Shoplifter flavoured Rogue for something simpler, just going Thief subclass
1 Like
Throws sharpened Allan Keys.
And if a rogue can’t hide in an IKEA then they should just pack it in and become an npc.
2 Likes
Also those little free pencils
1 Like
The only thing I could come up with is a thief called Allen the Key but I see that’s already been mostly covered.
2 Likes
Also I was wondering whether anyone had any interest in a kobold party one (or potentially two) shot some time this summer. I ran it for a friend’s birthday last year and it was a lot of fun so I would be up to running it again some time given there’s no real effort required on my part.
It’s silly / casual and beginner friendly so no experience required.
Could do a weekday evening or weekend depending on availability.
1 Like
Saw somebody online suggesting a one shot gaje where none of the characters knows their attributes etc. Only their race and appearance, and what they want to be (rogue, fighter etc.) and needs to figure out whether they’re any good at it through play in a trial / error approach.
I.e try something difficult, roll a dice, get an 8 and still succeed- odds are you’re pretty damn good at whatever it was
2 Likes
Artificer may be a good go-to, a unionised flatpack engineer maybe. Steel Defender in the form of a mechanised chest of draws?
1 Like
D&D is a beautiful thing. Thank you everyone for the name idea.
He is a bear puppet who has spent as long as he can remember in a backroom making Billy bookcases. But despite his years of service, IKEA decide to make Djungelskog their beary mascot?! He’s not going to stand for this. He’s only small so often rides his steel defender (a Blåhaj assembled out of spare Billy shelf pins). Chef feat for IKEA cake and meatballs.
4 Likes
Yeah enjoyed this a lot. Some really awful personalities involved!
It’s a shame they didn’t do the rest of TSR’s life post-Gygax but maybe it was all just kinda dull.
1 Like
Yeah, not just a harmless buncha nerds sat around making the world a better place.
1 Like
Someone on Reddit was complaining their player wanted to make a character with at least one level in every class. Got a lot of negative pushback but actually sounded very fun to me.
Going to try it but my initial thoughts are:
Constitution becomes your dump stat with 10 as the other five need to be 13s.
Variant human feels the right way to go so you can get two 14s and also a feat which might be best as Resilient to boost Con saves? Obviously Luck is the daddy feat but often mixed for that reason.
Feel like Dex and Cha are the two best performing stats over the thirteen classes so make those 14.
Not sure what the best starting class is, maybe Paladin as them you get all armour and weapons options but leave Con as a non-proficient stat if you take resilience.
Beyond 13 not sure what the best options are as to levelling.
It really dependss, but it does sound potentially a nightmare for a DM. A fun concept build for sure but there’s absolutely a niche where it would work heavily dependent on the type of game and relationship betweeen DM and player I reckon.
For example, I wouldn’t want it in anything I was planning to run long term, nor would I entertain allowing it from a player I didn’t have previous experience playing together with to know if their play style and knowledge could pull it off smoothly.
1 Like
Finished a long story arc today that had been going with a character since the beginning of the campaign in March 2023 
Player has to leave us because schedule change and we got the resolution in just under the wire.
Feels a bit unreal we’ve been telling this story for so long. Reckon we’ve got another season at least in it, maybe two if they sidequest too much
3 Likes
It’s a very strange sort of beast based on a quick build.
I think it goes without saying a new player couldn’t create such a thing really and without experience you’d find decision paralysis a major issue in combat without keeping on top of the player.
Those are the only things that would worry me as a DM. Regardless of if it was a high level campaign or they were building it from level 1 the only other thing I’d have to make sure of was if they were okay with probably one or both of dying/failing to feel as effective in combat.
And I guess the other players would need to be experienced too to cover the variable nature.
It would be really incredible to watch them play and just do a sort Wand of Wonder to the game, always having an option to play out where the party needed a particular niche.
1 Like
So many options here but I think I’d start Fighter, then rogue first 2 levels. Get armor, fighting style (prob Defense to boost AC) and second wind, then rogue for all the crunchy bonus action bits and sneak attack for a lil boost.
Then go cleric for third as they’ve got a ton of shit you can do w/ just 1 level. Life is the strongest for pretty nice healing but tbh I’d go Light to get the sweet ass Warding Flare disadvantage reaction as it’s not being used. And GUIDANCE ofc.
Also think a pirate / bandit warrior turning to a God (of sorts) is easy themeatic point to start.
Thinking off the top of my head, then I’d go Wizard to stack up on more stuff that wont actually need Int (Absorb Elements, Mage Armor, magical recovery for at least 1 spell slot in the locker, along w/ cleric basically get all the good cantrips).
Then we go Divine Soul sorcerer, really lean into the finding god path and get more healing spells and the Favored by the Gods means you’ve got a failsafe for really important skill checks
Lvl 6 I’d go Hexblade blade for better damage, accuracy, gets you to be a proper frontliner with all the tricks at hand. Lvl 7 I’d double down on it with Barb so when all else fails you can throw a shitfit and start tanking standard attacks.
After that not sure I’d mind except leaving Ranger to last as it’s basically useless for lvl 1
1 Like
(Sorry)
Like the analysis, though, yeah. There is something to be said for the options you give yourself if you keep your stats more of a spread and I’d not really considered that previously.
Looking through I felt like maybe trying to be a Barbarian was the one that really screws you as it’s the only one that requires you have a 13 strength. Rage is obviously a really useful talent, though. Obviously if their unarmoured defence stacks with Monk it might change things but the points you don’t put into Strength you can put into Dex.
1 Like
Keep struggle with doubt and send criticism over DMing decisions that happen in the moment.
On Saturday a player described what they wanted to do and then another player cut in talking about an item they had. I stopped them and said “let’s resolve A’s actions first and then we’ll come to you” and then when I came back to them they said they just wanted to offer an item to assist A with their actions and seemed a bit upset by it. But obviously I hadn’t realised and thought they were just cutting in (which inevitably happens a lot in larger groups).
And last night there was a scene where a party went to dinner with someone who they know to be the father of a PC, but who never knew her - there’s been lots building up to this. The man left the dinner to ‘get some air’ when the PC revealed it and another party member instantly sent their familiar to follow, watching through their eyes. The idea was for the PC to follow him and have a private conversation which she did, but the other part member was continuing to watch through the familiar. So I had another NPC at the dinner (who the PC with the familiar is close to) basically bonk them on the head and say “give them some privacy” so after a bit of persuasion they recalled the familiar, but again they didn’t seem too happy about it.
I think 90% of things I get hung up on after sessions are where I’ve tried to balance the interests of different players. I just feel like I never get it quite right.
I think it can be a big problem and it’s harder when you’re doing stuff online than in person because you really have to all discipline yourselves. On the one hand I’m surprised player B didn’t make it plain enough on their interrupt what they were intending for A, but on the other I’m impressed they respect you enough to simply not interrupt after, even though they were being misunderstood. That seems good to me from a POV of group dynamics.
I would assume you apologised to them anyway? Or else that they weren’t hugely bothered about it?
This one is tricky I guess. I mean it depends on whether you personally felt that convo had to be private from the other PCs or if you genuinely felt the NPC friend thought that. The problem here is that your player made a choice to spy on what happened and by you using an NPC to stop them it can feel like you’re taking away their agency.
If you genuinely wanted them not to witness then you’re probably better going above the table and appealing directly with a kind of, “I think this should really be private and don’t you think your PC would respect your friend’s privacy” - but then maybe that’s what you meant by ‘a bit of persuasion’.
No, I did the second one fully in character as we tend to do pretty immersive roleplay, particularly with social scenarios. It just didn’t sit right with me that someone would (without consent) snoop on a private moment for another PC. I’m almost certain that the same player wouldn’t be okay with someone doing the same with them. But I didn’t want to make it into a debate so tried to handle it in game in a light hearted way. But I don’t think I got it right. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal, but it was a case of balancing the quietest and most vocal players of the group which is a bit tricky even though they get on fine.
The player with the familiar is fantastic, super engaged and great roleplayer, absolutely love having them in the group. But I think they struggle a bit when things happen that their character isn’t aware of our involved in.
1 Like
Yeah TBH there probably isn’t a ‘right’ way in this instance - they seemingly were after the snoops so weren’t likely to feel ‘happy’ with an outcome where that didn’t happen?
Although if you were actually having the convoy that PC’s familiar was snooping on in front of the other players it’s a bit more baffling to me (because the player was still going to know it).