I run an after school campaign for sixth graders (11 - 12 year olds). They're great kids, but quirky, if you know what I mean, and I think you do!
I've been taking them slowly through the game starting at level one and adding bits and pieces as they get better at tracking all of their abilities. But, no one really role plays. It is more the, I use my axe to hit it or I cast fire bolt type play. Doesn't matter, they're into it, so I'm having fun, too.
They are now level four and got their first feats. One of the players took the crafter feat. I'm not a min-maxer by any means, but this kid runs a wizard and casts magic missile as often as they can and then its all fire bolt. I had recommended one of the touched feats or magic initiate or even healer (we lost our cleric, so I'm running the character). But, they chose crafter, taking calligraphy, cartographer, and smith tools. Obviously, this kid wants this feat. There is something about it that attracts them, but I don't know what's going on in their head. All I know is that with our style of game play, it is useless. It will add nothing to the game or the group.
Here's my question for the forum: How can I make this "useful" for them. I'm wanting to offer them something like, every so many days, you use your calligrapher's tools to create a spell scroll that you can sell or use. With your cartographer's tools, you're an ace mapmaker; you roll for advantage when orienting yourself in any terrain. What other ways can I work these specific tools into the game for this kid? What other ways can calligrapher's tools or cartographer's tools be used? What practical use can they use the smith's tools for?
Thank y'all for making the game better for these kids.
Talk to the player and ask them what they're looking for with that feat. Talking to players (outside of game time, not usually at the table) and just asking is almost never the bad call.
Of course, Stabbey, and I will, but I'm pretty confident that this player (and none of the players at the table) would have an answer for that. This player is nearly silent at the best of times. I have to ask three or four times, gently ask, what they want to do for their turn in combat and then review their options with them. This kid might have a very detailed answer, but I just don't think any of them really understand the game well enough to be able to give me a direction.
The player is artistic and they draw a lot. I can see them being into fantasy world map making, even lettering and calligraphy. I don't think they'll know how it translates into game play without some guidance from me. I would love to have some options to present beyond the scribing a scroll and you never get lost, which doesn't happen in the game we're playing anyway. If nothing ever comes from it, the kid will probably never know, but I'd like to offer something.
Okay, there's some stuff here that doesn't make sense so give me moment to work through it.
I assume you're playing 5.5e, and not 5e (i.e. 2024 rulebooks, not 2014 rulebooks). If you're playing 2014, just don't mix and match rulesets. It doesn't work no matter how much the designers claim it might be possible. You'll double your workload as GM and have to pick up the slack where the designers failed when creating 5.5e. If you're dead set on mixing and matching 5e and 5.5e, then just give everyone their origin feat, and ensure that they only choose from general feats at level up times.
If playing 5.5e, then you've misunderstood something here in my opinion. There are three (technically four) types of feats in 5.5e. Origin, Fighting Style, and General Feats.
Origin feats come attached to background and are an option only when first building the character. They clearly aren't designed to be taken when you would otherwise be getting an ASI or General Feat. My reading is based on the prerequisites of feats. You get an origin feat as part of your character's background, not as part of level ups.
Fighting Style Feats are class specific. They come as part of your character class' level up process. Rangers, Paladins, and Fighters for example get access to these feats relatively early on and are only selectable when it is specifically said that your class gets a FSF at level up.
General Feats, are the feats you choose instead of an ASI. That is what your players get to choose from at level up, anyone can choose them or choose an ASI feat.
Epic Boon Feats are the fourth type, but let's be honest few if any characters will ever reach that point if the pattern of 5e holds true to 5.5e and campaigns rarely move past level 12.
So my confusion here is why at level 4, your player would be getting access to the Crafter feat. Either, you're playing 5.5e and have missed the nuance of Feat Types (Origin, Fighting Style, General, and Epic Boon) or you're playing 5e and are trying to allow access to new material that really doesn't fit the older rules design...in which case, I would suggest just outright disallowing the Origin Feats (or better yet giving every player a free origin feat of their choice, so the player in question gets another feat choice too).
Either way, this may be a problem that stems from not having read the rulebooks that well. This may just be the way I read the new rulebook, but it is certainly the interpretation that I run with in my games.
I understand your confusion and share it to some degree. We're playing on DnD Beyond. When I bought the 2024 core rulebooks, they were shared with the party as part of my content sharing. I've since turned off the PHB share, but either way, or anyway, or in the it no longer matters way, this player when leveling up to four found crafter on their list of feat choices and chose it.
I want to help this player get some real live in-game use out of the feat, encourage that creative imaginative thinking that DnD really excels at, and get improved player buy-in and participation beyond what I've got now. Clearly, there is something about the crafter feat that attracted this person's imagination and interest. I see my job as DM as helping them now make the best use of the feat.
One of the great opportunities here is to get this player and the entire party to start imagining what is possible beyond I shoot an arrow at it or cast heal wounds. My DM sense is that I've got an opportunity to hook this player. I need now to twitch the line to make the bait seem a little more enticing.
Perhaps the real issue is that there is very little in-game tasks you can use these tools to actually do. Perhaps I should encourage the player to actually use calligraphy or make a map.
You can choose Origin feats at level 4+. They’re primarily intended to be chosen as part of your background, but they are still eligible to be chosen when you qualify for other feats.
Most of the benefits of artisan’s tools come from the Crafting rules, so it’s worth familiarising yourself with those. The characters would need to be given downtime to use them though, which is dependent on the pace of your campaign. The description of the tools indicates what you can craft with them. They can also be used for crafting magic items, as per the DM’s Guide.
The descriptions for the tools also give some uses as Actions, which might situationally be helpful. If you have access to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, that has more extensive suggestions for benefits of having tool proficiencies.
I also run a kids club (12 to 16 in my case) and I know the kids I play with love the experience of making stuff so it’s possible in this case they saw “crafter” and didn’t actually read what it gave, they just assumed they’d be able to craft things. Might be worth asking if that’s the case. My kids also love collecting body parts from monsters so I’ve introduced a simple system of harvesting monsters so they can use those to then craft magic items based on recipes I give out (I use a variant of the system in the upcoming Monsters of Drakkenheim book by the Dungeon Dudes.) There’s palpable excitement as they wonder what the recipe is actually for based on the often obscure names of magic items and they get a real kick out of ripping monsters apart for ingredients and ticking them off their ingredients list. Based on that I think it’s definitely worth seeing if something similar is behind the choice of Crafter as a feat
I understand your confusion and share it to some degree. We're playing on DnD Beyond. When I bought the 2024 core rulebooks, they were shared with the party as part of my content sharing. I've since turned off the PHB share, but either way, or anyway, or in the it no longer matters way, this player when leveling up to four found crafter on their list of feat choices and chose it.
I want to help this player get some real live in-game use out of the feat, encourage that creative imaginative thinking that DnD really excels at, and get improved player buy-in and participation beyond what I've got now. Clearly, there is something about the crafter feat that attracted this person's imagination and interest. I see my job as DM as helping them now make the best use of the feat.
One of the great opportunities here is to get this player and the entire party to start imagining what is possible beyond I shoot an arrow at it or cast heal wounds. My DM sense is that I've got an opportunity to hook this player. I need now to twitch the line to make the bait seem a little more enticing.
Perhaps the real issue is that there is very little in-game tasks you can use these tools to actually do. Perhaps I should encourage the player to actually use calligraphy or make a map.
Huzzah! Jack
In which case, I would be speaking with the player and trying to get them to imagine what sorts of tools would be useful in the adventure ahead. Are they about to board a ship for a long voyage? Perhaps their tools could help to build a compass or other navigation tools that will assist their journey. Similarly, if trekking through the wilderness, what could their tools help them create which will make the survival checks easier for navigation and foraging of food.
Looking at the Smith's Tools, the types of traps and such that can be created using the crafter feat would have me nudging them toward the list of adventure gear, or even other gear out there and asking what else they think might be able to be made. Perhaps it'll take them a couple of sessions to achieve it, but something more complex might be possible.
You say that they're into maps and calligraphy, could you present a social situation where there's an important clue at a party? If the party is invite only, it'd give the opportunity for the character to have a spotlight moment. I'd most definitely be leaning into the social encounters over combat encounters.
It would all really revolve around the social encounters that you're throwing at them and the setting in general. If you're not giving social encounters often enough, and I've been guilty of that on many occasions, you're not really giving players the chance to shine in their social side. Just last Monday I had a session where I had the party surrounded by wicked creatures who broke into the house they were in. The adventurers just kinda chilled with the vibe and engaged socially as best they could - until one of the party tried to deceive the creatures. Literally, the intend behind the encounter was for the party to choose either to sit and wait with the creatures, or to just engage them socially to get some info from them.
Longwinded way I know of saying I'd be looking at the list of gear in PHB and DMG, I'd be looking at the social situation and considering what obstacles might be able to be overcome by the crafter feat. One really cool thing with that feat is that they are never going to run short of torches again!
One simple way to include the cartography is to stop handing out maps and have the player/PC actually draw maps for the party from your descriptions. He smith feat could be as simple as having a roll for repairing the armor (metallic) of the party members during the long rests - maybe reduce the armor classes in later fights by 1 until they do the repairs. For the calligraphy have them try to draw the monsters from descriptions rather than just showing pictures. Again, talking to them away from the game is a good idea - as another middle school teacher I’m well aware of how different they can be one on one vs in front of a group of peers.
Running a student club is some of the most fun I've had DM'ing. The kids are pretty wonderful. That said, this is a quirky beginners group, so I've had to carefully introduce the complexities of the game to them, layering the rules to some degree.
I like the idea of doing the video game thing of harvesting animal and monster parts for crafting magic items. It can be something the entire group can join in on. It can also be a place where this particular student can shine as the group "crafter."
All that said, this is the group of players that when I say, "Tell me what it looks like when you finish the bugbear with your mighty +1 trident," I get a stammering hemming and hawing and an eventual, "I stab him in the stomach with it." With this particular student, when I ask them what their magic looks like (luckily, they play a wizard), I get silence. If I suggest a color, then they'll name a color, single word. If I ask whether it is a flash or a bang, they'll choose one.
They are a quirky bunch unaccustomed to playing using theater of the mind. It is a slow process of introducing it. I feel like the better prepared I can be going into it, the easier it will be to develop a different way of thinking about roleplaying for them.
In Xanathar's, there is a section for tools where it talks about what each toolset includes and what kinds of things it might be good for.
Calligraphy - can possibly help identify the bona fides or the source of a document (including the author and their state of mind), decipher ancient writings, determine the age of a map, spot forged documents, or forge documents
Cartography - easier navigation, better understanding of terrain, spot forged maps, fill in missing sections of map, drawing good maps, find hidden messages in maps, estimate distances in terrain
Smith - additional insight investigating metal objects (including weapons, so this could be history, wielder, etc), ability to repair metal objects
So I'd seed your environment with items like these where the player could investigate related items for clues. It's a great feeling when your special skill is what gave up a clue.
My apologies for the lateness of this reply. I couldn't get to it before we went on our Experience Week trip.
There is definitely a style of play the group leans toward. It is greatly informed by their only roleplaying experience which has been based on vide games and their quirkiness as individuals. Our social encounters are minimal at best. No one is roleplaying ordering Butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks. No one even roleplayed asking the cleric at the local shrine to resurrect the character that died. It is all me basically presenting them a menu of options and asking them individually what they want to do or think their character would want to do. The resurrection went like, "She says she will resurrect your friend, but you will have to do a favor for her first. I describe two side quests and ask which they want to do, if any. There's a laugh at the possibility of leaving the character dead as a tease to the player. Then, the cleric adds that if they don't complete the quest, she'll change the resurrection into a zombie curse. Resurrection occurs by me saying so-and-so is resurrected. It's not even narrative stuff. The social stuff isn't really an option.
I know my players. I appreciate everyone's advice and suggestions. I definitely want to give them the spotlight moment based on their characters abilities and interests. Right now, they've been earning them by seemingly a always being the hot dice roller. They have more nat twenties than anyone in the group and come up with clutch hits and damage rolls. As a group, they are good about celebrating their great rolls, mourning their failures, and being suspenseful when the situation is dire.
Those are excellent suggestions and definitely old school. I remember playing ADND with a piece of graph paper and counting out squares as we drew the map our DM so painstakingly explained. It lent some fun and participation to the game as we worked out what options were and what was possible for us to do. The cartographer could get that or access to the map -- I could print some maps and give them to her if nothing else -- and let everyone else work from memory after flashing the map on the board (I use a projector and a the DnD Beyond map feature. I could definitely work some of that map knowledge into our games.
Armor class has become a big deal in the group since our cleric keeps dying due to their moderate AC but low HP. The fighter types are very competitive and jealous of the paladin's AC 20 due to their Dwarven Plate, which I've ruled is only available to to dwarves. Giving them a temp point of AC if the wizard agrees to work their magic on it during a long rest an maybe a permanent point if it is three long rests. I don't know. I also thought about giving the wizard the ability to combine calligraphy and smith tools to etch runes into armor, tools, shields, and weapons to give them magical properties. We're just now getting to magic weapons and such, so it could be very timely.
My goal here was to build out a menu of options, suggestions, and ideas because I know I'm going to need that in our conversation at some point. The student could surprise me and have this complete vision of how all this is going to work for their character, but I'm pretty sure that's not it. I'm pretty sure this kid like calligraphy, maps, and the idea of making things. They like to draw and read fantasy novels and play electronic roleplaying games. But, they don't get the table top version or understand the rules to DnD yet. We're building it in.
Thank you so much for your reply. I had looked through Xanathar's but didn't find that section. I'll look again. I appreciate the detail. That's what I was hoping for. I feel like with the suggestions I'm getting I can be ready with a number of good suggestions and options for them if they need the support rather than needing to scramble or delay if they don't have any solid ideas on their own.
Also, I need to include more forgeries and other checks, which we're just now getting to. I've been introducing aspects of the game slowly letting them get some independence with them before adding on more. DnD Beyond character sheets are complicated and difficult to figure out. We're just now getting to expanding skill checks and what do you do in your free time aspects of the game, which is perfect for this choice.
Now, to get to work on including some of these ideas in the next portion of the game.
Thank you for this suggestions. I feel like I've got a firmer and broader grasp on what to do to support this player.
We just now returned from our Experience Week -- a week long trip into the "wild" of Cambodia -- where I got a chance to talk one-on-one with this player. Between talking to them more and some of the excellent suggestions here, I feel like I can support this player adequately in creating the character they want and providing the experiences, materials, and options they'll need to get there.
This is actually an aspect of the game that I really like, adapting and evolving the campaign to fit the character's needs, wants, and desires as they grow and develop. And, I'm loving that I have a player wanting to do something with their character that is little more than killing monsters!
Between talking to them about what they want for their character and having a fuller menu of options, I think we'll have some fun with this crafter in the group.
If your going for runes then crafter with smithing and calligraphy sound like a great combo. Think etching or better engraving the runes using both the calligraphy and smithing.
Howdy y'all!
I run an after school campaign for sixth graders (11 - 12 year olds). They're great kids, but quirky, if you know what I mean, and I think you do!
I've been taking them slowly through the game starting at level one and adding bits and pieces as they get better at tracking all of their abilities. But, no one really role plays. It is more the, I use my axe to hit it or I cast fire bolt type play. Doesn't matter, they're into it, so I'm having fun, too.
They are now level four and got their first feats. One of the players took the crafter feat. I'm not a min-maxer by any means, but this kid runs a wizard and casts magic missile as often as they can and then its all fire bolt. I had recommended one of the touched feats or magic initiate or even healer (we lost our cleric, so I'm running the character). But, they chose crafter, taking calligraphy, cartographer, and smith tools. Obviously, this kid wants this feat. There is something about it that attracts them, but I don't know what's going on in their head. All I know is that with our style of game play, it is useless. It will add nothing to the game or the group.
Here's my question for the forum: How can I make this "useful" for them. I'm wanting to offer them something like, every so many days, you use your calligrapher's tools to create a spell scroll that you can sell or use. With your cartographer's tools, you're an ace mapmaker; you roll for advantage when orienting yourself in any terrain. What other ways can I work these specific tools into the game for this kid? What other ways can calligrapher's tools or cartographer's tools be used? What practical use can they use the smith's tools for?
Thank y'all for making the game better for these kids.
Huzzah!
CalicoJack
Talk to the player and ask them what they're looking for with that feat. Talking to players (outside of game time, not usually at the table) and just asking is almost never the bad call.
Of course, Stabbey, and I will, but I'm pretty confident that this player (and none of the players at the table) would have an answer for that. This player is nearly silent at the best of times. I have to ask three or four times, gently ask, what they want to do for their turn in combat and then review their options with them. This kid might have a very detailed answer, but I just don't think any of them really understand the game well enough to be able to give me a direction.
The player is artistic and they draw a lot. I can see them being into fantasy world map making, even lettering and calligraphy. I don't think they'll know how it translates into game play without some guidance from me. I would love to have some options to present beyond the scribing a scroll and you never get lost, which doesn't happen in the game we're playing anyway. If nothing ever comes from it, the kid will probably never know, but I'd like to offer something.
Any ideas, anyone?
Jack
Okay, there's some stuff here that doesn't make sense so give me moment to work through it.
I assume you're playing 5.5e, and not 5e (i.e. 2024 rulebooks, not 2014 rulebooks). If you're playing 2014, just don't mix and match rulesets. It doesn't work no matter how much the designers claim it might be possible. You'll double your workload as GM and have to pick up the slack where the designers failed when creating 5.5e. If you're dead set on mixing and matching 5e and 5.5e, then just give everyone their origin feat, and ensure that they only choose from general feats at level up times.
If playing 5.5e, then you've misunderstood something here in my opinion. There are three (technically four) types of feats in 5.5e. Origin, Fighting Style, and General Feats.
So my confusion here is why at level 4, your player would be getting access to the Crafter feat. Either, you're playing 5.5e and have missed the nuance of Feat Types (Origin, Fighting Style, General, and Epic Boon) or you're playing 5e and are trying to allow access to new material that really doesn't fit the older rules design...in which case, I would suggest just outright disallowing the Origin Feats (or better yet giving every player a free origin feat of their choice, so the player in question gets another feat choice too).
Either way, this may be a problem that stems from not having read the rulebooks that well. This may just be the way I read the new rulebook, but it is certainly the interpretation that I run with in my games.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Howdy Martin!
I understand your confusion and share it to some degree. We're playing on DnD Beyond. When I bought the 2024 core rulebooks, they were shared with the party as part of my content sharing. I've since turned off the PHB share, but either way, or anyway, or in the it no longer matters way, this player when leveling up to four found crafter on their list of feat choices and chose it.
I want to help this player get some real live in-game use out of the feat, encourage that creative imaginative thinking that DnD really excels at, and get improved player buy-in and participation beyond what I've got now. Clearly, there is something about the crafter feat that attracted this person's imagination and interest. I see my job as DM as helping them now make the best use of the feat.
One of the great opportunities here is to get this player and the entire party to start imagining what is possible beyond I shoot an arrow at it or cast heal wounds. My DM sense is that I've got an opportunity to hook this player. I need now to twitch the line to make the bait seem a little more enticing.
Perhaps the real issue is that there is very little in-game tasks you can use these tools to actually do. Perhaps I should encourage the player to actually use calligraphy or make a map.
Huzzah!
Jack
You can choose Origin feats at level 4+. They’re primarily intended to be chosen as part of your background, but they are still eligible to be chosen when you qualify for other feats.
Most of the benefits of artisan’s tools come from the Crafting rules, so it’s worth familiarising yourself with those. The characters would need to be given downtime to use them though, which is dependent on the pace of your campaign. The description of the tools indicates what you can craft with them. They can also be used for crafting magic items, as per the DM’s Guide.
The descriptions for the tools also give some uses as Actions, which might situationally be helpful. If you have access to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, that has more extensive suggestions for benefits of having tool proficiencies.
I also run a kids club (12 to 16 in my case) and I know the kids I play with love the experience of making stuff so it’s possible in this case they saw “crafter” and didn’t actually read what it gave, they just assumed they’d be able to craft things. Might be worth asking if that’s the case. My kids also love collecting body parts from monsters so I’ve introduced a simple system of harvesting monsters so they can use those to then craft magic items based on recipes I give out (I use a variant of the system in the upcoming Monsters of Drakkenheim book by the Dungeon Dudes.) There’s palpable excitement as they wonder what the recipe is actually for based on the often obscure names of magic items and they get a real kick out of ripping monsters apart for ingredients and ticking them off their ingredients list. Based on that I think it’s definitely worth seeing if something similar is behind the choice of Crafter as a feat
In which case, I would be speaking with the player and trying to get them to imagine what sorts of tools would be useful in the adventure ahead. Are they about to board a ship for a long voyage? Perhaps their tools could help to build a compass or other navigation tools that will assist their journey. Similarly, if trekking through the wilderness, what could their tools help them create which will make the survival checks easier for navigation and foraging of food.
Looking at the Smith's Tools, the types of traps and such that can be created using the crafter feat would have me nudging them toward the list of adventure gear, or even other gear out there and asking what else they think might be able to be made. Perhaps it'll take them a couple of sessions to achieve it, but something more complex might be possible.
You say that they're into maps and calligraphy, could you present a social situation where there's an important clue at a party? If the party is invite only, it'd give the opportunity for the character to have a spotlight moment. I'd most definitely be leaning into the social encounters over combat encounters.
It would all really revolve around the social encounters that you're throwing at them and the setting in general. If you're not giving social encounters often enough, and I've been guilty of that on many occasions, you're not really giving players the chance to shine in their social side. Just last Monday I had a session where I had the party surrounded by wicked creatures who broke into the house they were in. The adventurers just kinda chilled with the vibe and engaged socially as best they could - until one of the party tried to deceive the creatures. Literally, the intend behind the encounter was for the party to choose either to sit and wait with the creatures, or to just engage them socially to get some info from them.
Longwinded way I know of saying I'd be looking at the list of gear in PHB and DMG, I'd be looking at the social situation and considering what obstacles might be able to be overcome by the crafter feat. One really cool thing with that feat is that they are never going to run short of torches again!
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
One simple way to include the cartography is to stop handing out maps and have the player/PC actually draw maps for the party from your descriptions. He smith feat could be as simple as having a roll for repairing the armor (metallic) of the party members during the long rests - maybe reduce the armor classes in later fights by 1 until they do the repairs. For the calligraphy have them try to draw the monsters from descriptions rather than just showing pictures. Again, talking to them away from the game is a good idea - as another middle school teacher I’m well aware of how different they can be one on one vs in front of a group of peers.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Howdy Cunning!
Running a student club is some of the most fun I've had DM'ing. The kids are pretty wonderful. That said, this is a quirky beginners group, so I've had to carefully introduce the complexities of the game to them, layering the rules to some degree.
I like the idea of doing the video game thing of harvesting animal and monster parts for crafting magic items. It can be something the entire group can join in on. It can also be a place where this particular student can shine as the group "crafter."
All that said, this is the group of players that when I say, "Tell me what it looks like when you finish the bugbear with your mighty +1 trident," I get a stammering hemming and hawing and an eventual, "I stab him in the stomach with it." With this particular student, when I ask them what their magic looks like (luckily, they play a wizard), I get silence. If I suggest a color, then they'll name a color, single word. If I ask whether it is a flash or a bang, they'll choose one.
They are a quirky bunch unaccustomed to playing using theater of the mind. It is a slow process of introducing it. I feel like the better prepared I can be going into it, the easier it will be to develop a different way of thinking about roleplaying for them.
Game on, Sibling!
Jack
In Xanathar's, there is a section for tools where it talks about what each toolset includes and what kinds of things it might be good for.
Calligraphy - can possibly help identify the bona fides or the source of a document (including the author and their state of mind), decipher ancient writings, determine the age of a map, spot forged documents, or forge documents
Cartography - easier navigation, better understanding of terrain, spot forged maps, fill in missing sections of map, drawing good maps, find hidden messages in maps, estimate distances in terrain
Smith - additional insight investigating metal objects (including weapons, so this could be history, wielder, etc), ability to repair metal objects
So I'd seed your environment with items like these where the player could investigate related items for clues. It's a great feeling when your special skill is what gave up a clue.
Howdy Martin!
My apologies for the lateness of this reply. I couldn't get to it before we went on our Experience Week trip.
There is definitely a style of play the group leans toward. It is greatly informed by their only roleplaying experience which has been based on vide games and their quirkiness as individuals. Our social encounters are minimal at best. No one is roleplaying ordering Butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks. No one even roleplayed asking the cleric at the local shrine to resurrect the character that died. It is all me basically presenting them a menu of options and asking them individually what they want to do or think their character would want to do. The resurrection went like, "She says she will resurrect your friend, but you will have to do a favor for her first. I describe two side quests and ask which they want to do, if any. There's a laugh at the possibility of leaving the character dead as a tease to the player. Then, the cleric adds that if they don't complete the quest, she'll change the resurrection into a zombie curse. Resurrection occurs by me saying so-and-so is resurrected. It's not even narrative stuff. The social stuff isn't really an option.
I know my players. I appreciate everyone's advice and suggestions. I definitely want to give them the spotlight moment based on their characters abilities and interests. Right now, they've been earning them by seemingly a always being the hot dice roller. They have more nat twenties than anyone in the group and come up with clutch hits and damage rolls. As a group, they are good about celebrating their great rolls, mourning their failures, and being suspenseful when the situation is dire.
Huzzah!
Jack
Howdy Wi1dBil1!
Those are excellent suggestions and definitely old school. I remember playing ADND with a piece of graph paper and counting out squares as we drew the map our DM so painstakingly explained. It lent some fun and participation to the game as we worked out what options were and what was possible for us to do. The cartographer could get that or access to the map -- I could print some maps and give them to her if nothing else -- and let everyone else work from memory after flashing the map on the board (I use a projector and a the DnD Beyond map feature. I could definitely work some of that map knowledge into our games.
Armor class has become a big deal in the group since our cleric keeps dying due to their moderate AC but low HP. The fighter types are very competitive and jealous of the paladin's AC 20 due to their Dwarven Plate, which I've ruled is only available to to dwarves. Giving them a temp point of AC if the wizard agrees to work their magic on it during a long rest an maybe a permanent point if it is three long rests. I don't know. I also thought about giving the wizard the ability to combine calligraphy and smith tools to etch runes into armor, tools, shields, and weapons to give them magical properties. We're just now getting to magic weapons and such, so it could be very timely.
My goal here was to build out a menu of options, suggestions, and ideas because I know I'm going to need that in our conversation at some point. The student could surprise me and have this complete vision of how all this is going to work for their character, but I'm pretty sure that's not it. I'm pretty sure this kid like calligraphy, maps, and the idea of making things. They like to draw and read fantasy novels and play electronic roleplaying games. But, they don't get the table top version or understand the rules to DnD yet. We're building it in.
Huzzah!
Jack
Howdy Foolish!
Thank you so much for your reply. I had looked through Xanathar's but didn't find that section. I'll look again. I appreciate the detail. That's what I was hoping for. I feel like with the suggestions I'm getting I can be ready with a number of good suggestions and options for them if they need the support rather than needing to scramble or delay if they don't have any solid ideas on their own.
Also, I need to include more forgeries and other checks, which we're just now getting to. I've been introducing aspects of the game slowly letting them get some independence with them before adding on more. DnD Beyond character sheets are complicated and difficult to figure out. We're just now getting to expanding skill checks and what do you do in your free time aspects of the game, which is perfect for this choice.
Now, to get to work on including some of these ideas in the next portion of the game.
Thank you for this suggestions. I feel like I've got a firmer and broader grasp on what to do to support this player.
Game On, Sibling!
Jack
Howdy y'all!
We just now returned from our Experience Week -- a week long trip into the "wild" of Cambodia -- where I got a chance to talk one-on-one with this player. Between talking to them more and some of the excellent suggestions here, I feel like I can support this player adequately in creating the character they want and providing the experiences, materials, and options they'll need to get there.
This is actually an aspect of the game that I really like, adapting and evolving the campaign to fit the character's needs, wants, and desires as they grow and develop. And, I'm loving that I have a player wanting to do something with their character that is little more than killing monsters!
Between talking to them about what they want for their character and having a fuller menu of options, I think we'll have some fun with this crafter in the group.
Game On, Siblings!
Jack
If your going for runes then crafter with smithing and calligraphy sound like a great combo. Think etching or better engraving the runes using both the calligraphy and smithing.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I'm hoping they'll want to design their own runes for it. I think it will change the dynamic of the entire party for the better, too.
Jack