I mean, gambling is supposed to favor the house

That's why they call it house rules

o.O

no it's not, stop that, brain

So Level 1 characters should pretty much never gamble.

I'm not sure I understand the source of confusion here.

White text on yellow background? What sort of chaos is this

Blame the table defaults in Excel.

I didn't design those presets.

@goodguy5 The language used is unclear if you give away your initial bet, as to whether it is part of the loses/winnings or not. Ie. do you get your initial money, + what you bet x 1.5 if you get 2 successes? Or just what you bet x 1.5?

The only Tier 1 characters that should ever attempt to gamble are Bards or Rogues, and ONLY if they have expertise + a maxed out ability score in 2 of the three necessary checks.

(Even Expertise in gaming dice won't cut it, since that caps out at +4 for a Tier 1 character)

@GreySage One must give away one's bet for it to be a "bet". No sane bookie will take your word for it.

@goodguy5 While I have no first hand experience with bookies, media suggest otherwise. I can think of many examples of bookies taking bets on credit, then having to rough up the better when they lose and can't/won't pay.

as I said, sanity comes into question

@goodguy5 shrug

regardless. You pay your money in order to gamble. Then you either get it back, or not.

Divination Wizards, on the other hand, need only proficiency + 1 on their checks.

And the +2 losses are pretty minimal.

Are those the sum of the 3 modifiers on the table?

@Sdjz No, the average.

Oh then what you mean by them only needing +1?

@Sdjz Proficiency + 1, not just +1.

+1 would be without proficiency (or proficiency with a negative ability modifier)

@Xirema Aah makes sense

(I'm assuming a proficiency of +2, for Tier 1 characters)

But here's the trick: a Divination Wizard doesn't have to use their Portent. They might just try a regular roll if both their Portent rolls are bad.

So the question is: what strategy would said wizard apply? When do they decide their Portent rolls are bad enough that they'd rather just roll a regular check?

(I can run stats taking that into account once I decide what that strategy is)

The stats I already posted assume the wizard always uses their portent, come Tartarus† or high water.

Wow this question is probably the most-traightforward question I've seen in a while with a huge amount of baggage.

Sidebar: I am definitely rolling up a Casino Wizard to add to my character reserve.

@Rubiksmoose I'm very interested in the sitcom aspect of what happens with their party member

> Because of that, I’m planning how to do the most damage as I can to defeat a very threatening and greedy party member so obviously being an Eldritch knight will probably help in this situation.

There's so much drama in this one line I can't even.

And I'm not sure how they figure going EK is the best way to optimize damage....

@Rubiksmoose As much as I'd like to poke at their PVP issue and judgment, it's tangential to the question being asked

it's a weird one for sure.

@MikeQ there's nothing wrong with that. Of course you aren't required to address every side-issue either.

But sometimes people act like its taboo to talk about something not explicitly asked by OP and that isn't really true. I feel like talking about it in this case is solving their actual issue. Basically the whole question is a large XY issue.

Of course it is a risk to tackle side issues both in terms of answer clarity and in terms of inviting disagreement about other parts of your answer beyond the core, but it is a plunge I usually take personally.

What are the odds the OP is this guy? (Read the alt-text at your own risk!)

oh man, looking back through the eldritch Knight's questions, they've all (or at least all I saw) have just been about this on going campaign. Which is neat, imo

It's been going since last may

Why do people have so many questions about Magic Jar and Clone? They just work whatever way works best for the campaign. Stop worrying about things!

^My wife hates that justification

"Just stop worrying about it"

@goodguy5 Mine does as well, but it doesn't make it any less true. If it will never come up or be a problem, it isn't an issue and you should just not worry about it.

OR, if it's completely outside of your scope of influence.

If you can't do anything to prevent it from being a problem, then what will be will be

@GreySage Maybe it's a homebrew campaign where magic jar and clone are the only spells allowed

@goodguy5 Yup, no need to worry about meteor strikes, or megavolcanoes. If they happen, they happen, and nothing you do will change the outcome.

maybe its' a guy thing

@Rubiksmoose There's probably an XY issue going on here, but I'm iffy about providing unsolicited advice on the stack. Opinion-based values and such.

@GreySage Now we just need to combine magic jar, clone, and Glyph of Warding to complete the circle lol

@MikeQ iffy on if it is allowed or just the wisdom of doing it? Because it is definitely allowed as long as you actually answer the question.

Sorta both. I've given subjective answers, but only if the asker expresses what their goal and intent is

Alright, last bit of statistics. A Divination Wizard that discards portent results if their total (including the modifier) is not greater than or equal to 16:

If their goal is to disrupt the party and make their fellow players unhappy, then it's not my place to say "Don't, because I think it's wrong for you to do that"

Hrm....

I feel like ">=16" isn't perfect because the gambling roll is 7-25.

I can try different thresholds, see what happens. the DC does have an average of 16 though.

@MikeQ Well for one thing it is actually allowed (I've had mods step in and say so explicitly on answers before).

@goodguy5 From the perspective of the Diviner, they don't know what the DC is

@illustro right, but they don't have to "throw out" the rolls until after the gambling is done

@Xirema Are you assuming just a single set of rolls over all 5 days, where the diviner gets one set of portent rolls to use against them? or something else?

@MikeQ For another that is not what I would suggest saying in this case. In this case OP is saying: "There is a player being a jerk and making things not fun for us, I want to solve this by hitting him hard for a lot of damage. Will this rule do this thing?" To which the completest (IMO) answer would include "don't hit the other player because it won't fix your issue".

@goodguy5 if the rolls are all done in the same day, then no they don't have to "throw out" any rolls

On the other hand we do need more deets here

@Rubiksmoose They commented that the other party members don't see this other player character's behavior as a problem.

If they are spread out over multiple days then they will have to "throw out" at least some of them

Is gambling a by-day thing, or a by-week thing?

@MikeQ I saw that. I don't think it changes what I would say though.

Wait, are we saying that you wait for a day where your portent rolls are good to gamble? I thought we were using any given day

The way portent works is that you can't "store" the rolls over multiple days

I know

thus you have to "throw out" some

because the gambling downtime in XGtE takes up 5 days (one workweek in XGtE is 5 days)

Sure, if the gambling rolls are across multiple days, which is my confusion

My question was because it's unclear as to when exactly the rolls take place over that 5 day period

agreed

I'd just assumed it was pick a random day, but it is unclear, for sure

Just to be clear, I am not saying that anybody has to answer addressing the table issue (or perceived table issue) just that they can, and often I find those answers to be the best.

If they are all on a specific day then you get 2 rolls to apply to all three checks

If they are spread out over 5 days (with 3 specific days, one for each check), then you get 6 rolls to apply to the 3 checks

When you take a simple rules question and answer it, but then go deeper and help OP solve the bigger issue as well - that is a truly expert answer. And something I think makes an answer truly special when it is pulled off well.

how do I only have 4 votes left today.....

If they are spread out over 5 days, with the diviner getting to choose when they make the rolls over that peeriod they get the possibility of 10 rolls

, however that 10 rolls is misleading because of the inability to "store" rolls from previous days

The player behind diviner would need a strategy to decide what roll is "good enough" to use

@illustro I'm assuming the checks are on separate days, and the wizard doesn't get to choose which days they apply their rolls (i.e. if they low roll on Tuesday, and there's a check on Tuesday, they can't wait until they roll a 19 and 20 on Thursday)

okay, good

@goodguy5 Well it has been crazy busy today!

Ok, so in your simulation there are 3 specific days on which checks happen, and they get two portent rolls, plus (if required) a regular roll

on each day of the check

^?

@illustro Yes. If the highest portent roll (plus the associated modifier) is below a given threshold (16 in the table above) the wizard attempts a regular roll. If not, then they use the highest portent roll.

I think V2Blast is editing random questions, which pushes then to the top of the active queue, which encourages upvotes. Still not sure why the editing is happening.

because he likes things a certain way

@goodguy5 Good idea trying other thresholds. Got some interesting results.

@GreySage nah they don't look random to me. out of the 3 they edited this hour, two were active within a few hours of the edit. One was to edit the title properly according to the meta and the other to improve the tagging on a recently edited question.

@Xirema that's some witchcraft.

The only one that might not have been advised is editing the tags on the old inactive question. Generally tag-only edits of old questions aren't really encouraged.

@GreySage V2 feeds on the psychic energy gained by editing questions and tags

They are building up sustenance, in preparation for the winter weather and hibernation

Hey everyone, so I have an age old question: How much do vampires need to drink? Im building a society ruled by vampires where the non vampires need to pay the blood tax, the society's way of keeping the vampires from hunting you and also lets the vampires feast without the hunt. The hunt is reserved for criminals and rebels, those who forfeit their protection by breaking the law

tagonlyeditsarediscouraged

Here, with some highlighting to show optimal strategy:

lame, I SwItChCaSeD it

@Rubiksmoose I think the OP accepted an answer on that one, which is why it was in the active queue

I assume the diviner in that case has the same modifier on all three skills?

@KDodge As much as what makes the narrative interesting. ;)

@GreySage ah that might be. I only looked at edits.

@illustro In all cases, I'm showing the average modifier. Having modifiers that are different from each other has a very small impact on the average return (1-2%).

So if you have a +3, +4, and +7, use the +4 row.

(alternatively, change strategies for each day, if you know ahead of time which rolls will be called for on each day)

Is it assuming a static DC of 16 to compare the result against?

@Xirema Alternate question: Do vampires get fat if they drink too much blood? Do they actually NEED to drink to survive, or is it just an urge?

This seems counter intuitive.

@Xirema I could just say a pint a week is what every person is taxed but I figured I would figure out how much is needed, I'm also curious cause Ive had this question before for player characters that were vampires and no dm has ever given me a good answer. As a dm I never have allowed someone to start as a vamp and they never have been turned

The higher your modifier, the less your portent die can be and still be valuable

For example, with +17, you only need an 8 on the portent die to get even the highest DC

@goodguy5 It seems weird, but I found similar stats when I was running tests on Great Weapon Fighting.

For example, I tried running stats on different thresholds for the Great Weapon Fighting style threshold.

@KDodge Yeah I think that if there isn't a lore-based answer (I have no idea but suspect there is not) then I think it is one of those things that just doesn't have a great answer besides "X, because that is the way my world works".

What I found very consistently is that the times where you want to replace the die is "any time you roll below average".

That's always the optimal strategy.

@Xirema I'd be interested in seeing the formulae behind your calculations

@Xirema yea, but this isn't like lucky, this is the reverse

So when you have a really high modifier, that +20 threshold (bear in mind that those numbers include the modifier already) means you rolled something like a natural 3-8. If you only discard on rolls that low, you lose effectiveness.

Though, one could argue that the portent roll is essentially rolling your gambling check with advantage, then you have the option to use "forced" lucky afterwards.

Also the headers on your table, are they the total roll, including the modifiers, or the value on the dice?

The ideal is to reroll on any Portent roll less than its average, which is ~13.something due to the "advantage-like" behavior

@Xirema Makes sense

Or 16.something if you have a +3 modifier.

@Xirema right, but let's look at the last line.

everything above 7 on the portent dice is an auto success, right?

@illustro The total. So Discard < 16 means (if you have a +3 modifier) "discard if the portent roll (before modification) is less than 13)"

Ah ok

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

@goodguy5 Well, bear in mind my columns only extended to 20. So the stats down there don't consider possible higher thresholds.

So Discard <20 on the last line, means discard if your number on the dice is 1 or 2

yea, I gotcha

@illustro Basically.

(In hindsight, yeah, it probably would have been better to show the raw Die roll instead...)

k, that table makes more sense to me now

^

and the bright green is highlighting the highest "profit" in the row

@illustro Yep.

Good takeaway though: a Divination Wizard can be a good gambler from the moment they hit level 2.

So long as they haven't completely botched their stat allocation, that is.

Yeah...so long as they haven't tanked charisma and wisdom!

@Xirema or if they have gaming set proficiency

^

@goodguy5 That too. For a Divination Wizard, their gaming set proficiency is as-is good enough.

Question: how many ways are there to get Tool Expertise (specifically Gaming dice or Playing Cards) in 5th edition?

The background Criminal gives it to you

@illustro That gives proficiency, not expertise.

What do you mean by Expertise?

double proficiency

ah

Spoilers, subtract 2 from whatever answer you're about to give, because neither Rogues or Bards can gain Expertise in tools (other than Thieves Tools for Rogues).

you only need proficiency in the tool to get to use it with the gambling downtime rules

@illustro But double prof means you get even more bonus to the role

@GreySage ^

@GreySage yep I realise that

@goodguy5 Knowledge Domain Clerics only gain skill proficiencies/expertise, not tool proficiencies/expertise.

nevermind, clerics only get expertise for know.... yep

Well, they can get regular proficiency in a tool for 10 minutes.

Tool proficiencies kinda feel badly thought out in 5e to me

The good part is that at least they're simple

Arguable the Skill Empowerment spell

Changeling Divergent Persona

Warforged Integrated Tool

@goodguy5 Nope, only skills, not tools.

The WGE races though, yeah.

Elf subrace Aereni Expertise

Though the Warforged might be a weird case. They gain said expertise when using the tool integrated into their body. That's fine in normal situations, but how many casinos would let you use your own dice? ;)

And (houserule), I would allow the Ranger's Natural Explorer to work if they're gambling in their favored terrain, but only for the wisdom check

So what's up to y'all

I'm writing my research code so it'd be more efficient. Boo me for never getting this done

@goodguy5 Now I just need to find a casino in the middle of a forest

booooo

God, what a weird, delightful movie.

@Xirema One of the best ever made

What's that? The crowd looks like Life of Brian but I don't remember the scene

PRINCESS BRIDE YOU HEATHEN GET OUT

@goodguy5 To be fair that'd probably be the best for my thesis code too

I might even have some spare time for RPG planning tonight

I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR THESIS GO WATCH PRINCESS BRIDE

no

The board will understand

@goodguy5 I'd believe it

Our university got hit by spending cuts because our PM can't keep a promise. Our board is nowadays an actual wooden board.

And don't get me started on the server logs.

Anyway, back to work on my tree search algorithm -->

@Xirema obviously the casino that employs a bunch of envoy warforged ;)

Hailing from a country that's like 80% forest and 19% lake, it took me quite a while to understand why anyone'd need a tree search algorithm

Just look out the window yo

@kviiri chuckle

(I looked up actual numbers and they aren't even that far off... about 70% forest, 10% inland water)

* Breathes Heavily

My cup run-eth over.

@GreySage Late response, but yeah, my edits of "old" questions are generally because they showed up on the front page due to a recent edit or other recent activity.

@Xirema "I'm currently at level 3 [...] I have just been granted a wish"

o.O

You have been granted a what now

yeah... not to mention that he got that wish by drawing from the Deck of Many Things

@illustro also, "I drew the wish card from the deck of many things"

first

lol

:D

Level 3 Deck of Many Things = soon to be dead party

it's a miracle their campaign isn't already broken

@V2Blast Second time today, you also beat me on the welcoming comment in that question. Fortunately, I can have my revenge when you are not online

That's my secret... I'm always online

..and he wants "a pair of magic longswords with a damage modifier that increases per level"

Aka I'd like a pair of +1 weapons that gets better as I level up

Deck of Many Things is one of those things that I wish had a disclaimer on it in the DMG

Does rolling back an edit also bump a thread? There's a truly minor (but incorrect) formatting edit made to an answer I made that's quite old at this point (no, not by you, @V2Blast :-P), and isn't worth the bump.

"Caution: Magic item capable of destroying any semblance to typical heroic fantasy"

@CTWind Yeah, pretty much any non-comment activity (closing or reopening, edits of any sort, new answers) bumps the thread

Alas, then I shall be forever haunted by improper italicization and capitalization in this answer, only most of which is my fault.

I'd say just do it, single bumps aren't really a big deal.

You should worry about making changes to many posts causing enough bumps to disturb the normal use of the site

It's fine, it's an old UA answer that people probably aren't using much anymore since that UA's super out of date. Doesn't need the bump. Was just a thing where it looked off, then when V2 answered this I realised it definitely was.

@illustro Here, have some +1 Long swords that give you an extra +1 to attack every 4 levels (ie., they use your standard proficiency bonus, like all weapons you are proficient with).

How about the thing in some Final Fantasy games where you get abilities that are better versus foes whose level is divisible by a certain number?

@kviiri Level 4 Flare is where it is at, man.

@GreySage Flarataga

I guess one of the reasons why I found Final Fantasies so hard to get in to was that I started with FFX, which is apparently very light on that kind of thing compared to the rest of the series

It also has very little permanently missable content which is also nice

dang it, kiv. Go Thesis, or watch The Princess Bride.

@goodguy5 I'm working on the thesis all the time

Making changes to the script, letting it run for a few minutes

@kviiri well naturally

@Sdjz I knew what you linked before I even clicked on it

@goodguy5 I figured most people already know of this. Still very valid :)

yes, I guessed too :)

In my defense it's almost bedtime here

I shouldn't really be working anymore

sleep is important

so they say

I forgo sleep all the time and I haven't suff

asldkjalsijeiaudsna;lkwej;aldijniausndakjwenawe

ered any side effects

same

I already took a nap today because I was feeling a bit ill

Naps rock

My favorite use for a 20-min nap is that it serves as a convenient "mood reset". Feeling down? Leave the mortal coil for 20 minutes and reroll your mood.

I wish I could take naps

I can never just sleep for a little bit

it's all or nothing

I'm decent at napping, but they've got to be 1-2 hours

I can't power nap

You need a feat for that

@kviiri I can't nap. If I nap for 20 minutes it doesn't help, if I nap for any longer than that I get groggy and feel like I have a fever until the next day.

Dragon+ with Jeremy Crawford happening now: twitch.tv/dnd

Okay, I worked out the scaling factor for that question about magic longswords.

Turns out what you want is +1 at level 5, +2 at level 20, on top of whatever magic weapon bonuses are standard for those levels.

Also, I compared against the DPR of Great Weapon Master, because if this build is taking a feat, it's only fair a competing build take a feat.

Turns out if you want to compete, you can do it with relatively modest bonuses.

@V2Blast Grats! :-P

Thanks! :D

Crawford says Artificer is still on track for a February UA release but due to weather and illness it might come right down to the wire and possibly release on the last day of the month. Also, UA dates are likely to be more flexible in the coming months.

Has Crawford indicated anything about the subclasses for Artificer?

Nope, no such specifics

I can barely take the suspense any longer.

Hey I am doing some homebrewing and would like some advice, anyone on?

I created a Water Elemental Ghost, basically a ghost that is tied to a water source similar to how Water Weirds work and the ghost is engulfed in a similar form of a Water Elemental. I have a druid in the party with the option of "Create or Destroy Water." and can destroy 10 gallons per 1st level spell slot cast.

After some math, there are 74.805 Gallons per 10ft cube (area a water elemental takes up) so this spell would deal 13.36% of its max HP which I set at 124 HP, so 16.57 damage per cast. However something didn't seem right. First off a Water elelmental isn't a literal 10ft cube so I have to adjust for space not used so lets say 34% is unused space the creature would have 49.37 Gallons of water and the spell would instead end up dealing 25.12 damage per cast.

I was thinking since this was a sentient creature having the spell have a spell save DC to whatever the caster normally uses, but im just bouncing an idea out here

@Bloodcinder I'm in the same boat only I'm actually playing the artificer currently and would desperately love to "upgrade" him.

but having a 1st level spell deal 4d8 to 4d12 seems excessive

@KDodge It's a lot of damage, but it also is a very specific circumstance. You could always lower the damage, assuming the druid thinks of using it at all.

Im just trying to find a way to make this fair to both sides, I don't want my players to feel im just trying to say f u idc, I like rewarding creativity and I can see this option being taken

Ghosts aren't open containers or fog, though. They can't destroy the water in humanoids or plants, why ghosts?

If you want an effect, maybe the ghost is linked to the water and will reenter it in an hour unless the water is sealed away or destroyed.

Morning all

@KDodge I don't see the problem. Just adjust the damage done to be something reasonable (more than a normal lvl 1 spell, but not excessive), forget trying to measure how many gallons of water is in the ghost, and reward creative thinking with extra damage.

hey there @KDodge, welcome to the RPG.SE lair :)

thanks everyone

@V2Blast Is that a Hulk reference?

Indeed

Nice.