Villainous Monologue
So there we were. The auction had been arranged in neutral territory, and the party was all set up for the ambush. We’d managed to persuaded our honorable paladin to participate in our ruse. He would appear before the vampire duergar slavers as a fellow slave trader, and he would offer himself (which is to say our disguised wizard) into their nefarious clutches.
“Is it truly he?” they hissed. “This pitiful cringing creature is the paladin who has plagued us for so long?”
The paladin’s next words were some of the best in-game dialogue I’ve ever heard. “Truly,” he said, “None other than Torin Ironanvil stands before you.”
The sly dog! Dancing around the “speak no word that is untrue” code of conduct takes all manner of subtlety. Everyone around the table made oh snap face, because we knew that some next level barb-trading was afoot.
“How did you manage it? How did you capture him?”
“He came here willingly.”
“What manner of payment do you demand?”
“Only the chance to meet you face to face.”
The atmosphere around the table was electric. These were the same slavers that captured the paladin’s family and destroyed his clan. The air of imminent violence was freaking palpable. To my lasting shame, I was the one who poked a hole in it.
“Guys,” I said out-of-character, “Our rounds-per-level spells are ticking. Should we maybe hurry and—”
“Dude,” said the DM. “Rounds spent monologuing don’t count towards spell duration.”
I sheepishly shut my gob, and the scene continued towards its natural climax. In the years since I’ve thought quite a bit about that call, and I still think it was the right one. It’s OK for tactical advantage and game mechanics to take a back seat every once in a while. Going into cutscene mode may mess with the rules of the world, but I’d rather trade away that bit of verisimilitude than the climactic story moment. As always, YMMV.
What about the rest of you guys? Have you ever been tempted to shoot the Bandit King? Should story always trump tactical considerations? Or is a game better off when you let the mechanics rather than narrative beats determine the course of play? Let’s hear your tales of monologues-cut-short in the comments!
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We always use the good old “Talking is a Free Action” rule. It helps both the GM, who gets to finish any dialog the villains may have, and us, since we can discuss tactics at length during combat. Though we don’t do that too often anymore.
Ever since I noticed the change I’ve appreciated the difference between the Pathfinder rules and the Starfinder rules:
Ten years of experience and development later we get this:
Two things changed. They actually called out the fact that diplomacy takes actions, as opposed to relying on the many-pages-separate skill description, and they didn’t try to codify a number of sentences. The idea of the combat round becomes a little more fluid, and the talky combats become possible without feeling like you’re somehow breaking rules just to RP a bit.
If you absolutely MUST time speech, I’ve always preferred to say that “speaking as a free action” is no more than 3-4 words. It’s a warning yelled in the middle of a fight, or a pithy comeback (now, you have my permission to die). It’s not a Shakespearean monologue.
That being said, I’m a roleplayer at heart and the thing I was most upset at when my new group had to dramatically flee the fairy-queen’s castle because we pissed her off, was that I didn’t have time to enumerate all the reasons she was a prig who deserved the trouble we caused and should fear my eventual return.
😛
Nothing quite as much fun as shouting, “And another thing…!” as your companions carry you bodily out of bow range.
It doesnt happen often, and it typically doesnt give any battle advantage, but we do occasionally interrupt monologues in my group when it just seems right in character, whether due to the characters impatience, disgust in what the character is saying, or some other reason. Unfortunately I don’t really remember any specific instances well enough to state them.
If it suits the moment then sure. Do it up. As in the “shooting the bandit king” example, however, trampling on the GM’s prepared lines can quash some of his fun. I therefore say to proceed with caution, and certainly to avoid shooting an enemy just for the sake of watching the veins in your GM’s head throb.
Oh we never do it just to annoy the dm, and we typically only dont let the monologue go on if it seems completely out of character to not stop it. typically just the dumb stuff we pull that ends up messing with the dms plans on accident, and the characters i make are more then enough for that. I think the only characters ive made that the dm didnt end up swearing to kill were a druid in dark suns, elliot the unlucky, and my dino-riding cleric. Ironically, 2/3 of the characters that i have had die were among those.
I think I will add “Rounds spent monologuing don’t count towards spell duration.” to my universal home rules.
I think that is a fair rule. I personally also do away with the whole ‘you can only speak 6 seconds worth of words each round’. It kind of ruins monologuing as I can imagine the villain suddenly pausing mid monologue every 6 seconds (as the PCs state their action for that round).
“You naive simpletons! Do you not realize by now who I truly am?”
*I circle around the outside of the room. I chug a potion. I ready to shoot. Sorry, you can’t ready outside of a initiative. What? That’s bull!*
“You think the First Hero was content to lie in his tomb? Young fools…”
*OK, so I fish a scroll out of my backpack. I knock three arrows. I tell my animal companion to get in flanking position.*
“I get the sense that you guys aren’t listening.”
*I activate my magic sword. I look around for easily collapsible bits of ceiling. I crouch down behind a stalagmite.*
“Sigh.”
I like the idea but it’s not always relevant. One of my games had a player monologue for 30 seconds in combat because he thought it would increase the likelihood of his prayer / spell working (invoking the names of various gods and artifacts).
He did it all in combat time, having written out the speech in advance and timing himself reading it each round.
It was cool and dramatic as it built to a climax. Still have no clue if it helped or not but who cares?
Our DM used to have a habit of screwing us with his monologues: setting up accomplices for a surprise round, ending his villain’s speech with a high-level spell, enacting their escape plan as they spoke, things like that.
And his monologues were GOOD, but… I mean, c’mon. A few campaigns in as he expressed frustration that we interrupted every monologue three words deep with “I attack him immediately!”, I had to point out the issue to him. We loved his monologues, his villains, we were invested in the story, but did he honestly expect us to be enthused about eating another Meteor Swarm before initiative was rolled?
He took that in, and we came to a gentleman’s agreement: we wouldn’t interrupt his villains, and nothing would come from either side until after the initiative roll. We’re much happier all around, now.
Oof. This sounds like a misunderstanding of initiative rather than a villain problem. I don’t care what system you’re in. Getting to the top of the initiative order should never be a case of saying “1-2-3 I go first” as fast as you possibly can. In my mind, the problem lies in the language of the game. Saying, “I shoot him!” doesn’t mean you shoot him. It means the room explodes into action as everyone pulls their metaphorical guns at the same time. It runs into the villain problem because it’s much more dramatic when you imagine your BBEG capping off a big speech with a flashy opening salvo. Ludonarrative dissonance in action right there.
Sounds like you guys hit upon the correct solution though. Well done talking that mess out and building a better game!
I mean, on the other hand, I think there is a case when you wouldn’t roll initiative before shooting the first arrow, which is if you’re sneak attacking someone. If they don’t know they should be readying themselves for combat until they see signs of combat, why should they be given a chance to ready themselves and potentially make the first move when the first sign of combat for them would be an arrow hitting their horse or someone springing at them from the shadows with a blade drawn?
Likewise with what Taliesin said, if the BBEG is monologuing while his accomplices set up for a surprise round (which, I assume, is more or less another way of saying sneak attack), y’all don’t start attacking just because the villain’s accomplices are thinking “okay, I’ve finished drawing back my crossbow, now it’s time to aim and fire”. If the party is waiting to hear the villain’s monologue, they won’t stop waiting without a cause they can notice, which I think would be more or less limited to:
An enemy attack;
The monologue ending;
Some pre-planned point, be it the hostages leaving the combat zone or the sun rising enough to power up the sunblade carried by the paladin;
Someone finding something the BBEG said heinous enough that they lose control and start the attack without warning;
Or, someone deciding they want to hurry up and beat the BBEG so they can go empty their bladder, because they drank too much before entering the BBEG’s throne room. Like with the previous one, they start the attack without warning, most of the time. Maybe they say “Can you PLEASE hurry up and get to the point? I really need to pee…”
Amen. One time during an old campaign (the one with a character named Momo), we were in the lair of a necromancer. When we got to his chambers, turns out, he’d been napping when we rudely barged in. He woke up, hastily grabbed his fancy cloak, charged out to the edge of the raised platform he was on, and… just as he started his monologue, he received a mace to the face, thrown courtesy of out cleric. He responded with ‘Oh you are no fun…’, semi groggily. We received a Fireball to our everything in exchange. Our cleric still thinks the necromancer should’ve been knocked unconscious. I agree with him.
You said “necromancer” and my brain heard “lich” for some reason. I was sitting here like, “How is the lich sleeping? Why would he be unconscious?” #AmDumb
Time not passing during monologue is a good solution.
The other solution (if I understand the intent correctly) is the invulnerability spell in Xanathar’s.
As pictured here: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CvvAftMZYKM/maxresdefault.jpg
I’ve managed to mix tactics and banter quite well I think.
We’re actually planning a negotiation/ambush against a team of baddies as we speak. (The ambush is for if they attack, the negotiation is in good faith)
They’re mostly Wizards. As such… “Fioistly, yez will give us yeh spell foci. Secondly, yez will give us yeh spell-books, and any magic items yez might be in possession of. Thoidly, yez will renounce yeh mastah in a Zone o’ Truth, and swear to leave da’ continent and nevah’ retoin. In exchange yez gets ta’ live.”
Proper Dwarven diplomacy there.
Do you just cross out the “Intimidation” skill and write “Dwarven Diplomacy” in its place?
No, but I should. Granted my Persuasion and Intimidation bonuses are the same since both are Charisma, and I’m proficient in both.
Dwarves are stubborn by nature, and (Devotion) Paladins are inherently on the right side. As such, negotiation is more a matter of making the other side realize you’re right, and they should do as you say than it is a matter of reaching a compromise.
“See reason oah see stahs!”
I’ve never prepared villain “monologues.” That always struck me as silly. So I’ve never been disappointed by a player interrupting.
I don’t want to feel like I’m playing out a staged scene in a movie.
How do you tend to handle it when PCs meet villains? Surprise attack an straight into the action? Villainous quips durung the fight?
It completely depends on the situation. The PCs aren’t stupid, and at least some of the villains have a head on their shoulders. Sometimes both sides want to talk, then they talk. Sometimes one side gets the drop on the other and only wants to fight, and then there’s a fight.
Sometimes one side or the other makes an effort to diffuse things mid-fight and depending on the situation that may happen. Sometimes one side or the other decides its overmatched and surrenders. There’s usually talk then.
But I don’t think I’ve ever had a situation where I’m going “hold on guys — stop acting normally for a second so I can bore you with a speech I wrote!”
No arguments here. You don’t get to make this call as a GM. Buying into a talky scene is a courtesy on the players’ part. It’s on the GM to make the situation interesting enough to warrant that buy-in.
Witness the climactic pre-fight dialogue in The Deceiver’s Stand from Critical Role for an example of the technique in practice. Mercer was set to force the dialogue through illusion magic, but critically he didn’t need to. The players recognized the trope standing at the end of the room with its back towards them. They wanted their villain dialogue, and they went for it. That restraint on the players’ part enabled a pretty cool moment.
This is where I think we part ways a bit. When I’m gaming I’m never trying to set up a “scene” or a “moment” or to play out a “trope.”
I’m more interested in the players playing their PCs however they think best in the world I’ve set up. It doesn’t matter to me (as DM) one way or the other whether things end up in talk, or a fight, or something else. I’m just not trying to re-create a dramatic scene from a movie or video game.
I’m interested in the way things play out for sure. It’s more fun for me to see what happens when 5-6 minds run into obstacle X than to go for any specific outcome.
It’s one reason I don’t really like Critical Role and its ilk. I think it encourages an odd sort of gameplay where you’re playing to an audience–hence the desire to maximize “cinematic” elements.
Coincidentally, here is a recent comment on the rpg reddit sub that I think hits the nail on the head on this issue:
I’ve come to the realization that the game isn’t about telling a story.
It’s about engaging in a virtual world.
It’s setting goals for yourself and working to overcome challenges or obstacles to those goals.
It’s about teamwork and cooperation, and having a shared vision.
Does a story emerge from playing the game? Yes. But when we talk about, “telling a story,” we imply certain standards and conventions that don’t apply very well to RPGs.
GMs should avoid deciding on the outcome of anything in the game if there’s any chance that the players’ actions will affect that outcome.
As a DM I’ve never found a compelling reason to have my villains monologue . There was one exception but he was a pompous ass and a powerful caster who monologued via “Conversing wind” as they made their way to his lair. Sure, there’s great backstory I worked on a lot, but if a fight is looming my 14th level wizard BBEG isn’t going to waste time explaining why seeing his sisters tending to cows each morning drove him to ruin the kingdom.
I usually try to get backstory out another way though. An npc with a grudge, artefacts found around the lair, things like that.
You get exactly one chance to have a villain talk to the PCs before violence breaks out. Why throw it away just because it can be a little awkward to work in? Make it punchy. Keep it interesting. Turn it into a villain dialogue is in today’s example.
For me, the chance to talk to Smaug is an important part of the experience. I don’t want to lose out on that for some minor tactical advantage.
I like the monologue doesn’t cut into spell duration rule but as a paranoid player i do what fighter does cause in my experience the bbeg or his minions while try to do something while we’re distracted by his monologue.
In one game our party’s bard who was played like elan from oots pre-dashing swordsman got captured by a cult to be used a sacrifice and vessel for a bbeg. We let ourselves be “captured” in order to save him against my objections :), had our gear taken from us, and brought before the cult leader who was in the middle of the ritual and started monologueing us. While this was going on my rogue slipped his bonds and sneak attacked the near death bard who was turning into the bbeg (he’d already failed 2 death save throws) with a thrown dagger I had hidden on me. This caused a chaotic feedback of destructive energy and triggered our half orc barbarian’s Rage at seeing me kill his friend in what he thought was cold blood. Sure i spent the rest of the game running away from hulk jr. and caused massive devastation, but we stoped the bbeg.
Dm also learned a valuable lesson when you capture heroes, rogues in particular, always to a strip/full body cavity search.
Yes indeed. That is the corollary to the above. If you want your cool villain moment, you don’t get to make the players feel dumb for allowing it.
Don’t worry Wiz, I assume that’s a Lich. You can hear his backstory when you fight him again. Hell, you could capture his phylactery, then get his backstory over the 1d10 days he’s reforming, before killing him and smashing it.
I still haven’t decided what exactly BBEG is. He might just have levels in Skeletor Cosplayer.
Well there is the safe-taunting spell list:
Find Familiar and a note.
Suggestion: Send some hapless civilian to convey your message.
Skywrite: “Surrender, Dorothy”
Animate Dead: Zombie mailman.
Sending: Sext message your evil monologue at 25 words per level 3+ slot while granting them 25 word replies.
Project Image: Skype them.
Simulacrum: Chat them up “In person”.
Telepathy: Have an actual conversation.
This makes me remember two chats, the two of differents video games. In Assassins Creed every time the protagonist kills one of his targets they start to chat. A good conversation while the animus glitches and cant run the rest of the world, then the conversation finish and the world can be run again. I guess that a simple chat is too much resource intensive even for the animus. The other example is from Mass Effect 2, in the planet of lizard, “Cochabamba” i think, Sheppard fights against a group of mercenaries doing bad things. One of their leaders start to monologing while Sheppard pull out his gun and shots a gas pipe, then the dinner is served. Both are good examples of how to use chats and rants, in one you just have the world to yourself, and a death bed of blood is a good place to tell a backstory as any other, in the other the “Interruptions”, the name of the mechanic, in fact end the chat but moves the story forward. Both are good systems and in any case the final choice is of the players. Wizard likes the Assassins Creed method, Fighter is employing the Mass Effect method, both are good but for different people. Know your players and know your self; in a thousand campaings you will never be in peril.
Alternate solution: Cant just Wizard ask Cleric to cast speak with dead? Knowing Fighter, Cleric will need to have that spell always ready.
Heh. I remember the Assassin Creed bit you’re talking about. Always seemed weird to me that you’re standing over a corpse flanked by a bunch of suddenly-out-of-work bodyguards, but you’re stopping to give last rights. Seems better than the alternative of see dude / kill dude / run away though. I guess those concessions to convention exist on the tabletop as well.
You can also try the Dishonored method, knock out the bad guy and then take your time to kill him or ruining his life in a way that death is the merciful option. Which is a rare option in tabletop games now i think about it.
Goddamn I need to play more games. I just got a Vive for my birthday, and I’m finally hooking it up today. I’m scared to death that it’s going to sit there unplayed due to time constraints.
Dishonored is one of those titles that I always meant to try. Is it worth going back to pick up?
Dishonored is kinda a mix of Bioshock and Assassins Creed, if you like either or both you would like it. Also the outsider is a interesting character in the game, in a tabletop RPG it would be that kind of quest-giver that steals the show. Enjoy the game if you like it. Happy birthday by the way.
Cheers! Assassin’s Creed is more Laurel’s bag than mine. I’ll have to see if I can’t dig up a copy for her. 🙂
Dishonored is what I like to call a “Stealth-stealth game” a game that advertises itself as another genre, but forces you to play it stealthy if you want to be at all effective, tying all bonus objectives to stealth, and making you too squishy to survive open combat.
Other notable examples include Deus Ex: Human revolution.
There’s always having projections of the villain monologue as the adventurers go through the dungeon. Even if the villain isn’t a spellcaster, having a specialist illusionist on retainer to send Magical Jerk Telegrams at the heroes is something that… as a villain, I wouldn’t be able to resist.
Frankly, if the Illusionst or whatever can Dream Project me at them while they’re sleeping so I can mock the heroes, try to persuade them to my side, or show them made-up premonitions of them failing…? I’d actually pay that minion. With real gold. And not execute them, ever. Even if I’m Chaotic Evil.
Have you seen the Evil Overlord List? I think you would like the Evil Overlord List.
http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
Hmmm. The BBEG looks like a Lich, but he has green blood/goo insides. That green stuff around the skull and hands could be magic (possibly of a pestilential sort). But, I’m thinking this is actually some kind of intelligent slime that’s just using a skull and skeletal bits to emote with. If so, that sword stab (Hey when did Fighter take Rogue levels and get Sneak Attack anyway?) is probably not the end of him.
Actually that would be an interesting recurring villain if you could pull it off. Make the players think it’s a necromancer is gothic cosplay, stab it and find out it doesn’t die so easy. Then they figure it’s a Lich and break it apart and when they go off to find the phylactery, they don’t find one and come back and just find robes and a slime trail.
The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that this is the way all game designers do things. You look at someone else’s work and say, “Wouldn’t it be neat if?” Then you fill in the blanks with your own weirdness. What pops out the other end is a cool idea.
There are elements of the slime lord…
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-prestige-classes/alluria-publishing/slime-lord/
…And the worm that walks…
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary2/wormThatWalks.html
…But the conceit of slime-disguised-as-lich is something I haven’t seen before. I bet you could make that into a pretty legit BBEG.
Villian Monologue never made much sense to me. Also Villians don’t have Time to Monologue if they, the Players Storm into the Rom, Spells Blazin, andSwords swinging, while Screaming: “DIE BITCH!”
Most of the we either have Battle quips, or the Sneaky Guy/Girl is “just” so lucky as to overhear Exposition of the Villian talking to Minion. Other than that, we rarly have the Heroes exchange a bit of Banter with the Villian before the Fight starts.
You do you. Seems like a lost opportunity though. Here’s this NPC who’s been driving the plot, has more clues to spill, and is willing to set the PCs up for epic “here’s what defines my character” rebuttals. “DIE BITCH” is the way most encounters begin. That approach strikes me as anticlimactic when we’re talking about proper villains rather than wandering monsters.
I mean sure, bursting into the throne room and starting a ruckus is always a blast. It’s not an invalid way to play by any means. But if you do that every time you miss out on some of the coolest possible moments of tension.
You know, it’s funny. There’s a PFS scenario where the game pretty much goes into Cutscene mode. See, normally most scenarios have boxed text that the GM reads out. Open with it, describe rooms with it, etc. But there’s one specific encounter in one particular scenario where the boss monologues you when you enter her room. And you’re absolutely out there to fight her, so it’s not like diplomacy is an option.
You’re just right there. In the same room as her. Weapons in hand. Maybe with buffs ticking. But she talks. And you listen. Because box text.
Still a good adventure though. I mean, what other scenario requires me, as a GM, to ask each player what their PC’s greatest fear at the start of the adventure? I loved the looks on their faces when I asked that.
I’ve seen the phrase “read or paraphrase the following” before read aloud texts in a lot of published products. I’ve always appreciated the implication that GMs are supposed to massage the read aloud text a bit, making it fit their tone, style, and the circumstances of their particular play through.
Reminds me of a local legend involving a module. The whole shebang opens with you traveling to a town and finding the mayor slain by orcs, which sets the tone for the entire somber mood of the townsfolk. The “all hope is lost” moment, if you will.
…except the party had a Kitsune who was able to take his shape. So pretty much 40% of the box text was completely invalidated. So the GM often started it with “If the mayor were sill dead, the room would have….” etc etc.
Did anybody else think of that GEICO commercial with the knockoff Bond villain?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85SvVn3cpl0
I get the weird feeling that Wizard would be super into an evil PowerPoint presentation.
The tables I play at apply the “Jojo Stand monologue” rules, yeah.
This is the second time I’ve heard Jojo mentioned, but my Google-fu is failing me. Have you got a link explaining the monologue connection in the anime?
One of the villainous monologues went as such at my table:
Lord Volitho: “-And should you surrender your weapons and come willingly, I can promise that your trial will be swift and fair according to the laws of this honorable land. Should you resist, we can begin the trial immediately, my servants around us will serve as your jury, and my captain, your executioner. It’s your–”
Tengu Rogue: “You guys tired of listening to this rich blowhard?”
Lord Volitho: “Exactly the response I expected from a dirty pheasant.
(The other players’ jaws drop)
Tengu Rogue’s Player: “Oh he’s a dead man, I’m charging in.”
Lord Volitho: “This is a terrible attempt at a murder. You’re supposed to bring flanking partners.”
(The table explodes into laughter and groans)
They’ve stopped interrupting my villains, no one feels heroic when everyone is laughing at them.
I guess it’s a question of player experience. Do you want them to feel like big damn heroes, or do you want to remind that there are other badasses in the world? Interrupting villains can be fun and tropey (think Star Lord) but it can also be lazy and cheapen the scene. That is some extremely case-by-case stuff to manage as a GM. Sound like your table had a blast though. 🙂
I like talking as a free action, though it’s also very confusing that saying the command word to (say) make a sword burst into flame is a standard action. I get activating a magic item taking an action if it’s a wand or something, but ALL magic item activations…? It’s probably necessary for balance or something but it’s annoying.
I assume that you have to say the magic words like an anime character announcing an attack. That takes about six seconds, right?
I had a “bandit king” moment in the Edge of the Empire game I’m playing in. Granted, the BBEG wasn’t really a BBEG, or a combatant, but rather the guy running the experiment we were unwitting subjects in. He didn’t even understand why we were angry at having been put on an island in a poisonous sea and having mind-controlling spine-eating starfish sent to mess with us.
He started monologuing, and my Hired Gun told him he had 60 seconds to say something to make it all okay. He took too long, so I shot him in the foot. We then took all his stuff and stole his spaceship. We found out later that our techie rigged the speeder to ram through the guy’s office after a timer went off. He ended up launched into the poisonous sea, and we got his really cool ship and all his credit cards, so in the end, it turned out okay.
None of us are playing nice people.
You gave him sixty seconds rather than six. You’re at least playing neutral people. 😛
The fun part was counting down while the GM talked.
If the GM’s willing to give you the rounds for free, then by all means let the bad guy monologue. I mean, he put a lot of work into it, so that’s only polite.
But I see no harm in clarifying that rule, just in case.
Ludonarrative dissonance for days, man. Sometimes the only answer is the handwave.
Our GM usually allows us to bump up spells to have a duration of “Cinematically Awesome”, as long as we’re okay with her two caveats:
1-A big upgrade will cost you either a higher spell slot or a non-trivial material component.
2-Like the Invisibility spell, it ends the second we start combat.
She understands that there is NO SUBSTITUTE for a highly cinematic bait-and-switch or dramatic reveal.
Like when the cruel usurper who started a civil war, assassinated a king and queen, took advantage of the prejudices against Tieflings to force them into servitude to a dark cult, and poisoned a teenage prince had the last vestiges of the royal family at sword-point and asks if they have any last words.
The sickly prince smirks, says “yeah. Checkmate, asshole.”
The prince’s manservant changes into the Oracle/Barbarian mid-charge.
One of the Usurper’s Lackeys draws his rapier on his fellows, and reveals the party Fighter.
A dagger appears in a soldier’s back, held by the party Rogue.
Finally, the Prince utters the incantation for Bungle and turns into the party Wizard.
Those two points are interesting. Can you give me any examples of how “non-trivial material components” can affect magic?
The rough concept is the same idea as the alchemical creations that upgrade save dc, effective caster level, etc but on a greater scale. Using such a component allows us to do one of the following:
1- increase the duration of a spell by one stage (ex: from one minute per level to ten minutes per level)
2- have a spell affect more targets than normal.
3- do something outside what the spell normally allows but fits most of the criteria (ex: allowing a Mount Spell to summon a steed that isn’t a horse but is only there to move from point a to point b.)
Cost of this component is based on the rules for creating consumable magic items, for ease of figuring out what we need to offer up.
Cool homebrew, man! I dig it a lot.
On the one hand, as a DM, I’d like to be able to get through villain banter if I’ve taken the time to prepare some.
On the other hand, if shanking the Evil Overlord mid-monologue isn’t a way to gain advantage, I don’t know what is.
Fortunately, my players haven’t interrupted any villain speeches (yet). They actively called for the drow mastermind’s surrender and engaged in cheerful banter until both sides dropped the pretense of attempting to negotiate, they tried talking to the dragon until it noticed a distinct lack of fork-over-all-your-loot happening and got mad, and the ettercaps’ chittering noises were allowed to proceed uninterrupted, though perhaps also unintelligibly.
At the very least, I hope to at least have the grace to allow my players their fun as Xelnax the Terribly Unhygenic inevitably plummets from his perch mid-rant after the rogue gives him a free thyroid piercing.
It’s a toss-up. At worst, you get this moment, but Wizard is the GM:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/dignity
At best, you have a fun moment where the players get to do the full-on Mr. Incredible thing:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/f5cc9571c7fd59d61b6e69b2d2037ee5/tumblr_inline_nlllhcHB511spwr3g.gif
It’s just a matter of reading the room, you know? It applies to players as much as GMs.
“Upon landing right in front of Sarge and Ivana, Bane launched into this whole spiel about how he didn’t know who we were, or what we wanted, but he had a very particular set of skills, and so on… We all just stood there, listening to him monologue like a bunch of idiots, until Twitch abruptly snapped out of it and opened fire. The rest of us immediately shook whatever it was off and followed suit, pouring five lasguns’ and one bolter’s worth of fire after the man as dodged backwards behind a row of crates. None of the shots hit, of course, but we hadn’t really expected them to, at least not yet. That killing part would come later, for now it was all about keeping up the pressure, which is why Sarge and Ivana pushed forwards after him, while the rest of us moved around the flanks to cut him off.”
In my own personal opinion, talking should be limited to six words per combat round. I took this rule from Legend of the Five Rings. After all, there’s only so much time to say something. We are not in some silly anime where we can talk all we want and only a second passes. https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/028/775/Screen_Shot_2019-03-06_at_4.32.48_PM.jpg
That is what my group thinks is fun. And I agree. Shoot the villain while they’re busy doing something else, that is perfectly reasonable and something that we expect if we are giving the enemies a spiel about granting them mercy.