TRPG General Chat

AncientSwordRage

12:04 AM

@BESW takes notes

BESW

@AncientSwordRage Wayback archive of the post

AncientSwordRage

@BESW yay!

Hot RPG Questions

1:04 AM

5

Q: What happens when a Twilight Cleric uses Steps of Night to fly into a brightly lit area?

The Twilight Domain Cleric's sixth level ability "Steps of Night" reads as follows: You can draw on the mystical power of night to rise into the air. As a bonus action when you are in dim light or darkness, you can magically give yourself a flying speed equal to your walking speed for 1 minute. ...

AncientSwordRage

@HotRPGQuestions I could have sworn this was already answered here, but when I looked earlier it wasn't

trogdor

Atomic Robo is a pretty interesting comic for sure

TheDragonOfFlame

1:35 AM

Is there like a list somewhere of all the different types of dice rolling methods? Such as d20, 3d6, etc

Shalvenay

@TheDragonOfFlame like, what's in common use? you can make dice rolling pretty much as complicated as your players are willing to put up with :P

TheDragonOfFlame

I’m mean like systems, I’ve seen a bunch in different games.

For example an ability check by rolling a d20, or by rolling 3d6 and getting under a target number, or by rolling Xd6 and all 6s counting as a success

trogdor

2:04 AM

I'm not sure there is anything like a list of everything that gets used as a rolling mechanic anywhere

trogdor

2:17 AM

that would probably have to be a big list with a lot of legwork put in to even be close to everything that gets used in every game

BESW

2:41 AM

Let's put it this way: within the concept of "rolling a d20," I've seen in Actual Published Games, just off the top of my head without looking stuff up:
- Roll 1d20 and add a character/circumstance-based positive or negative modifier, aiming to meet or exceed a target number.
- Roll 1d20 and add a character/circumstance-based positive or negative modifier, aiming for *under* a target number.
- Roll 1d20 and check if it's even or odd, and whether it's rolled above, below, or exactly any combination of 1, 5, 11, 15, and 20.

17

Q: Common Dice Mechanics

I'm thinking of doing a study/paper/educational-piece about different dice rolling systems in RPGs and other games. I've played RPGs in the past but it's been years so I wanted to be sure I knew the common terms and see if you all could briefly describe some of the common (or uncommon) systems f...

game-design dice

"Dice-Rolling Mechanisms in RPGs" (PDF link) by Torben Mogensen

"The Ultimate List of RPG Core Mechanics" forum thread on rpg.net

Each of these is going to be less a list of common mechanics, or a comprehensive listing, and more a survey of the games the writer(s) are familiar with.

And then there's non-dice mechanics. Drawing cards, exchanging tokens, playing rock-paper-scissors, betting, offering choices to other players...

Yuuki

3:44 AM

if you want to go old-school for dice alternatives, there's reading entrails

BESW

3:55 AM

@Yuuki I know of at least two systems for using the actions of one's cat as a randomizer instead of dice.

BESW

4:21 AM

Sep 15 at 0:20, by BESW

"How to RPG with Your Cat turns your feline friend into a furry d20" article by Matt Jarvis for Dicebreaker. Make your purring pal a character, dungeon meowster or even the die itself using the upcoming RPG - roleplaying pet game - book.

Dec 16 '19 at 5:36, by BESW

My Cat is an Oracle, by Jamila R. Nedjadi is a #RitualAsGames you play with your cat!

Hot RPG Questions

5:11 AM

1

Q: What happens when Witch Bolt misses?

According to the Witch Bolt spell description: Make a ranged spell attack against that creature. On a hit, the target takes 1d12 lightning damage, and on each of your turns for the duration, you can use your action to deal 1d12 lightning damage to the target automatically. The spell description...

dnd-5e spells attack concentration duration

BESW

@HotRPGQuestions Everyone in the vicinity learns a witch curse.

AncientSwordRage

8:08 AM

@BESW for avoidance of all doubt, nothing to do with the cats entrails

BESW

9:13 AM

Makenzie De Armas wrote a twitter thread about attempting "to capture the experience I had working on this book as Lead Writer" in Sina Una's chapter-opening blurbs.

NearFutures wrote a twitter thread of "ttrpgs as teas"

Esoteric Dungeon Generator by Samuel Mui Shen Ern on openprocessing.org

Audio Verse Awards wrote a twitter thread expressing disappointment with Fantasy Flight Games' IP use policies.

Gail Simone wrote a twitter thread doing lightning reviews of many ttrpgs.

Sword Saints: Neology by matara. A new vision of the Cage, empowered by Superfantasy

Songs For The Dusk by Kavita Poduri, Quinn Vega. A post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy tabletop RPG about building a better future.

Rare Jewel by Peach Garden Games. A Ritual Game to Nurture Your Art

InThe News - Feat. Global South, Diceless, Lay on Hands Jam, Sol, End of the Line and more

►

Kickstarter: Unfamiliar: A Tarot-Based Journey Through The Underworld by Ash Cheshire. A tarot-based storytelling game about a magical creature's journey through the underworld as they seek their magician. For 1-4 players.

The Vampire Next Door by Cat Elm. A game for bold and meddling kids

End of The Line by Urania Games. A game where you try to avoid dying gruesomely!

Upcoming Kickstarter: Haunted Hill Academy by Jeffrey Hayes. An intimate coming-of-age & supernatural horror rpg for one player and one game master

Crescent Moon ☾ by ema acosta. Brave children exploring strange dreamscapes — a feelings-delving tabletop RPG.

Clayton Notestine wrote a twitter thread reviewing Orbital by Jack Harrison at Mousehole Press.

AncientSwordRage

11:05 AM

Do you think intravenous coffee would be better piping hot or cold? Milk or no milk?

Or should I go straight to snorting pure powdered caffeine ?

AncientSwordRage

11:16 AM

POB question: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/191952 ?

trogdor

11:26 AM

I don't think you should add or remove a ridiculous amount of heat from your intravenous coffee

at best you aren't going to notice so what is the point? at worst the area you are intravenously getting it is going to be too hot to scalding or too cold to frozen

AncientSwordRage

@trogdor good point

@trogdor what about the milk?

BESW

While it's not a long-term solution, some people find that gum stimulation by brushing teeth can temporarily create wakefulness. My dad swore by it as a way to drive home safely late at night.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW that is really interesting, thank you

BESW

Caffeine + power nap is more effective than either on its own.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW The weird thing is I probably got more sleep last night than normal

Akixkisu

11:34 AM

@ThomasMarkov @Trish @Medix2 This post seems wrong, but not low-quality rpg.stackexchange.com/a/191951/44723 would you mind to share why you voted to delete it?

AncientSwordRage

normally I can power nap after a coffee, but it's not really an option right now

maybe I'm just dehydrated

Trish

@Akixkisu idea generation

BESW

Caffeine doesn't actually make us less sleepy, it blocks the chemicals that the brain accumulates to tell it that we're getting more tired over time. A power nap clears those accumulated chemicals. So a power nap just as caffeine hits the brain means the caffeine can clog as many of the "getting sleepy" receptors as possible.

@AncientSwordRage Oh yes, hydration is good.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW yeah I was hoping I didn't need to clear those chemicals as it's .. ok not morning anymore but it's not even gone 1pm here

AncientSwordRage

11:46 AM

sorry @Akixkisu I thought that conversion tag was wrong but I've rolled back my roll back

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage No worries.

AncientSwordRage

It's unclear what they mean by "Adventures in Middle-Earth module" though

I thought it mean this foundry vtt module for 5e games, but maybe not ?foundryvtt.com/packages/aime

Akixkisu

Does that even have 164 pages?

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu no but what other module would it be?

"Adventures in Middle-Earth" is a game not a module

Medix2

@Akixkisu It's unsupported. It doesn't support that towns actually did that

Akixkisu

11:56 AM

@AncientSwordRage I'm pretty sure they are reffering to cubicle7games.com/the-one-ring-adventures-in-middle-earth-sale

And to page 164 which lists the resting rules.

But I also agree that it is unclear.

Though not opinion-based.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu I don't have the energy right now to clean it up, but if you want to please link that in if you're confident?

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage they deleted, so I'm not going to double-check and clean that up.

I could also be wrong, and I would need to double-check.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu no worries

Akixkisu

The onus there is on them to update the question (or leave it be as closed).

Medix2

I wonder if that mid rest question could have been reframed as "What methods of implmenting a mid-rest have people tried, and what were their experiences with it?" But... that may be too idea-y

Definitely enters the territory of "Medix2 has no good rules for this, so won't vote"

Akixkisu

12:06 PM

How do I convert the MID rest to 5e is valid.

And very applicable since it uses the ogl.

Though the whole system is in cease and desist after contractual differences limbo.

Someone_Evil

I'm having a hard time seeing what a well workable version of that question would be, because it's mostly "choose something to fit your table".

It's possible it would be better to rework it to be focusing on solving the actual problem without presuming MID rest as the solution, but that still sounds very open ended

To my eye, it seems like the point they're at they need/want to have a conversation bouncing ideas and concerns with others

KorvinStarmast

12:23 PM

@TheDragonOfFlame Then fighter can't be thanks to Eldritch Knight. As I said, there is a lack of a shared understanding

Someone_Evil

It might be easier to get clarity/consistency if you switch to saying martial characters, than trying to lock the perspective to classes

And then possibly acknowledge that it isn't gonna be a neat boolean

KorvinStarmast

@Carcer hoorray for that

Hot RPG Questions

2:35 PM

5

Q: Does activating a magic item that does not specifically require an action still require an action?

So for example Eversmoking Bottle states: Smoke leaks from the lead-stoppered mouth of this brass bottle, which weighs 1 pound. When you use an action to remove the stopper, a cloud of thick smoke pours out in a 60-foot radius from the bottle. The cloud's area is heavily obscured. Each minute th...

dnd-5e magic-items action-economy

AncientSwordRage

@AncientSwordRage Oh shoot, I forgot that section because I got so caught up in writing about the word effect. — Thomas Markov 41 secs ago

If you're going to edit that in, I shan't write my own answer

these examples come to mind though: text.npr.org/701417140

> In 2017, 22,000 people who signed up for free public Wi-Fi inadvertently agreed to 1,000 hours of community service — including cleaning toilets and "relieving sewer blockages," the Guardian reported. The company, Manchester-based Purple, said it inserted the clause in its agreement "to illustrate the lack of consumer awareness of what they are signing up to when they access free wifi."

no trap, despite the potential 'harm'

> April Fool's Day in 2010, the British retailer GameStation inserted a new clause into its license agreement, with a check box already ticked. If users didn't uncheck the box, they agreed to grant GameStation "a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul." GameStation said that if it chose to exercise the soul transfer, it would serve notice in 6-foot-high letters of fire.

Potential harm? Maybe

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Yeah, I was going to write about that, then forgot when I got caught up writing about "Effect". I'm adding a section now.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov nice

I hope my examples help

Thomas Markov

2:59 PM

I need Timothy Wiseman's take on find traps.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov frantic googling

I'm at a loss

Thomas Markov

Timothy Wiseman is one of our users who happens to practice contract law.

TimothyAWiseman, Las Vegas, NV

28.6k 3 65 133

gm-techniques dnd-5e system-agnostic dnd-3.5e pathfinder-1e roleplaying world-of-darkness

Consistently gives very good takes on social and problem-* questions.

Alternatively, instead of find traps you could just cast summon Timothy Wiseman.

3

AncientSwordRage

3:15 PM

@ThomasMarkov that would be funny

Cat of doom2

3:27 PM

hi

reading through the chat logs looks like we had very good discussion about accession while i was gone

NautArch

3:40 PM

@Someone_Evil any thoughts on the flag I've had raised for a couple days?

Someone_Evil

I'll admit I haven't had the energy to dig into the question and answers enough to really take a stance on it

At a glance there doesn't seem to be anything really awry with the answers, but maybe I'm missing something?

Cat of doom2

i'm confused

AncientSwordRage

@Catofdoom2 what by?

Joel Harmon

@Catofdoom2 The chat backlog is typically pretty high quality. That's even (or especially) true when it steps out of the RPG niche into such varied topics as bird watching, ornithology, and avian observation.

NautArch

4:01 PM

@Someone_Evil for the same reason that we've all been discussing it in chat. What does a martial class mean? We're all guessing, which means answers are guessing.

Joel Harmon

@NautArch I don't think there's an official description of that, and unofficial ones tend to get wierd. "no spellcasting" could mean "monk and barbarian only", because fighter/rogue have opt-in magical subclasses. Even then, one monk subclass also has magical abilities, they're just not spell slot based.

NautArch

@JoelHarmon exactly! That's why we really need the querent to specify what they want us to compare against. If it's against whatever someone wants to, then this seems to start to get into opinion based as to what those comparisons mean.

Joel Harmon

Oh, and don't forget to exclude or not the various feats and races that grant spells.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch which question

oh the ranger question

Someone_Evil

Are the answers really landing on different general metrics? While they might take slightly different approaches, they seem to be understanding the term to mean the same thing and going from there

NautArch

4:17 PM

@Someone_Evil Right now there's only one real answer. And I don't even know if the subclasses and classes that they have included are what the query is looking for.

But should other answers come in, we really have no idea if we're hitting what they're asking for because it never closes what they're asking for. And it seems pretty clear from chat that none of us can define what Marshall means. Usually if there's an undefined major term that's required to answer a question, someone needs to define what it means.

Thomas Markov

Personally, I've never considered the ranger to be a martial class, so I disagree with that premise of the question. So yeah, some clarification would be nice.

And I just checked, "You voted to close this question Mar 24 at 9:00"

Someone_Evil

I think we should have the ability for soft terms to be used. In this case it means the expertise to use that for an answer (ie. choosing a representative set) falls to answers. A querent could do that, but then you're sorta moving towards making it just a meths exercise.

NautArch

Isn't this already a math exercise? That's exactly what they're asking for, we just need to know what to include in this exercise.

But if we're saying that we're okay with loose terms that let the answers to find how they want, then I guess that's that.

Someone_Evil

And FWIW, the question's been closed, reopened, and then Left Open by review

NautArch

I just generally thought that it's better if all the answers are coming from the same direction. If everyone can pick the wrong bounds, it seems pretty broad.

Thomas Markov

4:25 PM

Apparently I reopen voted too.

But that was six months ago.

So I wont pretend to recall my reasoning.

Someone_Evil

Wait, what? Since when was this asked in March?

Thomas Markov

Am I talking about something completely different?

What question are you talking about

Someone_Evil

No, you're right, I just somehow interpreted "Mar" as september

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil It happens.

V2Blast

4:43 PM

@Akixkisu It is indeed the rules for Journeys from p. 164 of the Adventures in Middle-earth Player's Guide. But the relevance of AiME is fairly loose - it's just what inspired their thinking - and the querent is still basically asking for idea-generation for a new kind of rest, in between short rests and long rests.

To be clear, AiME doesn't have a comparable concept to what they want, just short rests and long rests (it uses the 5e basic rules, after all). AiME just has modified resting rules so that 5e's "adventuring day" is spread out over the course of a "Journey", rather than being contained within a 24-hour period; long rests generally happen at Sanctuaries (somewhere the characters are safe and secure) between Journeys. There is no conversion from one system to another involved in that question.

AncientSwordRage

4:54 PM

@V2Blast ahhh ok

so they've almost assumed that the long rest from AiME is like a super-long rest, then how do you make the normal long rest into 'mid' rest?

@V2Blast what about the heat metal question requires the targeting tag?

V2Blast

@AncientSwordRage I don't think it necessarily requires it - I just figured it was relevant. If you disagree, feel free to remove it

AncientSwordRage

it's probably not worth another edit

I was just curious

Joel Harmon

@ThomasMarkov Now I'm curious how you would categorize Rangers.

Thomas Markov

@JoelHarmon Spellcasters lol

AncientSwordRage

I don't think Spellcaster/Martial class is the dichotomy people seem to think it is?

Joel Harmon

5:05 PM

Huh. I'd consider half- and third- casters to be martial with magic as supplemental.

You're right, it's not a solid yes-or-no answer.

AncientSwordRage

Warlocks and Wizards are full casters but both have subclasses which are martial

Joel Harmon

I'd probably draw the arbitrary line at "not full casters", but I wouldn't get mad at people who thought differently.

@AncientSwordRage See also war domain clerics, maybe?

NautArch

@JoelHarmon warlock?

Hex blade is fairly martial

Swords bard?

Joel Harmon

@NautArch I'd put them in the full caster bucket, but agree archetypes muddy the waters.

Thomas Markov

Yeah, "dichotomy" is definitely not a thing here.

NautArch

5:08 PM

@JoelHarmon Yeah, like eldritch knight

Joel Harmon

I guess one way of looking at this is "how much trouble are you in if forced to fight in an antimagic field?"

Thomas Markov

@JoelHarmon My crossbow expert + sharpshooter swords bard is in exactly 0 trouble.

But my monk is in a lot of trouble.

Joel Harmon

So it turns out there are still no easy answers to this question? Drat. :-P

Thomas Markov

btw ki is magic.

All of a monk's ki features cease to function in an amf.

Joel Harmon

I thought Ki was only sometimes magic. That is, duplicating spells with it is magic, but some other uses aren't. I haven't looked at Monk in some time, though, and I'm certainly open to correction.

Thomas Markov

5:13 PM

47

A: Does ki count as magic for the purpose of an antimagic field, or is it only fluff?

"Magical Effects" and "multiverse" are keywords / themes to resolve this Short Answer: Ki creates magical effects that are subject to Antimagic Field's effects. Discussion In the boxed section covering the Weave (PHB p. 205) ki is left out. Since that PHB chapter is about "spells and spell ...

The accepted answer there is just tweets, so is basically useless.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov they all seem to

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage What? Korvin's answer gives significant attention to the written rules and then mentions the developer tweets as possible guidance on intent.

Oh, yeah mean all the monk's features seem to be magical

lol

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov No I meant Korvin's answers also use the tweets

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Only after giving due attention to the rules.

AncientSwordRage

but I see you are taking umbrage with the amount of the accepted answer that is made up of tweets

@ThomasMarkov yusssir I see it now

Thomas Markov

5:18 PM

@AncientSwordRage which is almost all of it.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov yup

KorvinStarmast

6:11 PM

@ThomasMarkov This comment is interesting That line of thought would be "treat ki like dragon breath, unless it is specifically creating a spell/magical effect" - and I like that as a path forward, ruling wise.

Thomas Markov

@KorvinStarmast I don't see any reason to treat ki like dragon breath.

The SAC guidance on dragon breath actually gives me good reason not to.

The crux of the SAC guidance on dragon breath has to do with whether or not the feature is described as magical - dragon breath is not said to be magical, so it doesn't count as magical. However, ki and its effects are described as magical on numerous occasions.

MikeQ

What if the dragon is a punch dragon, and breathes a cone of magic fists? Would it then be comparable to ki?

BESW

[mumbles “this was a solved problem in 4e” and goes back to bed]

2

Thomas Markov

@MikeQ Supposing a lactose intolerant dragon ate an entire village along with a few dairy cows, rapidly expelling a cone of predigested fists is a totally mundane and feasible outcome, and a possibly viable strategy for dealing with antimagic fields.

Notably, an awakened llama wearing a funny hat with a thing for eating hands could produce a similar effect if properly fed.

Joel Harmon

@MikeQ So instead of acid breath, it's sugar water breath?

Thomas Markov

6:20 PM

@JoelHarmon "OH YEAHHHHH (Recharge 5-6)."

Joel Harmon

Then you'd have to make "sticky" an inflicted condition...

Thomas Markov

6:33 PM

would a question about how to use dndbeyond be on topic

Joel Harmon

If anydice is fair game, then I'd say our collective expertise would also cover dndbeyond and similarly relevant sites.

Akixkisu

There you go rpg.stackexchange.com/q/191972/44723

@ThomasMarkov yes.

Medix2

7:00 PM

@ThomasMarkov We have questions on roll20 and anydice implementation, so I'd say yes

@Akixkisu That one answer intrigues me as it says that Ranger and Paladin being called half-casters is controversial while in my own experience everybody calls them half-casters

Makes me wonder about support for such answers since they are ostensibly supporting that claim with their own experience, and if I used my own experience to make a claim it would be the exact opposite claim being made

Akixkisu

I think this is one of those instances where voting is super interesting.

Medix2

Right but I agree with the answer, but not all of it, so no matter how I vote can be misinterpreted

Akixkisu

@Medix2 I agree. I don't think that an answer's votes would be representative.

Thomas Markov

7:15 PM

I gave a two part answer. One dealing with rules text, and one dealing with lingo I've used and seen used that is based on the rules text.

NautArch

8:06 PM

@ThomasMarkov I like that answer, but I think you might need to leave a little more heavily into the fact that it is not a destination that is from a source book and is going to be a personal one.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch "To be clear, these categories are derived from a particular mechanic in the rules, but this categorization is not part of what the rules are trying to do. This section of the rules happens to give a convenient and accessible framework for categorizing these classes that seems to work out consistently in play, but this is definitely not "the rules say these are the four categories of classes"."

How's that

V2Blast

8:24 PM

@ThomasMarkov Yes, depending on what is being asked about how to use DDB. Obviously some things might be too broad or a poor fit for the Stack Exchange format, but DDB itself isn't off-topic or anything :)

Thomas Markov

@V2Blast It'll be a self-answer. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

V2Blast

@ThomasMarkov Ki's just weird because the "lore"/"flavor" sections repeatedly mention that it's a form of magic, but the class features relating to ki usually don't mention magic. (And Crawford's mentioned in multiple tweets that outside of any class features that are explicitly described as magical, ki is part of the "background magic" of the universe - but ki's not explicitly addressed in the SAC.)

Now I'm curious if there are other things (besides ki) that are described as magical in lore/flavor text but still fall under the category of "background magic of the universe"

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Would you be amenable to a lead of something like "there is no official martial definition"?

Thomas Markov

@NautArch "there is no attempt in the rules text to neatly categorize classes and subclasses this way" seems to be approximately that

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov My bad, I meant lead like ## header.

Just to hopefully head off answers that try to classify

Akixkisu

8:38 PM

@V2Blast Yes.

Thomas Markov

@V2Blast I'm not aware that anything is actually described as the background magic of the universe.

Im sure there is stuff, but I cant think of anything.

Like yeah, the concept of ki in general is part of the background magic, but a particular manifestation of it seems to be not background magic anymore, idk.

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov I think there's something in SAC

There might be something buried in the DMG, but I can't think of any off-hand

dndbeyond.com/sources/sac/sage-advice-compendium#SA224

V2Blast

What I mean is: Is there anything that lore sections describe with the word "magic"/"magical", but that aren't typically considered magical for mechanical reasons?

And yeah, what I mean by "background magic of the multiverse" is what's mentioned in the answer to "Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?" in the SAC.

Someone_Evil

Usually it being described as magical is what would make us consider it magical for mechanical reasons

You have the origins of hippogiffs etc. IIRC, but I'm guessing that's not really what you were thinking of

V2Blast

@Someone_Evil Which is why I'm curious if ki is an outlier here.

The most likely examples would be something where, e.g., some aspect of a creature or its origin or something is described (in the lore section) as magical, but the creature itself isn't somehow negated by an antimagic field, etc. So some people might think "this is described as magical", but a Crawford tweet/the SAC might state that it's part of the background magic of the multiverse, not magical for game mechanics purposes.

Someone_Evil

8:54 PM

> A beast whose magical origins are lost to history, a hippogriff possesses the wings and forelimbs of an eagle, the hindquarters of a horse, and a head that combines the features of both animals.

V2Blast

In the hippogriff's case, at least, it's just talking about the "magical origins" in the sense of how the first hippogriffs came to be - not in the case of any particular hippogriff. The first hippogriffs came out via some magical origin, but since then, they do apparently reproduce by mating?

Someone_Evil

There's elementals in general...

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov Ki is as close to psionics as 5e has gotten. The distinction between psionics and magic, where it was made, in AD&D 2e and it was the difference between 'internal' and 'external' supernatural things. I like certain ki powers to be like psionics, since it's capturing that idea, but any spell like effect powered by ki would be "a magical effect" which is what chapter ten talks about as regards magic. A spell is a magical effect. My answer was an exploration of "what's under the hood?"

At that time, when I wrote it, they were still working on Psionics version 1, and maybe version 2, for UA. So I didn't raise the "ki is a lot like psionics..." since I was hoping for a "here is 5e's version of psionics" and we still don't have that. It may never come to pass.

Someone_Evil

@KorvinStarmast We have some stabs at 5e psionics, no? A rogue subclass and a couple of feats

Though I suppose they're leaning a lot more on spells than previous iterations/editions' have

KorvinStarmast

9:23 PM

@Someone_Evil Psychic Warrior and the Tasha's rogue isn't psionics. The UA's we have had to date have been underwhelming. But the Tasha's rogue/Psychic Warrior in Tasha's is a sign, maybe, that they simply are not going to do "psionics as its own thing" for this edition.

@V2Blast they leave it deliberately soft to accomodate multiple approaches to world building.

Hot RPG Questions

1

Q: How should I handle giving a certain player a special ability in order to encourage roleplay?

I have a tiefling bard in one of my campaigns. In the campaign's universe, there is a lot of prejudice against tieflings. I wanted to encourage some roleplay by adding a homebrew rule that, when she makes a spell attack roll, she also rolls a d100 with a DC of 100. If she fails, the DC is lowered...

dnd-5e balance house-rules

V2Blast

In totally unrelated news, I updated my answer to the Q&A about the styling of D&D 5e game elements due to the formatting change for creature types detailed here (for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight and future books, at least):

> Creature types are now always capitalized. We’ve made this change so that it’s easier to tell in our rules when we’re talking about a monster of a certain type (a Giant, for example), rather than using a word in its normal sense (“She was a giant in the bard community”).

doppelgreener

@V2Blast thanks for illuminating things

KorvinStarmast

9:41 PM

@doppelgreener That's why we call him sunshine. 😂

AncientSwordRage

@V2Blast I've only just seen that and it all looks good

I especially like this part

> Also, rather than suggesting height and weight in a race, we provide the following text: “Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.”

Akixkisu

9:57 PM

@doppelgreener That seems probable, though as far as voting trends are concerned 50/50 isn't unlikely.

ACuriousMind

10:23 PM

@AncientSwordRage That strikes me as odd wording, since it implies that e.g. dwarves and elves fall into the same ranges of height and weight?

AncientSwordRage

@ACuriousMind the range is the same but the distribution is not?

Hot RPG Questions

13

Q: Do Warforged have disadvantage on the Con save against the Shatter spell?

Do warforged have disadvantage on the Con save against the shatter spell? As stated in the description of the shatter spell (emphasis mine): A sudden loud ringing noise, painfully intense, erupts from a point of your choice within range. Each creature in a 10-foot-radius sphere centered on that ...

dnd-5e spells saving-throw warforged

15

Q: Can the spell Find Traps find traps in legal documents?

The argument presented in this Reddit post is that the spell find traps can be cast on a legal document to find out if that legal document is fair, or if it contains any non-obvious "legal" traps which would disadvantage one party in a non-obvious way. The argument is that the description of the ...

dnd-5e spells traps

ACuriousMind

@AncientSwordRage A possible interpretation, but a 2 meter dwarf strikes me as obviously absurd either way (unless it's Captain Carrot)

AncientSwordRage

@ACuriousMind if you can ok it with your DM/group I don't see why you couldn't okay Carrot as a 2 m tall dwarf 🤷🏻‍♂️

Here's a sudden/unexpected effect, a clause that said: "Anybody who casts find traps within range of this document <negative effect>" — AncientSwordRage 8 hours ago

ACuriousMind

@AncientSwordRage well, but the whole point of Carrot is that he's culturally a dwarf without being biologically a dwarf. If the intention here is to decouple the "race" from biology I'm all for that, but then it should be worded much better

TheDragonOfFlame

10:41 PM

@KorvinStarmast can’t cast spells in base class disregarding subclasses

TheDragonOfFlame

10:54 PM

9

Q: Can you let go of a shield without doffing it?

Follow on from my previous question. One of my players has a (unknown to him) evil hand. I want to work out what the mechanical implications of that evil hand letting go of his shield would be. Shields take an action to "doff", i.e. stop receiving the benefit of the shield (2 AC for basic shiel...

dnd-5e shield

Interesting question. But I don’t see why mechanically you couldn’t drop it? You can drop a weapon as a free action, so why not a shield?

NautArch

Y'all mind if I move this to dragons?

→ 8 messages moved to Here There Be Dragons

→ 5 messages moved to Here There Be Dragons

@TheDragonOfFlame Because it takes an action to doff a shield :)

Same as armor, they have a specific 'dropping' time (the time it takes to doff.)

Also just realized, thankfully before hanging, that the bracket I got to hold my soundbar wasn't rated for my soundbar's weight.

V2Blast

11:30 PM

@NautArch mind if I move the other messages on the subject there as well? Or do you want to do it? (There's some messages in between that didn't get moved yet)

→ 26 messages moved to Here There Be Dragons

← 2 messages moved from Here There Be Dragons

(I accidentally moved 2 messages from the psionics conversation in my initial pass :P)

Hot RPG Questions

6

Q: If Heat Metal is cast on a shield, could the target be forced to drop it?

I'm wondering if Heat Metal could force a target to drop their shield. The spell description says (emphasis mine): If a creature is holding or wearing the object and takes the damage from it, the creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or drop the object if it can. Since doffing a ...

dnd-5e spells targeting shield

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