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12:00 AM
Because: what about dragons?
 
I kinda wish they'd come out a bit more strongly at the end, but otherwise it's a solid overview.
 
7
Q: Can a character shove or grapple while prone?

BovardThis is similar to the question "Can a character shove an enemy who is already prone?". If your character is prone, can you grapple or shove an enemy in range? I haven't read anything that says you can't shove or grapple while prone, but I wanted to make sure.

2
Q: Making Race Traits independent of race

RegularNormalDayGuyI'm preparing my new campaign for my group of players and I was wondering if the following ruling would unbalance the table. What will be the effects, balancing-wise, if I let players choose a race for the traits, and another race for the cosmetic appareance of their PCs ? For example, they could...

 
12:24 AM
@KorvinStarmast That's incorrect, it has to be in the wizard's own spellbook, you can't just pick up any random spellbook and cast the rituals inside it.
 
12:35 AM
@MikeQ beware of feeping creaturism XD
 
12:58 AM
@BESW have you seen hello future me on dragons?
Assuming this isn't just OSP's side of it
 
I have not.
 
1:14 AM
@BESW it's more writing focused, but it's good
Red has me thinking "not all of these are dragons" at the start, and by the end I'm thinking "not all of these are dragons" still...
 
Well, I have officially tested ensign of the week, my sci-fi rpg, with my siblings in a way that has led to actual feedback! Turns out kids who aren’t really into imaginative play anymore need to be given clear actions, and kindergarteners can be over imaginative (he mimed half the stuff he did).
 
Mhm. Really the elephant in the room is that all those things haven't been dragons for thousands of years. English-speaking people have just been saying "oh right, you mean a dragon" to every culture they happen to meet, and then insisting they're right.
 
@BESW yup that seems about right
 
(sort of like insisting on calling every culture's supernatural figures "gods" regardless of all evidence otherwise)
 
Paul Bunyan was a god and no one can convince me otherwise.
 
1:20 AM
@Axoren There's an "Americana" module for WoD Scion, it includes Paul Bunyan as a deity.
 
The man could punch trees in half with his beard.
@MikeQ I've actually been looking to run an Americana Parody game
 
So "god" means "physically strong"?
 
No, god means capable of doing the impossible.
Beard would need to be traveling at the speed of light to be able to take a tree out
 
So saints are gods?
 
Depends.
Not sure.
Miracles and the Impossible are kind of conflated at times.
 
1:23 AM
My point is that "god" is not a useful universal term because it is trying to claim a universal concept by forcing cultures to conform to the term. Ditto "dragon."
 
@MikeQ The idea stemmed from GATE but it's America and the other world has Oil
And it's played off satirically like America is this rock star country that can do no wrong, and Baywatch, and etc.
@BESW I guess I don't need people of other cultures to conform their things to our concept of god.
But Paul Bunyan conforms to my concept of a god. Literally described as a god among men.
And fits the bill.
And he's not necessarily the GOd
Is this similar to how Kobolds are Dogfolk, Lesser Dragonfolk, and House-sprites? Different cultures having a different thing behind the name that doesn't really unify them?
Japanese Orc and Kobolds will always be confusing to the western norm of them because they received those terms from Wizardry, rather than from D&D or Warhammer.
 
2:09 AM
I’m a pastor so naturally I find your idea fascinating.
 
3:06 AM
Bad idea I just had for my regular gaming session tomorrow: it’s the GM’s birthday and I thought my character should make a cake and sacrifice it to “my god, unknowable behind his screen, the great lord Gee-em”.
Except for the fact that I have sort of negative proficiency with anything that could
Oops- that could explode, burn, catch on fire, cause an alignment change, accidentally combine in a lethal manner, involve daisies or acorns, or anything similar.
It’s because of out of game stuff mostly, but I wasn’t aallowed to take fireball because of it, so it’s trickled into the game world
... I probably should not be taking chem this year.
(Side note: I’ve been banned from anything involving textbooks, physics, or spell interactions in most of the games I play. I even got banned from using a religion textbook once)
 
 
2 hours later…
user15026
5:34 AM
@KorvinStarmast from what I know from when I lived there and talking to my parents, other than like basic maintenance they haven't had issues
 
5:48 AM
I mentioned an idea about building a nuclear reactor in d&d to my gm. I think I’m going to be forced to play a non casting ranger next time, given my ability to improvise something with spells.
 
6:18 AM
@BESW It sounds like the opposite problem. God is a really loose term in the west, encompassing, as you mentioned, supernatural beings from all kinds of cultures and with a lot of nuance for different religions. Asking "are saints gods?" ignoranes that "god" has a specific meaning when refering to Christianity. While it's a good idea to try and think of things in simpler terms, this over-simplification and removal of all nuance is a straw-man.
 
6:34 AM
0
Q: Information gathering for "never guess the system"

gszavaeDiscussion on the "never guess the system" policy has stalled once again. Perhaps with better information, we could reach a consensus. What kinds of information could better inform our decisions? How can we gather this information? Here are some questions that I think, if answered, would help inf...

 
 
2 hours later…
8:34 AM
3
Q: Do I need to have the "deity" class feature to cast Spiritual Weapon?

Anne AunymeIn Pathfinder 2, the spell Spiritual Weapon (https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=306) has, as a requirement, "you have a deity". What does it mean exactly? My guesses (from the most to the least likely imho) You need the "deity" class feature (that you get as a cleric) You need to be a followe...

 
 
1 hour later…
9:50 AM
3
Q: Does the Iron Flask let you Order the Creature Back in Without a Save?

user65243So I have an Iron Flask in my current campaign, and we happened to find out that it contains Tiamat. We released Tiamat to have a conversation, where she threatened to eat me at the end of the hour. Since it didn't directly lead to her death, I ordered her back in the Flask, but am not sure if th...

 
10:11 AM
Not sure this needs bringing back up, but if it's a helpful data point at least one UK larp system no longer uses the term 'god' and I think they use ancestors or spirits?
Also, personally because of my faith I'm happier writing lower case god that upper case god.
 
Mmm. I'm already regretting using that as an off-hand example, it seems to have attracted a lot more attention than I intended.
 
10:40 AM
Pasta sauce is a better example
I make a bolognese, but it doesn't conform to the sauce made in Bolongia. Can I still cail it that? What kind of ragu is it?
I've added spices to a bolognese sauce and my dad (in no way Italian) was pretty upset and adamant it wasn't bolognese
Likewise if you remove wings from a dragon, some people will agree/disagree on your nomenclature
there's no one-to-one mapping between terms, and there's enough overlap eitherway to be confusing
things can be dragonlike without being dragons, and dragons can be non-dragon-like while someone can still call it a dragon
 
@AncientSwordRage This is what you get from polyphily in labelling conventions, heh.
 
@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica that's exactly what a fish would say
 
10:56 AM
Generally, before answering 'is this a X', one needs to ask 'what criteria are required and what criteria are forbidden for membership in the X set'.
 
@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica sounds like a good start
I think the OSP video said they were more concerned with the dragon's role in it's native culture
which makes your criteria question much harder
I'm off to find some fence paint for our neighbour
ciao for niao
 
11:58 AM
7
Q: Would the spell Disintegrate affect a carried creature?

RobinDuring a recent D&D 5e session, a Retriever picked up a player character and started to move, using this ability: If the paralyzed creature is Medium or smaller, the retriever can pick it up as part of the retriever’s move and walk or climb with it at full speed. (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes) A...

 
12:17 PM
@HotRPGQuestions people are things too
 
12:57 PM
@Ash thx 👍
 
hey there @KorvinStarmast
 
@Shalvenay hail!
 
@KorvinStarmast how're things going?
 
@Shalvenay Going fine. Hurricane didn't harm us, cooking breakfast, had a fun play test with Mike and Nits last weekend.
how you?
 
@KorvinStarmast cool, what did you playtest? and going fine here
 
1:01 PM
@Shalvenay some stuff for a future hardback; had to do that NDA and all that.
did it while hurricane was going on, but electricity stayed on.
 
@KorvinStarmast aaah
 
laptop crashed in the middle of saturday nite session. but I have a back up
 
@KorvinStarmast btw, have a link to drop you on Discord
 
1:21 PM
@Shalvenay pls do, I'll not be on there for a bit ... thanks
 
 
1 hour later…
2:34 PM
Hello friends
 
2:51 PM
@ThomasMarkov hello! How ya doing?
 
 
4 hours later…
6:49 PM
2
Q: How long do the temporary HP gained from the Aberrant Dragonmark feat last?

Sam LacrumbThe Aberrant Dragonmark feat states: You learn that spell and can cast it through your mark. Once you cast it, you must finish a short or long rest before you can cast it again through the mark. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells. When you cast the 1st-level spell through...

 
7:46 PM
My friend found a West March group to be a part of, but he's noticing a huge spike in Kitsune players all of a sudden, with no world plot reason for it.
It's fairly anti-thematic to the plot of the world, where Kitsune are supposed to be rare and distant from the area
Has there been any TTRPG media, like a Critical Role type thing, where Kitsune were featured?
 
8:05 PM
@Axoren don't think so
I imagine it's just snowballed
I didn't think d&d had kitsune...? Or is this a previous edition?
@Axoren from what I've read West Marches is just a style of play but I don't see why that would imply a setting with rare player races?
 
It's another Pathfinder group
 
@BardicWizard good!
 
@AncientSwordRage Generally, everything happens in a local area, but there is a greater world
So, Kitsune adventurers deciding to come here en masse has, at the very least interesting, implications
It's not something that in-universe would just happen by coincidence, even if out-of-universe, the players all picked their races coincidentally
 
But what's the setting?
 
@Axoren Ah, the kitsune diaspora.
 
8:16 PM
@AncientSwordRage I'm not part of the group but from what I heard, it's standard medieval fantasy fare and Kitsune and other Japanese folklore inspired races come from the far east and need to incorporate that into their backstory.
 
Interesting
 
8:30 PM
> New Kitsune pet now available in Adopt Me on Roblox. Plus get 50% off legendary pets ...
From Google in the last month
 
It does seem like it could turn into a setup for a major meta-event, like something in the east that's causing all these kitsune to show up here.
 
No, it's just a bunch of unrelated men all making female Kitsune characters at the same time.
 
Yeah, I meant that the people running the group could incorporate it as a sort of background story thing.
 
@Axoren I've got an MTG commander deck with a kitsune samurai general
I dunno if the players are all just following a trend and exploring what they do or don't like
 
9:03 PM
I'm worried now that there's an accurate stereotype of these players I might be unaware of.
Like the fairly accurate one for Goblin Pyromancers.
"Everything must burn, even the party, even the plot."
 
9:15 PM
Ah yes, good ol selective realism. Because medieval western Europe definitely had owlbears, gelatinous cubes, and sorcerers born with dragon powers. But Japanese lore? No, that definitely needs extra justification. /s
 
@MikeQ When all of the Lizardfolk come from the tropics, you definitely need a reasonable explanation why they all decided, en masse, to visit the arctic.
^Just an example
 
Why? If it's a fantasy world, why can't they just be locals like every other weird humanoid thing?
 
5
Q: Could you switch your target between two creatures under the effects of sanctuary until you succeed your safe?

Daan Van IJckenThe spell sanctuary states You ward a creature within range against Attack. Until the spell ends, any creature who Targets the warded creature with an Attack or a harmful spell must first make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature must choose a new target or lose the Attack or sp...

 
@MikeQ Because in this case, the setting says they generally aren't from around there.
The setting could have easily said otherwise, but it doesn't
 
I suppose I'm not seeing how it's such a disruptive problem for a West Marches game, which is typically meant to allow new characters to drop in and out with relative logistic ease.
 
9:30 PM
At the moment, it just seems odd
 
@Axoren "So, lets come up with some ideas for why your chars made the trek from way over in the east" :)
 
Considering how often I repeat this point, I wonder if I'm just flat-out wrong, and there's some fundamental property of Euro-medieval-inspired fantasy such that it must be grounded in the same set of romanticized Euro medieval norms.
 
It doesn't have to be, just that this setting was
 
9:58 PM
This is probably a major disconnect here. You can build a setting where nine-tailed fox-spirits and mavkas live side by side. But it's not a given that a specific setting will end up with such demographics. And some sort of event being notable for the setting in question is not an invalid thing to call attention to.
Some people prefer bending a setting on the fly to the players' actions; others prefer a world to already be defined before the players and their PCs enter the picture, and maintaining consistency. Neither way of fun is inherently wrong, but they can lead to unfun when they clash.
 
10:13 PM
3
Q: Does holding class abilities require concentration?

ThrillxlordzThis question is about any class abilities, but the specific case that came up for me was the following: a Grave domain cleric chose to ready Path to the Grave to use before another players turn. They took some damage while they were readying and so we ruled that they need to make a concentration...

 
10:26 PM
There's definitely a risk (and I'm not saying anyone's fallen afoul of it) of assuming that the western European inspired characters naturally would explore elsewhere, but characters from the tropics or fantasy-japan wouldn't/couldn't based on real world history of exploration and colonisation
 
10:49 PM
I'd find it very "unrealistic" to have any group limited to a specific geographical place without an explicit in-game reason for their being forced to stay there. Diaspora happens.
I mean, for something as specific as "Japanese people in a space being colonized by Western nations" to parallel the appearance of kitsune in West Marches, I'd just have to point out that 17th century Latin America had a significant population of Japanese immigrants. Most of them had been traveling abroad when Japan closed its borders, so got passage on Spanish treasure ships from China or the Philippines. Some of them were even samurai who were hired by the Spanish colonial militia.
There were even more Chinese people in that area; by 1620 Spanish craftspeople were complaining that the Chinatown district in Mexico City was driving them out of business.
(And I can't find many direct references off-hand but since most of Chinese and Japanese contact with the West went through Manila, I'd be shocked if there weren't a ton of balikbayan too.)
(eg, the New Mexico Chinatown was named for the Chinese district in Manila.)
So, to be clear: there was a significant Japanese presence in Spanish colonies during the period of Japanese isolation, because of the isolation. Even something that seems like a good explanation for keeping people apart, often doesn't.
Trophy Trifolds! A jam hosted by Speak the Sky. The goal of this jam is to make a Trophy Dark incursion that: (a) fits on a single A4 trifold (you can use both sides); (b) is lo-fi, monochrome, and print-friendly (no fancy graphics or backgrounds; what counts as 'fancy' is up to you); (c) uses one of the 36 randomly-generated Themes, to be revealed at the start of the jam.
 
11:25 PM
I have safely arrived in Michigan
 
Watching my social media explode about both the ENnies and the Hugos simultaneously has been an absolute riot. Highlights include "feeyah," and the most awkward thirty seconds of silence I've ever encountered.
 
user15026
11:44 PM
@BESW I am trying to figure out what "A4 trifold" means
 
user15026
@BESW I have been quite entertianed
 
@Ash Like, I haven't watched any of either ceremony, I'm just getting the subtweets, and it's amazing.
A4 is the size of the paper (very close to letter size), and trifold means it's folded into three panels.
 
user15026
@BESW The subtweets also are so good
 
user15026
(Although realizing how many people have no idea how to say "fiyah" is kinda startling)
 
user15026
@BESW oh, like a brochure or something!
 
11:47 PM
@Ash Exactly!
 
@ThomasMarkov congrats on a safe journey
@BESW you good stackizen, are a well of knowledge and inspiration
 
That, or a font of useless trivia.
Realism isn't a great justification for much of anything in a game, in my opinion, unless the game's been set up with that as a goal--and even then, we tend to mistake our prejudices and biases for realism.
If I didn't have an example of real-life unexpected diaspora, that wouldn't invalidate the point that rejecting diaspora as unrealistic is a weird flex for a fiction to make.
On the other hand, I absolutely love those kinds of diaspora stories. People meeting each other is my jam.
 
@BESW it's why my favourite stories involve groups of people not just one line character
@BESW it's why my favourite stories involve groups of people not just one lone character
 
I really like setting stories in places where several cultures are mixed together.
 

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