Q&A 2

Now that initial editing on Seas of Vodari is finished, I'm happy to return to my Patreon. I have another big project that is about to swallow my time, but I hope I'll have at least one more post coming this month. This time, it's another Q&A series, with many thanks to the readers who contributed questions.

ICV (@CaduceusIV) asks: What is the best/your favorite monster design that you've seen in 5e? WotC or third-party, either one is good.

I spent a bunch of time thinking about this question, and I don’t think I have an answer to offer. For me, monster designs are almost never exciting in themselves – the fun thing is coming up with a cool narrative and tactical context for the fight. Bridging the gap between the implemented monster in the book and the awesome throwdown in my head is hard work that, even after 26 years of DMing, I do only indifferently well. Tangible improvement – figuring out how to use what I’ve read and learned in the moment – is incredibly hard.

As a result of all of that, monsters on the page range from bad to neutral, and I am not sure what would push one of them into good territory. I probably care about NPC stat blocks (the ones cordoned off in the back of the MM and VGtM) a lot more than most DMs, because it’s so much easier to give humanoids motives and goals that the PCs recognize.

I think that monster writeups could probably do a lot to increase their value with a paragraph playing up the visual drama or tactical interest of the monster in battle. To put that a different way, suggesting ways to use the monster more effectively than just another sack full of hit points might help me a lot.

Ryan McCorkle asks: Why are Paladins the best class?

First, I want to say that I’ve done a whole podcast episode on this, on Certain Point of View: http://menofsteel.libsyn.com/episode-14-paladins-with-brandes-stoddard.

Second, paladins are the best because they engage with ethical struggle (as a class, not as individuals) more deeply than anyone else. There have been a lot of presentations of self-righteous paladins over the years, but a paladin with real compassion and a willingness to think through problems is engaging in a deeply satisfying personal and narrative struggle. They’re good for a lot of the reasons that The Good Place is one of the best TV shows ever made. That said, I really like that paladins can have alignments other than Lawful Good in 4e and 5e.

Third, in 5e, the Divine Smite gameplay loop is one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever seen, and paladins can more easily be defenders and strikers and leaders more than any other class. Their subclass can inform and support that role choice – but even that’s barely necessary.

Geoffrey Fortier (@mystech) asks: 1) How do you feel about narrating combat? Is it bad form to translate a character's combat rolls into descriptive text, do you worry about dictating the player's style and own storytelling?

I rely on nonverbal social cues with the player to see whether they have a description they want to use for their attack (often delivered before the roll), or whether I need to be the one to embroider the attack. Personally, I’m always trying to get on the same page with the player stylistically – but if I get it wrong I hope they’ll signal me. In general, I’m emphasizing the character’s coolness enough that I think players are happy to hear how cool I think the character is. (But you’re one of my players, so if you have a contrasting take, hit me up.)

2) How do handle bringing in new players into a group that has already acquired levels, treasure, magic items?

In my campaign, there are a few things to say about that. Up until the most recent new character, all new characters started at 1st, with starting cash and nothing else. When characters started hitting 5th or 6th level, I asked the active players at the time how they wanted this to work, and the only strongly-held opinion was that all characters should start at 1st level with no further advantage.

For the most recent new character, the adventure was set to seriously challenge a party of 6th-9th level characters, and I would like to stay friends with the new player, so I started his character at 4th level. I don’t think it’s unreasonable (in Aurikesh at least) for a 4th-level character to have no magic items, though he did have a silvered weapon. When he recovered his gear, there were some potions and a magic item in the same cache. (For the benefit of readers who weren’t there, that 4th-level character cast a few clutch spells that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in an awesome, memorable way.)

Having acquired a fat stack of cash helps in my game, but not so much that a starting character is at a lasting disadvantage. They usually get enough from starting cash to afford the first few weeks of upkeep, giving them enough time to get paid from one adventure or another.

Going forward, I expect to stick with 4th level or so until that starts to look so stingy as to be unplayable. I find some interest in the uneven levels of player characters in the campaign – I think gaining a level feels a little more special when only one or two people level at the end of a session, rather than everyone leveling at once.

3) What rule or system support do you feel D&D is missing and needs most?

It’s pretty much a toss-up for me between real crafting mechanics, stronghold and domain mechanics, and more integrated exploration mechanics. There have been OGL and DM’s Guild products for all of those, but I don’t know that any of them have gained broad community acceptance – or ever could until they’re WotC-official. Making mechanics that were designed after-the-fact feel like they belong is awfully close to outright impossible, as far as I’ve seen.

4) What's your favorite magic item and why?

Probably my favorite that I’ve ever received is Baath’s mage armor in Kainenchen’s game. It grants +8 AC, requires no armor proficiency, and still lets me add my Dex – that’s obviously OP as heck. It also imposes vulnerability to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage (if I recall correctly), so that when something does hit my ridiculous AC, I am a grease stain.

It’s followed closely by the time my Eldritch Knight got a laser glaive in Stands-in-the-Fire’s Planescape game. It only worked for one adventure, but it was a cool visual and made me feel awesome while I had it. Beyond those two, I haven’t had that many magic items that stuck in my memory.

My favorite magic item that I’ve created is probably Skyfire (a +2 greatsword that adds lightning damage and has assorted other Extremely Metal lightning powers).

5) Any table customs, etiquette or culture that your groups observes that aren't technically part of the rules?

The only thing I am really conscious of not being standard is our newest one – Thorns, Roses, and Wishes. Many people will be familiar with this idea from the corporate world. Each person in the group names one or more things that they didn’t like (Thorns), one or more things that they did like (Roses), and something they hope to see in the next session (Wishes). 

For our group, it has been a focused call for feedback that was otherwise getting elided in “thanks for running the game,” sometimes with extra conversation and often not. I think that some players have felt more comfortable expressing negative feedback as a result of the custom’s explicit call for it. Hearing a player’s Wish for the next session… would probably be even better if I wrote it down, where I could look at it during session planning, but hearing it still helps.