The Tyranny of FUN: Ammo, Encumbrance & Limitations in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

[@WebDM]

Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Get our podcast here: www.patreon.com/webdm

[@benjaminanderson9710]

Web DM there is a range restriction into range, you have disadvantage if there within 5 feet I think

[@unknownfoopa]

all farmers would be necromancers. raise the dead would make the life of a farmer the easiest thing ever.

[@Steamer173]

Hey, the "post credit scene" reminded me of Paranoia because in Paranoia "Friend Computer says fun is MANDATORY. Not having enough fun makes you a treasonous COMMIE TRAITOR." I got the feeling reading paranoia that it was designed by a DM trying to troll rules lawyers because the first rule is that players are not allowed to know the rules... Please do a video on Paranoia some time.

[@sawspitfire422]

Well.. that intro was kinda unexpected lmao

[@paranidherc]

*Modern soldier carries 50+ kg of gear around Web DM: "There is a reason people stopped wearing plate armor [...of 25kg]"

[@5oundOfVictory]

*Accusatory tone* and where are you keeping all those greatswords, Mr. Fighter? I actually started wheezing when Jim said that, absolutely underrated comment

[@AndrewRedroad]

I made a magical item called a "Brain in a Jar". It has a slimy, difficult to like personality, makes comments and criticisms on the players performance and choices, and REALLY likes the sound of it's own voice in your head. The benefit is that it's literally another brain, and can maintain concentration on a second spell for you.

[@ardinhelme687]

That's super cool

[@AndrewRedroad]

Hey thanks!

[@jimdavis141]

Michael Davaz that's awesome

[@AndrewRedroad]

It does require attunement, hopefully to balance things out, and hasn't been used to break the game.... yet.

[@marti5420]

Nice i have two NPC Construct Gargoyles that do much the same thing as your brain, except there is no plus side, its just a way for me to take the piss out of my players.

[@ciarfah]

"...convert all weight into stones" "...it has a medieval feel to it." Cries in Irish

[@davidthomas2870]

Of note: people didn't so much eschew heavy plate armor because it became practical to do so, they did because guns got so good that the armor had to become impracticality thick. There was a 100 year period where guns and plate coexisted, but with the advent of the heavy muskets that require about 10mm of thickness or more, they simply couldn't cover your whole body any more and be able to move. The Spanish still used breastplates that could deflect bullets for a time, but after a while with guns becoming more and more powerful, even just a breastplate became to heavy (after becoming about 15mm a long time).

[@MadeagoestoNam]

2:27 Someone used mage hand to fix his mic.

[@Liveordiebyinches]

Chas Duren Pin the mic's below the neck. I see so many KZbin shows do this with T-shirts. Buy a $1 pack of diaper pins.

[@Korica]

"In my mind, I think arrows break way too often" - hey, I think that's a sentence most actual archers would agree with. At least in a D&D setting one can reasonably expect, as it was in real history, that they'd be pretty easy to replace, being so common. Now a days? Not so much. A dozen arrows cost me $100, and I broke one of them the very first time I went shooting. Annoying as hell. And "Can you find it?" Hoooo, boy. You shoot an arrow in a field and that thing will slither into the grass like a fucking snake and you'll never see it again. You aim the trajectory wrong on a hill and that arrow will slide UP the slope and shoot off somewhere you can't even see. Are these things annoying? Yeah. But they're very realistic.

[@TheBaconWizard]

Meh. What you are calling actual archers aren't actual archers. If you start using an English longbow (up to 160lb draw weight, very frequently over 120lb and 90lb is for hunting and not war) I can promise you that if you hit plate armour then EVERY arrow will break. That being said, this is a game, not a simulation.

[@BIZEB]

@@TheBaconWizard The thing is, if you *hit*, that means you dealt damage, so you bypassed the armor by hitting a soft spot. And if you didn't hit, then it's up to the DM if that was an actual miss or it hit the armor, so you're still not having every arrow break all the time.

[@TheBaconWizard]

@@BIZEB This is true, but not entirely relevant to the point being made. The OP is speaking about realism as if he/she has some experience of it. This is false. Modern archery is to medieval battlefield archery as paintball is to WW1 trench warfare. If more realism is needed for archery in DnD (I don't think it is) then among many changes that would have to be made, getting far fewer arrows back would certainly be one.

[@hannabelphaege3774]

Happiness is Mandatory Are you unhappy citizen? I will be having a brief chat with your Happiness Officer about treason and neglecting one's duties

[@horserage]

Miniluv has been reported. BB is watching. Have a doubleplusgood day.

[@dndprofessor]

The casual mic fix hahaha

[@JPruinc]

Dalton Inman Trav just wanted some onscreen time.

[@politikh]

JPruInc For the record, I know you guys (including Travis) try to run a tight ship, but I'd rather have these fun moments AND the engaging discussion, than an asceptized product where we would have missed that (because of a cut). I love your shows, please keep doing great ones! :-)

[@masterfoxify7526]

Stealth 20

[@Treblaine]

What's weird is they cut to a wider angle to show it.

[@Exisist5151]

Variant encumbrance I feel is fine, because it adds substantial value to powerful build and tenser’s floating disk, and once the party accrues enough money they can buy horses, or other beasts of burden like oxen to carry their supplies for them. It also brings up concept space that adventurers could be employed to do supply runs that could take multiple trips, because the people on the frontlines are also abiding by variant encumbrance. Idk, it’s another potential gold sink for players so I think it’s worthwhile.

[@Glatius]

You kiss damsels with that mouth!?

[@shadowhawkk47]

I watched the intro twice so I could read this comment twice with the same effect.

[@JPruinc]

I wash their mouth out with soap first.

[@marti5420]

its a tragedy that this series is less popular than the one on geek and sundry with the pornstar. you guys are great. thank you for all the incredible advice.

[@99allthetime]

It might be because of the aforementioned Pornstar

[@trevorbarnes3249]

Best F*cking intro

[@l3lackhusky]

You mean... Fuck! This f*cking intro, was the f*cking best intro of f*cking all time here n f*cking WebDM :D

[@JPruinc]

Trevor Barnes F*%king Thanks!

[@theskurj6288]

Sometimes when I am not having the best day, I will watch at least the intro to this one and it always helps.

[@chazlong61]

Arrow breakage-- shooting a soft target is very different than even deer hunting. Wood arrows are going to warp and they are going break on impact with armor. Modern carbon arrows still warp and bend after downing a deer. Arrows will break and not be shattered- hairline fractures make them impossible to reuse. Sure you can shoot them, but they will shatter on impact. Even modern arrows break. Bullets deform on impact. The rules are pretty darn good.

[@aeridyne]

Yeah, I'm not familiar with the specific rules but I know from actually using a bow while either practicing or hunting that you lose a lot of arrows real fast as soon as you aren't shooting at a big soft target. You fire one off into even a well mowed field, good luck. You can spend an awful lot of time searching sometimes and still not find them. Bury one in a tree, its effin gone. You will spend some serious time digging it out. You can save it, with some practice and a whole lot of time, but you WILL spend a lot of time getting it back, that is if its not already damaged, which it often is.

[@taylorchinn]

I came down here to post something to this effect. What material you are using for the heads of the arrow make a big difference as well. Steel arrowheads are magnitudes more durable than bone, stone, or wood. But, those can bend and break as well. I wouldn't go so far as to say arrows are one use items, but, you break them a lot, and lose them more often. Having buried many so deep in the ground that you can't get them out, I can attest to this.

[@Lucasofyugioh]

Ammo: I usually make players keep track of it simply for monetary reasons. My campaigns most often have shops easily available for things such as ammo. Encumbrance: I don't apply this rule unless its so obvious that I need to. The reason I don't is because of how broken the encumbrance rule is for me. 90% of the time the class and background you choose will have too much for your backpack to carry or too much for you to carry so you lose speed. Racial Benefits: I think the reason they made no negatives for your race was so that you could play any race and use any class with them good, granted not as good as other races could but you could still choose to be an Orc Wizard or an Elf Barbarian and not have heavy drawbacks. They went with a more creative approach to it and I really like it.

[@j90648]

I agree. I'm dm'ing a group on Roll20 and half of my player's starting inventories would make them over-encumbered. I'll implement it if they are looting a boss like a dragon and they try to take the whole hoard back with them.

[@padalan2504]

You are really lucky that you play D&D, bcs. our rpg system doesn't even have rules about encumbrance. And you take your players into king's treasury and somebody asks you how much gold can he fit into his bag, how much gold can he carry. and you have no idea... so you spend hour calculating it :D

[@PhoenixofEclipse]

I don't keep track of ammo because in my last 12 campaigns with 4-7 people per game I've had a dedicated ranged attacker in the party ONCE, and only one other time has someone actually used any ranged weapon. Seriously my players either fight with swords or spells, it's like they forgot Bows exist!

[@df6597]

+PhoenixofEclipse | I had a rogue that carried a crossbow, +1 had a scope on'er. Fierra was her name. The crossbow, not the character. Yeah, she was real beauty that girl. The character, well he ended up turned into an animated crossbow toting teddy bear. Fierra didn't mind, loyal girl her. They don't make'em like that anymore.

[@ValkisCalmor]

I usually either ignore the first level of encumbrance or just assume that stuff like bedrolls and rations are left at camp and don't worry about them. Alternatively hand out a Haversack early to keep the basics and a reasonable amount of coin in. They hold a lot less than a Bag of Holding so the problem of carrying out literal tons of gold is still there if you want it. Ammo isn't nearly as much of an issue, especially in Roll20. It's just a number that goes up and down as opposed to an obnoxiously long list of everything the character has ever touched with various weights and volumes. As for removing negatives I actually think they handled it really well. Previously the +/- stats were essentially relative to a normal Human anyway, so you give Humans +1 to everything and now any other race having no bonus is mechanically a -1 but doesn't have the psychological effect of seeing a penalty. I do love the variant human option though. It seems really powerful to some people but you're giving up 4 stat points for one proficiency and one feat. If your DM is allowing feats anyway you can think of that as the equivalent of 2 ASIs which could have gotten you that same feat and 3 proficiencies through the Skilled feat. What I actually love about it is how much flavor that feat and proficiency can add to a 1st level character. Sure, waiting until 4th level gets you just as much power or utility in the long run, but starting with them at 1st makes it feel more like a part of the character gained from their backstory.

[@AJ-kj1go]

How the fudge (except I didn't say fudge) does this show such great production value? The editing, framing, multi-camera, everything is just great. I do miss the goofy background drawings though

[@Lombra619]

The old monsters illustrations were amazing

[@calvinballaka8905]

Holy crap, I hadn't noticed they were gone. Did they move location? I knew that Jim Davis moved, but I hadn't heard anything about Pruitt or Travis.

[@WebDM]

We moved to the other side of the room.

[@maplebacon2724]

"Calvin we just moved to the other side of the room calm down" he panicked like a puppy left in a fenced off area

[@keithwinget526]

Ok, so draw something there... ;)

[@Amarious017]

The last line of the video is probably one of the best pearls of wisdom: "If you never have a low, can you really appreciate all the highs?" So applicable to many long running games/systems.

[@jacobodom8401]

That's why you see a rise in people asking for Low Magic settings

[@SageSaga25]

"There's a reason why people stopped wearing heavy plate armor" - Guns. The reason was guns.

[@colinsmith1495]

*THANK YOU* for knowing history. And, to be fair, they didn't let go of their heavy plate armor easily. Remember the actual historical breastplates? Each one of those weight as much as a good portion of a full plate set. They weren't even great against the primitive firearms, but they were better than nothing. And people used them.

[@xDrCo0lx]

Coupled with the fact that a modern soldier carries more weight into battle than a knight in plate armour did

[@padalan2504]

So you want to be a historically accurate b*tch under a video about encumbrance. OK... Plate armour doesn't make sense for adventurers because it's heavy and it needs a lot of maintenance and it's not really good for long walks, sewer pest control and mountain trips that all adventurers have to participate in. Plate mail and specially lamellar armour, on the other hand, does offer the same protection of the essential parts, and it is able to stop early firearms. and it is not as limiting as full-plate. now to the point that YOU made, not the point they were making in the video, the reason for not wearing armour was not guns, because there were cuirasses that were able to stop bullets. it was the effect of guns on the tactics. no matter how rulers tried, heavy armoured units were still special units. guns, on the other hand, could be mass produced, they were good at killing all but the heavily armoured units and they became what we would now call a glass cannon unit. they were dangerous until they fired. so the whole tactic changed to protect the gunners. pike units were protecting the guns. and pikes are also good against armour. and Zwei-handers were designed to counter pikes. and armoured units became redundant because guns managed to do more damage than heavy cavalry ever did. and even after this change, people still used plate armour, just not full plate because their major concern was to protect their much needed organs, so they put the weight into their cuirasses and left the arms exposed and free to move. So there is more to it than just GUNS. have a nice day.

[@SageSaga25]

For someone who wanted to make a point you missed mine. I kept it short and simple for one. If you think about context here, guns, regardless of how, were the cause of armor being phased out. You said it yourself. The issue was he was claiming that weight is the reason people stopped using armor. We know that's not correct. It was about cost and it wasn't useful against the most common weapons. It never became "Viable" to wear less armor. People didnt turn into arrow dodging ninjas. Plate Armor became obsolete. Also wooden armor was often not less cumbersome and eventually no practical armor could stop bullets. Have a great day.

[@padalan2504]

NO no, he doesn't. he has an assault rifle, few magazines and, if lucky, a bullet proof armour. as far as I know, assault rifles don't weigh 50kg.

[@nunyabusinesss1476]

lol. I fondly remember my very first DnD experience back in the late 80s early 90s. We had a Ninja in our party (we were trying the Oriental Adventures module), and he had found a magic item. We didn't have time to identify it so we decided to take a shortcut through this forest to get back to town. We ran into a small camp of bandits and in desperation he used the item. He got a good roll and it killed the bandits. He then decides that he is going gather up all their equip. ...and run back to town. Now the important thing to know is that he only had a str of 12 and our DM, who had a demented sense of humor said okay. It went something like this "You're running through the forest *rolls dice* You hit a tree and suffer x damage and you drop x # of items do you wish to continue...." Needless to say by the time he crawled into town he was down to 1 hp and had dropped everything but, what he could reasonably carry with his stats. :D

[@Valdagast]

As someone who approaches play from a GURPS perspective, where world building is _subtracting_ options rather than adding them, the attitude that the GM must allow anything in the PHB is just... alien to me.

[@koolaidserpent]

Matt Coville does a great job going through the iterations of the game in his building a fighter video series.

[@NarfiRef]

I found this through a rabbit hole starting with a blog post going around now about “six cultures of play” in broader RPG culture. While I’m not really a D&D player, I really appreciate you speaking up about how restrictions can be a good thing. I’m currently toying with a germ of a campaign idea that will involve the PCs going off into the uncharted wilderness for a large stretch of time with only the equipment they can carry on their persons (no mounts, no vehicles). Encumbrance and resource management will be of utmost importance if the game is to have any teeth.

[@jamesrobin2857]

One thing I've added to concentration is adding concentration levels. Every time you can cast a high level, your concentration lvl goes up. So at 3rd lvl you can have either 2 1st lvl spells of C, or 1 lvl 2 of C up. Works pretty well.

[@calvinballaka8905]

Super into this topic! I'm a DM who's really fond of restriction mechanics. In my current campaign, a lot of stuff like ammo, encumbrance, rations, and so forth have gone by the wayside for ease of play, but I'd like to bring it back in my next campaign. D&D can be a lot of things, but for me the best experience is running a dungeon from a module with my own little additions and fun things added and watching the players outwit bad guys and take it by storm, and THAT experience is really enhanced when rations are tracked, when ammo is counted, and when you can't just waltz out of the dungeon with everything on your back.

[@JonHerzogArtist]

I'm gonna pretend that every one of those bleeps was just covering up the word "bagel".

[@calvinballaka8905]

He thinks he can just BAGEL in here and BAGEL all over my BAGELED BAGELS like some BAGELING BAGEL in my BAGEL BAGEL BAGEL?!

[@JPruinc]

That's exactly what happened!

[@insektl0gic]

I imagine Drizzt or Raistlin as expletives.

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

how dare you say such foul word here? there are kids watching!

[@michaelsorensen7567]

Totally want a bagel profanity filter now. Thanks for that

[@justinclowers5210]

I played that way as well and I was a goblin with a 4 Constitution and I went Barbarian with a health feat and even role-played it as he was born sick and beat the sickness out of himself. It was awesome.

[@adamniko1209]

What's going on in the background there? Are they living inside a D20?

[@TC-ht9jv]

Yes

[@elbyguitars]

They provide a neutral backdrop and help reflect the lights Into areas where there might be too much shadow

[@nithia]

@@elbyguitars That backdrop is not so neutral in later videos though. It has drawings all over it, but they don't use it any more.

[@thothheartmaat2833]

His life is a d20.. he rolls a d20 to see how well his pooping goes..

[@chasebalcziunas4289]

@@thothheartmaat2833 Sometimes a good poop requires a will save.

[@higherfive0783]

I never thought this channel would have more F-Bombs in one video than an Eminem song

[@JPruinc]

The real Web DM just stood up.

[@gagrin1565]

I feel old.

[@garyclark3843]

I was thinking George Carlin.

[@Michael_G980]

The penalty for firing into melee is now part of the cover system of 5e, allies and enemies all provide cover vs ranged attacks. Want to shoot the orc your buddy is in melee with, and you are behind your buddy, the orc gains a +2 to his AC. Of course, the Sharpshooter feat removes this by allowing you to ignore all cover but full/total cover.

[@michaelsorensen7567]

Michael Grimes melee range is 5', and that's an awful lot of potential space, especially if allies are mindful of shooting lines and maneuver accordingly. Cover isn't necessitated by being in melee. However, spectacular misses I'd think could have a chance of hitting allies. Maybe if it's

[@thedarkwatch1699]

Just to throw this out there: I really love listening to your guys' conversations about how D&D has evolved over the years. I started in 4e but mostly played 5th and a little 3.5 so its interesting to hear how the game used to be designed in compared to recent years. I hope you guys keep having with with the content and the small community you guys have begun growing.

[@pragmat1k]

Jim's face at the beginning was amazing. XD I love these guys SO much. Such great chemistry.

[@DutchDread]

I study game design so I can explain why races no longer get negative numbers on stats. To do so, let me tell you a story about World of warcraft. When WoW was at the height of it's popularity, people were concerned that people were playing it for too long, so long that it affected their health and life. So blizzard decided that they wanted to do something about this. As a solution they decided to make it so that the longer you played to game, the less xp you earned. And people fucking HATED it, they were FURIOUS, and understandably so, no one wants to be penalized for playing the game. So what did Blizzard do in response? They changed it so that the more time you spend offline, the more xp you got once you logged back in. Now notice, that this is the exact same thing, it both comes down to "more playing=less xp, less playing=more xp". But now people loved it. The difference is that instead of feeling like you were punishing the player, you were now rewarding him. It was positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement. Same for races, there is no reason to reduce a races stat when you could also just adjust the baseline. A 9 base strength with a +2 if you are a human and nothing if you are a goblin is the same as a base str of 10 with a +1 if you are a human and a -1 if you are a goblin. Both end up with a human having 11 STR, and a goblin having 9. But now you feel like you are getting double as much when you are a human, and not losing anything when you are a Goblin. psychology, it's the foundation for good game design.

[@simmonslucas]

Tried to build a Halforc Bard in 3.5............ he was shit. my Halforc Bard in 5th is so much fun. his instrument is an iron banded didgeridoo, that he can also use as a club. You can make such quirky and interesting characters in 5th.

[@elzipper716]

Didgeridoo club sounds like something straight out of Monster Hunter!

[@ElderSign32]

Hunting horn 4 life

[@padalan2504]

sh*t, does it have reach?

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

goo.gl/Fm2vjC if this thing doesn't have a good reach, I don't know what does

[@alexandermckenzie2796]

My first ever character in 5e was a half-orc bard, and I had SO much fun with him

[@DownToTruck]

I once ran a "gonzo free-for-all". Only restriction was no Humans, which had gone extinct in the world. This was Pathfinder - so many odd races showed up.

[@ashes2steel]

"Carrying another person with me." I hear that ;-; HILLS AND STAIRS ARE DIFFICULT TERRAIN.

[@Technotoadnotafrog]

Have you tried keto?

[@Kavala76]

Hi guys, I'm a bit late to this channel but found this vid your most interesting so far. I played D&D from first edition to 3.5, but stopped when 4th edition came out. After a few years break from RP games a friend suggested trying "Barbarians of Lemuria" It was a radically simple departure from D&D but, after a single session, I found it wonderfully liberating and fun. It's simplicity also makes it easy to mod, if you want. The rules & restrictions are minimal, which initially concerned me, but its career-based approach gave me complete freedom to create and play any character I wanted. Think on this: I want to enjoy gaming while WotC want to maximise revenue. Who benefits from rules/books? Shed the rules/books to lower costs & prioritise fun.

[@daviegourevitch]

One of the most interesting and surprisingly refreshing episodes in a long time. Thanks, guys!

[@flyingfujigi8560]

The way I see it, is that its a sort of quantity versus quality. When you take the time to do the less fun things for the sake of realism, then the fun you DO have is of a higher quality. Whereas taking away everything that is less fun and inconvenient, may increase the frequency of fun, or make it seem better. It will actually desensitizes you to the immersion and make it boring.

[@CBGB42]

"Restrictions breed creativity" is my mantra for D&D. And I think you guys nailed it with the idea that everything's allowed.

[@radred609]

i was introduced to RPGs through the 40k RPGs, so rolling for stats has always felt right to me. My favourite way to run/play in DnD and pathfinder is 3d6, in order. and then once you have all 6 stats you get to choose to reroll a single one of them, and keep the highest. So you can either choose to reroll your 5 Int just because it's so bad, or take a bit of a risk and try to reroll your 11 in Str in the hope that you get something better. It makes for an excellent point of suspense and excitement in a session 0, but there are definitely some players who just can't handle not having high stats at lvl 1... which imho is a great way of avoiding people who don't fit our group's gaming culture. That said, i've had some amazing games with more lenient 4d6 drop the lowest and then apply them to stats at will, or even point buy.

[@paulkingtiger9437]

I keep it super simple. Each character can carry 8 slots, everything (including armour and any size weapon) takes up 1 slot. That's what they always have on them and keep on them when they fight. Everything else is carried in bags which are dropped to fight, this only becomes an issue when they have to run away from a fight or are being chased by something, in which case some of the bags may be left behind (roll to see what's lost). I also allow the party to go back and try to recover the items, which can give a good adventure hook to raid the orc camp or whatever.

[@sportsnut1473]

I feel like if that was the system I played in I would save up for a bag of holding as soon as possible because that would become rather frustrating to me personally. Just my opinion though if it works for your game that's cool.

[@paulkingtiger9437]

90% of the time it makes no difference, the characters can carry as much as they want and not have to worry about tracking encumbrance. And you avoid the mental image of a fighter going into battle with a two handed sword and 5 other two handed weapons on his back. When it does become an issue it can lead to interesting choices and follow up adventures . I did consider basing the slot numbers on on ability scores but I went with super simple. Plus you can adjust the number of slots to suite your group, more or less restrictive. Or decide that some items (Rings, Headwear, Armour) doesn't count, I use Rings don't take up a slot. Limitations on number of healing potions hasn't been the problem I thought it might be as combats in 5e tend to be short. It won't be for everyone but I wanted some sort of encumbrance that avoided walked armoury syndrome, was turbo simple and offered interesting choices during play.

[@sportsnut1473]

Paul Kingtiger yeah it make sense I guess it would only get frustrating if I lost a bunch of stuff multiple times in a short period of time.

[@sportsnut1473]

Paul Kingtiger plus when you can buy a bag of holding it makes things less complicated

[@paulkingtiger9437]

Yeah that would suck, if that happens the DM is doing something wrong.

[@EnvisionerWill]

I made up an extremely overcomplected system for arrow recovery early in my 3E D&D campaign. It was quickly abandoned, probably never once having been used. System abstractions are often worthwhile, just to keep things moving instead of having to look shit up all the time.

[@MW-ty5zw]

"Gotta have a litte sadness once in awhile so you know when the good times come." Bob Ross

[@Candid1ify]

it was always a challenge to get the treasure home. Marauding Adventurers, various other monsters and of course towns taxes, kings, greedy sheriffs and lots of travel at night. It really sucks to have a Paladin during the trip home.

[@MPLoura]

Jim Davis the Slam Poet Bard. Thanks for the new npc guys!

[@danielsandefur7364]

You guys are awesome and you have helped me become a Dungeon Master for my group. Thank you so much!

[@jimdavis141]

Daniel Sandefur glad to help!

[@JPruinc]

Daniel Sandefur You're truly welcome!

[@gregoryfloriolli9031]

Restrictions can be fun if they are used occasionally. Having your players ship wrecked on an island where they have to keep track of rations and ammo and find shelter for rests could be fun for a session or two. Making players do that every session of the campaign would become tedious.

[@fantell]

Gregory Floriolli that's what living costs are for. if you have the cash and the places to spend it, you don't have to track it until money runs out or the places you get what need burn down (or whatever). then it becomes something you need to pay attention to. till then you just track the money you're spending each month

[@bfmisc3323]

Great discussion. I use a coverage/"melee fray" rule for ranged attacks into a skirmish that isn't too intense or disadvantageous, but my players know that when they roll below their target's AC (possibly with some coverage depending on the context specifics) when shooting an enemy their allies are engaged with in melee, there's a chance the they hit a friend (usually a couple layers of % we assign/discuss together). It's not too intense and has probably resulted in maybe 3 or 4 negligible nicks on their fellow PCs, but it creates a bit more tension about taking those shots. And the best part is, they risks and limitations I impose on my PCs I impose on my badguys too! They've fought a few mobs of goblins or kobolds who, during the course of events, take those calculated ranged attack risks and end up taking down their own allies as well, and the players love it! My archer PC has a Quiver of Ehlonna at this point but still tracks every single arrow after having gone a few levels with the resource management mini-game. Still spends portions of his downtime making arrows and performing some fixes to recoverable ones during rests (and recovers about half of them anyway perfectly intact), had even led a couple of decisions during adventures to engage archer enemies intentionally to attain more arrows. The arcane casters have decide if they're going to use their pearls now to identify some magic items or wait until later to see if it's important. Those resource management factors make stuff fun! Encumbrance as well.

[@rodrigoleonhart1846]

0:10 we need a meme of this

[@christopherpatterson4084]

The 3d6 in a row, stuck with it is used in Dungeon Crawl Classics. A really interesting take on old school D&D. They also have you make 3-4 0 level peasants (no class), have some crazy adventure and the one that survives becomes a level 1 adventurer, called The Funnel. For 5e there is an amazing document called The Fifth Edition Funnel, which you can get on Drivethrurpg, pay what you want. Its how all my games start now!

[@DamascoGamer]

Those intros are being amazing.

[@JPruinc]

DamascoGamer Thanks!

[@briansoto2603]

You guys have really hit your stride with these recent ones! Love it man. Super entertaining and super informative content.

[@josephmort4039]

I love that DM screen...

[@knight_crow]

This show is so great for me, as a new DM. I thank the both of you for such high quality content!

[@Ultra_DuDu]

Once I [tryed to] play in a medieval fantasy setting with a DM. I wanted to be a Paladin and he told me it was impossible because they have no gods in his setting... the bigest limitation I've ever seen in a RPG.

[@fantell]

no gnomes. ever. won't allow them. and teifling isn't a race, it's an affliction. and paladins ARE almost all human, because they have the only gods that work that way. and if you want to play a paladin you need to start as something else and prove your worth before you can take levels in it. and half elves can't breed. they are a genetic dead end. and dragonborn are all under the sway of the dragon that creates them... and even then they are rare. and dwarves can't be wizards sorcerers or rangers, but they make powerful priests. and elves have q natural affinity to sorcery and suck at wizardry itself, rarely learning such human magics. and humans don't practice sorcery without having some Elven blood in them. and... well, I could go on, but I'm getting bored texting this on my phone.

[@Ultra_DuDu]

+MIchael Hannah Wow...

[@fantell]

↑ýr :p it's how dnd is supposed to work. those are just some of the things that make my world a real place for the players. I've tried free for all's, and they just lack a certain interest. of course, the exceptions, if their are any, are the characters that the players make that push against the envelope of what is allowed. the best most successful games I've ever run have been in this world and it is the one that almost every group has enjoyed playing in the most. people forget that even the players handbook is just a tool for the gm to use to allow his world to be populated

[@fantell]

once upon a time there were no tieflings, until a player wanted to play one and we worked out how it would work in this world together. same for dragonborn. the whole dwarf thing is just because I'm as much old school as new age, and I wouldn't stop a player from TRYING to learn magic as a Dwarf. probably a sorcerer if he did, spec'd into earth magic. or maybe a transmuter specialized in the same. dunno, hasn't happened yet, so it doesn't exist... yet

[@Ultra_DuDu]

Well, in this case this is "good" limitations since you can overcome it, in my case thr GM was just a dick (or really really bad), he just didn't wanted to have religion and throwing all the content it could offer without replacing it didn't bothered him. The proof is that he didn't even managed to bring the party together and just gave up after the first session even if we were still in the same town.

[@TheStigma]

Encumbrance rules is one of those things that has potential - but quickly becomes a chore when you don't have the opportunity to let a computer do all the calculating for you in some sort of digital - or hybrid digital game setup. I agree that if you play a "dungeon crawl", and especially the more you try to channel the retro oldschool D&D feel with literal piles of coins and such you absolutely need it - or otherwise risk reducingthe notion of "treasure" into a pure boring number. In the words of the Darkest Dungeon narrator "Finding the stuff is only half the battle. Now it was to be carried home...".

[@comfortzone2282]

I love your guys content so much. You think you could do a video on D&D Cults? I always figured Cults in D&D are such a classic but I feel like I struggle a bit with em, I would love to hear your guys input.

[@xxlostxsecretxx]

My husband actually runs a series of one-shot campaigns that we call "You Tried" where we roll 4d6 and drop the highest for stats, so the highest stats cap at 12. It's definitely played as a comedy, like "why are these nobodies trying to fight a dragon???" In-game the premise is these wannabe adventurers signed up for the guild Development of Early Adventurer Duties (DEAD) that's run by an eccentric wizard who really just wants people to test out his new magic items in the field. (My favorite so far is The Deck of Some Things, which has made our barbarian forget how to read and gave our pixie wizard three wishes if she could manage a handstand, which is the only reason our party escaped the first adventure alive.) It's not my ideal game of D&D (I'm much more character/story-focused and enjoy the grander scale of adventures), but it's a lot of fun and makes for some pretty great stories to tell later xD

[@Axeloy]

I feel like in terms of the wizard's subclass, basically your wizard is an EXPERT in one school, but is able to cast spells from the other schools. No restrictions.

[@100grizzlybears]

I find 'no-fun rules' fun af, fam-a-lam. It really immerses me, and I value that above anything else--immersion.

[@joyfuldice]

Unless it would be dramatic or appropriate for the story, I don't impose ammo or encumbrance rules. I like to keep track of that fiddly stuff when I'm playing, but not everyone does. It's so much easier to assume that basic spell components, ammo, etc., are all part of the general upkeep of an adventurer's kit. That being said, I like to reward my players (usually with inspiration) who do keep track of the fiddly things. It's just another layer of roleplay.

[@estebanrodriguez5409]

The video game method for encumberance has many interestings things attached. Like if you have some sort of token for your items (like a card with a drawing, or poker chips or anything really) the visual representation is really nice for some players (we all love props in the end). Anyways, the problem of FUN is that... well is really short sighted. You go to the movies to see suspense and "drama". You play games like silent hill to get scared and unnerved. You obses and get frustrated over stuff... and that's great, because it makes your games more meaningful. In the end, you don't want your games to be FUN... you want them to be INTERESTING

[@Not_An_Enemy]

So Jim, I hear you have a pdf for us. :^)

[@jimdavis141]

Ha! I posted a little something for you on our Facebook page, my friend!

[@Not_An_Enemy]

Jim Davis it's perfect, I will treasure it forever.

[@Adamantium93]

When thinking about restrictions, I'm reminded of the old adage, "necessity is the mother of invention". When one has free reign to do whatever they want, they will default to the easiest/most familiar options. But, when those familiar options are prohibited, they will invent unique solutions which, in retrospect, are the most fun and memorable. Limitations and restrictions can lead to more fun outcomes even if the rules don't seem as fun on paper.

[@fhuber7507]

I love to bring up encumbrance. I brought it up as a PLAYER. We cleared the caverns of enemies. Then after the last Lich fell (forgot exactly what we fought, it was 30 years ago), one of the other players said: "We gather up the loot and head to town" I popped up: "We can't carry all of that!" We commenced calculating weight and encumbrance... 12 TONS per character... That began the epic campaign to package and cart the loot to the capital of the empire (because noplace else had facilities to deal with selling it) We had to hire teamsters and buy wagons and mules and hire guards and cooks and.... The caravan that finally left the caves was over a mile long. I loved it. All of the other players wanted to strangle me for bringing up encumbrance.

[@ericcadwell5193]

I really loved this one. Encumbrance and ammunition is something that I really watch players that I don't know on. The ones that aren't conscientious about those are players that I probably don't want to invite back. A greedy player that is playing a halfling rogue that tries to steal a golden idol her own size and hide it away from the party needs to feel the penalty of encumbrance, if not complete failure. A player of an elven archer whom is going into what they KNOW is going to be a protracted war needs to carry more than a quiver - they practically need their own personal supply train. Conversely, it allows players of characters that might normally be written off as big and dumb to be given a little slack and utility outside of combat. "Who the hell really keeps a 10 lb. sledgehammer in their inventory, just in case?" *the High Gnoll shyly raises his hand*

[@IAmTheStig32]

I prefer to aim for "player satisfaction". Not everything in life is fun, easy and lighthearted, and some of the most frustrating and difficult things in life are the most satisfying to overcome.

[@finnianquail8881]

UNLIMITED POWER!

[@snail_chan1119]

have you ever hear the tragedy of darth plaguies the wise

[@therocketboost]

Toporamen It is not a story an NPC would tell you

[@RighBread]

Thank you for solving my encumbrance issue. I've been thinking for months about a way to add encumbrance and weight into my survival campaign but also make it more accessible so people don't get a headache every time they pick up some treasure. The slots idea is so simple but so genius.

[@Blandco]

What is this mic adjusting ghost hand????

[@jakegray1723]

Blandco It should do a face reveal or more special guest appearances

[@Axeloy]

Was Mage hand

[@TheFearmonger]

at 2:30 the moment you realize these are two NPC's controlled by the dungeon master to bring a higher level of play to the game by having them help every adventurer at once... buticastFIREBALL

[@thromok4190]

Y'all should do a long video about the Unearthed Arcana! :)

[@JPruinc]

Goochburg Adventures We're working on covering the UA material.

[@amishverma8415]

plz

[@Neverlookingbackk]

I have just started watching your videos and am enjoying learning about 5th Ed. This video and the high magic video are the two funniest intros I have seen so far.

[@rocktroll2002]

fun is all in the eyes of the players, I personally kept the encumbrance rules to make the party make choices, (take the gold statue or rescue a comrade in arms) I found that even though they grumbled in the beginning the understood why after a level or two . it all depends on the group and how they want to play. playing with power gamers can be a bit of a mess when you choose to not be a power gamer and have a character with faults but that is what makes it fun is being able to play in a way that is enjoyable. limits often make for better games

[@everybodytogether5532]

Thanks for mentioning the practical application of silk

[@manuelacosta7567]

2:26 seems like unseen servant isnt working wright, i can totally see that hand

[@thundergod9696]

manuel acosta mage arm actually it's like mage hand except its an arm and can fix mics

[@android19willpwn]

I like concentration as a Wizard player because it kind of forces you to think harder about what spells you take. Generally the best spells that you're going to want to grab *all* of are concentration spells, and the fact that you can only have one up at a time incentivises you to make sure you also grab things you can cast while concentrating on that one really good spell. As for extra concentration slots, the only thing I ever saw like that was during a series of one-shots, and it was an item that was basically free concentration, but it only worked for a particular spell. So if you wanted to do cool stuff while Alter Self was active, you totally could. But if you wanted it to help you with anything else, you were out of luck. It was called the Crown of Envy and it was great.

[@esarty1]

That opening 😂

[@Skullad]

Forever my favorite Web DM intro.

[@ArcticAlpaca275]

Next episode on rolling vs point buy confirmed.

[@JPruinc]

Arctic Alpaca We're not going to do another episode on that subject. There would be riots.

[@ReustersPlace]

Best opening of them all!!! With Sarah McGlocklin mystery a close second

[@gnarlestongnu637]

High ability score characters aren't any more fun to PLAY, they are more fun to MAKE. After character creation people talk about spells and combat abilities. Also, Pruit, heroes are defined by what they DO, not their stats. A hero is one who rises to the challenge, not one who was born super fast or smart or strong or with perfect teeth.

[@ralegade7710]

Depends on the angle you're playing at. If you're looking to play the campaign where you're a farmer and the raid that slaughters half your village is your call to adventure, a dice roll for stats is definitely appropriate and possibly more enjoyable as you're discovering yourself as a character and finding out where you wind up. But if you have an exact idea of what you want in you character and who they are, it could be non negotiable. If I want to play a world class elite detective and roll the lowest possible score on investigation and charisma, really, what's the point of even playing? The performance of the character is going to be greatly hindered to the point where they seem like a fraud that can't do anything right worst case scenario, or some goofy mister bean type that gets everything done by sheer luck to the point that they're laughable as a character and not taken seriously. Some characters represent the common man. Others represent the exceptional. The point is, if you're trying to build a diverse world, you need to make room for all walks of life. A poor dm pigeon holes his players. If you want to play super restrictive with hard limitations, it's your obligation to be upfront at the zero session and make sure everyone is on the same page so those who realize they won't enjoy themselves can quit while they're ahead.

[@quadcannon]

Best intro for a talk show ever.

[@CrazyConnor2]

Best Intro 2017

[@maromania7]

Encumberance- I keep it more general. I usually just say no problems until half your max or so, and past that I want a vague knowledge of where you're carry it and maybe some mild situational penalties 'you travelled 5 fewer miles today because Travis is carrying 36 gallons of milk again.' or 'you're getting a slightly higher swim check, the backpack of milk is throwing you off." Food and Ammo are tricky. Ammo I keep a general track of, but I keep track for them and it's more of a vague number, but I keep a lot of special ammos in my game that're more expensive. FOOD on the other hand I keep track of. my players know 3 things- beware goblins, stay out of ANY water, and turn all possible monsters into food. I've almost had a party turn on itself because they were stuck and starving in a minotaur maze and that ranger was NOT letting them eat his companion without a fight. but as long as you're in the forest or town, or you say that you're making monster jerky from that giant snake, I'll let it slide XD

[@BennysGamingAttic]

Keeping track of encumbrance is kind of tedious. I just feel my players "good luck carrying 5 war hammers and 2 suits of extra armor". To solve this, the party bought a boat. As for arrows, I gave my Ranger 15 of those little glass gem tokens to keep track. Shoot an arrow and lose a gem. We didn't care about having extra tokens, as we play a lot of Fantasy Flight games (they have so many tokens).

[@Technotoadnotafrog]

Poker chips or coins can help a ton.

[@meyera14]

I am so glad they kept in the bit about slam poetry

[@DabIMON]

My campaign setting has 'Arrow Trees'...

[@General12th]

*NOICE!* I love it!

[@DannyDog27]

*cries in Gunslinger*

[@Fulgrim_The_Phoenician]

@@DannyDog27 bullet-berry bushes ? :p

[@davdi13]

Best. Opening. Ever.

[@Lucasofyugioh]

So I was wondering what you guys think about Familiars. I gave my Owl Familiar named Losa a Headband of Intellect and I thought what would happen if I made her an NPC or a PC and gave her a Class and Background. I made her a Cleric of Life because Familiars can't attack for non warlock classes. I just wanna know what you guys think about this.

[@jeryek13]

I think the better question is "What does your DM think about it?" Because that is something you'd want to bring up with your DM...

[@Lucasofyugioh]

jeryek13 My DM said they'd allow it because the spell Find Familiar doesn't say a Familiar can't be a PC, NPC or have a Class and Background. He went on to explain it was a really big stretch of the rules but allowed it because all my Familiar can do with a class is heal and use support spells. I thought of the idea of using my Owl Familiar as a Cleric after my party noticeably needed a proper healer and support character because all of the players at my group wanted to play attackers or characters used for solving puzzles and problems rather than healing.

[@jeryek13]

Alright, well there you go.

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

Galactic NeonLime if I was the dm, I would rule it so if it can talk and make the correct hand gestures, it can cast the spell

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

Galactic NeonLime also I think Jim and Pruitt had a similar idea

[@chaddixon9764]

What you are talking about is definitely something that I have noticed as well. As far as people seem to be concerned the rules are there for the fun of the players and the default defense of changing any rule is that you can change any rule as long as it is not fun and you are still playing D&D.

[@dirus3142]

I have noticed another element in the culture in D&D when reading forums on various sights. When ever there is a negative, or trade off in a stat, Such as a race having a negative modifier to one stand while giving a bonus to another. Player started using the word "punishment" for the negative. The concept of risk reward, or trade off has been totally skewed by a generation of players who think that any negative is a punishment. You are punished for being a halfling because of the negative to strength.

[@chain4kill]

That thumbnail for this video kills me everytime I see it.... XD Also very helpful video as I have run into this exact set of problems in my campaign. Its always helpful to have another set of opinions. Keep up the good work. Also happy 50K+ subscribers!!

[@bluemagician9724]

I think when you think about fun, you automatically get stress about your own emotional state and you don't actually have fun. I think you should mentally focus on something else, such as the elegance of events, or the value of making a story you can tell later.

[@juanrapolinario]

I have a bard's hat with a big crystal plume in our 5e campaign. It's a custom magic item that lets me concentrate in another spell. It's a beautiful item that open a LOT of opportunities.

[@Brashnir]

1: Heavy armor didn't go out of favor because it was heavy. It went out of favor because it didn't stop bullets. 2: Target archery doesn't put the same stress on arrows as combat archery. War bows have far higher draw weights than target bows, often 3-4x as heavy, and thus the arrows carry a lot more energy. In addition, they are typically hitting harder targets, since the target are generally wearing armor. 50% ammunition loss is being generous to archers in actual context.

[@Xenibalt]

modern armor is also heavy and their ammos and guns helmet and backpack

[@atlasdm]

Another good video. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that feels this way about restrictions.

[@victorcunha496]

Roll Random Encounter. *rolls 1* 2:26 You find an Random arm.

[@AGrumpyPanda]

To be fair, put a random severed arm (doesn't even have to be flesh, just like a mannequin arm) in your game, and all sorts of nonsense will happen. Or nothing, if your players are sad and boring and don't like cheese.

[@jacksonl.2201]

What?

[@michaelsorensen7567]

But is it a troll arm? Are your players super righteous and going to investigate whee it came from and restore it to its rightful owner/avenge the deceased? Is there anything worth looting on the arm? Etc lol

[@cmknox777]

Just found this episode. An instant favorite! You guys are great!