I like to use rain not only as an obstacle to consider for traveling (increasing the time to travel, making certain checks harder) but also as a set piece to drive home the shelter safe places bring. My players love coming in from a storm and drying off in front of a fireplace in a cozy tavern.
Apart from mechanical effects, consider what rain reveals. The barbarian or monk stands stock still, strong in the deluge, where others shiver. An NPC's fey or druidic connections could be revealed by the way they react to rain. A superstitious character, or one who's uneasy about a confrontation, could jolt at the sound of thunder. Rain dims the scene and obscures details, but a flash of lightning can reveal a face, a glint of hidden armor under a tunic, or a symbol on clothing that exposes an NPC's true loyalties. This is why rain is a go-to tool for filmmakers. One of my favorites is the way a Fireball clears rain from its burst radius, and in the moment after the blast there's a brief quietening before the new rain hits the ground. Maybe not scientific, but very Rule of Cool.
One of my favorite scenarios involves rain. It's from a 3rd edition adventure called, "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night." The adventure starts the characters in an area known for its bad thunderstorms. The communities in the area have developed a "Storm Truce." This states that while sheltering from a storm, you are not to attack someone else also sheltering from the storm as long as you declare, "Storm Truce." I found it to be a great way to gather a group of characters that did not know each other at the start of the game.
This is cool. Imagine, taking shelter in a cave only to encounter an ogre, the Ogre gutterals out "Stoam Twuce!" And everyone shares a tense night waiting for the lightning to end...
I have used rain before as a means to urge my players to get to shelter. I've also used it to wash out a road to keep them and the townsfolk trapped in a seaside village that was facing an invasion of fish men, which spurred the PCs into working with their nemesis to temporarily join forces in order to survive.
Weather is also a useful tool in challenging mid and high level characters! It's just above freezing and there's a steady drizzle for the 3rd day in a row. You can't solve that with a +10 attack bonus. Ambush monsters can punch above their weight when exhaustion and the other issues he mentioned (like visibility) benefit the monster side of the encounter!
Actually, you are spot on. The biggest threats to high-level parties can be non monsters, or even armies, political persuasion that makes the party bad etc.... I love this addition.
I never though Rowdy Roddy Piper would have advice that I would apply to D&D..... your a better person than I for making that connections. This message is Guild Master Guides approved. LoL :)
I would love to constantly remind my players of the rain. A critical fail causes a character to slip in a puddle, a villain with spiked armor has rain dripping off those spikes, a fireball turns the raindrops still in the air into steam; just little descriptions like that
I have a weather table on Roll20 and I roll it every day. It gives wind, temp and precipitation. I've literally had the adventurers hit a storm and just stop traveling and wait out the storm for 2 days. Then everything was muddy in the region. I strongly recommend random weather rolls each day of overland travel. Really adds to the Exploration pillar.
How in the hell have I never thought of frickin' RAIN!? My absolute favorite kind of weather but I've never once thought of it for DnD.. I both hate myself and greatly appreciate you lol
In my own campaign I employ a variety of homebrewed Conditions, and one of them is 'Miserable.' Whenever a character is subjected to a prolonged situation of discomfort or distress (e.g., not having eaten for more than 24 hours or being deprived of sleep for the same period, marching under a blistering sun or in the pouring rain for hours with no end in sight, etc.), a CON saving throw is called for. Failure means they gain the Miserable condition which lasts until the dismal situation is alleviated (i.e., you find food, shelter, etc.). The saving throw is repeated at an interval of the DM's choosing. (I usually do it every 6 hours after the first check, but an hourly check wouldn't go amiss if the state of affairs are truly terrible.) MISERABLE * A miserable creature has disadvantage on its Initiative rolls and Perception checks.
@goyasolidar if you have the time, would you care to elaborate on some of your other homebrewed conditions? I like your take on misery, and would love to see some others and perhaps implement them in my games.
I use all forms of weather: rain, snow, sleet, fog, drought, heat waves, cold snaps, wind. All these in various intensities and spatial and temporal concentrations. Also natural (and unnatural) hazards. Flowing water floods, flash floods, rapids, waterfalls, dripping water, tides, etc. Avalanches, mudslides, landslides, rock falls, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and lava flows, ash falls. Glaciers, crevasses, etc. quicksand. Biological hazards including allergies. All this is in my game. I know what, when, where and why the weather and the hazards are and what the implications are before I start the session. These things are always factors in my game. They affect not only mobility and combat but magic as well.
Great ideas. I especially like the idea of difficult terrain and limited visibility. This will help contend with those Sharp shooter using ranged characters that can slay enemies from 300ft away.
I love the fact that you give your players a chance to do that. I see so many games where that distance isn't even given. Good on ya... But also good on ya for finding a way to limit it. :)
@theGMGuide Thanks! I love giving my players really powerful abilities and options. Then, finding a way to challenge those abilities. Not completely counter them because that feels vindictive, but rather limit its full potential so they feel challenged accordingly in each encounter. Then, let them really open up on other encounters.
Sometimes the Judge may want to run an indoor adventure! Ever see the film The Old Dark House with Boris Karloff? Rain can force a party indoors. Players can resist “railroading” if they want to-but there are a few things to consider: flash floods, landslides, lightning, widowmakers, disappearing trails, expanding fenlands, monster migrations, rusty gear, ruined spell components, spoiled rations, wet gunpowder, and weakened immune systems, to name only a few. I think I can gamify all those things, in which case a night out can prove just as eventful as a night in.
The key is to be prepared for both situations so you don't end up either trying to force the players into the house/cave/ruin or end up running a poorly prepared mud-crawl.
I never really put much thought into the weather when I was DMing my campaign, but I could see my self home brewing lighting and ice spells/abilities being extra effective in the rain.
I’ve used rain and storms out on the open sea where even a little storm can mean huge waves and heavy wind and peels of rain that all needed quick reactions to get sails tied up without being swept away into the sea. Very fun “encounter”
weather can provide tons of story arc opportunities. create multiple variations of a map tile or dynamic diorama (one that doesn't have every small piece fixed down, but can be changed in small (or big ways). One thing that is SURE to get a reaction out of your players, is, as you described....a bridge being GONE after your players used it to get to a place (hoping to return the same way).
I like this topic. Watching your video made me want to make/find a few set encounters that are weather related to go with my Weather Table (depending on the season): 1)storm, 2)rain/snow, 3)fog/mist, 4)cloudy, 5)windy/cold, 6)clear/hot, 7-8)stays the same. Different "storms" if they roll a 1: earthquake, tornado, thunderstorm w/lightning, or white-out snow storm.
I mostly used rain for the atmosphere. For a group normally taking a werewolf the wearewolf is feared way more when they have to go out in the rain only seeing a few meters wide and hearing basically not even their own voices without shouting. Rain can make something relatively mundane to a horror, because it obscures what the characters see. Rain can give a feeling of "even the land repels us". Or at a watch on the wall of a besieged city it can give a stronger feeling of despair and again obscure traces. Was the murder in the rany night a small grop of enemies sneaking into the town? Was it someone from within the city? Is the murderer still here? And on the other hand it can give hope if the rain stops.
I used rain and fog to foretell the area is being influenced by some evil, a vampire perhaps. My players picked up on crap the weather is unnaturally bad. Even if there is no vampire the tension goes up. 😂
Great stuff to use for sea travel and throw the boat off course right where you want them to go. It also gives mages incentive to take certain spells to provide shelter or to relieve exhaustion if they keep traveling. Leomunds Tiny Hut is a good example of a rarely taken spell that would be useful. And certain things can't be used in a storm like scrolls for instance.
I'd narrate to one of the more wilderness based characters (i.e ranger or barbarian) that they feel that the air is close and that they see storm clouds towards their direction of travel, then I'd say that their character suddenly notices the character is it clad in metal armour and weapons. Now you've got the risk of lightning hitting a character if they don't find shelter.
the alchemist giving them potions to help the party fight the duke is giving Miracle Max from The Princess Bride, and now i want to implement him in my next game. "why don't you gimme a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it? we're closed!"
I'm planning on using weather in my next few sessions. I've already used strong wind, which gave advantage on stealth rolls that rely on hearing, disadvantage on perception checks that depends on hearing, disadvantage on ranged attacks and +5 motion in the direction of the wind and -5 against the wind. I've got rain planned for another one and I'm planning the same for stealth/perception but also halving fire damage and doubling cold damage and adding freeze condition, plus a dex save versus tripping if anyone dashes. I've got another one planned around a thunder storm, with each round having a probability of a lightning strike against the highest/tallest creature in a random zone. It's unnatural/magical thunder induced by some praying acolytes of Talos.
In the first session of my campaign, the party was on their way to, "The Festival of Rains." It was a celebration before the rainy season, for casting to the players, it's going to be raining a lot for a while!
For the first time in my DMing career I have a group that doesnt have dark vision at all. None of them. They are currently in a thick forest at night with heavy down pours. They are basically blind atm. Hopefully the dice change the conditions before the owlbears kill them all.
I’m running Strength of Thousands for PF2e and it’s ALWAYS raining in Nantambu. This has given me a lot to think about. So simple but so elegantly put! Thanks for planting the seed 😊 subscribed!
I love using weather. In my homebrew, some races have an extraordinary ability to predict weather, and many races have a mechanical and thematic benefit in a particular type of weather, most commonly rain.
I would give rangers, sailors, farmers, some magic users, etc. enhanced weather prediction accuracy. BARDS NEVER GET WEATHER PREDICTING RIGHT! Weather in general gets a short shrift in RPGs (The wrong attire in a sudden downpour will show everyone where their outfits leak the worst)😀. I like to use weather (Fog, smog, Rain, Sunny 'Bird-Tweeting' weather, to set moods at the start of play. Also the weather is SEASONAL : 4 , small, simple D12 charts are on the back of my screen [this also is where I keep track of moon phases using a D8. waxing, waning crescents, half, gibbous, new and full] Players seem to LIKE knowing these things without asking, and a great way of setting the mood and making a LIVING World.
I often use rain as a way to build immersion when describing a town they're coming upon. People are lined up, wagons, etc... wanting to get through the gates. The rain may mask a smell about the town that becomes apparent again a little while after the rain has stopped. I haven't used rain as a mechanical challenge though, but I have a one-shot involving a flooding village and a fight with an aboleth I will be adding to the story now that you've inspired me to do so! Thanks for the video!
Using rain to encourage the party to speed up their travel is great. I can see using the effects of rain to make outdoor short rests and long rests less productive as well as creating more risk for that rooftop chase. Then there is that overall ambience that rain can create to heighten the dreary or claustrophobic mood of a suspense style game.
I've used rain to help both players and NPCs evade capture by washing away tracks. Not alot of visible footprints around when the heavens spill over. I've done the opposite with snow. Don't need to make checks following footprints in fresh snow.
you can build up rain in the mountains not even rain on the PCs themselves. So they can see the rain in the mountains but they are not feeling the rain... but when they get to the village in base of the hills a day or two later it is muddy the local ford to pass they have used before can not be used for the next two days. Generally this can be used to punish PCs that faff around in the town to long. Rain does not just effect where the PCs are but rolls across an area effecting things, Wagon travel is a little slower. If it has been raining for a week in a village the local low level monsters have built up as humanoids have not been out in the fields and merchants not on the road.. a week of no movement by the population and the wolves are closer to the village, that bear has started considering the sheep in the barn sound tasty.
@@theGMGuide thanks It can be used to put little side jobs on the notice board... or that the local constable is a bit shorter than normal as he is worried patrolling at night, and it is a throwaway sentence when the PCs hear it the first time, "as you set up camp for tonight you notice that there is lightening in the west over the mountains" but two days later when they get to the hills to north west the river level is higher, the bridge is still there but maybe swamped.(difficult terrain - fail and go for a swim) when they get the village the friendly NPC from last time is short and brisk with them as his crops have been washed out. when leaving town by the route they know and have been on before there has been a mudslide and the road is blocked, they can dig it out or have to find a new route... weather in the distance has knock on effects and PCs start paying attention to what they used to think were throw away lines.
Re the "destroying the bridge" thing. Maybe there isn't a bridge in the first place. Maybe the river is crossed with a ferry or ford. Both things that may no longer be possible when it carries too much water without having to destroy a "permanent" world fixture.
Wonderful video :3 such a lovely simple thing to take note of. I’m actually using it very soon in my next game as my players come to save a trapped spirit of the skies. In the depths of this temple they are locked away in, it still manages to rain in this space. I liked how it would add to the sober tones while also feeling refreshing in someways when the players come to the end of this dungeon (which only previously filled with lava). Now as they approach this being, and all they need to do is unshackle him, the players are met with the welcoming coolness of rain that will wash away their dried blood on their bodies and armour and given them a feeling of calm :3 Also- it’s a great excuse to play some Ghibli music with ambient rain sounds xD
Dexterity checks for holding a weapon just makes casters far more powerful as they don’t need to make those for their weapons, not to mention many weapons are made to not slip out of the users hand (aside from longbows and crossbows which cannot allow the string to get wet)
But what about dex checks to open you pouch, do you need to keep you components dry, do you have to use a spell focus, does it have to be held. Casters are given a lot of caveats for some reason, mostly because GMs allow long rests like it's going out of style. Martial classes last longer have more endurance when their are lots of combats and encounters. I think I will do a bonus video this week on this.
@@theGMGuide wow, didn’t expect a reply so thanks, as for components being dry I 100% agree they should be (aside from holy water), but casters don’t tend to block with their spell focus or holy symbols. Also in higher levels casters tend to be more durable than the martials because they can spend recourses to make them better (not to mention Moon Druid at level 20) i believe the channel Pack Tactics explains it better than I just did. But i am excited to see that bonus video. Thanks for the conversation.
@aidanhendricksen4832 you are 100 percent right. In my groups the melee tend to protect the casters and till stuff gets real.... REAL. Because in one engagement casters win, as they should. But after 7 casters are done.
I used rain once to make a flash flood, with a lot of foreshadowing. The players ended taking refuge in a cave where they saved a mystical dragon. Why ? Because the flood was a manifestation of the dragon, as the river was the incarnation of its body. Well, it was more complicated than that IIRC : the flood killed the PC. They then "re-start" the event, enter the cave, save the dragon from its curse/dying state, and are sent back to their timeline, where the rain stop, the flood does not happen and they can thus continue their journey.
Rainbows. So pretty, so innocent. The sun is rising/setting behind you, so it's either morning or late afternoon, and the sky is a bright red with dark clouds. It's raining in the direction of the rainbow (opposite the sun), so you're either walking into the rain or away from it. It's an easy way to foreshadow the coming rain. No pot o' gold, no unicorn - just a clue for the players to pick up on. Oh, yeah. Usually the more solid the rainbow, the heavier the rain; and the higher the rainbow reaches overhead, the closer it is to dunking you.
@@theGMGuide I hope everything turns out fine. Well, I think filming this type of content outside is a refreshing take, compared to the usual bookcase and poster background most content creators have.
if your players don't find cover due to rain, but you want to encourage them further, make it start hailing and have them take 1 or maybe (1d4) bludgeoning damage for every ten minutes they aren't under cover.
Seasons, remember in spring and fall thunderstorms pop up all the time. Tornados ravage parts of the country, hurricanes can be fealty for days, and in the past you may not know until it was too late. Maybe your magic society can predict it or something magical influences it. So many option for that.
@@theGMGuide yeah I've been looking into weather tables for a while now, and I've just been fine tuning when it's appropriate to roll for a new weather phenomenon. Something that makes it easier though is that I track time very strictly in my games. Year, month, day of the week, even the moon phase. I actually even invented names for days of the tenday in the Forgotten Realms. So figuring out the seasons is much easier.
@@theGMGuide sometimes the work we do as DMs is satisfying for its own sake; I think one way to avoid DM burnout is to not rely so much on the praise and recognition of your players. As long as I know they're having fun, I don't need my players to recognize and say thanks for every bit of work I put in.
I have my players take Con checks during long rests, to see if they get good sleep or exhausted from hard nights of rain without cover. No long rest, no reset skills and spells… big hinderance.
It would be awesome that in the rain some magic users would get some advantages. Like those that can cast lightning and or can bend water. Or water genasi/elementals, and sea folks.
Fatigue. Wearing wet armor is exhausting. The padded bits under all that metal soak up water, making it heavier. That wizard’s spellbook doesn’t like water. Those scrolls are impossible to read when they get wet. You can get hypothermia wearing wet clothing at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Wet rations mold. Blankets that have been soaked mold if they aren’t aired out to dry. That can cause sickness. Walking around dressed in a lot of metal in a thunderstorm can be fatal, because that will conduct electricity. A PC on a horse carrying a lance is a lightning rod. Yeah, rain can be fun to play with.
@@theGMGuide I started playing and DMing in the '80s. The PvE game has disappeared in recent editions, changing the nature of the game. That's where the Druid and the Ranger shined.
Well I know that guy also, but a ton of people slept on his couch over the years. But I hear he packed his stuff traveled the US for two years and now makes a ton of you tube video. Lol
I am currently running a game in Forbidden Lands. I use a random weather generator. For the last 3 days the party had thunderstorms. They make it back to the town of Two Rivers. The next roll is for a significant weather event. Welp, the are about to experience a tornado. With all the ran and flooding rivers, i am afraid that the tornado will cause their inn to collapse into the river! Get ready to survive being swept away in a flood.
Funny thing is.... it was kind of one of my players ideas. He mentioned that wouldn't it be funny if the tornado sucked us up and dumped is somewhere else LOL Players ideas are the best. @@theGMGuide
I don't 'use' rain or any other weather or natural phenomena or hazard. They occur in the game world on their own schedule and the PC's deal with it. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts. It all depends on the level of preparation and ability to problem solve. Sometimes a weather event can create a new set of opportunities for players to leverage.
What really made it click for me was I went to a renn fair in full get up and it POURED and I can’t speak for my armored friend but I was not having a good time 😂
Your material is great. I would recommend getting rid of the intro cinematic/music at the beginning of your video. Those fell out of style because creators noticed viewers lose focus if the video takes too long to get going
The combat enhancements at the start are pretty bad. Although it brings up a question I have been asking for a long time. Why do so many houserules favour casters over martials and dexterity over strength? I am not doubting this makes the game more realistic, but I am doubting realism rules make the game better.
@@theGMGuide If you can't see the enemies, they can't see you and casters can do other things than just attack. Ranged martials need to pass a dexterity check to not loose their weapon, casters don't. Melee martials need to pass two dexterity checks, one for getting into melee and one for not loosing their weapon, which they likely have to roll with a lower modifier. I see where you are coming from with this idea. Many, many ideas to make the game more fun by making it more realistic would have worked in older editions where player characters had half the spell slots and no cantrips. But all they do in 5th edition is penalize characters that are already struggling keeping up. Now limiting sight in a way that can't be pierced with darkvision is an idea I really like and will use in the future. The party needs to stick together and thing of ways to find, lure out and trap the enemy.
I like to use rain not only as an obstacle to consider for traveling (increasing the time to travel, making certain checks harder) but also as a set piece to drive home the shelter safe places bring. My players love coming in from a storm and drying off in front of a fireplace in a cozy tavern.
I love when parties respond to rain this way, its adds a sense of realism to a fantastic world.
Apart from mechanical effects, consider what rain reveals. The barbarian or monk stands stock still, strong in the deluge, where others shiver. An NPC's fey or druidic connections could be revealed by the way they react to rain. A superstitious character, or one who's uneasy about a confrontation, could jolt at the sound of thunder. Rain dims the scene and obscures details, but a flash of lightning can reveal a face, a glint of hidden armor under a tunic, or a symbol on clothing that exposes an NPC's true loyalties. This is why rain is a go-to tool for filmmakers. One of my favorites is the way a Fireball clears rain from its burst radius, and in the moment after the blast there's a brief quietening before the new rain hits the ground. Maybe not scientific, but very Rule of Cool.
Love it. Great additions.
One of my favorite scenarios involves rain. It's from a 3rd edition adventure called, "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night."
The adventure starts the characters in an area known for its bad thunderstorms. The communities in the area have developed a "Storm Truce." This states that while sheltering from a storm, you are not to attack someone else also sheltering from the storm as long as you declare, "Storm Truce."
I found it to be a great way to gather a group of characters that did not know each other at the start of the game.
I like that
This is cool. Imagine, taking shelter in a cave only to encounter an ogre, the Ogre gutterals out "Stoam Twuce!" And everyone shares a tense night waiting for the lightning to end...
@@tylerh2548 I like that idea
that"s 100% how i'm starting my next campaign ! thanks a lot
I have used rain before as a means to urge my players to get to shelter. I've also used it to wash out a road to keep them and the townsfolk trapped in a seaside village that was facing an invasion of fish men, which spurred the PCs into working with their nemesis to temporarily join forces in order to survive.
Spot on usage of rain... I love it. You will like next weeks video's on storms.
Weather is also a useful tool in challenging mid and high level characters! It's just above freezing and there's a steady drizzle for the 3rd day in a row. You can't solve that with a +10 attack bonus. Ambush monsters can punch above their weight when exhaustion and the other issues he mentioned (like visibility) benefit the monster side of the encounter!
Actually, you are spot on. The biggest threats to high-level parties can be non monsters, or even armies, political persuasion that makes the party bad etc.... I love this addition.
Favorite use of rain (not in D&D but CoC): It slowing down and even reversing in its fall to show extraordinary time phenomena.
I'm loving this more than I can express.
I use Druidcraft to remind me and the DM about Weather. As a DM, I roll weather to see how the players interact with it.
I love the idea of a random weather table, that adjusts based on current conditions. Love it
To paraphrase Rowdy Roddy Piper, just when your players think they have all the answers, you change the question.
I never though Rowdy Roddy Piper would have advice that I would apply to D&D..... your a better person than I for making that connections.
This message is Guild Master Guides approved. LoL :)
I would love to constantly remind my players of the rain. A critical fail causes a character to slip in a puddle, a villain with spiked armor has rain dripping off those spikes, a fireball turns the raindrops still in the air into steam; just little descriptions like that
That's really cool, I like the theatrical take on the rain, very fun.
You're also making the rain seem cool with this descriptions. Just reminded me of siege of Helm's Deep. :)
I have a weather table on Roll20 and I roll it every day. It gives wind, temp and precipitation. I've literally had the adventurers hit a storm and just stop traveling and wait out the storm for 2 days. Then everything was muddy in the region. I strongly recommend random weather rolls each day of overland travel. Really adds to the Exploration pillar.
I always loved weather tables, never used them, but I always loved the idea.
Oh we used it. Tempest cleric asked dm “is it raining?”
I cast call lighting
Totally true
How in the hell have I never thought of frickin' RAIN!? My absolute favorite kind of weather but I've never once thought of it for DnD.. I both hate myself and greatly appreciate you lol
No worries, now you can have fun with it. 😆🤔
I just got caught in a heavy rain while riding my motorcycle... Right on time! lol
Love it!
In my own campaign I employ a variety of homebrewed Conditions, and one of them is 'Miserable.' Whenever a character is subjected to a prolonged situation of discomfort or distress (e.g., not having eaten for more than 24 hours or being deprived of sleep for the same period, marching under a blistering sun or in the pouring rain for hours with no end in sight, etc.), a CON saving throw is called for. Failure means they gain the Miserable condition which lasts until the dismal situation is alleviated (i.e., you find food, shelter, etc.). The saving throw is repeated at an interval of the DM's choosing. (I usually do it every 6 hours after the first check, but an hourly check wouldn't go amiss if the state of affairs are truly terrible.)
MISERABLE
* A miserable creature has disadvantage on its Initiative rolls and Perception checks.
I like it, not sure I would use it.... but I still like it. 😄
@goyasolidar if you have the time, would you care to elaborate on some of your other homebrewed conditions? I like your take on misery, and would love to see some others and perhaps implement them in my games.
I use all forms of weather: rain, snow, sleet, fog, drought, heat waves, cold snaps, wind. All these in various intensities and spatial and temporal concentrations. Also natural (and unnatural) hazards. Flowing water floods, flash floods, rapids, waterfalls, dripping water, tides, etc. Avalanches, mudslides, landslides, rock falls, forest fires, volcanic eruptions and lava flows, ash falls. Glaciers, crevasses, etc. quicksand. Biological hazards including allergies. All this is in my game. I know what, when, where and why the weather and the hazards are and what the implications are before I start the session. These things are always factors in my game. They affect not only mobility and combat but magic as well.
I love seeing this. This is why I'm doing an entire series on weather and terrain.
Great ideas. I especially like the idea of difficult terrain and limited visibility. This will help contend with those Sharp shooter using ranged characters that can slay enemies from 300ft away.
I love the fact that you give your players a chance to do that. I see so many games where that distance isn't even given. Good on ya... But also good on ya for finding a way to limit it. :)
@theGMGuide Thanks! I love giving my players really powerful abilities and options. Then, finding a way to challenge those abilities. Not completely counter them because that feels vindictive, but rather limit its full potential so they feel challenged accordingly in each encounter. Then, let them really open up on other encounters.
Sometimes the Judge may want to run an indoor adventure! Ever see the film The Old Dark House with Boris Karloff? Rain can force a party indoors. Players can resist “railroading” if they want to-but there are a few things to consider: flash floods, landslides, lightning, widowmakers, disappearing trails, expanding fenlands, monster migrations, rusty gear, ruined spell components, spoiled rations, wet gunpowder, and weakened immune systems, to name only a few. I think I can gamify all those things, in which case a night out can prove just as eventful as a night in.
True.
The key is to be prepared for both situations so you don't end up either trying to force the players into the house/cave/ruin or end up running a poorly prepared mud-crawl.
Love your ideas for using rain as a storytelling device! Storytelling strategies are an aspect of DMing that doesn't get talked about enough.
One of my favorite subject. Love mechanics but how do we help the story along also.
I prefer to leave that part to the players. How they cope with the weather *is* the story.
I never really put much thought into the weather when I was DMing my campaign, but I could see my self home brewing lighting and ice spells/abilities being extra effective in the rain.
I have done similar in elemental themed games.
"Are you railroading us to that hut?"
"No! Not at all...I'm _rainroading_ you to that hut😏...it's totally different"
They always have the choice! I NEVER "make" a party do something, but I may whisper on a breeze what should happen.... lol 😆 🤔
I’ve used rain and storms out on the open sea where even a little storm can mean huge waves and heavy wind and peels of rain that all needed quick reactions to get sails tied up without being swept away into the sea. Very fun “encounter”
I can totally see that.
weather can provide tons of story arc opportunities. create multiple variations of a map tile or dynamic diorama (one that doesn't have every small piece fixed down, but can be changed in small (or big ways). One thing that is SURE to get a reaction out of your players, is, as you described....a bridge being GONE after your players used it to get to a place (hoping to return the same way).
😎
I like this topic. Watching your video made me want to make/find a few set encounters that are weather related to go with my
Weather Table (depending on the season): 1)storm, 2)rain/snow, 3)fog/mist, 4)cloudy, 5)windy/cold, 6)clear/hot, 7-8)stays the same.
Different "storms" if they roll a 1: earthquake, tornado, thunderstorm w/lightning, or white-out snow storm.
That actually sounds fun
I mostly used rain for the atmosphere. For a group normally taking a werewolf the wearewolf is feared way more when they have to go out in the rain only seeing a few meters wide and hearing basically not even their own voices without shouting.
Rain can make something relatively mundane to a horror, because it obscures what the characters see.
Rain can give a feeling of "even the land repels us".
Or at a watch on the wall of a besieged city it can give a stronger feeling of despair and again obscure traces. Was the murder in the rany night a small grop of enemies sneaking into the town? Was it someone from within the city? Is the murderer still here?
And on the other hand it can give hope if the rain stops.
I like the idea of the rain stopping and opening up opportunities for the party to take advantage of.
I used rain and fog to foretell the area is being influenced by some evil, a vampire perhaps. My players picked up on crap the weather is unnaturally bad. Even if there is no vampire the tension goes up. 😂
Fair!
Great stuff to use for sea travel and throw the boat off course right where you want them to go.
It also gives mages incentive to take certain spells to provide shelter or to relieve exhaustion if they keep traveling. Leomunds Tiny Hut is a good example of a rarely taken spell that would be useful.
And certain things can't be used in a storm like scrolls for instance.
Absolutely my thoughts also
I'd narrate to one of the more wilderness based characters (i.e ranger or barbarian) that they feel that the air is close and that they see storm clouds towards their direction of travel, then I'd say that their character suddenly notices the character is it clad in metal armour and weapons. Now you've got the risk of lightning hitting a character if they don't find shelter.
I really like this.
Being British I always do a weather check for every day. It adds to the atmosphere of the experience.
Fair, every place has its own unique weather, no make it influenced by magic and gods and it can just get weird
the alchemist giving them potions to help the party fight the duke is giving Miracle Max from The Princess Bride, and now i want to implement him in my next game.
"why don't you gimme a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it? we're closed!"
Lol.... I love it.
I'm planning on using weather in my next few sessions. I've already used strong wind, which gave advantage on stealth rolls that rely on hearing, disadvantage on perception checks that depends on hearing, disadvantage on ranged attacks and +5 motion in the direction of the wind and -5 against the wind.
I've got rain planned for another one and I'm planning the same for stealth/perception but also halving fire damage and doubling cold damage and adding freeze condition, plus a dex save versus tripping if anyone dashes.
I've got another one planned around a thunder storm, with each round having a probability of a lightning strike against the highest/tallest creature in a random zone. It's unnatural/magical thunder induced by some praying acolytes of Talos.
I like the idea of a freeze condition during a rain storm... also shape water can be really cool during a rain storm.
In the first session of my campaign, the party was on their way to, "The Festival of Rains." It was a celebration before the rainy season, for casting to the players, it's going to be raining a lot for a while!
Nice, I like that!
For the first time in my DMing career I have a group that doesnt have dark vision at all. None of them. They are currently in a thick forest at night with heavy down pours. They are basically blind atm. Hopefully the dice change the conditions before the owlbears kill them all.
This is where i will encourage tactics to help. Or give them cover, their are lots of things you can do that are not deus ex machina.
I’m running Strength of Thousands for PF2e and it’s ALWAYS raining in Nantambu. This has given me a lot to think about. So simple but so elegantly put! Thanks for planting the seed 😊 subscribed!
Glad to help, rain can really change things up.
I love using weather. In my homebrew, some races have an extraordinary ability to predict weather, and many races have a mechanical and thematic benefit in a particular type of weather, most commonly rain.
That's really cool, I like that a lot.
I would give rangers, sailors, farmers, some magic users, etc. enhanced weather prediction accuracy. BARDS NEVER GET WEATHER PREDICTING RIGHT! Weather in general gets a short shrift in RPGs (The wrong attire in a sudden downpour will show everyone where their outfits leak the worst)😀.
I like to use weather (Fog, smog, Rain, Sunny 'Bird-Tweeting' weather, to set moods at the start of play. Also the weather is SEASONAL : 4 , small, simple D12 charts are on the back of my screen [this also is where I keep track of moon phases using a D8. waxing, waning crescents, half, gibbous, new and full]
Players seem to LIKE knowing these things without asking, and a great way of setting the mood and making a LIVING World.
Great call outs.
I often use rain as a way to build immersion when describing a town they're coming upon. People are lined up, wagons, etc... wanting to get through the gates. The rain may mask a smell about the town that becomes apparent again a little while after the rain has stopped.
I haven't used rain as a mechanical challenge though, but I have a one-shot involving a flooding village and a fight with an aboleth I will be adding to the story now that you've inspired me to do so!
Thanks for the video!
Absolutely
Using rain to encourage the party to speed up their travel is great. I can see using the effects of rain to make outdoor short rests and long rests less productive as well as creating more risk for that rooftop chase. Then there is that overall ambience that rain can create to heighten the dreary or claustrophobic mood of a suspense style game.
Absolutly. When do you push the party?
I've used rain to help both players and NPCs evade capture by washing away tracks. Not alot of visible footprints around when the heavens spill over.
I've done the opposite with snow. Don't need to make checks following footprints in fresh snow.
💯. I called that out in my snow video. Sometimes I want you t93 know.... lol
you can build up rain in the mountains not even rain on the PCs themselves. So they can see the rain in the mountains but they are not feeling the rain... but when they get to the village in base of the hills a day or two later it is muddy the local ford to pass they have used before can not be used for the next two days. Generally this can be used to punish PCs that faff around in the town to long. Rain does not just effect where the PCs are but rolls across an area effecting things, Wagon travel is a little slower. If it has been raining for a week in a village the local low level monsters have built up as humanoids have not been out in the fields and merchants not on the road.. a week of no movement by the population and the wolves are closer to the village, that bear has started considering the sheep in the barn sound tasty.
I like the idea a lot, and a great way to use rain. Great addition, thanks for the add on.
@@theGMGuide thanks
It can be used to put little side jobs on the notice board... or that the local constable is a bit shorter than normal as he is worried patrolling at night, and it is a throwaway sentence when the PCs hear it the first time, "as you set up camp for tonight you notice that there is lightening in the west over the mountains" but two days later when they get to the hills to north west the river level is higher, the bridge is still there but maybe swamped.(difficult terrain - fail and go for a swim) when they get the village the friendly NPC from last time is short and brisk with them as his crops have been washed out. when leaving town by the route they know and have been on before there has been a mudslide and the road is blocked, they can dig it out or have to find a new route... weather in the distance has knock on effects and PCs start paying attention to what they used to think were throw away lines.
Re the "destroying the bridge" thing. Maybe there isn't a bridge in the first place. Maybe the river is crossed with a ferry or ford. Both things that may no longer be possible when it carries too much water without having to destroy a "permanent" world fixture.
I love that. Especially for larger rivers.
Wonderful video :3 such a lovely simple thing to take note of.
I’m actually using it very soon in my next game as my players come to save a trapped spirit of the skies. In the depths of this temple they are locked away in, it still manages to rain in this space. I liked how it would add to the sober tones while also feeling refreshing in someways when the players come to the end of this dungeon (which only previously filled with lava).
Now as they approach this being, and all they need to do is unshackle him, the players are met with the welcoming coolness of rain that will wash away their dried blood on their bodies and armour and given them a feeling of calm :3
Also- it’s a great excuse to play some Ghibli music with ambient rain sounds xD
A cleansing rain that doesn't leave them soacked and soggy, "what is this magic".
Magical Fantasy rain could be a lot of fun.
Haha I personally love rain :P maybe we'll go for an aesthetically pleasing kind of "ghibli tears" kinda rain xD@@theGMGuide
@@TheUglyGoblin nice
Great advice. My current campaign is about to get wet.
🤔😀
Dexterity checks for holding a weapon just makes casters far more powerful as they don’t need to make those for their weapons, not to mention many weapons are made to not slip out of the users hand (aside from longbows and crossbows which cannot allow the string to get wet)
But what about dex checks to open you pouch, do you need to keep you components dry, do you have to use a spell focus, does it have to be held.
Casters are given a lot of caveats for some reason, mostly because GMs allow long rests like it's going out of style. Martial classes last longer have more endurance when their are lots of combats and encounters.
I think I will do a bonus video this week on this.
@@theGMGuide wow, didn’t expect a reply so thanks, as for components being dry I 100% agree they should be (aside from holy water), but casters don’t tend to block with their spell focus or holy symbols. Also in higher levels casters tend to be more durable than the martials because they can spend recourses to make them better (not to mention Moon Druid at level 20) i believe the channel Pack Tactics explains it better than I just did. But i am excited to see that bonus video. Thanks for the conversation.
@aidanhendricksen4832 you are 100 percent right. In my groups the melee tend to protect the casters and till stuff gets real.... REAL. Because in one engagement casters win, as they should. But after 7 casters are done.
I used rain once to make a flash flood, with a lot of foreshadowing. The players ended taking refuge in a cave where they saved a mystical dragon. Why ? Because the flood was a manifestation of the dragon, as the river was the incarnation of its body.
Well, it was more complicated than that IIRC : the flood killed the PC. They then "re-start" the event, enter the cave, save the dragon from its curse/dying state, and are sent back to their timeline, where the rain stop, the flood does not happen and they can thus continue their journey.
That's pretty awesome. I like it.
I love the rain it makes the suck, suck for everyone. It changes footing, makes it harder to detect it saps energy etc...
Right there with ya on that one!!!!
Rainbows. So pretty, so innocent. The sun is rising/setting behind you, so it's either morning or late afternoon, and the sky is a bright red with dark clouds. It's raining in the direction of the rainbow (opposite the sun), so you're either walking into the rain or away from it. It's an easy way to foreshadow the coming rain. No pot o' gold, no unicorn - just a clue for the players to pick up on.
Oh, yeah. Usually the more solid the rainbow, the heavier the rain; and the higher the rainbow reaches overhead, the closer it is to dunking you.
I really like this
This is great, thank you!!!
Really interesting!
Storm, Rain, Hail, Tornados and also oppressive heat and humidity are interesting.
Storms are next week!
Love that you're filming this outdoors; somehow helps drive the point home
I wish I could say that was intentional. There is a history of me shooting outside.
@@theGMGuide I hope everything turns out fine. Well, I think filming this type of content outside is a refreshing take, compared to the usual bookcase and poster background most content creators have.
@Buzzerker_1775 technically I'm the wandering DM. I traveled the country in an RV for the last 2 years. Now I like shooting outside
@@theGMGuide now that's something I've always wanted to do
@@Buzzerker_1775 it was fun and stressful all at the same time.
Just made me realize that in the 5 years my group has been playing not once has it ever rained.
That's funny. What a lovely sunny place. 🌞
Great video. The focus on what this delivers to the players in both interest & enjoyment is appreciated. c:
Glad you enjoyed! I will try my best to keep it coming that way.
It hides my tears when I roll a 1
Ok.... I looked down at my phone and about spit out the rum cake I was shoveling in my face.
if your players don't find cover due to rain, but you want to encourage them further, make it start hailing and have them take 1 or maybe (1d4) bludgeoning damage for every ten minutes they aren't under cover.
Imagine fantasy based hail, with roofs that have magical coverings to protect them.
The tricky thing for me is having different weather patterns change in a way that feels believable.
Seasons, remember in spring and fall thunderstorms pop up all the time. Tornados ravage parts of the country, hurricanes can be fealty for days, and in the past you may not know until it was too late. Maybe your magic society can predict it or something magical influences it. So many option for that.
@@theGMGuide yeah I've been looking into weather tables for a while now, and I've just been fine tuning when it's appropriate to roll for a new weather phenomenon. Something that makes it easier though is that I track time very strictly in my games. Year, month, day of the week, even the moon phase. I actually even invented names for days of the tenday in the Forgotten Realms. So figuring out the seasons is much easier.
@ArvelDreth I do the same, oddly enough never bring it up until it matters to my players but ots satisfying to me
@@theGMGuide sometimes the work we do as DMs is satisfying for its own sake; I think one way to avoid DM burnout is to not rely so much on the praise and recognition of your players. As long as I know they're having fun, I don't need my players to recognize and say thanks for every bit of work I put in.
@@ArvelDreth well said
I tend to overuse rain. 😂I feel like every encounter is better with rain. However it’s not good to overuse it.
Yes... yes... just yes!
I have my players take Con checks during long rests, to see if they get good sleep or exhausted from hard nights of rain without cover. No long rest, no reset skills and spells… big hinderance.
I can see that.
I never even thought of this!
Steel it, use it, have fun.
@@theGMGuide sure will!
@@GobblinRPGMusic 😄
It would be awesome that in the rain some magic users would get some advantages. Like those that can cast lightning and or can bend water. Or water genasi/elementals, and sea folks.
Shape water in a rain storm....... freeze 5 cubic foot of rain or flood water
Fatigue. Wearing wet armor is exhausting. The padded bits under all that metal soak up water, making it heavier.
That wizard’s spellbook doesn’t like water. Those scrolls are impossible to read when they get wet.
You can get hypothermia wearing wet clothing at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Wet rations mold. Blankets that have been soaked mold if they aren’t aired out to dry. That can cause sickness.
Walking around dressed in a lot of metal in a thunderstorm can be fatal, because that will conduct electricity. A PC on a horse carrying a lance is a lightning rod.
Yeah, rain can be fun to play with.
That was a great list!
Useful ideas! Thanks! :D
@@theGMGuide I started playing and DMing in the '80s. The PvE game has disappeared in recent editions, changing the nature of the game. That's where the Druid and the Ranger shined.
@@almitrahopkins1873 I think it changed to being more rp heavy, but pve can be fun when it also evolves problem solving.
@@Stefannice Use them as you wish. I didn't come up with a single one of them. These are all things other DMs taught me.
So what you are saying is when you want to up the challenge for your players, you simply... blame it on the rain...*puts on sunglasses*
Yeah.... ok.... your not wrong.
You look scarily like this dude I roomed with back in Lawrence, KS. He was used car salesman back then. Wonder what he's up to now...
Well I know that guy also, but a ton of people slept on his couch over the years. But I hear he packed his stuff traveled the US for two years and now makes a ton of you tube video. Lol
I am currently running a game in Forbidden Lands. I use a random weather generator. For the last 3 days the party had thunderstorms. They make it back to the town of Two Rivers. The next roll is for a significant weather event. Welp, the are about to experience a tornado. With all the ran and flooding rivers, i am afraid that the tornado will cause their inn to collapse into the river! Get ready to survive being swept away in a flood.
I'm not that harsh, but as long as the players are having fun.
Funny thing is.... it was kind of one of my players ideas. He mentioned that wouldn't it be funny if the tornado sucked us up and dumped is somewhere else LOL Players ideas are the best.
@@theGMGuide
@@Rick-tt5hi usually are. Lol
I don't 'use' rain or any other weather or natural phenomena or hazard. They occur in the game world on their own schedule and the PC's deal with it. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts. It all depends on the level of preparation and ability to problem solve. Sometimes a weather event can create a new set of opportunities for players to leverage.
You use weather. Just in your own way, which is awesome!
"Red rain is coming down, red rain..."
🤔
Sounds like a good way to f@#$ with a gunslinger player.
Yes. When done sparingly, and not completely negating their abilities it can fun.
What really made it click for me was I went to a renn fair in full get up and it POURED and I can’t speak for my armored friend but I was not having a good time 😂
That would do it
Your material is great. I would recommend getting rid of the intro cinematic/music at the beginning of your video. Those fell out of style because creators noticed viewers lose focus if the video takes too long to get going
Lol.... literally on Fridays video, the intro is now 4 seconds. In an interesting fact, my drop-off isn't during the intro.
you guys aren't using a full weather simulation to determine conditions at all times?
This comment made my day... will you please share your weather simulation so I can go down that rabbit hole.
@@theGMGuide You'll need to code one yourself to suit your own setting's laws of physics, of course.
@@mnmnrt lol
If it's an earth like planet, of course, you can start with a barotropic model and build from there. I found FORTRAN to be pretty good for this.
The combat enhancements at the start are pretty bad. Although it brings up a question I have been asking for a long time. Why do so many houserules favour casters over martials and dexterity over strength?
I am not doubting this makes the game more realistic, but I am doubting realism rules make the game better.
Those things affect casters also. Can't see it can't cast on it. Spells still use ranged attacks dynamics.
@@theGMGuide If you can't see the enemies, they can't see you and casters can do other things than just attack.
Ranged martials need to pass a dexterity check to not loose their weapon, casters don't.
Melee martials need to pass two dexterity checks, one for getting into melee and one for not loosing their weapon, which they likely have to roll with a lower modifier.
I see where you are coming from with this idea. Many, many ideas to make the game more fun by making it more realistic would have worked in older editions where player characters had half the spell slots and no cantrips. But all they do in 5th edition is penalize characters that are already struggling keeping up.
Now limiting sight in a way that can't be pierced with darkvision is an idea I really like and will use in the future. The party needs to stick together and thing of ways to find, lure out and trap the enemy.
I
Dont think
I have had
Rain in dnd…
And so the rain comes.....
@@theGMGuide now i want it lol ☺️