You know who’s awesome? IDW Games! They’ve given me a copy of Machi Koro base game to give away! Want an awesome,light, quick game? Well, click the link below, follows some awesome people on twitter, and on 4-30-15 we’ll see who wins! Good luck!
Author: fineyoungmisanthrope
Daily Punch 4-6-15 Empowered Healing feat for Pathfinder
Let’s make something for Pathfinder! How about the ability to super charge some healing?
Empowered Healing
You can increase the power of your spells, but only for healing.
Prerequisite: Empower Spell feat
Benefit: When you prepare spells for the day, you may choose a number of spells equal to your spell casting ability modifier that are of the conjuration(healing) school. All variable, numeric effects of an empowered healing spell are increased by half including bonuses to those dice rolls.
Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are spells without random variables.
Level Increase: +1 (an empowered healing spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.)
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 4-3-15 Two-Two Fast program for Shadowrun 5e
Can’t be in the right place at the right time? Too many drones to run in all at once? Let’s fix that up!
Two-Two Fast
This program splits your consciousness into two and must be run on a RCC. When you run this program, you effectively pilot two drones at once. If an action causes you to roll dice, you must split your total dice pool between the two drones as equally as possible, including all dice bonuses and penalties for being in the matrix. However, this program is mildly addictive and exposure necessitates the same addiction test as BTL chips for your character.
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 4-2-15 Jet Ax for Shadowrun 5e
I recently rewatched the the Super Mario Bros. movie. While it might be somewhat painful, it also wasn’t as bad as I expected! I did get one idea from that movie as I watched. Let’s make a combat ax a slightly better choice!
| Acc | Reach | Damage | AP | AVAIL | Cost | |
| Jet Ax | 5 or 4 | 2 | (Str+7) P or (Str x 2 +7) P | -3 or -6 | 12F | 10,000Y |
| AVAIL | Cost | |
| Gas Canister | 10R | 50Y |
Jet Ax:Where would your Neo Viking be without an ax that that has it’s own cyber-linked gasjet? This ax can be used as a regular ax that with an accuracy of 5, AP -3, while doing (STR+7)P damage. However, as a complex action using a wireless smartlink, a canister of CO2 can be fired shooting the ax ahead at an impressive speed using the better stats of the weapon. Each canister has five charges before it must be replaced as a complex action.
Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Princes of the Apocalypse
Product– Princes of the Apocalypse
System– DnD 5th Edition
Producer– Wizards of the Coast
TL; DR– Good, but I left feeling hungry! 85%
Basics– The elements are back! Around the town of Red Larch, monsters and evil are stirring. Horrible elemental forces are advancing on civilization, and the heroes are the only ones who stand in their way. Can you stop the elemental cults before they summon the elemental evil?
Mechanics or Crunch-This book adds a fair bit to the DnD 5e setting, but what’s here is less than I expected. Overall it’s all well done, but I just want more. The player’s companion online add-on was well done, but that had more options than this book. The monsters and the story all have well done mechanics, but again, I wanted more. I wanted new third level paths for a few classes. I felt at least the cleric should have gotten four new domains and given the GM new tools to add evil elemental mad priests to the world, but that wasn’t added. Clerics don’t even get new spells in this book! What is here is great, but the book feels a bit like leaving hungry after a meal. 4/5
Theme or Fluff- I love the Forgotten Realms, so it’s good to see any more information about that world! The story itself is well done, and provides the players with some great side trips for different adventures across the valley where the story takes place. Even more interesting, some of the previous settings like Dark Sun get some support by providing the GM with Dark Sun information if you wanted to run this adventure there. As a story, this adventure really hits its stride. 5/5
Execution– I don’t really like how WotC is setting up their adventures lately. I feel the descriptions of the rooms bury the lead when it comes to monsters and other descriptions of locations. Also, this book has a lot of information, but it’s somewhat arranged in a difficult to follow layout. The campaign starts at 1st level, but that section before the real adventure is after the start of the campaign, so as a GM of a low level party, I have to flip all over the book. It’s annoying. Also, some of the maps are in different orientations, so unless you notice the compass rose, you’re going to spend a few minutes confused to why things to the north suddenly moved to the south! It’s nothing game shattering, but some of the layout and arrangement choices for the book make this not as enjoyable as it could have been. 3.75/5
Summary– Let me start by saying, I’m just happy to see more D&D products out there! This book is a great continuation of the Forgotten Realms story calling back to some of the most iconic D&D adventures ever written. I also enjoy that other settings are supported by this book, as some of those settings haven’t gotten as much love lately as I’d like. However, this book didn’t deliver as much I hoped. The play section contents less information than the free online player PDF. Also, I would have really liked a few new class additions to really drive home the elemental nature of this story. Furthermore, the execution of this book, while not bad, makes this adventure somewhat hard to read and run. This isn’t a horrible book by any means, but this isn’t as great as the core three books. If you want a great adventure, this is worth it. But if you want some good additions to DnD 5e as a whole, you will be somewhat disappointed. 85%
Daily Punch 4-1-15 Face Strike for DnD 5e
I know you can grant advantage to a friend as an action, but what if you could do it as part of a strike?
Face Strike
You go for the face to not only cause pain, but to distract your foes for your friends. Gain the following benefits:
- Increase your dexterity or strength by 1 to a maximum of 20.
- When you make an attack with a weapon, you can take a -5 to the attack roll. If you do and the attack hits, you damage the creature as normal, but the next ally to attack the target has advantage.
Thoughts?
Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Splendor
Product– Splendor
Producer-Asmodee
Price– $40 here http://www.amazon.com/Asmodee-SCSPL01-Splendor-Board-Game/dp/B00IZEUFIA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428287594&sr=8-1&keywords=splendor
Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 45 minutes (2-4 players)
Type-Euro
Depth-Light
TL; DR– Excellent game with no story. 79%
Basics-Time to head to the mines! In Splendor, you play a gem merchant trading gems to gather mines while trying to impress the nobility. At the beginning of the game, a number of noble characters are drawn equal to the number of players plus one. Then, three decks of cards are shuffled, and three cards from each deck are displayed. These decks all have different gems in them with one decking having cheap gems worth little to no points, another with middle value gems it in, and the final deck having the most expensive and highest point gems in it. Below the gem decks are placed poker chips with the five different kinds of gems on them. Each turn, players take actions to gather gem tokens or spend gem tokens to buy gem cards. Each gem card has a cost in other gems on it. The cheapest gems normally require between three and five gems, while the most expensive gems requiring over 10 gems. On a players turn, a player can take one of four actions: gather three different gem chips, gather two gem chips of the same type if four gems of the same type are available, reserve a card by placing it face down in front of the player and taking a gold (wild card) token, and finally spending gem tokens to buy a gem card from reserve or from the available cards. When a gem car is purchased, another is drawn from the deck. This game has an engine building component as each gem card purchased has a gem on it. Any purchased gem cards can be used in place of a gem token when purchasing another gem card on a one-for-one basis without having to discard or return the card. Thus, building up your gem cards makes it easier to buy gems in the future. Some gem cards have points on them, which are added to your point total. Also, each noble drawn at the start of the game has a number of different gem types and amounts on them. When you have that same number of gems and types of gems as the noble, you get that noble and their points for free on your turn. When one player gets 15 points, play continues until every player has an equal number of rounds. Then the player with the most points is the best gem merchant and is the winner!
Mechanics– This is where Splendor absolutely excels. Splendor’s easy to master mechanics make the game a breeze for players of any age. The game’s four actions are quick while still giving you enough meat of the game to think about what you’re going to do next and the engine you’re going to build. It’s fast, fun, and brilliant. 5/5
Theme– And here is where Splendor fails. The game doesn’t really have a story to build on. I didn’t feel like a gemologist trading gems as I moved up the international mineral ladder to conquer my opponents. I feel like a guy sitting around a table trading poker chips as I build a card gathering engine. The saving grace for the theme of this game is the art and execution. The art is nice, adding a bit of environment to the game while the substantial poker chips do add a bit of tactile feeling to the game. If you want a strong story in your games, you need to look elsewhere! Honestly, simply adding some more story in the rules would have made the theme stand out even more. 1/5
Instructions– The rules to this game are amazingly well done. The rules are less than two pages, front and back. It’s clear and concise while still having pictures to help with game play. These are rules you can read in less than three minutes and get playing in five. Well done! 5/5
Execution– I know the execution of this game is controversial with the battle lines drawn over the poker chips. I’m in the camp where I mostly like the poker chips. These are not the standard cheap-o plastic discs with some stickers. These are heavy duty, clay poker chips. I like game components with some heft, and this game delivers. Also the cards are nice, but they are a bit flimsy. I’d like them to be a bit harder card stock. The art is well done with great drawings of historical figures as well as mines from all over the world. Even the box has nice dividers that really help package the game. Overall, this game is well executed with only a few things I’d like to see changed. 4.75/5
Summary– This is a game where the score is not the great predictor of enjoyment. I really enjoy this game and have gotten a ton of plays in. But, if you need a story in your game for the most enjoyment, then this is one you want to pass by. I don’t always need a story, but that part of a game does draw me in more. However, if you just want some excellent mechanics then this is your game. It’s fast, fun, and thought provoking. Building the perfect gem gathering engine in the shortest amount of time is always a blast! I can’t recommend this game to everyone, but if you want a fast-paced, quick, easy to lean Eurogame, then this is the game to get. 79%
Daily Punch 3-31-14 Stunning Blow feat for DnD 5e
How about being able to ring someones bell in DnD 5e?
Bell Ringer
You have a mighty swing when you put your back into it. Gain the following:
- Increase your strength or dexterity by 1 to a maximum of 20.
- When you make a melee attack, you may take a -5 penalty on the roll. If you do take a penalty and you hit the target, the target must make a Constitution saving throw with the DC equal to 8 + you strength or dexterity bonus plus your proficiency bonus or be stunned for one round.
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 3-30-15 Personal Problems positive quality for Shadowrun 5e
I have a few ideas for my character, and I want to take more then the 25 karma worth of problems. Sure I can roleplay it, but let’s make it official and give me some starting karma for it!
Personal Problems
Cost: 5 karma
You’re pretty beat to heck. For everything you got going for you, you’ve got two that make it worse! You can take up to an extra 25 karma worth of negative qualities, and instantly gain that much karma.
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 3-27-15 Astral Burnout negative quality for Shadowrun 5e
I have a character that I want to be burned by magic so bad, he’s not magical. Let’s make that happen in Shadowrun 5e.
Astral Burnout
Bonus: 20 karma
Magic is fickle. Sometimes people do something to make it more so. Some get amazing powers, while some get this. You now count as dual natured for magic. You gain none of the magical benefits to being dual natured, but all the negative effects of dual natured creatures now apply. You do not gain the ability to enter the astral plain fully or the ability to persevere astrally from this quality, but other effects may still give you those abilities.
Thoughts?
Throat Punch Games 