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Tortle Tank Bonus Pitches: It's Not Confusing (w/ Zac Oyama) (Patreon)

Published:
2024-11-09 00:01:47
Imported:
2026-06
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The Tortles are getting feisty in this tank but we continue to review your homebrew pitches with shellebrity guest, Zac Oyama!

Production and Editing by Trevor Lyon

Files

Comments

Chris Swank

Love these whenever y’all do them

Anna Freitas

Love the rage idea for the sake of story telling and roll playing! And I don't think it's farfetched to superhumanly take half damage - or at least delay it! I used to do krav maga and I remember a couple instances when I got hit hard in terrible places and was way more ok than I should have been (though it did hurt later)

Borgar

always a treat to have Zac, or should I say, it's always a snapping turtle attack snack to have Zac

Fargoth Ur

I totally agree. Maybe instead of it being a once a campaign thing, just have the DM give it out like inspiration where it makes sense and the player earns it. Then the player can choose whether or not to give into the rage.

McJoeJoeJoe

God, I hope Tortle Tank is back in rotation. Y’all make so many fantastic DnD adjacent shows anyways, but having TT back is such a gift.

Adam Kepper

Adversity points are basically the luck point system on kobold press tales of the valiant. You get a luck point for every failure. It's a really cool aspect of that ttrpg system, I would recommend checking it out.

Chris Swank

Isn’t the flashback one just Blades in the Dark?

Hunter Gerth

The adversity token is kind of like the kids with bikes mechanic correct?

Ken

Didnt Caldwell do two of these in Trinyvale?? (spoilers ahead) ——— The time travel spellcasting was used with the clockwork dragon version of Nullar, and Duncle gave each of the PCs the flashback ability in the proposal oneshot, right?

Ken

I thought they worked well in those episodes!

Neil Dutton

Ok history check....17?...you vividly recall your first break up, your strength bonus is doubled for 3 rounds...

Pankkeli

You absolutely need to do a oneshot with randomized characters! Whether that was just randomized background, ideals and such or even including randomizing class and race.

Kitt

I’m so confused

lily 😦

yes! I think that’s what murph was talking about when referencing other systems

Rageboots

I think combining the adversity and one time “rage” would be great. Just get an adversity point when you get a crit fail. 2 adversity points for a +1, and 10 adversity points for your “rage”. Which I would change to +5 to 3 rolls with advantage

Lia

Thank you for the opportunity Tortles! I will definitely be back once the revision has come through, to the lab!

Bryce Peterson

I love the spirit of the adversity point rule; hope they didn’t mind the (hilarious) razzing.

The Fun Yaunt

I had the exact same thought about the proposal one shot! I was surprised they didn’t bring it up— it was such a fun mechanic for the triplets!

The Fun Yaunt

Hexblood revival while Caldwell’s on paternity leave?! 👀

Noah Mccullough

My wife started DMing for my friends and I. I used the folk hero table to make my monk because it sounded fun and gambling is sick.

A. Lee. S

My warlock gets ‘mom rage’ which is advantage on skill checks or attacks sometimes 😅

Everett Jarvis

The rolling for backgrounds reminded me of the Tub Brisket workshop, so now of course I have to relisten to that AGAIN

Verdigree

I think I remember that because Super Saiyan power is inherently aligned with evil, Goku can't also use the Spirit Bomb at the same time

Hex Sharpe

Really enjoying the quangle as you guys playtest some of these

Soo Loo Candles

Emily saying “ but I feel like you guys really phoned it in” was so real I cackled

Michael Franzé

On the flashback point topic, I used a similar mechanic in a heist one shot where each player could have one flash back to them preparing something for the situation they're in. Similar to a heist movie where full scope of the scheme is not revealed at the beginning. Example would be a player making an escape with the stolen item and jumping out a window and their flashback would be them buying a wagon full of hay and parking it underneath the window. It allows the players to not have to super prepare up front but end with a feeling of a well planned heist.

Greg Lohman (tsarducci)

Funny story I accidentally started this on x0.5 speed and it was 5 minutes before I realized it wasn't a bit.

Greg Lohman (tsarducci)

Unfortunately the level up items idea is going to get a pretty serious cease and desist legal action from critrole who published that in the Wildemount book a number of years ago.

Verdigree

I think a lot of this homegrown looking for things codified in Pathfinder

Oliver

It was a pleasure to be wet in the tank with you all

TheloniousPunkyBrewster

I appreciate your ambition councilor- But I assert it's an idea as old as some ancient mythologies - and therefore decidedly within the public domain for free use without liability 👩🏻‍💼

Greg Lohman (tsarducci)

Which means the tortles may use it without paying the pitcher a single withered egg!

Monzi

I love Tortle tank, the more unhinged ideas the better but this does just highlight that a lot of people need to be playing games other than d&d😆. D&d was not invented to tell meaningful stories, but tons of other games were! Check out indie ttrpgs built for drama or spy thriller stories or horror! Plus then you'll be supporting small creators instead of WOTC

Cack

Thanks for your time tortles, how do I go about collecting my three million dollars?

Monzi

I think they didn't fully understand it? It seems like they thought it meant a point every time you miss but the submitter intended it only for failures on majorly impactful events (so not every missed attack but if you miss the last attack on the bbeg that killed your father and they survive to run away or roll nat 1 on the Dex check to stop your party member from falling off a cliff to their death). I loved the fun banter obvs tho

Gavin Cruse

My friend, I absolutely agree that other systems facilitate other types of stories, but you do get out whatever you put in regardless of systems. You can tell meaningful stories of all types in dnd 5e or blades in the dark, you just need a group that is looking to build something real!

Transfemmes4murph

I would like to propose a further modification to the Rage/adrenaline surge ability. This is inspjred from d20’s new Misfits and Magic season. To combat one of the main hang ups being the lack of benefit for spell casters, allow them to destroy their own magic items/arcane focus in order to release a burst of magic potential allowing them to have this superhuman feat. I think it adds a fun stake and combat mechanic wise it still works for spell casters.

Iris Dewey

The queen's hammer literally did this in campaign one, unlocking new abilities based on story beats

Hammy

I agree but It’s just really hard to get 3 or more adults with jobs and responsibilities to get on board to learn a whole new system.

Your Good Buddy Brandon

Possible tweak for the "Rage" mechanic. Similar to the Limit Break suggestion from Zac, let's make it Trance a la Final Fantasy 9, wherein for a few turns the charracter is powered up and everything they do hits harder. Generically I'm thinking you get three turns of +10 to rolls, possibly extra damage on attacks, etc. You could even make it more bespoke, for example, in FF9 Steiner (the knight) would Trance and deal tripple damage with physical attacks, while Vivi (the mage) could cast two spells per turn.

Nick Neverman

Didn’t Caldwell do a flash back mechanic in the Trinyvale proposal?

thiswayjose

Am I surprised they fully forgot that Caldwell built an entire one-shot on the flashback mechanic? No. Would it have changed their consensus? No.

thiswayjose

Yuuuuuuuup but allowed it for all of them. An entire proposal one-shot was built upon this mechanic!

thiswayjose

Buddy. You’re paying for a patreon that was built upon telling a meaningful story through DnD!

CommodoreBlue

“Maybe we should do this sometime, just completely roll up our personalities.” Uh, hate to break it you guys, you’ve done that before for Tub Brisket

Monzi

Yeah but you can also play chess with checkers if you mod hard enough. Or buy a chess board. I'm just saying that there are tons of other games that are purpose built for other types of play and I want to encourage everyone to explore them. Plenty of people aren't aware that not all games are like d&d.

Monzi

Some are 1 page or less. Plenty are a handful of pages. D&d benefits from cultural exposure but it is absolutely not an uncomplicated system in comparison with a lot of other games. I'm just encouraging exploration. You can play d&d as much as you want.

Monzi

I also love cake, that doesn't mean I can't suggest pie from time to time.

Sarah Sullivan

I feel like the “companion” background could work if the DM pc were almost a Don Quixote type; bumbling and oblivious and so this sidekick has to do everything in their power to keep them alive through perilous adventures, and also make them think THEY are the ones doing great deeds. I could see how that could get tiring but it’s funny and if they were down it could certainly be a full campaign

Hornleaf

Tell me about it. I think I said "oh that's just X from 2e" about seven times over these episodes.

Hornleaf

Yes. I have come to believe that a lot of people would rather homebrew 5e in to an unrecognizable mess than try another system.

Rajdeep Dhindsa

NGL, the adversity token I really enjoy and is used in things like kids on bikes and Never Stop Blowing Up

Ziel R.

Jake made a comment that he thought it would be neat if the player had the option to initiate advantage if it was a check they really wanted to pass. I think that actually already exists. That's how inspiration points work, right?

Peydon Bush

Can someone please make the trailer lol

Bee W

the opening “my turtle looks way less beat up that zac’s” was so mermaids in the pool coded

Anna Gertsacov

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the timeline one kind of sounds like a quangle

Meghan

I had the same thought!

Robert

The flashback goofing now has me wanting to see a mini-arc with a party consisting of Moonshine, Mavrus, and Nyack.

Curby Dickens

I’ve played Blades in the Dark and it has an excellent flashback mechanic.

Alex Weatherhead

My group and I played a flashback based heist one-shot where we specifically weren’t allowed to plan the heist beforehand. We had to use our flashbacks when we got into a situation to describe how we planned for that exact situation in the past. It was very oceans eleven and super fun

Monzi

My point is that it's ways easier to do it in a system that is made to do that, where the mechanics serve what you want to play. I can wear my sweatshirt as pants but why would I do that when pants exist?

Cody Zimmer

I feel like I've listened to a very successful implementation of flash backs recently... I think it was the barnyard animal story line from World's Beyond Number? I swear you guys implemented something like it for one story beat... It's something that works very well for heist stories.

Cody Zimmer

Yes! The quangles! That's what I was thinking of. I was like... bruh, they have literally done this sort of mechanic before, did they record this before they did that episode???

Anna Gertsacov

I don’t think so I think that they don’t bring up their d20 campaigns a lot maybe bc of Jake or maybe bc not all of the listeners intersect but the quangle is kinda different in the way that it’s not different characters and parallel universes just that time is fucked up (quangled)

Argonautica

I'm going to comment just some advice for people. A lot of the ideas here exist in current 3rd party stuff that they could take inspiration from. For example adversity points are *similar* to a feat for the psionic based Talent class from MCDM called better under pressure. Where you fail at that classes resource thing and gain points that you can spend up to 3 of on d20 rolls The flashback thing is almost an entire pillar of certain indie systems, like powered by the apocalypse or blades in the dark sometimes. I just throw this out there that people who are looking for things to add to 5e would gain a lot from reading or looking at other stuff, just for fun or just to look around at near stuff.

Chris B

tl,dr; on 2024 Backgrounds: they set your characters ability bonuses instead of 2014 Race (which is now Species), provide two skill proficiencies and a tool proficiency, and an Origin feat. Species provides a unique trait still, but doesn't set the abilities. So a Halfing Rogue still gets Luck, Advantage against being frightened, etc from being a Halfing, but you'd pick the Criminal background for the options of +2 dex/ +1 int, alert feat, thieves tools, etc. It makes sense that your species may give you some innate trait like a dragonborn breath weapon, but ability scores (which can change over the course of play anyway) are determined by your characters lived experience, not their species. The PHB has a bunch of premade ones and the DMG rules for creating a custom one are "pick 3 abilities, 1 origin feat, 2 skill proficiencies, 1 tool proficiency, starting equipment" that make sense for the intended background. The character class with also provide other skill & tool proficiencies ontop of their background.

Cooper Erikson

There is a system called Traveler that has a mechanic where each PC gets 2 "connections" per game. Basically what they allow is for one PC to come up with an in universe RP moment with another PC to justify retconning in an ability the PC didn't have at creation.

Derrick Martinez

Somebody else please tell me they thought of Hello From The Magic Tavern’s Shadow city with Anthony Burch from Dungeons and Daddies when the flashback mechanic came up lol

Evil Grimace

Since there is going to be a bit of a schedule change due to Caldwell pulling a selfish move by having sex more than once, do you think we could maybe get another one of those deep dive episodes on the new 2024 rules? The Pathfinder and the D&D deity eps that were put out were super interesting and fun to listen to!

Mindolluin

Justice for Caldwell's Proposal Impossible flashbacks, they were so good

Rebecca N

I think the Companion Background idea might mesh well with the "Awakened Animal" race in Pathfinder 2e (which admittedly I haven't looked too closely at as so far I've only played the animal-people races in our games so far because they're fun and I'm trying to take a break from it for our next game)

Jordan Bergner

I like the idea of a naddpod all stars mini campaign of Mavid Mavris Beverly and either Jens or Fia (I like the idea of Jen's over fia as Jen's would try so hard to look young when next to all those young boys)

WunderSkin

I didn't expect Murph to pitch the Emperor Time ability from Hunter X Hunter during the rage pitch haha

JaycobJoh

Duncle Caldwell and the trinviveil tripletes did the flashback mechanic when they were making Jenz’s engagement ring!! So funny they’ve used this and don’t recall

Aaron Aposhian

im devastated that I missed the homebrew suggestions post. Pls do more tortle tank in the near future🙏🏼.

Gaige Kaser

I used the flashback rules around a year ago for a heist, my players could use 2 flashbacks each to get an item within reason from a store, or research something to get advantage on a role. Players loved the encounter and they didn’t abuse the flashbacks at all! Very good system specifically to use for a heist

Gregg Hanano

Season 1 of Dungeons and Daddies has a great flashback moment that only made sense if you were listening to it week-to-week lol. It happened at the end of the season, they flashbacked to an early episode like episode 11 or something, and the mad lads actually edited in that interaction into the early episode lol. So now if you’re listening for the first time, there’s a random interjection from a character in an early episode

Divergent Hedgehog

That's exactly what I thought!! Emily being so blown away "I didn't even know this existed!" Yet they all rolled for flaws, secrets, etc 😂

Daniel Wong

The flashback rules seems to work best for those types of games. I encountered this mechanic in Leverage RPG and Blades in the Dark.

Summer, Autumn Eladrin

The group I DM for would 100% have players wear the cursed sunglasses knowing they get disadvantage on charisma for the bit.

Tyler Cheek

Hey tortles! I actually painstakingly made a randomizer using 5e rules in Microsoft Excel 😅 it uses a die roll to roll Race (not all Races included), a die roll for Class (I think Artificer and Blood Hunter were the only exclusions), subclass if applicable at level 1, stats, proficiencies, personality traits, alignment, background, ideals, flaws, bonds, inventory, spells, etc. I won't lie, it was a lot of work, and the final product is a little clunky looking (I'm not a programmer or an Excel expert, just a hobbyist with a little bit of hyper fixation), but it's really fun! The only downside is that it can only generate level 1 characters right now (to implement all of the potential subclasses, class feature options, etc. for subsequent levels will take me quite a lot longer). Just posting this for input, the one shots I've run with my players using this randomizer have been hilariously fun as unoptimized characters with random equipment and spells and features have to work together (or not) 👍

Daven Rikhof

Is this is true, but the bow that they described is almost exactly Fenthras

Jess Mosher

I think the person who pitched Adversity Points would love Kids on Bikes!

Patrick Harry

I know most ideas have been done, but I reallly enjoy a pitch on the tank when it seems like an original pitch or homebrew. Flashback mechanics from BiitD, weapons that level with you have been around forever and were an important aspect of Critical Role season 1 and an outline on how to create such items is in their own 3rd party guide, adversity points are done in so many other games. I am just really like hearing some twist, or idea even if its not perfect rather than something that already exists.

Max Herzog

Rolling random backgrounds are how I come up with role play ideas for one shot characters. I roll a bunch on the random tables and latch on to one of the fun ones

Garrett Bokrossy

I get a twisted smile everytime pathfinder gets mentioned, you know its got it all folks

Garrett Bokrossy

And deciding if you want advantage as a player sounds akin to the new Mythic point system they added in the newsst PF2e book! A player gets to roll with great bonuses, almost ensuring a crit or negating a crit fail on most rolls. Its an alternate rule but its now ironed out and available!

Zanya Nova

You guys are so funny I'm going to burst a blood vessel

Cahill

Nothing saying your wizard can't attempt to drop kick your opponent spells or not

Lil Drummer Boy

I just picture the dumb shutter shades that were trendy 10 years ago

J. Gro

It's similar, except that inspiration has to be given by the dm at some point in order for a player to ever use it. I think the idea here is that it would be nice for a player to give themselves advantage, without having to have earned it from the dm prior.

J. Gro

As far as flashbacks go, I think that a reasonable adjustment/point of clarification to the pitch would be: - it would have to make narrative sense that the PC would have experience/knowledge about the specific topic (such as Callie knowing about the Fey Wild) - the PC's build lacks any bonuses to mechanically represent this - the table agrees that this is a significant enough moment to use the flashback mechanic - the DM narrated the flashback (thus avoiding "I just remembered how I kicked Galad's ass a few months ago") All that being said, I think a good dm would take that situation and allow the PC to roll with advantage or add their proficiency bonus. A flashback is often used as good flavor without the need for a detailed mechanic, no?

Michael Graham Abernathy

The flashback thing is exactly what Caldwell did for y'all in the Trinyvale proposal episode! Y'all are poopooing the thing you loved when Caldwell did it. Lol

MamaMayhem - Sal Soeh, Sal Nu

The flashback thing was used very effectively in "A County Affair" side quest in Worlds beyond number. It works really well for Oceans 11 style heist stories!

Walker Thurman

I feel like an easy “super-saiyan” is to give expertise on attack rolls, and maybe something like a 10-foot speed boost and resistance to nonmagical damage, but I think expertise on attacks is probably enough

Thomas Jager

Items that level up with you is done by runes in Pathfinder 2e! You can keep the same physical item, and just add runes to your weapons, shield, and armour as you level up and find/buy them.