and BAM! there goes the rest of your planned session. "Oh, wait? You're telling me there's no way these guys would be convinced to let us go? Thanks, GM, glad to know you've nerfed persuasion and therefor my entire character sheet into oblivion!"

@gorgit

11 ай бұрын

I think the problem jacob wanted to portray the fact that if a player rolls and succeeds on a dc, let him have it and dont be nitpicky. And if you want to make sure what he says actually convinces people, let him say it before rolling and only if you think it could work, let him roll. Otherwise youll make the player feel miserable and without agency.

@nm-cp4ck

11 ай бұрын

@@gorgit good advice, thanks

@Caragoner

4 ай бұрын

I think it should always be an either or situation. I think if a player can't debate or speak they should roll. If a player can make a convincing argument in roleplay go with that. However there should always be checks that are impossible, like your example. If your party galavants across the kingdom and murders innocent's and terrorizes civilians, the guards won't be convinced. Or at least not without much more than words as they're trained guards. A persuasion check maybe instead of getting them to join you, you notice they might be a bit corrupt and you persuade them to both take hefty bribes to look the other way

"If you don't remember your character DEFINITELY doesn't remember" last I checked my soldier Molly doesn't have weed induced memory-loss

I know Jacob occasionally worries about not being as good as his old days, but I genuinely look foward to every upload he makes in anticipationof what he covers next. Just wanted to say thank you for making such genuinely entertaining content 🖤 hope everythings going well with the kid!

@haggy5444

11 ай бұрын

Really? Thats insane. I think one can really see how he gained experience and broadened his horizon. For me he really had some kind of redemption arc to producing good videos. Even the placements are more entertaining now.

@yoshitheonly

11 ай бұрын

@@haggy5444 I'm loving his videos rn! I can't get enough honestly.

1:00 I had a DM like this part, I feel this pain all to much of “you figure it out what to you do in the campaign and I will give you no clues or leads.”

subclasses at level 3 keeps me a good arm's length from levels 1 and 2

The level 1 thing is interesting tbh, in other systems I've always started at level 1 or the equivalent but in 5e it just feels like levels 1 and 2 are a tutorial more than anything. In theory I like the slow burn vibes of finding your power over the first few sessions, but in practice now I've already done it a couple times I usually just spend those levels wishing I had my level 3 stuff already.

@SimonMoon5

11 ай бұрын

First level is pretty boring in any edition of D&D. Especially after you've played in dozens of radically different campaigns, all of which basically have to start with fighting rats, kobolds, and maybe (ooh, scary) an orc. When you've done that a hundred times, it's not interesting. But nobody ever wants to start at the good levels where new and interesting things can happen. Plus, first level play tends to set a bad example to the DM, who might think that every adventure for the entire course of the "zero to hero... to deity" campaign should assume that the PCs have no interesting abilities (like teleport or fly or whatever), causing the DM to have no idea how to handle a game when the zeroes have progressed to become heroes.

@beautifulnova6088

11 ай бұрын

After clearing out all the goblins in the first encounter of phandelver mines with a level 1 Artificer just by throwing some rocks into the cave that I made reek to high heavens with magical tinkering, then getting them to leave by convincing them I had cursed them and if they ever returned they would die, I have *some* appreciation for level 1. I got *insanely* lucky on my deception checks though, and this is not at all representative of my level 1 experiences.

@ProperlyGaming

11 ай бұрын

Yeah lvl 1 and 2 is fun to play through once. After that youre sorta just like "man, id love to actually have my 1st sub class feature and a bit more health." The entire time.

"Roll to copy the spell to your spell book." "Uh.. I rolled a 3?" "Yeah, you fail and accidentally summon a Fire Elemental that burns up your spell book. Have fun using only cantrips!"

@litessbu

11 ай бұрын

As a player, you can say “I don’t need to roll for that. There are rules in the game that determine whether or not I can, and I can.” The player shouldn’t roll unless the DM asks them to, and the player shouldn’t have to roll for trivial tasks.

@georgejoem3

11 ай бұрын

**adjusts glasses** Um, acktually... 🧙‍♂ Wizards are able to cast all the spells they have prepared as well as cantrips if they lose their spellbook 🪄

@BigDickWizard6969

11 ай бұрын

@@georgejoem3 And then the DM goes "No, because I say so."

@ChuckUFarley90

11 ай бұрын

PALADIN: "I use 5 points of Lay on Hands to cure this guy's disease." DM: "Ok. Roll for it." PALADIN: "WHAT!? WHY?" DM: "To see if you actually remove the disease." ME, A FELLOW PLAYER & RULES LAWYER: "Rolls should only happen if there's an element of uncertainty. Lay On Hands OUTRIGHT says 'Expend 5 points: remove one disease.' There's no uncertainty in that, it JUST HAPPENS." DM: "Yeah, but that's boring. I want to make it interesting." Paladin & I both declared that to be bullshit. DM refused to budge on the matter, started making us all roll for inconsequential stuff that shouldn't need a roll. Paladin & I left the table. Table no longer had enough players and fell apart.

That is the most common face in my party

Bro is playing DnD with a Sharpie. He has ascended above mortal comprehension and has become a god of DnD.

"If you can't remember it, your character DEFINITELY can't!!" I👏DON'T👏LIVE👏THERE. OBVIOUSLY someone who has actually experienced an event will be more likely to remember it than someone who was just told about it!

Literally all of these annoy me too especially rolling for everything even simple tasks 😂

@KC24987

11 ай бұрын

Imagine having to roll to try and see how much water you drink from your water skin. Me: I take a sip of water from my water skin as I wait for the party to catch up. DM: Roll dex check Me: ? Okay...6 for an 8 total. DM: Your hands shake so much you spill most of the entire contents on the ground. You get only a few gulps of water. Me: ...😑...collecting my stuff and leaving the table.

Love your vids Jacob, you’ve inspired me to become a DM, and given us some great laughs and superb entertainment over the years. Hope you see this and are encouraged to make more vids that are totally “goaded with the sauce”.

That Cyberpunk bit at the end sucker punch me it hurt so bad. You know how some people make fun of potter heads and tell them to “read another book” we need to tell 5e players to “play another game” NOT A DIFFERENT EDITION, A whole ass different game

"everyone just poke the thing" literally happened ina pathfinder section where there was a slipperry wall we could climb(but there was other way to go around) and everyone just decided to try to climb the wall,at the end i think me and the warrior managed to climb and it was unironically funny,even when the DM reminded us that we don't heal back to full in long rests we just kept trying to climb it for no reason XD

I started one of my campaigns at level 3 with a good reason. The party was working for an organization and trained for a few years before the campaign took place

@oatatas

11 ай бұрын

Shoot dat poot I just want my subclass from the beginning of the game.

The ending of a lot of my campaigns tend to be in the "someone would have figured it out eventually" catagory. The stakes come from dealing with the problem before a ton of people get killed or before a more powerful (and less invested) entity just nukes the problem, innocents be dammed.

@leonardhollsten8145

9 ай бұрын

So, really no one could have figured it out, because by the time they did the event had already happened?

@shockmaster0792

8 ай бұрын

@@leonardhollsten8145someone else could have, but at a major cost

@an8strengthkobold360

6 ай бұрын

​@@leonardhollsten8145event tends to be one going, there's a difference between slaying the demon lord as soon as he emerges and killing him after his army has raised half the contury suisde to the ground.

A classic story in my group is how back in college (this is late 1990's) one of the guys was playing Shadowrun with a GM who enforced rolling for mundane things. The character was backing his car out of space in an underground garage, and critically failed his driving roll. (note, he was not rushing, there was no combat happening, nothing violent or distracting of any kind, and he knew how to drive this car.) This resulted in him totaling his car, smashing it backwards into the car of a notorious mobster, and knocking the wind out of himself. By the time he got out of the car, the mobster's goons had shown up to find out what happened to their boss's car. This resulted in a huge firefight, and the PC died. GM's should not enforce rolling for mundane tasks being performed under mundane, normal conditions.

@lolusuck386

11 ай бұрын

That is definitely bad GMing, but that is kind of hilarious though.

@ryangottlieb9939

11 ай бұрын

@@lolusuck386 looking back on it, its hysterically funny, but I know at the time the player was lividly pissed and had to be convinced by friends playing the game not to quit.

@polkjmsb

10 ай бұрын

Tfw there's a 5% chance to cause a chain of catastrophic events ending in my death when I make a sandwich

Me: We're starting at level 8, which makes your character basically a special forces soldier in terms of experience. Your backstory needs to reflect how you got that experience and will play a huge role in the campaign. My Bard Player: Yeah, so I found a lute on this dead guy and I like how the strings taste. I wish I was joking.

@nekomancer47

11 ай бұрын

Maybe that player just wasn’t right for such a campaign. I mean, if you specifically ask for a specific kind of character and backstory from your players who have agreed to be in the campaign, then it’s definitely on them to measure up and deliver something appropriate. But some players just can’t NOT write a joke character to save their life, or will go to any length to shove some hyper specific concept into a game no matter how badly it won’t fit, etc. Definitely make sure you know what kind of players you’re inviting to your games and if they’re willing and capable to work with you and your game concept

I am going to half disagree on the first one, only because I think there are a lot of very interesting, compelling, and fun experiences and stories that can be told involving a party that broad strokes doesn’t change the world by existing. That said, those tend to be very perfectly tailored, character-heavy campaigns run by people who really know what they’re doing and the vast majority of the time it sucks

@sirsluggard7819

11 ай бұрын

Well said. If you're having a campaign in an open world it makes sense for things to occur without the involvement of the party. Also, having an antagonist's work make the player's efforts irrelevant is a good way to create hatred for that antagonist, but can be tricky to pull off. If the player involvement is unnecessary for the storyline involving them then that's just taking away player agency.

@janelantestaverde2018

11 ай бұрын

I personally at least don't like "You are the chosen one"-kind of stories. Being given the spot of "Only you can save us" for no reason whatsoever feels really awkward. So I'm much more of a fan of the party simply being at the right place at the right time, or being given a task because somebody needs to do it and we seem like the best choice. This still makes it so that it is at least unlikely that just any other group could have done what we did or as good as we did.

@DigitalxGamer

11 ай бұрын

Another point to this is that you don't have to have grand changes happening. Your party just making a difference in the lives of smaller people is often even more satisfying as long as they you make them likable.

@Verdureando

11 ай бұрын

I also enjoy replaying Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill. But the complain arises from games that aren't all that compelling. The main route has to be super interesting and keep you wondering what's next.

@futuza

11 ай бұрын

I mean sure, but what he's really pointing out is when you reveal to your players that nothing they do matters or has an affect on the world it sucks. If you reveal that it turns out they didn't have agency at all, they were just on a railroad the whole time, no one wants to play in your game anymore and it can ruin the illusion of what was once a good campaign. Letting them know that they aren't able to affect certain things in the world is one thing, but telling them nothing they did matters? That's something entirely different. It's not that they're 'nobodies' that's problematic, it's that you just told them that their actions have literally no consequences whatsoever.

This is the type of campaign where you break out Dingdong Bigcock the Half-Orc Warlock and just go to town griefing everything.

Player: "I have just threatened this man's life and I have expertise in intimidation. Can I please roll to intimidate?" DM: "Nah, he just stares at you nonplussed" Player: "Cool... glad I chose that skill"

@Deadpool-ri3rq

11 ай бұрын

As a DM, honestly, there’s gonna be some situations where the person you’re trying to intimidate just won’t be impressed. I also tend to rule that anything immune to the frightened condition can’t be intimidated. Like for instance you’re not gonna scare someone that just had heroism cast on them.

@williamraggett5960

11 ай бұрын

@Deadpool-ri3rq I am also a DM, I think there were other ways to handle it. In this campaign, I was playing a rouge who's profession was to shake down people, hence the intimidation expertise. In this campaign, it felt like every person I *could* have intimidated was immune to it - even common bandits on a decent roll. If immunity was an issue, I feel the right response would be "Something is wrong here. This guy should be scared but isn't" instead of "No, idiot. You're not scary"

@polkjmsb

10 ай бұрын

Me: Alright this has to be the room where the boss is. I burst through the door in my half-werewolf form with enlarge person still active, letting out a savage roar. 25 on intimidation! DM: the guy with apparently godlike powers forces you to sit down with a gesture as he begins to explain the backstory of this place I lost a piece of myself that day

"I hit him THIS hard" is something I wanted to do so bad at so many bad tables

I think the playing starting at lvl 3 is valid from the standpoint of everyone having their subclass. I also think playing 5e conversions are fine for groups that dont have time to learn a whole new system.

Starting at lvl 3 cause lvl1 sucks is absolutely valid. Getting your 1st special sub class feature is just a bonus.

"Roll a strength check to see if your grown male tiefling can successfully prevent a small child from breaking your grip" Uh no thanks

"we're actually gonna be playing the cyberpunk 5e conversion" *_GEOMETRIC SCREAMING_*

out of all your sketch videos so far, this one might be the most relatable by far- even as a (mostly)game master... why do so many people forget the RPG part of tabletop rpg LOL

Ok one caveat, not poking things is perfectly valid. I don't just go around damaging things by poking them nor would I without good reason.

1:48 Hang on! If you're able to make it safe to eat, even the mold itself would have nutritional value. Sure, you can just rule that purifying anything happens via pyrolysis or something equally destructive but that way nothing would have nutritional value.

@kalebgruber

10 ай бұрын

Man just made antibiotics

"We're going to be playing the Cyberpunk 5E conversion" one sentence horror story honestly... Cyberpunk RED Is so so good

As a new DM I suffered from over-rolling at the table. Now I have grown and have a tip for the DMs. I will sometimes (but not always) make my players roll for stuff that they know full well is a stupid and disruptive to the general plan of the group/session. Then when they roll very well I can give them the benefit of success and allow some plot impact but when they roll poorly no one is surprised by a mild joke punishment and accepts that the idea really was stupid. Although, I should mention that I play with my siblings and their significant others so there is some catharsis and growth to laughing at/with each other

Don’t force people to poke things they don’t wanna poke.

@wbgeek

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, it's totally valid to not want to poke something for in or out of character reasons. That hypothetical person didn't do anything wrong by not giving into peer pressure.

"That's not how that spell works" "I'm prepping a different spell" I swear I've swapped Feats or Spells around so many times because the DM won't let me use it for the reason I took it

i usually always start at lvl 3 for two reasons which you did mention: subclasses and backstory. a lot of my friends will have stories for their character where it doesnt make sense for them to be too weak

"Roll everything" campaigns can be really fun in the right setting. We played a Star Wars themed campaign where we were a squad of stormtroopers just miserably failing at EVERYTHING. It was actually pretty lore-accurate and HILAROUS

@eXJonSnow

11 ай бұрын

Stormtroopers are not bumbling idiots in Star Wars. They murdered a lot of the Jedi during Order 66, built a fearsome reputation across the galaxy, and were generally highly effective.

@Exvilness

11 ай бұрын

@@eXJonSnow That were the Clone Troopers. Genetically engineered to be the perfect soldiers. People feared Stormtroopers because of the things Clone Troopers achieved.

@Mastikator

11 ай бұрын

@@Exvilness In the first movie Ben Kenobi told Luke Skywalker that stormtroopers were super accurate. In the escape scene they were told to miss so that Darth Vader could track the Millennium Falcon. Every movie that came after that, that showed stormtroopers as inaccurate are breaking the lore and therefore nothing more than fanfiction. Stormtroopers are top tier sharpshooters.

@Exvilness

11 ай бұрын

@@Mastikator Kenobi still had memories of the Clone Troopers. He had only (maybe) heard of Stormtroopers. But he never faced off against any while he was on Tatooine

@Mastikator

11 ай бұрын

@@Exvilness Consider this, Ben identified that Luke's aunt and uncle were killed by stormtroopers precisely because the blaster shots were accurate. Let me say that again, Ben Kenobi recognized that stormtroopers killed Luke's caretakers because the blaster shots were accurate. They were accurate. Furthermore in the very first scene, we see rebels fighting against stormtroopers and there they very much are accurate. Stormtroopers only because inaccurate in later movies to give plot armor to the protagonists, that is lazy writing. Canonically stormtroopers are accurate.

One of my pet peaves is rolling skill checks before asking the DM if you can make a roll. Another is deviating from certain subclass rules and reasons why the character is that subclass. One of my party members plays a twilight cleric, whose sole purpose is guarding the innocent from things that go bump in the night. Twice now he's let aberrations hunt down commoners in the streets during his night watch. Setting was the city was under atttack my a monster invasion. He watched them get attacked and eaten at 200 ft out with his 300 ft darkvision. His reason was he wasn't strong enough, didn't want to wake the party and felt it wasn't his job. Rather it was the city guards job. I was like, dude your whole subclass' schtick is to go out into the night and do just that. It boggled my mind why the DM let him continue using his cleric spells when he should have lost his cleric abilities due to failing to perform his duty as his subclass dictates, therefore failing his god. In another city, DM gave him a chance to redeem himself by letting him know he heard a cry for help followed by sounds of fighting and people screaming. He just sat in his rented room and continued to read his book because his backstory said he was a scholar. Running off into the night wasn't his job. 🤦‍♂️ Why pick that subclass in the first place and not the knowledge or arcane cleric domains. Cleric domains are very specific about their purpose and failing the intended purpose means falling out of favor with that god. Still waiting on DM to dish out consequences for his inaction. The only time I consider subclass roles important due to the nature of that subclasses intended purpose.

I once had a DM that emphatically believed that any form of endure elements (including items like Winterland Boots) did not prevent taking damage from the hostile environment, because they reasoned that 'existing comfortably' in a hostile environment and 'not taking damage' in a hostile environment are two different things. This unnamed DM deadass thinks that a wondrous item's entire effect is to make your character comfy while they die as-per normal from the heat/cold. I'm sure glad I spend almost 3k gold on boots of Remain Calm and Freeze Anyway.

There are actually good DM/GM examples of each of these things, well mostly. -Your adventure has small enough stakes that your actions won't destroy or negatively impact the larger world -You punch the NPC but they punch you back. Alternatively, you miss, but the NPC realizes they've offended you and rolls it back -It's a short Campaign or a One off and the DM/GM wants their players to experiment with builds -It's a mystery or investigation story. But actually, if you are going to organize a game night, any self respecting DM/GM should help their players figure this out -Rolling for basic tasks can be used as a way of escalating tension, in that something is wrong with the environment around you. Otherwise lol don't do that -That's just disingenuous and mean spirited of the DM/GM. Just award creative implementation of skills to solve problems -You track HP, but when your party does something really elaborate and clever to best them, you just throw out their remaining HP and declare that they did it and killed the boss -Make a good enough argument before rolling and you don't even have to attempt persuasion. You just pass. Had this occur with a friend of mine who had dumped Charisma the other day -Yeah Idk about this one lol. Outside of pointless damage, I don't get it. -Other Systems exist, but sometimes DMs/GMs just don't have the time to learn a new one. I can sympathize with just wanting to do a homebrew for a nice change of pace. But yeah try other systems. Not everyone can be a good DM/GM.

i start on level 3 because i want to :)

@floofzykitty5072

11 ай бұрын

What's strange is that in one of the official books it gave "alternate" rules for starting level... But it was level 5 for some reason. Level 3 sounds the most reasonable to me because it's where everyone gets their subclasses. There is definitely a bit of disconnect when someone's character revolves around the subclass they will pick in the future but they don't get access to it until they level up twice.

The Pathfinder is slowly creeping in. Yeeeessss, goooooood! Release your anger and your journey to the dark side will be COMPLETE!

@bmardiney

11 ай бұрын

@_peters6221 that would a completely exaggerated parody of it, yes.

Cyberpunk 2022 with copious amounts of content and decades of homebrews exists. DMs: 5e Cyberpunk conversion.

I felt the last one. People that are trying to do starwars, or cyberpunk, or warhammer in DnD, when there is a specially made FITTING System for that Setting. Those people are just confusing.

@theman6422

11 ай бұрын

I guess some people just won’t learn a new system and have to stick with dnd. I mean, it can be hard, Pathfinder 2e was DAUNTING the first time I went through Archive of Nethys, but its literally nothing to me now. People just need to move out of their comfort zone

@ThePhantomSquee

11 ай бұрын

@@theman6422 That, and most systems out there are way less complex than D&D. I fully understand why people who started with D&D have misgivings about "learning a whole new system," but like 80% of other games are much simpler and more intuitive.

@CAGET_Cat

11 ай бұрын

I have played D&D 5e, Starfinder, DCC, and Cyberpunk Red, and GMed D&D 5e, and Starfinder. For some reason I just don’t want to run the other systems I have tried besides D&D 5e. There are mechanics I don’t like with starfinder, DCC is to brutal for my liking, and Cyberpunk red is just so different from what I would want to GM. I have no problem being a player in a system other than D&D 5e, I actually like it, but as a Gm I want to stick with D&D 5e for a few more campaigns.

There was one time my DM got us into this spot where we were in a safe haven with an old druid who was actively protecting the party, when one of the other players revealed their secret of being a bad guy by producing these evil black tendrils to grab and attack the old druid. I was a Bard who had seen plenty of magic based attacks and have become jaded by the experiences (something like 6 Hellish Rebukes for trying to stop some ambushing Wizards I caught out, followed by 2 Cone of Cold spells later in the encounter). In response to this I cast Dispel Magic to prevent to save the old druid who was protecting us from active environmental harm. The DM told me I couldn't and that it'd ruin the campaign, then he capitulated by having the DC set to 30. Based on Dispel Magic's rules, the conjured black tendrils are a twentieth level spell. I failed it obviously and the DM was like, "I would have let you succeed if you rolled a 20." Looking back, this DM relied heavily on improv, railroading, and would typically make one of the players into the heel of jokes and humiliation (just to be "funny/entertaining").

@ortiz5475

11 ай бұрын

It was probably the DM's girl/boyfriend or something lmao. Really fucking lame

@SkaalKesh

11 ай бұрын

If the DM wants it to be a cutscene, call it a FUCKING cutscene.

@otterfire4712

11 ай бұрын

@@SkaalKesh Problem is, there is certain death just outside of the protective barrier the old druid has created. If she dies or is taken, the rest of the party is dead. How could I not try to act with my anti magic spells? Edit: A solution would have been to present a physical force that puts me in a dilemma, either sacrifice myself to save the party and druid or let the druid die and risk the party dying to certain death.

@SkaalKesh

11 ай бұрын

@@otterfire4712 I 100% agree. Cutscenes shouldn’t really happen outside of absolutely certain scenarios, such as a party of level 3 characters picking a fight with a Balor. You can go to cutscene at that point because 1: your players chose to do so and 2: the outcome is blatantly obvious. The case you bring up shouldn’t have happened at all. I agree it’s bullshit. It’s that if your DM is going to make a Dispel Magic DC fucking 30, then it’s a fucking cutscene. If a Level 20 Abjuration Wizard, the best user of Dispel Magic in the game, has to roll a 19-20 to stop it, it’s a fucking cutscene. That DM blatantly ignored any of your agency.

@otterfire4712

11 ай бұрын

@@SkaalKesh The party was like 5-7th level each, like I said earlier, my character started out as an optimistic Bard hoping to share great stories about the party he was with. Unfortunately, my character was to straight laced and was given the "haha horny bard" treatment by the other players and DM. The bard became quite jaded with his experience after being ragdolled so hard by a swarm of wizards and being downed twice, to be saved by some stronger DMPC. Later on, more and more magical phenomenon and such drove the Bard to take Dispel Magic and Counterspell to try and retain any semblance of normalcy. The DM would have magic bullshit happen to me one morning and kept poking and prodding that session. The scenario I described in the opening was kind of the breaking point for me. It had become clear that much of the campaign was little more than a railroad and any "uniqueness" to the story was more or less to fuck around with one or two of the players.

That aggressive double thumbs-up hits deep.

2:19 this is why you ask for charisma check *after* player made the statement, so you can set up dc based on how convincing the statement was (or not, if it was ridiculous).

The persuasion skit hit me hard. I’ve been in campaigns where the dice were never rolled for charisma, the DM only went off of how persuasive/intimidating the players actually were. Hence the monk who dumped charisma became the party face and the lore bard with expertise retired her character because she felt useless outside of combat.

That ending is too real. Other systems exist and often they're amazing

@Nero-ii2sb

11 ай бұрын

Ive played/DMd about 6 systems by now (not a lot, I know), and D&d is my second least favourite of them. I LOVE d&d, but almost every other system I tried after D&D got my atention and my enthusiasm so much more. The only system that I played and dont like as much as D&D was Call of Cthulhu. I love the eldritch horror and investigation themed vibe, and also love systems with fear/sanity mechanics, but with Call of Cthulhu I just thought it had WAY more overly complicated rules than it had to have, and I really dont like the way the character sheet is made.

Oh my god the part where your acting to tell the other to do a toy bity thing to make the room seem funnier and then the other person dead straight says No is relatable, it’s just an awkward silence after that just because you wanted to be the funny guy.

"If you can't remember then your CHARACTER can't remember." was such a Dead Alewives moment, I started looking around for the Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

When they take forever to choose what to do in their turn then ask you to “streamline combat because it takes forever and YOU THE DM make it boring.

@okgut2033

11 ай бұрын

Some people dont like options and some people dont realise they dont like them xD