TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:02

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Tweeted by fredhicks on October 29, 2016 at 8:35 PM

user507974

03:44

Hey guys, would this be OP as far as a feat goes.
"Once per short rest you may cast a spell with a casting time of one action as a bonus action."

at least thats the main feature, some other utility may show up

Miniman

@user507974 It's... probably OK.

user507974

@Miniman why probably?

you cant cast spells more than once during a turn anyways

iirc

Miniman

@user507974 Because it's impossible to predict what broken combinations might come out of any given new thing without serious analysis.

@user507974 Not exactly - if you cast a bonus action spell, you can't cast another spell unless it's a regular action cantrip.

But, off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that would make that OP as a feat.

Anyone with 3 levels of Sorcerer can already do it.

user507974

Twinned Spells?

or something else?

Miniman

Quickened Spell

Twinned Spell is a bit different

user507974

03:48

ok

didnt know quickened spells , checking now

user507974

06:34

rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/…

Interesting read. I remember how unbelievably intrigued my players got following a successful heist at every neutral NPC who seemed to even have anythign to hide

user507974

06:59

also guys how does sneak attack damage work with ranged weapons?

5e

nvm

im blind

i cant believe i missed "or ranged weapons"

Guiding Light

Yup. It's a good thing to shoot into melee apparently, unlike in previous editions.

user507974

Also guys what games dont use some variation of vancian magic

Something that would be really cool is seeing a magic system that resembles the bending you see in avatar translated into table top

Guiding Light

07:20

@user507974 Shadowrun.

@user507974 The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game.

Miniman

28

Q: How to deal with questions that just don't understand the scope of the RPG landscape?

We've had several questions lately that we've been closing. What point-buy systems of magic (like psionics in 3e D&D) are there? , What are the main Creative Commons powered tabletop RPG out there?, How do the rules that govern a Cleric's Turn Undead ability vary among D&D editions? (before it wa...

BESW

08:43

@user507974 Yeah, pretty much any game with magic that isn't directly inspired by D&D is gonna do that. Start with the franchise games like Buffy, Dresden Files, and Ghostbusters.

In the Fate system alone I know of at least four different element-bending-like iterations.

user507974

lol, i just happened to look back at this chat right before you commented

thanks

tbh in general i like 5e alot but the vancian is the one thing i wish was different

BESW

There's a number of homebrew hacks for adding bending to 5e.

user507974

like what?

BESW

Google "D&D 5e element bending."

user507974

new classes all together or the current classes

element bending is kinda a cool example but i mean like itd be nice to slightly manipulate the nature of spells outside their prescribed effects

all the spells I feel like can interact well with the environment indirectly are kinda too weak

BESW

08:51

You mean a more improvisational approach to spellcasting?

user507974

yea

ive kinda done some hacks before to see if the DMs would run with it

but none of my players seem to have the same creativity with spells i guess

BESW

D&D may not be a system which takes kindly to that sort of thing. Balance in D&D is largely based on the number of choices one has.

Improvisational spellcasting would mean casters' existing advantage would balloon wildly.

user507974

interesting, considering outside combat the choice factor has real disparity

BESW

Yup.

user507974

I do stuff like fill a flask with some pebbles and explosives, cast light, and then throw it into a dark room

or when we used guns do that to bullets

upon reflection, i may use light just a wee bit too much

BESW

09:04

There's a mad number of magic systems out there, but it's not easy to just graft one magic system onto a different game without lots of repercussions.

Many games use a magic concept which reinforces their themes; Ars Magica is about understanding the world enough to change it on a fundamental level, Shadowcraft is about being tied to powers which change you when you use them, The Dresden Files is about walking a knife-edge to control the power you draw.

Being a kitchen-sink fantasy with a primary focus on guiltless violence for personal gain, D&D doesn't really think about its magic that hard.

D&D also tries to balance many different mechanisms against each other so that different classes may be practically playing different games without any one PC overshadowing the others. This is... not typical of many other RPG paradigms.

user507974

09:28

good point about the guiltless violence

BESW

Mmm. Most systems with more improvisational magic have a focus on the potential unintended outcomes of using magic.

D&D avoids that--magic works or it doesn't, mostly, but it rarely backfires or does something unexpected--because that's a kind of story it's not really interested in.

To continue the Airbender example, if we look at the Avatar stories we see physical combat is hardly ever a lasting solution to significant problems.

user507974

it requires a more holistic approach to say the least

in dnd often you kill people at the bat of an eye

BESW

Aye, and social consequences or personal qualms only come into it as much as the individual group wants, with very little mechanical support or encouragement.

user507974

the first encounter for group was going to be nonlethal if they lost, but they escalated it

sure it was thanks to a misunderstanding of one the PCs who happens to be a batshit crazy trying their best to be chaotic good

but I kinda want to see if I can slowly reverse that norm

BESW

If you watch an Avatar fight, you'll notice it's almost always got a lot of talking, and the fighting is more of a backdrop for the character interactions.

user507974

09:42

so far thats been fights to an extent so far

in a 4 hr session we only had one real fight, and then i ran a loose combat exchange that was really more of a chase

BESW

Then there's games like DWAITAS, where initiative is prioritised by what you're doing: Talkers go first, then Runners, Doers, and Fighters are last each round.

user507974

interesting

BESW

In many versions of Fate, characters have both mental and physical stress, so you can "attack" with insults, or persuasion, or the like.

user507974

basically a willpower to fight

BESW

10:14

19

A: How do I explain stress to a d20 crowd?

Stress tracks in FATE work as a pacing mechanism. It's not meant to simulate the physiological reaction of a body to punishment; it's there to provide a means of determining whether a character is out of the fight or not and reproduce a narrative aesthetic. Hit points historically have worked thi...

BESW

12:45

TLF has solved our time zone problem.

To avoid confusion we have removed all the clocks. It's simpler this way.

Tweeted by TlfTravelAlerts on October 30, 2016 at 12:45 PM

Joel Harmon

13:53

@user507974 Try Mage: The Awakening

@user507974 Depending on what you consider the Vancian part of D&D 5e magic, I might recommend you try... D&D 5e. There's an optional system in the DMG for using points for spells, rather than spell slots.

Zachiel

@user507974 Basically anything that isn't D&D or D&D-derived, and it's a whole lot of games, trust me.

BESW

@JoelHarmon He seems to looking for something a bit more improvisational than "pick pre-made spells from a list."

Joel Harmon

@BESW I hadn't gotten that far in the conversation yet

in which case I'd reiterate my recommendation of Mage, wherein the different Spheres of magic define vaguely the kinds of things you can do. It's up to you to be creative in how to use them.

doppelgreener

@user507974 Legend of the Elements is one of the Avatar / Bending RPGs I've seen.

doppelgreener

14:20

I haven't played it myself yet.

doppelgreener

15:31

I've attempted to give a concise and meaningful answer to that featured Q&A.

0

A: Why is an answer being downvoted without any comments?

If someone hasn't explained their downvote, chances are there's nothing much helpful they can say, or their comment is the kind that historically causes problems. We do leave comments when we can suggest an improvement, or when we can ask for clarification. (Those are in fact the official uses o...

Miniman

@doppelgreener Incidentally, this answer is actually just straight shooting spam.

Shalvenay

@Miniman what am I supposed to do with it now that the link's been edited out by someone trying to be helpful who didn't realize what they were doing?

Miniman

@Shalvenay Eh, even without the link, copying two paragraphs from another answer without modifying them at all is still spam.

doppelgreener

@Miniman You're right. @SevenSidedDie @mxyzplk Spam in the stack! It had a spammy link in the original revision.

@Shalvenay flag as spam anyway. It was posted from a spambot, the spam flags will help get the spambot's material deleted and its access to the site revoked.

Shalvenay

@doppelgreener done -- is there policy guidance on this topic though, or is it something that hasn't ever been written down?

doppelgreener

15:38

@Shalvenay the policy is "flag spam" and "flag spam posts from spambots". it's not going to be a contributing user.

our spam flags help train the mechanisms that learn what spam looks like on our stack.

Miniman

Having done my bit for the world, at 3am with work tomorrow, night all.

@doppelgreener Also, answer looks good.

Shalvenay

@doppelgreener yeah, I'm just looking for a piece of paper to point to in case someone shows up and starts arguing about it

doppelgreener

@Miniman Thank you, and goodnight!

@Shalvenay spambots don't tend to show up arguing about it, so neither of us need to worry about that scenario.

or rather: let's worry about finding that piece of paper if that actually happens.

(it won't.)

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