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

[AnOminous]

I treat encumbrance kinda like CoC treats money: as something as only an issue if you're starting to push the limits on what should be normal or within the realm of normal for your characters/party. Yeah, you found a treasure chest of gold and gems that is probably insanely heavy but whatever, I'll say you and the team and schlep that back who cares, you're already apparently holding like 1500gp and other shit too.

In all the games I had where money was an issue, I had an NPC I called "The Eternal Accountant" who would handle it all so the players didn't have to. So I would personally keep track of the money and just let the players know that "yes the party is super rich at this point."

They were generally so rich that "hey let's just buy a bunch of machine guns" was always a viable proposition.

 

[The Ugly One]

Over on r/DnD

You looked at reddit? On purpose?

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

You looked at reddit? On purpose?

I wound up on that sub because I was curious to see what cutting edge modern players thought about having to do any kind of bookkeeping at all after the discussion about encumberance here. It has to be pretty bad since I have seen players IRL go through whole sessions without writing anything down, but what I found there was really eye opening. I've played plenty of 5e, but I don't think I've ever played their version of 5e, even when I was a tabaxi thief for two years...

Critical Role has been a disaster towards the TTRPG community. For people so fixated on RPing like CR, they sure don't like the idea of someone RPing a way out of a monkey's paw situation.

No, what Critical Role has trained people to believe is that there has to be a way to "win" an encounter every time, and it's the job of the DM to make sure that nothing too bad or permanent happens to any PCs. If the DM announces that Krognak the level 2 barbarian can't make a death save because the hooked horror impaled his head with one of its claws and threw him down a pit, he's actually a sadist who's railroading the group.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Wishes in general are one of those things where I would caution a player, 'Be careful what you ask for'.

If you use a wish to strictly duplicate a spell as noted in the rules, I won't screw with you.
If you use a wish to try and tilt a situation constructively (for example, wishing the party back to full health, or getting them out of a severe jam) unless you've been very naughty I'll allow it.
If you try and rules lawyer your wish, I'll take offense and start looking for ways to fuck you.

This all goes out the window if you have a sapient entity granting a wish. Even djinn (who aren't nearly as dickish as most genies) might have an ulterior motive or hidden agenda. And if you're dumb enough to accept a wish from a glabrezu or other demon or devil, you deserve everything that happens.

 

[MazonLabs Recruitment Rep]

No, what Critical Role has trained people to believe is that there has to be a way to "win" an encounter every time, and it's the job of the DM to make sure that nothing too bad or permanent happens to any PCs. If the DM announces that Krognak the level 2 barbarian can't make a death save because the hooked horror impaled his head with one of its claws and threw him down a pit, he's actually a sadist who's railroading the group.

I am not, I hope, the only GM who doesn't just boots anyone wanting a game to be like CR but also outlaws even mentioning that contagion.....

 

[AnOminous]

Wishes in general are one of those things where I would caution a player, 'Be careful what you ask for'.

Wish for a Vorpy? Okay, I'll probably give you that. I rarely give out wishes, so if you wish for that, I'll go along.

Then there are more crazy wishes. And if you do shit like wish for more wishes I'm fucking your shit up.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Wish for a Vorpy? Okay, I'll probably give you that. I rarely give out wishes, so if you wish for that, I'll go along.

Then there are more crazy wishes. And if you do shit like wish for more wishes I'm fucking your shit up.

A lot of it depends on context. If you absolutely need a vorpal sword to defeat an enemy, I'll let you have it. I might even let you keep it after the combat.

(Actually, that would be a pretty baller scene. Wish for a weapon to defeat an arch-lich or some other fiend; suddenly time stops and an angel appears, hands you a sword, and warns you politely, 'Don't misuse this, and I'll be back to pick it up in a little while.')

 

[MazonLabs Recruitment Rep]

A lot of it depends on context. If you absolutely need a vorpal sword to defeat an enemy, I'll let you have it. I might even let you keep it after the combat.

(Actually, that would be a pretty baller scene. Wish for a weapon to defeat an arch-lich or some other fiend; suddenly time stops and an angel appears, hands you a sword, and warns you politely, 'Don't misuse this, and I'll be back to pick it up in a little while.')

I'd be too tempted to pull a Stormbringer on them; yep, you get an awesome vorpal blade of your preferred style, but it's sentient and is hungry. Keep it fed, and you'll still have that kick-ass weapon. Dont, and...well...

 

[AnOminous]

I'd be too tempted to pull a Stormbringer on them; yep, you get an awesome vorpal blade of your preferred style, but it's sentient and is hungry. Keep it fed, and you'll still have that kick-ass weapon. Dont, and...well...

I ran a Stormbringer campaign that was absolutely deranged and played for yuks.

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

Wish for a Vorpy? Okay, I'll probably give you that. I rarely give out wishes, so if you wish for that, I'll go along.

Then there are more crazy wishes. And if you do shit like wish for more wishes I'm fucking your shit up.

A sheathed sword materializes on the ground in front of you. What little you can see of the blade is black. "Take care when you draw that blade, adventurer, it has a mind of its own!" says the djinn, which flashes a grin at you as it vanishes. The player ignores its stats and only sees the +4 to hit and +4 to damage. "Awesome!"

Next encounter, the player draws the blade and instantly cuts the orc in half. Half of the party fails their WIS save and are now Frightened as they see the orc's soul pulled out of his body and absorbed into the sword. The wielder crit fails his save vs spells and is now under a geas to attack whoever is closest to him...

 

[LovisXVI]

Wish for a Vorpy? Okay, I'll probably give you that. I rarely give out wishes, so if you wish for that, I'll go along.

Then there are more crazy wishes. And if you do shit like wish for more wishes I'm fucking your shit up.

I think the jackass literal genie should be kept as a punishment for hubris, whereby, by divine mandate, you are going to suffer for wishing for something beyond your ken. A vorpal sword is totally within the realm of possibility for an experienced adventurer, level 10-15, and likely will be put to good use killing one's evil enemies anyway, so it is all good. But if you start to get into things you couldn't reasonably just come along, things you don't deserve, then yeah, we're breaking out the talmudic wording of your wish to give you something appropriately bad to how overambitious it is. You want the hand of the young queen? Well, check your mailbox, at least you have a new quest!

 

[AnOminous]

A sheathed sword materializes on the ground in front of you. What little you can see of the blade is black. "Take care when you draw that blade, adventurer, it has a mind of its own!" says the djinn, which flashes a grin at you as it vanishes. The player ignores its stats and only sees the +4 to hit and +4 to damage. "Awesome!"

 

[MazonLabs Recruitment Rep]

Next encounter, the player draws the blade and instantly cuts the orc in half. Half of the party fails their WIS save and are now Frightened as they see the orc's soul pulled out of his body and absorbed into the sword. The wielder crit fails his save vs spells and is now under a geas to attack whoever is closest to him...

 

[Judge Dredd]

No, what Critical Role has trained people to believe is that there has to be a way to "win" an encounter every time, and it's the job of the DM to make sure that nothing too bad or permanent happens to any PCs. If the DM announces that Krognak the level 2 barbarian can't make a death save because the hooked horror impaled his head with one of its claws and threw him down a pit, he's actually a sadist who's railroading the group.

I don't think that's a critical role thing. Maybe you could make the argument it's a 5e thing, but I'm not so sure,

I've heard horror stories of grey beards who talk about how soft 5e and CR have made the current crop of players, only to throw a tantrum and rage quit at the slightest ruling against their character.

And I can believe it too. Not to beat a dead horse, but the history nut of the group (yes, HEMA guy) is the one constantly complaining about shit needing to be realistic and grim dark, only to lose his shit any time he fails a check. Meanwhile, when I did DMed for a CR fan, he was generally willing to roll with whatever.

 

[Ghostse]

I treat encumbrance kinda like CoC treats money: as something as only an issue if you're starting to push the limits on what should be normal or within the realm of normal for your characters/party. Yeah, you found a treasure chest of gold and gems that is probably insanely heavy but whatever, I'll say you and the team and schlep that back who cares, you're already apparently holding like 1500gp and other shit too.

Oh you found a giant throne room treasury filled with gem-crusted statuettes, glittering battleaxes, and piles of gold? Okay, let's think about this a bit more now, shall we?

Pretty much this. I'm not going to make a part do to-the-pound accounting unless they fucking force me by trying to break the system or challenge me when I say how much they can grab.

Basically I tell my players "write down what you're carrying or you don't have it. Make sure it looks reasonable, be ready to either justify capacity or accept the DM's ruling on 'you can't carry that' - your choice".

That or as I do OSE a lot, I just do coin-based accounting which is pretty simple.

I tend to be a little more anal in 3.5 because encumbrance matters more.

Yeah but it's the most boring shit imaginable. Bag of holding? Makes that boring shit disappear.

Again, depends. I got no problem with easier logistics but then players usually try to abuse that shit to death.

Also trying to abstract dungeon logistics means its impossible to do D&D Oregon Trail overland adventures.

 

[Hatewerfer]

Also trying to abstract dungeon logistics means its impossible to do D&D Oregon Trail overland adventures.

Plenty of tabletop players just roleplay as a party of homeless vagabonds that walk everywhere even when other options are available. A couple draft horses and a wagon (or at very least a pack mule) is hardly big money for parties collecting immense amounts of loot, and I think having to sacrifice loot for encumbrance is a fair penalty if they choose not to use something that literally everyone in universe uses to transport large amounts of gear.
Hell, if they don't want to pay for that sort of thing they can steal one, don't forget that when you make a base of evil bad guys for the players to fight they've probably got a horse or two about in a medieval fantasy world. Most people whose only exclusive method of transport is walking don't tend to have very much of value.

 

[strawberry15]

"The Eternal Accountant"

This reminded me of an april fools joke class in Dragon magazine but i forgot the issue. It was the accountant class. It had sneaking abilities, sneak attack, cone attack that dazed the targets and some other things. I really loved it

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

This reminded me of an april fools joke class in Dragon magazine but i forgot the issue. It was the accountant class. It had sneaking abilities, sneak attack, cone attack that dazed the targets and some other things. I really loved it

The best joke classes are from White Dwarf:

Spoiler: The rest of the Weakling

 

[Lightning's Heraldry]

The weakling

tfw your xp table isn't even cleric-tier

 

[Judge Dredd]

Any classic Warhammer adventures? And any YouTuber you recommend reviewing them?

Asking because I keep hearing how good WFRP modules were, but then never really hear more than that.


Listening to some no-name youtuber review DCC adventures. Stereotypical greasy nerd, but they seemed fine. Then I get to some of his newer stuff and he's complaining about "The Virgin Queen", saying something like "how can this incel make good decisions", and said if he made a noble queen NPC, she'd be a massive slut.

Basically I tell my players "write down what you're carrying or you don't have it. Make sure it looks reasonable, be ready to either justify capacity or accept the DM's ruling on 'you can't carry that' - your choice".

I thought that just me. I don't track encumbrance, just anything that isn't easily justified as being carried somewhere I ask "how are you carrying that". If can even be as simple as taking a long coat to obscure a sawn off shotgun.

I've wondered if some kind of backpack system could work, where items are easier or harder to access depending on where they're kept. A quick belt with limited slots, a medium for pockets (clothing or backpack) and longest to get stuff in the main pack as you dig around for it. Never ran a game where it would matter, however.

Knave has slot based inventory and it's pretty neat, though I've never really played a campaign long enough for carry capacity to be an issue.

I got no problem with easier logistics but then players usually try to abuse that shit to death.

I'm lucky in that I don't think I've had that problem. Usually, when players try to exploit rules like that, it's immediately obvious and the DM just has to say "no".

eg. I sometimes like abstract money. Where finance is a skill roll or only counted when a purchase is above a certain threshold. The argument I used to see against this is "Well, I'd just buy 1000 free coffees and open a starbucks!", but that's retarded, and I've never seen someone try it at the table.