PressTheBeast

A student who spends 200 days training full time with a Master can earn a blackbelt in Karate. This training makes their hands and feet strike as daggers in combat. Additionally, if you are fighting barehanded enemies or those with small arms, such as clubs and knives, you defend as if you were wearing light armor even if you are unarmored. An alternative means of learning Karate is for a starting Fighting-type character to give up all their starting resources. This represents someone who used their family's wealth to pay their way into a dojo. They will begin play with the clothes on their back, a blackbelt, and a sleeping roll.  Once a blackbelt is earned, the Karateka must go out into the world and hone their skills. Once the 5th experience level is reached, they may choose to spend 1 year isolated in the wilderness, dedicating themselves to rigorous training. If they complete this task, their hands and feet will strike as swords, they will gain an advantage in any grappling exc

This blog has mostly been me posting session reports (I still have some more to do lol), but there is lots of other stuff I'd like to post haha. My current campaign, Daemonium, has centred around the Kingdom of Cashua. I've uploaded the hexcrawl I've so that you can use it for what you will. Context: Cashua is on the Island of Ambern. To the North is the Fae Woods and the west is the Dinosaur Coast, which will be separate Hexcrawls (Fae Woods is done, Dino Coast will only be finished if my players go there). In ancient times, Ambern was a land dominated by Giants who enslaved the humans. However, when the Cashuans crossed over the sea from Galanthar, they defeated the Giants and liberated the humans. Now the technological powerhouse Aeon, also from Galanthar, has come to conquer Cashua. The eastern portion of Cashua is occupied, and the rebels at Fort Cheswick are Cashua's last hope. If you decide to actually run this Hexcrawl, it is up to you to decide how you situate

For the first session, our characters are the following: Redmond Frionbarr - Bard Za'vak Al-Hadim - Paladin/Fighter Gene Erikson - Fighter Cadillac Monteau - Ranger Helmut - Druid --- These session reports will be written somewhat tersely, as I have many to write. My RPG time has primarily been spent on fleshing out the world and fillin' hexes.  - Session 18 began with a funeral for Vamp Testy, the first dead player character. The traditional Cashuan funeral is meant to be a time to air your grievances regarding the deceased, and also remember the good times. Before the funeral there were some little character moments: Redmond prayed to a statue and got lectured by a priest, Gene got grumpy and Za'vak tried to comfort him, and Cadillac chilled out and drank beer. During the funeral, a bunch of individuals gave lil speeches. Gene's player actually wrote out their's beforehand, which was a nice touch. Redmond gave the most impassioned speech and, contrary to everyone

Wolves upon the Coast weapons all have different skills. This is quite fun, but more choices is not always better. Some of the weapon skills either overlap or clearly outshine others. This isn't really a problem, but it got me thinking about a simpler weapon system. A common antidote to what some perceive as the fighter "problem" is adding effects onto their weapons. I think that, while Wolves does a good job of it, most systems that attempt to do so are very clunky. For a weapon system to work, each weapon type needs an obvious use case. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has three broad categories of melee weapons: one handed weapon (Swords/clubs/axes), spears, and heavy weapons. Each of them is obviously good in a certain area. Swords can be used with shields, spears have amazing range and are super fast, and greatswords can knock away shields and deal the most damage. Spears are great against quick foes, swords against groups or many bosses, greatswords are a little

Today I was quite tired from working consecutive late nights. I'm bouncing at a bar and New Years Eve was a particularly tiring night. I decided I wanted to do nothing but chill today and, to aid in those efforts, asked my sister, her girlfriend, and my partner if they wanted to play. My sister and her girlfriend said yes, while my partner did not want to. My sister tried to peer pressure my partner into playing, and I repeatedly assured them that they don't need to play but, given that table top gaming takes up the living room, they decided to play given that there wasn't much else to do. Mechanically, I just ran a simplified OSE with only a single saving throw. On reflection, I would've not had the players roll for attributes, and I would have quickly whipped starting equipment to make sure they had everything they needed for the dungeon delve. My sister is an experienced gamer, so I let her take charge in terms of hirelings and equipment. My sister played as her homb

Characters: Redmond Frionbarr - Level 4 Bard Cadillac Monteau - Level 3 Ranger Za'vak Al-Hadim - Level 4 Paladin/Level 1 Fighter - This session introduces the player of Vamp's new character: Cadillac Monteau. He's a Ranger who comes all the way from the western land of Utahia. While Gene and Za'vak were exploring in the last session, Monteau rolled up into the village of Homble on horseback looking for Vamp. Monteau is a bounty hunter, with a mission to find Vamp Testy. After introducing himself to the mayor of Homble, Harold Koomer, and his wife, Monteau learned that Vamp had went north into the Fae Woods. He went to the top floor of the tavern/inn, the Swan, and polished his guns while murmuring to them. Note: Monteau's player uses the funniest character voice, with both a lisp and an underbite. Almost everything he said in his character voice caused me to laugh hard enough that I had to mute the mic. Redmond, meanwhile, was tasked with transporting Vamp's bod

In my current 5e campaign, Daemonium, one of my players made their character Gene Erikson a Battle Master Fighter. Despite some initial excitement we found that, in play, the class was a slog to use and didn't really add very much to the gameplay of the character. The issues I have with the Battle Master encapsulate some of the problems I have with 5e as a whole. - Fighters are my favourite RPG class and, for an RPG with a class based character creation system, they are the basis by which I judge the class system. 5e uses a subclass system, in which classes can pick a sort of specialization once they reach level 3 (Level 1 for some classes). The Fighter in 5e has three subclasses in the Player's Handbook (And a million more in the many supplements). You can pick Champion, Eldritch Knight, and Battle Master. Each of these add traits to the basic Fighter package. The basic 5e Fighter is defined by gaining extra attacks as they level. While other fighting man classes in 5e have a