TRPG General Chat

GcL

00:50

@Medix2 But how do you know if something is super duper magical or not?

or double top secret magical?

Medix2

@GcL How indeed, ask it nicely?

Ben

@Medix2 [listens intently to immovable rod] based on what it's said, this is just an ordinary rod.

Medix2

01:07

@Ben My brain immediately went "Did you set it to Wumbo?"

Ben

@Medix2 Unfortunately, outside of (and including) Spongebob, I don't know what wumbo means lol

Bardic Wizard

01:39

I broke a gm again!!!! Well, it wasn’t me, it was the (less crazy) druid and the wizard, but it was my idea.

Adeptus

nitsua60

An inert carbon rod!

BESW

Original Log Commercial | The Ren & Stimpy Show | NickRewind

►

nitsua60

02:11

I use that ^^ to teach kids about logarithms.

Or 90s cartoons.

It's not really clear what they get out of it, actually.

Hot RPG Questions

02:35

5

Q: Does Private Sanctum prevent Rope Trick from being cast?

Private Sanctum states: • Planar Travel is blocked within the warded area. Rope Trick states: ... an Invisible entrance opens to an extradimensional space that lasts until the spell ends. The extradimensional space can be reached by climbing to the top of the rope. Would Private Sanctum preve...

BESW

05:08

D66 Potions & D66 Oddities by metalsnail is two bookmarks, one with 36 potions, one with 36 magical items, meant for the fantasy adventure game of your choice. Inspired by how much I dislike flipping through the rule book to find the effect of a potion my party found eight sessions ago. Entries have check-boxes to help keep track of which items have been identified.

(Made for the Bookmark Game Jam, of course!)

BESW

05:39

Two years ago Jeannette Ng shared an anecdote about gender expectations in D&D adventures (twitter link).

Jay Dragon made a twitter thread of Wanderhome illustrations.

I've started reading the Wanderhome play kit and I haven't gotten past the Journeying Tools because I still need to process how GOOD they are.

BALIKBAYAN - Episode 01 (Part 1)

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What's So Scary About A Haunted House by Zargo Games is meant to be a jumping-off point for making your own horror game. Make your own rules, if that's what you want to do! Made for What Is So Cool Jam.

Fenced Forest Media has announced (twitter link) they're resuming zine shipping.

Palette: Everything Is A Remix - Creating Your Own TRPG System w/Imani, Ajey, Alex, Simon & Viditya

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BESW

06:36

What's So Strange About Neon Fantasy? by Josh Hittie is a hack and riff of Jared Sinclair's What's So Cool About Outer Space? about exploring weird, big, and vibrant science fantasies. Anything from Hyper Light Drifter, to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind can fit in, so long as it's BRIGHT and STRANGE.

Hot RPG Questions

07:03

2

Q: Is a Warlock's Improved Pact Weapon considered a magic weapon?

This is in response to this question which concerns the UA version of Improved Pact Weapon. The text for the Eldritch Invocation changed when it was published in Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The description for the Warlock's Improved Pact Weapon Eldritch Invocation now states the following: T...

dnd-5e spells magic-items eldritch-invocations

Thomas Markov

07:46

@WakiNadiVellir I reread my comment and it sounded a little terse, sorry if it came off harsh, I didn’t mean it to be.

BESW

08:02

If a person's name doesn't autocomplete, they won't receive the @ ping from chat.

(Means they haven't been in that room for the last couple weeks.)

Hot RPG Questions

08:16

4

Q: Can a Dragonborn Sorcerer have their Dragonbreath spell in addition to another daily spell?

At first level, you would usually have only one daily spell. Can you, as a sorcerer, have your "Dragonbreath" spell in addition to another daily spell?

spells dnd-4e sorcerer dragonborn

kviiri

09:13

@NautArch My initial response'd be "I'd rather not, but if you insist..." but I'll try to get an idea on the possible balance ramifications of that

I don't recall off the top of my head how the attributes increase in 13th Age – the swing might be more or less considerable than in 5e

AncientSwordRage

09:50

@BESW idea stolen

BESW

@AncientSwordRage It's certainly a good litmus test for an adventure, and possibly a group.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW yup!

my only issue is that the next game I plan to run is in an established setting, so I may only gender flip some of the characters

BESW

...you could Ladycastle the thing.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW ???

looks a second time

BESW

Ladycastle is a comic whose opening premise is that a typical D&D-type village loses all its men trying to defeat a dragon, so the women have to take over all the tasks of the village, including defeating the dragon.

AncientSwordRage

09:54

seems like a cool setting

BESW

And in the process they discover a lot of things they really like doing which they'd never let themselves imagine before.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW so it makes being not-male part of the setting

I'm planning on running a MtG setting next (if I ever get round to it)

BESW

Yeah. "Sorry, [established male character] isn't around, what can I help you with?"

AncientSwordRage

@BESW I just got what you mean

thank you for getting the crayons out

BESW

Heh, no worries.

AncientSwordRage

09:59

I think (and this could be argued) that 2 of the 10 mtg ravnica guilds are 'run' by men

BESW

I didn't know anything about the Magic setting even when I played, and that hasn't been for... fifteen years?

AncientSwordRage

I like the story so I follow it

Nicky Drayden did a brilliant 'slice of life' style story for ravnica, and Django Wexler did a stellar prequel to the Big Finale set there last

BESW

For most of my time playing, my access to lore was pretty much just the little booklets that came in the card packs.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW since you leaving they put free stories up written by the card developers/designers

then they stopped

BESW

Heh.

AncientSwordRage

10:08

there was a big issue around one of the actually-a-novel stories and diversity recently, but since then it's been mostly ok?

you would have been playing around kamigawa time?

BESW

Don't think so? The last expansion I remember had equipment and a lot of artifact creatures.

AncientSwordRage

Mirrodin, which was just after/before Kamigawa

Koth, Venser, Karn, etc ring any bells?

BESW

And yeah, I've been focusing more on companys' track record with representation and justice in the workplace, because Wizards and Paizo became kind of the poster children for doing just enough in their products to keep people from taking their whistleblowers seriously.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW that seems painfully close to the truth

doppelgreener

@AncientSwordRage i mean, it hasn't been ok really, on account of how they haven't done anything to address the diversity issues

AncientSwordRage

10:17

(as in I can easily imagine them doing that deliberately)

doppelgreener

and speaking as an LGBT person, they haven't done anything at all to address the biphobic erasure, other than vague promises they'll do better (which is what we got on the diversity issues, too, so)

those wounds are still there and untreated

BESW

@AncientSwordRage I've seen Actual People Who Should Know Better try to argue that having a single white gay man in a position of power, means decades of consistent complaints about mistreatment by women and BIPOC are probably isolated or overblown.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener oh no definitely not, I mean in terms of the story since WAR there hasn't been anythign as bad,

doppelgreener

that's in part because there hasn't been any story!

AncientSwordRage

@BESW facepalm

@doppelgreener Ikoria? Eldraine?

I've not read those but I know they exist

@doppelgreener that was atrocious of them really

doppelgreener

10:19

Okay, you're right, the Ikoria novel came out so they've resumed story

They did pause story entirely during THB, leaving us with a kind of shoddy summary of "she was trapped in the place nobody can leave but then she decided to leave and so she did"

and stuff like that

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener I'm not viscerally involved, but I agree very much untreated wounds

@doppelgreener there's a story, but they pulled it based on how bad WAR was

BESW

Yeah, the letters from Orion Black, Lawrence Harmon, and Zaiem Beg, aren't describing anything new. They're just coming out at a time when consumers are more poised to listen to what people like them have been saying since the 90s.

2

AncientSwordRage

I thnk they're re-writting/editing it

@doppelgreener yup and Eldraine is also post-WAR but neither feature anything redeeming

AFAIK

doppelgreener

i don't remember much about it, but then, them moving from short stories to novels (and thus making the story a product in and of itself instead of part of the marketing) has made the story mostly unavailable to me

BESW

And since the reason we want them to have good rep in their products is to uplift marginalized people, reduce harm and increase visibility... that rep is basically worthless while they continue treat BIPOC as a revolving door of diversity credits through contract hires, force women to interact with known sex pests, and fire people for speaking about mistreatment. The harm and erasure is real.

AncientSwordRage

10:23

@doppelgreener I was excited about the WAR novel, but having heard how bad decided against it. Then I was excited about Eldraine but not enough to buy. Maybe one day

@BESW yup BIPOC characters written by non-BIPOC is non-good

doppelgreener

Oh, yeah. Like, and I'm pretty sure we'll be on the same page here, they cannot redeem themselves in any way on the diversity in staffing issue other than by establishing diversity in permanent staffing. There is no way to address that in card and story content.

And the LGBT representation issue is still unaddressed on account of how they decided to consciously own and not roll back the biphobic erasure they did. They've kept it! They decided it's good and they want that to have happened! They could make it not, but they haven't.

BESW

H*ck, right now I'd take it as progress if BIPOC characters were written by non-BIPOC people in the same office with BIPOC who have steady careers and can offer criticism without fear of being fired.

We're talking about a tabletop games industry that pulls this h*ckin' nonsense (CW sanism, racism, abuse of the mental health system). Wizards is one of the industry's most visible leaders, and they ghost BIPOC artists on the reg and have for their entire time as a company, while repeatedly hiring Nazi admirers, sex pests, and worse.

I'd love to see these kinds of stories get told better, but the way to make that happen is to put pressure on the companies to be better workplaces or make way for companies which will.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener yup, but I think they gave themselves a cowardly get out of 'Chandra is still pansexual, so COULD change her mind in the future'. Not sure if they will, given how much they're bending story/cards to be China-friendly (this is an actual stated reason for some things they've done in the game, like alternate arts, names and flavour texts)

@BESW thats like ...a very easy step you'd think

BESW

Even Evil Hat, which by all accounts is a very nice company to do contract work for, seems to keep its BIPOC rep as contract hires rather than full time employees.

doppelgreener

Lessee.
Azorius: female (Lavinia).
Dimir: ?? (Lazav).
Rakdos: male (Rakdos).
Gruul: male (formerly Borborygmos, then Domri).
Selesnya: female (Trostani; they represent Mat'Selesnya but they're functionally the leadership)
Orzhov: male (Kaya is ostensibly the leader, but Tomik is performing the actual functions of leadership).
Izzet: male (Niv-Mizzet, then Ral Zarek)
Golgari: female (Vraska)
Boros: female (Aurelia)
Simic: female (Vannifar; notably formerly Zegana as well)

Final count: 5 female, 4 male, one ??

BESW

10:38

Games Workshop terminated a writer for defending a gay fan from death threats by other fans.

doppelgreener

To the best of my knowledge all the story uses male pronouns for Lazav, so let's call it an even 50/50 split.

@BESW Wowwww :(

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener I counted Rakdos as actually being run by Exava/Judith, Gruul isn't really 'run' but on of the clans is run by a female centaur Nikiya, I thought Orzhov was currently run by Teysa?

so maybe an extra 2 for the female count?

maybe

doppelgreener

Exava and Judith, Nikya, and Teysa are all significant figures in their guilds, but are not running their guilds.

Heck, Rakdos runs his guild specifically because Azor (and other founders) wanted to keep him busy enough that he wouldn't have enough spare time to destroy the world.

BESW

If you're having to count the rep out like quarters for the laundry, there's a problem whether or not you have enough quarters.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener I thought he was napping

@BESW agreed!

@doppelgreener I thought Exava/Judith did the day to day duties

Also, I am not up to date on the lore, but I was certain once Kaya left, she put the law magic debts onto Teysa, and Tomik was like... her assitant?

doppelgreener

10:45

Good point; he's perpetually had someone else, incidentally always a woman, taking care of actual leadership.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener I don't know if that's better or worse...

doppelgreener

this is sounding like a joke on how companies get run

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener lol

doppelgreener

I'm going to count Rakdos as still the fundamental authority on the guild, thus the one in charge

AncientSwordRage

Nissa is in Zendikar rising, so I have some hopes they'll reference her past relationship with Chandra

@doppelgreener fair

doppelgreener

10:48

I could do the same for Mat'Selesnya but that functionally doesn't exist as far as most peoples' lives are concerned, and Trostani ultimately interprets its will and calls the shots.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener I thought Mat'Selesnya, Tostani and Emmara were all female?

doppelgreener

@AncientSwordRage ~~you mean her friendship with her good friend Chandra?~~

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener ughh

it would be a good opportunity to reference it though

BESW

@doppelgreener Cousins. Totally cousins.

doppelgreener

@AncientSwordRage oh hey yeah, now that you mention it. that'd count anyway then

@AncientSwordRage it would be, but i have 0 faith in this cishet white dude who either ordered the initial erasure or did zip to push back against executive instruction to make the erasure happen.

the previous story team was actually diverse and had multiple queer staffers

now it's just one white dude and whoever they subcontract out to.

AncientSwordRage

10:53

@doppelgreener N*ck H*lman ?

BESW

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener yup

doppelgreener

oh and because it deserves to be called out, that's specifically a cishet white dude who very bad thing. and they decided this was the best guy to manage a diverse story for a kid's card game.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener I still don't know how he's employed

doppelgreener

because wotc executives literally don't even care or consider that a problem or they'd also have fired Mike Mearls

BESW

10:54

What, by the same company that thought "ZS, that's a good person to playtest our new D&D edition."

AncientSwordRage

@BESW and "If they have any complaints from victims, lets forward details of the victims onto the abuser"

@doppelgreener I think MM has gone quiet since being implicated

> Tomik discovered a legal loophole that allowed Kaya to temporarily transfer her Orzhov contracts and guild responsibilities to him.[11] With Tomik now the acting guildmaster, Kaya was free to planeswalk away for short periods. He proved to be a very efficient manager, and seemingly was able to resist attempts to be controlled by Teysa and the Triumvirate.

bleh

BESW

It's almost like having a handful of monolithic companies be the only viable way to get a full-time job in the industry, creating tiny in-group creator circles and intense brand dedication, isn't... good...?

doppelgreener

@AncientSwordRage tbf two guilds being run by a gay couple is great though

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener yup!

I would really like closure on a lot of terrible loose ends left by the WotS story line

BESW

When an indie creator turns out to be abusive, their local community deals with them as it sees fit and we all move on because there's always more games than we can play anyway.

(The Malaysian community is doing REALLY good work in that regard with a recent case.)

AncientSwordRage

11:02

@BESW nice

there is meant to be a more inclusive/diverse splat book coming out for D&D

but I don't have high hopes based on recent events

BESW

AncientSwordRage

> Later this year, we will release a product (not yet announced) that offers a way for a player to customize their character’s origin, including the option to change the ability score increases that come from being an elf, a dwarf, or one of D&D's many other playable folk. This option emphasizes that each person in the game is an individual with capabilities all their own.

dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

diverse was the wrong word

AncientSwordRage

11:17

I wonder if the MTG side of WotC will also get/use sensitivity readers?

Also, for some reason I have the Song of Time in my head

AncientSwordRage

11:29

doppelgreener

@AncientSwordRage the question is whether they'll listen to them

BESW

@doppelgreener This, 100%. Just look at Orion Black's experience.

WotC's diversity/inclusion initiatives seem to be operating on a purely performative outward-facing basis where they function as a PR gimmick for the consumers rather than an attitude shift within the company.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener This is true

BESW

I generally don't like to use terms like "performative" in this sort of context, because really everything we do is performance and to make it a pejorative is really weird. But in this case the shoe fits.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW There difference being is that Orion Black wasn't hired to be a sensitivity reader (ignoring that they should have taken the opportunity to use him as such), but a freelance dev

I can totally imagine management saying "You must only do your job role, no more no less, no matter the consequences"

BESW

11:42

Yeah, totally, and honestly WotC shouldn't be expecting to use them as a sensitivity consultant without paying for that work separately.

AncientSwordRage

My uncle (Security guard) once informed management the new reception desk they had built was not accessible to people in wheelchairs. After being ignored (not your job) and building it, it had to be torn down because someone assessed it and said "It's not accessible!"

BESW

But Black's experience is a clear example of WotC's refusal to permit ANY criticism to penetrate their ivory tower.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW yup, very rigid hierarchy is prone to such issues

Carcer

@AncientSwordRage well, that's just part of a fine tradition of companies ignoring the things their employees are telling them until an expensive consultant tells them the same things.

BESW

This isn't just a hierarchy issue or ignoring people. WotC has a pattern of active punishment for stepping out of tune.

AncientSwordRage

11:44

@BESW yes true

I didn't mean to imply it was just the hierarchy

I think the mind set that comes from such regidity is a breeding ground for that sort of ignorance but I can't think how to phrase it

you become reliant on the hierarchy and start thinking the heirarchy needs to be 'protected' by punishing those out of line

sort of like the Stamford Prisoner Experiment

BESW

You defend sex pests and share victim's information with their abuser and WotC will just shuffle you around until the heat dies down, but if you dare complain about WotC forcing you to attend a convention they invited your abuser to, they'll fire your butt.

AncientSwordRage

the hope is that by paying lipservice to diversity, WotC might start acting on it. "We paid expensive consultant to tell us X is wrong, better do that then" until it sticks? I dunno I'm ever the optimist

BESW

@AncientSwordRage (a) that experiment was contaminated at best and probably fraudulent; (b) I think that attributing the attitudes to a crowd mentality doesn't really map to a company so directly controlled at every level by such a small handful of cronies.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW good points

BESW

You're right in the macro, that sort of thing happens.

AncientSwordRage

11:51

@BESW I'm not focusing on the crowd mentality though

the CEO wears their CEO hat and then sees everyone stepping out of line (and I just mean the norm and/or expected/profit seeking behaviour) and HAS to punish it for fear of losing authority

BESW

I'm just not sure WotC is a really good microcosm for using that dynamic as a lens to understand its workings.

AncientSwordRage

"Not going to a con (for any reason) when told?" "Respect my authority or be fired"

@BESW shrug-emoji.jpg

BESW

But to be fair, I'm a guy who hasn't given Wizards money in seven years and has every possible Wizards-related term blocked on his news and social media feeds and only knows the stuff that leaks through despite that.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW you're a good person

BESW

Online tabletop spaces are so saturated that I know... some, at least.

@AncientSwordRage Thank you, but I'll settle for a person who tries to do good things. Being labelled "good" or "safe" or anything like that is just setting up for a letdown.

AncientSwordRage

11:56

@BESW we can only try to be good/do good. Are is just a shorthand for that

BESW

I... saw a lot of "lists of safe people" going around social media after Far Verona incident. People do like their "person good, person bad" simplicity.

At least one of the people on several of those lists was the Malaysian abuser I mentioned above.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW proving the pointlessness of these lists

BESW

Yup!

AncientSwordRage

there's definitely people who you could consider safe in one aspect and not in others

BESW

Everybody's gonna mess up, humans are messy. Trust in God and tie your camel.

AncientSwordRage

12:03

@BESW frantically ties camels

2

Thomas Markov

According to SEDE Im the lowest rep user to ever get the generalist badge

BESW

Grats!

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov on any site?

Thomas Markov

on rpg.se

Someone_Evil

To ever get it, or to have it atm?

Congrats either way

Thomas Markov

12:05

Not sure there, this query shows the distribution of estimated rep at time of acquiring

i was at about 5100 when I got it

AncientSwordRage

aparently someone on SO got it around 2k

Thomas Markov

thats wild

Rubiksmoose

@ThomasMarkov sidenote: I always chuckle when I see peterh's "please delete this account" on SEDE queries.

Thomas Markov

you gotta love it when @V2Blast goes on a edit spree.

While I was asleep I gained rep on 12 different posts, 10 of which had been edited by V2Blast during the night

Rubiksmoose

@ThomasMarkov I just assume V2 is either editing or sleeping lol

Thomas Markov

12:10

woke up almost to the daily rep cap without having to do anything

Rubiksmoose

@ThomasMarkov Impressive!

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov check your Rep for Jam (?) score

data.stackexchange.com/rpg/query/8116/my-money-for-jam

BESW

@AncientSwordRage itch.io/jam/rep-for-jam ?

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage says post must be 60 days old, I only have like one post that old

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov lol

@BESW sadly not

Thomas Markov

12:19

i forked it, set it so it ognores first 15 days only

still nothing

AncientSwordRage

12:29

@ThomasMarkov lol

did you click the link before or after I changed it to be an RPG query?

Thomas Markov

12:40

I did, I set it to a week out

its showing a couple things now, not much though

I finally found a 3.5e reference to the mind flayer tadpoles

Carcer

@ThomasMarkov presumably they get covered in detail in Lords of Madness

Thomas Markov

havent checked that yet, thanks

found a mention on MM V

yeah 45 mentions of the word tadpole in Lords of MAdness

Carcer

that was the splatbook focused on aberrations, the mind flayers get a whole chapter IIRC

Thomas Markov

Yeah, chapter 4 is about mind flayers

45 references to mind flayer tadpoles in that chapter

so my answer there now covers 2e, 3.5e, 4e, and 5e. Pretty thorough, I think. The 1e monster manual doesnt mention tadpoles at all.

Do we do any community events here?

puzzling.se does a quarterly "best puzzle" sort of event with nominations for best puzzles of the quarter

Carcer

not really, no

Rubiksmoose

12:54

I've actually had a few really super vague ideas for some. One is: I think it might be interesting to hold a one-shot day where we have a few games hosted here and invite the community to play them. Very vague ideas though.

Thomas Markov

@Rubiksmoose that sounds super fun

BESW

Some people do gaming in The Back Room and/or on Discord servers, but it's not really a community activity.

Thomas Markov

@Rubiksmoose this also sounds like a good way to reinforce that this is not dnd5e.se by doing other less well known games

Rubiksmoose

@BESW To be clear, you mean that the gaming going on there isn't really a community thing right? Not that this idea doesn't seem like a community activity?

BESW

I, for one, am not particularly interested in gaming with strangers--much less strangers united by a love of D&D minutia.

Thomas Markov

12:56

Im sure @BESW has plenty of good ideas for other games we could run one shots for

BESW

@Rubiksmoose Right.

Rubiksmoose

Cool. Just clarifying.

BESW

@ThomasMarkov chat.stackexchange.com/…

Thomas Markov

Should the question about tadpoles have the [lore] tag?

BESW

Jul 5 at 23:28, by BESW

Valdasine made a spreadsheet of every single TTRPG [in the itch io racial justice bundle], sorted by playstyle (GM, no GM, pair, solo), with engines notated. (twitter link) (google spreadsheet)

Rubiksmoose

12:58

I don't personally consider many people here to be complete strangers. But obviously it would be something that could only really happen if a decent amount of people were interested and comfortable with the idea!

BESW

Sure, people in this chat are mostly less than strangers to me.

Thomas Markov

@KorvinStarmast <ITAG> friend

BESW

But a community activity wouldn't be a community activity if it just involved us; that'd be a chat activity.

Rubiksmoose

@BESW Fair enough.

Thomas Markov

@BESW it would still be more a community activity than nothing :p

doppelgreener

12:59

@ThomasMarkov i think so; i added it

also, terminology

Rubiksmoose

> with engines notated

I feel like if I ever created an engine for a game I would name it something like "V8" so I could say my RPG has a V8 engine.

doppelgreener

@Rubiksmoose notably with "please do not ask how long this took me" in the tweet

@Rubiksmoose you would be consigning your engine and anyone trying to advertise their relationship with it to SEO hell, so pragmatically definitely don't do that

KorvinStarmast

@Xirema agree . I did a brief review of the UA at GiTP, and I like about half of them. The two for Warlock and Sorcerer stink aw written; I'll be answering the survey with suggested improvements. The piercer, bludgeoneer and slasher seem OK.

Thomas Markov

@Rubiksmoose What's better, a V8 engine or a @V2Blast engine?

@KorvinStarmast The warlock lite one seemed odd that as written, you couldnt get any of the eldritch blast buffs.

Carcer

@ThomasMarkov I'll be honest, V2Blast's horsepower is probably a lot less impressive.

Rubiksmoose

13:03

@doppelgreener Alas, you are correct. But since in this fantasy world I am also the creator of a system that people would want to play I guess we are already on fairly unrealistic turf ;-)

Thomas Markov

@Carcer but its got the blast on it.

BESW

4

Rubiksmoose

hahaha

doppelgreener

@Rubiksmoose anything's possible, especially including bad decisions

Carcer

if you make it d8-based, you could call it a D8 engine and rely on people getting the pun

Rubiksmoose

13:04

@Carcer Basing an entire game on a pun would be exactly something I would do lol

BESW

@Carcer Isn't that just a fancy name for a watch that tells you what day of the month it is?

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I like sorcerer, shadow, a lot. But as another of my friends in finding, I discovered that picking those first four cantrips needs to be done with the party in mind was quite helpful. He went with mage hand as our party had no rogue ... and it's been real handy for tripping traps ...

Thomas Markov

Did anyone else notice that about the fake warlock feat in the new UA? It says you have to be a warlock to take an invocation with prerequisites, and all the eldritch blast improvements have EB as a prerequisite.

BESW

Jun 26 at 12:39, by BESW

Bad Pun Jam 2020 hosted by 蠢謳迷 / omi chun starts in three and a half days. Do you enjoy insufferable wordplay at the expense of everyone around you? Have you ever wanted to immortalize your witty verbal exploits in the unnecessary and extravagant form of a game? If so, then this jam is for people like you. If not, I'd appreciate if you could at least spread the word.

You've got sixteen days left.

Rubiksmoose

@BESW Oooo!

Carcer

13:05

(I now have the line from the Mad Max game where Max just growls "IT'S GOTTA BE A V8" stuck in my head)

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri YMMV, but WoTC making the Sorc for 3e was IMO a poor choice that has been followed by more poor choices, but I'll not get up on my soap box ..

Someone_Evil

@Carcer If you build it for romance games you get a double pun

Carcer

@Someone_Evil Fast & Curious, a D8 game about exploring relationships and driving cars

2

this sounds suspiciously like reinventing car lesbians actually

BESW

Sure, but it'd be burly men in muscle ts.

Medix2

@Rubiksmoose Wait they don't sleep-edit??

Someone_Evil

13:08

@Medix2 Not that we can prove

BESW

...now I need to binge Vin Diesel films at the earliest opportunity.

Again.

Carcer

should I apologise for causing that or no

BESW

Definitely not.

Carcer

then you're welcome!

BESW

Rubiksmoose

13:11

@BESW I don't actually think I've ever seen one.

Carcer

@Rubiksmoose brace thyself

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer I love everything about this pitch.

Carcer

to be honest I haven't really watched that many diesel films either, but if you're cool with survival horror/thriller type stuff I really recommend Pitch Black.

BESW

@Rubiksmoose He's a good actor, and totally willing to throw himself into goofily testosterone-poisoned roles without any embarrassment.

Rubiksmoose

@BESW I've heard the F&F series makes for some decent brainless binging...

BESW

13:13

Yeah, Pitch Black and the whole Riddick franchise are Peak Vin Diesel in a lot of ways; they're his passion projects.

KorvinStarmast

@Carcer +1 for that ...

Carcer

and he's in Saving Private Ryan, but that doesn't really count as a Vin Diesel film.

BESW

@Rubiksmoose I recommend any of them starting around 2009 with Fast & Furious (the fourth in the series).

You've probably already heard his voice acting; he's the Iron Giant and Groot.

He also does a really good job in a totally different kind of role in Find Me Guilty but I don't actually recommend the film.

Thomas Markov

I found an item in Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica that makes high level warlocks totally broken.

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov correct. I think they introduced tadpoles for mine flayers (hmm, sounds like a charity event) in AD&D 2e

Rubiksmoose

13:16

@BESW Ah yes! I forgot he was Groot! I love that he did that.

BESW

@Rubiksmoose I think F&F gets a lot of bad rap as brainless.

Rubiksmoose

@BESW oh yeah?

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov the chatizens did great ork gods, honey heist, and Golden Sky Stories but we used discord more than backroom. At some point I am hoping rubik will get us in a roll for shoes game ... hopefully ...

BESW

Yeah, but I'll take that to DMs because I don't want to get into it here.

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov Hail Thomas! :-)

Rubiksmoose

13:18

@KorvinStarmast I'd have to talk with BESW because I think he made some excellent modifications to RFS that I'd love to incorporate.

And to be clear I've only ever played it once. But I think it's right up my alley as a goofy game.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov YOU HAVE MY INTEREST

KorvinStarmast

@BESW I got a ping from you in discord a few days ago, and I am guessing it was an auto ping due to the bad idea of raissalon room closing. Am I guessing right?

AncientSwordRage

@Rubiksmoose I always feel, when they give big actors bit parts it's very nepotic

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov Illusionist's bracers?

AncientSwordRage

like Phasma in the new SW films could have been given to anybody almost, and that could have been their break

KorvinStarmast

13:22

As to Vin Diesel films: I have enjoyed them. F&F is its own style of fun or guilty pleasure, depending on how you like your movies.

Medix2

@AncientSwordRage Well there's a new word for me. I probably would've guessed nepotistic or something strange like that

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil Why yes, thats the one

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage Is nepotic a kind of damage?

AncientSwordRage

the only real VD film I've seen is Ridick 1 and half of the second (not the first half either, just about half of it in pieces)

@Medix2 don't quote me, I'm englishing by ear

@KorvinStarmast yes but it only effects those you favour

Medix2

@AncientSwordRage Google agreed with you, so you're good. I was just like "oooh, can I linguistically find all possible forms?"

KorvinStarmast

13:24

@AncientSwordRage Hmm, first VD film I saw was in high school in the one health class we got for PE each quarter ... :p

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast rolls eyes

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage It was the equivalent of casting a low level fear spell, I think ...

Medix2

Illusionist's Bracers with long casting time cantips... Hmmm for that utterly rare and probably useless double-mending

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil I love that it's based off of a Magic card with similar effect

Someone_Evil

@AncientSwordRage Most of the GGR magic items are also cards aren't they?

Thomas Markov

13:28

An archfey warlock can cast greater invisibility to make all 8 attacks at advantage, on a hit dealing 8d10+40

A hexblade with haxblade's curse and hex up would do 8d10+8d6+88 if all 8 hit.

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil I didn't pay much attention to them unfortunately

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov So can a Mark of Shadow Elf or a Ring of Spell Storing and probably some set of random magic items

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov You talking about twinning EB with that sorcerer feat from UA?

Thomas Markov

@KorvinStarmast No, illusionists bracers lets you cast a cantrip as a bonus action if you already casted it as an action.

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov Is that a magical item I am not familiar with in 5e?

Thomas Markov

13:31

its from Ravnica

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Never hoid of it.

Thomas Markov

Illusionist's bracers

KorvinStarmast

Aah, a splat book I'll never get since I don't like MtG in my D&D ...

NautArch

^^

Thomas Markov

"A powerful illusionist of House Dimir originally developed these bracers, which enabled her to create multiple minor illusions at once. The bracers’ power, though, extends far beyond illusions.

While wearing the bracers, whenever you cast a cantrip, you can use a bonus action on the same turn to cast that cantrip a second time."

KorvinStarmast

13:31

Don't Cross the Streams (Ghostbusters has so much to teach us about life ...)

Medix2

I feel like there's probably already MtG in D&D

KorvinStarmast

@Medix2 Yeah, as soon as 3.0 got released there must have been ... :p

Thomas Markov

inb4 Ravnica II introduces a mechanic for playing MtG inside DnD

NautArch

I feel like the most recent books and content developed from Eberron forward have been things I don't love.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch What do you think of Wildemount and Critical Role?

NautArch

13:33

@ThomasMarkov No thank you.

Medix2

I kinda discount most things that aren't the PHB... Especially Wildemount, oh wait Xanathar's is good to me

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov Well, we once did have a D&D session back in the 1970's where we played craps in a tavern, but the stakes were the life of one of our party members who was imprisoned in a wizard's tower ....

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast and yet at the end of the moving doing so works out so well

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov Think you can use it to beat this q's answer?

KorvinStarmast

... the dice were kind.

AncientSwordRage

13:33

I love Bag of Holding in MtG

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage true .. maybe "ya gotta know when to cross 'em, know when to toss 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run ...."

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil Oh for sure, gonna go work on that.

Medix2

@Someone_Evil I wonder if that lets you beat out optimization Qs that are more general too...

Someone_Evil

@KorvinStarmast I feel obliged to point out Theros is from MtG, though as it draws heavily on Ancient Greek Mythos and Ravnica is more unique (/more vague influences)

@Medix2 Possibly, but they're even harder to search for

KorvinStarmast

@Someone_Evil Yes. I think Theros is a bit of power creep so far ... but I did get that book since I like a bit of Greek Mythology in my D&D .... and I am thinking of porting Order Cleric into my campaign.

Medix2

13:38

@Someone_Evil "user:[david-coffron] [optimization]"

KorvinStarmast

My favorite part of Theros is that the centaur and satyr PC is a fey, and an Ancients paladin can scare his own party away. 8^D

Shennanigans abound

Someone_Evil

Order cleric is really fun to play.

KorvinStarmast

@Someone_Evil Have not done so. What other clerics have you played, and how does it compare?

Someone_Evil

Giving someone an extra attack when you buff or heals makes that action feel a lot better (you're going more than just setting up their numbers for)

KorvinStarmast

@Someone_Evil yeah, it reads as a solid support class, which I am a fan of. I'd rather play a support, given a choice.

Someone_Evil

13:42

@KorvinStarmast Don't think I've played other Clerics, but seen several played with a tendency towards: "I don't feel like healing until you need it"

KorvinStarmast

Though I did enjoy my Ranger in ToA

@Someone_Evil I tend to do that as a life cleric unless we are playing versus something with huge damage spikes. I really want to harness the "use HD to heal" feature, but a lot of players are Computer Game indoctrinated for heal bots ...

WoW - its ripple effects might be underestimated ...

Of course, last time I played WoW with my son I was the heal bot/support cleric and I let the DPS and Tanks go and do their thing. They wiped because they got way ahead of me: I don't 'twitch' movement and I got lost trying to keep up with these 'go go go ' folks ...

Did I mention that I dislike WoW's UI?

Medix2

@Someone_Evil Realizing the only thing this helps with is not needing 3 Sorc levels to Quicken EB... Probably not gonna help much anywhere

The UI is rather customizable and moddable

Someone_Evil

@Medix2 And don't need to expend SP, so it qualifies when the challenge includes not expending resources

Medix2

@Someone_Evil I feel like HP, as done in 5e, incentivises the opposite of that behavior. If somebody is at 5HP but the next attack to hit them is gonna deal 15 damage... Just wait until they're unconscious or you'd waste the healing

LizWeir

true on a very narrow view, but that's very dependent on turn order

Medix2

13:55

Is it?

LizWeir

because a PC losing a turn is a very significant cost

Medix2

But they lose the turn either way

LizWeir

I may have misunderstood the parameters of your example.

Bardic Wizard

@KorvinStarmast I do that all the time, but mostly because as I’m the cleric, I tend to take the “eh you’ll be fine” view of things.

LizWeir

Like, if you heal them enough to stay up, they don't lose the turn; if they're going to drop anyway, yeah, that heal was wasted.

Thomas Markov

13:56

@GcL made a mistake on his answer there.

Staff of Magi does not boost spell attack bonus for cast spells.

LizWeir

I thought you meant the extra 10hp they'll get from healing up from 0 when at -10.

Medix2

@LizWeir Yeah it's weird to me that you can heal somebody only for it to have been useless healing

Thomas Markov

wait yes it does.

dndbeyond is broken.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov D&D Beyond: "grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While you hold it, you gain a +2 bonus to spell attack rolls."

But if the DMG or whatever version is different, probably worth reporting however that's done

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