Play-Through Party Preparation: The Rogue

This weeks featured class for the Play-Through Party is going to be the rogue. Rogues rely on stealth, skill, and out maneuvering their foes. The rogue is a great problem solver, investigator, and are very street wise. Following with our race theme for the week, the rogue tends to live in the worst part of town. They make their living as burglars, con artists, and assassins. The often group together in guilds but many will work alone, claiming, “Others only slow me down.” However, not all of them are bad, doing illegal things to make a living. They can also be locksmiths and investigators.

The Class Stats

Dexterity is going to be your main ability score to dump your highest number into. Your second ability score will split between Intelligence for the Arcane Trickster path or Charisma for the others. I would focus on those 3 ability scores, giving them your highest ones if you are going to make a good stat based character.

Hit Points

• Hit Die: 1d8 per rogue level
• Hit Points: 8 + Con modifier
• Level Up Hit Points: 1d8(or 5) + Con modifier

Proficiencies

Rogues will wear light armor only to allow for optimum sneaking around. They are able to use simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, and shortswords. They are proficient with thieves’ tools as well, of course. They get to pick 4 skills from Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth. Their saving throws are Dexterity and Intelligence.

Expertise

At level 1 you get to choose either two of your skills you are proficient in or one of your skills and your thieves’ tools. Your proficiency bonus is doubled with these option when you go to make any ability checks with your choices. At level 6 you will get to choose 2 more skills.

Sneak Attack

You have the ability to strike hard but subtle, choosing a weak point to strike. Once per a turn you can add an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you have advantage against. For an added bonus, you will not need advantage if there is an ally within 5ft of the target. Basically run up next to your fighter friend and start shanking that guy.

Thieves’ Cant

Thieves’ Cant is a mix of dialect, jargon, and code that allows you to hide messages in normal conversation. Only creatures who know Thieves’ Cant can find the messages. You also know a set of signs and symbols that can be used to convey simple messages to other rogues.

Background

There are 3 obvious choices for this class: Charlatan, Criminal, and Urchin. These will provide some of the best stats for your stat based rogue. However, you can play around with the other backgrounds. Like maybe a Noble. Who steals from the poor to line his coffers with even more money. Or a Guild Artisan who uses her position as a front so she can moonlight as a burglar to her competitors.

Races

Halflings and Elves get +2 to Dexterity so they are going to be most people’s first choices. Humans of course get the +1 across the board so that is good for anything. However, instead of making a stat based character that has bonuses to everything just in the right places, I would urge you try something creative, or silly even. For example, for the Play-Through Party I made a Dragonborn Rogue. That is right a 6′ tall, 190 pound, black scaled, acid breathing, dragon humanoid that is going to be running around in the shadows sneaking, and stabbing people.

Keep an eye out Sunday for our Play-Through Party featuring our Dragonborn Rogue Street Scale.

DM Basics: Game Prepping

In terms of Game prepping there are usually two paths you will see both new and veteran DMs take. I will refer to them as full prepping and improv prepping to account for my current brain fart I am having. I will give a brief description of each and then my opinion on the matter.

Full Prepping

I start with this one because this is going to be the down fall of every new DM out there. I know I fell into this when I first started. This is where the DM tries to plan out an entire world, they set out trying to make their own Middle Earth. They then try to fill it up with various towns full of NPC’s an everything you can think of in the town. Next is planning every encounter possible you could have on that day. This includes which monsters it will be, how many of them, etc.

Firstly, for new DMs, I cannot stress this enough, start small. I understand you want an entire world you create. That will come with time. But to start off, try just making the starting town the players are in. Make out a map of the town if you want to get into the nitty-gritty of building. Make rich NPCs for them to interact with in the town that will give them quests and the like.

Second, my issue with this method is there is no way to prep for everything your players can do. Dungeons and Dragons is a game of imagination and role-playing. That means that your players could possibly just decide to swerve down and entirely different path, one that you did not see because you are only looking at it through your mind and not theirs.

Now, before I get some hate from you guys, world building is a fantastic thing. Being able to create a rich world for your players is a pretty cool feeling the first time. There is nothing wrong with world building. Where the issue comes in is when you try to make every little plot twist and key plot point and plan those out to their fullest extent. That creates a very linear game, which could eventually end up to you making your players feel like they are being pushed along the path of a game. This is much like JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games) for you gamers out there.

Improv Prepping

This method is exactly what it sounds like, having absolutely nothing prepared for the game, just showing up and flying by the seat of your pants and with what your players say they do. The DMG does give us some tables for giving npcs traits and backgrounds and there are resources online for npc randomization. I will add some of these to the resources page when a get a chance.

Now, I will tell you, improv bothers me. Not as a DM, but as a person it bothers me, to the point that I mentally cannot stand it at times. I have some borderline OCD issues and this makes it where my head will not shut up until I have something planned.

With that said, there are both good and bad to this method. Bad of course is, what happens on a day that you show up to improv, and boom massive brain fart hits… well you better have some tables in your DM binder for this if you want it to work out. However, the good does make the risk worthwhile. The good thing about improv is that it creates a dynamic world the players interact in. Every time they make a decision, it directly affects the world around them. This makes players feel more connected to the game and it makes them feel as if they are helping direct the story line.

My Opinion

Both methods are both correct and incorrect. Having every detail planned out in advance and then not adapting to the players is a bad method of playing. On that same token, flying by the seat of your pants the entire time can end up in some loosely connecting plot lines, if there are any at all.

The solution? Somewhere in the middle is where you will find it. You need to have something planned out in advance. Maybe it is the dungeon for the quest they could receive in town. Or maybe it is the town itself. Maybe it is the specific quest line, while the rest of the world is waiting to blossom in your mind. It doesn’t matter what, as long as something is planned out ahead. This not only makes sure there is something for them to do, but it gives you a foot hold so when it is time for the improv you have something to start with.

The way I see it is, the greatest improv show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? gives the actors something to start with. Whether it be a prop or a scene, they start with something, then build on it. If you lean more towards the improv route, do it this way, so as to get a starting point.

Just Me Being Racist…. Tieflings

I say to you my patrons.. I cannot stand these people.. They come into my tavern, deceiving my patrons, intimidating folk with their vile, infernal looks.. yes my friends.. I am speaking of Tieflings.

Tieflings

Tieflings, unlike our other races we have seen so far, are unique to Dungeons and Dragons.

The Tieflings actually are a race that is on the receiving end of quite a bit of racism in Dungeons and Dragons. They are often stared at as freaks, talked about behind their backs, insulted and are the subject of physical hate crimes. This is because long ago their race made a pact with the devil. Because of this one pact long ago, the Tieflings are hated and reviled everywhere they go. As a constant reminder of their pact long ago, they have an infernal look to them. They have horns, a thick tail, fangs, and eyes with solid colors only, no pupil.

Because of this they live in small groups in human towns, usually in the worst parts of town. They grow up to be some kind of deviant in these areas. Tieflings are the last to trust others, but once you prove your worthiness, their trust is rock solid.

Traits and Bonuses

Tie flings get a +1 to their Intelligence and a +2 to their Charisma. They have a land speed of 30 and are about the same size as humans. Many of the Tieflings lean towards evil because of the ways they are treated by the other races. They also have Darkvision, allowing them to see in dim light like normal and dark as if it were dim light. Because of their Infernal heritage they also have resistance to fire damage. Tieflings are fluent in Common and Infernal.

Infernal Legacy

Because of your heritage, you have access to certain spells. You have thaumaturgy as a cantrip. At level 3 you can cast hellish rebuke, once a day as a 2nd level spell. At level 5 you can cast the darkness spell once a day as well. You will use Charisma for these spells.

Good Race/Class Combinations

Seeing as they get a +2 in Charisma Tieflings could make good Bards, Sorcerers,Paladins, and Warlocks. I have also seen them as pretty successful rogues because of their bonuses to deception and the like. I could see them being good Wizards as well.

My Opinion

Of course, you should all know by now that any race will work for anything for me, because I am open to the fun possibilities of them. They may not be statistically awesome, but they are fun to role-play. On the topics of Tieflings, I feel bad for them. I actually enjoy them because they are the hated race of the game. They might as well be called monsters (technically they are called monsters… and worse at times). I think they are great at spell caster classes, because lets face it, having a tail(if your DM is cool) hold your wand and cast spells while you use a bow and arrow with your hands is pretty freaking awesome.
I do have a nugget of food for thought for my patrons… If the Tieflings are hated by everyone.. Then why do they get +2 Charisma? Perhaps because they have that magical infernal legacy. Anyways.. Have a good Friday, God Bless and Happy Gaming! See you all here for our Play-Through Party on Sunday!

The Tavern Post 8/19/15

Good day my patrons! This week, like last week will be heavy Dungeons and Dragons. All of our posts this week will be about Dungeons and Dragons. If you are interested in Dungeons and Dragons keep an eye out.

Just Me Being Racist…

This week for Just Me Being Racist, we are going to look at Tieflings. We are going to look at the history of the “infernal race.” They are a proud race and despite their infernal heritage they should get a chance too.

Play-Through Party

This will be our second installment for the Dungeons and Dragons Play-Through Party. This week we are going to look at the Rogue! We will have a short tutorial, like last week, that will give you information about the rogue.

Making Our Rogue

Prior to the Play-Through Party we are going to go through the process of making our Rogue for it. We will look at their stats they get, features, items, backgrounds and races that work well with, and then finally the, most likely, weird version I will make. (Like my Half-Orc Bard)

DM Basics: The Players

This will be the first of many posts covering DM advice. These will be more spread out as I am trying to focus more on the players first. Why I choose to do this will actually be explained in this post, as it is the first bit of DM advice I am going to post.

The PCs

The PCs, or Player Characters, are, or at least should be, your number one priority as a DM. You can create an elaborate world, with the most well thought out, “award-winning” story line and without players that is all just a waste of time! Players are the stars of this story, the protagonists if you will. They are going to be making choices that will directly affect the world you put them in.

This is the reason I have been covering more posts about player content. I like my players to be well-informed about game mechanics, character creation, their many options for their characters, how to use skills, etc. I believe that well-informed players should be the job of the DM. And in turn, the well-informed players make the DM’s life easier because they already grasp the basics.

It Is Not You Versus The Players

Dungeons and Dragons is a player vs environment game, or PVE for those video gamers out there. It is not DM vs. PC. A DM must keep this in mind. The game is about the players, not us or our egos or our worlds. You are not setting out to kill off your players, players that are a disturbance to everyone at the table are different of course. Of course I am kidding… okay only slightly kidding. Disruptive players, when the entire table finds them disruptive, should be dealt with. Some times a nice split the party, then smite the ner’do well lets the trouble maker know you mean business.

DISCLAIMER
From my posts, you can tell I put an emphasis on my players. I like making sure everyone, regardless of background has an equal shot of enjoying what ever game we are playing. However, just because I put an emphasis on my players does not mean I am a push over DM. There are rules you need to follow. If you are creative then most of the time I will reward this out of the box thinking. However, if a player wants to be a pain in the arse or a blatant disturbance to the group, I will fight back. When I say put your players first, I am not saying be a push over. I am saying, have fun!

Get To Know Your Players

Since your players are going to be the protagonists of your world/story maybe you should get some input from them on the type of world they want to be in. Before you start your first session, send out a text, email, or phone call and ask your players for some input. It will give you an idea of what kind of players you have in your group and how to work their interests into the stories.

To do this I will ask a few questions to the group as a whole to get the feel of the people. Give them questions that are more than just yes or no answers.
You can ask your players a number of questions, here are some that I have used:

• What level of darkness do you want in your story? It can range from as light as a little kid’s game to a full-blown murder mystery with a Jack the Ripper character running around.
• How much gore do you like in your story? When you kill your opponent does he just die, or do you want to describe the way the sword cuts through your foes, tearing tendon and smashing bones?
• How much fighting to do you want to do? Just a few fights, or a good ‘ol fashion dungeon crawl with fight after fight.
• What kind of theme do you want, if it even matters at all? Post apocalyptic? Zombie? A world run by dragons? Survival?
• What kind of environment do you want to be in? Arctic, water, coastal, forest, mountain, underground?
• How much magic do you want in your world? Does every citizen have at least utility spells like Mage Hand and Light? Or do just the spell caster classes have magic?

It is important to get to know you players. Some of them will be the kind that enjoy story telling and enjoy being part of a big story that is full great plot. Others want to be waist deep in their enemies as they fight their way through dungeon after dungeon. Some like to solve problems and riddles. Some like the act of role-playing their characters while others like to explore the world. Then you have those players who like to optimize their character, making their character the best it can be by utilizing ability scores, items, etc.

No matter the flavor of the player, you should always find a way to incorporate their specific play style into the story somehow. Even if they are the only odd ball in the group make sure to throw in a little something for them each get together.

Play-Through Party #3: The Bard

*UPDATE*
After reading this Play-Through after it was posted, I realized that it did not really show case our bard character. I will be posting another bard post in the next week or so, to go through and show off the highlights of the class.

This week for our Play-Through Party we are going to playing through a short tutorial to show off our featured class for the week. This week is the Bard. You can read about the bard here.

This is not an ongoing campaign, just a short tutorial with a few of our other characters we have at the moment. Today my guest is going to be my friend Darren. He will be playing Shadow Blade and Brass Shield.

“Trisha (Half-elf Monk), Shadow Blade (Halfling Rogue), Brass Shield (Dragon Born Fighter), and Ogrush Story-Teller (Half-Orc Bard), arrive at the northern port of Frozen Cove. They arrive in the harshest part of winter. There is deep snow all around the town (about a foot or so deep) except int he main roads. The town is average sized about 30-40 buildings, with a larger house towards the center of the town.”

Shadow Blade and Brass Shield look into a weapons shop to gather supplies. Trisha and Ogrush pick up some extra rations. Shadow Blade and Brass Shield catch up to Trisha and Ogrush and also grab some rations. Shadow Blade takes the time to grab a steel pot to boil water in.

The shopkeeper here says, “Winter be harsh this year. Food will be hard to find, animals are all holed up somewhere. Bandits be pretty bad this year as well. Aye, if you talked to our mayor about it, he may be able to give you more information about the situation.”

The party makes their way across town to the mayor’s home. They get into see the mayor. The mayor is short portly man, bald, and loud-voiced. “Yes? What do you need? I am rather busy.” Shadow Blade and Ogrush (the diplomats of the group) approach the mayor, “We hear you are having troubles with bandits this year, if we got rid of them for you, what would you give us?” The mayor, “Ah yes, the bandits. They have been stealing our food supply, leaving our stores short on anything but small rations. That is no way to live. If you get rid of those bandits AND make sure our food is unharmed we would be able to give you each 100 gold.” Brass Shield steps forward, “We will do it. Tell us were they are.” They mayor says, “They are off to the west of the town, about half a days track through the woods.”

“The party leaves town and makes their way through the forest. They experience a quiet passage through the forest. The forest is eerily quiet. As the towns folk mentioned there are no sounds of animals, or anything. Just quiet. They reach the edge of the forest, seeing there is a cave in the side of the cliff face.”

Shadow Blade goes runs up to the cave entrance, trying a stealth check before he reaches the entrance, and rolling a 2, instead starts waving his arms screaming, “Hello in there!” The rest of the group, just kind of face palms then runs up after him. Two thugs come running out of the cave. The party fights them off. Beating them rather quickly.

“They party enters the cave. The room is about 40 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The ceiling is about 10 feet tall. There is snow in on the floor. There is 3 tracks of foot prints in the snow. There is one that goes straight back to a wall, one to the left to a wooden door laying against the wall, there seems to be a cave in on the other side, then a door on the right. There are more foot prints heading to this door.”

Shadow Blade trying to redeem himself, tries to see if he can figure out how to open the obvious secret door, and fails. In fact the whole party fails on checks to find out how to open. Shadow Blade tries to redeem himself again, to the group, and goes to sneak up to the door, and rolls a 2, again. So instead of listening on the door like planned, he decides to knock on the door, and say, “Hello? Is anyone home?”

A large man, about 6’3″ with bulging muscles and a great sword comes running out at him to answer the call. “Who the ‘ell are you little man?” Brass Shield slams into the Berserker, slashing at him with his longsword. Shadow Blade goes around behind him, and stabs him in the shoulder with is rapier. Trisha runs up to the berserker and punches him twice in the face, then follows up with an uppercut to the throat. The Berserker swings at Trisha, she dodges off to the side of the blow. Ogrush in the corner of the room, “Your mother is *****!”, he says to the berserker. The berserker staggers from the mental anguish of the insult (Vicious Mockery).

Brass Shield swings again, Shadow Blade follows up with another stab, then Trisha punches him in the stomach. Then again is the face, then again on the back of his head. The berserker, swings at her, and brings his sword right down on her head. Dropping her to the floor in one, blow. Ogrush, seeing this shouts, “Your mother is the biggest ***** I have ever seen!” The Berserker, replies, “To ‘ell with you, she is a lovely lady!” (Passed his saving throw). Brass Shield swings at him again dropping him to the ground. They stabilize Trisha, and haul her outside of the cave, back to the forest for a rest, Ogrush keeps watch because he is unharmed. They rest up and everyone is ready to go back into the cave. They go back in and go through the door.

They see an empty hallway, that leads to another door. Shadow Blade, trying a third time today, attempts to sneak, and rolls a 20. He sneaks into the room, and sees there is a mage, and two more thugs in the room. Trisha sneaks into the room after him, and sees it. They formulate a plan, to where the others will wait in the hallway to draw the guards out, and they will attack the mage.

Shadow sneaks back and relays the message to the others, then gets back into position in the room with the mage. Ogrush smashes his flask of oil in the hallway and readies an arrow at the next person to pass through the hallway. Brass Shield readies his breath weapon, a line of fire, and starts slamming his shield and sword together.

The Mage, “What are you waiting for? Go see what that noise is!” he says to his guards. They run down the hall, past Trisha and Shadow Blade, and as they turn the corner, Ogrush shoot an arrow in to the first guy as he steps in the oil on the floor. Brass Shield spits fire down the hallway hitting them both, setting the oil on fire. Shadow blade runs up to the mage and shoots an arrow at him, dealing massive damage. Trisha gets into a prime position for her next turn.

The thugs in the hallway charge forward taking fire damage, they both attack brass shield, he dodges both blows. Brass Shield lays out the first thug, then Ogrush hurls insults at the second. Shadow Blade shoots another arrow at the mage. The mage retaliated by hurling sacred fire at the little halfling doing decent damage to him. Trisha runs up the mage and punches him twice, then a third time laying him out. As this happens the sounds of battle from the hallway reside as Ogrush and Brass Shield drop the last Thug. They find some items on the mages desk, and see a small closet off to the side of the room, with the door open. The look inside and see the food, see that there is a lot of food there. They rest for the night.

“The party makes their way back to town. Their journey through the forest is safe as it was earlier. They reach the town and make their way up to the mayor’s home. They walk into the mayor’s home and tell him that the towns food is safe in the cave. The mayor pays them their gold and sends a wagon off to fetch the food.”

The group goes back to the tavern and gets some food and drink.

Play- Through Party Preparation: The Bard

This week in our Play-Through Party we are going to be featuring, my #1 favorite class, the Bard! Throughout my entire life playing Dungeons and Dragons the Bard has been my favorite class. They are decent in combat, they get spells, they are good at just about everything. In fact, they are the jack of all trades class in Dungeons and Dragons.

In Dungeons and Dragons Lore, Bards are those trained in the musical talents that have discovered that their words and chords carry weight. They are the ones inspiring the group, raising them up out of gloom and despair. They are the ones that literally drive the foes mad.

The Class Stats

Charisma is going to be your main ability. Dexterity is a great second. Wisdom and Int is where I would recommend the other highest points, if you are concerned with stats and all that.

Hit Points

Hit Die: 1d8 per bard level
Hit Points: 8 + Con modifier
Level Up Hit Points: 1d8(or 5) + Con modifier

Proficiencies

Bards wear light armor, are able to use all simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, and shortswords. They are able to pick which 3 musical instruments they are good with. And they get to pick any three skills they want to be proficient in. Their saving throws are Dexterity and Charisma.

Spells

Their spell casting ability is Charisma. They get their own list of spells they have to use. They get ritual casting and they have they ability to use their musical instruments as a spell casting focus.
They have my favorite Cantrip in the entire game, Vicious Mockery. It does not do massive damage like a wizard cantrip, but you are literally damaging your foes by insulting them. I mean come on! “Your mother gets on her knees for dwarves!” says the Dwarven Bard to the elf.

Bardic Inspiration

The bard can inspire others through their words and music. The bard can use Bardic Inspiration as a bonus action to give a d6 Inspiration die to one creature other than themselves in 60 feet. Within the next 10 minutes, the creature can roll the die and add that number to an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw. The creature can wait until after the initial roll, but must be used before the DM says whether it hits or not.
This can be used a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier.

Background

Now, the obvious choice for the background is going to be the Entertainer. However, do what ever you like for the background. I would suggest saving to pick your 3 skills that you are proficient in until you choose your background so you can make sure they do not overlap on the same skill.
Other backgrounds I find useful (stat wise) for the Bard are the Charlatan, Criminal, and Urchin.

Races

Half-elves and Tieflings get +2 to Charisma. They would make good bards. Humans of course get the +1 across the board so that is good. However, I have played Bards so much in my life, I do not like stat based characters anymore. I like weird, fun characters. So for the bard I will be using tomorrow, it will be a Half-Orc.

Keep an eye out tomorrow for our Play-Through Party featuring our Half-Orc Bard called Ogrush Story-Teller.