Quote from DrakenBrine >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Quote from DrakenBrine >>

Two Questions: What is the weirdest homebrew a player asked to have, and what is the weirdest homebrew monster you had to fight?

 
I can't think of a homebrew creation I would classify as weird. The closest is the Meka -- a mechanical person from Anime, akin to killer dolls. But I don't thin of them as weird because they are just a variant on the exiting warforged, afaiak.

Weirdest homebrew monster i have ever had to fight was a Vampire based on a blend of Egyptian, Byzantine, and proto-georgian concepts. Didn't have to actually fight us, just be within 20 feet of us to start draining our hit points, could hang out in the sun, had no problem with ash or rowan stakes, and had a split personality -- he had actually hired us to find and kill him.

 Which anime?

Neat idea.

 
the goal was a ball jointed doll based figure, androgynous, and the inspo was a coupleof animes: Doll's Frontline being one, and another I don't recall the name of that featured "maids in a secret war".

When found, they analyze the person who finds them and adopt an appearance that would make them seem least threatening, within a limited range (about three inches, and minor superficial arrangement of surface details).

Which is a fancy of way of saying they shift to look like young innocent people. One of them became an Ikon, which is like a God's personal Voice.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

So, my little toss out about elements might have hinted that I know a tiny bit about things.

I mentioned Druids in a different post, and feel like rationalizing the **** out of my decisions there, lol.

First, Druids are a Class of people of a specific culture, and we draw the notions for the archetype from them. We mixed all manner of weird ass Nordic, Saxon, Angle, and other crap, and half of what we do know is supposition of the barest sort, made worse by several centuries of people making shit up and everyone else deciding it sounded good and running with it.

I don't have any group historically that really fits well with the D&D idea of Druids. However, Druids are one oof those things I know a little bit about. And what I do know is that they were decidedly tribal magical folks: Shamans, of a particular and specific people.

Now, the term Shaman has lots of baggage, and among that baggage is the idea that it is tied to a "primitive culture", and, well, that won't fly.  I mean, I could just say that Druids can only be from this one place or that one place, but those places have, respectively, a Bedouin and Mongol basis that "druid" doesn't work well with. Yes, I mixed them with other steppe peoples and one tends towards Arabian nights in appearance and the other Indigenous Americans, but that's because I was a damn fool with the AI tools.

Does not work. Can't use Shaman, loaded term. Can't use Witch Doctor or Medicine Man, also loaded, in different ways, plus well, tis is D&D. So I needed a Druid. the name, at least. At one point I merged them with Monks -- did not work well. Then the Mortal Kombat thing came along and so I fixed Monks. 

So I sat down and did me some thinking about Shamans, Medicine men, Witch Doctors,  and other animistic tribal roles. Storytellers, history keepers, healers and seers. And among all of them, a couple of traditions stood out that were cemented by a single image I found while googling.

The image was and is petty spectacular to me. But it triggered something that had been buried in the back of my head for a long while, and I cackled as it allowed me to look at two traditions more closely and create a "new druid", for lack of a better term.

I took the Druidic tradition, Shinto, and the Loa of Houdon, smashed into them the underlying ideas of genius and numen from greek myth that fed into and helped create the ideas of all the little fairies of house and village we know fairy tales about thanks to a couple of brothers collecting folk tales, and poof, I had a solution and a role for Druids. They are still "people of the wilds" but they are not the protectors of the wilds -- that went over to Rangers, who suddenly seem interesting again.

They don't need wildshape. Getting close to one is rough, because they have the ability to summon, comand, and be defended by the spirits. They are never alone. They have a Fetish Totem for a spell casting focus, and it also doubles as their spell book. They don't rage, but they have some features from the Path of the Ancestral Warrior from Barbarians and The Totem Warrior. Divination is a major gift (they ask the spirits), so they snagged College of spirits stuff from bards (who are part of why Shamans are so hard to handle, since that is most of what a Shaman really is).

They occupy an important role, but are very off putting -- because their focus is made from things that were once alive, and they have to follow the assorted rules of the varying spirits of the world. Everything they do is based around those spirits, so they can make deals with them, and even channel them -- in the sense of the spirit can speak through them.

The role they occupy in the broader world is one of helping to keep the spirits from making more ghosts, in part, but also to broker a balance, an accord between the gazillion spirits and the people as they all wrangle for space and place. So they are a kind of bounty hunter and mediator between the natural world and the settled world. This also places them in a role to be front line defenders against incursions from the other dimensions (and yes, I have a dimension called Ex and one called Eighth, and almost had one called Nth, but it didn't survive a cut that simplified things -- though maybe I will go back and change Karma...), so they often work with Nomads, who are all about using Mana to reinforce the Veil through their secret societies.

Lastly, while they look like they are crazed wild folks, they are incredibly literate and have a secret skill related to runes. As storytellers and history keepers, they are a sort of living memory of the people, right alongside bards, though in the case of a Druid it tends to tell the other side more often. As a result, those who are parts of the Exile, Hyborian, or Kahokian peoples do tend to occupy roles and positions of authority and influence.

So, yeah, I changed Druids, but in doing so I made them a force multiplier, lol. And should they choose to forego the higher level spells and choose to take up a weapon skill instead, they can hold their own beside a Ranger or Paladin or Swordmage.

It is the most dramatic change I made to current "core classes" -- Warlocks are pretty severe a change, being elementalists with something similar to pacts there, and I pretty much spread Sorcerers out among the entire set of magic using classes so that whole class is gone -- but I am super pleased with it as a whole, and so I needed a moment to rationalize it out to people who don't care, lol.

But this is what comes of having too much crap in my head.

 I’ve also edited my Druids to fit more within a different style of world, and the funny part is that I also used the Loa for some inspiration. I take heavy inspiration from the various retellings of the story of King Arthur as well, as it is one of my favorite stories.

Quote from DrakenBrine >>

Two Questions: What is the weirdest homebrew a player asked to have, and what is the weirdest homebrew monster you had to fight?

 Weird is a broad term. I’m going to assume that you mean outside of the classic assumptions of a fantasy setting. That would be the legendary magic item, the Fridgaria Plate. This was a mysterious set of armor that was plate, and had powers that originated from its icy metal. This plate armor was crafted of: a fridge. Yes. This player wore plate armor made of a fridge. A very magical fridge.

Weirdest homebrew I’ve had to fight? A very angry and toxic GM. This was actually funnier than it was weird. This guy played D&D with us for a while and was GMing a level 20 one-shot. We all had some magic items and the lot of us had a lot of HP and resistances. This guy had far too many Monster energy drinks and then was GMing and we found the adventure (a prewritten one) way too easy. He got pissed that we demolished it (with the items and abilities he gave us) and started trying all these things with summoned monsters and damage to us and he got angrier every time because the damage resistances, massive HP, and high ACs made it so that we all weren’t dying to his creations.

He doesn’t play with us anymore.

Quote from DrakenBrine >>

Two Questions: What is the weirdest homebrew a player asked to have, and what is the weirdest homebrew monster you had to fight?

Can't say my players have asked for any homebrew weird characters; because my world (as for playable races) is pretty established.
As for the weirdest homebrew monster I've had to fight, most of the people who DM where I am a player, are running module adventures. So nothing unusual.

Quote from DrakenBrine >>

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

Ahhh, a city that spans the whole world, a underclass of undead doomed to servitude, a faction of rioters and a faction of bureaucrats, eh? Ravnica is calling, they want to add like seven more factions into your game and give them all fun Slavic names.

 I can’t tell if you like the idea or not.

 I'm into it, it just reminded me of another thing I like.

I did just get an interesting request that I have to think on a bit.

So, as you may recall, we finished my last campaign not too long ago. I never really wrote an of that basis out.  It was a lot of fun, but really the whole thing was just an excuse to get our hack and slash on, to do a real dungeon dive (which is why they said I wasn't allowed to do more than five for a whole world).

There is a large valley. It is just called The Valley by everyone that lives in it. It is surrounded on all sides by massive mountains, snowcapped and impassable, and the sides facing the valley are all cliff-like and sheer for over a mile. The Valley has three large forests, a large swamp, a chunk of really rugged hills in a steppe region, a single dry desert area with an oasis at the center, five large sets of ruins from ancient unknown peoples, each different in origin.

And a large, self sufficient Town called Valedale. Fields surround Valedale out for about fifteen miles in all directions, there are two rivers that meet just outside the town in a small lake, there are lots of streams, and it takes a week to cross the Valley on a fast horse with a change every five miles in one direction, two weeks in another. There are guard posts at three areas where people occasionally appear on the edges of the Valley.

One of the five ruins contains a dungeon. Like, the traditional, D&D, half the time it makes no sense, multiple level, deep ass dungeon. 53 Levels, about 50 rooms per level (plus or minus up to 15). 

Things happen in the town. people vanish, tings are stolen, powerful people either change their behaviors or turn up murdered in grisly ways, I think I did a whole thing with a bunch of gangs early on.  Short of it is that stuff if going on, and someone needs to get to the bottom of it.

For the first four levels, it is all about in town, light exploration stuff. Discover clues, check out the ruins, that kind of thing.

Come Level 5, and it gets serious, as you discover the secret of the main dungeon beneath one of the ruins: it is an engine meant to end the world, being run by a Demon King (who is actually a Demon Queen, but they don't stress that so much). Dungeon Level four and you come across the first Key and the first solution to a problem, and then dungeon level five has the problem: to save the world, you have to end the demon queen, on her turf, in her lair, at the bottom, and each level has puzzles that must be solved (sometimes by going back to the surface and doing things there) as well as the normal stuff a crazy dungeon has.

By Dungeon level 25, traps are pretty much immediately fatal. And that deep requires you to be at least 10th level.

Final Four levels are purely for Level 20 Characters, and do indeed include planar changes and armies of demons and all that crap.

Now, the trick is that every two levels of the dungeon is one level of Character -- so when the PCs first go in they start to clean up and wipe out everything easily, because they are like 5th already. Then it just gets harder, more dangerous, more deadly with each level.  And there are still breaks and trips to the town and resupplies and all that -- it is a serious dungeon dive, lol.

That was the whole campaign. A town, a dungeon, a demon. No effort on culture, no real tricky character shit, none of the stuff i have been doing with Wyrlde.

Well...

I was asked if I would write it all up. For someone else to run. About 70% of it was off the cuff, the rest is just notes, and even the dungeon maps were cheats (lines for hallways, boxes and circles for rooms, a few notes). I have no clue how much work it would be beyond "a shit ton", lol, and as I am aware I am still working on Wyrlde itself. 

Is there like a "market" for this kind of old school dungeon? That is, would people be interested in it? Wyrlde is my "last one", the end point for all the stuff and world building, and I would probably just go back to making dungeons again because they are fun to do even if I don't share them. So this would be a kind of lark in a lot of ways.

But it wouldn't be a 'safe" dungeon. I didn't follow CR rules, and there is a reason that stuff like encumbrance and food and rests and resource tracking is important (I mean, there has to be a reason to go back to town).

Just looking for thoughts from others who maybe don't have a personal investment, lol.

The gal who asks is one of the folks who survived the whole thing, though, lol, Same character. Most of the others died along the way at least once or twice, and they couldn't always afford to do a resurrection (even with the bidding war between the three temples). It is a meat grinder, but there are potential romance sub-plots and I could work in more stuff, but the whole is still a story line driven thing; I just did it with the dungeon levels for action and Town for interpersonal.

 You all seem to know the larger, wider community far better than I, and are hep to the latest goings on.

Question: Have you ever used roleplay outside of Dungeons and Dragons?

I have found that all the roleplay has really helped my acting, improv, and, well, roleplay skills. Being able to randomly jump into a theatrical performance or an alter ego is a truly wonderful ability. I have found that my go-to persona to use in random roleplay situations is the "stoner hippie." Don't mention aliens or the government around him or else this chillaxed dude will go on a frenzy of conspiracy theories. As the son of a theater major, I enjoy a little dramatic flare, but this stuff can be used outside the stage. I  believe that almost any game can be turned into a roleplay exercise. Playing farm with the kids? Pretend to be Napoleon from Animal Farm and install a Communist government among the toys. Playing poker with the gang? Pretend to have a couple screws loose and your opponents won't be able to figure out your strategy. Pulled over for speeding? Pretend you are a new immigrant that doesn't speak the language. (Cops love this trick, trust me.) Teaching someone how to speak English? Roleplay little everyday scenarios to give them practice. The roleplay skills you learn in Dnd can be applied to many other aspects of your life. 

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Question: Have you ever used roleplay outside of Dungeons and Dragons? 

It's helped in my story telling - both in and out of D&D. But mostly, the biggest thing it's done is provided confidence. As an aspiring writer, the lack of having faith in one's self to tell a good story can fester in the soul. And I definitely feel like, despite way too long of endless writing, feel like - especially with 5e, where the game truly did shift (to me) to be much more about story - rather than "fight all these random monsters, who for some reason all get along and just hang out in their individual rooms in this deep, dark and very dangerous dungeon!" (Which was 1st Edition and 2nd edition) - 3rd edition saw more sway towards characters, but still felt like a lot of battles for the sake of battles, 4th - I never ran, only played in, and didn't care for MMO on Paper (it's how it felt to me) - 5th edition - with the now, MANY games I run, and the reactions - and even the new friendships I've forged with people who were complete strangers to me before coming to my table - has opened the doors of confidence in my story telling much wider - and has made me a more confident person in general.

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Question: Have you ever used roleplay outside of Dungeons and Dragons?

 

Yes.

As this is a family friendly locale I will not go into details.

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.

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I am a researcher, activist, and advocate who often deals with the general public. Roleplay is one of many tools that allow me to improve empathy, increase understanding, reach consensus, identify trends, and generally avoid having to look at someone and ask if they have been struck in the head by a large, blunt object lately (because if not, they gonna be).

Mules and 2x4s

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Question: Have you ever used roleplay outside of Dungeons and Dragons? 

 Gods yes. Every day of my life has roleplaying in it. I work in a theatre when school is in session and help out at another whenever I can. I’m an aspiring author and game designer (ttrpgs, of course) and I play too much D&D for my own good. Roleplaying has helped me navigate conflicts, teach, and so much more. 

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Question: Have you ever used roleplay outside of Dungeons and Dragons?

 
 Oh God yes, in my personal life, my professional life (yup, I get to RP in my job, in fact it’s a requirement), in me *ahem* “romantic life,” I use RP all the times.

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

 
If you’re looking for more giant-themed character options, *caughcaughshamelesplugcaugh.*

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

 
If you’re looking for more giant-themed character options, *caughcaughshamelesplugcaugh.*

 Actually, I was looking for it on DMs Guild and couldn’t remember what it was called. Thank you!

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

 I bought it pre-ordered. I like it. Curious what you enjoy the most from it?

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

 
If you’re looking for more giant-themed character options, *caughcaughshamelesplugcaugh.*

 Actually, I was looking for it on DMs Guild and couldn’t remember what it was called. Thank you!

 
Happy to help, lol. Yeah, from that link you can check them all out individually and see the previews for the subclasses, and I’ve added a bundle exclusive gift to the package too.

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

 
If you’re looking for more giant-themed character options, *caughcaughshamelesplugcaugh.*

 Actually, I was looking for it on DMs Guild and couldn’t remember what it was called. Thank you!

 
Happy to help, lol. Yeah, from that link you can check them all out individually and see the previews for the subclasses, and I’ve added a bundle exclusive gift to the package too.

 Oh no. I’m paying full price, perhaps a bit extra. These are pretty high quality from what I’ve read.

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

 I bought it pre-ordered. I like it. Curious what you enjoy the most from it?

 

 So far my favorite bit (other than the beautiful cover) is probably the extensive lore on how the various giants and giant-kin are connected via blood and gods. I especially enjoy the death giants and fomorians, along with their banished god.

So far, I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve actually started writing an adventure. I’m not sure how far it will go, but I’m hoping that I can wrangle a few people to play in a game since I’m not running one right now. More will certainly follow as I write more of it…

What’s piqued your interest?

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

Quote from SirTawmis >>

Quote from Amnon_Balderk >>

I have recently purchased Bigby’s (both the alt and the regular cover look excellent, though I did go for alt) and wow. I didn’t know WotC was capable of making stuff this good anymore. The character options are a bit light, derivative, and dull, but the rest of the book is honestly very good.

 I bought it pre-ordered. I like it. Curious what you enjoy the most from it?

 

 So far my favorite bit (other than the beautiful cover) is probably the extensive lore on how the various giants and giant-kin are connected via blood and gods. I especially enjoy the death giants and fomorians, along with their banished god.
So far, I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve actually started writing an adventure. I’m not sure how far it will go, but I’m hoping that I can wrangle a few people to play in a game since I’m not running one right now. More will certainly follow as I write more of it…
What’s piqued your interest?

 
Well, for my own campaign - the lore provided in the books doesn't work for my homebrew (because I have very different lore).
So for example, in my campaign - the "gods" are very much like Asgardians - there are those with "powers" and sphere who are worshipped - there are those who are not, and simply Immortals. In my campaign - several Immortals were on the world - when the gods shut the portal back (this was to stop an invasion from the dark gods) - this trapped these Immortals on the world who became Empyreans. They soon discovered, that the children they bore into the world were not being born as Immortals/Empyreans - but rather as what would be known as "giant-kin" (Giants).

For me, what I pull from most of these books are the monsters to use in my world (and see what fun ways I can create lore around the monsters that get added). However, like you, I thought they did an amazing job with the lore they provided and the over all feel of the book. So much so that I began further developing the lore of the giants in my world and how they operate (similar as the giant order - the Ordning (sp?) - but it's called The Echelon). And giants like the fomorians are giants, who were cursed for going against the Echelon and trying to establish a coup. Similar the new Frost Giant from the book are cursed Frost Giants who had done the same. 

The new in person game I am running (already blabbed about it previously in this thread)