Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

That's 5e, not 3.x, which is what I'm talking about. In 3.5, Weapon Finesse was essentially the Finesse tag, but it didn't apply Dex to damage - the main reason for it was for classes like Rogue, who didn't really use Strength for damage, and relied solely on Sneak Attack dice. But yeah, if you're going to throw 'Finesse greatswords' into your game, where the only upside to Strength is getting access to the best melee weapons in the game, yeah. You're gonna get -every- character using Dex and studded leather. =P
I'm not really arguing with you, or trying to, so I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I was agreeing with you 100% on why people would love to rock those builds because they're so hilariously easy to build for and with such excellent gains, even in 3.5e, especially since you get to slap extra damage on from the Iajutsu Focus whereas you otherwise wouldn't be able to.

And now to disagree with a side of irrelevant to D&D autistic history wank, actual studded leather (either earlier coats of plates or later brigandines) was damn, damn fine armor, able to made cheaper and easier than plate and for minimal loss in overall protection. Which is why most samurai wore it along with their bastard swords/longswords-by-another-name known as katanas. Welcome to actual Japan! And yes, the GM is that weird combination of weeb and history nerd known otherwise as an autist.

To throw in my 2c with the Dex/Str stuff, it isn't just damage you gain. AC, versatility with rapier and bow, little or no penalty to dex-related stuff stuff, the ability to actually make saves against traps and AoE attacks, and to quote The Joker, they're all cheap. Note: Talking 5e here since again, no experience with 3.5e. Who wants to spend the 1500 gold on a suit of plate for 18 AC when 200 will get you splint for just one less AC. Hell, anyone who's got 14 Dex for a +2 will want to just go right to scale for a suit that weighs less than chain, is cheaper than chain, and gives the same AC. There is also that fixed, inherent cap of 18 to AC by going Str with heavy armor. If you're an elffag like me, with standard array you can start at 17 or 16 dex, already forcing you into light armor since you're doing better than you can with a breastplate with just studded. You get 20 Dex from feats/ASI, and that 18 AC plate is looking mighty unappealing since you're faster, almost as well protected, and you didn't need to pay a single CP to get there, saving it all for booze and Rings of Constitution so you can challenge dwarves to drinking contests.

Now, that out of the way, I actually spec my elffag fighters to be well-rounded 90% of the time, with roughly even Str/dex even as an elf because fuck that stereotype of prissy dancers, but even then the call of damage output from Finesse/light weapons is hard to avoid since 5e just loves Finesse weapons and nimble combat in general.
 
I'm not really arguing with you, or trying to, so I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I was agreeing with you 100% on why people would love to rock those builds because they're so hilariously easy to build for and with such excellent gains, even in 3.5e, especially since you get to slap extra damage on from the Iajutsu Focus whereas you otherwise wouldn't be able to.

And now to disagree with a side of irrelevant to D&D autistic history wank, actual studded leather (either earlier coats of plates or later brigandines) was damn, damn fine armor, able to made cheaper and easier than plate and for minimal loss in overall protection. Which is why most samurai wore it along with their bastard swords/longswords-by-another-name known as katanas. Welcome to actual Japan! And yes, the GM is that weird combination of weeb and history nerd known otherwise as an autist.

To throw in my 2c with the Dex/Str stuff, it isn't just damage you gain. AC, versatility with rapier and bow, little or no penalty to dex-related stuff stuff, the ability to actually make saves against traps and AoE attacks, and to quote The Joker, they're all cheap. Note: Talking 5e here since again, no experience with 3.5e. Who wants to spend the 1500 gold on a suit of plate for 18 AC when 200 will get you splint for just one less AC. Hell, anyone who's got 14 Dex for a +2 will want to just go right to scale for a suit that weighs less than chain, is cheaper than chain, and gives the same AC. There is also that fixed, inherent cap of 18 to AC by going Str with heavy armor. If you're an elffag like me, with standard array you can start at 17 or 16 dex, already forcing you into light armor since you're doing better than you can with a breastplate with just studded. You get 20 Dex from feats/ASI, and that 18 AC plate is looking mighty unappealing since you're faster, almost as well protected, and you didn't need to pay a single CP to get there, saving it all for booze and Rings of Constitution so you can challenge dwarves to drinking contests.

Now, that out of the way, I actually spec my elffag fighters to be well-rounded 90% of the time, with roughly even Str/dex even as an elf because fuck that stereotype of prissy dancers, but even then the call of damage output from Finesse/light weapons is hard to avoid since 5e just loves Finesse weapons and nimble combat in general.
No worries, didn't mean to come across that way either. Just gets a little confusing when you've got several posts bouncing between 2e OA, 3.x and 5e :o

And I know that pain well; Elfing it up is my usual thing, and it feels super weird to me that Monks and Barbarians actively have the best AC in 5e, despite wearing the least armour, which has always been a big pet peeve of mine. While Strength does have a tiny advantage in damage, from a purely mechanical perspective, Dexterity does so much more. And I get they tried to add grappling and such under Strength, but whenever I've seen it used in 5e, it just feels the same as it did in 3.5.

"You can totally grapple a guy, and take this feat, and try to bull rush people to push them 5ft! Or just play a Wizard and take Booming Blade, where you can smash someone and throw them 15ft infinite times per day."

In 3.5, it was the similar issue. Strength, at least, was the only way to get damage directly to your weapon, and two-handed weapons were more effective. So, Rogue with 20 Dex and a rapier is still only doing d6 with a rapier (possibly less, if they took negative Strength). A Fighter with a greatsword is doing 2d6 from the sword, then Strength + 1/2. So, dude with 22 Strength is getting a flat +9 ontop of that. But Dexterity covers about 50% of the skills in the game, it gives you AC (which can't be bypassed by touch attack, making it better vs magic than normal armour). You can apply it to your attacks, like with Rogues. You can use ranged weapons (thrown weapons still use Dexterity in 3.5). It gives better Reflex saves. Heck, they even added greatswords with Finesse for Elves, and gave them Dexterity to damage if you took a certain class, specifically because of how many people wanted to be Elf Knights without the Strength.
 
My GM's friend (another GM, although I'm not in his group) once floated the idea of combining Strength and Constitution into a single stat, Vigour. With a U because he's a Canadian expat. After some debate we all agreed it was probably too big a change and too much work to tweak everything to account for it.

Eventually we settled on something that might actually work: Strength adds to HP, including when spending Hit Die to heal during Short Rests. That way both Str and Dex increase your survivability, just in different ways, and Con is still the old reliable that everybody wants. And casters (which don't really need any help) aren't going to get any benefit out of it since they aren't getting Str anyway and Dex is still better for avoiding incidental/area damage. But at least the Str Fighter has a decent advantage over the Dex Fighter, and the extra HP is also recovered with resting so the Str character doesn't become a complete healing sponge.

I thought it was actually pretty clever. Physical strength is usually related to how healthy and resilient you are, after all, and being stronger helps parrying heavier blows and staying in a fight for longer. At level 5, a Str 18 Fighter vs Dex 18 Fighter add up to a difference of 20 HP (54 HP vs 34 HP on average, assuming Con 10). That's a sizable amount of staying power, and it even makes the Strength-based Thug Rogue a bit more relevant. We tried it over a couple one-shots and everybody found it pretty balanced (the Str Paladin loved being so tanky), although we didn't have any Barbarians or Monks in either party so I don't know how much tweaking (if any) those classes would need.
 
Trouble with Barbarians is you're going to be dumping a ton of points into Con and Str anyways, so... And yeah, that's a lot of HP. Since I'm not very familiar with how Hit Dice work, that's Hit Dice plus Str plus Con then? Not bad, especially since Fighters love short rests with Second Wind.
 
As an ignorant man who is just here for the games, I want to ask what D&D settings are liked and disliked by the communities as a whole, and kiwi's individually?

I don't know much about most of the settings. My limited understanding is as follows. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
  • Forgotten Worlds. Default setting. Generic dark fantasy. Grognards hate it, they constantly complain about everything added since 3rd edition. Everybody on the internet hates Dragonborn and Teiflings, most people in real life don't give a shit, and seem to like Dragonborn.
  • Eberron. I like this setting and have even ran a campaign in it. It makes sense from a world building perspective, and has ideas I take into other games. Everybody loves warforged and artificers. Only setting to make halflings not suck. Is designed for gameplay over novels so mysteries aren't answered and the few important NPCs are villains or pursue personal goals.
  • Planescape. Everybody claims to love it, no one actually plays it. People just talks about the PC game Planescape Torment.
  • Darksun. Meme setting. D&D Mad Max?
  • Spelljammer. People love this setting, but no one can tell me anything about it. It has lots of magic and ships that fly in space.
  • Ravenloft. Gothic horror. Love or hate setting, with more landing on the love side than hate. No one seems to understand it though because they keep trying to mess with it in stupid ways.
  • DragonLance. Don't know much about it except what's been mentioned in the thread. DMs Guide claims it's high fantasy and over the top heroics. WotC hates it for some reason.
  • GreyHawk. No idea. It's mentioned in the DMs guide.
  • Mystara. No idea. It's mentioned in Saltmarsh as an alternate setting.
I remember reading about a Victorian England setting that's permanently night, has cities with tall towers, and guilds control everything. I might be thinking of a different game (Blades in the Dark?).

Here's my personal take on the settings. It's probably ill-informed and extremely autistic and retarded, so take my words with a grain of salt.

1. Forgotten Realms - Probably the most overrated of the settings but also the most popular. 5E really rides this edition really hard and most of the D&D video games released after 2000 like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights are set here.

2. Eberron - Never really cared for it but it's the first campaign setting that got its start under WOTC's tenure of the game.

3. Planescape - Honestly have no idea what it is, aside from that it's supposed to be pretty high-powered.

4. Dark Sun - Pretty much a desert wasteland setting and similar to stuff like Mad Max or Dune on a superficial level.

5. Spelljammer - Basically just space fantasy. If Dark Sun is like Mad Max in fantasy trappings, then Spelljammer is kind of like Star Trek in fantasy trappings.

6. Ravenloft - My favorite of the official D&D settings and the only one I've ever DM'd. It's old-school Gothic Horror with a lot of cues from stuff like Hammer Horror. Ravenloft was a major influence on the Castlevania games.

7. Dragonlance - Pretty much the "High Fantasy" meme setting and is insanely popular among older players.

8. Greyhawk - One of the two OG campaign settings and was from the mind of Gary Gygax himself. The original Greyhawk map just used a generic map of the United States and made different regions into fantasy settings with Castle Greyhawk being on the part of the map where Chicago is.

Usually, when people describes "vanilla D&D" as a setting, the idea is either Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk, depending on the age of the person and how they were introduced to the franchise.

3E tried to have it be the default setting for the game similar to how 5E uses Forgotten Realms but this was largely dropped by the time 3.5 came out.

9. Mystara - The other OG campaign setting that was created by Dave Arneson. It was originally called Blackmoor and was the first real "default campaign setting" of D&D. Most of the Basic D&D stuff is set in Mystara. Pretty much died when TSR did.

10. Points of Light/Nentir Vale: The default setting of the infamous 4th Edition. Not much to say beyond a vaguely "dark ages" setting of small developed city-states surrounded by vast lawless wilderness

11. Masque of the Red Death: A Victorian spin-off of Ravenloft that was set in 19th Century Earth. Underrated and one of my favorites

12. Historical Reference: An extremely underrated and obscure set of books from Second Edition AD&D. They were more or less a set of books that allowed you to do historical fantasy D&D campaigns with each book corresponding to a different era of history.

The Historical Reference series consisted of Vikings, Charlemagne's Paladins, Celts, The Glory of Rome, The Age of Heroes (Ancient Greece), The Crusades, and A Mighty Fortress (Renaissance and Elizabethan era)
 
Last edited:
Or just play a Wizard and take Booming Blade, where you can smash someone and throw them 15ft infinite times per day."
Am I misunderstanding something? Doesn't BB just trigger if they willingly move so tossing them wouldn't proc the extra damage? I guess I'm just not understanding how your wizard is doing this stuff unless I'm just being :autistic: and missing a joke.
 
Am I misunderstanding something? Doesn't BB just trigger if they willingly move so tossing them wouldn't proc the extra damage? I guess I'm just not understanding how your wizard is doing this stuff unless I'm just being :autistic: and missing a joke.
I dunno specifically, I've played 5e all of about three times, so I mostly know random spell names. =P Tl;dr: You could use Strength to grapple, bull rush, etc., or just take Battlemaster and use manuevers to do the same thing better, take any spellcasting class which involves large movement which is generally done easier with less investment, etc.
My GM's friend (another GM, although I'm not in his group) once floated the idea of combining Strength and Constitution into a single stat, Vigour. With a U because he's a Canadian expat. After some debate we all agreed it was probably too big a change and too much work to tweak everything to account for it.

Eventually we settled on something that might actually work: Strength adds to HP, including when spending Hit Die to heal during Short Rests. That way both Str and Dex increase your survivability, just in different ways, and Con is still the old reliable that everybody wants. And casters (which don't really need any help) aren't going to get any benefit out of it since they aren't getting Str anyway and Dex is still better for avoiding incidental/area damage. But at least the Str Fighter has a decent advantage over the Dex Fighter, and the extra HP is also recovered with resting so the Str character doesn't become a complete healing sponge.

I thought it was actually pretty clever. Physical strength is usually related to how healthy and resilient you are, after all, and being stronger helps parrying heavier blows and staying in a fight for longer. At level 5, a Str 18 Fighter vs Dex 18 Fighter add up to a difference of 20 HP (54 HP vs 34 HP on average, assuming Con 10). That's a sizable amount of staying power, and it even makes the Strength-based Thug Rogue a bit more relevant. We tried it over a couple one-shots and everybody found it pretty balanced (the Str Paladin loved being so tanky), although we didn't have any Barbarians or Monks in either party so I don't know how much tweaking (if any) those classes would need.
Now that I think about it, this can actually work - depending on how your game in structured. I'm currently playing Shadow of the Demon Lord. My main issue there is that in this case, it's just HP bloat - you're expanding a problem which exists beyond 7th level and vastly multiplying it, because now the advantage of Strength is solely 'Combat is even more based around people hitting each other for d10+5 until the other one experiences Critical Existance Failure' the moment they hit 0.)

Shadow of the Demon Lord is a mishmash 3.5/4e/5e/Warhammer Fantasy creation by one of the lead writers for 5e. Keeps a lot of the stuff, which cutting a lot of the fat. I just realised that in addition to getting better weapons (the best gear in Shadows requires Strength 13+, the best armour needs 15+), it is also the Constitution stat. Each point of Strength is 1HP + whatever you get from your class.

So, at high levels, an Agility based chacter in heavy leathers (Agility + 2 Defense), and a shield (+2 Defense) can actually beat out the 18 Defense provided by full plate. But on the flipside, Strengthboi is much better at resisting poison/physical assaults (which are VERY common in Shadows), but when you heal, healing is tied to your Healing Rate, which is derived from your maximum health. So a Fighter with high Strength can easily have double the HP of a Rogue of the same level, which is -very- significant in that system.
 
Last edited:
Now that I think about it, this can actually work - depending on how your game in structured. I'm currently playing. My main issue there is that in this case, it's just HP bloat - you're expanding a problem which exists beyond 7th level and vastly multiplying it, because now the advantage of Strength is solely 'Combat is even more based around people hitting each other for d10+5 until the other one experiences Critical Existance Failure' the moment they hit 0.)

Shadow of the Demon Lord is a mishmash 3.5/4e/5e/Warhammer Fantasy creation by one of the lead writers for 5e. Keeps a lot of the stuff, which cutting a lot of the fat. I just realised that in addition to getting better weapons (the best gear in Shadows requires Strength 13+, the best armour needs 15+), it is also the Constitution stat. Each point of Strength is 1HP + whatever you get from your class.

So, at high levels, an Agility based chacter in heavy leathers (Agility + 2 Defense), and a shield (+2 Defense) can actually beat out the 18 Defense provided by full plate. But on the flipside, Strengthboi is much better at resisting poison/physical assaults (which are VERY common in Shadows), but when you heal, healing is tied to your Healing Rate, which is derived from your maximum health. So a Fighter with high Strength can easily have double the HP of a Rogue of the same level, which is -very- significant in that system.
And that is why I like my elves to be balanced. Nobody expects the prissy wine drinker in light/medium armor to not snap like a twig or worse, throw an actual punch once the inevitable bar brawl happens.
 
Trouble with Barbarians is you're going to be dumping a ton of points into Con and Str anyways, so... And yeah, that's a lot of HP. Since I'm not very familiar with how Hit Dice work, that's Hit Dice plus Str plus Con then? Not bad, especially since Fighters love short rests with Second Wind.
That's the idea, yeah. HP calculation for PCs becomes (Str+Con+Hit Die)*Level. As I said, we never tested it with Barbarians, but I'm sure whatever happens there wouldn't require more than a small tweak to fix.

Now that I think about it, this can actually work - depending on how your game in structured. I'm currently playing Shadow of the Demon Lord. My main issue there is that in this case, it's just HP bloat - you're expanding a problem which exists beyond 7th level and vastly multiplying it, because now the advantage of Strength is solely 'Combat is even more based around people hitting each other for d10+5 until the other one experiences Critical Existance Failure' the moment they hit 0.)
To be fair, the advantage of Dexterity in combat is also being able to take the other person to 0 HP before they do it to you, only you do it by not taking damage as opposed to being able to take hits better. HP bloat can be an issue, but it's also something that can be solved pretty easily by encounter design. Who knows, with a tankier Strength-based frontline a GM could have a bit more leeway with threats that the frontline can take on, but that the spellcasters and Dex characters really want to stay away from. For example, things that bypass AC and require a failed save to deal damage, or void zones (to use a Warcraft term) where you take damage by crossing/starting your turn in.

It would also make the frontline a little more resilient against incidental AoE damage (which is often save-vs-damage, too). You know, the stuff the Dexterity-focused classes can either mitigate or ignore completely with Evasion. It's the same thing: avoiding reaching 0HP by having more HP, as opposed to reducing incoming damage.

It's a bit annoying that we never got to test that idea much further. We don't want to tweak rules on an ongoing campaign and the one-shots have been scarce. But if anyone here does give this houserule a try (with the knowledge that the GM needs to tweak the encounters as well), please tell us the results.
 
Last edited:
Some anons on /tg/ stumbled across this gem of a game on roll20: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/180136/micro-transactions
Yes. Microtransactions: the trpg game. You are "encouraged" to tip $5+ a month. The GM charges extra if you want homebrew or for items/feats. A literal pay-to-win power fantasy for 15 year olds and their mother's credit cards. The GM likes to penalize you whenever you speak OOC as well fucking kek. Almost 200 people have signed up for this abominations and there are some hilarious posts:
1613675936550.png

1613675951839.png

1613676049256.png
 
Some anons on /tg/ stumbled across this gem of a game on roll20: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/180136/micro-transactions
Yes. Microtransactions: the trpg game. You are "encouraged" to tip $5+ a month. The GM charges extra if you want homebrew or for items/feats. A literal pay-to-win power fantasy for 15 year olds and their mother's credit cards. The GM likes to penalize you whenever you speak OOC as well fucking kek. Almost 200 people have signed up for this abominations and there are some hilarious posts:
Well, ladies and gentlemen, we found him. The Living Avatar of EA! GLORY BE!
 
Some anons on /tg/ stumbled across this gem of a game on roll20: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/180136/micro-transactions
Yes. Microtransactions: the trpg game. You are "encouraged" to tip $5+ a month. The GM charges extra if you want homebrew or for items/feats. A literal pay-to-win power fantasy for 15 year olds and their mother's credit cards. The GM likes to penalize you whenever you speak OOC as well fucking kek. Almost 200 people have signed up for this abominations and there are some hilarious posts:
I don't know whether to be horrified or amazed.

Is there a word for both?
 
Some anons on /tg/ stumbled across this gem of a game on roll20: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/180136/micro-transactions
Yes. Microtransactions: the trpg game. You are "encouraged" to tip $5+ a month. The GM charges extra if you want homebrew or for items/feats. A literal pay-to-win power fantasy for 15 year olds and their mother's credit cards. The GM likes to penalize you whenever you speak OOC as well fucking kek. Almost 200 people have signed up for this abominations and there are some hilarious posts:
Someone needs to record this. Holy shit.
 
Some anons on /tg/ stumbled across this gem of a game on roll20: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/180136/micro-transactions
Yes. Microtransactions: the trpg game. You are "encouraged" to tip $5+ a month. The GM charges extra if you want homebrew or for items/feats. A literal pay-to-win power fantasy for 15 year olds and their mother's credit cards. The GM likes to penalize you whenever you speak OOC as well fucking kek. Almost 200 people have signed up for this abominations and there are some hilarious posts:
That's 200 people who need to legit do a flip.

Holy shit I have no sympathy for the idiots who pay this what seems to be a shittastic DM.
 
Some anons on /tg/ stumbled across this gem of a game on roll20: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/180136/micro-transactions
Yes. Microtransactions: the trpg game. You are "encouraged" to tip $5+ a month. The GM charges extra if you want homebrew or for items/feats. A literal pay-to-win power fantasy for 15 year olds and their mother's credit cards. The GM likes to penalize you whenever you speak OOC as well fucking kek. Almost 200 people have signed up for this abominations and there are some hilarious posts:
This guy has to have more too him than just this, this kind of piss poor grift hints at a real winner underneath.
 
That's 200 people who need to legit do a flip.

Holy shit I have no sympathy for the idiots who pay this what seems to be a shittastic DM.
I've played a lot of D&D, and I've never played with anyone I would pay to GM/DM. I've encountered a few paid DMs on Roll20 and without fail, every one of them was a dipshit.

On the other hand, DMing is hard work - and there are way more people who want to play than who want to DM. So I'm sure there are people who are desperate enough to play that people grift them. I'm actually kind of impressed that he's got 200 people on the hook.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Brain Problems
I've had the privilege of playing some game theory major's student's 5E homebrew with a couple of these people. Luckily nothing about orcs or elves came up during game time because the GM handed out premade characters and none of them were any of the former. It wasn't until we went for drinks afterword that one of them starts spewing some shit about how orcs are racist depictions of blacks and how elves are obviously based on racist Asian stereotypes. Of course this guy is also black and follows the same line of thought that somehow leads to "black people invented all music". It was pretty clear that he had little exposure to fantasy literature outside of the LotR movies. These kinds of people are indoctrinated into a cult-like type of thinking and it's impossible to do anything but tell them to GTFO out of your game. Luckily this phenomenon only seems to affect Western companies like WotC and Pozzo. The Japanese systems I play don't have any of this kind of bullshit because it has nothing to do with the actual game.
Any recommendations on jap systems? I sort of am growing fond of the idea of switching since they're allegedly more based around short campaigns/oneshots that it's easier to wrangle enough busy people to consistently show up to.
 
On the other hand, DMing is hard work - and there are way more people who want to play than who want to DM. So I'm sure there are people who are desperate enough to play that people grift them. I'm actually kind of impressed that he's got 200 people on the hook.
I've DMed for years and I mildly disagree with it being hard. Oh don't get me wrong, if you overplan it, it does get hard at times, but that's more due to the axiom I always follow: if there are three paths to pick, the players will always blast open a fourth one. Basically, once you realize that you can't fall in love with your railroad tracks and setting and just roll with punches, it becomes a lot easier. It's actually not too bad, you just plan out the next... oh I'd say 2-3 sessions, and then improv like fuck as you go along.

It's mostly hard if you try to run multiple campaigns, which I do not recommend by the way.

Then again, I tend to do pretty well flying by the seat of my pants, so I may not be the best person to speak about it on here. Honestly, a lot of horseshit and improv will get you by pretty far as a DM.

Now my fucking gripe with Roll20 groups are that they plan out the game they want YOU to run it; in my experience they already have their campaign set or module set, and they just want to play. Always got bad vibes on that front, because I half-expect they'd gripe if it doesn't go the way THEY want.

Bonus points if it's all due to shit like Critical Role for their insistence.
 
Any recommendations on jap systems? I sort of am growing fond of the idea of switching since they're allegedly more based around short campaigns/oneshots that it's easier to wrangle enough busy people to consistently show up to.

there's a nip rpg thread popping every once in while on /tg/ and alternatives, might be work to lurking there (I was following them for a while, but honestly already forgot most of it again).
 
Back