TRPG General Chat

Miniman

03:03

@nitsua60 Hmmm. I'm not sure they're dupes at all. One is about "i hit but didn't deal any damage " where the other is about "i missed, but it still counts, right? "

nitsua60

I was swayed by the near-identical answers, though. Both really just need regurgitations of the "Hit:" notation. If you're not swayed, though, should probably un-dupe.

Miniman

I don't remember who pointed it out to me, but 2 questions having the same answer doesnt necessarily make them duplicate questions.

Ryan

@Miniman sounds like something BESW would do. In any case, you're correct

Miniman

03:18

Interesting tidbit: If you have less than 1k rep, the candidate score shows

> reputation: ok

trogdor

lol

I am in a club of ok people XD

Joshua Aslan Smith

@Miniman hey thanks, I mean ultimately I think there is a good selection of nominees and that rpg.se will win in the end

trogdor

I think this is the first time I have paid attention to an election (only the internet SE elections, I vote guys) before,... not sure it happened more than one other time while I was here though, to be fair

Miniman

@JoshuaAslanSmith Well, we can only hope.

@trogdor I thought Guam doesn't get to vote?

trogdor

@Miniman um,... we still have our own elections

Miniman

03:25

@trogdor Ah, right.

Joshua Aslan Smith

@Miniman speaking of which need to start work on my answers to the questionaire

nitsua60

@Miniman They vote, it just doesn't count. Like the rest of us.</cynicism>

trogdor

governor, senators and our representative to congress,...... who doesn't get to vote in it :/

oh and mayors of course

and anything else that may have slipped my mind, but not for president

@nitsua60 ours doesn't even get counted with all of yours though

it's actually reminicent of segregation, but just with votes

plus, the electoral college doesn't look at our votes, and in the current state, if your votes actually counted the way they should, ours still would not :P

Miniman

@nitsua60 Wow, I thought you were joking. @trogdor You really have a vote which is then tossed out?

nitsua60

@trogdor It's a lot like when I lived in DC.

We could vote for mayor, city council, non-voting representative, but not determine our own budget and taxes.

(We did have one elector, though.)

trogdor

03:29

@Miniman we get to vote, and we count it, but the U.S doesn't look at it except for the novelty of us having a now dead record of predicting the winner of the election

Joshua Aslan Smith

heh

Miniman

@trogdor Wow, that's rough.

trogdor

it isn't really so bad in that our votes don't count, but it does show how little the Federal Government cares about us other than what we can do for them

nitsua60

I did vote for the ballot issue to change DC's motto to "Taxation Without Representation," which would have then been appeared on the license plate of "the Beast," the presidential limo.

trogdor

@nitsua60 hehehe, I would have been amused to see that

nitsua60

03:33

@trogdor Oh, it's there: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/….

(scroll down to the late '90s)

Miniman

@nitsua60 Dead link?

trogdor

@nitsua60 um, I am not seeing anything other than a "sorry we don't know what you mean" page

Miniman

Vehicle registration plates of Washington, D.C.

The U.S. federal district of Washington, D.C. first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1907. == Passenger baseplates 1907 to present == In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for license plates for vehicles, except those for motorcycles, at six inches in height by twelve inches in width, with standardized mounting holes. The first Washington, D.C. license plate that complied with these standards was issued three years beforehand, in 1953 (dated March...

nitsua60

@Miniman That's the one. Thanks.

trogdor

ah

but I can't see the image for it

nitsua60

03:36

Some of the later "models" have images there; but starting in 2000 it's tabulated that "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION" appears on the plates.

That's possibly the only vote I've ever cast where I can point to an outcome.

Miniman

@nitsua60 Also, you have the right to put it on your flag, but no flag design that includes it :/

American politics are so...wacky.

trogdor

our politics suck

nitsua60

@Miniman That's a very charitable description.

trogdor

at least from the point of view of someone who lives on Guam

Miniman

@nitsua60 I thought about "quirky", too.

nitsua60

03:39

That's feeling more like it =)
=|
=(
='(

Miniman

"Zany" is underused, and strangely appropriate XD

nitsua60

In other news, I applied for a new job today.

Shalvenay

oh?

@nitsua60 I actually have better -- managed to help unseat the longtime incumbent Congressman that basically nobody in the district liked

nitsua60

@Shalvenay A week or so ago someone in here was talking about moving jobs, and not being happy in their current job... it got me and my wife talking and thinking. Then an unsolicited offer came calling, and now I officially said "yeah, I'm interested, let's talk."

@Shalvenay Nice. Well done.

Miniman

There's been a lot of this kind of talk around me lately, both in punchspace and online. It's very depressing.

nitsua60

03:44

Apr 10 at 23:09, by nitsua60

@DuckTapeAl Can I ask a stupid-seeming question, but it's sincere? How do you know you're unhappy in my job? (I ask because I had an unsolicited job offer come across my bow today, and it has me scrambling to evaluate things.) I feel like job-unhappiness is often one of those slow-slouch-toward-Bethlehem things that you only realize years after it's started....

(that might be a better referent)

@Miniman Sorry to hear that. If it helps, smart money's probably 90-10 on me staying put.

Miniman

@nitsua60 I mean, it's not like I didn't know I need to move. I just don't enjoy being reminded of it, is all. Nothing you should apologise for.

trogdor

@Shalvenay I actually voted against 8 senators that voted to give themselves raises, most of them (but not all) are out now

I feel mostly good about that

nitsua60

I spoke with my immediate supervisor about it today, and he's very motivated to make some changes that would make me happier/more engaged. With all this "talk to your GM!" and "talk to your players!" we do around here, it was shockingly easy to not think to do that IRL.

Miniman

@nitsua60 Well, it's easy to suggest talking to people in an online context, because talking to people is easier online.

In punchspace, there's a risk of being punched.

5

trogdor

@nitsua60 I would think that would be just a tad harder in case they were mad that you were even considering it at all

@Miniman yes also this XD

nitsua60

03:49

@trogdor It would be, except I think we've actually got a really good relationship. A lot of mutual respect and admiration for each other's skills/perspectives. It makes it doubly-stupid that I didn't realize I should have had half of today's conversation ("these things are making me unhappy") with him years ago.

trogdor

@nitsua60 fair enough, I think my perspective is a mix of "generic" and "I personally have only had this job 1 year, so having this particular talk would feel insulting (especially since there is no current reason to have said talk for me)"

nitsua60

@trogdor Oh, sure. For my part, it's nine years in, we came onto our jobs together, and have sincerely affirmed to each other on previous occasions that we hope this is a thirty-year working relationship.

trogdor

cool

Miniman

Wow.

Even the idea of that is scary to me.

trogdor

a 30 year working relationship?

cause like, for me, that entirely depends on the person

not on whether or not I am willing to do it in general

if the other person is cool, heck yeah

Miniman

03:55

More that level of commitment to a workplace relationship.

trogdor

if not, heck no

nitsua60

I think this is a culturla thing that varies a lot across industries, though.

trogdor

@Miniman oh, well in that case I sorta see what you mean

Miniman

I've had bosses I really liked, and got along well with. Something like this would make it very difficult for me to leave, even though the job I was doing kinda sucked.

nitsua60

In the world of schools, the idea of finding a place you like and sticking there for decades is still pretty normal.

(Though in independent schools it's nothing like the "parking" that you see--and is sometimes troublesome--in public systems.)

trogdor

03:57

I mean, I do want the prospect of advancement, but right now at this moment I kinda just need the job I have

Miniman

For me it's not about advancement, just that I've yet to be in a job where I was even slightly okay with my duties.

trogdor

that being said, there are some people who shall remain nameless who I would definitely not work with for the next 30 years if you paid me 30 million dollars to do it

Miniman

(At present, having some would be a good start.)

trogdor

thankfully none of them are my bosses

@Miniman ah, for this job I have had some pretty interesting duties

none of which I have particularly hated

some of which I actually really liked

Adeptus

@nitsua60 I'm in IT. I've done contract work that has lasted between 1 & 20-something months, and one "permanent" job where I got made redundant after a year. I'm now in a permanent job, at a government agency (ie, best job security possible), that I mostly like. I'm not planning on going anywhere for the next decade or more.

nitsua60

04:01

Ugh. "culturla"? Sign it's time for me to go to bed. Night all.

Miniman

@nitsua60 Cya!

trogdor

@nitsua60 have a healthy amount of the thing called sleeps

nitsua60

Sheep sleep deep =)

trogdor

lol

Miniman

@nitsua60 But what do you count if you're having trouble getting to sleep?

nitsua60

04:03

Stars. Why, what do you count?
[awkward, unblinking stare]

[chews daffodil]

Miniman

@nitsua60 I watch youtube videos or read books, personally.

nitsua60

@Miniman [mutters] that's what I thought.

Miniman

Or do some late-night theoreycrafting.

trogdor

I don't typically do anything other than shift around on the bed till I am no longer awake honestly

Miniman

@trogdor Well yeah, but what do you think about while shifting around? :P

trogdor

04:12

lol

usually the day I had

sometimes even all the things I did, how racey! XD :P

Miniman

:O

trogdor

I know, I am so horrible right?

Eidolon108

Anyone know much about Duergar lore for 5e? I'm building a PC for OotA and trying to work out how to make him mesh with a party most likely from the surface

Miniman

@Eidolon108 I know a fair bit.

Eidolon108

@Miniman Based Miniman. Ok, he's a Mystic, we're starting at level 8. I'm planning on having him be kinda like an inquisitor or an investigator of some sort. I know a bit about Deep Duerra bringing the Invisible Art to the duergar

But I hear that particular faction is very aggressive/expansionistic. So maybe he needs to be an exile of some sort to be comfortable working with outsiders.

The rest of the party is going to be a half-elf bard, gnome artificer, etc. Mostly neutral or good. I don't really want to clash with them

Miniman

04:27

I can't remember the name of the psychic secret agent dudes, but yeah, it's gonna be pretty tricky to have him be one of them.

It's hard to explain why this is a problem without spoilers, though.

Eidolon108

DM was pumped when I gave him the outline, but I don't have the details. I think he'd be on board, but yea, seems weird to have him follow the party

We played through the first half of the module and escaped, now we're coming back with new characters. We went to Gracklstugh the first time, but I don't really know anything about the secret agent guys

Miniman

I'd talk to your DM - he'll have read the relevant parts of the adventure more recently than me, and he might have some ideas for how to make it work without just making you an exile or a criminal or something.

I'm also going to take a look when I get home in a few hours, but that's in a few hours :)

Eidolon108

Yeah I think I need to get him more involved, just trying to be proactive since I know all of us players are flinging ideas at him

Thanks dude. Way back you helped me with a homebrew Runeseeker class - I DMed a campaign with a player using it and it worked out pretty well, so I wanted to say thanks for that

Miniman

@Eidolon108 Oooh, glad to hear it! I remember that - there was some really cool stuff in it.

BESW

Today in Your SciFi Planetscape Is Ordinary: The Gulf of Oman.

Eidolon108

04:35

:O

The Oracle

04:51

-4

Q: Further Reading in Questions, not comments

A useful kind of comment we get on both questions and answers frequently goes as follows: Related: [link description](link target) or, less helpfully: [Related](link target) When this is, in fact, related material these comments are very useful to anyone interested in the question and...

Eidolon108

05:09

@Miniman There's the Darkhafts (secret police) and the Empty Scabbard Killers (assassins-for-hire, we got attacked by one last time). I don't know much beyond those names, hesitating on reading about them until my DM responds back and clears me.

Yuuki

05:20

So I rolled up a character with a group. Got lucky with my stat rolls and I'm sitting pretty at 20 Dex post-racial at 1st level.

Every other stat is either 11 or 12 though.

Miniman

Wow, nice.

What class are you playing?

Yuuki

Rogue (Assassin) 5/Fighter (Arcane Archer) 3.

Since everyone else is 8th level, they're boosting me to get up to speed.

Miniman

Interesting. Aiming for a "one shot, one kill" kind of deal?

Yuuki

Oh yeah. And Seeking Arrow means I can assassinate from real far away without worrying about missing.

Eidolon108

noice

Yuuki

05:26

Although I guess maybe I should pick something else because I also took Sharpshooter at Rogue 4 since I didn't need to ASI for Dex...

But firing an arrow that weaves around corners, through doors, and up stairs for a headshot is too hilarious.

So a Seeking Arrow does the 2d6 force damage that an Arcane Archer's magic arrow does, right?

It's a bit weird because they're in different sections, but you need to use Create Magic Arrow to use an Arcane Shot, right?

Miniman

Yes and yes!

Also, depending on your DM, you may want to invest in Perception in order to make the fullest possible use of your 600 ft range.

Yuuki

So messing around with the arcana.io site I posted time ago, here's a link to my character: arcana.io/character/606/jVvwA6JppWIU8E5aurwcDVk9IeS9ISlq

@Miniman Unfortunately, I'm a halfling so only shortbows.

Miniman

@Yuuki Oof.

Yuuki

Oh wait, it's disadvantage not "can't use at all".

And with Seeking Arrow, I don't need to make an attack roll...

Miniman

@Yuuki You still have to make an attack roll.

No, wait, you can't.

Yuuki

05:35

@Miniman Okay, for some reason I thought it worked like Magic Missile. I'm silly.

Miniman

@Yuuki It's understandable, with the "Seeking" bit.

But yeah, it just lets you ignore basically everything that inflicts disadvantage on your attack rolls.

trogdor

so it will still allow the larger bow then

Yuuki

Everything except the 'heavy' weapon property for Small creatures.

trogdor

oh

Miniman

@trogdor Doesn't let you ignore that particular thing, sadly.

trogdor

05:37

mk then XD

Yuuki

Now if only I could figure out a way to increase the range of the shortbow...

Miniman

@Yuuki Well, you could take Sharpshooter so that attacking at long range didn't give disadvantage. Except you already have Sharpshooter, and attacking at long range doesn't give you disadvantage anyway.

Yuuki

In any case, Seeking Arrow, while not as crazy as I originally pictured, is probably still going to be one of my choices. Which leaves a slot open for another Arcane Shot.

I'm thinking Bursting Arrow, but I'm wondering if any of the crowd control arrows would be more useful.

Miniman

Yeah, it's sad that you can only use 1 on a single shot.

And even sadder that you can only use 2/rest.

Yuuki

With this group, they've houseruled it to (fighter level / 2) + WIS/rest.

Adeptus

05:41

@Yuuki Read this conversation - someone else was trying to use a longbow as a small character, and we came up with some ideas... not RAW, but you can ask the DM

Yuuki

Which still leaves me at two uses per rest, but I guess it's good for anyone who's dedicated to Arcane Archer.

I'm going to just stick with the three levels I currently have though.

Miniman

@Yuuki If you talk fast enough, you might be able to talk your DM into letting you Sneak Attack every target of the Piercing Arrow.

Yuuki

@Miniman Unfortunately, I already asked about Piercing Arrow and the ruling is the first target hit.

:( but probably better in the long run.

Miniman

@Yuuki Technically, you should be able to pick any one target, but yeah, trying for all of them was always a bit of a stretch.

I just figured it was worth mentioning.

Yuuki

But yeah, I'm leaning towards Bursting Arrow to facilitate my "alpha strike" strategy, but I am kinda considering the other shot options.

Though given that I only have 2 uses/rest until I increase my WIS, probably should stick with Bursting Arrow, huh.

Death is the best CC effect after all...

Miniman

05:47

I mean, it's up to you. But if you're looking to maximize damage on a single target, then yeah, Bursting is the way to go.

Personally, I'd have a hard time going past Brute Bane Arrow.

Yuuki

Okay, so on a critical hit (which is guaranteed under certain conditions for Assassinate), I can do 2d6 (weapon) + 6d6 (sneak attack) + 4d6 (Create Magic Arrow) + 5 (Dex) + 10 (Sharpshooter) damage.

Magician

I wasn't going to participate in the 200 word RPG challenge, and then I sat down and wrote a thing. Would anyone care to offer feedback on the first draft?

Yuuki

Biggest hit would be 87 damage.

Miniman

@Yuuki +2d6 from Bursting if you're really going for it.

Yuuki

Does Bursting also affect the target?

I thought it only affected creatures around the target?

Miniman

05:52

@Magician I can't pretend to offer useful or informed feedback, but it's never stopped me before! XD

@Yuuki It's arguable, but I would say that everyone is within 10 feet of themselves.

Magician

@Miniman Gotterdammerung

Miniman

@Magician Hmmm, interesting. What does the title mean?

Magician

Götterdämmerung

Götterdämmerung ( pronunciation ; Twilight of the Gods), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, or The Ring for short). It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the Ring. The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war among various beings and gods that ultimately results in the burning, immersion in water, and renewal of the world. However, as with the rest...

It's a tiiiny bit pretentious. But so is the game.

Miniman

Ah, right. I knew I'd heard it somewhere before.

I love the concept, but I have no idea how it would play - I find it really difficult to mentally simulate this kind of "guided freeform", if you see what I mean.

Magician

Aye. Can't fit much into 200 words to describe some structure, either.

Papayaman1000

06:00

I've been having troubles with something. Each of my three main schools of magic have a flavored name for their level attributes. Destructive Magic has Force, Healing (Clerical) Magic has Life... so what should Illusory (+ Ethereal & Summoning) be?

Yuuki

Dream(s)?

Miniman

Oooh, nice.

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Cool idea, but the thought is that it should be something the caster can easily channel.

Yuuki

I mean, everyone has dreams.

Papayaman1000

Force is inherent and all around you. Life is inherent and all around you. Dreams are a part of you, but...

Yuuki

06:03

Will?

Papayaman1000

I dunno, the main idea is "the mind" but it also touches on ethereal stuff. I would just use "Aether" but at the same time "level of Aether" just sounds weird

@Yuuki snap

That's a...

er...

actually

ehhh?

Miniman

@Yuuki Sounds like you've found a way.

Papayaman1000

Sort of iffy?

Yuuki

Well, it's going to be hard to pin down a term that represents illusions and physical existence (which is what I take "inherent and all around you" to mean).

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki Yeah. Maybe next time I toke up I'll put this question in front of me.

Magician

06:05

Smoke. Mirrors. Ephemera.

Yuuki

Aliens.

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki My players would actually kill me.

Miniman

Yeah, throwing aethereal abilities and summoning in makes it a lot more difficult.

Yuuki

@Papayaman1000 Take enough levels in Aliens and they won't be able to find you.

Papayaman1000

...cognition?

Bah, that makes a high-powered spell sound like you mulled over it for a bit and nothing else.

Yuuki

06:07

I feel that in this instance, that's just a flowery way of saying "will" even though they don't mean the same thing.

Papayaman1000

"...fifteen seconds per level of cognition." "So, if I sob into a bowl of Ben & Jery's for a month thinking about this spell, does that make it super powerful?" "Err..."

Miniman

Well, if we're talking about the ability to shape illusions, Imagination is a natural stat to govern it.

Papayaman1000

Also, just blacklisted words out the gate:
"Focus"
"Force"
"Life"
"Mana"
"Thought"
"Dreams"
"Aether"
"Aliens"
"Cognition"

Miniman

Useless for the attached miscellany, of course.

Eidolon108

Control?

Yuuki

06:10

@Papayaman1000 Alien.

And then if that doesn't fly, Alien^3.

Papayaman1000

@Eidolon108 "...per level of control." "You mean how many times we added 'Control Creature' to a spell?" "No, I mean..."

Miniman

@Papayaman1000 "The spell lasts fifteen seconds per level of Poop On Your Face."

You want better spells, start smearing.

Papayaman1000

@Miniman ...

I just have no words for that.

Yuuki

> "How many levels of Prometheus do you have?"
> "Hopefully enough to know to run sideways from a tumbling wheel instead of straight along its path."

Papayaman1000

@Yuuki You CInemaSins-loving bastard.

Eidolon108

06:12

it's piss world all over again gunshowcomic.com/471

Yuuki

@Papayaman1000 I actually don't watch that series. And the one time I did, I don't think I particularly liked it.

Miniman

@Yuuki Ideally, enough to steal fire from the gods, but not enough to get chained to a rock and have your liver pecked out every morning.

Papayaman1000

The hardest part is conveying the mind without doing it the same way spellcasting in general does

Miniman

@Papayaman1000 That's why I like Imagination, personally.

BESW

:36800256 Let's keep it a little less blue than that, eh.

Miniman

06:15

Like, it doesn't take imagination to conjure fire, but to meticulously shape illusions you have to be able to visualize it perfectly.

Yuuki

Given how simple the other two words are, I'd suggest that whatever you pick should come from this list of the 1000 most common words.

"High".

"Can you cast Simulacrum? How High are you?"

Miniman

@Yuuki I myself have level 4 Afternoon.

BESW

@Yuuki I think that's how Mage casting works.

@Miniman My Afternoon levelled up at 3:30.

Miniman

@BESW Personally, I was thinking of retraining the points I put into Afternoon into Evening, sometime soon.

BESW

My Mornings are especially weak, I spent too many points on this Midnight Oil ability and it's not working with my build.

Miniman

06:23

@Papayaman1000 Browsing through Yuuki's list, what about Shadow?

@BESW Apparently there's an obscure rule that lets you get synergy bonuses to Morning if you have a high enough Coffee.

BESW

I'm trying this hack where you put minimum points into Coffee and then boost it with the Custom Brew consumable.

Magician

Rewrote the mechanics. Now we're cooking. Poke @BESW, btw. Would apreciate input.

BESW

I'll look at it in a little bit.

Magician

Cheers. I gotta run soon anyway.

BESW

@Magician Could be handy to be able to comment.

Magician

06:34

Comments enabled :)

200 words is not enough words

Miniman

@Magician I have a marvellous proof that this is not the case, but it doesn't fit into 200 words.

BESW

Nope. But 200 words isn't the first aim. You get a concept that can probably fit 200 words, write your content, then trim to fit.

Express your meaning clearly first, and then worry about expressing it concisely.

(eg, "you can neither fail nor fall" will be trimmed to "you neither fail nor fall" but that's not important now.)

Papayaman1000

I AM FREED FROM THE HELVAULT

So I ended up deciding on 'detail'

Adeptus

@BESW If you save songs by Peter Garrett onto a CD... are you burning the Midnight Oil?

Papayaman1000

Illusory Magic is inherently different from the other two magics; it twists conventions and begets diversity to such an extent that it runs off something utterly alien to other schools of casting.

BESW

06:48

@Adeptus [ba-dum tish]

Papayaman1000

It is the domain of alchemists, necromancers, conjurers, mind mages, and many other magical misfits who don't have a hard numerical effect on the battlefield.

So, yeah, your illusion's strength is determined on how meticulously you specify its many attributes, as are your summons, your transmutations, your raisings, and so forth.

I also may decouple all IMAG attributes from the Delivery attributes.

[In other words, you must have a remote center of casting. No bolts, beams, baubles, or bundles except under special circumstances. Like making a minion-bomb.]

[Note to self: Make caster with catchphrase "IMPBOMB!"]

BESW

08:43

Turning a cheap vape pen into a full blown micro smoke machine; great for LARPs.

eimyr

09:07

Quarantine - already submitted.

Nzall

11:51

Does dnd-5e have an item, feat or spell that gives you advantage on every roll regardless of circumstances, even if the roll normally doesn't allow it? Just curious how OP such an effect would be

Miniman

@Nzall A 9th-level spell, Foresight.

Also includes disadvantage on attack rolls against you.

Nzall

@Miniman And how long does that last?

Erik

8 hours

dandwiki.com/wiki/5e_SRD:Foresight :)

Nzall

I see. If I were to give a player that effect as a permanent feat at level 1 because of something like "they were blessed by the gods", I assume that would affect balance a lot?

Erik

That'd make them VERY powerful for a 1st level character

They would also have no reason to try and strive for advantage, which might not be as much fun for those involved. Since you can only have Advantage once, having it on everything means you have no more reasons to seek out better positioning, have clever plans, or inconvenience enemies. I think that might be a bigger issue at low level; getting Advantage for being clever is a cool boost at that point which you'll never need.

Miniman

12:01

Personally, I'm inclined to say Foresight is by far the best of the 9th-level spells.

Nzall

related: is there a similar effect to advantage and disadvantage for damage rolls? like, roll 1 extra die and discard low/high?

Miniman

@Nzall There's a few abilities along those lines - "treat 1s as 2s", or "reroll 1s and 2s".

Erik

The key ones are Resistance and Vulnerability, which are "cut in half" and "double" respectively. But they don't change the dice rolled.

Mostly because that'd be annoying I think. It's hard to tell them apart or it'd take more time. A fireball dealing 16d6 and then having to decide which groups of 2 belong together doesn't sound fun to me :)

Nzall

@Erik no, I'm talking about "instead of 16d6, roll 17d6 and discard the lowest die"

Erik

I don't think it does, but also in part because the usefulness of that depends heavily on what you're rolling. 1d20 is pretty consistent, but 8d6 -> 9d6 drop lowest is barely noticable whereas 1d12 -> 2d12 is considerably better. So it'd be hard as a generic mechanic

Miniman

12:05

@Nzall I don't think there's anything like that.

Nzall

@Erik Yeah, I get that. I considered the same thing

Assuming I want to rebalance the fights slightly (as in make them harder) for the player with perma-foresight, how much of a CR adjustment is needed?

or is that tricky to estimate?

Erik

When only 1 player in the party has this ability?

Nzall

@Erik Yeah. I mean, it's probably weird to adjust CR because a single player in the group is OP, but leaving the fights as-is might also cause issues

NautArch

12:26

@Nzall You could also potentially look at the Barbarian Frenzy as guidance. They can ge advantage at-will, but attacks against them ALSO have advantage.

Nzall

@NautArch That's also only advantage with attack rolls, I assume. The player in this case would also have advantage with non-attack rolls

Erik

@Nzall if you want a more balanced version of this divine guidance ability, have you checked the Feat Lucky?

That will give you the same flavor, but within the rules & balance of the game

(If you want to increase the CR, don't use higher CR monsters but add about half an extra monster per encounter. But keep in mind the extra monster might very well kill someone else; your empowered guy is much less likely to die than his buddies)

NautArch

@Nzall NOn-attack rolls? Likea ability checks? I think that's still okay, as long as the person they are contesting an ability check against has adv against them, too.

But ultimately - what is the goal of granting this? Maybe there's a better way to reach it if you can explain it more.

oh...and good morning everyone!

Nzall

@NautArch Effectively, it's theoretical GMing

I'm not in a group, and I know that giving someone in a group this effect would effectively break the game, so I'm just doing some musing

this came on my twitter feed a moment ago, and I thought of this chatroom

it's making me giggle incessantly

Especially with the absurdity of managing to stab someone with a pencil eraser first.

btw, that image is not related to my musings

NautArch

@Nzall Oh. Then yes, I think that giving someone constant advantage on all rolls would likely be a big problem :) There was a video of the designers talking about the simplicity of 5e and the use of advantage/disadvantage replcaing a lot of the 'issues' from earlier editions. A lot of the abilities and bonuses are based on granting adv/dis and if it's always on, you've negated those.

Heck, we use flanking rules and even that makes it pretty easy to get advantage and I see a difference in how much more we can do.

Nzall

12:37

@NautArch And that's not even going into the more RP aspect of having a single character being completely overpowered while the rest are mere mortals

NautArch

@Nzall exactly. You've basically got a spotlight on one character.

Nzall

different track, same train: what about giving that feat to a major NPC?

not even talking about the BBEG or something, but someone who has a role in the campaign, but isn't a player

Because giving the BBEG permanent Foresight would probably make him nearly impossible to beat

Erik

Not near impossible; just harder and more annoying

Many rounds would be spent missing, most spells would only have their "on fail" effects, but eventually you could still bring it down. Just wouldn't be fun.

nitsua60

@Nzall faced an archmage+archdruid combo a few weeks back. Realizing in-combat that foresight outlived its caster was a painful experience.

NautArch

@Nzall I think for the same reasons as for a PC, it's not a great idea. Bending/breaking the rules is something I'm not that comfortable with as a DM. It sets the stage for unmet expectations on how the game works - and I don't think that's fair for the players.

when you play by a different set of rules then they do, that gap can create animosity.

Nzall

12:45

@NautArch And if it were to make sense storywise? What if you had a benevolent king who managed to conquer an entire continent because of permanent foresight, and the PCs are hired by him?

and the reason he has permanent foresight is because he was blessed by the gods, on a divine mission

Erik

Unless they actually try to punch the king, the players won't notice the difference between flavor and mechanical effect, so it wouldn't matter how you modeled it probably

NautArch

@Erik exactly.

Nzall

@Erik that's true. and it doesn't really matter, because they're unlikely to face the king in combat, or even see him in combat

BESW

Hey Arqade folks, would it be on topic to ask a question about narrative interpretation of a game element?

Nzall

@BESW wrong chat

BESW

12:49

@Nzall No, I'm asking folks here who are familiar with Arqade.

Erik

I'm not sure what kind of question you have in mind?

Nzall

@BESW Again, a better place to ask would be in the Arqade chat

unless you are banned from that chat room ofc

BESW

I voluntarily removed myself from that place years ago after determining it was of no use and made my eyes hurt.

Nzall

but I guess so, because questions about story frequently appear in the Lazers feed

doppelgreener

@BESW Ensure it doesn't fall afoul of this prohibited type of question: "Speculative questions about developer intent, with respect to both mechanics and narrative" -- their on topic help

BESW

12:53

M'rr. It's borderline speculative, because it's The Witness.

Anne Aunyme

I guess it's borderline off-topic, then

doppelgreener

I think it'd be a bit like Developer Intent questions here: request solid information from the developers themselves, or you'll get a dozen people saying "I think it means {begin speculation}"

Anne Aunyme

Anyone else here doing the 200 Word RPG challenge?

BESW

@AnneAunyme There are two submissions linked in the star bar already!

Erik

I'm thinking about doing it as well :)

Anne Aunyme

12:55

oh

Miniman

@BESW On that note, is there something about being limited to 200 words that causes people to write "slow spiral towards near-inevitable doom" RPGs?

Anne Aunyme

if it interests someone, here is mine

BESW

@Miniman Makes it easy to describe the end state? A sense that limited words imply poetical content and poetical content has to be depressing?

Miniman

@BESW Hmmm.

Erik

I think it's the 200 words but the idea that you'll be doing a short game that does it. It's harder to make a big RPG about the subject of spiralling doom, I think.

It's hard to have a good build up in a short game, but it's easy to have a depressing ending

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