maybe Matt Colville that drank a bit too much coffee...

He's the hopped up 3 AM Matt

He must know this since it seems to be the exact reason he's invested the time to create his channel and his videos. So glad that he made the decision to bring his philosophy on GMing to UKposts!

video monkey omg im dying hahaha

True…but the energy is psychotic. 😂

Yeah that's not me at all. Not me at all...

@@DeficientMaster "Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game." I have suffered this old maxim as DM and I have being guilty of it as a player.

I once made a clown and chose all his sorcerer spells based on how easily I could use them to replicate clown gags (Shocking Grasp joy buzzer, Blindness pies to the face, etc...)

@@derricgreene Those are easily the best kinds of characters, both as a player and as a DM. I once played a bard that was just a nonmagical dude who worked as a personal trainer in a gym, so all of his "spells" were just training tips and motivational encouragement, maybe some energy supplements. Outright the most fun character I've ever played, no question.

I'm not quite a full-on optimizer, though at the same time Hexadin is basically my favorite build both because of its power (Being able to use my Casting Stat as my Stabbing Stat is kinda crazy) and because I am a complete slut for spellsword gish type builds and it really just handed me everything I could ever want on a platter. Edit: Which, Admittedly. That's a problem that I'm not sure how to handle it. If my magical heroic power fantasy is best brought out by a dumb optimized build, then how do I NOT do something stupid with it?

I'm really curious now! How did the player play his Dragonborn wizard? I'm curious to hear some anecdotes and stories!

​@@cubescihist6737I'm playing a Githyanki abjuration wizard no multiclass and it works well. Armor and swords are enough to make him decent on the front lines and magic just enhances the experience. The arcane ward makes it so keeping concentration spells up easy. But most builds can be viable if you put a little time and energy into it

This resonates. A little over a year ago I got invited into a (5e) D&D group via a mutual friend. I wasn't new to TTRPGs (my first session was in '89, and I gamed extensively through high school, college, and into the early 2000s - but in all that time I'd never actually played D&D. I was joining a campaign that had already started, so my character didn't appear until episode (session) 10. I really had no idea what I wanted to play, but I found out what everyone else was playing and tried to slot into a relative void in class/abilities. Despite there already being a rogue in the party, one of the first and "stupidest" concepts that popped into my head when looking through the options was a Swashbuckler (soon to be) ex crew member on a pirate ship who probably had a higher opinion of her own notoriety than anyone else in the world. She also happened to be a Centaur, and as a Rogue, also had *no* proficiency in stealth. Or Sleight of Hand, or most of the other typical "sneaky Rogue" skills you'd commonly expect. At best she had middling combat skills, but where she truly excelled was in things like Perception, Persuasion, Intimidation, and Deception. Her approach was more, "Why do all the work when I can get someone else to do it for me?" She was, essentially, more like a Bard than a Rogue, but the idea of a semi-incompetent "seahorse" amused me greatly. Despite that, I initially discarded the idea because it was "too silly", and felt like I had some weird "responsibility" to bring a more useful character to the table. She wouldn't go away though, she stuck around in my mind and no other more practical concept I could come up with connected with me as a player nearly as much, so in the end I decided to go for it. She's been an absolute blast to play, and for the longest time kept most of the other players guessing and trying to figure out whether she was a total idiot, or actually *really* amazingly skilled and just hiding it. We're 52 sessions in now and only recently have they truly started to figure her out. She's impulsive, at times flighty, reward oriented - except when to everyone's surprise - she's not. On a random whim one session (after the party seemed to find themselves surrounded by fire after each major battle) she started carrying bags of marshmallows around with her, and she's been passing them out to random people she meets as the party makes its way across the game world. It was only when she recently reached level 9 that she acquired proficiency in stealth, after being absolutely terrible at it up to this point. The in-game joke is that she *finally* realized that just because she can't see them, doesn't mean they can't see her. She constantly refers to the group's Ranger (who seems to be obsessed with trees) as, ""The weirdest Druid I've ever seen." It's something we've all just had fun with. She's so far from an optimized build it's borderline criminal by today's gaming standards, but she's SO MUCH FUN. Not just for me, but for everyone else in the party as well, because when she runs off and does something stupid we all (including myself) only know it's either going to be an absolute disaster, or completely awesome - but it's going to be interesting either way, and that helps drive a LOT of RP. Combat-wise, yes, she's fallen into a bit of a rut, but I've viewed that as playing more to her strengths than anything else. She has a shortbow for range, but with her increased speed (50), her bread and butter is, and always has been, hit and run tactics, where she'll close to melee range, attack with her rapier, and then dash out of range again before they can counterattack. But even then, she'll be creative as needed - recently when fighting a Big Bad in a blinding cloud, she pulled the necklace of fireballs with its two remaining charges off of her neck and threw it to the ground in front of her, where she could hear the target but not see it. Anyway, I'm rambling - but YES! "unconventional builds" really are the most fun, IME. Steamrolling everything with a perfectly planned and optimized build is fun for a little while, but gets stale quickly. I love that even I have no idea how what my character does next will pan out. Heck, half the time as a player I find myself saying, "This is incredibly stupid and is probably gonna get me killed, but it's what she'd do right now", and that has resulted in some of the most tense and emotional and memorable moments in the campaign. Despite all of her flaws, or more precisely *because* of them - she's the best character I've ever made or played in all my years of tabletop gaming. The only thing she's optimized for is fun - and that was the result of taking a "silly concept" and running with it, throwing all planning to the wind, and letting the game and story drive her growth and skill choices as she gains levels. It's never about choosing "what's best mechanically", it's about "given these options and her experiences, what would she do?"

Muscle wizard is near the top of the list of things I want to play if I ever get out of the DM chair. The concept is a farmer's son who just happens to be maaaaaybe the smartest kid in a small community, which isn't saying much, but the resident hedge wizard needed an assistant and at least one parent was willing to let their son hang out with the weirdo.

@@Flyingbrickyard wow! That’s a fun ramble! It’s obvious you’re really enjoying your goofy character. Imperfect characters have so much more …character. More memorable and engaging. :) I especially felt this quote of yours: "This is incredibly stupid and is probably gonna get me killed, but it's what she'd do right now.” Our muscle wizard is the 10 yr old son of other players, so when his character approached an obvious trap with gold as bait, everyone yelled, “NOOOOOO! Timmy, DONT DO THAT! Come on! If you want to play, you have to remember you’re part of a team!” etc. Then he pointed to the (often under utilized) “Flaws” section of his character sheet, where he had written, “would do anything for gold.” I had to stop the uproar (mostly from his parents and older sister who interpreted his actions as “typical Timmy” bullshit) to commend the kid and say, “no he’s right! And it’s awesome that he knows his character that well!” So the trap is sprung. Indiana Jones bolder accelerates toward him. No where to hide, he strikes a strong man pose to catch the massive rock. Rolled 1. Flattened. DM has the death talk, and explains death saving throws. Rolled 20. Muscle wizard re-inflates like Wiley Coyote, and hops back on his feet lmao All said and done, DM awards inspiration to Timmy for playing his character well. 😂 I doubt we’ll forget that, especially Timmy!

echoing the "lonely fun" perspective! i'm a newer player that hasn't gotten many chances to actually play the game at a table and so most of my time engaging with this hobby that i've fallen really quickly in love with has been character creation. i felt really called out by the opening of the video because i've been so desperate to find a group to play with i've been making characters almost non-stop to quell the itch, and i already know they'll likely never see the light of day. what hurts even more is getting all these ideas for character "builds" but never feeling quite satisfied with them because they're made in a vacuum; there's no world to go by and no campaign to attune them to, so if anything they end up feeling flat

You make a good point about builds being a way for players to engage away from the table. It’s sort of a chicken-and-the-egg thing with relation to content aimed at players. There are LOADS of UKposts videos, for instance, about the myriad ways you can improve your DMing skills, but scant content about being a better player. It’s an area ripe for exploring, I think, but we’d have to look at the engagement numbers. There are so many topics - how to support your fellow players, in game ways to show your appreciation for all of your DM’s hard work, how to engage with the campaign world, how to build a backstory that supports play at the table, roleplaying tips to make your character stand out, etc.

yep and their are even some dms that take away your ability to make your backstory or ignore it completely so the only things you have is combat growth

Great take also can we get rid of the term “ lonely fun” I used have so much fun reading or playing video games by myself or UKposts or whatever I just hate that term it makes it feel like it’s a less valid form of fun.

I'm old school and from the 1E years. Lonely fun. I would call my existence back then as a forever DM exactly that. I grew to love my lonely fun. It was lonely though. Even if it was fun and frustrating and exhausting and wore my creativity down to exhaustion. Game time as a forever DM after weeks of lonely fun? It NEVER turned out as I thought it would. The dice disagreed with me. The players thought of stuff I hadn't expected. The 1E set was very explicit in many of the rules and there were MANY taboos to sidestep or keep holy. Halfling wizard? Forgetaboutit. 15 level Elf Magic-User? No way. Humans: Dual class. Demihumans: multiclass. That was carved into stone.

Oh wow you're like... a REAL UKpostsr.

@@DeficientMasterand yet you’re still better at it after like 3 months!! 😂😂

@@DeficientMaster Brizzy is amazing 🥳✨

people would hear someone speak earnestly and from the heart and think "wow, he's a fantastic entertainer, i bet he has tons of experience acting"

​@@DeficientMasteryou're so good that I bit my hand a few times.

I'm still getting only, "I yuck your yum," just with good presentation and editing; he still talks down to people. I actually quite admire the OSR playstyle and I understand how it turns a _lack_ of rules into agency; the only thing stopping me from getting into it is OSR _gamers._ Some of them seem to be under the impression that modern games with intricate buildcraft are some sort of anomalous quicksand into which players got stuck in by accident, and if only they could pull these victims free they'd all instantly understand _true_ roleplaying.

@@ikaemos ever thought that maybe they were right and you were wrong ? Just asking for a friend... (-; 🎯

Imagine Playing some kind of Role in this Game

@@ikaemos Yeah, his humor can be abrasive, but he at least provides reasons why he thinks the way he does. I kid you not, the 7 or 8 times I’ve asked people why they don’t like min-maxing, they’ve all said, “because it’s a role playing game.” No elaboration at all. At least DM makes points, even if it’s with snark lol.

This was me as Meen Meen Nups. "You're a Gungan Jedi", was all I needed at the time. Then I play a few more sessions and look up all the listed Force powers and Lightsaber related feats and now I'm using Force Slam and Force Lightening every chance I get.

Basic Fantasy is an amazing game. I can not recommend it enough!

My suggestion is a different game entirely, instead of just a different iteration of D&D. Chronicles of Darkness, Blades in the Dark, Dogs in the Vineyard, Shadowrun Anarchy, something like that.

​@@AspelShuyinsome people would rather stick to a setting or aesthetic though, and different games do different things in that regard.

I second Basic Fantasy. I just started playing through the Morgansfort adventure with my wife and kids on Sunday and had a blast. I'm not a fan of D&D (specifically the IP) and generally prefer Savage Worlds as my go-to RPG, but BF seemed simple enough to play and I had a blast running my family through the first couple rooms of the Olde Island Fortress. I think my favorite thing about it is that all the players need to choose are their race, class, and equipment and they're ready to dive into the dungeon. I supplemented with a few additional races and classes, then threw them into the adventure.

I've played a few sessions of it, and honestly, while I dislike the system (due to it sharing the bones of other old school games), I did at least appreciate that I could ignore the parts I didn't like unless they were specifically relevant. My suggestion in this camp is actually Castles and Crusades, as it was just inherently more fun for me due to feeling like there was more feedback between the game and my character's abilities

Same. This speaks to me lol

For real, it's so cathartic. Switching away from D&D and similar systems in favor of more narrative ones recently has been a revelation.

Ditto, dude. I literally posted this on Reddit and got roasted. But damn, this is so well explained compared to me!

Same! Honestly, I didn’t even fully understand my feelings on this until this video. Now understanding them, I am going to try something new: I am going to get a group of players together, tell them about the world(its magic, technology, gods, etc), and tell them to have a very good understanding of who their character is. I will give them each 6d6s, and then whenever they need to roll, what they are doing is described, and then they determine how many dice to roll, coresponding to how good they think their character is at that task. The rest of the table, and especially the GM, is there to double check them, and make sure they are consistent. The GM sets a difficulty for the action by determining the “depth” and “width” of the task. The depth is the number that a die has to roll above to succeed, and the width is the number of dice that have to succeed for the player to succeed. I think this needs a good deal of maturity and experience from the players and the GM, but it forces players to think outside the box because there is no box to think inside of. It also allows for players to tell stories with their characters rolls by adjusting(usually subconsciously) the number of dice they roll for certain actions(with GM supervision). I don’t know if it will work well, but it seems to address both my problems with the system limiting player creativity and the players limited ability to affect the dice to tell their story.

If you don't play dnd then what other systems do you try? I wanna get into something new

There is something immensely satisfying in creating a character whose toolkit reinforces their story and concept. When your abilities allow you to demonstrate the core ideas of the character mechanically and thematically. Wonderful stuff.

The stupidest thing about builds is they are so theoretical and don't take into account that in order for your power to 'really COME ONLINE' at level 12 you'll have to be playing a game for maybe a year+ with a set of mechanics you have no real attachment to and half functional power combos that won't do the cool thing you want them to do for another 6 months, that's the main reason I've seen these build-monkey types get incredibly bored. They didn't come up with it themselves, they just followed a guide online and they barely understand it

Optimised build videos are to role Play what painting by numbers is to art.

​@@PlotsAndPoints this is why I like complexity in character creation (haven't played yet but Pathfinder seems good for it). Otherwise, I like a simpler, lighter rule set.

Y'all need to realize that other, less shitty RPGs exist.

@@robertschroeder9858 Pathfinder is not nearly as complex as people make it out to be or as crunchy (at least 2e); it just has a lot more options. This _can_ be crunchy optimization but it's far more built around being able to express a character in so many ways. It's great.

That all depends, but in games where there has been 0 combat, I've done everything from spend 4-5 hours in a near real-time conversation with NPCs (usually at important parts, like talking to a ghost for a quest, or interrogating the BBEGs right hand man.) to doing weeks of downtime and RPing multiple small scenes with every party member doing something different. It could also be skill challenges, like a whole puzzle/trap dungeon, or chasing down, tracking and trying to capture a bounty.

What whappened to the whole?

I didn’t even know combat was required in dnd till my third time playing. I thought it was a role playing game which could have action.

The simplest answer here is more encounters. If each encounter is taking 45 minutes to an hour, imagine all the stuff you could get done if each encounter only took 5 to 10 minutes.

There's this thing called role play. My current group I DM just had their first combat in 4 sessions. Plenty of dice were rolled in each session but it wasn't focused on fighting, it was focused on being in the world and figuring shit out as their characters.

Yeah, there's a difference in trying to make THE BEST CHARACTER EVER and just having a specific vision in mind and trying to do that vision particularly well. In a current game, I'm playing a pugilist boxer/wrestler whose also a tank. Obviously I want to pick feats to be a good tank because my character is supposed to BE a good tank, but it's also important to remember people aren't defined by one thing so she has stuff unrelated to tanking to round her out.

@@amelialonelyfart8848 The pugilist class by Benjamin Huffman? Thats one of my absolute favorites! Played the dog subclass one time and had a lot of fun.

Literally the type of character I've been working on, tanky grappler/ pugulist that I'm focusing solely on that fighting style, which I worked into his BG. And the main thing I love about my dm is that he allows homebrew stuff, like I usually enjoy perusing the dnd 5e feat wiki to find specific types of feats that can make my character both a beast in combat but also fun for role play or passive buffs like a +5 on passive perception bc he's been on the run for decades and got a habit of being more paranoid type of thing

This is funny, because I've seen the exact opposite complaint within MMO forums about Theme based class design verses role optimization based class design. For those wondering, most of its coming from Guildwars 2. "E-spec sucks because other E-spec does the same thing with less steps". And it got worse over time as more of the old WoW/WoW-clone player base made their way into game, along with some of the Ex-Blizzard Raid designers. Every class in the game is pretty flexible from a role perspective, but Raids ended up codifying roles build metas, due to several buffs that started out unique, but ended up being distributed to each class. So in an ironic twist, by giving each class access to similar group buffs, it ended up making specific classes "better" at the job, and causing alternatives to be ignored 90% of the time. It ignores so much of what the game does well, because Raids are too focused on total DPS output; which in turn causes the meta to get hyper fixated on things that boost DPS metrics. And to break that habit, you'd have to design class specific side mechanics for the raids..... which eventually get broken by players figuring out a design flaw, or the class itself changing in a balance pass. I can't express how sad this makes me, because when the game first added formal raids 2 years into its life, the singular meta Tank build came out of the Mesmer, which is famously a top PvP duelist class, due to strong 1v1 capabilities. It didn't even need a healer to back it up, since it just avoided taking damage. But whats most insane, and why I love bringing it up, is that the Chronomancer E-Spec (designed and added specifically for Raids), exposed a design flaw in conventional Raid Comps that enabled 1 Chrono Mesmer to compress 3 roles into one build. Boss Tanking, Group invulnerability (aka Panic button), and group DPS increase by way of 2 AOE buffs, Quickness (Attack Speed) and Alacrity (Cool down reduction). It was supposed to be a support build that only really added Alac and Quickness; but since the core trinity designs demand a Tank to control the boss, it makes sense the class that was already good at avoiding damage in 1v1 scenarios would be a competent tank.

@@freelancerthe2561 I mostly agree tbh. As much as I like unique builds, I very much prefer most of your abilities come from a central class or other defining set of features. I drastically prefer TTRPGs with classes (and especially lots of classes) because it makes your character unique and gives them a niche. I think character expression works best when a character falls under the banner of a class while having some variation under it (which is something 5E actually does really well with its subclass system). It’s also a reason why the new edition isn’t looking very promising, since they’re marginalizing all the classes and giving them copy paste features like extra skill proficiencies and whatever the hell the weapon mastery system is.

I don’t mean this perjoratively but you really might just have more fun playing a war game. Some of them have continuing narrative for a whole war, and you can make a whole backstory for your army. You’ll know *for sure* that your opponent has the same goals as you for the session even if you make a backstory and they dont

​​@@andrewenderfrost8161and I'd reply that :not everyone wants to deal with an army , some people want the fantasy of the skill focused single character who is an expert due to the math elements ...the idea it's got to be a war game who fulfills this role is simplifying the views of ops /others and forgetting not everyone wants to play pvp but pve with ever increasing odds. I say this as someone who's very much into the T'au but not into the fact that the meta of war games have them focused to units I don't like at all and that I have to pay or print in order to use instead of *Puts down a single figure* here's my fire caste warrior who's stuck in a crazy situation where he has to get back to his sept after accidentally getting trapped on ship that got shot through the warp to the other side of the galaxy from T'au space, I'm here with a sister of battle, a guardsman who was about to be up for inquisitor and a mechanicus...and did I mention the system we find ourselves in is one of mostly Ork and Tyraids battling with some Eldar presence? Mind you that's my custom hack of Rogue Trader with a touch of Only War

​@@andrewenderfrost8161 not really the same thing as a roleplaying game tho, as adjacent as it may be

@@andrewenderfrost8161 being the general of an army isn’t quite the same as being a individual that has to deal with conflict in a tighter scale.

I'll do you one better- Literally just play something else. Since 3.5ed D&D _specifically_ has encouraged this sort of thing. Want to avoid it? Play literally any other RPG (that isn't Pathfinder) and go ham.

Love it. This is why you're one of the girls.

Building on this for anyone else who's scrolling for game recommendations. Most of what I've listed below is what I have laying immediately around me, can be had for free or very little to get, but please consider supporting these creators. Shadowdark: 5e "inspired" old-school gameplay. Pretty hard NOT to know about this one at this time Cairn, Runecairn: The first is generic, the second is dark-souls and norse-inspired. Both are 3-stat booklet games that offer a LOT of room for creativity. Liminal Horror: Modern/scifi/horror gameset. 3 stats and no waiting. Mothership: 4 stats, 3 saves, sci fi horror. There is a massive market of community-made stories, settings, adventures, etc. and most are two-sided, trifold adventures that can be read in one bathroom break.

I will also add the Weird West TTRPG, GUN. Very different from D&D, but brings a lot of interesting and fairly unique mechanics. GUN is also rather fast to start, as little prep is needed for each session, and character creation is largely randomized by design.

Dragonbane is so good, just a lighter DnD that encourages creativity.

I would recommend the old D6 system (D6 Fantasy/Sci-fi/Adventure, Star Wars D6) Also, running a TinyD6 game with my kids now, which is super-simple but also helps them with the "me-sa can do ANYTHING?!" 😁

My experience is the same. I think playing the tropes is dope, because I haven't got to experience it for myself yet. A Tiefling, an Aarakocra, and a Water Genasi walk into a bar. No, this isn't a joke, this is session one of a save-the-world 5e game. But your fun is valid. You play however you want.

@@DeficientMaster I don't fault anyone btw. My first character was literally just Guts from Berserk because I thought that would be fun. Turns out, playing a character someone else wrote adds a lot of limits and restrictions if you're trying to play that character accurately. What I thought I wanted wasn't actually what I wanted. My first Level 0 mud farmer in a DCC funnel that I played like a stolen car was much more fun. That guy ended up with a tentacle leg and evil spells. Guts couldn't do that (if you care about Guts at all).

Oh boy this conversation. "When everything is special, nothing is special." Some of my players want to play a drow. When they come to me with that, I ask them one question: "Do you want the average NPC to hate or fear you?" Its gonna be a thing. Make it a thing. Its the trope. Tropes are good. Exceptions are the exception. The problem is that the game assumes that "you are an exceptional being". I think that is a very, very big mistake. Especially if you start at level 1.

@monkeibusiness Exactly. This is why I also only let my players start with a backstory that is no more than 3 bullet points that can fit on a single index card. The story we are about to share should be the defining moments in this character's life. If you show up with an epic backstory full of thwarting other world-ending threats, there's a chance that the story of the game will pale in comparison. Also, a big backstory sets an expectation for a PC character arc, rather than just letting one organically happen. So when it doesn't happen, or feels like a tacked on side quest, the player feels slighted. With my index card system, I do allow the players to add backstory bullet points periodically, so it increases the chance that it will actually be relevant to the current game. Instead of a rival from your past created in a vacuum, now the rival from your past is the NPC the party meets in the tavern, and it adds to the overall verisimilitude.

@@iansharp1543 Thats a nice approach. Im gonna steal that.

My laptop was begging for the coup de grâce. The roll as a fail state is exactly what I look for anymore. I still play around with the modern systems because I play these games with friends first and foremost & I'm not too high and mighty to play what they want, but when you're playing at my table, we're playing a game that involves conversing with a human being within the game's fiction 1st and looking at our character sheets for what to roll 2nd.

You two are the most helpful dnd youtubers for me right now. Love you

@@DeficientMaster I absolutely agree that some systems (especially D&D 5e) can be extremely restrictive. That said, I've found myself a bit frustrated with the OSR approach of rolls as a failure state: I could not really enjoy the character I was playing. Our characters "won", but I realized I didn't actually care about them. I'll explain: the few times that I played OSR, I put myself into the practical, creative mindset that is expected for that type of play, to think outside your character sheet and so forth. And it was effective. We did come out on top. We did solve problems. We did "win" the scenario. But I always felt that I did so by using my own skill as a player and nothing that was particularly unique about the character I rolled, so it didn't really matter who they were. You might say that should not matter: every character is unique, it depends on how you roleplay. And it would be true. But I'm talking more from a gameplay perspective: if I always have to think outside the box, then it doesn't matter what's inside the box, so I will always approach the game in the same way independently on what is inside the box. And at that point, no character feels unique, or something I can look at and say "wow, I can't wait to play as that and tackle the game from this very unique perspective". Because yeah, I can roleplay whatever character I'm playing as. But let's not kid ourselves: a lot of the time spent playing any RPG will be spend staring at problems and trying to think of solutions to go around it. If character skills are relevant, your character will inform how you can approach a problem. If they are too relevant, they will give you only one good way to approach a problem, which is bad. Personally, I'd like to strike a balance between open systems where everything is up to the imagination and closed system with codified rules for everything, a game that is open and where rules can force you to focus on some areas where your character is good at, but at the same time the rules should give you tools that you can play with in ways that might not have been obvious or that you otherwise would not have assumed your character would be able to do.

could you expand on/give examples of that hero point system? i'm interested in using this for my own home campaigns!!

Sounds to me a lot like "FATE" points. :)

Hmm I like the first idea, I guess for a city campaign the characters would only be able to rest where and when it made sense and was safe to do so. Not sure if this is the same thing, but this is from page 264 of the DMG. A player can spend a hero point whenever he or she makes an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw. The player can spend the hero point after the roll is made but before any of its results are applied. Spending the hero point allows the player to roll a d6 and add it to the d20, possibly turning a failure into a success. A player can spend only 1 hero point per roll. The second part also reminds me of the 5e variant rule called "Plot Points" on page 269 of the dmg.

@@vangandur3629 oh yeah good point! I tried out fate as a player ages ago, super cool system

@@FringeFinder I’ve defo not seen those rules thanks for pointing that out! I will have to crack out my dusty dmg and see if there are some cool improvements I can make to the way I’m using hero points in my game

Anyone reading this comment follow this man's path to freedom. Fate Core rpg is absolutely brilliant

I rarely ever hear anything about FATE. How is it? I’ve toyed with running it every now and then.

@@surprisedchar2458 It's a very flexible and fluid system. The best way I'd describe it is "Movie Logic." The game focuses more on who and what the characters are as they do their actions. You only focus on what needs to be focused on. Compared to Fate, 5e is more of a resource management system which gets worse at higher levels for the DM to challenge.

Its called real life. Where there are rules for everything. We have limited options for success, and a great many options for failure.

Here is a tip. If your game is about something it should either have NO mechanic for that thing, or entire complex system for that thing. For example, in a game about sneaking there's no skill called "sneak". And if there is well... The game isn't about sneaking, even if it claims otherwise.

Yea dude. This channel is great. Every single video is AMAZING.

flame sword cool tho

There is exact prices for the rarity of items. Its in XGE and its not just ranges. Also flametongues aren't uncommon magic items they are rare and I know you don't play the game cause we know that the fucking Dragon wrath weapons are better. Take a flame tongue but make it radiant or force or any other dragon breath type damage and once per day allows the player to do a cone attack for basically a breath weapon damage on crit 5 damage of the type oh and +1 to +2 to +3 to hit and damage. BG3 also is more like 2014 5e than anything it plays like it. It plays like D&DNext rather than 5e proper.

@@WhyYouMadBoi My bad, they're rare not uncommon. They're still far lower rarity than they suggest. I don't play the game? I've played it since it was D&DNext- I was off by one rarity, chill. Point is- there's a lot of magic items of higher rarities that don't multiply damage. The equivalent rarity Dragon Wrath still only does 1d6+1 extra damage, plus the critical effect. That series is also more like an artifact, because of how it upgrades...

also, XGE still gives ranges, compare/contrast to PF2 which is really specific on item pricing and what level said item relates to

@@Inuvash255A 2d6 extra dmg weapon attunement rare is mid at best.

When I play in "build" type games I still look for the best choice. It's the Pathfinder in me. Send help.

The 3.5 in me says the same thing. I still try to make my build make sense to my character but... I also love just being the very best like no one ever was

As a GM I absolutely loved running Dungeon World, how it puts "fiction" before "mechanics" and also how it keeps GM on their toes by forcing an active resolution of players' failed rolls. The players though, they were like oh no where are my builds. They didn't get the point at all.

People get angry with suggesting other systems because some just don't want to play other systems. They are happy with 5e on the whole but may have one or two issues with it.

Agreed, I've been running PbtA games for a while now and they are much more fun for me as a GM. Highly recommend everyone to at least take a look at them.

@@kimitsudesu Yeah it is a very very different philosophy of play. Even as the GM it can be hard to switch over. I think it’s something the whole group has to be very intentional about.

@@tuomasronnberg5244peanut butter temple arena?

Exactly this. I don't play dnd to play an incompetent buffoon who seems to be attacking with their eyes closed. How do you reconcile designing a character that is extremely capable both in and out of combat without optimizing? When the fantasy fails to align with the character's capabilities and performance, the character kinda starts to feel like a fraud.

But you don't need to optimise everything just to be able to land attacks. And you can definitely still have fun if you don't hit anything if it fits the character. I have a storm sorcerer suffering from amnesia and who's just an average guy other than the fact that he has storm related magical abilities who has only +2 on cha and a redemption paladin who's more of a tank/support rather than someone who deals damage with a +1 on strength. Both of them are still very fun.

@@Eo-ms3kw Yeah, that's fine as long as the DM pulls their punches and doesn't run truly deadly encounters.

DCC is a blast!

You can always be a warlock mechanically without being a warlock narratively. For my hexadin I basically just flavor eldritch blast as a holy spear of light granted by their oath. I feel like people only have a problem with hex dips because of how universally good they are for certain classes. I doubt people would even care about them if they were suboptimal, but because they're optimal everyone jumps on them like they're public enemy #1, like "how dare you pick a clearly strong option, you fiend."

Nah

That's an interesting way of letting them discover the problem themselves. Let them have their fun with their "OP" builds for a bit and then wait 1-3 sessions for them to get bored. God mode is only fun for about 15 minutes.

No matter how optimized you are, it's never "God mode." If a dm wants to challenge you, you will be challenged. Optimizing for combat doesn't have to come at the cost of not optimizing for RP. You can do both at the same time. I just want to play a capable character without glaring weaknesses that are likely to end their story prematurely. If you can't fight effectively, you're not cut out to be an adventurer and would likely not have survived to level 5 realistically, especially in a particularly brutal, high combat campaign. Different things work for different campaigns. If your players roll up to Tomb of Horrors with full combat optimization, they're going to have a terrible time. But if you roll up to a combat heavy, brutal meat grinder campaign with a twig of a Bard built solely for roleplay, you're actively a detriment to your allies.

I've seen so many recommendations for Cairn here and in some of my other videos & I haven't checked it out. Definitely will though!

​@@DeficientMaster nice. Olde Swords Reign is cool too. It's got the same idea as basic fantasy - pdf is free, books printed at cost, etc, but it takes the OSR mentality and builds it on the 5e SRD. It's actually really cool and the community is really giving it a heck of a go as well.

I love Cairn, but my players got PTSD from it! We now play Olde Swords Reign, and it really hits the sweet spot. Free, and compatible (mostly) with Basic Fantasy RPG, which has an insane amount of extra content.

meanwhile d&d is harder than any of those game systems the vast majority of the time I would just refuse to run and find another group but I have that luxury

I'll give MCDM a plus for at least planting their flag and stating that it's going to be a tactical heroic fantasy. D&D wants to be everything. It was a dungeon crawler first and has now evolved to a heroic power fantasy. They're keeping the name for marketing purposes alone.

They've got the negotiation system, which might encourage players to think about encounters. I didn't back the game but Im sub to their patreon. Really interested to see what they do.

I am a Druid. I summon 8 velociraptors.

What if they want to build a completely unique "class" through their multiclassing? As in, they aren't a paladin, or a warlock, but are just using them mechanically to portray a "Mage-Knight" or "Spellsword" class totally divorced from the lore of the warlock or paladin? Basically the old, "I was always a Mage Knight in training, you just never asked."

Peeples from Amazon. Hats are LEGO.

@@DeficientMaster awesome, thanks for answering and the great videos! 😄

🤫

I like Dungeon Crawl Classics "Quest for it" mentality. It's not a hard coded rule, but more of a mentality of play. Your players want to do or get something weird/cool? Quest for it. Want to play as a dragon? Quest for it. How your DM handled your Paladin was dope.

In case anyone is wondering, he uses Peeples board game pieces, and Lego accessories to dress them up. He'll use a reusable art putty to help some accessories stay on.

@@sweatyetiTHANK YOU! Like serioulsy I was looking for those for a while now!

​@@Tomatowski No problem, friend! :)

Your fun is valid, you play however you want. I don't mind players wanting a certain option/build down the road and giving me the heads up so I can create content that would make sense narratively. It's when I tell them they leveled up and they suddenly have made a pact with a devil they haven't even named that irks me.

@@DeficientMaster 1000%. I'm the "storyteller" of my group so narrative optimization it the best for me, but I always give my DM a heads up on what I'm planning in that regard, and he makes it work :D