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[Court of Swords E22 Q&A] Hail to the King, Baby

RollPlay®: Court of Swords
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#129

phb. 197

“When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or fall unconscious, as explained in the following sections”

Following sections then go over saving throws for death vs instant death, continues, “If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you fall unconscious. This unconsciousness ends if you regain any hit points”.

There is a homebrew that allows you to be conscious while at zero (but be actively dying and unable to perform any actions other than 5 ft of movement on your turn), but in general unless your DM allows you to be awake for some reason, going to 0 hit points automatically knocks you out.

#130

I see. I understand why they did it, but for me it sounds a bit to hard on the fallen player especially when you can go down so fast in this game.
Thanks for the info.

#131

Oh Domain play level talk!
It’s not really related but if you liked SWN system with “between turn” GM mode, Kevin Crawford also made a similar system, simulating domains fight for supremacy on an hex map. It’s for a d&d OST-like game called Labyrinth Lords(basicaly a d&d a/x style rule set). But it’s not hard to adapt/hack to 5e if your players are into domain-play (that sounds kinkier than i thought). The book is called “An Echo, Resounding” and it’s one drivethrurpg: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/99063/An-Echo-Resounding-A-Sourcebook-for-Lordship-and-War
“Adventurers, Conquerors, Kings” is still the best game system system if you are into being the LORD OF YOUR CASTLE.
A pretty brutal OSR game still, it’s like basic d&d game where you are actually a lord after a few levels. Lot of work gm side.

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#132

OW MAN ! Thank you so much that sounds RAD AF :heart_eyes:
I have a West Marches kind of sandbox with faction struggles, that will surely help :itmejphype:

#133

Would you say both are fantastic standalones and the twain should ne’er meet, or would combining both systems have the potential for super awesome shenanigans?

#134

The typical DM thing to do is have it based on the enemy. Would a Rock Gnome kill an unconscious enemy? No it would probably knock them all out and take them as prisoners. A Manticore or another monstrous like creature would probably be interested in just tearing up a downed enemy. They have no interest in a prisoner, they would rather tear it apart and eat it.

#135

To continue on what boostgeek said: Not that this party had a healer, but at some point in a longer fight if the same downed player is healed several times to fight again even someone who might want to take prisoners starts to think if it’s worth it. Healing Word is especially good for getting people up as it’s ranged and a bonus action.

Up to this point i think Adam has stayed consistent with the downed bashing. If there are no other imminent dangers and the creature isn’t considered intelligent it goes for the bodies. This has happened before with rats and a zombie.

#136

The ACK system is pretty great stand alone game system. It aims to reproduce the originally planned “domain play” of the first d&d that was actually never produced, where high level adventurer would become lords with henchmen except there it’s at around level 4-8. You can certainly take some mechanisms from it and use it into something like 5e but it’s so well developed, honestly you should use the system, if you ask me, it’s really decently balanced. It also integrates spell and magic items crafting from the start and it’s not that far from most OSR d&d clone so why not use it. ACK is pretty rule heavy.

On the other hand, An Echo Resounding is a mostly pretty great help/resource book for most d&d style setting (mostly kevin’s red tide setting for Labyrinth Lords). Those solid mechanism are not linked to the system except for the troops it use. It adds a between session system for what happens between each sides so it’s easier to port to other game systems. Simulate city states warfare decently well. Labyrinth Lords rules are online for free (the version without the art at least) but you can easily substitute some npc troops with a decent amount of GM fiat and some balance work.

There are a few blogs online with optional rules for a hierarchy system where the players get titles mid level (level 4domain play. Adapting those in other more modern system isn’t that hard: http://hillcantons.blogspot.fr/2016/08/building-mid-level-domain-game.html

#137

And now I’m thinking of that time in Westmarches when Grigori and Galahan (and some other losers) helped a dragon kill a wizard. Fucking crossover time boys

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#138

Phenomenal arc everybody, thanks for the entertainment!
These episodes keep me sane while serving in the military.

Do you have plans on moving the setting away from the heavy jungle and into a more urban setting at some point? A large coastal city perhaps, with southeast-asian beaches and a thriving economy? I’d like to see that side of this universe, if only to get a better feel of the diversity of all the people and races in your world.

Maybe not the next story-arc, but the one after that?

Can’t wait for more!

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#139

thanks for answering!

#140

I hope they do a character creation video for @itmeJP 's new character. I know they might not have time what with PAX and all but I just really enjoy those videos.
I hope he makes a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer or, like Dan said, a Tempest Cleric.

#141

I’d love to see him take Wizard and go abjuration. He gets an Arcane Ward which is your wizard level + your intelligence modifier in temporary hit points. I would take Mage Armor and Shield. Mage Armor is 13 + Dex mod which could be anywhere from AC15-17 depending on his rolls. Shield is a reaction spell that gives +5 to AC. This would allow JP to have AC20-22. That’s a very strong defensive position, he can then take some powerful hitting spells as well.

#142

Hey @AdamKoebel,

I just had a quick inquiry about the magical elephant statue. If the party (@itmeJP, @DansGaming, @gassymexican) bought some elephant sized saddle bags and a large harness would that gear on the elephant stay equipped if it was de-summoned. The reason I ask is it seems like the elephant could be used to transport treasure and or people.

#143

Adam if one of the players picked up a warpick and did the whole Lord of the Rings gandalf balrog moment on the stone bridge to try and sacrifice themselves and drowning the rock gnome king would you have allowed it? :stuck_out_tongue:

#144

I would assume the elephant would either be a plain elephant or have it’s gear with specific space on it, to prevent any pocket dimension silliness.

#145

I was waiting for Azure to tackle the Rock Gnome King off the bridge, he definitely would have drowned in that heavy armor.

#146

I wouldn’t be learning DMing from CoS sessions, I don’t believe the general player likes to be in the brink of death every single fight they are in, players want that from time to time but they also want to feel like powerful, capable individuals and, even if they survive all the hard or deadly encounters you throw at them, if they are going down every fight and just barely doing it every time they don’t get that feeling. This works for this show and this group of people because it is a show and they are catering to the thrill-seekers in the audience that don’t really have an actual investment on the characters, and they have agreed to this and are possibly even under contract. (I might be misreading his attitude but, even under these circumstances, I don’t feel like Max enjoys the feeling of powerlessness all that much.)

If what you are taking from this show isn’t that specific thing, the deadly environment and the building of tough but interesting encounters, then you are better off looking at almost any other Rollplay show for world building, interesting story progression and amazing NPC development.

#147

Question for @AdamKoebel or @DansGaming. Did you guys ever update the damage macro on Baldr to automatically reroll 1s and 2s?

#148

You could do a lot worse than copying interesting and hard fights.

5th is built around resource management. Hit dice and various abilities are tied to short and long rests. If you want combat to be a big part of your game it’s intended to be making the players spend and exhaust resources over the course of several encounters.

I cant remember where i read it but the baseline difficulty may be something like 4 medium encounters +1 hard +1 easy averaging to 6 medium per “adventuring day”.

You don’t have to play it like that, you are invited to make rule changes as you wish and adjust the focus of your game and the difficulty of your encounters, but if long rests aren’t split up by drains on you resources then the system behaves very differently, some classes do much better and groups will go into every combat “fully loaded” you can then be stuck as a DM picking combats that aren’t really threatening with no real costs (medium/hard) or swingy encounters which can potentially 1 shot people (deadly).

Acquisitions Incorporated is a great example of a game that is not about combat but I would argue that the one shot nature of sessions forces it to be that way.