TRPG General Chat

Thomas Markov

5:00 PM

with a CON mod of -2, you can roll all 1s on the 3d6 and come back with a permanent hp max of 1.

RevenantBacon

OK, but ROTS gives you 3d6 + CON mod

how do you get a Con of 7 or less?

minimum is 8 with point-buy or standard array

Thomas Markov

idk, roll for it?

surely theres a way to get your con reduced

David Coffron

@ThomasMarkov Artifacts can have the random Major Detrimental Effect of reducing a score by 2

GcL

@ThomasMarkov Is that just a negative con? Wasn't there a question about dying by leveling up?

Thomas Markov

@DavidCoffron there we go.

So you can be level 20 with a max hp of 1.

Glazius

5:06 PM

@KorvinStarmast "The entries for weapon and nonweapon proficiencies list each humanoid race's initial selections. Unless the DM approves another proficiency, or a special kit is taken, PCs of a particular humanoid race must select their initial proficiencies from their lists." p 16 complete book of humanoids

KorvinStarmast

@Glazius Got it, thanks.

Glazius

Firbolgs are the melee guys who get proficiency with the giantkin melee weapons, double-sized versions of two-handers that do double damage.

Vodyani are the woodsy guys who get proficiency with the giant bow.

Excuse me, "voadkyn"

If you want a complete list for firbolgs it's club, halberd, 2H sword (they wield M-sized two-handers one handed), giantkin halberd, giantkin 2H sword.

KorvinStarmast

@Glazius That covers it, thanks. I may be able to offer an answer that may not make them happy

Glazius

Well, they can probably get proficiency with the big bow through a later class level or something.

But that's the biggest bow there is and the arrows are the biggest arrows there are, and because this is AD&D you're firing 2 arrows a round with basic proficiency, both of which get your strength damage.

(if you have a big bow with a power draw and why wouldn't you)

KorvinStarmast

Need to get a proficiency through a class level. Got it.

The +7 damage is kinda nice ...

AncientSwordRage

5:13 PM

How does this sound for a question "What's the most melee damage one can do, on an opponents turn, without casting spells?"

Thomas Markov

those the only rules?

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov maybe

Thomas Markov

You should say "melee attack"

AncientSwordRage

gotcha

Thomas Markov

"What's the most damage from a melee attack one can do on an opponent's turn without casting spell?"

AncientSwordRage

5:15 PM

In truth, I'm ok with casting with using spells to buff the attacker, but I want to avoid glyph of warding cheese

but that sounds hard to word

Thomas Markov

gotta specify things like set up rounds, allies, etc.

is time stop allowed

Glazius

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, it's not quite "thog power attack for 1d12+567 damage" there, but the die roll is about a third of the effective damage.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov yeah true

Thomas Markov

@Glazius 1d12 is a bit less than a third of 567

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I want to say no, but I don't know how to justify that distinction

Glazius

5:16 PM

Yes, sorry, I'm talking about firing a giantkin bow with a Str 19 draw for 1d8+7 damage per arrow.

Thomas Markov

time stop just means "extra prep rounds". So either give them or don't.

AncientSwordRage

true

Thomas Markov

"No time stop, if I wanted to give you extra prep rounds I would have"

AncientSwordRage

the main thing is, I'm trying to figure out if there's a build that benefits from waiting, and striking on the opponents turn

Thomas Markov

sounds like an xy problem lol

AncientSwordRage

5:19 PM

it does indeed

but I think one is more answerable than the other

Thomas Markov

logically, I don't think there could be.

Just by an action economy argument, proof left as an exercise to the reader.

AncientSwordRage

yeah, that was my conclusion

maybe, closer to what I want is a character that benefits from going second in combat?

Bardic Wizard

@ThomasMarkov I really want to prove that wrong now

AncientSwordRage

I'm envisioning a stereotypical samurai who draws their blade a fraction of a second before the enemy strikes

Thomas Markov

So like battle master's ripsote, but better

AncientSwordRage

5:23 PM

yeah

Thomas Markov

> Riposte. When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll.

AncientSwordRage

or... I forget the PrC from 3.5, but it was something like an Iajitsu ability

Thomas Markov

5:34 PM

@Glazius I left a comment on your answer to the 5e meta, but we can discuss it here briefly if you like

KorvinStarmast

@Glazius please take a look see; what did I miss?

AncientSwordRage

Weird, I'm not seeing @Glazius' message

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage check to see if accidental ignore got selected?

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast I just checked before posting

I checked here: chat.stackexchange.com/users/308875/glazius

right?

It says Seen 1m ago, Last Message 20m ago

kviiri

What does it mean when a post is deleted by "user66558" instead of normally shown clickable user link?

AncientSwordRage

5:40 PM

it means that user was deleted

Thomas Markov

@kviiri Namechange.

@kviiri youre talking about on the 5e meta?

kviiri

@ThomasMarkov yea

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov no that updates the name?

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage the account was merged into an existing one after the answer was deleted

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov ahh a merge technically counts as a delete I think

I did not think of that

Thomas Markov

5:42 PM

I think it behaves weird because the post was a deleted post. All the undeleted post get updated to the merge target

AncientSwordRage

weird

GcL

Likely deleted posts are stored separately from active posts.

Thomas Markov

So 66558 was the userid assigned to the sock puppet that was merged into the existing account.

Glazius

@KorvinStarmast Range isn't in the table, but it's +50% for the giantkin long bow.

KorvinStarmast

@Glazius updated

Glazius

6:07 PM

@ThomasMarkov sorry am in training for the next 4 hours

Thomas Markov

@Glazius Nice, what level are you?

Glazius

@ThomasMarkov crossclassing to L1 devops

RevenantBacon

@ThomasMarkov RE: Mummy Rot and RoTS. What happens to your max HP after got get cured of Mummy Rot, but after the ring has triggered?

Thomas Markov

@RevenantBacon Im assuming the mummy rot is "cured" when you die.

RevenantBacon

Well, you know what they say about people who assume

KorvinStarmast

6:15 PM

@RevenantBacon the fact that it is an anagram amuses them?

RevenantBacon

But more directly, when (and if) the Mummy Rot removed, do your hit points return to their normal maximum, or are you now permanently stuck at the new max you rolled?

Carcer

7:11 PM

@RevenantBacon are we talking about 5e?

Thomas Markov

@Carcer shadowrun or dnd? :P:P

2

Carcer

touche

RevenantBacon

@Carcer Specifically, we're talking about a ring that makes you not die and also can change your maximum hit points value, and how it would interact with an effect that reduces your maximum hit points, but can be removed.

in D&D

5e

Thomas Markov

@RevenantBacon You have to put them in the same message for it to count

RevenantBacon

7:26 PM

@ThomasMarkov I know. That's why I did it like that :p

@KorvinStarmast I wonder how many answers on this site could be boiled down to "future proofing"

Thomas Markov

7:40 PM

@RevenantBacon Probably a lot of "designer reasons" questions were probably just future proofing decisions.

KorvinStarmast

@RevenantBacon good question; not sure

Thomas Markov

8:10 PM

My copy of Tasha's was delivered today. Should have the book memorized by tomorrow.

Xirema

@ThomasMarkov Mine was delivered yesterday, but because ~~my landlords are a bunch of incompetent boobs who don't know the first thing about setting up a decent package management system~~ I had difficulty finding it in the package room, I didn't get to open + read it until today.

Thomas Markov

I have high expectations. I thought Xanathar's was a really good addition to the base game.

AncientSwordRage

I'm reading through cogentroleplay.com/rules, there's definitely some big issues, but overall interesting

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage lol typo in the first sentence of the introduction.

> a Tabletop Pen and Paper Role-playing game that’s easy to learn, but has the depth and sophistication for the most demanding or [sic] role-players.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I think I skipped the intro

ACuriousMind

8:23 PM

maybe they mean to say that role-players shouldn't be demanding :P

RedRiderX

If we're talking about Tasha's, what do people think about the Session 0 guidance?

I found their reluctance to say the words "Safety Tool" disappointing.

Stuff like changing subclass and spell versatility feel like obvious QoL improvements.

GcL

@RedRiderX What do they call it?

AncientSwordRage

I like that Cogent encourages you to run when heavily injured

RedRiderX

@GcL The closest thing under Session 0 is "Hard and Soft Limits", which approximates Lines and Veils.

GcL

Seems like a reasonable label to me.

RedRiderX

8:36 PM

But I feel like they leave out the interesting bits of Lines and Veils.

They don't discuss things as Veils though, instead:

> A soft limit is a threshold that one should think twice about crossing, as it is likely to create genuine anxiety, fear, and discomfort.

GcL

Also seems like a reasonable recommendation.

Thomas Markov

@RedRiderX Yeah, I dont like the language of that at all.

GcL

Are you disappointed by missing content or the labeling of the content that's there?

RedRiderX

@GcL I'm looking for the right words to describe the subtle difference between this and Veils.

Veils are there so if that content comes up, you can fade to black and not be really explicit about it.

AncientSwordRage

> For Example:
>
> Sir Terrik is fighting two goblins. Terrik has a combat roll of 8D6. This also means that Terrik is capable of defending against, and achieving victories against, a maximum of 4 adjacent opponents in a single round.
>
> The two goblins he has engaged each have combat rolls of 7D6 (base 3D6, +2D6 REF, +1D6 from medium swords proficiency and +1D6 from their medium weapons).
>
> One of the goblins rolls 4 wins and the other rolls 5 wins.
>
> Terrik rolls 4 wins.
>
> This means that he matched one of the goblin’s rolls but was beaten by the other. The Goblin chooses to inflic…

RedRiderX

8:39 PM

There's like a mechanical process describing what to do with the marked content.

This line is Tasha's amounts to "idk think about it I guess?"

It's vague to the point of being pointless.

GcL

Different strokes for different folks. Sounds like the veil running the game technique is for "stuff that can be in the game so long as we don't observe it directly."

RedRiderX

Yeah

I think part of my issues is that there could have been a lot more here.

GcL

@RedRiderX I think I know some of the audience that might benefit from having a list of stuff to think twice about before mentioning.

RedRiderX

They could have brought up specific mechanics like the X card.

Though maybe there's a rights issue there idk.

GcL

@RedRiderX Where does the veil strategy for running games come from?

RedRiderX

8:42 PM

It's an idea that's gone through a few hands:

110

A: What do the terms "lines" and "veils" mean?

Definitions We all have our limits and boundaries. Lines and veils are different ways to handle those boundaries in play. A line is, well, a line — a hard limit, something we do not want to cross. Lines represent places we don't want to go in roleplaying. "There is no torture in the events in o...

@GcL I agree and they at least describe the concept of Lines. But there's a clear gap of guidance on what to do for stuff that's between "Off limits" and "A-Okay".

That's like most of the job of Safety Tools, navigating the grey space between.

And there's like one line on that in this book

Regarding the rest of the book, it's gonna take time to absorb all of these subclasses, even though I've seen some of them elsewhere.

GcL

I think guidance on how to handle or run a table probably needs an entire volume to itself.

RedRiderX

@GcL Though most new books include that kind of stuff in their core rules now

GcL

Like, I just say, don't pick up hot things using something absorbent. It's good advice. Other people like their fluffy oven mitts.

Thomas Markov

rpg.se could create a nice compendium volume of some of our best social contract Q&As.

RedRiderX

I've been prepping a WFRP 4e game and their core rules have a lot to say on what a session looks like.

GcL

8:48 PM

@RedRiderX My recollection of the old books was that they also included advice on how to run things. some of it was crap.

RedRiderX

(Though they don't have a lot on safety tools either)

GcL

Perhaps the assumption is the audience has either found their own or are not in need of them. On the other hand, maybe it's a substantial gap in the market offerings that has a bigger audience. I don't know how to measure either side of it.

RedRiderX

iirc Pathfinder 2e explicitly talked about Lines and Veils and the X Card.

GcL

@RedRiderX Aren't there existing system agnostic products for that? I recall something being mentioned for a remote game con, but don't recall the name of it.

Might have been X Card. That rings a bell.

RedRiderX

@GcL There are, but saying they don't need to include optional things in an optional rules book because they're aren't always needed isn't a convincing argument for me.

The Custom Origin rules feel like the lowest effort version of addressing bioessentialism.

Though short of blowing up the 5e concept of Races idk what else they could have done.

Oh I look forward to getting a 10,000 GP tattoo.

Xirema

9:07 PM

@RedRiderX I'm glad it solves the "I really want to play an Elven Barbarian" problem, but if the goal was to address the problematic elements of how race is portrayed in the game, yeah, it's insufficient.

RedRiderX

It's a little weird that Tattoos take up the same attument slot as everything else as I feel like there's already a pretty natural limit to how many distinct Tattoos you can have.

They even have a table describing how much space each takes up.

Hot RPG Questions

4

Q: Does the Ritual Caster Feat grant access to Subclass Spells?

Ritual Caster states: You have learned a number of spells that you can cast as rituals. These spells are written in a ritual book, which you must have in hand while casting one of them. When you choose this feat, you acquire a ritual book holding two 1st-level spells of your choice. Choose one o...

RedRiderX

Oh also I want to see a Monk fight a Fighter who has Unarmed Fighting now.

AncientSwordRage

9:29 PM

@RedRiderX I want a ranger monk with shillelagh via the druid feat

@Xirema that's an incredibly good point

Thomas Markov

9:48 PM

new user, new player, needs some help here: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/177630/62294

Im about to log off for a while if someone wants to hop on that

Glazius

@ThomasMarkov Ah, dang, training just let off. You out for the day?

Thomas Markov

I’ll be around. We can leave it to comments on the post.

My comment there was a little terse, I didn’t want to come off as harsh or dismissive.

Bardic Wizard

Are we putting in a “what system is this” comment? They’ve said dungeons and dragons, and have mentioned DnDbeyond

RevenantBacon

I put up a link to the Basic Rules for them.

@BardicWizard You can, if you are so inclined, though it's probably safe to say that they're playing 5e since they mentioned D&D beyond, and AFAIK, that site only has 5e rules

MikeQ

Can we tag it or would that cause another stackwide explosion?

RevenantBacon

10:01 PM

@MikeQ Yes

Someone_Evil

12

Q: Is it acceptable to add the [dnd-5e] tag to questions about D&D Beyond?

The following questions were tagged with dnd-beyond, and did not mention D&D 5e explicitly; the dnd-5e tag was then added by somebody besides the OP, and the questions were not closed between being asked and dnd-5e being added: On D&D Beyond, how to create a shield that gives a ranged attack? (A...

discussion tags questions editing dnd-5e

Bardic Wizard

I’m not sure what the user is asking... are they asking what happens when they are the target of an attack?

The title is about defense but the body asks what they should do when they are attacked

Glazius

@ThomasMarkov It'd just be a bunch of back and forth, I'd rather have it all at once?

RedRiderX

@AncientSwordRage Wait what feat would that be?

Someone_Evil

Magic Initiate choosing Druid presumably

Medix2

10:14 PM

@RevenantBacon Replying to your recent comment on the defense question: Notably D&D Beyond also has its own listing of the Basic Rules and SRD combined into one

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov get prepared for disappointment

Glazius

@BardicWizard So, outside of D&D, there are concepts I'm calling "defense" (how hard it is to be hit) and "damage resistance" (how much you get hurt when you hit), and in a lot of specific applications the actual nomenclature is pretty messy.

Like, if you're playing an action video game, your damage resistance is your DEF score.

kviiri

The reason I asked whether they're using a translated ruleset is that "defense" might actually be a re-translated term from another language.

Glazius

It's kind of a "what is armor class and how does it work" question, in that they're wondering if armor reduces the damage they take somehow.

kviiri

As a sidenote: "defense" was a DnD term as recently as in 4e, where it covers the four different target numbers different attacks are rolled against: AC, Fortitude, Willpower and Reflex.

Someone_Evil

10:18 PM

So it's also possible they've read mixed materials (or read 4e stuff without knowing the distinction). That pops up from time to time, but I think more commonly with 3.5/PF material

KorvinStarmast

I began a snarky answer "if you get attacked, with that AC, pray. you don't have to be a cleric to pray" but then I deleted it

My second snarky answer began "stand behind the Barbarian" but I deleted that too

kviiri

@Someone_Evil Hm, seems unlikely here, as they do note their source being DnD Beyond. (If they had other sources I presume they'd list those as well)

KorvinStarmast

I'll let it close as unclear/opinion based and we'll see if we the workshopping process can help.

Bardic Wizard

I’ve left a comment saying it’s unclear what they’re asking (and pointing them to chat) and so has another user

KorvinStarmast

Another fine answer is "I expect you to die, Mr Bond" but I won't even put that into a text file ...

AncientSwordRage

11:00 PM

@RedRiderX sorry not feat, the fighting style

RedRiderX

Ah okay

Yeah I want to make a real one trick pony with these options.

AncientSwordRage

Its at least a fun mental exercise

RedRiderX

A real "this stick is my hitting stick" kinda character.

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