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15:16, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

The Tavern (OOC)

Posted by WorldFor group 0
Vydirexi
player, 13 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 08:13
  • msg #14

The Tavern (OOC)

Very cool, good to know!

So I take it you're giving me more magical options than the Innate Spellcasting variant dragons get in the Monster Manual, if Meteor Swarm is on that list? I believe the variant caps out at 6th level spells (which is great, but quite a far cry from that particular party-killer!).

I'm pretty excited about that; I never particularly liked that they took away dragons being powerful sorcerers. They probably shouldn't have the total, uninhibited casting power of a level 20 spellcaster, but I appreciate the future options.
World
GM, 14 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 15:41
  • msg #15

The Tavern (OOC)

I mean, I wholeheartedly agree that ninth level spells are bonkers in power, but it's not like you will be able to just cherry pick whatever spells you want, and you are still limited by the spell level < 1/3 Dragon CR.

So we are talking about a 1000+ year old, CR 27 Greatywyrm being able to 1/day Meteor Swarm.  That honestly seems just about right to me.

Also, 5e monsters are rather simple by design.  Your dragon will have a lot more options- more akin to a PC.  So by default, you'll be stronger than a lot of the MM equivalent dragons.  However, that will mostly be expressed in versatility rather than just straight up raw power.
Vydirexi
player, 14 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 15:57
  • msg #16

The Tavern (OOC)

Oh snap, CR 27? Right, I forgot that the power of Great Wyrms became dimensional instead of simply being the biggest dragons.

Well, still very excited!
Vydirexi
player, 15 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 16:00
  • msg #17

The Tavern (OOC)

Are the cracks big enough for me to pass through? I'm wondering if I can ride the heat updrafts to the ceiling and scramble out.
World
GM, 15 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 17:16
  • msg #18

The Tavern (OOC)

Hrmm. Let's say that there is one open vent that is just large enough for you to make it through.

However, because of difficulty of navigating the updraft in your exhausted state, I will have you give me a a DC 12 Athletics check.  If you succeed, you can quickly escape before the tiefling can cast his spell.  If you fail, you will move slower, and the tiefling will get his spell off just before you can make it into the crack.
Vydirexi
player, 16 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 17:26
  • msg #19

The Tavern (OOC)

Don't suppose fire immunity still makes you immune to lava in 5e? XD
World
GM, 16 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 17:27
  • msg #20

The Tavern (OOC)

It does indeed.  Lava only does fire damage.
Vydirexi
player, 17 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 17:34
  • msg #21

The Tavern (OOC)

Oh cool, so at least I won't die on contact. Just might run the risk of drowning if it's loose enough to go under.

Any penalties to the check before I roll and post?
World
GM, 17 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 17:40
  • msg #22

The Tavern (OOC)

No, you can go ahead and roll straight.
World
GM, 18 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 17:50
  • msg #23

The Tavern (OOC)

Ooof.  What an auspicious roll to start the campaign.  I was letting you use Athletics to power through instead of Acrobatics, since Str was your better stat, but with a 1 it wouldn't make any difference.
Vydirexi
player, 19 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 17:54
  • msg #24

The Tavern (OOC)

Oh right, totally forgot about that! Yeah, no difference at all. Hey, at least it happened on a roll that doesn't necessarily have any special penalties for a 1. Unless 5e added critical failure to skills and I'm forgetting about it, anyway.
Vydirexi
player, 20 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 18:20
  • msg #25

The Tavern (OOC)

I goofed and forgot to tell it to record each die separately, but if I got a 31 then it's a mathematical certainty at least one roll was equal to or greater than 15.

Sorry about that!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:21, Sat 22 Jan 2022.
World
GM, 20 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 18:24
  • msg #26

The Tavern (OOC)

All good.  And I agree with you that at least one was high enough to make the save.

PS.  The next post will be my last before work.
Vydirexi
player, 22 posts
Sat 22 Jan 2022
at 18:28
  • msg #27

The Tavern (OOC)

Yay, making saves means not dying as a wyrmling!

I hope you have a chill day at work! Sorry you've got a Saturday shift, though.
Vydirexi
player, 24 posts
Sun 23 Jan 2022
at 05:30
  • msg #28

The Tavern (OOC)

Welcome back! I hope you had a good day. =)

I believe the foremost thing she needs to do is try to hunt/forage! I think that's a Survival roll?
World
GM, 23 posts
Sun 23 Jan 2022
at 05:41
  • msg #29

The Tavern (OOC)

Yep.  Sadly, you will have to make the roll with Disadvantage due to your exhaustion.


And my day went pretty well.  However, I had a pretty major disappointment after I purchased a bunch of DnD minis off Amazon that were 90% off, only to see my order get canceled because of a "pricing mistake."  :(

But how was yours?
Vydirexi
player, 25 posts
Sun 23 Jan 2022
at 05:46
  • msg #30

The Tavern (OOC)

I'm sorry to hear that, that's a bummer. I hope you can find some of them at a good price, still, even if it's not quite so amazing.

It wasn't bad, thank you for asking. Pretty mellow, all told. Watched some One Piece with by best bud (he's a long-time fan and we're going through the series together), pet my cats, got some new glasses. Nice enough day, all told.
Vydirexi
player, 29 posts
Sun 23 Jan 2022
at 18:55
  • msg #31

The Tavern (OOC)

I picked up Fizban's guide to learn more about roleplaying a dragon convincingly and their cultural/territorial dynamics, and I am so damn EXCITED. I hadn't even realized it added Great Wyrms officially.

Although, and do please forgive the question, I'm wondering a little bit about the ability score situation. Obviously you don't need to explain anything to me or change your plans; that's your prerogative as the Dungeon Master, and I respect it. But I couldn't help noticing that Vydi is going to get a (very snazzy) 26 ability increases from her CR going up, but the difference between her and each standardized age category is a good bit larger than what the advancement says it will provide.

For instance, she'll get 3 points between now and officially becoming a Challenge 4 Red Wyrmling, but she would need 7 ability increases to catch up to the stat block.

Anyway, I was wondering if I might me misunderstanding how it works, or if you have plans I don't yet know about to catch her up with her vanilla stat block cousins. ^_^
This message was last edited by the player at 18:58, Sun 23 Jan 2022.
World
GM, 27 posts
Sun 23 Jan 2022
at 20:35
  • msg #32

The Tavern (OOC)

So I advanced us forward a bit, so we can get you out of that exhausted condition. :)

And I agree Fizban is a really fun book.  Although I personally found the Great Wyrms to be a little disappointing.  Like the fact that the Great Wyrm breath weapon does less damage than Ancient's just seems baffling to me. Granted, the Great Wyrm has massive range on it's breath... but still.  Other than that I am really enjoying it, and have already been putting some of it to use in this game.

As far as advancement is concerned, I want to first say that nothing is set in stone.  Especially since this is a solo game, we can tweak things as we go without having to worry about being unfair or unbalanced to others.

My idea was to try to give you a smooth advancement, using the premade stat blocks as points on a line of best fit.  So power levels may vary at time, but they should be close.  Also, you will likely have an advantage over MM dragons because you will gain more versatility and unique abilities.

In particular, when talking about abilities scores, you are right that 1 per level is not enough to keep you on par with MM dragons.  I realize now that I didn't clarify this in the Advancement post. Initially I was going to give out 2/level, and that would have worked out to be pretty close.  However, all dragons have a predisposition towards certain stats. So when you advance in size/age category you will get some preset ability boosts that are in line with your species (primarily Str, Con, Cha).  I'll update the Advancement post with more info.  So those 1/level ability points are more free points to distinguish your dragon from others.

TLDR: Your stats will be a little lower than a MM wyrmling when at CR 4, but when you advance to young dragon at CR 5 your stats will shoot up.
World
GM, 28 posts
Sun 23 Jan 2022
at 20:44
  • msg #33

The Tavern (OOC)

Actually, I can give you an two options for ability score improvement.

1. How it is now.  1/CR up, with a large boost on size/age category change.

2. 1/CR, plus 1/CR that can only be spent on Str/Con/Cha, with a minor boost on size/category change.
Vydirexi
player, 31 posts
Sun 23 Jan 2022
at 21:06
  • msg #34

The Tavern (OOC)

Ha, I noticed the breath weapon too, but I figured it was a small price to pay to become a mythic god-eater! And yeah, that 300' cone is a city burner and army-killer, even if the damage potential is a whole 1-12 lower. And they get force damage to their attacks instead of elemental; when the dragon can eat a ghost and virtually nobody in existence has resistance to its most common attack, that's a strong dragon.

I won't be averse if you want to amp some things up, of course, but that ball is entirely in your court. Having 9th level spells is a pretty major ace in the hole, as is the ambiguously unkillable nature of dragons in general, so I'm not going to start banging pots and pans while I chant "Maaaaaat, I'm not godly enooooough!"

And yeah, both the methods you mention make a lot of sense! Either 2/Challenge or a major uptick when she hibernates and wakes up in the next age category and let my 26 points be personal flair (and of course I won't complain that it might make Vydi stronger on-average than a dragon of similar age!). I hoped you were planning to do one or the other, in fact, but it felt unnecessary to start suggesting things myself when you probably had a plan.

The one other possibility that I had thought of is a slight spin on the 2/level idea, which would be that I choose where to put 1 (Vydi's unique style) and then you decide where to put 1 (the natural growth that's normal for a Red). But truly, any way we do it, I am stoked as can be.

Have you enjoyed this so far? Is there any way I could improve or act differently to make sure it stays fun for you?

OH HELLO NEW REPLY!

That second one is very similar to the idea I described above, so that'd be cool with me. If you'd prefer Vydi be more of a scrappy underdog for a given age category, though, that's fine with me, too!

I will say, I'm very accustomed to 3.5 and Pathfinder where getting bigger increases Strength and Con significantly, so keeping it to method 1 still appeals to me in that way (a nice big chunk of power after she's spent a year or a decade growing larger in her sleep).
This message was last edited by the player at 21:10, Sun 23 Jan 2022.
World
GM, 30 posts
Mon 24 Jan 2022
at 00:55
  • msg #35

The Tavern (OOC)

Hey Zoot, I'm having a blast so far as well.  Being able to put Fizban's to good use feels pretty rewarding.


I think I am going to go with your suggestion of you do 1 ability, and I do 1 ability point.  It will help smooth out the power curve a little bit more.  You will still get a bigger boost when you official grow in size, but it will be a smaller gain.
Vydirexi
player, 33 posts
Mon 24 Jan 2022
at 01:03
  • msg #36

The Tavern (OOC)

I'm really glad you're enjoying it, too. =)

That sounds good to me! I like the idea of you/nature controlling part of her development, it gives things a splash of pleasant unpredictability.

Now she just has to survive that long!
World
GM, 32 posts
Mon 24 Jan 2022
at 02:33
  • msg #37

The Tavern (OOC)

Question:  Would you like to give your mother a name?  It's very likely to come up pretty soon, given the fact that everyone in the area would pretty much know who she is.

I will obviously be naming all the NPCs in this world, but give how she is your mother, I wondered if you wanted to be the one to name her.

If not, I can easily think one up.
Vydirexi
player, 35 posts
Mon 24 Jan 2022
at 02:41
  • msg #38

The Tavern (OOC)

Please go ahead and name her! I've been having Vydi only call her Mother and only referring to her as that because Vydi has no idea what her name is. I doubt an ancient dragon would introduce herself by name to a wyrmling still in the egg, after all!

I've also been deliberately ambiguous about if there might have been more eggs in the clutch (already hatched or otherwise) because I'm not sure if you're going with one of the unusual means of procreation from Fizban's or a more traditional 3-4 egg clutch, and because Vydirexi just wouldn't have that information.
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