Implementing Homebrew || D&D with Dael Kingsmill

[@DeekerJones]

When you let players roll for initiative via WIS, do you ever find times when you take that advantage away? For example if the party is ambushed and so the only thing they can do is react to the situation, in which case WIS would not apply?

[@MonarchsFactory]

Oh for sure! I totally forgot to mention, but yes, wisdom is only available for initiative if the character is NOT surprised, you're exactly right

[@Joebob62911]

@@MonarchsFactory Would you mind sharing the two lists you mentioned during the video (your minor "default" adjustments and the optional/class-specific ones)? I've always been curious about the mechanical specifics of how other groups run/play 5e

[@Ignisrex]

@@MonarchsFactory I have a homebrew rule that dex does not determinant initiative but int does, since dex does enough already, int can use more, and it makes more sense at least in my head

[@farmerboy916]

@@MonarchsFactory Why? Surely wisdom could also be in foreseeing a likely ambush, due to the spot or w/e? Though that might be limited by perception and wisdom stats. I feel like the inverse of that would be rolling for initiative in a conversation or debate where dexterity wouldn't matter, which isn't really a thing. Just makes me think about how you could use all the different stats for different types of initiative, I suppose

[@MonarchsFactory]

@EGBrandan In that case wisdom will have already played it's part in their passive perception/perception checks to avoid being surprised - if the conditions of surprise have already been met then wisdom can't help them retroactively, so it falls back to dex as a measure of reaction after the fact

[@DabIMON]

"Do you know someone who is good at communicating? I don't." You just blew my mind...

[@HS-iw1ed]

"I think I've got the audio clip for it here" Dale said, as she proceeded to physically demonstrate something akin to being on hold for three minutes, while we listen to an interesting and insightful analysis of a fictional religious sect.

[@michaelsommers2356]

I see that all those acting classes you took at uni have finally paid off.

[@MonarchsFactory]

They don't call me Four-Whole-Expressions Dael for nothin'!

[@michaelsommers2356]

@@MonarchsFactory Oh, come on! You had at least five expressions there. Maybe even six. And even four is twice as many as the sock and buskin masks. (Seriously, that whole segment was delightful.)

[@ashtonnorthrip6164]

also that rolling initiative with wisdom is similar to the new Pathfinder second edition where you roll with stats, mainly with perception which is dope

[@LokRevenant]

Kingsmill wearing an MCDM shirt. Yep.

[@thor30013]

Was just going to say something about that.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

Sincere fangirl

[@BenA514]

Your "totally listening to the audio clip" bit absolutely killed me. And, I'm stealing the death save mechanic, that would've been so useful last session.

[@ingridplata2411]

What was great about the miming is that you nailed some reactions to things being said

[@dunitmills]

"if your player isn't too much of a wangrod" i see you too have been listening to a lot of matt colville

[@megatroymega]

She is wearing the shirt.

[@kachiechan]

They're best friends!

[@damnghen7509]

It's the best possible word

[@mitchellbrady7448]

I ship their dm advice channels so hard

[@thegmwitch]

Just wanted to hop in this comment section and say that I love your videos. I've been watching for a little while now and all your D&D content is totally up my alley and I really like it. Thanks so much for sharing your ideas and thoughts on things. It's really nice to hear different perspective in the community. That being said one of the rare times that a youtuber says "if you're watching my videos you're probably..." and was totally right! lol. I actually don't have any obviously homebrew rules for my game yet. Probably just accidental ones where we've messed up and just rolled with it. lol. Cant wait to see the next D&D video! :)

[@nafereuskortex9055]

1:01 when you don't know when your mic is a mimic

[@lexsmithee652]

Loving that miming during the audio clip!

[@edwardgurney1694]

"We've all been in that situation where..." genuinely thought Dael was going to say "two people are about to have a swordfight".

[@MonarchsFactory]

Rapiers, in the quadrangle at midnight

[@edwardgurney1694]

@@MonarchsFactory Round my way we're not that fancy, I've seen my share of back alley fireball fights. After a few flaggons of mead things can get a little...heated :p

[@BlueSparrow23]

It's absolutely all about communicating. And I agree that most things are more fun when you let the players in early, but also with the thing like Thieve's Cant where if you keep the other players in the dark, it can both make the rogue feel extra badass and show the rest of the party that there's more going on in the world and help it feel more alive. Also, I care about the cube, but I also understand that an unsolved cube can be more visually interesting than a solved one, though having it change at certain points between edits could be a fun easter egg too :D

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Dael!!! I LOVE your content!! Your “Build-a-Baddie” thing blew my mind! I just made my own KZbin channel and YOU are one of my main inspirations! I love homebrew and helping people streamline their game Thank you for all you do! I need more videos from you!!

[@obibrekkin424]

Well if you’re anything like her, that would be awesome!! We need more homebrew content for us home-brewers!! Love ya Dael!!

[@GoblinLord]

holy shit, I watched your vids more recently, it's rad to find out you came from here (Funny thing is I found out about this channel after I found out about Dael lol)

[@RighBread]

Dael, I cannot get enough of your content. Every time you tell us about some of your house rules or homebrew mechanics, I end up thinking "Oh man that's such a good idea" and then stealing at least one thing. Please never stop letting us into your brilliant mind. You make D&D objectively better.

[@gornser]

I have no words ... thanks

[@goliathcleric]

One thing I am thinking of trying is homebrewing concentration. I have always found it odd that a 20th level wizard is just as likely to lose concentration on a 1st level spell as a 9th. Like if the level of the spell is less than half of the max spell level that can be cast, then the concentration check automatically succeeds unless a certain damage threshhold is met. On the other side, a spell at the max level the caster can make requires a concentration check even if the attack misses. All other spells remain unchanged.

[@AnubidIsAwful]

I was just on a D&Dael binge! Proficient timing sir!

[@foxross]

The audio clip is from 7:33 to 11.33. Hilarious, thankyou Dael.

[@MxExLxD]

Every time I watch one of your home brew videos I just think "damn, I just wanna play in a Dael campaign".

[@stevenneiman9789]

Thank you so much for talking about how important communication is. Communication and good faith are the most important things for any tabletop game, and I would say almost every social interaction of any kind. I actually disagree about session zero being anything but vital. Basically every awful experience I've had running RPGs came from not having a session zero, and every campaign I've had with a session zero has been fun, even the ones that didn't really work out in the long run. 4:25 My attitude for passive perception is that it's basically like AC for stealth. Literally the only thing I use it for is to shift the d20 from the sentinel to the sneak. If you're looking for something you roll perception, and if you're not looking for something you won't find it unless it's obvious enough not to need a roll. 13:00 I have a doc on my Dropbox (which my players can access) that's just a list of non-core rules and content. Anyone can edit the doc with a piece of content and the source, and I will post a note saying whether that piece of content is allowed and why or why not.

[@christofferhougaard]

That natural 2 charisma (mime) check was so funny!

[@28mmRPG]

Oh... no... you know with all those facial expressions someone could meme the heck out of it...

[@applejackjk18]

I read Sabriel and Old Kingdom books by Garth Nix, and I loved his afterlife/necromancy interpretation. Heavily inspired some house rules and lore in my game (that I'll have players play in...someday *shakes fist*. tl;dr bringing someone back from the dead requires you to cross your soul into death and bring them back. And that is dangerous because there are dead things over there.

[@scabbynack]

Implementing ideas like this turns something boring (did we buy the diamonds in town?) into something a lot more interesting with real decisions!

[@Lurklen]

I pretty much use most of my homebrew rules in the games I run. Though if I'm starting with a new group, or a group with fewer players, I'll either dial some back or remove them. Sometimes I just explain them like they're the rules of the game, because I know that some of my players have not cracked the players handbook since their character was made. I also am coming up with new ones all the time, and refining the ones I've made. One thing that doesn't get talked about as much is testing out Homebrew rules. It's a whole process, and you kind of have to get a groups okay before you start using content that you've never really played with. Unless you have a lot of time and/or games going, you're probably going to be testing these rules in your main game, to sometimes disastrous results, and that's a really good time to retcon things or take the temperature of the group on that rule and how it worked. I'm currently using a Phased Initiative System (basically, the PC's declare actions and are given obvious visible information as to what enemies are going to do (Phase 1), then groups are divided based on who's going to interact with who (Phase 2), and then actions are resolved simultaneously based on grouping or action type (Phase 3).) and I'm constantly bugging my players to see how they like it in comparison to side or standard initiative ( I have a big group so combat time is big concern of mine). But they bought into experimenting with this new system , it would be a real dick move to just throw this at a bunch of players without asking them and while you're still working the kinks out. I actually so greatly like the style of play that some of the rule adjustments I've made (or that my players have suggested) that I'm starting to add them to my PHB in the form of attachable notes or straight up taping paper over things I think are dumb. That said I still run games RAW, but generally I keep them shorter, and for the most part my players have always opted in to my homebrew. One challenge I have, I've been playing with so many of the rules for so long, I forget they're homebrew.

[@WeShallLoveOn]

Excited to see what everyone else did for gamowrimo!

[@chrisar6068]

Really well communicated.

[@shadowpledge9515]

From my understanding, passive perception is used as a skill floor. As in, if you are rolling for perception and you roll lower than your passive perception, you choose your passive perception instead. The exception to this is a Nat 1 (crit fail) where your character may have been distracted by something. Otherwise you are always at or above your passive perception.

[@Mallory-Malkovich]

The dumb-show during the audio clip was the funniest thing I've seen all day!

[@Yasac]

Ohhh! Multilingual is an awesome idea. I'm running a Star Wars campaign and all the languages you can deal with it's impossible to choose (and you just buy a protocol droid aka free DM target). At least giving everyone 3-5 languages at different levels of proficiency would be great!

[@brandonmoisant7944]

Am a GM and love following your Content :) Thanks for the video, been following you for awhile!

[@garrettrobinson3826]

That resurrection rule is VERY GOOD and I'm probably gonna use it in future games.

[@PyrotechNick77]

Are you saying I have to actually talk to my players about what to expect in my camapign BEFORE AND AFTER playing??? /sarcasm And that by opening channels of communications, you and your players can develop the world of the game hand in hand???? Thanks for the great video Dael.!!!

[@corbyrobinson3640]

:O DAEL!!! Can we get the full comprehensive list of your different home brew rules? Not all your DND video scripts type thing, because you have made videos for that, (thanks btw), but if we could get your session 0 handout that you use to pitch your homebrew ideas to your perspective players that would be amazing!

[@charlessyson7495]

Totally agree, we need this list of home brew!!!

[@alexanderlundberg5644]

I really like that when I saw the title the first thing I thought of was talking to your players and then that's pretty much your main point. The only thing I would add is trying out homebrew and then removing it if it does not play well (obviously after discussing how it was with your players). This is especially useful if you are not sure how balanced the change is.

[@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself]

I add so much home brew to my d&d games that I don't tell players that that is what we are playing; instead, I say it is a fantasy roleplaying game very much like d&d - so similar, in fact, that we will use most of the rules in the d&d rule books. I had a campaign where only one of the players had tried 5e, but mostly knew 3.x; two other players had an old school 1e and 2e background; one had experience with other TTRPGs, but no d&d; and another had never played any before. I made it clear before the first session that we would use 3.5 as a foundation, but borrow heavily from other editions, other systems, and homebrew/house rules. It worked fine Until one player stole a lot of my content and started his own group. It dissolved quickly after that.

[@VermilionMage]

Look at AD&D 1e and 2e resurrection rules for inspiration on the "price" of bringing the dead back to life.

[@EagleDarkX]

I basically built a whole new levelling system for my new group, and it's honestly no longer something I can do without. It makes the planning stage very easy for me, it's not too complicated and gives me space to reward good play.

[@christofferhougaard]

Yes. Please alaborate.

[@EagleDarkX]

@@GimmickBox39 Basically, I give points per quest (or part of a quest). They can gain a point by completing a part of a quest, so any solution (passive, aggressive, passive aggressive) works. If a player does especially well, I can give them bonus points. I have it so that people retain their points when they don't join a session, but any points gained by other players will be available as bonus points. Lets me be very flexible in how I deal out points, and with bonus points, I can pull people back, letting them feel like they did it themselves, and motivate good play. So for level 2, they need 3 points, for level 3 they need 8, for 4 they need 16 and it keeps increasing like that. This also means they can do difficult quests to level faster, or skip quests, but they'll be weaker in the future. Lots of choice, variety, flexibility etc. Control is in both the DMs and the player's hands.

[@palwilhelmsen]

Wisdom initiative? Brilliant idea.

[@atmankost3261]

I use so many homebrew rules that I'm not even sure where to begin listing them: Custom Characters (www.easydamus.com/CustomCharacters.html ) is by far my favorite discovery. It makes the game a "classless" 'point-buy' system that allows characters to grow and develop without shoehorning into specific classes and archetypes. It can be a way of driving character development through finding individuals to learn from, if the GM wants more story-driven character development, or a more mechanical 'i'm buying X because I want my character to be able to do it', so it's very nice for quite a few different group dynamics. Drastic Magic/Psionic Powers overhaul: With using Custom Characters, I've altered Magic in a drastic manner. It now works off of the skill Spellcraft (Universal) (costing an exponential 250 xp & Gold / rank). Your "caster level" in a given school is equal to your ranks in a given school. Each school/psionic discipline other than Spellcraft (Unicersal) only costs 25 xp and gold / rank, with a limit of ranks equal to their number of ranks in Spellcraft (universal). The level of spell you cast is equal to 1/2 your ranks of Spellcraft in the appropriate 'school'. This allows players to really appreciate the under-appreciated 0-level spells, which now cost 0 mana. You also gain a 'mana' for each rank in each Spellcraft, and you gain additional 'mana' for having a high mental modifier. There is no difference between 'arcane', 'divine', and 'psionics' anymore, other than thematical. Each level of spell cast, or power manifest costs an equal number of mana; this alters the 'normal' cost of power points/mana for spells, which is normally equal to the level you gain the spell/power at, but this is slightly hindered by the later access of spells, even if it is only 1 level. People would likely have slightly better access anyway. Spells are memorized like a Wizard, but at a drastically altered rate. Meaning once a spell is memorized, it is retained until 'switched out' for another spell. Likewise, it can be cast at will, as long as they have enough mana to cast it. Because magic is so 'easily' accessible in this setting, magic item costs 1/3 their normal costs. Furthermore, magic stacks with 'technological' bonuses. So that Heads-up-display you had installed in your helm that has a data-bank on every known species could give you any number of different bonuses. Not to mention the 'power armor'... But let's not get ahead of ourselves... that's much higher level. Mundane item crafting overhaul: I have a plethora of template, and a literal tome of special materials I've culled from my library and online sources for my players and NPCs to play with "Cheep" Alchemy: I've never liked how expensive alchemy was, and that it couldn't/didn't scale below lower levels. I found a system that allows scaling of alchemical items, and I've embraced it and use something similar for other Crafts, like Locks... I use a setting very similar to Eberron, mixed with a heavy dose of "The Tippyverse" (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?222007-The-Definitive-Guide-to-the-Tippyverse-By-Emperor-Tippy ). So it's a very 'magi-tech' heavy game, that has guns, 'casters' which are basically guns that use special ammunition for 'combat' specific spells, spell-jamming-esque spaceships, but there are no 'crystal spheres'... I do allow Mythals, and Epic level magic, as long as the right 'price' has been paid, according to Epic level Spellcasting rules imposed by Mystra, or her equivalent I have one overarching rule I tell everyone: Don't intentionally 'break the game', or if you want to, tell me about it, and I'll figure out how to let you do it _once_ in any given way... otherwise, it's not allowed. I allow virtually all the material on my shelves, or from d20pfsrd.com and quite a bit of other materials that I've personally gone through I expect my players to be able to face any equivalent CR creature in one-on-one combat before advancing to the next level, minimum... (there's a 'soft cap' if you will on level due to this) The main point of my games is to have fun, within a d20 reason... My games are generally much more of a sandbox style of game. I've had way too many 'end of the world' straight forward adventures get hopelessly sidetracked only to have their world come to an end and everyone wonder why lol Everything can generally wait... very little in my games has a set time-frame. Puzzles are usually very easy when I put them in at all. I usually don't do 'political intrigue' style of games very well, so I ask my groups not to go in that direction. If they want to become a "baron" or "king", they can certainly try, and I have ways of doing that, but it's not the kind of story I like developing. I have grudging feelings on the effectiveness of most guns in a system with full-casters, but thanks to some high-damage 'guns', that's not as big of a problem... Though, I do somewhat expect _everyone_ to pick up Spellcraft (universal) at some point... usually earlier than later. Characters start my games as a "playable race", meaning any race on d20pfsrd.com with a cost of 20 or less Race Points. They get 90 Ability Points to distribute, point for point, with the caveat that none may be higher than 18 and none lower than 6 before and after racial modifiers, respectively. The PCs start with: Backpack, Bedroll, Blanket, Flint & Steel, 3 Torches, Hemp Rope (50 ft), Explorers Outfit, 5 days of Trail Rations, Club, Sling (with 20 sling stones), d10 (10) copper pieces and the Feat, Simple Weapon Proficiency, granting them proficiency with all Simple Weapons. Many Feats have been modified as well. For example, Martial Weapon Proficiency gives proficiency to 5 Martial weapons. I wanted something that didn't overpower the Feat, such as the Fighter weapon selection, so compromised to alter the Feat slightly. I've been using this system for 10+ years, and simply love it! I have literal tomes worth of character choices to choose from thanks to D&D 3.5 compatible games that have come out, like Pathfinder, and all the 2pp and 3pp materials and needed to consolidate the pertinent information therein...

[@dewet2wet]

I'm not really into D&D - I subscribed for the mythology. But always good to see you still making content!

[@CthulhusDream]

Nice MCDM shirt!

[@dustyprater7884]

Great video!! A fine example of great communication!! Keep up the good work!!😁

[@stewi009]

re: Passive Perception (and other skills) I agree it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that a character can reliably get 10 without trying, but suddenly get worse statistically half the time when they ARE trying. It seems to me this passive rule is an attempt to re-implement the concept of Take 10 from 3rd edition, but the change in terminology leads to a massive difference in how the rule gets applied. Taking 10 in 3e was a thing the character had to stop and do, not just something that came for free. They slow down and concentrate on doing the task right, taking 10x as long to complete it, but getting a result of 10 without rolling in the process. That makes a lot more sense to me. Shoot from hip and roll your chances, slow down an try HARDER to get a more consistent result. (There was also a Take 20 where you just keep trying until you get it perfect, but you could only do that when there was ZERO penalty for failure and you weren't facing any threat or distractions. Otherwise, you couldn't take 20.) I've been considering swapping out "Passive" for "take 10/20" again as a house rule. Not doing it this campaign, but maybe next time.

[@scottmcdivitt2187]

Alas, that such evil days should be mine, for the rubix cube is forgotten! Also I saw a really sweet homebrew the other day where you could cast a spell after using all your slots, but took the spells level in exhaustion levels afterwords.

[@DrCaberAnt]

just saw the skulduggery pleasant book in the background and i guts got the first book and liking it

[@bendluck]

i am so glad to see that charade bit looped around, I half expected you to just stand in front of your camera for ten minutes doing faces.

[@criticalmasterpiece6706]

So many good ideas here. Great work! I have tried a few of those, e.g. the drinking a potion as a bonus action. That became so powerful and took away from the "feel of mortality" in the game but again, that is only at my table. Your ideas are gold!

[@zubinosnake3623]

My cleric pulls from the war and life domain

[@simonburling3762]

I would want buy in from all the players about the one resurrection per character rule. Additional Text. Even as a player.

[@FlyingAxblade_D20]

that's pretty funny because I noticed the hacky sack & wondered why it wasn't on top of the cube.

[@Radidar]

So, a crucial part of this video are the 4 minutes between 07:30 - 11:30 and it's best to just listen to the audio without looking at the screen because it can be very distracting. That being said, I strongly encourage everyone to watch this segment without any audio. Trust me - you won't be disappointed.

[@LeoNepeta]

I would love to see your Homebrew list! That would be super useful.

[@faerae666]

MCDM shirt. Nice!

[@Dominotheninja]

I'm not a dm yet but I'm waiting for my turn to run a game and your videos are all so good. Not just d&d but mythology and tales and everything too. I wish my dm would communicate with us, they homebrew a lot especially races and we never know what's different until we encounter it in game and it gets annoying.

[@geekheavy]

🔥🔥🔥

[@ashtonnorthrip6164]

i think players often forget that Dms are there to also have fun and not just act a s a referee

[@Nubcrawler]

Every video of yours that I watch that damn Rubik's cube taunts me, I just want to solve it.

[@justmutantjed]

I really like the notion of a WIS-based initiative bonus, but that's partly because I'm playing a Tortle Cleric with 10 DEX but 18 WIS... (Although my DM is starting to regret allowing Tortles because that AC is busted😄)

[@nafereuskortex9055]

I mean you have a low dex so he shouldn't have a hard time making stuff threatening

[@jakemunoze7430]

So a few weeks ago I played D&D for the first time. I've been watching critical role for about 2 years so I think I have a lose handling on the rules (I've never looked in a book I have absolutely no idea how spells work). But anyway, we were playing and I KNOW I can't expect this game to compare to their level of production, BUT this guy was actually REALLY prepared. He even gave me some dice TO KEEP, which was really nice. But I was very disappointed that there was almost no RP . . . But he *home brewed a rule* that whenever you deal damage he rolls a do to see where you hit. And depending on where you hit you can instantly kill someone or permanently wound someone . . . I was like hmmm, I wasn't really for it but I didn't say anything because he was a really nice guy. But I didn't know how to bring it up to him . . .

[@Rokkiteer]

This video made me realize I need to wrap up the story and find a new group...

[@c.a.mcdivitt9722]

The "modlist" idea is great (Your panomine, maybe not as much, but that's OK).

[@Flyonaweb]

You could let them have hit points when they are physical there close to the end. Not to defeat the ghost, well not permanently. For 24 hours or some other time frame. They still need to fight them again.

[@magmatoad7235]

AAAAAhhhh Isss perfect! Cough! (Campaign Diary?) COUGH!

[@Jeromy1986]

I noticed the Rubik's cube

[@thebakerofbananabread3237]

Cheesy, hard cut, Dael's mock-listening loop 🤣

[@ingframin]

You are amazing

[@christofferhougaard]

I am simple. I see Dael, I click.

[@TheLordCrass]

What are the books?

[@quadconjures]

these sound like quake modifiers

[@thastygliax]

Pretty much everything you say here can also be applied to playtest material like Unearthed Arcana. The players and DM need to be on the same page about whether any of that gets used in the game, too.

[@losttwo1]

Deal, you make me laugh.

[@Digivolution3]

This might be a dumb question but do you have a list of what all these homebrew rules are? Like you explained WIS Initiative, but whats Alternative Alignments?

[@mikescriven7887]

do you have more detail on the polyglot rule? I have a party full of characters who has all kinds of weird languages that they learned through education and have probably never used

[@CodenameFanboy]

Thoughts on the video, in list form because I know Dael likes lists as much if not more than I do: 1) I liked the circle of life conversation and then coincidentally Dael said, “no worries,” later in the video. A -weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh. 2) I think that there should be added to the above mentioned cleric’s ability to resurrect a story arc where she tries to resurrect someone a second time and it works because they’re her soul mate and the soul restriction doesn’t apply. Maybe ask all the players to fill out a dating profile for their characters but don’t tell them why. 3) After the steel trap comment I now want to see a monster that has a steel trap coming out of the top of it’s head. It could steal memories with every bite and do psychic as well as piercing damage.

[@EscapeePrisoner]

Well, you still care about your Rubik's Cube, and I feel like that's what is important here.

[@Telleryn]

You should make a homebrew collection on DMsGuild or something - if you haven't already, or is there a list somewhere?

[@MarvelX42]

I continue to NOT be a human.

[@Caitlin_TheGreat]

I have had a hard time doing a session zero. At least with the people I usually play with. Too often it winds up just being me giving a brief pitch of the game and everyone else going "okay, I'll have a character made next week! See you then." Most recently I was more vocal about wanting a proper session zero. During out typical before-game-texts I gave a brief explanation that it was sort of a planning/brainstorming session where we get a good idea of what everyone wants and is expecting, and we can even flesh out some of the general details of the world rather than just have it come 100% from me... so that there's more reason for engagement from the players. When we meet up, one person declares that he's invented a new board game (it's really, really bad, I imagine he threw it together in about ten minutes tops, with no forethought at all) and twists our arms into playing it. Or rather, the other two were far too agreeable in humoring the guy who wants to be in control all the time. Three and a half hours later, as one player announces he has to head home, finally they turn to me and say "so let's do that planning thing." In about 5 minutes tops. I rush through some options I'd had written out -- about 300 to 500 words each that explained the gist of different game scenarios and settings and gave suggestions for potential focus of conflicts and character archetypes well-suited to each game scenario, even detailing various game systems it would work well with. For better or worse, I gave a catchy name to each scenario/setting (which, honestly, were each a bit skeletal as the point was to flesh them out together) and so they all settled on one simply because of the name I gave it. Actually, it was a tie between two of them, and superficially the main difference was that one worked better with a given system that one player had his heart set on. With three more minutes, I rushed them through character creation with sheets I happened to have. Then two of them left. I spent an extra ten minutes with the remaining person trying to explain to him what the three of them had chosen, but he didn't seem particularly interested in the details, just kept wanting to go for slapstick characters that didn't fit at all with what the other two players had asked for, which was a realistic modern day setting with fairly grounded rules. We had two sessions. The first one was okay -- I started off with something I'd had in mind anyway as an opening scene after a ten-minute failed attempt at still trying to have a proper planning/brainstorming session that they clearly weren't interested in. So, okay, start with a very small info dump and expository scene that's then quickly followed by conflict and an action scene that sets up the hook for the main plot and then they flee from the cops. And then... well, I had stuff in mind but the players essentially froze the second I let them off the "opening cutscene" leash. So I prodded them with a few little story hooks and dubious characters hoping to get them to start being proactive. It ended with them essentially holed up in a hideout they'd put a lot of points into making sure stayed hidden, spinning their wheels doing "research" out of a single book a character had that wasn't even relevant to the thing they were attempt to research. I tried to drop some hints about needing to find other sources of information, or doing some recon or setting a trap or just anything. Session two, after I'd done a ton of solo-brainstorming, I pressed the main plot hook while also offering up two juicy side quests. One sidequest was ignored because it didn't have the equivalent of an arrow pointing the way (all they had to do was investigate one of the crime scenes noted in the report they got, talk to even one of the witnesses, or look into the victims, but all that would require their characters actually _do_ something). The main plot was also ignored because it likewise would require them make a choice of how to proceed. The quest they took was essentially the spooky version of go kill some rats in the basement. They were demonic rats trying to chew a hole through to the spirit world... a detail I made plenty evident and which they all 3 ignored even though it tied into the motivations for two of the characters. They did, however, spend a heft part of a session trying to "steal" a limousine for the wanna-be-actor guy to impress the agent he was meeting with. It was a major detour that they were obsessed with, and when the got it, it wound up not mattering because they parked out of sight and then the one character walked to the meeting -- which likewise didn't matter because the hints I dropped were ignored and the character/player was very passive. It's been incredibly frustrating for me. I was really trying to make this something they all would want to do. Two players are somewhat new, but even the long-time player has been running his character very passively (which annoys me because it'd be nice to have someone "on the inside" to prod them into action) and so it feels like I'm essentially playing my own game, and they are just tagging along. As a player, I'd hate that. I know the long-time gamer (and my friend) has complained a lot about "railroading" ... which makes the behavior so much more baffling to me. I can't talk to the two newbies much because they react as though I'm accusing them of not playing the game right, which I most definitely am not doing, I'm just trying to get them to tell me what they'd like to do or what they'd like to play... but I've learned to let them be rather than ask them anything (I've started to think of them as angry hornets when it comes to talking). And my friend just keeps telling me "the game's fine" and that he likes the setting. I honestly feel like I'm being gaslit by them acting like they like the game when I ask them about it, but behaving otherwise when actually playing it. I've seen people not have fun at a game -- I've been one of those people, I know what it looks like. I've seen people withdraw their interest and participation when they aren't having fun. That's totally what they're doing. And when they do participate them seem to want everything to be resolved with a single pass-or-fail dice roll, as though the game is a waste of them time they want to get through already. By the way, we haven't played in 5 weeks, now. The first week I cancelled because of car trouble, but it turned out one of them was going to be out of town anyway. After that, they keep having an excuse (plus the holidays, cold/flu season)... but they never cancel until an hour before we're supposed to meet up usually. Sometimes an hour afterward if I don't outright ask them "are you coming to the game today?" But keep in mind, when I ask "how about next week? If anyone wants to do something else, that's okay," they say "don't cancel the game, just calm down. We'll play next time." That one's verbatim, but the way. I want to just call it off, I'm no longer interested in running a game for them nor playing one with them (the wants-to-be-in-control guy is someone I don't particularly like, though I've been exceedingly polite about it). I just need to find the time to search out some people. I also need to set aside the time to pick my friend's brain to find out what is up with him. His insistence on putting up with two people who are just not interested in gaming and who have some pretty conflicting views of the world as opposed to he and I, is odd. I think maybe he's been desperate for an "escape" from his normal routine, and so is putting up with far more than makes sense. Furthermore, I know there are people out there who'd love to play and who I could easily get along with, it's just a matter of finding them and seeing if our days off match up. And then, maybe, I can do a proper session zero for once.

[@Min-ke6zc]

Yeah, I think you diagnosed your real problem right there. Good luck with finding a new gaming group, hopefully your session zero actually gets to be a session zero next time!

[@tsstahl]

Well, you don't have a future (yet) as a mime, but I was darn sure entertained during the cut-in. I don't currently use the 'wisdom' rule, but back in the day we did non-combat classes used wisdom for initiative in place of dex. since it can be a dump stat for those folks. I love to entertain player input for new mechanics and table rules; people are so much more creative than me (a troll).

[@EricJEarley]

Do you have a video or description somewhere of your languages/polyglot homebrew? I've wanted to implement something similar, where the bonuses to CHA-based skills are gated behind different levels of language proficiency, but I'd love to build off of your ideas if you already have something worked out.

[@MonarchsFactory]

Nothing too in-depth or detailed, sorry, but this is my brief of how it works: "You have up to two language proficiencies at 100% from game start. These are languages your character grew up speaking within the home, typically because at least one family member speaks a different language more fluently than Common. After this, languages you choose at character creation are given ranked placements. 85%, 75%, 65%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 30%, 30%... When encountering a language in which you are not regarded as natively fluent, you must roll d% with a result lower than your fluency percentage in order to completely accurately translate the meaning. A language picked up in game, at higher levels, begins its ranking at 15% and must increase from there. During level up, in addition to your other buffs, you can increase your character's proficiency with any one language by 5%. 100% - Native 85-95% - Fluent 65-80% - Conversational 40-60% - Foundational 15-35% - Novice"

[@EricJEarley]

@@MonarchsFactory Interesting, thanks!

[@kensvideos1]

Life is a homebrew.

[@catz2701]

Would you be willing to give us the whole list of homebrew you give to your players? I would be interested in what types of things you use in your games.

[@loganhamson7591]

Do you have like PDF or something with your Homebrew?

[@TheOtherTed]

Whoah whoah whoah... Is that a Rubik's Cube in the background?

[@rowanhawklan9707]

What do you mean not visual?

[@Qu4resma]

Nice shirt! =D

[@ErdTirdMans]

7:39 Dael. Seriously. You're my favorite weirdo.

[@kensvideos1]

When someone says"oh.. that's on the the other side of" .... Something.: I say: "depends where your co.ming from" (lacks in subtly what it makes up in obscurity")

[@DavidMarkErickson]

I’m a bit new to your channel ... is there a place where you have your homebrew available for download?

[@martixy2]

Hm.... Suppose I'm lucky that my players are willing to put up with my game designer aspirations. I have A LOT of homebrew. Just today I reworked another class. The 30th altogether. I follow the same guidelines, by necessity mostly.

[@JCReborn89]

@MonarchsFactory Do you design/playtest for Matt Colville? Seems like you'd work well together!

[@digitaljanus]

Check out this from a few months ago where they chatted for an hour: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZvJkpmJobWDmNk

[@king_hawthorne]

yay! new vid!!!

[@jonathanandrews3399]

I hate death saving throws. I like to plug in aspects from FATE for characters that hit 0 hp: “Now you’ve got... a Sprained Ankle! You’re gonna suffer disadvantage any time you have to walk on that,” and then making them deal with the injury until they can get a proper healing and a full rest. Basically, customized Conditions. It drives me crazy when PCs are making death saves one turn and then killing monsters full tilt the very next turn.

[@jordanbarber6376]

Awesome Vid as always Dael! Is there any interest on your end of doing recordings or something podcast-like for your games?>

[@SMunro]

*Physical Height* 17d6+5 inches *Falling Damage and Falling Objects* The standard falling damage is 1d6 damage/10' fallen. This is irrespective of weight of the character. A plate-mailed up 250lb Fighter falls 10' into a pit and takes 1d6 just like a 70lb Elf. So if your impact with the granite floor from 10' up is 1d6, then your impact with your weight in stone is causing the damage, so a 250lb fighter being hit by a 250lb block falling 10' will cause 1d6 damage. Likewise a 70lb elf being hit by a 70lb stone that falls 10' takes 1d6 damage. But a 70lb elf being hit by a 250lb stone block should take 250÷70 should take 3.57×70lb or 3.57×1d6 damage (3d6+3). What would inflict 1d6 hp damage on the 250lb fighter who thanks to his 8hp survives maximum damage with 2hp, inflicts 3d6+3hp on the 70lb Elf with 6hp obliterating him irrespective of hit points. But if the 70lb Elf was wearing 50lb Platemail taking him to 120lb, then he takes 2d6 damage from the 250lb stone block. As long as the elf doesnt take more than 5hp damage, he escapes with his life. How big a block of granite is 250lb? Well, a 10'×10'×10' block is 76 tons or 170,240lb, so 0.304÷76=0.004 of 1000 cubic feet or 4 cubic feet. A 2'×2'×1' block of granite or almost a 2' diameter sphere... the kind of ammunition you find in a dungeon trap multi-shot magazine. The upper damage limit is 20d6. The kind of damage your PC takes falling 200' or takes from an object of equal weight as the PC falling 200' onto the PC.

[@FeniEnt]

If you let players use wisdom for initiative you might be interested in how Pathfinder 2e deals with initiative. It uses a skill relevant to the encounter. If your players were sneaking and they got spotted by the enemy, they roll initiative with stealth and the enemy is using perception. If both groups were looking for each other, they both can roll perception. Or maybe it was a chase, your players caught up to someone and it's time to decide who's fast enough to attack first? Athletics or acrobatics will work perfectly.

[@christofferhougaard]

In a very homebrew based game, 5e wouldn't actually be ruined with this rule!!

[@tehspikey]

That feel when you realise Dael plays Dragon Age