Feb. 19, 2024

Befriending Goblins and Baking Pies: Leveling Up Our Characters and Baking Skills

Befriending Goblins and Baking Pies: Leveling Up Our Characters and Baking Skills

Ever wonder what it's like to befriend goblins and wolves while navigating the treacherous twists and turns of a D&D campaign? Grab your dice and join Catherine, Fable, and me as we share the thrills of our latest Legends Loot Lore saga, from the comical notions of paying our eclectic band of creature recruits to the gripping rescue of Sildar. We even give you a sneak peek at our next gastronomic creation, a Heartlands Roseapple and Blackberry Pie straight from the Heroes Feast Cookbook that's sure to make your mouth water.

Catherine leaps into the fray with a deep dive into the Monk class, where we show you how to turn your character into a whirlwind of martial artistry and quick thinking. Picture the quick reflexes of a pop culture icon as we break down the ins and outs of features like Patient Defense and Step of the Wind. You'll leave this episode ready to weave these Monk maneuvers into your next game night, adding a punch of strategy and a dash of flair into the mix.

And as we gear up for our culinary caper, we swap our swords for spatulas, discussing the quirky charm of homebrew campaigns versus the structured storytelling of modules with Fable. From the madcap brawls with celebrity wrestlers to the creative joys of world-building, we uncover how our D&D adventures fuel our real-world creativity. So, whether you're a seasoned adventurer or a curious newcomer, prepare for a delicious slice of role-playing fun and a side of unexpected pairings, like cheddar cheese and apple pie!

Support the show

1. Visit our website! www.legendslootandlore.com
2. Support the Podcast! Help us do what we love and bring you more great D&D content. legendslootandlore.supercast.com
3. Follow us on social!
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
4. Join our Discord Server!

Music by June Westfield
Apple Music
Spotify

Logo design by Ryan Denora
https://www.ryandenora.com/

Chapters

01:12 - Leveling Up and Adventures in D&D

12:53 - Monk Class Abilities Summary

28:33 - Homebrew D&D Character Development Discussion

37:34 - Homebrew vs. Standard D&D Modules

Transcript
Andrew:

Hello and welcome back everybody to Legends Loot Lore another fun and exciting episode. I am so thrilled today to be here with my lifelong companion as we journey down the road of life together.

Catherine:

Your long-suffering companion Wow.

Andrew:

Fair, my wife Katherine, hello, hello.

Catherine:

And again, there will be no rock-none voices today. No rock-none.

Andrew:

So Katherine and I are both under the weather, trying to try to put out a podcast episode this week, so we're going to see how we do. Also, joining us today is Fable. Hi. Fable's busy trying to find their friends.

Fable:

I found them. Okay, they're giving me talking points.

Andrew:

Oh, excellent, yes, so we're going to talk about a couple fun things today. So last week was the second session for our actual play. So quick recap. The party went up to the Cragmaw Cave, the Cragmaw hideout, where all the other goblins were hiding. They had Vincent with them. They, zanros' character, did her best to recruit goblins to work at the B&B. She was very successful in getting up to six of them beyond Vincent, so it was Vincent plus six.

Catherine:

Plus two wolves.

Andrew:

Plus two.

Catherine:

Seven goblins and two wolves and two wolves, which is excellent.

Andrew:

So seven goblins and two wolves in her employ. She hasn't quite. I don't know if she's paid them yet anything. No, so I want to see when they get antsy. They may get. They may get a little antsy and start looking for pay if they're following you around and not doing anything.

Catherine:

Have they done any work yet?

Andrew:

Yeah, but they're not getting. They're not getting paid because they were looting and plundering people on the tri-bore trail.

Catherine:

Uh-huh.

Andrew:

And now, now they're just following you around for some promise of-.

Catherine:

They're getting fed.

Andrew:

Are they?

Catherine:

I'll feed them.

Andrew:

You feed them, yeah, and what are we? Well, what are we gonna? What's speaking of feeding? That's the other thing we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about the next recipe that we're making.

Catherine:

Oh yeah.

Andrew:

Out of the Heroes Feast Cookbook. Do tell Zanros I won't say Zanros, catherine. So because you're not going to do Zanros' voice.

Catherine:

So I don't think I can, catherine, I wonder if I can. Should I try it? No, don't I?

Andrew:

kind of want to try. Now, you're gonna, you're gonna burst into a coughing fit.

Catherine:

I probably will, but I'm gonna try. Yes, you try it.

Fable:

Oh God wait, I don't think I can do it either.

Catherine:

Let me try it Heartlands, roseapple and Blackberry Pie.

Andrew:

All right, so we are, oh my God, so we are gonna, we're gonna, I, I, like I said, I briefly wanted to talk about what happened last week. So so you, you cleared out the caves. Yep, you, you defeated Clark Griswold, the bugbear leader of the the Cragmaw goblins.

Catherine:

Yeah, who should have just come to work for me?

Andrew:

He really should have, but he was, he was, he was beholden to King Dave Grohl. Yeah, and someone named the spider. Yes, so you heard this. You heard somebody named the called, who's being called the spider Right, which we don't know much about, this mysterious spider yet.

Catherine:

I think we can assume that, and I'm not gonna be able to think of his name.

Andrew:

What's that?

Catherine:

Gundren.

Andrew:

Gundren Rockseeker.

Catherine:

I'm pretty sure spider has him because we found the other guy.

Andrew:

You found Sildar, you rescued Sildar?

Fable:

Oh yeah, I was like tortured and half dead.

Andrew:

Yes, Not all dead, though, just mostly dead, mostly dead.

Fable:

That's what I did right down, the one thing I did right down. My notes are very interesting.

Andrew:

Interesting.

Fable:

Killed. Manager Clark tortured. Looking for a map. Mutter spider, that's all I. That's all I got.

Andrew:

Interesting.

Catherine:

Yeah, so Sildar muttered spider, which means oh, I think Gundren's was spider being taken to. King Dave Grohl.

Andrew:

What? Who's in charge there's? There's like is is is is in charge. I wrote down. I want Charles in charge of me. I bet you do. That sounds wait.

Fable:

Yeah, I wrote down investigating human wizard, a part of Lord's Alliance, and I'm pretty sure I spelled this phonetically. So Ayrindos is his name, I'm not that's oh, yeah, there's somebody else.

Andrew:

I'd have to look up in my notes. But yeah, there there is somebody else Sildar. Sildar was going to go to Fan Dale and to look for somebody else, and I think that's who you're referring to there.

Fable:

Probably my notes are.

Catherine:

Shit Was he going there when he met up with Gundren.

Andrew:

I think, I think they were both on their way to Fan Dale and they kind of teamed up together because, because Gundren wanted A team up. It's a team up. I, I think they, I think Gundren, wanted to help getting there some protection on the way, and so I think Sildar just kind of accompanied him on the way, and Sildar had his own reasons for heading to Fan Dale and, but unbeknownst to Gundren, but unbeknownst to us, so so there's that. So and oh, there was the, there was the rushing water, remember. They released the, the extra water, and and Dal got washed away but fortunately passed, passed her strength save and didn't get completely washed out of the cave. So that was good. And and what else? You got a bunch of. You're going to take all the supplies, because there was a bunch of leftover supplies that they had looted from travelers. So you're going to bring those back. And I think that guy was going to get you 50 gold.

Catherine:

Yes.

Andrew:

Because you were. You were bringing those back to one place and I think Sildar said he was going to give you 50 gold for transporting, for getting him safely to Fan Dale.

Catherine:

So it was a hundred gold plus the 10 that we were getting.

Fable:

Supplies to loot. You get 50 gold pieces and I wrote down all the treasure we got because I had my priority straight right. Which is inside 1,700 copper pieces. So we got 566 each two left, which we gave to Vincent. 150 silver pieces, 50 each. Two potions of healing Jade statue with golden eyes worth 40 pieces.

Catherine:

Yeah, Now I don't know. I thought it was just 50 when we got there, but I don't remember Sildar saying he was going to pay us 50. I think.

Andrew:

I think Sildar said he would, he would, he would pay you $50, $50, 50 gold pieces to somebody give me $50. Yes.

Catherine:

Awesome.

Andrew:

Sildar will give you 50 gold to to transport him safely to.

Catherine:

Fan Dale.

Andrew:

That works All right. So that was kind of the the backstory. So you've got Sildar, you've got I think you were. You were heading back to your wagon, that was. That was that you had hidden on the tri-bore trail and we're getting ready to go the rest of the way to Fan Dale and, if I recall correctly, yes. Yeah, so. So that's the recap of last week. The brief, the brief history of time. We're also going to talk about what's sticking out of the I saved the page. Oh, okay, I don't know what it is, though. So we're going to talk about leveling up your characters. Yes, we are level two now because, yes, you are, you are now level two, so we'll talk about that and we're also going to talk about because this is, this is now, so we're, we're, we're two sessions into this. So this is really Fable's first exposure to a kind of pre-made A book campaign. A book campaign, yes, a D&D module actually written for D&D. You, you have played, have played for years in a single campaign.

Fable:

We started it. Wait, didn't I just tell you what? We started it? Where was it?

Andrew:

2020. It was June of 2020. No, 2022. 2022.

Fable:

June of 2022. And we've been playing the same campaign ever since and it's been entirely homebrew and it has brought up some unique challenges and also it's so different.

Andrew:

Yes, so we will. We will talk about that as well. All right, so let's talk about leveling up your character. Yes, so up next to your name and D&D. So we're doing this all in D&D Beyond. Yeah, so up next to your name. See where it says manage.

Catherine:

Yep.

Andrew:

So go to manage Yep and then under that my character, you see manage character and levels.

Catherine:

I see, okay, oh, so I can change it to level one.

Andrew:

No, no, you want to be level two. Okay, because you already picked these things, yes, so let's talk about it and see. It tells you at what level you got different things.

Catherine:

Okay, so like I got key and unarmored movement at second level.

Andrew:

Yes, so you got the ability to use key. So, starting at second level, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of key. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of key points. Your monk level determines the number of points you have and there's a whole monk table that that shows you based on what level, how many I have to. So you have two key points at the moment. Yes, now this is where you can spend the key points on. You start with three features Yep. Flurry of blows yeah, known to others as fury of blows, only Mike. Patient defense, yep. And step of the wind Right, you get. You get more abilities as you level up. Um, when you spend a key point, this is the nice thing you get key points after a short or long rest.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Andrew:

Cause you must spend at least 30 minutes of the rest meditating to regain your key points. So you don't have to, you don't have to always have a long rest to get these back, which is really nice. So you can have. You can have as little as one hour to to regain your, your key points.

Fable:

That is really good yeah.

Andrew:

Short rests. Certain, getting certain abilities back at a short rest is really helpful. So what is you want to talk about the? The three features flurry of blows, short defense and step of the wind yeah, so flurry of blows immediately after you take the attack action on your turn.

Catherine:

you can spend one key point to make two unarmed straight Strike, two unarmed strikes as a bonus action, a patient defense. You can spend one key point to take the dodge action as a bonus action on your turn and step of the wind. You can spend one key point to take the disengage or dash action as a bonus action on your turn and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Andrew:

So what does all that mean? So let's talk about flurry of blows first. So this one, this one's really nice because it gets you. So after you take an attack action, you can take two more unarmed strikes as a bonus action. Now I think I think you already get. You already got like one because you're unarmored. Yeah, I think you already got one bone. You could use one unarmored. Keep saying unarmed, unarmed attack. You make one unarmed attack as a bonus, but this gives you two unarmed strikes after your main attack, which is really nice. So basically, three attacks on your turn, which is really really good. I mean, they're only unarmed, so it's not. It's not a huge amount of damage, but it's extra damage that you couldn't do normally.

Catherine:

And it's only if I want to use key points. Right, right, yeah.

Andrew:

Exactly Now. Patient defense is a nice one because you can use dodge as a bonus action.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Andrew:

Which is really helpful. So you don't have to use your main action. You can attack and then use dodge as the bonus. So you don't, because dodge would normally be your, your action for a turn. So you can use that as a bonus after you make an attack.

Catherine:

So what am I doing? Dodging one of the bad guys?

Andrew:

Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. You can dodge out of the way. Why must I test you?

Catherine:

Do I have to take that action during my turn, or is it on like the opponent's turn?

Andrew:

No, that's, that's your bonus action.

Catherine:

So what's the point of it? You see what I'm saying. If nobody's doing anything to me right now, why do I want to dodge?

Andrew:

Well, I think that's a really good question. Let me look up dodge. So dodge when you take the dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks until the start of your next turn. This is the benefit to dodge Any attack roll made against you has disadvantage. So you take the dodge on your turn, but until your next turn, anything, any attack against you has disadvantage If you can see the attacker and you make dexterity saving throws with advantage.

Catherine:

Okay, I feel like I'm never going to use that. That's a good one, though.

Andrew:

Really, absolutely, if you're, if you're in the heat of battle and you use dodge means anybody that tries to make an attack on you, until your next turn. They have a disadvantage, so the likelihood that they're going to hit you is that much less Lower.

Fable:

Yeah, That'd be good if you were in like the middle of a right, right with my whole 12 hit points.

Andrew:

But you're, you're a melee fighter. You're, you're in them, in the heat of battle. You're, you're in the midst of.

Fable:

Yeah, that would actually be good, because imagine you're in a group of people and they're all going to want to come at you, but now they have like stuffed animals on them. Like it's a bit harder to get a good blow in. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Or if they're all drunk, I don't know.

Andrew:

Well, just means it means well, because imagine, imagine Neo in the matrix. Right, you know when he, when he does his little lean back, that's what you're, you're dodging those attacks. Yeah, so because you can move faster than the bullets, they have disadvantage on you, right, right, that would. That would be the the benefit to that.

Catherine:

That's cool then.

Andrew:

And then, last but not least, step of the wind. This is a great one, because? So the dash action.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Andrew:

The dash action would be your, your action. What that does is that it means it doubles your, your movement speed. Okay, so I think you're what? 25 feet, I don't, if I recall correctly, because it because you're small. So I think you're, I am small, yeah.

Catherine:

It is 25.

Andrew:

Yeah, you only have 25 feet movement, so you could dash and move 50 feet Right and then you could dash action. That would have been your turn. You couldn't attack after making that dash action Got it. So here you can use the dash action as a bonus action, right, and still be able to attack, so you could. So if somebody were far away you could go running up at them really fast, right, and then still attack them instead of running, wack the crap out of them. Yeah, instead of you running up to them, yeah, and then they get a free hit at you because you can't attack them, right, so you get? You get the best of both worlds with that.

Catherine:

Okay, cool. So that's Miley Cyrus of you.

Andrew:

Yeah, and then you Wow.

Catherine:

Fables good Be the eyes.

Fable:

Do you get the?

Catherine:

reference.

Fable:

Possibly.

Catherine:

It's Hannah Montana.

Fable:

Yeah.

Catherine:

I know Hannah Montana Get the best of both worlds.

Andrew:

That's right. Sorry, makes me think of clerks. Um, the other thing you get at second level is unarmored movement. Yes, so starting at second level, this is a good one. Your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. The bonus increases when you reach certain monk levels, as shown on the monk tables.

Catherine:

So does that mean, my speed is always 35 feet now?

Andrew:

Yes, oh, cool, as long as you don't have armor or have a shield Right, you're up to 35 feet now, cool, so that's great for a small character.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Andrew:

So that means with unarmored movement and step of the wind, you can actually go 70 feet on a turn. Cool, and remember that's also your jumping distance is doubled for your turn, so you could leap over tall buildings.

Fable:

I'm like a tigger, a single. He just got so much better.

Andrew:

That's true, oh yeah, we didn't talk about the floor routine.

Fable:

We didn't talk about the floor routine, and we should talk about the floor routine.

Andrew:

So let's talk about the floor routine.

Catherine:

I just want to sing the tigger song now, so I'm no good.

Andrew:

Sing the tigger song. No, I'm not going to oh okay, what's in my head, god, that's what's in your head, yes, so talk about your floor routine. You have you have Advantage or no, or proficiency in acrobatics yes, so we're creating a floor routine.

Catherine:

We like to dance, that's excellent.

Andrew:

Is this going to be like dinner and a show at the at the BNB?

Catherine:

Oh yeah, we could totally do that.

Andrew:

You're like I'm going to put on a show for you people.

Catherine:

That's like the uh. Okay, so Gordon Ramsay, yes, hotel Hell, yes, the best Gordon Ramsay show. Well, I got canceled. I will never know. He went to one place where the lady just insisted who owned the? Who owned the hotel insisted on performing in the restaurant. She was very bad but thought she sounded just like Cher. Oh, and that's Zan Rose now.

Andrew:

Zan Rose is going to put on a little show Excellent.

Catherine:

And then D and D Gordon Ramsay is going to come along and Well, there's D and D Guy Fieri in our home group campaign.

Fable:

He's a dragon born Nice.

Catherine:

Does he have flames on his shirt?

Fable:

I think you know.

Andrew:

Does he come from flavor town? Yes, Awesome.

Catherine:

All right, I've seen Guy Fieri in the flesh.

Fable:

Oh, my God really.

Catherine:

Yes, he looks exactly like Guy Fieri, like he looks exactly like you expect him to look. Yes, he was eating dinner in a restaurant where I was having dinner with a couple of friends and we all took turns going to the bathroom so we could walk past his table and get a look at him.

Andrew:

Very nice.

Catherine:

Very nice.

Andrew:

All right, so those are. Those are the two things you got. Yes, so we also have to talk about your hit points. I got two more you have two more hit points. Did you roll it?

Catherine:

Is that what you?

Andrew:

did? I don't remember.

Fable:

No, remember it was a whole big like problem we were having.

Andrew:

No, I don't remember, oh yeah.

Fable:

It was a whole thing. What was the whole thing?

Catherine:

We like had to pause, like it wouldn't figure out how to figure out how to it wouldn't apply.

Fable:

Yeah, it was like to fix the setting.

Andrew:

Yeah Right, it was a whole thing.

Catherine:

I don't remember how I got new hit points, but I got two new hit points. I have 12 now. Wow, twin Z's.

Fable:

Excellent, so you've got 12 hit points, you got some great new.

Catherine:

It does say rolled hit points were eight hit points from bonuses or plus four from constitution. Got it so it seems like my total possible hit points are 20, but I don't have that now. No, all right. What I do have is a tiny little unarmored body. Yes, you do. You're a martial artist, so I know I'm pretty sly, you're furiously fast.

Andrew:

Uh huh, pretty cool during my floor routine.

Catherine:

That's right. I can't. I cannot wait to see this. I can't wait for Dowl to hold me up over their head like baby in dirty dancing. Well, I've had the time of my life. Plays in the background. Nobody puts Zan Rose in the corner Just as long as Dowl doesn't drop you and I can pale you on her horns.

Andrew:

Oh my God, that's going to be a little dangerous orbit. Dowl do your hands reach over your horns.

Catherine:

Let's, let's figure that out, let's figure that one out, guys.

Andrew:

I'm curious, can you tell me what you're thinking about? Let's figure that one out, guys. I'm curious Can can Dowl even lift you over?

Fable:

Wait, no, I can check this, If I there is a way to check this.

Andrew:

I'm sure there is. Yes, you have something on your mind. I can see it.

Catherine:

But if Dowl can't lift me fully over their head, they could just lift me in front. I weigh 29 pounds.

Andrew:

Yeah, like even I can do that.

Catherine:

Right, they could lift me like this.

Andrew:

There's still my slingshot idea.

Catherine:

Yes, I like that idea. I do too.

Andrew:

Which I'm, which I'm all for.

Catherine:

We haven't had the opportunity to try it yet, but we will, don't worry.

Fable:

You can be lifted above my head.

Andrew:

Oh, above the horns.

Fable:

Yes.

Andrew:

Cool, nice, so Fable. Let's talk about Dowl's leveling up.

Fable:

Okay, how do I do that again? I apologize.

Andrew:

All right, so you got your character next to your name.

Fable:

Manage Character and levels.

Andrew:

Yes, all right.

Fable:

I was there already and then.

Andrew:

So what do you get? What? What are your second level Abilities now that you've got that, you've gotten Channel divinity, oh, yeah, oh there, it is All right, there we go.

Fable:

Yeah, I got channel divinity.

Andrew:

Oh, so what is Tell us about this?

Fable:

Okay, so where is it? At second level, you gain the ability to channel divine energy directly from you, directly from your deity, using that energy to fuel magical effects. You could start with two turn undead as an effect determined by your domain. And what else is here? I forget what it is.

Andrew:

So now you can, you can turn undead.

Fable:

I believe I can. As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer.

Andrew:

Centering the undead. Yes, oh.

Fable:

So each undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet must make a wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails, it is turned for one minute or until it takes any damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can't willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can't take reactions for its action. It can use only the dash action or to try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving.

Andrew:

And if there's no way to move the?

Fable:

creature can use a dodge action.

Andrew:

That's pretty cool.

Fable:

And that's the first option for channel divinity. Right, that's another, and that is a preserve life. You can use your channel divinity to heal the badly injured. So, as an action, you present your holy symbol and invoke healing energy that can restore a number of hit points equal to five times your cleric level.

Andrew:

Ooh, so that's what? 10? Yeah, 10. Nice.

Fable:

So any creature from 30 feet of you and divide those hit points among them.

Andrew:

Okay. So since you've got it, like basically two other people in your party, you could give them. If you split it evenly, you give them five hit points each.

Fable:

Yeah, this feature can restore a creature to no more than half of its hit point maximum, and I can't use it on undead or construct, but that'd be fine.

Andrew:

Cool, that's awesome. Now, what else? Now you get, you get more spells, right, I do.

Fable:

Let me go to that real quick.

Andrew:

Ooh, detect poison and disease.

Fable:

I think that's what I added.

Andrew:

That sounds new.

Fable:

Yeah, I think that is what I added, and I think I oh, I added command as well. So those are my two new ones.

Andrew:

Got it Cool, cool. Lots of exciting new spells are always fun. Yeah, so, and how many, how many more hit points did you get?

Fable:

I think I just got two.

Andrew:

All right. So so we got your character. We got your characters leveled up, yep, which is really exciting. So there they've got all sorts of new abilities, the key points and stuff for phenomenal for for monks. I loved when I played my Tabaxi monk. The key points were were awesome, but he had he had the cat's claws, which was like right, which I think is like a one D six instead of one D four for a, not an unarmed attack, I think it was a one D four, but he could use his claws, so it was like a one D six. So when you did, the flurry of blows is like two D six damage.

Catherine:

Do we want to talk about what Iquium has? Sure James isn't here just so that we've talked about all of our.

Andrew:

Let's go to Iquium's character. So he's got Eldritch Invocations. He probably had spells too. He's got Eldritch Blast, which I think he had, mage hand, which he had, who dissonant whispers, which is a good one, an unseen servant. I don't know which spells he had. But let's look at the class feature. So Eldritch invocations, which he hasn't picked yet. So in your study of occult lore because he's a human warlock, right In your study of occult lore, you have unearthed Eldritch invocations, fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability. At Sino, at second level, you gain two Eldritch invocations of your choice. Your invocation options are detailed at the end of the class description Yada, yada, yada. When you gain certain warlock levels, you gain additional invocations of your choice, showing the known invocations column. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the invocations you know and replace it with another invocation that you could learn at that level. So you can, as you level up, you can always swap them out. Oh, there's, oh, man, and there's a bunch of them too. Oh, some of these names, agonizing blast.

Catherine:

Nice.

Andrew:

When you cast Eldritch Blast, add your charisma modifier to the damage it deals on a hit. Armor of shadows. You can cast Mage Armor on yourself at will without expending a spell, slot or material components. Cool Beast speech.

Catherine:

You can speak with.

Andrew:

You can speak with animals at will without expending a spell slot.

Catherine:

You can talk to our wolves.

Andrew:

Nice Devil's sight. You can see, normally in darkness, both magical and non-magical, to a distance of 120 feet.

Catherine:

That'll help him, because he doesn't have that would be exactly.

Andrew:

that'd be really helpful for a human not having not having dark vision. So so he could. He could, because you could pick two of them. You could pick two of these, so he could definitely pick devil's sight and get dark vision, which would be nice, yeah, of course he could pick something else and then just rely on us, true? So the unarmed strike? No, literally his unarmed strike.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Andrew:

Deals zero damage. Oh yeah, see that Like on his on his character. So yeah, unarmed strike, zero damage. That sucks. Well, even when he uses his staff he has a melee. So if he uses a melee weapon as a staff, it deals 1d6 minus three damage. So he's got to roll at least a four to do any damage with his staff.

Catherine:

Why did we go with this dude?

Andrew:

He's useless, he's not, he's a great spellcaster. Well, okay.

Catherine:

So where's that?

Fable:

He offered us money.

Catherine:

That's true, fable's right.

Fable:

Yeah, I am.

Andrew:

Yeah, so you guys got greedy. All you saw was all you saw was the gold. I was going there anyway. Yes, you are.

Catherine:

I need. I need money to open my B and B.

Andrew:

But don't you have family money?

Catherine:

How dare you, I am an independent rock gnome.

Andrew:

Never be confirmed.

Catherine:

Oh my God.

Fable:

I had to.

Catherine:

Fable, just nepo-babied me, I'm sorry. I was thinking about the floor. Yes, the whole point is that Xanrose doesn't want to be a nepo-baby.

Fable:

I know I had to say it though.

Andrew:

Yeah, but the property is your parents. So you still kind of are Wow, Wow, You're going to buy property or taking your family land. I mean All right, so yeah. So we've talked about all the characters leveling up.

Catherine:

Now what? Now we wanted to talk about fables experience. Yes, because everything that fable has done up until now has been a home brew.

Andrew:

So this is their first fable, yes, so, so, let's talk. So talk to us about your experience in the home brew campaign. So it was June of 2022. So it's been about a year and a half.

Fable:

Yes, in that specific campaign I have been playing for it tells you on D&D Beyond it's great Like over two years.

Andrew:

So tell us what's been your experience. What, what, what is I mean? Cause I've played in home brew campaigns myself, so so what is? What is your specific campaign? Who's your DM?

Fable:

Well, we, the great thing about home brew is it's it's flexible. So we started out. My DM was my friend, Matt, and he was DMing our quest. It was called key quest and basically we were at this tavern and the bar keep was like I, there's this chest and no one can open it. But if you get the six pedals, I believe I can pull it up, you can get the key to get the treasure inside. But the pedals are scattered throughout the world and some of them we have to fight to get the pedals. And there's also the stuff that happens in between Like well, I guess we'll get to that later. I'll talk about our DM right now. So we started out with Matt and then our player, Kia, gets kidnapped in the middle of the night, like a couple of sessions into this, and now she's the DM. She's DMing her basically murder mystery of how she got kidnapped. And now our DM is a player.

Andrew:

Wow, that's. That's pretty crazy.

Fable:

Yeah, it's a lot.

Andrew:

It sounds like a lot. So so what has so, now that now you've you've had a couple of sessions in a typical not typical, but but a kind of sandbox environment of a DND official module, what, what, what are the differences between the, between the two?

Fable:

I think it's pretty different, both because, probably because we're playing us all the podcast and we have to like lock in, we play for like 10 hours at a time.

Andrew:

There's a lot of dilly-dallying.

Fable:

Um, it feels like a little bit more rigid and like in who we face and all of that.

Andrew:

Uh-huh.

Fable:

Gosh.

Andrew:

Yeah, because I mean yes and no. So so the, the books, has one thing, but I as a DM can still change things. So there were far more goblins in that cave. Yeah, then, what you actually encountered because some of you were very low on hit points, I think what I mean?

Fable:

I think what I mean by it is that when you're DMing homebrew, they have complete creative control.

Andrew:

Right.

Fable:

And like we get off course a lot, and so she just for the most part unless it's like really important and she's do us in the right direction, like make something up, Like we've done a lot of side quests she actually made this really cool um idea for a couple of different things, but one of the main ones was we were fishing and we rolled a d12 and that determined what we'd get, but some of them were not all fish and I happened to roll and I had to fight sans undertale.

Andrew:

What.

Fable:

Yep.

Andrew:

Care to explain.

Fable:

I had to I. It turned into a boss fight and I had to fight him, but I was by myself and I did win, but you know.

Andrew:

I did Congratulations, thank you.

Fable:

Like stuff like that is implemented. She had this, uh, while we were in the city Staleo city, which she made up, and it's amazing she had this thing where we could roll for random encounters If we're getting bored. We could roll this dice and a random encounter would happen. Right, sophia Nona Storn in this campaign had to fight John Cena and she beat his ass within 30 seconds and he was like how do I become like you and like, and she was. I think she said either, I don't know something about being a lesbian. He's like I got to be a lesbian now and then he ran away. Like random stuff, like that.

Andrew:

So Sophia turned John Cena lesbian, yes, interesting.

Fable:

She also had this thing, uh, where we could get jobs at the, at the, uh the shops in the city. I worked at a Bonnie shop. We became models. At one point we got modeling jobs. We were recruited, we were recruited to be models and we got, we got, we got some jobs. We got we got some jewelry out of it.

Andrew:

Nice yes.

Fable:

There's actual pictures of us posing in real life, by the way.

Andrew:

That's awesome.

Fable:

And we had to roll for how good we looked and like how well we did, and I, I failed miserably because I was nervous. But Sophia just stood there and then she rolled like a nat 20. So he was like, oh my God, I love you. Like, like.

Andrew:

Very cool. I mean there there's, there's pluses and minuses to homebrew and D&D modules. I mean cause. I mean again, like you said I'm, D&D modules are somewhat, you're somewhat constricted by.

Fable:

She makes up every NPC, every shop. She can choose whatever shop she wants to be. She can put in whatever she wants into these shops, like the exploding chicken bombs.

Andrew:

Yeah.

Fable:

And she was also able to help us get a clue into her character's lore, because there was this like, basically, thrift shop and we actually found her character's purse which had drawings from her childhood inside, and it was screwed up, because every single D&D character's childhood is screwed up.

Andrew:

Oh, of course, Absolutely. So what do you, what do you like about our campaign compared to homebrew, what you're used to?

Fable:

I'm playing D&D regularly.

Andrew:

That's always a plus.

Fable:

The problem with us is that it takes a while to make up an entire world from scratch.

Andrew:

Yes, it does Absolutely.

Fable:

Wait, wait. They sent me a bunch of things.

Andrew:

That is. That is one of the, let's say, a drawback, but it is one of the things to consider it. If you are going to build a homebrew world I mean everything is of your own imagination so to build those encounters and develop the NPCs and develop all the things that come up in that adventure, it's a lot of work. It really is a lot of work and I give a lot of credit to anybody that has that ability, because it's I don't want to say it's not that it isn't easy, but I mean it's just a lot. It's a lot to keep track of. So you've got to be very organized. You've got to be very organized when you are building that world and and planning it out for people to play play inside of it.

Fable:

Before we started this recording, I consulted the D&D group chat and she she sent me this. She said, honestly, the hardest part is coming up with everything from scratch and just hoping it'll come together in the end, Because she's writing this over the course of months, Like that's why I usually have to take a month to get all the good shit done, Like there's a lot that goes into it. And you, she said, uh, if something sucks when you look back at it, like you're writing, you just change it.

Andrew:

Right, absolutely.

Fable:

And something she said about that also is that it really helped her outside of D&D. She's gotten better at um, you know, creative writing, world building and creating art while being fun and not like a job, not like art class we have to get it done. So it's really helped her develop her skills outside of D&D.

Andrew:

That's super cool, very nice, excellent. Well, thank you for your insight on homebrew versus standard D&D modules, which is what we're playing. That was fun Bandelver and below the Shattered Obelisk. I just like saying that I know right. So we are going to be working on our next recipe, which we would have normally done for this episode. However, since Catherine and I have both been under the weather, we we skipped the cooking for this week, so we will. We will be baking a pie for our actual play when James is here, so okay.

Catherine:

so we're going to be making the Heartlands Rose, apple and Blackberry Pie, and here's a little story with it. As the story goes, a hungry halfling returned from her hillside stroll with a heavy basket of crisp rose apples and plump blackberries. In typical indecisive halfling fashion, she couldn't decide which to fill her pie with, so she chose both, and thus this legendary halfling dessert pie was born A thick handmade crust and a flaky buttery top blanket. A tart and tasty rose apple nearly any apple suffices, season pending of course and blackberry filling with spiced ground accents. Some halflings even dust their crust with a white cheddar that melts for a unique flavor. But all of them agree that it would be a sin to serve this without a scoop of freshly whipped sweet cream. So this is this.

Andrew:

this, this this recipe sounds interesting, because why I? This is not the first time I've heard people putting cheese like cheddar cheese on cheddar cheese on an apple pie is a whole.

Catherine:

thing. Yeah, yeah.

Andrew:

I mean, I, I'm, I'm kind of an apple pie purist, like no cheese for me, but a lot of people seem to dig it.

Catherine:

I think it probably goes along the same idea of like a sweet and savory right yeah, like cheese danishes.

Andrew:

Yeah, people people know apples and cheese danish.

Fable:

I'm saying it's the same concept Cheese is good.

Andrew:

Cheese is cheese is always good Cheese and pastry.

Catherine:

Yes, that's, that's what they're but I'm thinking like people who dip fries and milkshakes.

Fable:

Yeah.

Catherine:

Sweet and savory.

Andrew:

Oh I, I get, I get the whole, the whole thing. I've just never, I've just never been a cheese on my apple pie kind of person. This is apples and blackberries. So, who knows?

Catherine:

Well, and then we get to make our own whipped cream if we want. Yeah.

Andrew:

Wonderful. I think that's. I think that's covers everything that we wanted to talk about today.

Catherine:

I think so.

Andrew:

Yeah, wonderful. Well, thank you both for joining me here today on legends, loot and war, and anyone we should give a shout out to, fable Kia Sophia.

Fable:

Kia Sophia Matt. Donnie, they all get good input on what to say, so thank you everybody for listening to another episode.

Andrew:

We'll be back next week with it, with an interview with somebody, and then then what? We'll be back in the first first week of the month with the actual play. This will be. This will be when you actually get to. So let's, let's do a little preview. So this will be when you actually get to the town of Fandelen. So so let's start with with Dow Dow. What is your, what is your reasoning for going to Fandelen again?

Fable:

I got to meet up with sister G sister G.

Andrew:

That's right, gary L sister G. Excellent. This is the book you're looking for. A book.

Fable:

I'm looking for something.

Andrew:

You're looking for something. You don't know what it is. Yeah, got it, and Zan Rose You're. You're looking to claim the family, the family property which I believe won't be without difficulty. Oh no, there will be some difficulty.

Catherine:

I thought there might be. There might be some squatters at my B and B.

Andrew:

Oh, there's definitely some squatters at the B and B.

Catherine:

Will my goblins be able to help with this?

Andrew:

That's a good question. I don't know they're. They're not very brave they're. They're they're great at like basic tasks like robbing people. But we'll say, I'll see if they can help you clear out, clear out the manner, and you're going to have to leave them there to rebuild it. Obviously, yes.

Catherine:

Yes, they'll also have to work on their uniforms and the entertainment for the evening and that there's, there's.

Andrew:

you got so much going on I really do.

Catherine:

There's a lot to.

Andrew:

There's a lot to be done to be of a prior to the B and B.

Catherine:

We have to figure out who's going to do housekeeping. Who's going?

Andrew:

to handle the restaurant.

Catherine:

We have all three meals available every day.

Fable:

Should we make a menu and post the menu?

Catherine:

We totally should make a menu.

Fable:

I'm making a menu right as we okay, okay.

Andrew:

So there's a lot to be, a lot to be going on as far as, as far as preparing the B and B. And I think I'm trying to remember well, iquium is going there because he's the friend of Dundran Rockseeker, so he is, he was the one escorting the, the wagon of supplies.

Catherine:

Right, we still have to find him. Right, like we got to go back and get him at some point too Right, he's somewhere and we do want to save him.

Andrew:

I would, I would think you would. So because I think, if I recall correctly, that Dundran and or his maps have been brought to the Kragmaw Castle.

Catherine:

Yeah Well, at least the maps Right. So that's where. So we were going to head to Fandalen to deliver stuff, right? While we're in Fandalen, I assume we're going to swing by the. Can I say where we're going? Where the Trissender Manor.

Andrew:

Trissender Manor. I think we've already discussed that on the power guy.

Catherine:

I don't know if we have which my family is is in ownership of, in which I want to turn into the Bumble B and B Right. So we're going to have to go through whatever we have to go through there. I hope Gundran's OK, because I think it's going to be a little bit before we manage to get back to him.

Andrew:

I hope so too. We'll find out. You're being very mysterious. Stay tuned. Yes, indeed, all right. So tune in to find out. Will the party? What will the party do when they get to Fandalen? What's going to happen at Trissender Manor when Rose gets there and tries to take it over and convert it into her B and B?

Catherine:

How many of the people squatting in it can she turn into employees? That's right.

Andrew:

We'll we'll dial find Sister G and what she's looking for. Will Iquium and the crew find Gundran and figure out what's going on? Only time will tell.

Catherine:

How much can Iquium lift? Not much.

Andrew:

Very little, if anything. I mean again is an arm strike is zero.

Catherine:

I think he said he could lift like 50 pounds.

Andrew:

Yes, something like that, yeah, yeah. So so tune in for that episode. It's in a couple of weeks and we'll be back next week with another interview. Thank you all for listening. Bye.