@doppelgreener Philip Jose Farmer and world of spheres ... all over again. Good stuff. (pocket universes, sixties SF pulp)

Sounds similar!

I am pretty sure that Gygax was familiar with Farmer, and am certain that Arneson was.

I wouldn't be surprised if the authors collaborating on Points of Light were too.

Another plot thingy I have going in my campaign is that one of the heroes' allies is secretly a Silver Dragon in human disguise. They decided to make the change because flight is of immense strategic value to the BBEG (they're stranded on an island and lack the power of flight or ships to reach the rest of the Material plane)

And the BBEG has a knack for pressuring things to work for it...

Is "guise" and "disguise" kinda like "flammable" and "inflammable" where it looks like there's a prefix ("in-"/"dis-") that usually means negation but actually isn't in this case?

Hm, Wiktionary suggests "guise" comes from Old French and means "way" or "manner"

Seems like "guise" is used to refer to both fraudulent or deliberately misleading ways of acting in addition to sincere and honest ones. That's news to me

"an external form, appearance, or manner of presentation, typically concealing the true nature of something."

Typically but not always I suppose?

@doppelgreener Bubble universes and pocket universes were a thing in 50's and 60's SF, as was time travel. I am trying to recall how those were all related, but some SF had "alternate reality" being parallel worlds ... up to infinite parallel worlds ...

@Yuuki Nah, they're not the same.

Sigh. I wish I had in a box all of the short stories and paperbacks (SF) I read between the ages of 10 and 25. (I didn't start holding onto stuff like that until I got married and we planned to have kids. So I began saving all literature ... in lots of boxes)

Not to mention my Sgt Rock, Nick Fury, Rawhide Kid, and Conan comic books. Those disappeared ages ago.

The Haunted Tank was another comic series I wish I hadn't lost ...

@KorvinStarmast Based on title alone, this is my favourite comic of all time

Haunted Tank? Yeah, it was a personal favorite, however implausible the premise...

@KorvinStarmast Implausible? How dare you

(A Stuart light scouting tank taking on Tigers ...)

I was living in Germany at the time when I caught the bug for that comic. Heh, all of my National Lampoons and Mad magazine issues .... for most of the 70's ... a box full of them lost during a move in the mid 80's. Not replaceable.

Implausible is Warrior vs Tank

Tank vs tank is normal

Roll20 question - Do I need to do something as GM to allow players to create their character sheets?

IIRC yes, you need to set something

Yes, IIRC you need to create a blank sheet and then you have to open the permission for it for them. I can't get to R20 at the moment, so I'll follow up later.

Would you consider a comment rude that says "Is this thing you ask about important? Because if, it should be somewhere important [and you wouldn't have to ask]." ?

You can infact make all char sheets available to the whole party if you like, or not.

@SPavel PzKw II versus T-34/85 was a one sided match ....

@KorvinStarmast ah, i'll try..brb

@KorvinStarmast Nah it's 50/50 if the German equipment breaks down VS the Soviet equipment gets jammed

@SPavel Hey man, my Spearman unit has plenty of defense bonuses plus they're on a hill.

I could totally see them taking on a tank.

Unless you are 40:1, your life will soon be undone

Nana Pavel. You know what was the fate of the Königstieger when the red army marched on? they stood still with broken tracks and shot apart russian tanks in the dozen before getting abandonned.

Look, spearmen are anti-cavalry and tanks are cavalry units.

@SPavel There was that problem with Panthers/PzKw V of the gears in the transmission being made of a steel that wasn't well hardened, so the trannies wore out rather quickly ...

@Yuuki I can't argue with that logic.

@NautArch I don't think you can have players creating the characters themselves at will but you can create blank characters, then when selecting a character on the top right there should be an option to "Edit". You can then assign permissions by using the options "In player's journals" (allows players to view only the image and description) and "Can be Edited & Controlled by" (full access)

@Sdjz Thank you! I set it up for them, waiting on them to confirm :)

@Trish Same thing with the KV tanks at the start of the war, they would run out of fuel, then ammunition, then their crews would abandon them - nothing the Germans did short of air strikes would take one out

The problem with shooting Russian tanks apart by the dozens is that there are always more dozens.

So my players repeatedly tried to call the bluffs of NPCs and enemies who were not bluffing last night, ending in a near TPK

now they are all on their way to jail and torture

@SirCinnamon oh geez.

not at all what I had planned for the session

cheese 'n rice

<sits down for story time>

Basically they were protecting a defector who stole some magical explosive, he was allowing the party to gift him+his info+and the explosive to whatever faction they choose, all he cares about is being protected

@SirCinnamon Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear, well, he eats you

@SirCinnamon what system?

Party gets cornered in an alleyway, fights of one group and then just hung out in the alley for a few minutes (major mistake 1)

@NautArch DnD5e

@SirCinnamon You know where it's safest to hide out? At the scene of the crime.

@SirCinnamon ALWAYS keep moving!

Fire Snakes and a Cultist approach and corner them again

Half the party tries to fight and half tries to flee (Major Mistake 2)

They manage to pull the knocked out dwarf into a shop off the alley but the monk is fully cornered and made to surrender

@SirCinnamon This is why I am pro party as a single entity

The party has a level, alignment, resources, etc, not individual morons

Unfortunately few/no games do this

@SPavel When I say flee, they didnt full out sprint but they took cover and made no helpful actions while the rest was in trouble

@SirCinnamon That's so dumb

What did they hope would happen

So cultist calls out "I have your monk, give me the admiral and you can walk away"

@SirCinnamon communication fail

@SPavel It IS dumb, and i dont know

happens to the best of us

were the players...under the influence?

I give ample decision time, and the druid decides "Run at him as a dire wolf" is his best choice (Major Mistake 3)

Fire snake Bites and Tail whips the monk, knocking him out and inflicting 2 failed death saves

Cultist calls for the druid to heel, resume human form and surrender himself as well, which he does

He calls out again "I have 2 of your friends, give me the admiral"

After me giving the party a lot of time to discuss options, they step into the alley and kneel. The admiral is brandishing his explosive and saying they have to guard him but they call out that the admiral wont cooperate.

The admiral runs behind the keeling party holding his explosive and threatens that if they dont get him out of this he will detonate it

Wizard decides to try and levitate the explosive and he detonates it on top of them

A pure unfudged damage roll of 6d12 came up as 21 damage - much higher and the wizard would definitely be dead and if had been on the higher end the bard would have also died on the spot. The admiral was incinerated because he did the detonation

@SirCinnamon plot hook dead?

So with the admiral dead, explosive gone and 2/5 party members already unconscious and the rest surrendering, and reinforcements incoming, the party was arrested

@NautArch I might have been able to weasel an excuse about the enemy using spare the dying or something...

in search of information? But it would have been flimsy

@SirCinnamon they could always meet someone in prison :) Begin shawshank plot.

I'm glad it wasnt a death but honestly with the sheer lack of forethought they really earned some penalties

Yeah I have some rewrites to do

Not the first time that a portion of the party has decided to give up on a fight while the others dont really have that option

Maybe they are rescued by the admiral's vengeful ghost

The bard avoids combat at all costs, the wizard used I think one spell slot before giving up, the druid didnt wild shape this fight and the rogue and monk actually were fighting okay

@SirCinnamon why doesthe bard avoid combat? Kinda the wrong system for that.

We had a new guy join our table who picked a rogue and immediately went to go try and steal something. GM ended the attempt with a slap on the wrist.

@NautArch literal or figurative?

@NautArch Well he doesnt avoid combat, he's perfectly okay starting fights but he doesnt make hostile actions. Very occasionally he will Dissonant whispers or vicious mockery but thats it. A lot of his turns are "bardic inspire and pass"

@GreySage MOre literal. But it was nearly physical. "This is not an evil campaign, we are not doing that here."

@SirCinnamon That's...annoying.

I think he does it because he HATES when he misses. He had one spell miss that fight and pouted for like 2 turns

@SirCinnamon Not everything always works, get over it.

I love the recent question about "here, let's teach 20 kobold slaves to cast magic missile." What could possibly go wrong?

Or get some spells that are more buffs/environmental control

Yeah, like sure utility bard is a thing i suppose if thats what you want to do

> As a DM, this is a great place to "give 'em enough rope" and see how it plays out.

@SirCinnamon Better than opting not to do anything. That drags the whole party down.

but not everything will work every time and if youre going to pass anyways, why not use a damage cantrip

@NautArch Yeah because you bet im balancing for 5 players, if he doesnt pull his weight someone else has to

@SirCinnamon Vicious Mockery for a bard isn't that interesting. Especially if you're fighting someone with more than one attack.

@NautArch Nothing about what he does in combat is very interesting

@SirCinnamon In last night's game, the new guy (slapped wrist guy) didn't land one hit. Against a tarrasque. But he got his XP! :D

@NautArch haha ouch

thats a lot of misses for a rogue. One weapon or 2?

@SirCinnamon One, but he really wasn't understanding how to play. He's been playing a warlock in our other campaign but never really got the mechancis down there, either.

@NautArch Against an ogre at level 1-4, VM is very handy. Against Giants later, it still doesn't hurt. Disadvantage versus big damage from giants is a good damage avoidance technique for your front liners.

He only attempted to get one sneak attack and then did other stuff for most of hte fight. NOt quite sure what he was up to.

Anyway that was my venting about the straightforward session which went very off the rails.

@NautArch Oh i was assuming he was consistently trying to attack

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, but if they've got more than one attack, giving DIs on one is helpful, mbut not as helpful when they follow it up with additional attacks :)

Was he searching for a weak spot or something?

@SirCinnamon Sadly, I'm ont sure he was. He's an arcane trickster and may have tried casting some spells. I was too busy trying to kill the Tarrasque (and not be killed after I fell off my mount onto the top of the tarrasque)

@NautArch Your paladin/pegasus combo?

@SirCinnamon the very same :) I was under haste, so gave my pegasus an opportunity to attack (which I usually don't, i just use him as transport.) And he fumbled with an 84% percentile. DM said I fell off the pegasus and onto the tarrasque. Then gave me DC19 acrobatics checks to stay on top. I'm not very acrobatic in plate armor :). Made it one turn, but fell of the next turn (whenever the tarrasque attacked/moved at the end of othe rplayers turns, I had to roll.)

But before all of that, I set a new PR for most damage in one hit: 106.

@NautArch Wow, what is that, smite at 9th level?

on a crit?

@SirCinnamon Crit, 4th level smite I'm 17th level)

@NautArch Oh right, paladin are in the half-caster spell slot set

@NautArch It is far more useful in a game where Spell Conservation is a big factor. In the 15 minute adventure day, not so much.

Still thats a hunk of damage, mostly radiant so unlikely to be resisted

@KorvinStarmast Even then, there are better things a bard can do (like attack with a weapon). But if out of options and it makes sense, VM isn't a bad call. It's just not usually the best call.

Best defense is a good offense.

@NautArch yeah; with a bard low on HP, a melee attack is a crap idea up against a big damage dealer. The offense in this case is front liners staying up, and hitting, and not getting hit, but it is situational. there are other options in most cases, and where there are multi attack monsters, VM's goodness in that regard falls off.

A faerie fire is a great way to start a fight

Costs a spell slot.

Well yes, im just speaking in general I think you can do Utility Bard but even if thats your goal youll want to attack sometimes

@KorvinStarmast And bard's don't have very interesting cantrips. VM is pretty much their goto damage cantrip (unless theyr're surrounded and don't need to be quiet for a THunderclap)

But a d4 with a failed WIS save is balanced against a ranged weapon attack for d6+modifier.

Magical Secrets could always take a cantrip, too (especially for a bard unwilling to cast actual spells)

Or Magic Initiate and pick up Eldritch Blast.

And some other 1st-level spell.

Or just pew-pew with arrows/bolts

@NautArch With a decent dex and a short bow, sure, why not? Or a light cross bow. Mosters with low wis, though, I like it. (See ogres ...)

@KorvinStarmast no metagaming! :D

As my experience with bard play does not go past level 7, I am not sure how bards deal at high levels; ours had a ring of spell storing, which he used to very good effect.

@KorvinStarmast I dipped warlock 2 for EB+CHA with mine (currently 15th level)

@NautArch Nature checks; they are a thing. Battlemasters can figure out stuff like this after level 7 ... good call on the WL dip.

@KorvinStarmast it worked thematically, too. I was much impressed by our cleric of bane and wanted some of their power.

so made a deal :D

I'll be discussing a WL dip with my DM if my champion survives to 14. Lately our wizard bailed out; our only spell caster is a cleric, and a rogue13/bard2

Losing the wizard was bad.

@KorvinStarmast All depends on capstone and how far you think you'll go. I'm not normally a fan of multiclassing in terms of power. The loss you get on delayed progression (or missing out on a cool capstone) is real. The bard capstone isn't that interesting, so I was also okay with it.

@NautArch The druid I was talking about earlier is actually a Druid3/Barb1 which is actually one of the best multiclasses i've seen so far in terms of viability and complimentary abilities

@SirCinnamon Yeah, I rolled up one for a one-shot. But i'm not sure if it really makes sense once you get to higher levels. It's a great low-level combo. DO they plan on continuing on the Barb?

@NautArch I don't think so, just a 1 level dip as far as i know

not any time soon for sure

@NautArch Our Tier 3 group has a Bar 8 / Dru 4 who will hopefully become Dru 5 soon. Moon druid; it's pretty effective.

i feel like high level beasts with unarmored defense can be pretty tough, as well as resistance to the basic damage types

@KorvinStarmast THat's good to know!

He did take Great Weapon Master Feat which can make for some spikey nova damage. As the other front liner, I appreciate when he turns into a dire wolf, since I get advantage on attacks ... and I get 3.

It's just always hard giving up on class progression pieces (or waiting significantly longer for them.) Not sure how they got there, but delaying that Extra Attack can be a big deal.

Getting to barb 6 or 8 first is probably the better way to go, depends on how far the campaign is going to run.

Sword and pistol question edited to make it more like our desired homebrew approach. Requesting reviews and reopen votes as appropriate. IMO this is a good question with some really good answers residing somewhere among our legion of experienced DMs and players.

Why wield a sword and pistol separately when you can just mount sword bayonets on your pistols

@SPavel Or pistols in your pommels?

@nitsua60 Pistols & Pommels, Renaissance/Age of Sail d20

Here's something you guys might be able to help me with: I'm planning my next tattoo - DnD themed. My concept is an iconic dnd creature, in a sort of sketched, monster-hunter's-journal style. I'm leaning to Owlbear, but wondering what you guys think are the coolest and most iconic creatures in DnD

You could get a gelatinous cube ;)

@user76690 I honestly jumped to this almost first but i'm worried about how.... reproducible that would be in the style I'm craving. Maybe i'll get a cartoony coloured gel cube after this one

Mind Flayers, Beholders, Otyughs

@SirCinnamon The way you reproduce it is via the stuff inside. Typically the skeleton of an adventurer who failed their saves

@goodguy5 Mind Flayers and Beholders are high on my list... Dragons are (while majestic and badass in the context of the game) not unique enough t me

@SirCinnamon I was mostly joking, but @Delioth is right. You could put an Owlbear inside a gelatinous cube

@SirCinnamon Beholder for sure

Hahaha get the owlbear tattoo now and get a cube around it later

Thats a real cool picture

or a champion of kyuss

or an elemental

oh oh!!! Stirges!

There are so many to choose from, hence my slight indecision

Get an Aboleth. Disturb your friends.

Mind flayer?

I'll get a mind flayer and when they accuse me of being a cruel dm I'll blame the flayer

it has control now, sorry guys

@SirCinnamon murderhobos

People will think your mind flayer is cthulhu

Beholder is uniquely D&D

@SPavel True enough

Or just get this picture

Text included?

of course

it could be an adventurer "sneaking" with a series of monsters lurking behind him.

@SirCinnamon obviously

invisible stalker (the 1e edition) pictured here:

I'll get this beholder: i.redd.it/qhafuwq955iy.jpg

omfg, is that legit the entry?

@nitsua60 Already have that one

@goodguy5 oh, yeah =)

that's great

There's another invisible monster somewhere in that book, IIRC, with a dashed-line outline for its art. [rummages]

We certainly have here Gygax's listing of the iconic monsters:

kawaii beholder

@goodguy5 OMG I LOVE IT

@nitsua60 That dragon is so stoned

@SPavel the dragon? have you seen the troll?????

@nitsua60 I note that owlbear is present

@Helwar Which troll? The chat is full of 'em!

@SPavel the one in the picture, context does wonders :P

omg, I can't believe I forgot about the purple wurm!

@Helwar Every troll in this chat has a picture :P

though ,people would think it a dune reference

@SPavel Now you are overextending the joke :P

@Helwar Which joke? The chat is full of 'em!

@SirCinnamon me, obviously, I'm the joke here (it seems) :P

last suggestion: A flumph

what are we suggesting? i started reading after the she-beholder :P

For me: dragon (redbox cover, please; Larry Elmore, please), beholder, illithid, flumph, otyugh/roper, owlbear, displacer beast, remorhaz, rust monster, various undead, rats, sturges, dinosaurs, varous lycanthropes, peryton...

@goodguy5 Seconded

Rust Monster would be a good one

rakshasa, nymphs/sprites/dryads/brownies/pixies, minotaur, bulette, drider, kobold

@nitsua60 I'd say very few of those are D&D - definitely not undead, rats, dinosaurs, or lycanthropes

Sure--I'm just listing off things I think of. Dragons aren't exclusively D&D, yet I do think of them as iconically D&D.

@goodguy5 (I never knew about these beautifull fellas until I read the wild magic chart)

Reptilian kobolds might be one

@Helwar They're the nicest guys in the Underdark

kender, duergar, the heirarchy of giants

JC (or mearls? not sure) drew a cute flumph in my phb

if you remind me later, I'll take a picture of it

One undead I would say people probably associate with D&D are liches

Vampires, skeletons, zombies not so much, but the lich doesn't get enough love in popular media

arthas!?

in the campaign I DM, there's a group of myconid merchants that teleport around via mushroom circles, they actually consume and trade hallucinogen shrooms and use flumphs as mounts... Even big flumphs carry some tents and whatever..

Kel Thuzad?

my players actively search for mushroom circles, and they have "planted" shrooms in a circle in the backyard of the inn they have underhandedly acquired, so they can deal safely and comfortably... xD

also, big D&D staple, mimics (just adding my 5c to the actual conversation)

@Helwar "Why do you have a chest tattooed on your chest?"

@SPavel i was thinking something like this vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/5/59/…

@Helwar Actually this is a really great idea too

damn, this is gonna be a hard choice

@goodguy5 this is the scariest beholder i've ever seen

@SirCinnamon Get fat so you have more surface area for tattoos, and can get all the monsters

speaking of Mimics... why the heck are they sticky now? was that ever a thing? You touch one and it's like super glue?

@SPavel I'll get the tattoos now real small, then get fat to enlarge them. that way i pay less for them

@SirCinnamon I can lend you some of my fat when you need it. Scratch that, I'll gift it to you

@SirCinnamon But then they will be low-res

@SPavel Like pixel art? sign me up!

@SirCinnamon No, just blurry

Think up-close PS2 textures

@SPavel Like my favourite game Spiderman 2? Sign me up!

@SirCinnamon Superman 64 the tattoo

How do I introduce Pasta to a D&D setting without coming up with some Not!Italy region in which it came from?

@Axoren Trick a PC into inventing it

@SirCinnamon I need it before the PCs would be playing.

@Axoren Literal gift from the gods

I don't know how to explain this, but I want Pasta to have some sort of spiritual significance.

Recipe carved on ancient tablet

@Axoren looking for a land mass or a culture?

@Axoren Just like real life then?

@Axoren I hear you. Pasta and I definitely have a spiritual relationship.

I want to use it as a segway into "By the way, Giant Floating Spaghetti Monster is a Warlock Patron."

@NautArch I just want Pasta itself to exist

Without needing a landmass or culture.

There is no Not!Italy in the setting

@Axoren Pasta ended up coming through a portal in a small city. Small city figured out how to make it and treat it as divine because they believe it to have been a gift from local diety.

@Rubiksmoose That's too fantastical, but would ALMOST work.

Only problem is random portals full of pasta.

...Why not just have pasta?

Maybe a deity visit said city and brought pasta as a gift?

@GreySage How do you JUST have pasta?

@Axoren so...have it exist? Also, pasta is originally likely an asian food :)

"These guys realized you can make bread in small strings and then boil it and it's yummy. People started eating it"

@Axoren Obviously you just plant pasta trees.

@GreySage This is really one of my major life philosophies.

@Axoren Doesn't solve the issue but Smallcity could have been in famine state.

I feel like Pasta itself is just so culturally charged. Maybe if I do just treat it as what it is, it might be easier to integrate.

@Axoren Hah, this remind me of the issues The Adventure Zone had with tacos...

@Axoren Pasta is generally made from flour, salt, and eggs. Its a doughnut without the sugar, or bread +egg -yeast.

@Rubiksmoose Link to that episode?

A wizard got the idea after accidentally Plane Shifting over to Italy and back. Then they sold the pasta recipe so they could make money for writing supplies.

@Axoren Yeah the problem with an elaborate pasta backstory is that you then somehow have to not awkwardly give this info to your PCs.

@Rubiksmoose duh, it's written on the menu in the restaurant.

@Axoren hmmm... well it was kind of a running gag and then issue for them as they realized the cultural charge to it.