Month: May 2021

Daily Punch 5-14-21 Rod of Exchange and Sacrifice wondrous item for DnD 5e

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Been thinking about an item to give your friends some help at a cost.

Rod of Exchange and Sacrifice

Wondrous item, rare

This obsidian rod has a series of arrows that point to both sides carved into it. Two characters can hold the rod and choose to either trade up to two different ability score points or one character can give up to two ability score points to a different character as an action. The trade must be voluntary, but outside factors can influence the characters. Two characters can only trade or give two ability points once or they can choose to trade the points back and rest the trade allowing for a different trade to take place.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 5-13-21 Book Smart feat for DnD 5e

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Here is a quick one for the wizard with their nose in a book.

Book Smart

Books are far more dangerous when you know how to use them. Gain the following benefits:

  • Gain a +1 bonus to Intelligence(arcana), Intelligence(religion), and Intelligence(nature) checks .
  • If you succeed on an Intelligence check (DC 8 +1/2 creature CR) check against a creature as a bonus action, you gain a +1 bonus to attacks and increase the DC of saves for that creature by 1 from your spell and effects.

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Have You Found It? Act 1:The Jitters

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Product– Have You Found It? Act 1:The Jitters

System- Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

Producer– Petersen Games

Price– $25 here https://petersengames.com/cthulhu-mythos/  

TL; DR– Good into to solid DnD Horror! 90%%

Basics–  Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the greatest show in the universe!  Have You Found It? Is a horror adventure path focusing on The King In Yellow himself.  This act, Act 1: The Jitters, is the intro adventure.  Players are in a city like Milan or Paris as a series of murders stirs up political intrigue.  The players are drawn into the adventure to solve the murders but are soon into something much deeper and much darker than your average murder.  This adventure goes from levels 1 to 4.

Mechanics or Crunch-Dungeons and Dragons is a much more heroic fantasy game, but this adventure bends the rules enough to make the horror stand out.  It’s hard to make players feel like there is no hope in a DnD game, but the monsters and scenarios bring enough horror to make the players feel the dread that is needed for the edge of cosmic horror.  This book also has some behind the scenes mechanics that are excellent ways to reinforce why the king in yellow is the unnamed!  Good mechanics take a heroic game and make it a horror one.  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff–  The story here is a solid one.  The world builds rather quickly and the players get dragged into something very heavy VERY fast.  That gets the action going, but this is also a level one to four adventure.  Players spend time interviewing people and learning about the world via talking, so there is a lot here for all different character classes and types.  It’s a good mix of combat, exploration, and roleplaying that an intro adventure needs.  Also, by setting this in a city, fragile level one heroes are not decimated instantly as after a battle they can recover somewhere safe.  This is a great intro story to get players into a dark new path.  5/5

Execution– PDF? Yes.  Hyperlinked?  NO! What’s here is good.  Good layout, good text size, good pictures.  It’s all solid.  What isn’t here is what makes me less happy.  This is a new world and city.  I want a player guide with a town map and background as this can get socially heavy in a hurry.  Also, as a GM I need hyperlinks in my PDF.  It’s a longer book for an adventure and being able to hop around would help me a lot as a GM.  Good execution, but I need a bit more from the digital book. 4/5

Summary– The King in Yellow was never my favorite Cthulhu mythos horror.  This book has brought me around and I think I might give the books where he comes from a chance.  It’s a well crafted story for low level characters that successfully pulls them into the social, combat, and exploration of a new world.  I do want a few more things like help for my players to get into the world and some additions to the electronic book, but the first act of this horror story is inviting enough to draw me into the deeper, darker bits of the full play. 90%

Daily Punch 5-12-21 Teachers College bardic college for DnD 5e

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Working my way through each of the classes for educated warriors. Time for a bard!

Teachers College

Not all bards sit in taverns and sing sappy songs for coins. Some go out and teach others the things they know. They spread knowledge where others spread rumor and bawdy tails. You spend your time equally in books and in discussions to help those around you learn all they can to be better. Everyone needs to learn what you know, so it’s time to hit the book and the road so everyone can learn!

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the Teachers College at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with two skills of your choice.

Lead By Example

At 3rd level, you gain additional bardic inspirations equal to half your level. When an ally you can see attempts a skill with which you are proficient, as a reaction you can coach them in their attempt giving them a bardic inspiration for the check.

Lecture and Practice

At 6th level, you become an even better teacher. If you spend an hour with an ally and spend two bardic inspirations, that ally becomes proficient in one skill you can use for the day. This ability last until the ally takes a long rest. Multiple allies can listen to your lecture and you can spend multiple bardic inspirations dice to provide them all different or the same skill.

You also learn the spell guidance as a bonus spell.

Drop in Help

Starting at 14th level, you gain the ability to cast guidance as a reaction when an ally attempts an attack, check, or save.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 5-10-21 Gun Barrel Cauterize Gunslinger Feat for Pathfinder 2nd Ed.

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Sometimes you need some good old fashioned bad movie tropes in your pathfinder!

Gun Barrel Cauterize ReactionFeat 2

Gunslinger Fire Healing

Trigger You or an ally within reach takes damage.

With a flourish, you fire you gun and snap the still burning barrel to an injury. The target heals 1d6+ your level. This healing can prevent an ally from falling unconscious and gaining the wounded condition from being reduced to zero hit points. The target is then temporarily immune to your gun barrel cauterize for 1 day.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 5-5-21 Night Study feat for DnD 5ed

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Let’s help the fighter cram the night before so he aces the fight!

Night Study

Learn something each night that might help the next day. Each day before a long rest, you can study a particular creature type. Until your next long rest, you gain a bonus to damage against all creatures of that type equal to half your proficiency modifier. You must study a particular creature type each day or you do not gain the bonus to damage.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 5-4-21 Traveling Scholar rogue archetype for DnD 5e

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More fun for the people in the library!

Traveling Scholar

All knowledge is good knowledge, and you find it where you can. As you go around you learn from the things you do, the things you see, and the things you kill. You write everything down and those note teach you things that will keep you alive! What ever doesn’t kill you and whatever you see can only make you stronger!

Detailed Notes

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you start to write down all the things you see and do. When you make a sneak attack against a creature type, write that down. Every time after you make a non-sneak attack against that target, you gain a bonus to damage against that target equal to the number of times you have previous made a successful sneak attack against that creature type, up to your proficiency modifier. For humanoids, you must make sneak attacks against each different humanoid subtype.

Learn from your Friends

Starting at 3rd level, you start to write down what your friends do to learn from them. Every time an ally succeeds at a Intelligence (Arcana), Wisdom (Religion), or Intelligence (Nature) check, note that they succeeded. When you attempt a Intelligence (Arcana), Wisdom (Religion), or Intelligence (Nature) check, gain a bonus to that check equal to the number of times you have previously observed a successful check, up to half your proficiency modifier.

Useful Observation

Starting at 9th level, you start to apply what you see quickly. Once per day, when you are the subject of an effect or spell from a creature that requires a save and you succeed, you can choose to learn that effect or spell. Before you take a long rest, you can use that spell or effect once. You regain this ability after a long rest.

Success Breed Knowledge

Starting at 13th level, you begin to learn from all the attempts on your life. Every time you succeeds at a save, note your success for that agility score. When you attempt a save in the future for the specific ability score, gain a bonus to that save equal to the number of times you have previously succeeded on that save, up to half your proficiency modifier

Knowledge Pool

When you reach 17th level, you can use your useful observation ability up to three times each time choosing different spells or effects.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 5-3-21 Path of the Savant Barbarian Primal Path for DnD 5e

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Knowledge is dangerous! Especially when don’t know what you are doing!

Path of the Savant

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You’ve learned… enough. The wizard taught you a some things and some things took. Not much, but some. You got you a book, you got you some learning, and know you gonna hit people with both!

Rage Casting

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you get a spellbook with two wizard cantrips. When you start to rage, you can stare at the book for a bit, cram a spell in your brain and you go hog wild. As a bonus action while raging, you can cast that cantrip. The DC for any save is based on your Constitution and spell attacks are made using your Constitution modifier. When your rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion as your head hurts. You can copy new spells into your spellbook as a wizard normally does.

Magic Learning

Beginning at 6th level, you gain proficiency in Arcana and History. You also gain detect magic into your spellbook and can cast that spell as normal without being in a rage.

Mindless Magic

Beginning at 10th level, while raging you gain advantage on saving throws against magic spells and effects as your heightened understanding of magic in your rage state lets you see the flow of magic.

Magic Mastery

Starting at 14th level, you gain the ability to cast 1st level wizard spells and can copy two into your spellbook when you get this ability. When you rage you can choose to learn a 1st level spell instead of a cantrip. If you do, you can cast that spell as a bonus action, but you gain two levels of exhaustion when the rage ends instead of one.

Thoughts?