Spes Magna Games

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

In the mail last week, I received James M. Spahn’s exceptional second edition of The Hero’s Journey (THJ hereafter) and the supplemental The Hero’s Grimoire. I’ve already received The Hero’s Journey Narrator’s Screen. I await with straining patience the arrival of The Hero’s Companion. I’ve read through the PDFs of the books, and I’m nothing other than pleased. Mr. Spahn’s latest offering to the gaming world stands as his best work to date. THJ ranks as the game I am most eager to play. (Nota Bene: The previous links are affiliate links.)

THJ has several Lineages (read: races), including the familiar dwarf, elf, half-elf, halfling, and human, and the somewhat unfamiliar changeling. The human lineage includes the errant variant human for those who might want to play, say, a teenager who rode of a plane-shifting roller coaster from the 20th century into a fantasy world.

The Companion book expands these to include the gnome, goblin, rover, scion, and skin-changer. The rover is an intelligent, plucky canine, almost certainly inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s enchanting Roverandom. I see further Tolkien influences with scions (humans descending from once-glorious noble families), skin-changers (towering humans who transform into bears), and tree folk. Attributes for a Lineage are determined by rolling one or more d6s, perhaps adding a modifier. Skin-changers roll 2d6+6 for Might and 1d6+2 for Bearing, compared to the elf’s 3d6 for Might and 2d6+6 for Bearing.

Each Lineage also may or may not qualify for certain Archetypes (read: character classes), and Lineage determines Archetype level limits. Thus, a dwarf can earn only six levels as a burglar, but a goblin can rise to tenth level. Each Lineage also includes several traits, somewhere between three to six of them, depending on Lineage. Changelings can See the Unseen, dwarves have an Artisan’s Eye, and Halfings move Silent and Unseen. Traits may impose limitations. A rover, being a plucky canine, cannot speak and doesn’t have fingers.

Good stuff.

For whatever reason, I cannot seem to disconnect THJ from the epic stories of Redwall by Brian Jacques and the classic The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I’ve read about half the Redwall series, including reading the title story more than once. I’ve read The Wind in the Willows several times as well. (Show me someone who does not love tales of plucky woodland heroes matching wits and muscles against nasty weasels, stoats, and rats, and you’ll be showing someone who probably can’t be trusted.) Thus, as much as I love Mr. Spahn’s treatment of standard fantasy races in THJ, I cannot help but think I ought to make up my own races drawing on the aforementioned books for inspiration.

I’ve taken a stab at this once before for 5E D&D. You can download those via this link. I don’t imagine repeating myself within the context of THJ should be all that difficult. For example, let’s take a stab at Badgers, with this picture acting as a visual muse. The miniature was painted by Michael Proctor, and the Frothy UK Badger is part of Dark Swords Miniatures fascinating catalog.

New Lineage: Badger

Large, strong, and driven by honor and duty, badgers rank among the greatest warriors. Badgers most often live in cavehomes or burrowhomes. Such as homes seldom have fewer than a half dozen entrances/exists, and most of these are hidden. Badgers are clannish and patriarchal. When a male badger nears adulthood, he leaves his home to find his way in the world.

Attributes: Might 2d6+6, Finesse 3d6, Resolve 2d6+6, Insight 2d6+1, Weal 3d6

Archetypes: Bard 4, Burglar 4, Knight 5, Ranger 5, Swordsman 7, Warrior 10, Wizard –, Yeoman 5

Born for Battle. Badgers learn to fight. They select two weapons (melee or ranged) that they may wield without penalty, regardless of any restrictions placed on them by Archetype.

Fearsome Bark. Badgers are the most fearsome of gentlebeasts. They have advantage on Saving Throws made to intimidate others, and their Bearing modifier for the Saving Throw is never less than +1.

Indomitable Courage. Badgers receive advantage on Saving Throws to resist all forms of fear, magical or mundane, including Despair.

Burrower. Badgers can burrow through earth with a movement rate of 1 regardless of the number of significant items carried. With cautious movement, the burrow is unlikely to collapse under normal conditions. With normal movement, the burrow is less stable, and burrows dug while running are unstable at best.

Dark Vision. Badgers can see in starlight, moonlight, or perfect darkness at a distance of up to 90 feet.

Tags: reviews, THJ

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

I can count on one hand the number of Kickstarters I’ve backed. I don’t remember most of them. One that I remember produced a nice PDF (the level I bought in at), but I’ve never used it, and I’ve only ever skimmed it. The virtual book just didn’t grab me like I thought it would.

I’ve also backed James M. Spahn’s The Hero’s Journey (THJ hereafter). I’ve gotten PDFs of THJ, The Hero’s Companion, and The Hero’s Grimoire. I’m waiting on the print-on-demand copies. I also have the GM screen. I’ve not played THJ…yet. (Note Bene: The first THJ link is an affiliate link; if you click and buy, I get a few coppers.)

But I’m going to.

THJ started out as a variation on Swords & Wizardry: White Box (itself a great game). While vestiges of its White Box roots still show, THJ has moved into its second edition and become its own thing.

And I think it’s a great thing, and its greatness shows even in THJ’s introduction. Mr. Spahn concludes the introduction with these words:

“It’s not a perfect game but is a love letter to heroic fantasy and a heartfelt expression of gratitude to every player, Narrator, and fellow gamer that has walked with me on this long, strange journey we’ve taken together.”

THJ is heroic. It’s an expression of love and gratitude. It uses Oxford commas. Fabulous.

THJ has nine chapters, an appendix, and a character sheet. The first four chapters deal with character basics, character creation, and equipment. Chapter 5 covers how to play the game, covering about 19 pages with about half of those covering combat. Chapter 6 explains spells, divided into three groups: Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master. Chapters 7-9 are for the Narrator (the GM), and include how to be Narrator, a respectable selection of folk and foes, and many magic items, including Heirlooms, character-created items tied to the character’s Lineage.

So, let’s make up a character.

My character has six basic Attributes: Might, Finesse, Resolve, Insight, Bearing, and Weal. The values of the Attributes are determined by rolling a pool of d6s, and my character’s Lineage determines the number of dice in each pool. My character’s profession is also influenced by Lineage.

Lineages are changeling, dwarf, elf, half-elf, halfling, or human. I’m going dwarf. Two tables tell me about Attribute dice pools and Archetypes. Attributes are first.

Might: 2d6+6. I rolled a 13.
Finesse: 2d6+1. I rolled an 8.
Resolve: 2d6+6. I rolled another 13.
Insight: 3d6. I rolled a 10.
Bearing: 2d6+1. I rolled a third 13.
Weal: 3d6. I rolled yet another 13.

All of those Attributes fall into the “average” range of 7-14 and have no attribute bonuses. The thirteens are near the upper range of average. Finesse is on the opposite end of the range. So, my character is fairly strong, durable, and charming. Fate has almost noticed him enough to matter (that’s a function of Weal), but he’s a tad on the clumsy side. I revisit the Professions table and roll a 72, which makes my dwarf a stonemason. This gives him a large hammer, a chisel, and 2d6 x 10 gold pieces. I roll and get 90 gold pieces. I make note of my character’s Lineage abilities: By Axe and Hammer, Artisan’s Eye, Tough As Nails, Underground Senses, Magic & Poison Resistance, and Dark Vision.

Now for Archetype. As a dwarf, my character can be a Bard (4), Burglar (6), Knight (3), Ranger (4), Swordsman (7), Warrior (10), or Yeoman (6). He can’t be a Wizard. The numbers in parentheses are his level limits for each Archetype. I skim through the Archetypes. He has the Attribute requirements needed for any of the permitted Archetypes. Let’s go obvious and make him a Warrior.

That gives him 8 Endurance, a +1 attack modifier, and a saving throw of 15. He has no armor or weapon restrictions. Archetype abilities useful at 1st level are A Greater Valor Against Lesser Foes, Shattered Shield, Terrible Blows, and Weapon Specialization. He also gets Advantage on saving throws versus Grievous Blows and poison (the latter of which he already had from being a dwarf). Since he’s got a hammer, Weapon Specialization in hammer seems a no-brainer. It’s not the best weapon for damage out there, but if he wields it two-handed, his hammer does 1d8+2 damage, thanks to Terrible Blows and Weapon Specialization.

I spend 50 gold on plate armor and another 10 gold on a small shield. That leaves me with 30 gold for other equipment, which I’ll worry about later.

Tags: reviews

While caecilians appear worm-like or snake-like, they are limbless amphibians. The largest reach lengths of five feet. Their smooth, moist skin hides calcite scales, and the secretions that keep their skin moist contain a hemolytic toxin that destroys red blood cells. Caecilians are largely blind, able to perceive the presence of light. They burrow, using their strong skulls to force their way through soil. In water, they swim much like an eel. Caecilians have acute olfactory senses.

Caecilia are 30-foot-long wormlike creatures found in the D&D Expert Rulebook. They swallow their prey whole 10% of the time. This monster does not seem to have made the transition to later editions of D&D. Perhaps the Powers That Be didn’t see them as sufficiently different from the more dangerous purple worm, which appears in the same rulebook.

Whatever the reason, I figure a GM can’t have too many giant, voracious predators.

Caecilia
Huge monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural)
Hit Points 126 (12d12+48)
Speed 25 ft., burrow 20 ft., swim 30 ft.

STR 24 (+7), DEX 11 (+0), CON 18 (+4), INT 1 (-5), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 4 (-3)

Saving Throws Con +7, Wis +3
Damage Resistances piercing from nonmagical weapons
Senses tremorsense 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 6 (2,300)

Amphibious. The caecilia can breathe air and water.

Keen Smell. The caecilia has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Tunneler. The caecilia can burrow through solid rock at half its burrow speed and leaves a 5-foot-diameter tunnel in its wake.

Toxic Secretions. A creature that touches the caecilia or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 2 (1d4) poison damage.

Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d6+7) piercing damage plus 5 (2d4) poison damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the caecilia. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the caecilia, and it takes 15 (6d4) acid damage at the start of each of the caecilia’s turns.

If the caecilia takes 15 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the worm must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the caecilia. If the caecilia dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 20 feet of movement, exiting prone.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters