OOC Thread

Going on vacation from April 18th to April 26th. Prep will be going on beforehand, and then rest and unpacking when I get back, so I probably won't be consistent from now until the 30th or so!

Hey, anybody interested in trying D&D Beyond? I've recently bought into the service with the full subscription, which allows me to share the digital books I've purchased with my players (Currently PHB and Xanathar's Guide). All you have to do is make a free twitch account and log into dndbeyond.com, you can connect to my account and read those books online, legally, for free.

Once you have your own account, use this link to hook up to my account

One of the most exciting features is the built-in character builder. Because I have the PHB and XGtE, you can make any kind of character that use those rules. The free accounts allow you to store up to 6 characters. Full disclosure, I think I can snoop in all of your character sheets.

I'm not planning on integrating this into any of our games that we play together at the moment. This is mostly just me sharing this thing so you guys can try it out if you're interested. In the future, I think I might use the dndbeyond character sheets for a GP game; they are super slick! Very easy to keep track of what items you're currently using, calculate encumbrance, keeping track of how many uses of an ability you have left, or spell slots. And it calculates everything. So, say you have dual wielder feat and you choose to wield two short swords - your AC automatically goes up by 1.

I heard an interview with one of the head guys on the project and it sounds legit. They are true D&D fans and seem to have full support from WoTC. There are many new features that are promised to be added in, and the price (they say) is not going to increase.

The price of buying all the books AGAIN in a digital format is pretty steep. I am able to do this because if you install the dndbeyond app on an iPad you can use iTunes GC's to buy D&D books, and I have hundreds of dollars of iTunes GCs because I taught a student whose parents worked for apple and every Christmas he gave me a huge iTunes GC. So, while I don't know if the pricing is worth it or not, it was basically free for me, so whatever. I'm only paying the master subscription with my own cash. I will likely be buying the rest of the core books, Volo's Guide, the SCAG, and maybe even the Tortle Package to use in D&D Beyond. After that, I might start buying new products digitally rather than pay for the hardcover books, since they're like 40% of the physical book price. So, you'll get access to that stuff too. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, I'm looking at you!

Just a heads up that at some point I might close up access to this to make room for some future game I run if I run out of space for them. In the meantime, enjoy!

I've also got Beyond with the master tier. :) I love love love it. I make all my characters (save for Feldty) with it before porting them over here.

Since I don't have a ton of call for face to face games, the digital options there have been great for me. I particularly like how the adventures play out. I e got the PHB, DMG, Xanathar's, player races from Volo's, a few things from SCAG, Tomb of Annihilation, Out of the Abyss, and the monster manual. :)

The only thing I dislike is the limited number of campaigns you can have there (I think only six), so I have to be sparing in sharing it out and such.

I would definitely be interested in trying it out! I've been considering it for a while, so this will be a good chance to check it out. Thanks for sharing, Len :)

For another link to play with, feel free to follow the instructions above, but you can join my campaign to view my library here.

I decided to make myself a black dragonborn paladin to hang around your campaign. ;)

Thanks Dramasailor :) I added a half-elf paladin/sorcerer to hang around yours!

As posted in the Absences thread, I'll be traveling from 04 June 2018 through 15 June 2018. I don't know how much wifi access I'll have, so consider my participation to be limited.

Hey everyone, I'll be camping from August 13-17th and unavailable for posting. When I return I will have guests until the end of August. I will be able to participate again, but my pace might be affected sporadically. Feel free to move my character forward any time.

As posted in the Absences thread, since there is the possibility that some do not follow that forum:

When we leveled up, I did not take a martial microfeat. I remember talking about it, and I know CancerMan selected Fell Handed: Maul and gets +1 on maul attacks. I recall asking about ranged weapons in regards to that but can't seem to find the discussion. Anyway, I went ahead and added a similar perk for Seraphina and slings, +1 to attack rolls. Is this okay?

100% approved :-)

This is awesome. Now when Drek tells us again about the cabin at that spot near the mountains, Seraphina and KV will make it 200 yards down the road before they both forget, instead of on the doorstep.

Now that we've played with this method of character creation a bit, how do you all feel about it so far?

I don't DISLIKE it. From a story perspective, it's a lot of fun. It doesn't play super well with the various online tools available, but that's a minor thing in the grand scheme. It does, in some ways, make it more difficult to keep track of what you should and shouldn't have. Live games it would be less bad I think, when the time between levels isn't so much of a gulf.

I find it to be an interesting thought experiment. I did plan out what attribute increase and feat I would pick at every level, which gave me a good idea of what to pick and when. However, I will add the caveat that I picked what is probably the easiest class to plan ahead with. Fighters have more ASI opportunities, which means more feats that have the potential to also bump up attributes.

As an example, here's what I have for KV:
0: 8 HP; Light, medium armor; 3 martial weapons: greatsword, maul, heavy crossbow
1: 20 HP; CON +1 (12); Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting; Second Wind; Fell Handed +1 Attack
2: 27 HP; STR +1 (13); Action Surge

3: STR +1 (14); Champion; Improved Critical
4: STR +1 (15); Feat: Heavy Armor Master (STR +1 = 16)
5: STR +1 (17); Extra Attack
6: STR +1 (18); Feat: Tavern Brawler (CON +1 = 13)
7: STR +1 (19); Remarkable Athlete
8: STR +1 (20); Feat: Durable (CON +1 = 14)
9: CON +1 (15); Indomitable
10: CON +1 (16); Fighting Style: Defense
11: CON +1 (17); Extra Attack (2)
12: CON +1 (18); Feat: Savage Attacker
13: CON +1 (19); Indomitable (2)
14: CON +1 (20); Feat: Mobile
15: WIS +1 (10); Superior Critical
16: WIS +1 (11); Feat: Sentinel
17: WIS +1 (12); Action Surge (2); Indomitable (3)
18: WIS +1 (13); Survivor
19: WIS +1 (14); Feat: Great Weapon Master
20: DEX +1 (10); Extra Attack (3)

I'm going to place this game on hold until Len returns

I completely understand. Keep us updated!

Makes sense!

I can't let this game go. Can we keep playing please?