|
|
Post by MightyMkins on Mar 26, 2017 0:02:56 GMT
Hey guys, Noob DM with a Noob group.
Playing the mines of Phandelver a player held out his hand to the Nothic whom was demanding flesh and food, the Nothic bit 3 fingers from the Rogue of our party clean off. It was hilarious and stupid but now I'm kinda stuck with what to do with the player (they are still in the ruffians hideout and we play again Wednesday) should I have him roll disadvantage on his attacks with that hand (he dual wields daggers) and how can I help this later in game?
My thought was to have a blacksmith make a gauntlet/ prosthetic? Any ideas or tips?
Thanks in advance for the help
MightyMkins
|
|
|
|
Post by joatmoniac on Mar 26, 2017 3:59:58 GMT
I would want to know a little more about the situation where the rogue put out there hand. In that, if they were doing it just to be funny and not trying to weigh the consequences then yeah it costing 3 fingers is probably ok. If they didn't fully understand the consequences then as long as this was used to establish that the world is an unforgiving place don't just pit your hand near things, that's cool too. The loss of a limb is an interesting thing because there aren't many pure mechanical ways to handle. I would wager that the rules as intended would represent magical healing as a way to have that go away. To make it more intriguing it could be that there is a quest related to finding the right materials for the right healer. Which is really just a twist on the idea you present with some prosthetics. Essentially, whatever you choose you don't want a permanent disadvantage for a one time mistake. I would look to the player to see what avenue they find most interesting. Also, it could be a great opportunity to have an upgradeable aspect to their character. Higher level could mean more magic placed into the prosthetic, or if could be akin to the grass sword arm from Adventure Time after it is healed. Tons of great ways to approach this, and hopefully mine are helpful, and others will share theirs!
|
|
|
|
Post by MightyMkins on Mar 26, 2017 7:43:23 GMT
Thanks for the speedy response!
The situation was that the ranger had some rations and had given the Nothic some for a couple of secrets but the party had split and the groups Barbarian had almost all of the food and supplies so when the Nothic approached the rogue demanding more food stating he wanted to eat flesh the player said to me "I put my hand towards him and point out my pinky", so the Nothic took a large bite out of the hand. Indeed the world is cruel and actions have consequences.
I think that's a great idea to have a quest to gather materials for the healing or prosthetic! I hadn't thought of that. I like the idea of it possibly getting upgraded too, further down the line.
If I was to go for a gauntlet or prosthetic I think this would be easier to upgrade later. Would you advise to still have it as a magic item of some description in order to give it full mobility rather than it being any kind of bionic/tinker tool?
Thanks again for the quick response, I don't know any other DMs in my area and often have questions.
|
|
|
|
Post by MightyMkins on Mar 26, 2017 7:47:49 GMT
P.S holy balls! I just read your name :-o the legend that is Joatmoniac! DMsblock and DM-Nastics has helped me prepare for being a first time DM so much. Thank you and the other guys so much!
|
|
|
|
Post by dmgenisisect on Mar 26, 2017 12:46:24 GMT
I think if you want to impose a mechanical penalty for this permanent disadvantage is too severe I would go with either "when attacking with this hand you do not add your proficiency bonus", or "when attacking with this hand do not add your ability bonus". Representing the difficulty of operating a weapon with out all fingers as either not being as skilled with it, or lacking in your innste skill with it respectively.
Your solution will establish the "tech" level of your setting. If you go with the enchanted prosthetic your moving out of the traditional fantasy of DnD towards something more magitech like Ebberon. That said you should see what your player comes up with as a solution!
|
|
mightymkins
Squire
Rookie DM looking for advice and hopefully I can help someone else too!
Posts: 31 
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Goliath
|
Post by mightymkins on Mar 26, 2017 14:56:58 GMT
I see what your saying, if I start off the bionic hand then it could lead to an expectation of other tech being easily available.
As I'm still using the starter pack we are in the Forgotten Realms, what would do you advise being the most in keeping with the setting?
It certainly will be interesting on Wednesday to see how he tries to fix his hand, I'll be sure to let you know what happens, your advise will certainly help.
Thanks again for your help. I'm so happy to have you lot help in discussing DM issues!
|
|
|
|
Post by joatmoniac on Mar 26, 2017 18:44:15 GMT
It is great to have a place to go to talk things out. It is tough as a DM to have people that aren't your players, haha. Dmgenisisect is right, the choice will establish your flavoring of the Forgotten Realms. I would lean whichever way you are comfortable with and your players want to have happen. That said to stay more traditional to the FR setting I don't remember very much tech, as even guns are and optional and rare thing. You could go down the more magical and mystical path to get it done. The prosthetic itself is fairly mundane, but the soul of the sentient creature put into it, now that is another thing entirely! That could also be how it functions if mixing simple tech and divine. There could be the holy symbol of Moradin on the hand that lights up whenever used, and the rogue prays each morning to Moradin and makes sure to give offering when he finds a temple. Glad to have you here at the Block Party and can't wait to here how it goes!
|
|
mightymkins
Squire
Rookie DM looking for advice and hopefully I can help someone else too!
Posts: 31
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Goliath
|
Post by mightymkins on Mar 26, 2017 20:00:59 GMT
You guys are truly outstanding! So much great advice. I've just done some research into Moradin and that's going to work out really well I think because they have still got to go and save Gundren from Cragmaw Castle so that can be the Dwarven connection.
I'm really thankful for the help, hopefully I can pay it forward in the future and be able to help others starting out.
I will keep you informed in any developments through this thread.
|
|
mightymkins
Squire
Rookie DM looking for advice and hopefully I can help someone else too!
Posts: 31
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Goliath
|
Post by mightymkins on Mar 30, 2017 22:52:24 GMT
Small update, the party have taken another full session to get out of the Redbrands Hideout so I haven't had the opertunity to see what sort of solution my player will come up with or offer a mission/ quest to seek a solution.
This does bring me to a new issue though :-P tips on how to help my players progress without leading them the whole way? whenever I give them too much help I feel like I'm railroading and being too bossy. This is maybe an issue for a different thread?
|
|
mightymkins
Squire
Rookie DM looking for advice and hopefully I can help someone else too!
Posts: 31
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Goliath
|
Post by mightymkins on Apr 6, 2017 21:37:58 GMT
Ring of regeneration: While wearing this ring, you regain 1d6 hit points every 10 minutes, provided that you have at least 1 hit point. If you lose a body part, the ring causes the missing part to regrow and return to full functionality after 1d6 + 1 days if you have at least 1 hit point the whole time.
Just found out about this, might help others.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chickadee (DM Trish) on Apr 7, 2017 4:50:56 GMT
I'm running the same campaign, so I really laughed hard when I read about the Nothic.
I totally get how you don't want to direct your players and luckily because I'm also a noob with a noob group, they are very forgiving. My group is very..erm..enthusiastic and tend to take a 'kill everything and have no NPCs left to question later' approach (they also tend to roll obscenely high with boss fights and to nearly die in incidental scuffles - it's hilarious!)
Anyhow, they wanted to charge off to Cragmaw right away and honestly, I just hadn't planned that far into the campaign and was nervous about trying to wing it. I had a feeling they would want to do this, so I created a 'fan club' of 3 sibling NPCs that pretty much were in awe of our dragonborn character. When my group looked like they were about to charge off, I had one of the kids run up crying and tell them that their mamma had been taken away by the Redbrands. It was a bit heavy-handed but it sent them off to a part of the story that was more their level (and that I had prepared).
|
|
mightymkins
Squire
Rookie DM looking for advice and hopefully I can help someone else too!
Posts: 31
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Goliath
|
Post by mightymkins on Apr 9, 2017 16:33:25 GMT
Glad you could share in the humour. Being my first campaign its fascinating what some PCs will do.
We certainly are having very similar experiences early on, I have a few players who want to interrogate or to be more pacifist but can't see past killing everything and only taking the time to look for clues later on. In the redbrands hideout you could have them find the letters in glass staffs room even if they already killed him. Or at worst if they have left the hideout they could find a band of goblins heading to the hideout with a letter from the Black Spider in order for you to progress the story.
Good that you were able to think up a reason for them to stay though.
My PCs nearly killed each other over a few of the smaller decisions they have had to make, so I cant tell how any encounter social or combat will ever pan out.
We will be playing on Wednesday and Friday this week so will let you know how we get on Chickadee.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chickadee (DM Trish) on Apr 11, 2017 20:17:42 GMT
We typically play once a week on Friday or Saturday night. We've had a few highlights that you might enjoy. 1) our dwarven cleric accidently vapourised the boss Glasstaff when he buffed himself then crit. (oops..there goes that source of information). 2) last week, our paladin tried to ride the Owlbear in Cragmaw Castle. Unfortunately, he didn't roll high enough to succeed but I really hoped he would.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chickadee (DM Trish) on May 15, 2017 4:01:20 GMT
mighty...how did you end up handling the missing limb dilemma in the end?
|
|
mightymkins
Squire
Rookie DM looking for advice and hopefully I can help someone else too!
Posts: 31
Favorite D&D Class: Ranger
Favorite D&D Race: Goliath
|
Post by mightymkins on May 15, 2017 8:51:43 GMT
It's not finished as of yet but this is the plan.
My Party had a guest player (Dwarven Fighter, friend of Sildar and well known as a Smithy with a Connection to a temple forge of Moradin), so at the end of the session with my guest he told the party he would attempt to craft a gauntlet embedded with the power of Moradin to bring normal function to my players hand, I am also going to add some small payment system as was previously suggested because I'm hoping that having to worship a God that is aligned as lawful good will make my player think a bit more about his decisions as this had been a small issue previously.
So we do have something in the works but I'm leaving it up to the players to go and retrieve the gauntlet.
|
|
