is the duckthulhu also made by eldrich foundry or is it a rubber duck with paint over it and hentai tentacles glued up to it? The latter! Customized it myself. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/xoE11fIj9f

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) November 30, 2019

Certainly amazing, followup question, wich came first, the monster or the pun? The monster, hehe

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) November 30, 2019

Tentacles from the Nolzur’s Kraken? Yup!

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) November 30, 2019

***Darrington Brigade One-shot Spoilers!***

Folks have been asking for statistics for the end-boss of the event, so I figured I'd throw it here for ya!

Keep in mind, this was balanced for 6 players at lvl 10, and one player at lvl 15, so consider altering it for smaller groups! pic.twitter.com/hfKHO4XwVl

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 4, 2019

Also Matt, would you consider modifying the grapple DC mid battle to make it more interesting for the players? You certainly could, but the ramifications of it working are pretty high (poison, and puppeted against their party). They just kept rolling SUPER high, so the luck wasn’t in my favor. If I were to buff it too high, it may become TOO powerful.

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 4, 2019

Okay, that was fun, but why go with Quackthulu instead of calling it the Quacken?

— PQ (@PQRDG) December 5, 2019

Because the source of the creature’s corruption was of an otherworldly nature that fell from the sky…

That speaks more cosmic horror to me than a standard kraken joke. 😉 https://t.co/hZIdZ1PczD

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 5, 2019

Solid reasoning, though this seems like a weird thing to apply logic to. I apply logic to a LOT of weird things.

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 5, 2019

The Horror of Hook-Bill
Nyaranatidaethep
The Quack In The Wall
The Platypus on the Doorstep
Shub-Muskovath, the Hen of the Pond with A Thousand Eggs
Alabio and Mulo, the Thousand-Feathered Drake,
and all the Great Old Fowl.
IÄ! Quackthulhu F’Tagn! IÄ Yog Dukkoth!! This. THIS is a quality tweet!

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 5, 2019

YESSSSSSSSSS https://t.co/gvFQ6Cp0je

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) December 11, 2019

Generic, “adaptable” Humans in TTRPG settings, especially fantasy settings, is a sign that the writer of same doesn’t actually understand how diverse groups in the world work, or how to examine a presumed default thoughtfully. As such, they make me deeply, ragingly angry. I may be at the point where I refuse to play or run a setting that does this. If the rules set it up that way, I will hack them before engaging.

— Rabbit (@caudelac) November 24, 2019

So as a for instance, in 5e if all humans were essentially variant, but with feats and skills that represent their regional culture, would that fit more with what you’d want to see?

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 24, 2019

In my game, everything is variant. Each race/ancestry gets A Thing, including humans, who in my game, have limited stats too (+1 con, and +1 to either int or wis), and get to pick 1 feat. There is also a version of each that has more “traditional”/additional features.But the base approach, which I've seen a lot here, is almost accidentally more not-okay, because it dives deeper on only humans get to have individuality and unique cultures, and everyone else is a lumpen monolith, which is a whole other part of the problem.

— Rabbit (@caudelac) November 24, 2019

I’m pretty sure that Waterdhavian elves, humans, dwarves, halflings, et al have way more in common than they do with anyone of their own nominal group in Rashemen, for example. I get you. Was just using existing 5e human mechanics as an example of a different way to do racial stats in general.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 24, 2019

I would be hesitant to give cultures bonuses but that is largely so people can run games in their own world rather than in the cultures for the world I cooked up. I am fine with divorcing bonuses from specific races tho At first glance that approach is kind of a design nightmare.

It’s very difficult not to create a tiny number of “best” options and all the rest are traps.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 24, 2019

It also creates a ton of DM work if they want to use that approach in any other setting.

Note: I’m thinking through the approach and it’s challenges, not discounting it as a viable one.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 24, 2019

I’d say that the present design approach in D&D has resulted in a bunch of super samey settings, because the default is unquestioned, and the racial bonuses carry a bunch of setting weight. I see the value of customized racial bonuses and traits that differentiate cultures.

I’m just thinking through how to approach it but also make it generally useful, without just being a melange of traits everyone picks out of, that are either ribbons or a system mastery puzzle.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 24, 2019

One of my favorite parts of the Al-Qadim setting is the shift in meaningful difference between city-dweller vs nomad, rather than between races.

Elf and dwarf al-hadar have more in common with each other than with al-badia of the same race. That said, there was no mechanical difference between them, it was all down to roleplay and flavor.

Even the different cities/city-states of Zakhara are pretty different from one another. We used “background feats” in 3e to model that.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 24, 2019

That said, there was no mechanical difference between them, it was all down to roleplay and flavor.

Even the different cities/city-states of Zakhara are pretty different from one another. We used “background feats” in 3e to model that.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 24, 2019

@Dan_Dillon_1 @JeremyECrawford @mikemearls Have you heard of anyone creating resting rules somewhere between the official rules and the grim reality variant? They each seem to be too extreme.

— Giff (@mattg) October 26, 2019

I’ve heard of people adjusting the timing of Gritty Realism (@DysonLogos I think?).

There’s also Healer’s Kit Dependency and Slow Natural Healing in the #DMG (pg 266-267). #dnd #WotCStaff https://t.co/IZHqrfNsXh

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) October 26, 2019

Slow natural healing is a great rule, should be 5e’s default imo. Adds drama to adventures beyond the adventuring day.

Gritty realism is overkill and would kill any enthusiasm I have for a game. That variant is meant for a different kind of game that uses far fewer and more deadly combat encounters. It wouldn’t play well with most “standard” games.

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) October 26, 2019

Yeah, this is a 100% pacing change. Instead of running 6 encounters per day, it is 6 per week. Still the same actual encounter – to – rest ratio though.

— Dyson Logos (@DysonLogos) October 26, 2019

Definitely not one size fits all

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) October 26, 2019

Yeah, this won't work at all for any of the published campaigns which are written to use the standard rest system.

— Dyson Logos (@DysonLogos) October 26, 2019

Life Stealing Sword, pg. 206 in DMG:

Does the effect only happen when a character *rolls a 20* or *rolls 20 or above total*

I ask because a “crit only” effect is pretty underwhelming when it’s not even a +1

Looking for RAW ONLY, It means when you roll a 20 on the die. #WotCStaff

— Dan Dillon 👥 (@Dan_Dillon_1) November 12, 2019