TRPG General Chat

Bardic Wizard

12:07 AM

Welp the fate session didn’t go horribly

MikeQ

Do tell! What was the premise of the game?

Bardic Wizard

Basically, the council of rulers that in the usual game gives the characters orders was delayed in doing so a few sessions ago due to a zombie attacking in the middle of the meeting. So, knowing the end results, we thought we’d play out that meeting

The elven ambassador, dwarven president, and human king are all still alive so that’s good.

Best moment: the aide one player played, with the aspects Always Daydreaming and Money is Power, accepted 3 bribes from 3 different sides to keep the zombie horde out, then promptly left the door open and let the zombies in.

BESW

12:23 AM

Awesome

trogdor

I was going to ask why they needed to bribe them and then realized he let the zombies in despite the bribe

so clearly there was probably a reason they felt they needed to in the first place XD

Bardic Wizard

12:45 AM

We knew it was going to happen eventually... so we decided she did it despite being bribed not to, by accident.

trogdor

lol

my question then is, why did they need to bribe her to do it?

well, not to do it XD

KorvinStarmast

1:04 AM

@RedRiderX Given the low quality of his previous homebrew, this may not be good news. But it is of interest.

MikeQ

@KorvinStarmast The paladin does look kinda fun to play. The monk looks just about as confusing as it seems from their show.

Thomas Markov

1:40 AM

5

Q: Can you identify telepathically received messages sent through spells like Sending as magical via Detect Magic?

An enemy casts Sending to communicate with a player from far away. In this example, the player character doesn't know anything about the Sending spell and he might think he is just hearing voices or going crazy. Another player casts Detect Magic to scan the area. Can this player detect the presen...

I swear this question got asked last week

But I cant find it

AncientSwordRage

2:02 AM

@ThomasMarkov weird

Thomas Markov

Had to have been deleted after the last SEDE update, cuz it isnt showing up in recently deleted posts either.

Bardic Wizard

5:39 AM

I don’t have the XGtE on dndbeyond, and I’m out of the house right now, so I’m turning here since I’m lazy. What spell level is shadow blade?

MikeQ

2nd level. Googled "dnd shadow blade".

Bardic Wizard

Thanks!

Hot RPG Questions

7:05 AM

8

Q: Can Specters move into the ground to avoid Attacks of Opportunity?

In 5e, Specters have Incorporeal Movement which says The specter can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5(1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object. Therefore, I assume Specters can move through ground as if it were difficult terra...

dnd-5e combat opportunity-attack

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

9:07 AM

(Assuming this is too chatty for a proper stack question.)

Long story short, after about two decades of my roleplaying 'career', due to a mixture of 'ForeverGMness' and curiosity, I'm trying out AD&D for the second time (first time was a very shallow dip into 2e during the dawn of my World of Darkness period). And I'm making a fifth edition GOO tome blasting warlock, starting at level 6. We have a sorc, a cleric-turned-magic-user, and a holy pal of some sort.

I'm through with backstory, gear (including magic stuff), but I'm having trouble finalising decisions about spells. Apparently by l…

MikeQ

Is this for AD&D (2e) or D&D 5e? Is it somehow both?

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@MikeQ Arg, editing no longer possible. Meant to state that the last time I played the system it was AD&D2e, now I'm trying out 5e (for which I'm intending to play the warlock and making last-day adjustments).

MikeQ

Are you able to discuss with the other players in order to coordinate spell selection? With a cleric (or other prepared caster) in the party, they can probably take the burden for the more situational spells like clairvoyance & sending

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

To a degree I already did discuss/coordinate a lot, but I'm looking into additional perspectives for the final shortlist, especially since co-player answers shifted more towards offers to just play what one wants as the chargen process went on.

MikeQ

What eldritch invocations did you pick? Those tend to get used more often than spells, and have a greater impact over time.

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

9:20 AM

Agonising Blast, Devil's Sight and the one for learning any rituals of one's level (have SL3 Tiny Hut, SL3 Phantom Horse, SL2 Augury and some smaller ones already).

MikeQ

Yeah, the one that gives all the rituals is good if you're concerned about versatility & spell utility

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

Contrary to the FAQ, Devil's Sight is treated as seeing through Hadar in this campaign, so in a way Hadar can substitute for Darkness as a debuff for enemies.

I'm confident enough about all the other sections of the sheet, but the spell shortlist is where I'm having trouble making final decisions. There's competition for Concentrate (since there's not much point in having many C-spells in combat), but there's also the competition for known spells proper. I know Eldritch Blast means I can maintain reasonable DPS almost under any circumstances, so I'm thinking I should focus on spells that are outside the 'just DPS the target' circumstances.

But it's the first time I'm meaningfully engaging with a magic system whose resource system works the way D&D5e/warlock's does, so am not sure what sorts of circumstances to plan for more. (My previous experience was magic in games such as Mage the Ascension, Exalted, GURPS Powers [4e] and Psionics [3e], Age of Aquarius [RPG, not the card game!], and none of them have much similarity with this one.)

G Warner

1:42 PM

wheres the sci fi and fantasy chat room?

nevermind I found out its been iced.

KorvinStarmast

2:36 PM

@ThomasMarkov nice presentation on the wall of fire question. 👏

Bardic Wizard

Good morning! I was just looking at one of my dice and I realized it looks like a tomato, and if that’s not evidence that I haven’t slept enough, it’s a purple d20 that I said this about

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica That's what I have found. All of my spells tend to be "buff debuff control utility" and I handle damage with EB. Except wall of fire, which I get as a Celestial 'lock. I need to look at GOO for a moment and get back to you.

@BardicWizard I had a boss many years ago who told me "you can sleep when you're dead" but that was in a different context. (we were at sea at the time). Sleep is good for you. 👍

Medix2

@KorvinStarmast Moving this here to not crowd the question about AT Legerdemain stuff: but yeah it's definitely clear, it even has a matching direct quote, but I'm not opening that Meta can, not today at least. Though you'll see I wrote "potentially related" just to be safe

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica Also, if you went pact of the tome, picking up shocking grasp is a very handy "get out of the way" spell sometimes if a melee monster closes on you and you need to back off.

@Medix2 grin yeah, good call.

Medix2

I just wish there were a way to say "add a system tag" that doesn't come across poorly

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

2:49 PM

@KorvinStarmast I thought of it, though my current pick relies on more utility cantrips instead. I'm looking forward to grabbing Repelling Blast at level 7 (which should be soon since we are essentially 6½). There's also Misty Step which is less on-demand but more distant.

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica Repelling is most useful, yes.

Medix2

Though even the "welcome to the site" message has mixed reviews with some people saying it's condescending... Yay intent and text being a lose-lose situation

KorvinStarmast

@Medix2 Condescending? 😒

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica Hex has some neat use cases depending on the ability score that you target. If one of your other characters likes to shove or knock prone the enemy, r if they want to grapple the enemy, the enemy having disadvantage on that attempt is a nice way to help out.

Medix2

@KorvinStarmast However you spell that word XD

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@KorvinStarmast I've been trying to make my mind about Hex, and it seems cool but awkward. Can't live with it, can't live without it. It offers a nice DPS boost, but only single-target and only if predicting one's target consistently. It has a short 30' range (compared to blast), and competes for the Concentrate slot, especially if using the higher-level 8-hour duration, so if you used it, you are now disincentivised from using other Concentration spells.

And of course it's a thing that seems like a waste of a spell slot if it's something you're not trying to maintain for multiple targets. Which at first seems like a great candidate for scribing scrolls of, but then scrolls only have 1h durations.

KorvinStarmast

3:01 PM

@Medix2 this morning I spell it that way

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica yes, moving it to other targets is useful over the course of a day, but as you say concentration management becomes a bit trickier.

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica I dropped it at level 5 for mirror image, but I only ever used that spell once. (The action to cast is great if you are anticipating battle, but using it as a first action my not be the best way to help the party. Another spell somewhat tricky to use).

I think hex is a very nice choice for a pact of the blade warlock, and for others it's a good low level spell to offer some leverage whilst adventuring.

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica Also, once you cast it, the range becomes more or less irrelevant while you concentrate. The enemy can't break your concentration by moving away.

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, been thinking of that one too, didn't end up putting it on the shortlist due to limited slots and the pre-buff necessity. Darkness or Shadow of Moil seem like comparable-but-different alternative, only giving Disadvantage instead of a flat miss chance, but providing heavy obscurement that only my PC can see through, which is a defence of a different kind.

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica yes, darkness is a nice choice. Lots of utility, and also if your party gets in over their head, provides a little bit of cover to disengage/flee.

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@KorvinStarmast I realised that, due to the GM's interpretation of Devil's Sight piercing Hadar's darkness, I can actually use an adjacent zone thereof by stepping in, doing a blast, and stepping out before damage kicks in.

> Any creature that starts its turn
in the area takes 2d6 cold damage. Any creature that
ends its turn in the area must succeed on a Dexterity
saving throw

KorvinStarmast

I've not yet used shadows of moil, as I keep running into 'pick a spell' paralysis by analysis; When I get to level 9 I'll review again and see if it fits.

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@KorvinStarmast Moil is weird. It explicitly provides heavy obscurement, then it adds darkening of an area on top of that.

KorvinStarmast

3:14 PM

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica I think they were looking at its interaction with 'vision and light' rules and wanted to make it interact with that rule segment ... or maybe I am giving them too much credit.

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica My problem with Moil is that I can interfere with the other members of my party when using it ... which is why I didn't pick it in the first place. My whole schtick is "support" and obstructing other party members' attacks makes me less effective

But, if I get isolated or cut off, all of a sudden I'll wish I had it. (As you say, Misty Step allows for getting out of trouble ...)

Bardic Wizard

@KorvinStarmast or into trouble...

KorvinStarmast

@BardicWizard heck yeah. Part of the fun "What, there's an invisible stalker right there? Arrgghh!!!"

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@BardicWizard Totally. Misty Step allows occasionally playing Corvo/Emily/Billy . . . twice. Then it's back to light reading!

Hot RPG Questions

7:38 PM

2

Q: What are the permitted shapes of a Wall of Fire?

The text of the Wall of Fire spell is found on page 285 of my printing of the Fifth Edition Player's Handbook. The following is all the text states regarding how the wall is shaped: [...] You can make the wall up to 60 feet long, 20 feet high, and 1 foot thick, or a ringed wall up to 20 feet in ...

dnd-5e spells

Bardic Wizard

@HotRPGQuestions Euclidean, at the very least

BESW

9:17 PM

Happy Birth of Bahá'u'lláh!

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