TRPG General Chat

12:23 AM

@Axoren I played in a game once where sending + Draconic (which we model with German) was a nice little bit of cheese. We assume that, appropriately abused, 25 German words would cover about 25 English sentences =D

Shalvenay

12:52 AM

@Ben LOL now I'm imagining a minecart battle with modern day "minecarts"

Someone_Evil

Or minecart jousting. All you need are two parallel rail-tracks in roughly a half-pipe configuration, a pair of carts, some padded sticks, and a complete disregard for personal safety

Ben

1:27 AM

@Someone_Evil Is that not what D&D is? :P

Someone_Evil

Last time we encountered a minecart in D&D it turned out to be a mimic. After our halfling got in it

Ben

@Someone_Evil The last one we ran into was a wheelbarrow

Someone_Evil

How does a minecart turn into a wheelbarrow? :p

Or other way around, I suppose

Ben

Not too hard, remove some wheels and add some handles. Or vice versa

Hot RPG Questions

2:58 AM

4

Q: Does Scintillating Spell metamagic apply to cantrips (e.g., Electric Arc)?

I'm still learning the rules for PF2 but it seems that Electric Arc meets all the criteria for Scintillating Spell metamagic (in bold): Your spells become a radiant display of light and color. If your next action is to Cast a Spell that doesn't have the darkness trait, has no duration, and requi...

Hot RPG Questions

5:33 AM

4

Q: Do characters have to wait 24 hours to long rest, if a long rest is interrupted?

If characters have been interrupted during a long rest, do they need to wait 24 hours before taking a long rest again? The rules specify that only one long rest is allowed in 24 hours but it also states they must start over. Which is it?

dnd-5e rests

Hot RPG Questions

8:32 AM

6

Q: Is DNDBeyond correct on the ranger bonus?

In a campaign I am joining I am an Owlin Ranger. Since we're starting at level 3 my subclass is Gloom Stalker. Every time I create this character DNDbeyond keeps saying I have a +9 to my HIT for my bow. Shouldn't it just be +7? Because: Dexterity is 20 which gives +5 Fighting Style: Archery gives...

dnd-5e character-creation ranger attack-roll dnd-beyond

Hot RPG Questions

1:14 PM

6

Q: How to make a NPC intimidating the party more effective?

TL:DR; My players don't act as though they find intimidating NPCs intimidating. How can I make NPC intimidation more effective while maintaining player agency? My Issue I have a recurring issue across campaigns I run where NPCs that I intend to be intimidating to the players don't quite come off ...

dnd-5e gm-techniques player-agency intimidation

Matthieu

2:10 PM

chat's pretty quiet today huh

AncientSwordRage

2:31 PM

Dan Talks Games has a twitter thread about what makes D&D 5e tick, and what that means for compatibility with third-party products as well as One D&D.

Thomas Markov

2:42 PM

@AncientSwordRage For me, the most valuable piece of analysis from that thread was this part:

"The primary issue with 5e is that

A. Bonus action value was emergent rather than an intended part of the game design, and it shows with early class features vs later ones, and

B. There's a disparity in the worth of certain actions when they're primary actions."

nonymous

5:34 PM

rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/201611/… has been locked because I tried to add context to the question

@Someone_Evil, in response to "I fail to see how any that was context which helps clarifying the question, and not argument towards a specific answer".

This is not arguing towards a specific answer so much as staying "The rules seem not to cover this situation exactly, are there other considerations I'm missing?" Are you saying there is anything wrong with giving context? It seems like almost all questions are required to give context. I'm just giving all the context that seems relevant to me. Can you identify anything in my edit that is not relevant to the question? Have I broken any rules?

rpg.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask clarifies that questions should be thoroughly researched, on topic, and specific. Do you think My question was not all those things?

@Someone_Evil, This codeblog.jonskeet.uk/2010/08/29/writing-the-perfect-question, recommended here ( rpg.stackexchange.com/help/question-bans ) specifically stipulates "The Golden Rule: Imagine You’re Trying To Answer The Question"

Thomas Markov

5:49 PM

@nonymous To me, the context there reads like that's what you're supposed to do before you ever post the question, not what you're supposed to do after you've already received several answers to the question.

With the idea being that many questions are answered before they're posted by researching the problem yourself. I know I have typed up a question, decide to look one more time for an answer, only to find the answer and never ask the question.

nonymous

@ThomasMarkov, it is still valuable to ask the question for the sake of others who lack your technical knowledge or access to RPG resources. A clear answer is no reason to censor questions--and AFAIK this question doesn't even have a clear answer.

Thomas Markov

7:17 PM

I want to draw attention to this meta answer about the one page/three score RPG thing:

2

A: Three tag RPGs: we need a better system for tagging "one page three score" RPGs

I would like a tag that actually describes this specific grouping of games one-page-rpg doesn't really work — there are many one-pagers with very different mechanics. Lasers & Feelings, Beep, &c. I agree with the preceding posts saying it's a "meta tag." three-score-rpg also doesn't work. Because...

That looks like a really good solution to me. Something like oliver-darkshire-rpg

Exempt-Medic

8:07 PM

I wonder about what happens if they release another RPG (or have already released one) that is very different from those

Though, I suppose, that's partially what the tag description is for

AncientSwordRage

@Exempt-Medic that's a good point

@ThomasMarkov A seems self explanatory to me, can you explain B?

Someone_Evil

@nonymous That wall (barrage?) of text is you showing that the rules are unclear, which is what your answer is doing, thus it should be in your answer

I locked it because you were reapplying an edit you'd been told not make, and we're not interested in edit wars

3

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage The first thing that came to mind was the dragonborn's breath weapon. It's an action, and it's terrible. (hence my positive feedback on the change in One D&D).

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov ah, just that

I guess there's a trap of actions are actions because they're good and bonus actions less so

Thomas Markov

And there are other actions that are pretty trash that would be significantly improved by changing to a bonus action.

Someone_Evil

8:19 PM

@ThomasMarkov I would've defaulted to darkshire-three-score which seems like a more specific way to ref that particular style/engine/whatever

4

nonymous

@Someone_Evil, are you saying that I should not provide detailed research to contextualize my question?

I don't know that the rules are unclear, that's how they seem to me. So, that's why they are properly part of the question

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov I quickly learned when optimizing that the key is in your actions. More actions, more stuff. Making builds that had options for actions/bonus action/reaction is how I often look at char-gen.

nonymous

I seems like the guidelines for writing questions say that I should porvide detailed research and context

Someone_Evil

@nonymous No, I'm saying what you added is not really research (or at least not presented well as such) it's gliding over into arguement

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil that could work

Someone_Evil

8:21 PM

@nonymous I'm not quite fond how I'm having to argue here, but why then did you give an answer stating that?

And to be clear, I'm asking that because I want a clear idea of where you're coming from

It's clear to me something here isn't quite working, and I'd love to resolve it so everyone gets what they want

nonymous

@Someone_Evil, thank you. Sincerely

@Someone_Evil, we can use another forum. The answer that I gave is the best I can do with the information I have. Maybe someone with more knowledge or resources can answer differently. I want to add additional context to my question. It's really only a subjective judgment to what extent it 'slides into argument'. If you want, tomorrow I can try to edit it to make sure it doesn't clarify a position, but only gives context

It does seem like many other questions on the site so qualify as "leading questions". Is there anything forbidding that?

Someone_Evil

I could also just unlock it for you if you're up to it now

nonymous

Maybe it's better to let everyone cool off for a while.

But, thank you

Someone_Evil

But I also think there's something slightly deeper that the matter of the one Q, seeing as there's multiple questions and at least one answer with the same arguments

nonymous

Agreed

Someone_Evil

8:28 PM

@nonymous Not strictly, but they have a bad habit of being downvoted (up to a lot)

NautArch

@nonymous For me, I really don't like the idea of "Is this take right?" It's not as helpful or useful as "How does X work?" If the take you think is right is covered, you'll see in the votes if that works (or you can then submit your own answer if no one else has, or if you want to first.) But placingit in the answer changes how the question is received. We're not answer a question, we're focusing on proving/disproving a solution.

And that's not as helpful for anyone.

We have removed 'self-answers' from within questions and asked for them to be added as answers.

nonymous

@Someone_Evil I don't mind the downvotes. It seems to me like my reputation only keeps rising. But, I could be misunderstanding something.

I would rather be right than popular, anyway

NautArch

I think it's best for you to ask the source question and let the community figure out the answer. Putting in what you think is right or things for us to think about isn't necessarily helpful - and that's where the idea of trying to 'lead' answers is from.

But please please please, listen to the community members (and the mods.) Many have given you lots of suggestions and ways to better work within the community and you seem to be more interested in arguing your point than finding consensus.

Someone_Evil

Am I correct that the desire/need for adding context is that the answer you're getting aren't satisfactory to you? If so, it might help us to get a direct explanation of why

NautArch

And in RPGs - it's not about being right. It's about having fun at a table and everyone understanding and playing by the same set of rules.

Thomas Markov

8:32 PM

@nonymous It takes five downvotes to cancel an upvote in score.

nonymous

@Someone_Evil What about, "...does anyone have any information that could be relevant, either in support of or in opposition of my reasoning?" I also want to give as much information to others potentially seeking an answer to the question or to similar questions.

NautArch

@nonymous THat's where what I said comes in. You should ask your source question and not for confirmation that your reasoning is correct. THe confirmation will come in as answers.

nonymous

@Someone_Evil Personally, I think that the really interesting questions and answers point out how things should be--despite how they are written or intended. And this "should" targets the best possible version of the game. But, I'm also satisfied with discussing how things are RAW. It seems like this site doesn't want to get bogged down in opinion.

@Someone_Evil, anyway. Sorry for the barrage. I'll craft the question after I (finally) get some work done.

Someone_Evil

@nonymous Should will vary a lot with what you want out of the game (ie. playstyle). If that aspect is relevant, you should clarify that

Related to that and stack-questions: We should talk about the word "should"

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil I'm pretty sure the only real "should" here has to do with promoting respect and ensuring everyone at the table is having fun.

NautArch

8:43 PM

And "should" is really only clear if we have a firm understanding of the end-goals. Should it be okay? I don't know, what are you trying to do with it as a group?

Thomas Markov

> When I think I’ve found an edge case or weird ruling that I might have come up during the game, I try to ask my DM before it comes up. This way we can talk about it and come to an agreement without taking up game time trying to sort it out.

Ben

10:04 PM

Morning all

@Someone_Evil one of the 3 most used words in programming: "if", "try", and "should". I just wish the last one worked the same way as the first two.

So I am really leaning into the Donkey Kong theme for this one-off.

The first scenario of the adventure is the Gangplank Galleon, that gets shipwrecked and then overrun by the native creatures (rats, stingrays and piranhas

As well as all forms of kobold-folk

I just need a couple of PC pre-gens (for some players that are coming up from down south - have never played before).

So far we have a Drow Monk. 2 other players might be joining, and I've asked for race and class.

AncientSwordRage

10:24 PM

@Ben I prefer 'expect'

Shalvenay

10:46 PM

@Ben this is almost making me want to join, shame it probably wouldn't work for me to do so from a scheduling perspective

Ben

NPC #1: The trope "crazy" inhabitant. A Gnome that goes by the name "Gnong". Has a severe phobia of all reptiles.

Ben

11:16 PM

What was the most "optimised" stats for a pc?

using the buying tactics from the phb

5e

Someone_Evil

Probably depends a bit on what you're optimizing for

Ben

I'm talking in general. So like the min-max tactic would be 15,15,15,8,8,8

I'm pre-genning several characters

Someone_Evil

Standard array would give you the most consistency, and if the 15 and 14 pairs up with the +1 and +2 from base ASI you should be lookin pretty good for most chars, maybe shift the next to get a second 14?

So that's 15, 14, 14, 12, 8, 8 or 15, 14, 14, 10, 10, 8

Ben

11:32 PM

They are going to be level 5, so they get an ASI as well

So roughly assuming they get a +2 and +1 from racial traits, then a +1 ASI

Someone_Evil

I don't think that changes the optimums, unless you're incorporating half-feats, and then depending on whether you want to push for +4 or not

Ben

Well racial traits is +2 to one stat, +1 to another

So it'd be +3 to one stat at most with the ASI

Someone_Evil

I meant a +4 modifier, so basically if you prioritize a score to hit 18 or not

Ben

Right yeah

Someone_Evil

If so you might want the first two to be 15 and then have 12, 12, 9, 8; 13, 12, 8, 8; 11, 10, 10, 10; or 13, 10, 10, 8

Ben

11:42 PM

I mean I think everyone would be happy with a +4, and a -1

That way everyone has their "speciality"

So now I just need 2 PC Race & Class

@Shalvenay In all honesty I wouldn't be opposed to that. I'm just writing this up for my partner's B'day event - she's got some friends coming up for a visit and she wants to do a one-off

So maybe once I do this for one party I can write it up as a campaign to run for others :)

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