TRPG General Chat

Cat of doom2

16:32

heeellllllooooooo

Thomas Markov

@Catofdoom2 howdy

Cat of doom2

how are you?

Thomas Markov

Well.

Cat of doom2

that's good

Thomas Markov

So when a creature has an attack, it uses either dexterity or strength for that attack.

The to hit bonus is either dex or str modifier plus the proficiency bonus of the creature.

Cat of doom2

16:33

ok i'm assuming magic or melee

nitsua60

I'm behind on the discussion, but I'll chime in on one point: I think there's a distinction between experience and expertise that may be worth luxuriating in. (@ThomasMarkov @Akixkisu @linksassin @doppelgreener @NautArch et al)

NautArch

@nitsua60 ooooooh

how do you see those differently?

Thomas Markov

@nitsua60 Sounds luxurious. Will there be cucumbers for my eye balls?

@Catofdoom2 Melee or ranged, usually.

Cat of doom2

ok

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 Given both of your attacks are melee, and aren't magical. Strength seems to be the likely choice.

Thomas Markov

16:34

A spell attack typically uses the spellcasting ability of the creature.

NautArch

I'm not seeing this is a dexterous, but as strength-based.

@Catofdoom2 I know you haven't bought the MM or DMG yet, but there are rules around how to determine CR, monster adjusting, etc.

Since homebrew is an interest, you may want to purchase those sourcebooks.

Cat of doom2

i hav ethe duengon master guide

nitsua60

The way we're talking about experience-based is pretty tightly scoped to similar/identical situations: had the same issue at the table when playing the same scenario, playtested this homebrew item, &c. Whereas expertise--wisdom born from experience--would inherently recognize how an author might bring to bear reasoning that's not exactly from the same experience the querent has.

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 Have you read chapter 9?

Cat of doom2

I have a dungeon master's guide. what padge?

Thomas Markov

16:36

@Catofdoom2 Creating monsters is covered in Chapter 9

Cat of doom2

oh

let me look at it

NautArch

@nitsua60 Sure, but you still are bringing in why you have the expertise, which generally means the subjective support we talk about.

I'm not actually seeing a functional difference (or I'm choosing not to....)

nitsua60

@NautArch Yes, exactly.

"I haven't tried this item, but here's how I generally evaluate items when playtesting, and on spec this item has problems in these areas..." for instance.

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 How long have you been playing 5e/ttRPGs?

@nitsua60 yasss. Although along with "how", i'd like to see "why".

nitsua60

@NautArch sooth.

NautArch

16:38

Why do you choose that process? THat'd be very helpful in an answer. Probably more than how.

nitsua60

agree.

NautArch

Stop agreeing! We must ~~fight~~ debate!

Cat of doom2

one last thing. this is supposed to be a top-level boss that's supposed to be able to give the player a worthwhile challenge. are its stats fitting for that?

bobble

Depends on the level of the players

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 Given that it's stats are unclear...i don't know.

And as bobble says, we need to know the player levels, how many there are, and how many minions the boss has.

Thomas Markov

16:39

Yeah, no idea. How many players, what level, what will its HP actually be, etc.

bobble

And what magic items they have, and how optimized they are, and their classes and how they synergize, etc.

Cat of doom2

gimme a second

Thomas Markov

@bobble Though the DMG has guidance in estimating based solely on level and party size.

But those further details help.

@Catofdoom2 Have you considered reskinning an existing monster?

Cat of doom2

yes

NautArch

nevermind, question is closed.

nitsua60

16:40

Reskinning? Once you've skinned it once, there's not much left to work with... (he he he)

NautArch

@nitsua60 Depends if you're going from Huge to Medium.

Thomas Markov

We might be able to better help you find an existing monster that tactically fits your desired theme and just tweaking it slightly.

Cat of doom2

I used the phoenix as a base-line of how the 4 of them should be

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 4 of them?

Cat of doom2

yes i showed you 1

how would I show you them?

its quiet, to quiet

bobble

16:44

There's no indication if someone is typing a long message here; be patient for time to type out messages and/or connections issues, please.

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Links work in chat, if there is something you are trying to share with users.

Upper_Case

@Catofdoom2 Plus there is a lot of uneven, unpredictable availability to chat

Cat of doom2

ok

it's all saved in a google document are you sure that it'll let you access it?

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Looks like you are trying to force the mechanics of Yu-gi-oh summoning into a 5e monster. How much experience do you have running 5e monsters and combat?

Cat of doom2

docs.google.com/document/d/… hopefully that works

...

@linksassin maaaybe

Thomas Markov

16:46

@Catofdoom2 ive requested access.

Cat of doom2

ok

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Access is denied. You should be able to make it a public document and then we won't have to request access.

bobble

Just make "view" available to "anyone with a link"

Cat of doom2

ok

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Our advice will really depend on how familiar you are with 5e mechanics. Generally I advise against major homebrew unless you have a solid grasp of the existing mechanics. Combat is challenging enough for a new-ish DM without trying to make homebrew content work on the fly.

Cat of doom2

16:49

ok

how do i make it public?

linksassin

2 mins ago, by bobble

Just make "view" available to "anyone with a link"

Cat of doom2

but i don't see that as an optiinm under veiw

bobble

File -> Share

Click on "Change to anyone with a link"

Cat of doom2

oooh

ok

bobble

Make sure the permission is set to "viewer", click "copy link", then click "done" to save

Then, paste the link you just copied, into chat

linksassin

16:52

@Catofdoom2 What's your reason for not wanting to use a standard Gold or Brass dragon? Not critising, just want to understand.

Cat of doom2

because my friends said i'm to new to do anything creative or cool

soooo

yeah that's what this all is

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Ah, so you want to homebrew because someone told you you couldn't do something cool? I can assure you you can do plenty of cool things with or without homebrew.

Thomas Markov

Gold Dragons are pretty damn cool tbh.

Cat of doom2

docs.google.com/document/d/…

there we go

what mode is it in?

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 We can see that now.

bobble

16:55

(uh other people are going to need to click the link; I'm afraid that it would sign me in as my personal account)

Cat of doom2

oh

linksassin

What level is this campaign intended to start at?

Cat of doom2

5-8

maybe 4

linksassin

Ok, do you intend for your party to be able to fight this Obelisk monster at that level?

Cat of doom2

not really atleast not at the low side

Upper_Case

16:59

I see quite a few elements that don't obviously translate into existing 5e mechanics (like the Divine Sacrifice for the Dragon of Ra and Obelisk's Godly Aura, potential "overuse" of the Mangekyo Sharingan)

Cat of doom2

oh

Upper_Case

Though how relevant those are depend a lot on how you want the story to progress, and they could be exciting story elements

linksassin

Ok. Because they won't be able to. 400 is a lot of hitpoints for any monster. At best it would be a massive grind, but more likely they will get destroyed. I'd be careful how you communicate starting a campaign with a monster you don't really want the party to fight.

MikeQ

If you're new to GMing 5e and want to get creative with your monsters, a really useful starter technique is to take existing published stat block and simply describe it differently. You won't need to worry about balancing the numbers.

linksassin

Most player will probably charge the monster and get themselves killed in the first fight.

As MikeQ says, what I would advise doing is taking the stat block for similar level appropriate enemies and just describing them with your desired thematics.

Cat of doom2

17:01

i think it'll just ignore them if they can't damage it

Upper_Case

As an example, Divine Sacrifice would make an awesome plot element and factor to consider in a fight, if and only if players get to know about the feature and influence how many followers are involved in the summoning

KorvinStarmast

@nitsua60 Cool, I get to be an et al 😄 (And no, I didn't et it all! There was some cake left over when I left the room ... ) Crayons Ready to Eat. I have a new favorite idea for my son in law ...

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 You might be over-estimating your players. If you let them roll initiative against something, they will assume they can kill it.

MikeQ

Unless you communicate very clearly up-front that the point of the encounter is not to kill the monster, but to accomplish something else.

Cat of doom2

well when they first meet Ra a cult will explain him to them

Thomas Markov

17:03

Honestly, I would recommend just running Rise of Tiamat.

KorvinStarmast

@nitsua60 Enough for a purse, and boots to match?

Thomas Markov

The adventure is about a cult summoning a god-dragon

linksassin

@MikeQ Yeah, for example you could have this giant monster destroying the city but when you jump to where the party is, you describe them fleeing the city. The challenge is to get out alive, not to kill the monster.

Cat of doom2

well every time they see anything they think could hurt them they run and hide

my party isn't very brave

Upper_Case

@Catofdoom2 Also a relevant detail: do you have a sense of how long this campaign will last? Like, as a number of sessions or something like that?

linksassin

17:06

@Catofdoom2 But generally for your monsters. I would advise looking at the level appropriate stat blocks of similar monsters and just change the description. Winged Dragon of Ra could easily be a Gold Dragon with almost no effort.

Upper_Case

@Catofdoom2 My most desperate scrambles as a DM have come from assuming my players will always react in a certain way. Even when it's been true in 100% of previous cases, the time they switch has been a big challenge

Cat of doom2

ok

MikeQ

Yep, that's a fundamental GM lesson right there. Never assume the players will take a specific course of action, even if you think it seems logical or obvious.

Cat of doom2

we think the campaign might go into the summer

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Is this your first campaign as GM? I want to commend you for the effort you are going to to make this cool and interesting for your players.

Cat of doom2

17:09

it is indeed

Carcer

@MikeQ to be honest I'd almost say that you should not expect the players to take any course of action that you think is logical or obvious

as a species, the primary talent of players is to aggressively latch on to unimportant details while forgetting/ignoring the things you meant to actually be important

linksassin

My advise would be to focus on the story you are telling and use more existing content for combat statistics and spells. As DM you can handwave any mechanics you need (e.g. summoning the dragon) to make your story work. Without doing all the hard work to balance a homebrew creature.

Cat of doom2

ok'

thank you

is there any part of it that isn't bad?

linksassin

Your players won't really know the difference between Super Awesome Custom Dragon and Super Awesome Gold Dragon from a Book. Because it is the scenario and story they will remember, not the stats of the dragon.

Upper_Case

@Catofdoom2 A lot of it is great!

MikeQ

17:11

Eh, the whole notion that players are dumb and always behave erratically is at best a funny meme, but not very productive. The more useful takeaway is that players perceive things differently than the GM. They may misremember details or interpret things differently, but they tend to act rationally from their own points of view. The GM can't reasonably expect players to make decisions based on the GM's understanding of things.

Thomas Markov

@Carcer In the game I play that NautArch is running, we have created a traveling flea market that we keep adding to as we try to justify our accidental and overzealous pillaging.

Cat of doom2

may i get off topic?

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 None of it is bad. Just very different to official content, lots of new mechanics and ways of doing things so it is difficult to assess balance.

Upper_Case

It's an intriguing story, has some cool set pieces and monsters, and sounds like it has cool organizations to deal with. The problem isn't that your ideas are bad (they aren't), but that some things seem like they will be more complicated than necessary or helpful to you in running the game

@Catofdoom2 Of course

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Of course. TBH the fact we have talked about an RPG for this long is more on-topic than this room usually is.

NautArch

17:13

@Catofdoom2 Is this a module you are running or a homebrew campaign (sorry to bring RPG back)

Cat of doom2

well i hyst really want them t have a good time esspially since its a lot of their first time playing s I want them to enjoy the egame

honestly

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 Have y'all done a session zero?

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 The fact that that is your priority is a great start.

NautArch

That is a phenomenal tool to help guide a discussion on what things you and your players enjoy so you can build the campaign around that.

Cat of doom2

yes infact we are in session 1

tomorrow is session 2

NautArch

17:15

@Catofdoom2 So you did a session zero?

Cat of doom2

yes

NautArch

Cool, what things did your players want in a game?

Cat of doom2

one wanted a realy dark crimal world

many of them said they just want to have fun

Upper_Case

@Catofdoom2 My best advice for that: plan a less expansive story, and focus on sets of 3-5 sessions for major story developments, and keep mechanics relatively simple and close to the officially published rules

MikeQ

Good advice there. I've accidentally ruined a number of my own thoroughly-planned campaigns by planning for a big, overcomplicated plot. Start simple, add features as needed.

Cat of doom2

17:17

and one (how has been playing longer than any of us) wants rare magics and to be a badass

i know

Upper_Case

My worst-ever idea in running games was during my first. I was concerned about running out of ideas, and tried to fill in extra time with details of the setting and subplots. It ended up being more confusing that anything else, and contributed to that game falling apart before the exciting story (which my players liked) actually got to the end

Cat of doom2

i told them that they each will get a charter arc and a chance to be the main charter

Upper_Case

That's always a good approach

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 Did they explain what 'fun' meant for them?

Cat of doom2

i did indeed do my research. it may be my first time DMing but I reasearshed.

@NautArch not really, and thats the proplem

im just going to have to balence role-playing combat and story

NautArch

17:20

@Catofdoom2 It really may be helpful to pause the game and clarify what they are looking out of it.

MikeQ

That happens. Remember that session zero isn't the only opportunity for human-to-human chats. Out-of-game communication and regular check-ins can help too. Player expectations can change over time, over the course of a campaign. Maybe they'll discover something new that seems fun to them, and they'll ask for more of it.

NautArch

And what 'fun 'means.

Cat of doom2

i know

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 I would also recommend doing a shorter campaign. Maybe 3-5 sessions. That gives an opportunity for everyone to see what things are like and what they find fun.

You can then feed that info into a larger campaign for maximum enjoyments.

Cat of doom2

ok

MikeQ

17:22

And if you're unsure what the players want, I would advise against preparing a million things and throwing them at the players, then trying to see what they like and dislike. That path leads to burnout.

Cat of doom2

ok

linksassin

How did your first session go?

Cat of doom2

they all swear it's more fun they've ever had so far so I hope it'll be good

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 Then you're doing it right :)

Seriously, the only thing that really matters is if everyone (including you) is having fun!

Cat of doom2

i don't matter

NautArch

17:24

My main recommendation is be ready to improvise. Both in terms of combat, roleplay, and exploration. You can lean into what your players are doing and also help drive them towards other things.

@Catofdoom2 Yes you do! If you're not having fun, then it's not likely they will, either.

MikeQ

Yes you do, you're a participant at your table. Yes, you're kinda right in that the GM shouldn't prioritize their own fun at the expense of the players' fun. But GM burnout can kill campaigns. And players may enjoy the game less if they know the GM is miserable.

Cat of doom2

ok

NautArch

Trust us :) We've all been there.

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 You do. You absolutely do! A GM should always enjoy the game they are running. You aren't getting paid for this, and you put in a lot of work preparing the game. If you aren't enjoying it, why are you doing it?

NautArch

And FYI, I for one enjoy DMing more than playing.

linksassin

17:26

@NautArch Same here. But my current DM is stepping down at the end of this campaign because he has decided he doesn't. And that's fine, each to their own.

Cat of doom2

same

ok

ok now to finally get off topic

lol

linksassin

You are always welcome to ask for advise here too. Structured questions on mainsite but there are a lot of experience GMs in this room so if you just want someone to talk to this is the place for that.

Cat of doom2

do any of you play xbox one?

Upper_Case

I do not, though that's mostly because I can't justify spending the money on a new console right now

Cat of doom2

fair engough

anyone else?

linksassin

17:35

Not me. Any videos games for me these days are PC or Switch, not that I have much time for either.

Cat of doom2

ok

so I assume a no from everyone?

linksassin

Are you a member over at Arqade.SE? that's our sister site for video games. You will likely find more Xbone players in the chatrooms there. I think they are fairly active.

bobble

No from me; I gave up gaming time to be on SE

MikeQ

It's probable that there is at least one RPG SE chat-dweller who also has an xbox one.

Cat of doom2

can i get a link to that site?

Xirema

17:38

The only console I've bought in a decade is a Switch.

MikeQ

https://gaming.stackexchange.com

Cat of doom2

thank you

linksassin

@Xirema Same here. My TV unit currently has a PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Switch all connected.

MikeQ

If you connect the PS2 + PS3, then you get a PS5

bobble

I used to play a bunch of DS when my family took trips, but now COVID...

BaconyRevanant

17:43

I would like to inject into this conversation of Egyptian God Cards and "coolness" that copying(ish) the statistics and mechanics of a creature/character from one game into another game is probably about as cool as just taking an already existing character from the second game and just telling your friends that it's the character/critter from the first game, since they won't know the difference

linksassin

@MikeQ Until recently the PS2 was serving as my DVD player. Then we managed to scavenge the PS3 from my wife's family.

BaconyRevanant

After all, DMing is like 90% smokescreens anyways

Yuuki

@BaconyRevanant good lord, how many DMs are there? everyone i know plays with either paper screens or online

and if they're only part of the 10%...

BaconyRevanant

Oh no, we've been found out! throws down smokebomb and disappears

Cat of doom2

i'm back

BaconyRevanant

17:49

@Catofdoom2 I have some cleanup questions for you about your homebrew

Cat of doom2

@BaconyRevanant I think I'm doing well for my first campaign

BaconyRevanant

For Divine Smite, should that be a melee attack or a ranged attack? And is it a Weapon attack or a Spell attack?

Cat of doom2

ranged spell type

BaconyRevanant

Same for Ariel Strike (which I assume you meant to have be Arial Strike)

bobble

@BaconyRevanant you mean Godly Smite?

Cat of doom2

17:50

its a melee phyical atack

BaconyRevanant

Range on the smite?

Yuuki

@BaconyRevanant no, helvetica strike

BaconyRevanant

@Yuuki Times New Strike

Cat of doom2

probably about 50ft o rmore on the smite

or more

linksassin

@BaconyRevanant No. It summons a very angry mermaid.

Cat of doom2

17:53

angry little mermaid?

BaconyRevanant

@Catofdoom2 The little mermainds name is Ariel

Arial is both things happening in the air, and also a type of font

We like to make puns

Cat of doom2

i've noticed

BaconyRevanant

the smite is intended to cap out at +60 damage, correct? (max 20 sacrifices, 20 x 3 = 60)

SpacemanSpiff

Hello, I'm trying to understand why my answer got downvoted, is this the right place for that?

Cat of doom2

i'll be back in a bit

linksassin

17:54

@Catofdoom2 You catch on quick. You can stay. :)

BaconyRevanant

or was that supposed to be max 20 damage

@SpacemanSpiff Possibly. What's the answer

SpacemanSpiff

Bottom one here:
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/3266/terminator-style-rpg-setting/183717?noredirect=1#comment495807_183717

bobble

link to answer: rpg.stackexchange.com/a/183717

Cat of doom2

its supposed to be a max of 60

because its to good otherwise

linksassin

@SpacemanSpiff Ah, that's a bit of an awkward one. That question is a game-recommendation question. A type of question that is now off-topic. You might have noticed that the question has since been closed.

SpacemanSpiff

17:57

I added a a game that is in the actual setting asked for in my answer, I didn't notice it being closed at the time

thought that would be a good thing for the posterior to have that mentioned in the list

linksassin

It only exists because we used to allow questions like that, but they caused a lot of issues with consistently poor answers. So we decided we wouldn't allow them anymore.

SpacemanSpiff

Not sure if the downvoting was about the answer itself or that I used links

Yuuki

people need to stop using downvotes as super close votes

but voting is voting

soooo

Thomas Markov

@Yuuki What does this mean?

linksassin

@SpacemanSpiff It wasn't closed when you answered it. You answering it brought attention to it, which caused us to close it. There are still a bunch of them hanging around that haven't been closed just because no one has interacted with it.

Yuuki

17:59

oh wait, this is about an answer not a question

SpacemanSpiff

I see, bad luck happening to answer that one I guess

BaconyRevanant

My guess is that the biggest reason your answer got downvoted for low quality/effort response. We generally don't like "link only" answers, which this definitely is

Cat of doom2

0

Q: what moves should i run on my cac in dragon-ball xenoverse 2

I'm currently level 86 and have almost every move in the game. however, my currently only works against the COM so what would you recommend to run for a PVP build?

dragon-ball-xenoverse

bobble

697

Q: Your answer is in another castle: when is an answer not an answer?

I think we can all agree, this sucks: If you've been around a little while, you've probably encountered hundreds of answers like this in various forums, some of them even marked as "The Answer" by well-meaning1 forum admins looking to close a thread. We could try to enumerate the commonly-observ...

discussion link-only-answers not-an-answer

BaconyRevanant

Because your answer is just a very short sentence, and a link. It's honestly surprising it didn't get caught as spam

Yuuki

18:00

@ThomasMarkov well, not really applicable in this scenario, but downvotes are supposed to be for low-quality questions and close votes are for questions that don't fit the site's scope, for whatever reason. there is some overlap there but a closable question shouldn't always be downvoted and vice-versa

SpacemanSpiff

Ok, I see, will delete it then

Yuuki

but voting is voting, so people will do whatever

SpacemanSpiff

Maybe the whole question should be deleted since the information will eventually go out of date and is anyway not supposed to be on topic?

linksassin

Specifically with that answer, ignoring that the question is off-topic there are still a few issues.
1) It reads like a link-only answer. It's better to include some information about the system you are linking to. Provide an explanation of the basic premise so that reader can decide whether it is worth reading the link.
2) Game-rec answer require personal experience with the system. With a description of your experience and why you are recommending it. See [this historical meta](https://rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1071/48759)

bobble

Markdown breaks in multi-line chat messages

Known "feature"

SpacemanSpiff

18:03

I think I get it now, thanks for explaining.

linksassin

@SpacemanSpiff We don't delete old questions simply for being out of date. We close them when they come up, but users went to effort to answer them and it isn't fair to delete that work. Plus just because we no longer accept those questions, doesn't mean they don't have value.

@bobble I knew that... and yet I forget every time I try to use it.

@SpacemanSpiff Glad we could help. Sorry you had a bad experience with an old question.

BaconyRevanant

On an unrelated note, have you guys heard about that Lord of the Rings thing that happened recently?

Upper_Case

@BaconyRevanant I remember hearing that the Ring had been destroyed

BaconyRevanant

Yeah, no, I'm talking about the Ring Thing™ that happened within like the last week or so

Upper_Case

Then no. What's happened?

BaconyRevanant

18:09

Apparently, about 10 years prior to the filming of the series Peter Jackson, someone else had made a live adaptation

In Russia

As a live direct-to-tv special

Apparently, it had been though lost to time

linksassin

@BaconyRevanant Does that really count as within the last week? I did see some of it though.

BaconyRevanant

But it has recently been rediscovered

MikeQ

It's called Хранители and it's on youtube. Basically a zero-budget version of Fellowship of the Ring.

linksassin

big exhale it's an experience...

BaconyRevanant

The special effects are scuffed

Upper_Case

18:11

Is it a legitimate adaptation, or a palette swap?

BaconyRevanant

No, it's a for-real adaptation

Upper_Case

Lad of the Rungs

That sounds amazing! Is it drinking-game friendly, do you think?

Cat of doom2

i'm back

BaconyRevanant

The Gandalf fireworks scene is... something to behold

Upper_Case

/wb Cat

linksassin

18:12

@Upper_Case It's a legit movie. Just more in the style of high school kids with a camcorder than Hollywood Blockbuster.

Upper_Case

@MikeQ That comes up as Watchmen for me

@linksassin Sounds like my jam. Though nothing can be worse than Robot Holocaust. That has to be the worst movie ever made

MikeQ

Maybe try "Хранители Телеспектакль" (teleplay), it's all in Russian. I dunno if it's representative of 80s-90s Soviet cinema, but low-budget aside, it has some very unusual cinematography choices. For example, sometimes the Hobbits are CGI'd to look small, other times they aren't.

linksassin

@Upper_Case Worst movie I've ever watched to completion is Jackboots on Whitehall. Short synopsis: Nazis tunnel from berlin to London during WW2, Winston Churchhill flees to Scotland, finds William Wallace (Braveheart) and leads him back to win WW2. Film ends with Scottish Highlanders winning WW2 and ruling most of the world.

Upper_Case

@MikeQ That did the trick

@linksassin That movie is now on my list

linksassin

@Upper_Case Puppet animation voiced by Ewan McGregor and Timothy Spall... watched it as part of a series of Worst movies we can find, at one time a monthy movie binge with some friends of mine.

bobble

18:19

@linksassin bad in a good way, or just bad?

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@linksassin This looks like something out of Warrior Princess Diana.

linksassin

@bobble Bad in a ridiculous way. Like every time you think the movie can't get any dumber, it surprises you with a new level of ridiculousness you didn't know was possible.

bobble

Were the actors having fun?

linksassin

@bobble It's puppet, so hard to tell. I can only assume that all people involved were high at all times during production.

Cat of doom2

i'm going to go guys

bobble

18:28

\o

Cat of doom2

I'll be back within a few hours. it was nice talking to all of you

if you need me just message me

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 Cya, good luck with your game!

NautArch

@Catofdoom2 Have fun storming the castle!

Cat of doom2

ok

one more thing

i know some of you saw the document its self so what do you recommend for the spells?

Thomas Markov

@Catofdoom2 They dont read like spells.

Mangekyo Sharingan reads more like a feat

Cat of doom2

18:37

ok

Thomas Markov

I dont really understand what Susanoo is saying.

Cat of doom2

i kinda felt that way as well with how it must be obtained instead of learned

but its a on and off thing so I don't know how that'll work

Susanoo is a spirit armor thing but you must have manygeko to use

Thomas Markov

Seal release seems like it is a very specific spell, not one I would learn on purpose unless it were in addition to my usual spells.

Cat of doom2

do you know how many useless spells there are?

but fair engough

thank you for the critsam

Thomas Markov

I mean that it seems campaign specific.

Dropping seal release into another game may make it entirely meaningless. It reads more like a narrative device, a feature the players use to push the story along, which isn't really what spells are for.

Cat of doom2

18:43

it isn't requird but it'll make some things easier

BaconyRevanant

@linksassin I think my brain is fried. I had so many malfunctions when I read that the first time. Whitehall became Whitehouse, and then where it says London, my brain went, "Ah yes, London, that's where the Whitehouse is, the Germans have tunneled under the entire Atlantic Ocean" Then I was confused on why the Scottish came in.

Thomas Markov

I mean that no wizard is going to prepare seal release tomorrow morning unless they are anticipating a seal to release.

Cat of doom2

lol

Thomas Markov

And motivating your players to take it as a "just in case" spell taking up one of their few spells known is probably bad.

linksassin

@BaconyRevanant So you're in about the same state I was after watching it then.

BaconyRevanant

18:45

XD

Cat of doom2

yes but it'll always be an option

BaconyRevanant

@Catofdoom2 What if I only have fewgeko?

Cat of doom2

what do you mean?

linksassin

@Catofdoom2 If they need it for narrative reasons but it isn't mechanically that useful (i.e. for combat or utility) then you could just give it to them as an ability in addition to their others. Rather than having it compete for spells slots or things like that.

Thomas Markov

From a player's perspective, it's a terrible option. It will almost certainly feel like the story is making my spell choices for me, which isnt fun.

@linksassin This.

Cat of doom2

18:48

they don't but it'll help in soem areas but it 100% isn't requird

i planned it out

some

Thomas Markov

Even if you told me this going into the game, I would never pick the spell.

Given the choice of "skip half the dungeon" or "do the whole dungeon and be able to cast fireball instead of seal release", Im picking whole dungoen and fireball every time.

Cat of doom2

ok

Thomas Markov

But that's just me.

Cat of doom2

i understand

BaconyRevanant

@ThomasMarkov Not just you

Wading through mountains of corpses created by repeated casting of Fireball is like 90% of the purpose of the game

Cat of doom2

18:53

lol

BaconyRevanant

To quote wizards everywhere "I didn't ask how big the room was, I said 'I cast Fireball'"

linksassin

@BaconyRevanant The wizard in the party I DM for calls all spells slots of 3rd level and above "Fireball Slots"

BaconyRevanant

@linksassin That wizard is CORRECT

linksassin

I play a bladesinger wizard in one of my games and I think I'm the only wizard I know of without fireball. I tried to be thematic and only picked Cold or Lightning damage spells.

BaconyRevanant

That sounds an awful lot like some got-dang Heresy

[image of 40K space marine glaring suspiciously]

Cat of doom2

19:02

lol

linksassin

@BaconyRevanant I'm a bladesinger. I call them Steel-Wind-Strike slots.

NautArch

@linksassin Honestly, storm sphere and vitrolic sphere aren't bad non-fireball options.

The latter obviously more.

SmokeDetector

19:18

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer (348): How do I find my Spellcasting Ability for my D&D character? by Adalind on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose)

nitsua60

21:00

@MikeQ I've got one. And I own exactly one game on it, which I play about one evening a month, on average =)

KorvinStarmast

@MikeQ we still have our PS2 hooked up, it is used usually to play movies.

BESW

22:52

Kazumi Chin wrote a twitter thread about "how we might reconfigure NPCs as puzzles the way dungeon rooms are puzzles."

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