Good luck passing a Wisdom save, Mr. Barbarian Khan.
It’s Tabletop Gaming Week on this blog, my random readers on the internet!
And I figured that I’d talk about an element of RPGs which lends itself to a punny title: DC.
Well, I’m more of a Marvel guy, but I enjoy both enterprises. But enough about that irrelevant tangent! Let’s get back to the real juicy stuff: MATH AND DICE ROLLS.
This is not a spell where you can raise a holy symbol and have your deity pay the cost for you.
Doesn’t matter how tough or swift you made your character. Doesn’t matter what sort of broken, overpowered, totally legal character builds you’ve prepared.
Eventually, bad rolls are going to catch up to you. Eventually, you will bite off more than you can chew (alright, that one is more like “immediately” for most players). Or perhaps, and this is a BIG perhaps, you might be roleplaying character development and having your character give their life for a higher cause.
But mostly you die because of failed dice rolls and overwhelming force and/or numbers.
So, what happens when we die? Theologians and scientists will give you all sorts of answers and criteria for considering that question, but thankfully for gamers, games have had more solid rules. Let’s look at them, shall we?
Much like real martial arts, you’re taught that violence and self-defence are a last resort.
They are armed with steel armour, battleaxes, military training.
You are armed with your bare hands.
Welcome to the Monk class, student. Your journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Continue reading “Fabletop Classes: Monk He See, Monk He Do”
To be fair, most players act as if they have 6 Intelligence anyway.
WWYCD: What Would Your Character Do?
D&D and other tabletop RPGs can be boiled down to two things: The rules, and the writing. The crunch, and the fluff. The dice rolls, and the player roles.
Alright, that was multiple examples, but they all amount to the same pair! And today, I’ll be talking about the soul of the game: Roleplaying.
In other words, your old childhood games of playing pretend, only now with more MATH!
I UNDERSTAND TIMING IS IMPORTANT IN THE COURTSHIP RITUALS OF SURFACE-DWELLERS.
ONCE AGAIN, THE MONTH APPROACHES ITS LAST WEEKEND. AND THIS PATHETIC, SIMPERING BLOG SHALL ONCE AGAIN PROVIDE ENTERTAINMENT IN THE FORM OF A PIECE OF HASTILY PRODUCED FICTION.
AND THIS WEEK’S VISUAL CREATION ON WHICH IT IS BASED IS:
CLEARLY, THIS WILL BE A MOST TENDER AND INTIMATE ACCOUNT. IT IS MOST ASSUREDLY NOT WRITTEN UNDER DURESS OR MIND CONTROL. THE ELDER BRAIN WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING TO INFERIOR LIFEFORMS NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE INSECTS DESERVED IT FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO FIGHT IT.
This character puts the “role” and “play” in “roleplaying”.
Come hither my friends and lo, hear my story,
Of the minstrel who went in search of his glory,
A jolly rapscallion who lived for such fun,
With rapier wit always on the run,
He’d ridicule others for their looks or their stench,
Then o’er at yon tavern he’d hit on a w…oman as a respected equal with her own goals and dreams.
That being said, you probably shouldn’t troll your players by making “friendship” the final reward.
What moves adventurers?
A rich backstory?
A thirst to prove themselves, to explore?
A righteous cause?
Or…something shiny that will either buy them many nice things or help them kill stuff better.
