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Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

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Other (feel free to post about it)

[NullForceOmega]

Pretty sure Nullforce doesn't want alignement discussions in here.

Thank you, kilakan.

Yes, please, bohandas may have been banned but the thread is still extant, so please take the alignments over there.

[sjm9876]

To return to the previous conversation:
Yeah, I find 5e in general to be really good - there's minimal need to optimise as it's almost impossible to make a broken character without actively trying, but it still allows some room for those who enjoy it, just not enough to overshadow the rest of the party.

And to ask a question I've been wondering about:
I've noticed one of the biggest issue I have as a DM is maintaining player engagement in combat. About half my players tend to lose focus when it's not their turn, even when turns are running quickly or planning is going on. Is this an issue other people have, and id=f so, how does one rectify it? Within/outside the rules of 5e (even just homebrew rules or stuff)?

[Jimmy]

Here's my tips:

1. Keep combat dynamic. If the player doesn't know what they're doing this round, skip their turn and move to the next person. They'll be prepared next time.

2. Offer bonus experience for people who keep their characters focused and play well. If they're on their mobile phone playing time waster games during combat, reduce their bonus experience since they're not involving themselves in the game.

3. Allow actions off turn. Typically I let my players shout advice as an immediate action during combat even if it's not their turn.

[Tawa]

I'm considering building a 3.5 (or possibly Pathfinder with some minor changes) campaign around Clockwork Horrors; any CR suggestions for the Big Bad Adamantine Guy? This guy calculated CR 12 to be appropriate, but agreed that that still seems underleveled, given that he can sling around 9th-level spells with impunity; even making them, say, 3/day still seems overwhelming. What kind of level would you guys recommend?

[Jimmy]

If in doubt, add an extra 20ish hit points per extra CR for the monster and/or bump up its saves, then call it a day. If you want to be technical, advance its racial hit dice. Do the reverse for lowering the CR.

[MrRoboto75]

Ah, Monster Manuel II's dubious challenge ratings

[Tawa]

I eventually settled on taking away Implosion and Disjunction and making Disintegrate 3/day; I'll keep the final boss fight with him challenging by other means.

[sjm9876]

Here's my tips:

1. Keep combat dynamic. If the player doesn't know what they're doing this round, skip their turn and move to the next person. They'll be prepared next time.

2. Offer bonus experience for people who keep their characters focused and play well. If they're on their mobile phone playing time waster games during combat, reduce their bonus experience since they're not involving themselves in the game.

3. Allow actions off turn. Typically I let my players shout advice as an immediate action during combat even if it's not their turn.

Cheers. The thing is, 1. and 3. are things I do already, and 2. I've tried in the past. It just doesn't seem to work with some of them. Not sure if it's the players, due to the fact it's quite a casual game, or something to do with my narration.

Either way, my current plan is to homebrew in a couple more default options for reactions and see what effect that has.

[GiglameshDespair]

To return to the previous conversation:
Yeah, I find 5e in general to be really good - there's minimal need to optimise as it's almost impossible to make a broken character without actively trying, but it still allows some room for those who enjoy it, just not enough to overshadow the rest of the party.

And to ask a question I've been wondering about:
I've noticed one of the biggest issue I have as a DM is maintaining player engagement in combat. About half my players tend to lose focus when it's not their turn, even when turns are running quickly or planning is going on. Is this an issue other people have, and id=f so, how does one rectify it? Within/outside the rules of 5e (even just homebrew rules or stuff)?

If the attention of your players wander, just bring it back to the game with a lash of a whip to their delicate facemeats.
They'll soon learn to focus on the battle at hand.

[Rolan7]

After suffering many absurdly-long combat rounds in 3.5e (not due to the system itself, but certain splat builds) I've been intentionally reflexive in this World of Darkness campaign.  Every round is 3 seconds instead of 6, and system emphasizes non-combat after all.  So any time I take more than about 5 seconds to decide, I just go with whatever feels best.

It helps that the main combat character is constantly raging, so it's particularly ridiculous for us to stop and plan tactics mid-battle.  She literally can't talk.

It actually adds to the impact of combat, though the entire system does that...  Some vampire hunters were approaching while I fed on one of their techs, so I reflexively executed him to avoid detection.  That's a little chilling, in a good way.

[Sirus]

3. Allow actions off turn. Typically I let my players shout advice as an immediate action during combat even if it's not their turn.

Talking is already a free action though.

[SOLDIER First]

but reciting a soliloquy isnt

[Max™]

but reciting a soliloquy isnt

PC1: I say, 'Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well, but I really wish he had chosen to flank the beast so as to draw attention from our poor half-dead healer, upon whose leg said beast was chewing. Whether tis nobler to suffer the fangs and natural abilities of a CR 20 monster than to never level at all.' as a free action!
GM: ...
PC2: ...
PC3: ...
PC1: What? Talking is a free action right.
GM: Did you make a Perform check?
PC1: Mmmmmmmmmaybe?

[BlackFlyme]

I can never seem to be satisfied with characters I make in Pathfinder. Plenty of silly characters floating around my head, but the non-novelty ones are the ones I fixate on adjusting constantly.

Had a gestalt Kineticist/Barbarian. Will Save was bad enough to cause a dominated me to almost wipe the party, so I looked at a ton of other character ideas to fix that. This included retraining classes.

I ended up looking online for the best way to get an incredibly high Will Save. The answer is a Superstitious Human Barbarian.

Arcanist is my favourite Arcane Caster though.

And now I have a stupid idea of a Barbarian who thinks they're a Monk.

[Tawa]

soliloquy

Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well

* Tawa hnnnnnnngs on several levels

In all seriousness, doesn't the DM's guide say to put DM fiat on how much you can talk during combat?