I've been working on my Homebrew World for about 4 years now, And theres always been one thing that I haven't gotten to but have always had the idea for. That being a "cursed moon" where it shows up randomly at night and it has a deep red color. People born on a night of this cursed moon are often seen as cursed and never have any sort of good luck. With that, one of my players was born on a night of this moon.
I'm trying to make it where the moon is seen as a curse, but its more of a blessing. What ive been thinking is as this character levels up they will slowly start to unlock these abilities (normal dnd stuff lmao). With this, im thinking make it alot like the Avatar state in ATLA, where aang first couldnt control it and it was mostly through anger and sadness that it was activated. So im thinking something like that where the character will be going through something and this avatar like state will take over.
The character is a rouge (havent started playing yet so still only level 1, and doesnt know what archetype, or if they will multiclass). Im thinking giving this ability to start around level 5, let them figure out the character first then introduce more layers to them.
So with that im thinking this state would giver them the ability to cast spells, but only when this state is activated. Along with that im thinking that Str, Dex, and Wis are all buffed. Ive also read into Wiccan stuff about the moon and how according to them, the moon can change our moods mattering its current stage. So with that as well, im thinking 1d4 roll for mood (Anger, Joy, Fear, and Sadness). And mattering the mood it will determine the spell list. So im thinking anger be like fire and heavy damage spells. Joy being healing and buffing spells, Fear being Like status effect spells like Hold person and such, and then sadness being maybe aoe/ multiple atk spells?
Any advice or ideas are appreciated! DMing is hard when it comes to this stuff lol
Edit: this also wouldnt be an always active thing. it would be an activate once per day for 10 minutes probably
What would you give to the other players that will be equivalent? or what is the cost to this player that they are paying for this uber powerful state 1/day?
I'm not sure this is a good idea. But, you're the dm, and if you like the idea, I am only here to help.
I agree with the above post in asking, is it only this person? Giving one person a "free" ability while the others don't might make people jealous. I also thing this might not come across quite right. For two main reasons
1. Player Agency. You're saying the moon will dictate the mood, but that means you'd have to tell the player "Act this way, it's in the lore". Make sure your player is totally on board with this. Otherwise, they will quickly grow to dislike it.
2. The Balance and Concept. I'll start by saying the way you described the mechanics, it will only be a boon. A good thing. If you want to stay with it being a curse that is later realised to be a blessing, or to have them not in total control, I feel like there is more to be thought throw. As it stands, this is a very powerful ability. For an entire combat, and maybe two, they have boosted stats, and a whole spell list for a class that wouldn't normally have it. This is where balancing comes in, this is very strong.
I would like to be able to give recommendations, but I really don't know what to say. The concept is great, if a little undercooked, I just don't know how to make your vision work properly.
The uninspired will scream 'player agency'. Curses don't have to affect agency at all. One curse I gave one of my players character upon picking up an item was that birds would be inclined to defacte on their head. So, in an area with birds, every now and again the player character would just have a bird fly over the party and leave an awful mess on the player character's head. It took the players a while to figure out what was going on as I didn't say they'd been cursed so initially they found it narratively comedic. When they figured out what was going on however a simple spell got rid of the problem.
If you're looking to replicate 'unlucky' then narrative curses often have a more fun element to them. Things that are less obvious often work best in my experience. So, perhaps the person who is cursed simply has a flat +1 to their DCs on the times that the moon is out. Realistically it doesn't alter game balance all that much and there's no harm if you, like me, often allow the whole party to make similar checks. So, if the group are following someones tracks in the wild it's going to be a survival check. If you're setting the DC at 15 for the party, it really isn't that harsh to say that for the cursed player the DC is +1 for 16 total. Likewise, if the moon turns and you now want it to be beneficial, well that's a -1 to the DC for a 14.
Yet another angle to take is to make the entire thing optional. So, if the moon were to be a 'Joy moon' for example, should the player character's roleplay contain elements of joy then the player will get maybe a +1 buff to their CHA based skill checks, but at the cost of a -1 to their WIS based skill checks for the duration of that in game night. This then makes it optional. As long as they are aware that there is an effect associated with different phases of the moon, they could in theory choose to play into that or not. Play allowing it to be a choice to accept the negative consequence, they also gain a positive consequence...but only if they choose to. This then resembles the madness mechanic in Blood on the Clocktower where players aren't forced to interact with the mechanic unless they absolutely want to.
The real question I have here is to ask: What is the purpose of this moon and its effects?
From a world building point of view not everything needs a reason, but the fact that you are wanting to have an active impact on the story that the players tell is a nod to the idea that there probably ought to be a purpose. If you just want a cool and unique mechanic that makes your world different - then it's a mechanic for its own sake which never quite works well. If however it helps to immerse the players and their characters into your world then it has a reason to exist but that reason should be more than just a thing on its own.
For example, in my latest adventure setting feats are not allowed to be taken as an alternative to ASIs. The reason for this largely is that magic in this world is on the wane. The evil Elven empire that once ruled the continent has fallen and elves have retreated from the world. As a result adventurers, knowledge of magics, and people able to use such magics are rare - vanishingly rare - less than 1% rare. The very fact that five people with these special skills (D&D classes) have emerged in the same city is unusual. I keep laying narrative clues about this. The reason is to highlight that something has changed. Perhaps magic has stopped waning and is starting to rise again? Perhaps magic is seeping in from other realms through a portal? I know but the players and their characters do not. In the meantime they can train to achieve specific martial and mundane feats, but not magical feats. This serves the purpose not to limit player choice arbitrarily, but rather to attempt to craft a world that is coherent. Every piece of info I drop has a purpose, every mechanic I craft for the world has a reason.
So, were I to implement the moon as the OP describes here I'd want to know why I am implementing it. What purpose does it serve to the world building?
If it doesn't serve to build the world and deepen the lore and history of the world, then it's likely somewhat pointless. That seems harsh and I don't mean to minimise the creativity of another, but I do only mean pointless from a world building point of view. A bit like Doctor Who's world in that nothing lore wise ever actually has an impact because it is all open for change and is pretty irrelevant as the series and its lore move on. If you want a world like that of course, don't let me stop you, there's nothing wrong with it. I just come from a more defined form of world building with my opinions.
Hello!
I've been working on my Homebrew World for about 4 years now, And theres always been one thing that I haven't gotten to but have always had the idea for. That being a "cursed moon" where it shows up randomly at night and it has a deep red color. People born on a night of this cursed moon are often seen as cursed and never have any sort of good luck. With that, one of my players was born on a night of this moon.
I'm trying to make it where the moon is seen as a curse, but its more of a blessing. What ive been thinking is as this character levels up they will slowly start to unlock these abilities (normal dnd stuff lmao). With this, im thinking make it alot like the Avatar state in ATLA, where aang first couldnt control it and it was mostly through anger and sadness that it was activated. So im thinking something like that where the character will be going through something and this avatar like state will take over.
The character is a rouge (havent started playing yet so still only level 1, and doesnt know what archetype, or if they will multiclass). Im thinking giving this ability to start around level 5, let them figure out the character first then introduce more layers to them.
So with that im thinking this state would giver them the ability to cast spells, but only when this state is activated. Along with that im thinking that Str, Dex, and Wis are all buffed. Ive also read into Wiccan stuff about the moon and how according to them, the moon can change our moods mattering its current stage. So with that as well, im thinking 1d4 roll for mood (Anger, Joy, Fear, and Sadness). And mattering the mood it will determine the spell list. So im thinking anger be like fire and heavy damage spells. Joy being healing and buffing spells, Fear being Like status effect spells like Hold person and such, and then sadness being maybe aoe/ multiple atk spells?
Any advice or ideas are appreciated! DMing is hard when it comes to this stuff lol
Edit: this also wouldnt be an always active thing. it would be an activate once per day for 10 minutes probably
thanks-Chartipher
What would you give to the other players that will be equivalent? or what is the cost to this player that they are paying for this uber powerful state 1/day?
I'm not sure this is a good idea. But, you're the dm, and if you like the idea, I am only here to help.
I agree with the above post in asking, is it only this person? Giving one person a "free" ability while the others don't might make people jealous. I also thing this might not come across quite right. For two main reasons
1. Player Agency. You're saying the moon will dictate the mood, but that means you'd have to tell the player "Act this way, it's in the lore". Make sure your player is totally on board with this. Otherwise, they will quickly grow to dislike it.
2. The Balance and Concept. I'll start by saying the way you described the mechanics, it will only be a boon. A good thing. If you want to stay with it being a curse that is later realised to be a blessing, or to have them not in total control, I feel like there is more to be thought throw. As it stands, this is a very powerful ability. For an entire combat, and maybe two, they have boosted stats, and a whole spell list for a class that wouldn't normally have it. This is where balancing comes in, this is very strong.
I would like to be able to give recommendations, but I really don't know what to say. The concept is great, if a little undercooked, I just don't know how to make your vision work properly.
The uninspired will scream 'player agency'. Curses don't have to affect agency at all. One curse I gave one of my players character upon picking up an item was that birds would be inclined to defacte on their head. So, in an area with birds, every now and again the player character would just have a bird fly over the party and leave an awful mess on the player character's head. It took the players a while to figure out what was going on as I didn't say they'd been cursed so initially they found it narratively comedic. When they figured out what was going on however a simple spell got rid of the problem.
If you're looking to replicate 'unlucky' then narrative curses often have a more fun element to them. Things that are less obvious often work best in my experience. So, perhaps the person who is cursed simply has a flat +1 to their DCs on the times that the moon is out. Realistically it doesn't alter game balance all that much and there's no harm if you, like me, often allow the whole party to make similar checks. So, if the group are following someones tracks in the wild it's going to be a survival check. If you're setting the DC at 15 for the party, it really isn't that harsh to say that for the cursed player the DC is +1 for 16 total. Likewise, if the moon turns and you now want it to be beneficial, well that's a -1 to the DC for a 14.
Yet another angle to take is to make the entire thing optional. So, if the moon were to be a 'Joy moon' for example, should the player character's roleplay contain elements of joy then the player will get maybe a +1 buff to their CHA based skill checks, but at the cost of a -1 to their WIS based skill checks for the duration of that in game night. This then makes it optional. As long as they are aware that there is an effect associated with different phases of the moon, they could in theory choose to play into that or not. Play allowing it to be a choice to accept the negative consequence, they also gain a positive consequence...but only if they choose to. This then resembles the madness mechanic in Blood on the Clocktower where players aren't forced to interact with the mechanic unless they absolutely want to.
The real question I have here is to ask: What is the purpose of this moon and its effects?
From a world building point of view not everything needs a reason, but the fact that you are wanting to have an active impact on the story that the players tell is a nod to the idea that there probably ought to be a purpose. If you just want a cool and unique mechanic that makes your world different - then it's a mechanic for its own sake which never quite works well. If however it helps to immerse the players and their characters into your world then it has a reason to exist but that reason should be more than just a thing on its own.
For example, in my latest adventure setting feats are not allowed to be taken as an alternative to ASIs. The reason for this largely is that magic in this world is on the wane. The evil Elven empire that once ruled the continent has fallen and elves have retreated from the world. As a result adventurers, knowledge of magics, and people able to use such magics are rare - vanishingly rare - less than 1% rare. The very fact that five people with these special skills (D&D classes) have emerged in the same city is unusual. I keep laying narrative clues about this. The reason is to highlight that something has changed. Perhaps magic has stopped waning and is starting to rise again? Perhaps magic is seeping in from other realms through a portal? I know but the players and their characters do not. In the meantime they can train to achieve specific martial and mundane feats, but not magical feats. This serves the purpose not to limit player choice arbitrarily, but rather to attempt to craft a world that is coherent. Every piece of info I drop has a purpose, every mechanic I craft for the world has a reason.
So, were I to implement the moon as the OP describes here I'd want to know why I am implementing it. What purpose does it serve to the world building?
If it doesn't serve to build the world and deepen the lore and history of the world, then it's likely somewhat pointless. That seems harsh and I don't mean to minimise the creativity of another, but I do only mean pointless from a world building point of view. A bit like Doctor Who's world in that nothing lore wise ever actually has an impact because it is all open for change and is pretty irrelevant as the series and its lore move on. If you want a world like that of course, don't let me stop you, there's nothing wrong with it. I just come from a more defined form of world building with my opinions.
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