TRPG General Chat

2:55 AM

hey there @nitsua60

anyone here to give me feedback on the topic-ness of a couple questions?

I'll listen, but I'm busy thinking about my campaign tonight and might not be fully brain.

first: how do Faerun dragons keep clean? (bugs on wings make wings not work so well)

Only on topic if you're asking for source-supported answers; otherwise it's an invitation to speculation.

@BESW nods Draconomicon/other FR sources would be good, yes

second: in D&D (we can use 5e here) -- does the grade/quality of a gem used as a material component matter at all? (i.e. can you cast spells with industrial grade diamonds/sapphires/...?)

@Shalvenay hiya. I'm here for a few minutes, then off to bed.

3:02 AM

@nitsua60 ah.

@Shalvenay Again, make sure you're explicitly asking for source-supported answers and not speculation, and you should be golden.

@Shalvenay on-topic, but trivial answer: the spell description specifies cost and cost only. All else is up to GM+players.

Yeah, I think the best answer to that one is "The book is silent, so it falls into the GM's lap according to 5e's guidance on GM improvisation and fiat."

@nitsua60 yeah -- I'm asking more for source material that can guide a table on that topic, but there may not be any in any D&D edition...

(I usually end up spilling a drink when the book falls in my lap.)

@Shalvenay [rummages]

3:04 AM

@nitsua60 I was once in a campaign where you got bonus XP if your roleplay made the GM spit out his drink.

@BESW LOL.

Only Jon Stewart Can Make Sense of the Trump Candidacy

►

trigger warnings: (1) spit-takes, (2) politics

@nitsua60 Actually that clip has two spit-takes but only one politics.

[sigh] Instead of doing my prep for this evening, I find myself reading about the man on the Clapham omnibus.

It's fascinating (I love the dry wit of the review of the phrase in the appeal of Healthcare at Home Limited v. The Common Services Agency), but seriously off topic.

@BESW and trying to wrap your head around politically-objectionable systems appearing on RPGSE=)

3:19 AM

That too.

(Hence the detour on the Clapham omnibus.)

trogdor

5:29 AM

@nitsua60 lol, my dad could not hesitate to show me this a day or two ago

@nitsua60 yeah,... this one not so funny

to be fair, the one that is is literally designed to be funny as long as you don't like Trump, the other isn't really all that funny to begin with :/

@BESW that is an odd reason to give out bonus XP

It was an odd game.

trogdor

that seems apparent

Miniman

5:53 AM

@Shalvenay Ok, I'm stumped - what is the point of this question?

I mean, you already know D&D doesn't answer these kinds of questions, and even if it did, how is the answer useful to you?

it was originally sparked by what I saw as a loose end left untied by the answers to the question it links to

6:14 AM

perhaps a better question to ask is "is the value of a gem to a mage determined by its jewelry-properties or its material-properties?"

@Shalvenay it's determined by its GP value

@doppelgreener nice circular reasoning :P

well, that's what it is

The book says "this is a 50gp gem" and that's all it says and that's what it is.

Miniman

@Shalvenay Even then, why does it matter? How is knowing this useful to you?

@Miniman because those yield two very different results as to what a 50gp gem is

6:26 AM

There is an OOTS comic in which a mage needs 1,000gp worth of gems to cast a spell, so he sends his lackey out to get them. The lackey comes back with a modest haul: "Good news, sir! i managed to haggle the merchant down to just 900gp for these!" The mage is enraged. "What!? I need one thousand GP of gems, not nine hundred! Now go back and get 100gp more of them!"

Miniman

@Shalvenay Well, yeah. But that doesn't answer the question of why it's useful to you.

As absurd as it is, that OOTS is more or less bang-on with how gems work in the game.

@Miniman it's a useful tidbit for houseruling on the topic

6:47 AM

you're diving beyond even D&D's layers of simulation though, really

gems exist first and foremost as a special highly valuable unit of currency

and are described almost exclusively in relation to how much currency they are worth

and, sometimes, modules will actually physically describe a gem, and then ascribe it a value. but they described it by what would look cool, then described it by its value, as two separate things - they likely didn't value it correspondingly to the physical value they gave it.

the people in D&D's development teams generally aren't geologists or gem cutters. they're game developers.

trogdor

@Shalvenay is your group specifically thinking of manufacturing gems themselves?

Zachiel

7:22 AM

I think gemcutting was a Craft skill in some edition. Or maybe it was a houserule of the group I was in at that time.

@doppelgreener Anyway no, the gem has a stated value, this is how much it costs. How much you pay for it might vary from the cost because of diplomacy checks, appraise checks and, last but not least, sleight of hand checks and murder. This still doesn't chenge the value of the gem (for instance, for the purpose of casting spells).