tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post7375312120443557801..comments2024-03-25T22:48:31.750-04:00Comments on Dreams in the Lich House: Are Your PC's Snowflakes or Compost?Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-60922997858357228882023-07-25T20:04:28.663-04:002023-07-25T20:04:28.663-04:00"The 4E world made no logical sense in the ab..."The 4E world made no logical sense in the absence of PCs. A 4E Troll, for instance, had an armor class somewhere in the 30's; no NPC in the setting could even hurt a troll, unless some level-appropriate player characters came along to fight it off. A single troll, nigh invulnerable, would reign supreme in a small kingdom! It was terrible." <br /><br />Yeah, this is flat out wrong. A 4e generic troll is a level 9 standard monster with a 21 AC. The weakest NPCs in the game would still hit it about 25% of the time - except that a DM would actually be expected to rebuild it as a level 5 elite monster with a 17 AC, so those NPCs would actually hit it at 45% of the time. And even if it did have a 30 AC they would hit it 5% of the time, because a 20 always hits. <br /><br />I don't mine people bashing on 4e, but they should really criticize actual flaws, and not uninformed misconceptions.Beorichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05179135838206052198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-50978724321597585782020-04-06T11:15:09.841-04:002020-04-06T11:15:09.841-04:00Thanks Rocinante, I didn't know about that res...Thanks Rocinante, I didn't know about that resource (RPG tinker) - that's a good one.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-66347986065684828882020-04-06T06:23:50.720-04:002020-04-06T06:23:50.720-04:00You might find this useful for making rival advent...You might find this useful for making rival adventuring parties, especially if they include casters...<br /><br />https://rpgtinker.com/index.php?template=Knight&race=Human&radioattribute=Random+Array+%284d6+method%29&numberofhitdice=10&hitdice=d8&hidefeatures=nothing<br /><br />I use this and a few monster statblocks (I might often simplify a rival fighter to the statblock of some vaguely CR-appropriate Orc or Hobgoblin stat block and stick Action Surge on...)Rocinantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15775746608769762225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-22262425678483502020-04-04T10:21:29.739-04:002020-04-04T10:21:29.739-04:00Heh, the last two games I've run have been pol...Heh, the last two games I've run have been polar opposites on the Snowflake/Compost spectrum; I was running a weekly Feng Shui 2 game which is pretty much designed around the Snowflake idea. Everyone starts as a hyper-competent character out of a John Woo action film and the bullets/spells/kicks/cyber-apes start flying immediately.<br /><br />Now I'm running a weekly DCC game and we just finished the funnel. 15 level zero characters entered, four walked out to become 1st level characters. There was much composting done.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17116795932377593506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-24208116344409950152020-04-04T09:10:05.179-04:002020-04-04T09:10:05.179-04:00AD&D 2e is the edition I started playing with ...AD&D 2e is the edition I started playing with and I can say that it's a melting pot of old and new - you have those 'compost' worldbuilding heaps along 'snowflake' moments, even though the latter was promoted significantly. While all of our early campaigns consisted of heroic characters, always saving the world in a railroaded manner, it was our later AD&D 2e years (running Planescape and Mystara) that we experienced the compost effect, with characters still being important but prone to deadly, random encounters, facing a multitude of NPC adversaries, and running more sandboxed adventures.zontoxirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09099666664138151056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-20210774725542692462020-04-03T11:10:57.353-04:002020-04-03T11:10:57.353-04:00LOL. I think it's a common goal to thread the...LOL. I think it's a common goal to thread the needle - the snowdrift. I strive to treat the game world like a compost heap, but place epic elements in the setting background in case the players grow powerful enough to interact with those elements.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-30044568288767271972020-04-03T10:22:35.702-04:002020-04-03T10:22:35.702-04:00Potential name for the intermediate approach: Snow...Potential name for the intermediate approach: Snowdrift.Goblinisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05128414529043405261noreply@blogger.com