Did tomb of the giants without a light source once. That was stressful.
jtrek
joined 1 month ago
Good feedback. The intent is to prevent hot swapping it in combat, so if I used it again I'd probably write something explicit like the benefits require attunement and wearing the hat, and the penalties persist while attuned.
Something new. Something relatable. Not a one dimensional monster. Something that makes challenges the federation's ideals.
Like the classic meme, more courtroom battles and less spaceship battles.
Ah, but implicit from my understanding of D&D standard magic items (and I should have been explicit) is the effects persist so long as it's attuned to you. Good thinking, though.
I loved giving my players items with obvious drawbacks. I presented the wizard this item (heavily inspired by Crawl: Stone Soup) :
Hat of Pondering
- Advantage on wisdom, charisma, and intelligence saves
- Advantage on saves against effects that move you against your will
- Intelligence, Charisma, and Wisdom increase by 2 to a maximum of 22
- Disadvantage on dexterity saves
- Cannot use reactions
- Speed is reduced by half and cannot be increased
- Cannot take the dash action
His reactions as he read each line item were pretty great. "Oh? Oh! WOW. Oh. Hm. Hmm."
Of course he used it for several sessions, and of course it almost got him killed.
I don't agree a "maybe" is a "MASSIVE" assumption. Maybe they're telling the truth. But maybe they're wrong.
I didn't make assumptions about your relationships. Please read more carefully.
The game is designed around save scumming. There's no mechanism to follow dying or failure. There are instant death scenarios. It's not a good game.
It's hard not to draw uncharitable conclusions when people you considered friends don't reach out.
They may be struggling, but that's an explanation not an excuse. The sadness experienced by the person who never gets called, never gets invited, and feels forgotten, is real.
You think about what they do spend time on. Who they do call. It invites comparison. Why did they invite them but not me? Do they not like me? Was it something I said? It's impossible to know. They might not know themselves.
I follow a guideline of "follow their behavior, and if you have extra emotional energy then model the behavior you want to see". If they reach out sometimes, I'll reach out sometimes. If they don't, I don't, until I feel like I have the extra energy to risk them blowing me off or whatever.
How do they feel about it? Are you sure? How do you know?
You're not going to find a rational, well reasoned, explanation. It's just emotions. Fear, pride, shame. Most people are too cowardly to do any difficult introspection, and an older person who's probably never practiced it is a unlikely to start now.