Spes Magna Games

Well, my last blogpost was 4 August. It’s mid-October now. I might have set a new personal best for unproductivity. So, let’s review what’s been going on in my neck of the woods.

I’m back in the classroom, teaching 7th and 8th grade English and literature. Good times. The COVID procedures are working, but they have also proven to have a sort of mental weight. We’re a bit more than a month away from Thanksgiving. We’re finishing up our first quarter this week. It’s been close to exhausting.

The number of games I’m participating in has doubled thanks to remote gaming. For good or ill, this is not a pace I can maintain now that I’m back to work full-time. Consequently, I fear the week-day evening games must fall by the wayside. That means the Tuesday night Microlite and the Thursday night Fate Condensed games are likely defunct, which is a shame. They were both fun.

The every-other-Saturday d20 System game mashing together 3.5 D&D, d20 Modern, and Call of Cthulhu continues. We’ve been at it for several months. The PCs have gone from beginners to double-digit levels. I still envision the Grand Finale before Thanksgiving. Either the heroes will have gone back in time to save the future (which is their present), or else the Great Old Ones shall return and bring an end to everything.

The every-other-Sunday 5E D&D game also continues. Terry finished up running a couple of 1E adventures (Against the Cult of the Reptile God and the laughably bad The Forest Oracle) not too long ago. I took over the DMing, and everyone made up new characters, forming a group of adventurers who set out to tackle new problems while the original group Terry DMed are still engaged in The Forest Oracle. Along the way, we’ve got a nice little corner of a campaign world taking form. The new group of heroes have traveled to Dark Shelf to investigate strange goings on at the quarry.

Last of all, I celebrated the ninth anniversary of my heart attack this past weekend. Huzzah.

But back to 5E D&D. During our last Sunday session, the party found a slaughtered Traveling Folk family. The party was also ambushed by lynx spiders. My son Christopher’s character was paralyzed by spider venom and then dragged into a burrow. While the party was rescuing their paralyzed comrade, another PC was rendered helpless by spiders and dragged away into the darkness of their caves. Fortunately, the rest of the party managed to save both characters.

Lynx spiders hunt in packs, preferring to hide in tall grass or other similar vegetation in order to ambush their prey. These monstrous arachnids are indiscriminate eaters, just as likely to prey on wild animals as they are on unwary travelers. As hunting spiders, these creatures do not typically spin webs except to line the tunnels into their burrows.

Lynx Spider
Small beast, unaligned

Armor Class 14
Hit Points 9 (2d6+2)
Speed 40 ft., burrow 10 ft., climb 40 ft.

STR 10 (+0), DEX 18 (+4), CON 12 (+1), INT 3 (-4), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 6 (-2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6
Senses blindsight 20 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages —
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Grassy Camouflage. The spider has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in grassy terrain.

Keen Sight. The spider has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Pack Tactics. The spider has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the spider’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Spider Climb. The spider can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Web Sense. While in contact with a web, the spider knows the exact location of any other creature in contact with the same web.

Web Walker. The spider ignores movement restrictions caused by webbing.

Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 5 (2d4) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the poison damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target is stable but poisoned for 1 hour, even after regaining hit points, and is paralyzed while poisoned in this way.

Spit Venom. Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, range 10/40 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (2d4) poison damage and blinded on a failed save (Constitution DC 11), or half as much damage on a successful one and not blinded. A blinded target repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the blinded condition on a success.

Tags: 5E D&D, Heart Attack, monsters

A new spell and a new monster, both inspired by crustaceans.

Cavitation of Bubbles
4th-level evocation

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a crustacean’s claw)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You create a dome of bubbles on a solid surface within range. The dome is a hemisphere with a 20-foot radius and 1-foot thick walls. The multitude of bubbles make the dome opaque to sight, although light does refract through the bubbles.

When the dome appears, each creature within a square through which the bubbles pass must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature ends up inside dome in the space nearest to its starting space. On a successful save, the creature ends up outside the dome in the space nearest to its starting space.

The dome is an object that can be damaged and thus breached. Each 5-foot section of dome has AC 10 and 3 hit points, and it is vulnerable to piercing damage. Reducing a 5-foot section of dome to 0 hit points destroys that section. Each creature within 10 feet of the destroyed section must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 5d6 thunder damage and is stunned until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and is not stunned.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 4th.

“Crabmen are man-sized intelligent crabs. They walk upright on two pair of legs. The small pincers tipping the short arms above their legs are used for fine manipulation. The two longer arms end in large claws. Two slender eyestalks bob above the beak-like collection of mandibles which makes up the crabman’s mouth. Male crabmen are often brightly colored and females may be reddish-brown, green, or black” Monstrous Manual, page 47. (Nota Bene: That’s an affiliate link.)

Coastal Hunter-Gatherers. Crabmen live in tribal groups in coastal regions. Most of the time, crabmen are peaceful, content to hunt sealife and gather molluscs and aquatic plants for food. Crabmen may raid coastal towns, especially during times when food is scarce or their territories are threatened. Crabmen covet shiny metal, especially silver-colored metal. Crabmen lair in coastal caves and some of the time dig burrows into seaside cliffs. These burrows consist of tunnels radiating from a common chamber, each tunnel leading to a crabman’s lair.

Xenophobes. Crabmen speak only their own language of hisses and clicks. Humanoids lack the anatomy to speak the crabmen’s tongue in anything other than the most rudimentary manner. Even then, crabmen seldom listen. They have little to no desire to communicate or associate with other intelligent creatures.

Predator and Prey. Sahuagin view crabman legs and claws as tasty delicasies. Crabmen in turn hate sahuagin more than any other creature.

Crabman
Medium monstrosity, neutral

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 32 (5d8+10)
Speed 25 ft., swim 15 ft.

STR 17 (+3), DEX 10 (+0), CON 15 (+2), INT 8 (-1), WIS 11 (+0), CHA 9 (-1)

Skills Survival +2
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Crabman
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Amphibious. The crabman can breathe air and water.

Regrowth. After a long rest, the crabman regrows severed limbs and damaged eyestalks.

Actions

Multiattack. The crabman makes two pincer attacks.

Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) bludgeoning damage.

Crabman Hunter
Medium monstrosity, neutral

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 75 (10d8+30)
Speed 25 ft., swim 15 ft.

STR 18 (+4), DEX 10 (+0), CON 16 (+3), INT 10 (+0), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 11 (+0)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +2, Survival +3
Damage Resistances bludgeoning from nonmagical weapons
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Crabman
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Amphibious. The crabman hunter can breathe air and water.

Keen Sight and Smell. The crabman hunter has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.

Regrowth. After a long rest, the crabman hunter regrows severed limbs and damaged eyestalks.

Actions

Multiattack. The crabman hunter makes two pincer attacks. If the crabman hunter is grappling a creature, the crabman hunter can also use its bite once.

Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 13) if it is a Medium or smaller creature and the crabman hunter doesn’t have two other creatures grappled.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is grappled, the crabman hunter attacks with advantage.

Crabman Elder
Large monstrosity, neutral

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 142 (15d10+60)
Speed 25 ft., swim 15 ft.

STR 20 (+5), DEX 10 (+0), CON 18 (+4), INT 12 (+1), WIS 15 (+2), CHA 13 (+1)

Skills Perception +5, Survival +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning
Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Crabman (may understand one or more other languages)
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

Amphibious. The crabman elder can breathe air and water.

Keen Sight and Smell. The crabman elder has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.

Regeneration. The crabman elder regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point. After a long rest, the crabman elder regrows severed limbs and damaged eyestalks.

Actions

Multiattack. The crabman elder makes two pincer attacks. If the crabman elder is grappling a creature, the crabman elder can also use its bite once.

Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 15) if it is a Large or smaller creature and the crabman elder doesn’t have two other creatures grappled.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d4+5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is grappled, the crabman elder attacks with advantage.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, spells

The inclusion of various downtime activities is one of the more interesting parts of 5E D&D. Downtime activities are things that PCs may do between adventures. The 5E PH describes Crafting, Practicing a Profession, Recuperating, Researching, and Training. The 5E DMG expands the list with Building a Stronghold, Carousing, Crafting a Magic Item, Gaining Renown, Performing Sacred Rites, Running a Business, Selling Magic Items, Sowing Rumors, and a variant rule for Training to Gain a Level. I’ve been playing 5E D&D about twice a month for probably a couple of years. Downtime activities have rarely appeared in our games, and not for a lack of trying.

Insert awkward segue here.

I’ve continued my leisurely read-through of James M. Spahn’s second edition of The Hero’s Journey (THJ hereafter), The Hero’s Grimoire, and The Hero’s Companion. (Nota Bene: The previous links are affiliate links.) I remain impressed by Mr. Spahn’s work, and I think that THJ has a lot to offer, and not just to OSR-inspired games.

In THJ, Making Camp gets two pages, talking about the effects of inadequate food and water, the need for sleep and rest, and the effects of keeping a watch. The short version is that characters need to eat, drink, and sleep, and if they don’t, bad effects start to accrue. Not setting a watch pretty much guarantees getting caught off guard by curious monsters. While encamped, characters may recover Endurance (hit points in THJ) and may regain daily uses of abilities. All of this sounds quite familiar. It’s been part of RPGs for decades.

What stands out is the section about Relaxing Around the Campire, or RAC to save typing time. RAC is an activity that characters may attempt while making camp. During RAC time, the characters laugh, sing, tell tales, and enjoy each other’s company. Each player describes his or her contribution to RAC, and that each character gets a Bearing-based Attribute Saving Throw. (Bearing is an ability score in THJ.) Character whose Saving Throw succeed receive “Advantage on a single Saving Throw of their choice on the following day.” That’s pretty cool. RAC fits nicely into the The Fellowship of the Ring feel of THJ, and it rewards roleplaying with a simple but potentially significant perk.

The Hero’s Companion expands on camp actions. Instead of RAC, a character may engage in one of these activities: Cover Your Tracks, Forage, Pious Devotion, Plan for Battle, Provide or Receive Instruction, or Scout the Trail. Most of these provide a short-term benefit similar to RAC. Provide or Receive Instructions requires more than one night in camp. If a character chooses one of these actions, the character forgoes the benefit of RAC in favor of another benefit. Gaining that benefit usually requires an Attribute Saving Throw. For example, a character who chooses Cover Your Tracks makes an Insight-based Saving Throw. If successful, those attempting to track the group have Disadvantage for the next 24 hours.

Adapting these to 5E D&D doesn’t seem too much of a problem. The first thing I’d do is remove the die roll. 5E D&D’s skill and saving throw system don’t seem well-suited to the way THJ does things. I’m also going to ignore the Provide or Receive Instruction option. That fits more in with 5E D&D’s Training downtime activity, at least thematically.

So, when 5E D&D PCs make camp (read: take a long rest), each PC gets a choice of one camp activity. The default activity is RAC. A PC who choose RAC gains the full benefits of a long rest as normal. Check the table for other activities. A PC who choose another activity may not recover his or her full hit points. The PC rolls all of his or her Hit Dice (as if taking a short rest). The total of the dice indicates the number of hit points recovered. Until the next long rest, the character has one few Hit Dice to spend during short rests to recover hit points.

Tags: 5E D&D, The Hero's Journey

Die rolls can be tyrants, and sic semper tyrannis.

Let me rant a bit about one thing about players in 5E D&D that makes me grind me teeth, starting with an example:

Player A: I search for secret doors along the north wall of the room.

(A die is rolled.)

GM: You don’t find a secret door.

Player B: I search too!

And, just like that, the game becomes a series of redundant skill checks as everyone at the table piles on, repeatedly assuming that their individuals characters know two things: (1) the last skill check failed and (2) there is a difference between failure and success for the skill check. Unless one enjoys the clatter of dice as several people each attempt to accomplish what someone else just attempted to accomplish, this sort of thing is not fun. (Nota Bene: Elsewhere, I’ve written about the pitfalls of clue hunting in a game. This isn’t a repeat of that. Well, at least not mostly.)

The GM’s Prerogative

Among the most important things a GM can do (and among the easiest thing for me as a GM to forget) is this simple rule:

No one gets to roll a die to determine success for anything unless I ask you to roll a die.

The GM’s job is to adjudicate the game, not merely to announce the results of die rolls made by the players. Dungeon World does a good job of making this explicit. (Nota Bene: That link goes to my Dungeon World products at DriveThruRPG.) Each player’s turn in Dungeon World goes something like this:

GM: Christopher, what does Hideo do?

Christopher: Hideo slides gracefully forward toward the ghoul. He grips his katana in one hand, his wakizashi in another. With his jaw set grimly, he slashes with the katana, steps to the side, and jabs with the wakizashi, trying to destroy the undead monster!

GM: Wonderful. Roll Hack & Slash.

(Dice are rolled. The results are narrated.)

Notice the dynamic. Christopher’s description of what Hideo does determines the nature of the die roll, not the other way around. 5E D&D should work this way as well. When I as GM ask a player what his character does, I really don’t want to hear, “I attack. I hit armor class fifteen.”

The same applies to skill checks. The player doesn’t get to announce, “I’m make a Diplomacy check!” or “I use Stealth!” The player narrates the character’s actions, thoughts, et cetera. Then, based on that description (and perhaps a minimum of out-of-character clarification), the GM decides what, if any, sort of check is required. A skill check may not be necessary, which brings me to my next subheader.

Fewer Die Rolls, Please

5E D&D characters tend to be competent at a minimum. They’re heroic, even at 1st level. Out of six ability scores, four have positive modifiers. One has a negative modifier. A 1st-level PC has a proficiency bonus of +2, which means that even with an 8 Charisma, a PC can still have a +1 bonus to Persuasion (for example).

Let’s take a look at my sorcerer, Evlis Pressed-Leaf, whom I run in our Sunday game. Evlis is 5th level and has an 18 Charisma. When he is Persuasive, he has a +7 bonus. The lowest roll Evlis can get on a Persuasion check is an 8. If he rolls a 3, he’s already succeeded at an Easy task. (See the adjacent table.) With a 10, he’s exceeded the DC for a Medium task difficulty.

5E D&D includes the idea of passive checks. A PC’s passive check total is a score equal to 10 + all of the modifiers that normally apply to the check. Evlis’s passive Persuasion score is 17. If Evlis has advantage for a skill check, his passive score increases by +5. With advantage, his passive Persuasion score is 22. For a lot his daily life, Evlis shouldn’t be making Persuasion checks, so why roll?

The point? If a PC’s passive score is sufficient to succeed, it’s probably a good idea to not bother with a die roll. The player narrates the action (as above), and the GM describes the result.

About Advantage & Disadvantage

As explained here, advantage or disadvantage does not strictly translate to a 5 point modifier to a d20 roll. The task difficulty affects how rolling 2d20 changes the probability of success or failure. Thus, the Advantage column on the Typical Difficulty Classes table. I can’t imagine using that column during regular game play, but it is instructive. For Hard task difficulty, advantage or disadvantage have little impact on the rate of success. For Easy and Medium task difficulties, advantage or disadvantage have a noticeable impact.

One thing to note is that working together (PH 175 and 192) pays off most in the 10-15 range of difficulties. Attacking with advantage against an AC 20 creature helps less than attacking with advantage against an AC 12 creature, which ought to be obvious.

Team Work

In the rules, working together is not the same thing as a group check. Evlis helping Longtum pick a lock is an example of working together. If the GM allows it, the thieves’ tools check is made with advantage. The same thing applies to two characters trying to smash down a door, et cetera. Working together ought to be fairly common, and, when combined with passive scores, goes a long way toward cutting down die rolls.

A group check is a different animal. Group checks are less common, and apply only to situations where the group succeeds or fails as a group. If four characters all search a wall for secret doors, that’s not really a group check. That’s an example of working together. A single success is all that is needed. Three out of four characters failing their checks don’t keep the fourth character from succeeding.

Back to the Beginning

Player A: I search for secret doors along the north wall of the room.

GM: Okay, but first, where is everyone else, and what are they doing?

Player B: I’m guarding the door on the other side of the room, watching the corridor to make sure nothing sneaks up on us.

Players C and D: We’re examining the locked chest.

GM: How?

Player C: I’m using my thieves’ tools to probe for traps.

Player D: Good idea. I’m nearby, sword and shield ready just in case it’s another mimic.

(Player A rolls a die.) Player A: I got a 19!

GM: I didn’t ask you to roll yet. First, describe what your character does.

Player A: Um, he gets close to the wall, pressing his cheek against, looking for irregularities in the surface while he runs his hands along the wall, feeling for the same, moving from the left side of the wall to the right.

GM: Make a Perception check.

Player A: (Rolls a die.) I got a 6.

Player B: I search too!

GM: No, you don’t. Your character doesn’t know what the die roll was, and he’s clear across the room, watching the corridor. (Compares the PC’s passive Perception to the approaching monster’s passive Stealth.) Suddenly, an emaciated humanoid lunges from the shadows, slashing at you with its ragged talons!

Player C: I shoot an arrow at it!

GM: No, you don’t. You’re busy with your thieves’ tools.

Et cetera.

Tags: 5E D&D, game play

I dig goblins. They’re great little monsters. I liked them way back in may OD&D and AD&D days. When I got my hands on TSR’s excellent Oriental Adventures, I came to love goblins more thanks to the bakemono, those “cousins to the western goblins”. The bakemono are cool because “unlike the goblin, [they] come in a variety of differents shapes and sizes. No two [bakemonos] are alike.”

I have several goblin-related posts. There are the bakemono for the wonderful Fate Accelerated. For 5E D&D, I have ash goblins, goblin hags, two-headed goblins, and arctic charvogs. For AD&D and 5E, I’ve got goblin bombers. For OSR games, I’ve got That’s a Goblin!?, a supplement that presents 23 goblin mutations, 15 fey goblin abilities, 3 goblin subspecies, and 6 goblin tactical specialties.

And, for today, I’ve got the goblin swarm.

Large swarm of Small humanoids (goblinoids), neutral evil

Armor Class 15 (leather armor, shield)
Hit Points 44 (8d10)
Speed 30 ft.

STR 14 (+2), DEX 14 (+2), CON 10 (+0), INT 10 (+0), WIS 8 (-1), CHA 8 (-1)

Skills Stealth +4
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages Common, Goblin
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Nimble Escape. The goblin bomber can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.

Swarm. The goblin swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Small humanoid. The goblin swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. A creature in the goblin swarm’s space treats the goblin swarm’s space as difficult terrain.

Actions

Multiattack. Against creatures adjacent to the goblin swarm’s space, the goblin swarm can make up to three scimitar attacks. Against non-adjacent targets, the goblin swarm can make up to three shortbow attacks. Against a target in the swarm’s space, the goblin swarm can make one slashes attack. The goblin swarm cannot make more than one slashes attack on its turn. It cannot make more than three attacks on its turn. If the goblin swarm has half of its hit points or fewer, it cannot make more than two attacks on its turn.

Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) slashing damage.

Slashes. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 0 ft., one in the swarm’s space. Hit: 21 (6d6) slashing damage, or 10 (3d6) if the goblin swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.

Shortbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters