This is why I suggest every caster either has note cards for their spells or a tablet with their spells bookmarked.
It’s fireball. It’s just gonna be fireball. Just roll your 8d6.
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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Yeah, you make a personal spellbook. No PHB spellbook. That way you only have 4 or 5 pages to thumb through. If you can't devote that much personal time to the campaign, you can't devote that much time to the campaign.
Yeah, this is especially useful for classes that prepare their spells from a longer list, like wizards or clerics. I like to use revision card size notes for each spell, so then when we long rest, I can just rifle through them and physically take the ones I'm choosing to prepare. It is more faff to make the notes than for sorcerers or warlocks, who only have to prepare a few notes each time they level up, but it massively streamlines sessions
swing a sword four times
My group: "You guys make it to level five before the campaign falls apart?"
Can I use my sneak attack? No? Damn. Ok does an 8 hit. What does before modifers mean?
Ouch, ow. Stop, please
what i love is when the DM hasn't read the rules on how sneak attack works, so when you ask if you can use sneak attack they always say no.
That's why I play paladin. I have one spell worth remembering and it's a delete button.
Ok I play paladin because even in my fantasies I just want to be a hero who has the power to help people
This is why I love barbarians.
I deeply loved playing my delightful himbo. I only had two questions to answer: reckless attack (usually yes, because taking damage usually just makes me a more effective HP tank), and "do I want to hit them, or try to hit them really hard?" (Great weapon master feat — also usually a yes, mostly depending on healer availability).
I relate to your thing about a power fantasy of helping people. My guy had big "dad energy", because he was older, and was deeply committed to putting himself between the squishy kids of the group (even if those "kids" included an elf who was twice his age). His mindset felt very paladin-y
Ok I play paladin because even in my fantasies I just want to be a hero who has the power to help people
I hate being the person that quietly judges people who clearly chose paladin type classes for the power rather than for the class fantasy, but I just can't help it sometimes
Class mechanics are a perfectly valid reason for playing a class. I love paladin in 5e while the pf2 equivalent is less appealing to me because I'm not as much into playing tanks as damage dealers. No matter what class I play I like to play big damn heroes or damaged women struggling to be better.
Plan your next turn before it’s your turn!
I did but then the sorcerer changed the whole situation with his bullshit!
I think this whole situation improved considerably when everyone became invisible. See? No one is around now, combat complete
Hilarious! Appropriating this for redistribution!
But I, the barbarian, really wanted to hit someone with my axe this turn :(
~~sorcerer~~ DM
I'll also spot you that turn one is generally basic bitch shit.
It's turn seven, when the wizard has gone through six prior Save or Sucks only to find out the DM has introduced another creature on which none of them work that they're fumbling around for options.
This almost never works out because by my next turn, the battlefield is completely different than what it was when I ended my previous turn.
If my druid follows you it ought to be changed, either with barriers to keep them from approaching, or to funnel them into a kill zone, or vines wrapping the opposing casters keeping them from casting spells
I know this may be a joke, but I have used timers to great effect in the past. One instance comes to mind:
My players were looking for a missing child. They suspected a kidnapping. The Druid had transformed into a wolf, and was using scent to track the suspected kidnapper. The trail led them to the edge of a lake. In the middle of the lake, they could see a man in a rowboat. He had rowed out to the middle of a lake, and was in the process of dumping a squirming sack overboard. The players heard my description of how the sack hit the water, floated for a few seconds while it thrashed around, then sank below the surface.
The players fell into analysis paralysis. Would it be best to row out and stop the kidnapper? Focus on retrieving the sack that obviously had the kidnapped child in it? Risk splitting the party to do both simultaneously? While they were bickering about what to do, I quietly started a timer and set it in front of my DM screen. It was a not-so-subtle “you’re all wasting time arguing while a child is literally drowning” reminder.
The party saw me set the timer down, a silent beat passed as the realization hit, and then the entire party immediately sprang into action. Everyone piled into the rowboat on shore, while the paladin was asking to make a strength check to shove off and get the boat into the water. He rolled a natural 20, so the boat skipped a few times across the surface before the warrior took over rowing with a constitution check. He rolled a natural 19. They made it to the middle of the lake very quickly. The Druid wildshaped into something aquatic (I think a dolphin?) to go diving for the child, while the warrior and sorcerer piled into the kidnapper’s boat to prevent his escape. While all of that was going on, the paladin was making constitution saving throws to swim out to the middle of the lake (in heavy armor, I might add) to be on standby in case the child needed healing.
I didn’t actually intend on using the timer for anything. But the simple fact that I had it running pushed them into action. It was a powerful reminder that their characters wouldn’t have the time to fully analyze the situation and arrive at a plan of action by committee.
Meanwhile, the necromancer is standing on shore saying, "I really don't want to get my robes wet. Take your time, bring me the kid, and I'll take care of it."
This is a great example of the effectiveness of using a timer.
In addition to streamlining the session, I've found that it is also a massive help for roleplaying. Our party was once put on the spot in a similar way, and we ended up making choices that we deeply regretted. However, it was the kind of situation where there were no straightforwardly good choices, and we'd have probably agonised over the consequences either way. Our DM spurring us into action meant that we experienced the analysis paralysis (and subsequent regret) in-character as well as out of character
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Bold of you to assume I know what my fighter is rolling.
A d20. 🤷♂️
I think it's a d12 and then some 3rd grad math homework I didn't do.
That's if you hit them. You gotta see if you hit them first.
Ohhh, that's the d20 and then uuhhhhh... proficiency then ummmmmmm. Dose 11 plus 3 plus something else hit?
this is why ttrpgs should not be so combat-focused.
Depends on the players. Some want to play pretend. Some want to play XCOM with dice.
themoken@startrek.website Some want to play XCOM without dice, and get really pissy when the dice say "no".
I tend to find an 2:1 or 3:1 combat/non-combat gives people a good mix of the action/adventure elements and the high drama. Combat just tends to take longer than drama, so even when you try to minimize it, you can often find yourself in a time-suck.
I also tend to feel that any "withering encounter" should resolve as soon as the players are more-or-less assured of victory (like, 2-3 turns, unless things go disastrously wrong for the players). Big center-piece boss battles can take longer, but need some kind of high drama element (exploding volcano, NPC dangling off a cliff, evil wizard powering up a death ray, etc) that (a) gives players a puzzle or drama point to resolve and (b) gives someone an opportunity to do something passionate or wacky (swinging in on a chandelier, flinging themselves on a hand grenade, asking their beau to marry them in the middle of a sword fight).
Any encounter that's just "roll the dice, pass the turn" is a waste of everyone's time, IMHO.
Every player is different, every DM is different. Thats why communication at the top is important, if you want to get heavily in to character and roleplay a detective mystery in the tavern, let your DM know that.
sigh. i miss thac0 sometimes. not often, but sometimes
I liked that armour system, the rest of the game was not as polished as later versions
I miss Thac0 because its fun to say.
Thay-co. THAYE-Coooo
This is something I do find a bit annoying with other players I've played with. I can accept it if they are playing for the first time, but by level 10 you should already know what spells you took and what they do at minimum.
by level 10 you should already know what spells you took and what they do at minimum
As often as not, the control wizard is trying to figure out if they can drop the AoE template to just hit the bad guys. Blaster Casters tend to have less of a problem because every turn is "Does it have fire resistance? Yes: Magic Missile / No: Scorching Ray"
The really annoying wizards are the Summoners, because "it's my turn so let me add another 1d4+1 turdlings to the battle field and take 6 attacks with the gumbas currently out here".
This is why I'm respeccing as a rogue this week.
Unless some cataclysmic event has befallen the battlefield or a primary target or ally just died your turn should be no more than 1 minute at the longest.
I'm in a weird spot rn where I'm nostalgic for playing on roll20 because I wanted the 'genuine experience' of playing in person.
your turn should be no more than 1 minute at the longest
"I cast Invisibility"
"You can't"
"Yes I can"
"No, you can't, you're in the Antimagic Field"
"No, I'm not. I'm on the edge of the field. Look at the table."
"There's still a corner of the field in the square."
"Then I don't stand in that corner."
"The rules say it doesn't matter."
"No they don't. It has to occupy at least 40% of the square."
"Yes it does. Look, its right here in the DM's guide."
"That's the 4.32 manual. You need to check the rules updates from 4.71"
"I'm not using 4.71 rules."
"You referenced a 4.82 rule just a turn ago!"
"No I didn't, that was a house rule."
"That's not anywhere in the house rule guide! I was just reading it before I cast my spell."
"Well, I sent out an email two months ago."
"GUYS! Just make a decision and move ON!"
"Okay, fine. I take a five foot step and cast Invisibility."
"My hydra gets an AoO. I roll a 43 and deal 290 points of damage. Your wizard dies."
"THIS IS BULLSHIT!"
Just let them cast the spell and labour under the misapprehension they are invisible until they pass a perception roll.
"I cast invisible"
"The hydra takes an AoO"
Queue from the top
It's the same argument. The fundamental problem is that magic as a system doesn't play well with rules as a concept
It’s the same argument. The fundamental problem is that magic as a system doesn’t play well with rules as a concept
Yeah, half the time magic is specifically about ~~breaking the rules~~ adding a more specific rule for a specific instance, which of course makes everything turn into the rules lawyer heaven.
As a personal experience, mutants&masterminds is just, so, horrible about the arguments for how powers interact, and they didn't help by mixing fuzzy and binary rules.
makes everything turn into the rules lawyer ~~heaven~~ hell.
👹
As a personal experience, mutants&masterminds is just, so, horrible about the arguments for how powers interact, and they didn’t help by mixing fuzzy and binary rules
I've never played. But if that's the Palladium version and it's adjacent to Rifts... ye-gods. Why even have game mechanics at all? Just give us the setting material and a bag full of random dice mixed with cheetos and Chucky Cheese tokens.
I remember people excitedly snapping up the d20 version of Exalted back in their 2e, almost entirely because they adored the world but despised the White Wolf mechanics. Also seen some decent mileage taking games like this to FATE or Big Eyes Small Mouth, just because it does become much more of a narrative auction than a dice game.
Heh, hell for the rest of us, but rules lawyers are as happy as a pig in mud.
I don't remember which version of M&M it was, just that there were fuzzy rules regarding stuff around senses, and hard binaries within those fuzzy rules. I get it, of course trying to make rules that cover everything ever in comic books isn't going to be easy... but still, it was atrocious when you found yourself playing with someone who 'knew the rules.' I even remember a few posts on some forums about how M&M took the concept of d&d's 'fighters are for dumb people, wizards are for smart people' philosophy and just made it even more important and people lapped it up as if it was a good thing!
Fate is definitely among my top games. I recommend it to everyone who brings up gaming, but I never seem to be able to get into a group with it these days. I personally hate d&d for how it not only is the name everyone knows, but somehow has cemented itself as the only game people are willing to play.
rules lawyers are as happy as a pig in mud
In my experience, rules lawyers get a certain special high from remembering some obscure piece of info and digging it out at the right moment. It's their own special kind of magic. And - from time to time - it does make the game better, because you've got a guy who can say "Actually there IS a rule for jumping off a cliff, grabbing onto a big vine, and swinging onto the back of the rampaging Wyvern".
But when the DM thinks they know the rules and the Player thinks they know the rules, and then they spend half an hour arguing over the results of a dice roll, it is my experience that neither of them walk away from the table happier than when they started. The best you can ever get is the table stakes and the worst you get is feeling robbed or cheated.
Fate is definitely among my top games. I recommend it to everyone who brings up gaming, but I never seem to be able to get into a group with it these days. I personally hate d&d for how it not only is the name everyone knows, but somehow has cemented itself as the only game people are willing to play.
The d20 system is pretty quick to pick up but contains enough depth to allow for wide variations in setting and style. So many of the variants are just right there at surface level. Nobody has to work hard to make fireballing a goblin legion or sneak attacking a mind flayer cooler than it already is.
FATE is perhaps too vanilla and really relies on the players/DMs to pick up the slack in their descriptions. The fundamental problem with a very story-based game is where you go with it when other people at the table just aren't exciting enough to keep it compelling. Easy to say "I like this system over that system" when what you really liked was the group of Theater Kids (or just the friends you knew with a good set of in-jokes) that made the game pop.
I know a few friends who swear by Call of Cthulhu as a system. But their DM is a phenomenal amateur horror writer. So, I feel like it isn't the system that's doing a lot of the work.
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