@Trish just be aware that if you do hide dnd-5e questions and a question comes in with both that and a favorite tag of yours, that question will be hidden. There's a priority in the ignore/favorite system that many don't realize for quite some time.

@nitsua60 I don't want to hide it, I just wanted to look at the latest 20 non-dnd 5questions... 2 out of 20 of the latest are...

@NautArch Wait, what? Is @Ryan actually asking about whether counterspell can be cast within the effect of a silence spell? I don't get that from reading the question at all--everything seemed to me about whether one would know it was silence being attempted when counterspell-time came up.

@Trish Gotcha. Happy hunting!

Too much dnd 5e

@Trish Part of it's that a new book just came out, I suppose.

na, most of it is "too much market power"

Hahaha

I keep switching between using " class' " and "class's" and neither quite looks right to me. 3 minutes of research say either's more or less valid.

yep

I'd go with " Class' "

@MaikoChikyu Idk if you're still available, but I should check -- how do you want me to give the system to one once I finish? I'll probably have a full draft sometime Monday, and was thinking of using gdocs.

I am around. Also we can do google documents. I'll be dropping by regularly in the future.

KK, sounds good.

Just wanted to verify before I did that.

@MaikoChikyu Sooo... I had decided to do this:

"Maybe what I'll do is hug the girl, so if she transforms she'll already be grappled :P"

Turns out she was a Shadow Demon (incorporeal),

Lol

@MaikoChikyu just curious, what level of detail do you want btw?

Like, I'm figuring keep things to "group" management, with residents being merely numbers

Keep it group management.

but I could take this down even more micro if you wanted

Good

I was hoping you would agree :P

Thanks for the help

NP

Expect the tentative version Monday

Yay

I'm liking how it's looking so far (no sneak peaks because I'm a disorganized person up until I pull my strings into a single weave)

But the general idea is that the players are each rulers.

They have a basic stat system that determines what type of ruler they are

There will be options of town "locations," each with a different benefit

Additionally, there will be "culture" options

So, for example, you might be a coastal town with a fishing culture, or an island town with a trade culture, or a mountain town with a war-like culture, etc

These are essentially you're "race and class" type of choices

Sounds awesome.

Your people will have aptitudes -- unlike class skills and abilities in games like DnD, nothing is off-limits to ANYONE. Aptitudes, however, determine how good you are at something, giving a relative advantage

So, your overall turn will run thus:

6 daytime phases of 2 hours each: each person takes these at the same time, doing any actions that can be done in 2 hours with their groups (all towns/nations will be broken into groups that act as units to take actions).

So you'll have "phase 1, phase 2, etc"

Then it becomes nighttime. There are special limitations on this, but it also has 6 phases

same pattern

One these 2 rounds of 6 phases pass, a new day begins

It sounds like a lot initially, but actions are very simple matters

In this case, i'm borrowing from Civilization Board game that uses 5 (or 6) stages that include multiple actions taken sequentially to make up a single turn.

Your subjects will be based around jobs and training.

Any ordinary person can perform a standard job, so you can switch things up. If you put people through training, they will perform that job faster, and can be turned into a better version of themselves

Working out what types of people to have

So far I've got woodsmen, farmers, merchants, soldiers, builders, smiths, and healers.

Oh, and researchers.

I'll probably add priests too.

@nitsua60 you're correct. I thought it was pretty clear

Seems like a good concept. I have a bit of trouble visualizing it at the moment but i think it will be clear once it is finished

hey there @Alphaeus

Hey @Shalvenay

how're things going, other than trying to hug a shadow demon?

hahahahaa

Well, you saw the above post about me creating a tabletop RTS system for Maiko

yeah

hands Alphaeus a werewolf puppy :D

Other than that, building out followers for a char that just took the leadership feat

OOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

A puppy!

I shall call you...

Boopley Snoof

Mr. Booples for short

And put you in a pink collar with rindstones

And hope I roll really well on bluff checks....

That said, I'm also working on an IRL drawing

"It's your job to babysit her for a week"

raises eyebrow, and checks again to be certain "uhh.... Mr. Booples is a 'He'"

"Him then, anyway, good luck!"

a week later, a werewolf in hybrid form knocks on your door politely

Opens door, closes door, screams internally, opens door again with not-so-normal smile "Hhhhhiiiiii! Are you here looking for Mr. Booples? He's right inside PERFECLTY HAPPY AND WELL FED AND LOVED."

"Ah, good to hear, I was just about to ask how it went. Thanks for the help!" the puppy scampers back to his parents as you feel yourself get engulfed in fur -- a few seconds later, the werewolf lets go and holds out a bag of coin "For your work, sir"

Accepts hug, and takes coins, bewildered look on face "uhhhh...sure thing. Uh, anytime!" -holy **** why the hell did I just say that-

"Have a nice day" the werewolf family walks off, tails wagging

"You too."

Calls psychiatrist

"Hey....Now you won't believe this...."

voice trails off as I attempt to explain what happens

(it's not like stags silver their antlers :P)

lol, true.

(although what is that supposed to mean?)

(it's why werewolves would go after more ordinary prey vs. going after people)

(ah, I see what you mean, yes)

That is actually a good point

in fantasy most creatures have some vendetta against people (sci-fi too, I guess)

Truth is people aren't that great of a food source

Well i don't think they are hunted for food.

yeah. besides, the wolves that weren't scared of people became man's best friend after a while, anyway :)

Rather most of the time humans are extremely invasive

"The forest where the legendary unicorn is said to reside?Let's cut the trees and build a town there."

Well, true

Yeah, sure

Some creatures will fight back

The Gnolls in Ballgowns use a different tactic

Ever wonder where furries came from?

#hardtruth

Oh god. I can't unimagine that

@MaikoChikyu hahaha. want to know where that came from, btw?

@MaikoChikyu >:}

I am curious but i am also scared to say yes

@MaikoChikyu so, I was playing a LN Gnoll Monk/Priestess (of St. Cuthbert) in an AD&D 1e campaign

No bards so far. That's a good sign

and the party was invited by the head of the main bardic college in the city to see a play, from private box seating no less. formal occasion though, so the party had to visit the costumer's beforehand to rent something to wear for the night

Dear lord

Hahahaha

it was left unspecified what my Gnoll was given to wear at the time, but...it's an interesting puzzle to figure out how to make 7'3" of amber-furred fluffball blend in with a crowd of more typically humanoid nobles

^^Not in Seattle Washington

Furries now have recognized rights there

:P

this was the City of Dyvers (sp?) in Greyhawk

Ah, kk.

Greyhawk ain't no Seattle, mate

helped that the Gnoll in question was raised in the local monastery

@BESW most majestic creature right here

11/10

if I was a ranger I would want that one right there as animal companion

hey there @Asteria

> Epic side-eye. You can use Athletics instead of Provoke to make social attacks against someone within your line of sight.

lol

it wouldn't be a combat companion for sure

might as well be able to do that

also, that makes me slightly tempted to have a ranger with a chameleon in Fate,... but that feels too much like trying to use Fate to do D&D

@trogdor Talk to Doppel about that!

oh yeah

I forgot @doppelgreener had some kind of project for that?

Yeah.

@BESW this comic is pretty great

the whole dog D&D thing

D&Doggos is totally a Dora bowl.

lol

Now this is how to build a layered setting with a tangible sense of history.

Hello still from the hospital!

[wave] Hope you're recovering nicely.

Some things get better, some worse

Recently they found an infection in some liquid behind my lung, and now it's being sucked out. The pancreas is still not fine.

eeek.

My highest roll for my last session was 11.

I need new dice.

@ATaco I'm going to assume you're in a d20-centric system of some sort.

Yeah.

Because when we roll 11s, it's usually kind of awesome and takes a LOT of work.

I have +7 on my spells to hit, and I did not hit a single thing.

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer: Does a caster know if the spell's subject rejects a spell if that spell usually helps the subject? by gilberto melo on rpg.SE

hmmm, @nitsua60 is it allowable to ask what exactly is written on page X of a book that is out of print since ages and not available as PDF?

@Trish I think it'd go over better if framed as a problem statement. "I need to run a social encounter involving a three-horned chameleon for $reasons. I understand they're detailed on page X of book Y, but it's been out of print for ages and I can't find a digital copy, either. How can I know the proper description for a three-horned chameleon?"

That way an answer could be someone just telling you what's on that page, but other answers might be to point you to an online archive you didn't know about where someone preserved things, or to tell you about the back-porting someone did from something current to the product you're talking about.

I mean, if you pose it your proposed way I think it'd probably stay open, not get many votes, and struggle for an answer. I think my proposed way would lead to better answers. But prior performance may not guarantee future results =)

It's kinda like this question. On-topic, but it took a long time for someone to come along and answer it decently.

Looks fine to me. Good luck!

I know the answer to that one!

It's not on page 198 but i should be able to dig it out in a few minutes

189 it is... typo in title

Btw i am only two people missing from having a full group for my Nobilis game. I'm so happy

@nitsua60 That was my read on it - but i may have been looking too deeply. Otherwise, SIlence is just a random example of "how do I know what spell to cast", but I think the intent behind it was, how can i counterspell it if I'm now Silence?

moon ring fockels

wtf

autocorrect dammit

Morning folks*

and a moon ring fockels to you, too @Alphaeus!

@NautArch hows it going?

Good morning Alpha

Hey mate

not bad, just relaxing while the kids eat breakfast and watch king julien :)

Haha, nice.

So what is everyone up to?

@Anaphory I hope this gets resolved into a state of full recovery soon

@Alphaeus let us create a society of villians/heros who plot exclusively to destroy the entity known as autocorrect

Lol

@trogdor Modern fantasy or sci fi?

I'd go for that

There's a computer game called Darkest Dungeon. It's dungeon crawling RPG with combat and lots of flavour (recommended, go play it).

Tons of my friends play that

Anyhoo … they have an interesting mechanic in combat called Death's Door.

I've been long meaning to play it

Essentially, your PCs get hit, their hit points get whittled down, until they are at zero HP. This is a state known as Death's Door.

@Alphaeus Absolutely do play it.

The PC can only die if they are already at Death's Door - each time they are hit at Death's Door there's a % chance they die.

That's actually pretty cool

Healing them up get's them out of that state. So ... there is no possibility of your PCs getting one-shotted, no matter how much damage they take and how few HP they have. If they have even 1HP left, it will still take 2 attacks to (possibly) kill them.

The battles are 4 vs 4, so there's still a possibility that your PC will get killed in one round, before you get a chance to heal them up out of Death's Door.

I've noticed that this adds a lot of drama to each combat round ... the one-two process really helps to build the tension, and it feels so much better than other games where a PC could get one-shotted by a lucky critical.

Yes, I agree

There is a rogue-like I play on and off called Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup

It's great on many levels, but absolutely viciously unforgiving on the line you always dance with death

You are rarely more than one wrong choice away from death

Speaking of drama - the PCs can become afflicted by psychological manias if their stress gets too high ... and so there's been a few times when the stalwart crusader has been knocked to death's door and the healer goes "i know, I'll heal him" ... and the crusader goes "no! my paranoia|self-hatred|gonzo-attitude means I refuse your aid"

Arrrgh

hahaha

Yes, my friends talk about this

You get to name your PCs, and they always name them after the members of our gaming group

Then there's the times the healer gets afflicted with Irrational, and when her turn rolls around usurps the player and says "no, i pass, screw you"

So they'll be like "Richard, you currently want to die. Alph, you are obsessed with XYZ."

lol

So ... the stress mechanics are really interesting ... but I wanted to ask: are there any table-top RPGs that have a mechanic similar to Death's Door?

Hmmmmm

I know straight away there are

but also cannot remember for the life of me WHAT they are because I don't own them

:P

There is FATE

İt's not exactly the same but as you suffer you get troubles.

@BESW and/or @doppelgreener I come seeking your dark wisdom in workshopping a qvestion

I can try to help. What is the question?

I'm trying to look into the origin of the concept of a 'switch hitter' as it applies to D20 and its legacy systems, and particularly how it became prevalent in the Pathfinder community. I am not attempting to ask for value judgements or advice on how to create one

Rather, I want - to the extent that it is possible - to learn where it came from and how it got here

I believe it originates from the first edition of D&D from the class fighting man.

[oozes up from a floor vent]

Well back then it was called a type but fighting man was the only character capable of dealing physical damage and with creatures resistant to magic damage it evolved into a role where it had to maximize it's damage while protecting the squishy casters which led to switch hitters.

@Lord_Gareth tags would be pathfinder terminology history-of-gaming and mentioning everything you just said would help guide things on track. Be Nice would itself prevent the worst of what could come out of value judgements.

Doppel you know D&D history better than me. I am correct right?

That is not what a switch hitter is

So I'ma bet 'no'

@MaikoChikyu I don't know about that. I started playing about six years ago, and history from before then has been purely via osmosis or this site. You've mentioned 1st ed D&D, you probably already outclass me.

Isn't switch hitter hitting something with an arrow and then bashing it with a sword when it gets close?

'Switch hitter' concepts are specifically those built up & dedicated to a combination of ranged and melee weapon attacks and are notably different from just having a backup ranged or melee weapon in that resources are invested in both.

Owning a bow in case of harpies =/= being a dedicated switch hitter

^^This would be the druid who has an Elvencraft Longbow, and invests in ranged weapon feats while focuses his spells on quarterstaff buffing.

(Elvencraft longbows can be used as quarterstaffs, just as a note)

I never had a bow against harpies. I instead threw the dwarf at the harpy and then proceeded to throw my weapons at them.

^^Not all players can throw dwarves

Definitely define briefly what you mean by switch hitter briefly in the question :P

@Lord_Gareth I'm available for any specific questions or requests you might have

Throwing dwarves is also not an OSHA Certified work protocol.

Lol

To be fair %90 of the stuff adventurers do is not OSHA Certified.

Shhhh

Don't let them know that

I will have you know that my adventurers wear safety equipment such as knee pads.

Lol

We use falling safety measures whenever I'm around

I'm pretty sure OSHA certified the "feather fall" trait

See

Knee pads

And also a grappling hook

Character right there's studying the Protocol Registry Book itself.

Very official, you know

Clearly best course of action is to use a gelatinous cube as a cleaner for the base. My party did it once and we never encountered someone from OSHA.

Through we did find a piece of cloth with 'OSHA' written on it inside our base.

>:}

Btw i managed to gather enough people for my Nobilis game. More wouldn't hurt but i will actually be able to run the game.

Cool.

While you're here....

@MaikoChikyu just give me your thoughts on magic for the RTS game

Just spazz out anything you want to see, what you think about it, etc.

I would prefer it if magic was mostly supportive rather than game changing. For example a druid unit can increase the fertility of a farm for d6 rounds. A wizard unit acts like a ranged unit. I want to allow the players to be able to play a nation that detests magic without losing every battle. Also add wizard towers if you can as a player can decide to have magocracy as the method of ruling.

Sorry if this is a tall order. I am bad at being vague.

Nah man, that's doable

@Lord_Gareth and elbow pads!

Would be it alright if, for simplicity purposes, I condensed this into 100% divine magic and ran it through priests?

(priests that could be varied, ofc)

@Alphaeus I just realised it would be a viable Mage plotline for someone to seal a god away in a zip file.

Sure

Anything is viable in mage.

I had near infinite quintessence in Mage as a virtual adept

Lmao

I carried around a quintessence battery that was as big as a large backpack

Whenever we had downtime i plugged it to electricity and allowed quintessence to charge up.

@Alphaeus probably modern fantasy? I guess?

lol

Winter Bash this year starts on the 13th!

What is Winter Bash?

@MaikoChikyu The annual collection of avatar hats for various achievements. It's fun.

Yeah :)

@doppelgreener feeling hat, hat, hat!

@eimyr :D!

Anyone know of a good list of ideas on deals Death could offer via the "Last Breath" move in Dungeon World?

As it is a recommendation question, it isn't appropriate to ask on the main site.

@BlackVegetable "The life of <Party Member>, before three moons have passed" (with the consent of the said party member)

Or rather, with the consent of their player.

You can extend the time limit to the point where it's practically meaningless (for example, a year is almost an eternity in the usual campaign pace where every long rest is a step towards the next adventure) but can still set in motion some good dramatic tension between the two characters, one who has to slay the other and the other who doesn't necessarily know of it.

Depends a lot on what Death's like in your game.

Does Death have an agenda in the living world?

@BESW Usually (but not always) that bit gets explored the first time Death offers someone a deal, so these are very connected questions, yes.

Is Death a neutral avatar, a psychotic sadist, a compassionate psychopomp, a manifestation of the dying person's fears or hopes about death?

What would be a neutral avatar's motivation to provide a deal in the first place?

That's an excellent question, and answering it would probably give great insight into the nature of the world.

I wonder if Death offers deals to normies as well, or is it a VIP privilege...

Often it's a "your time has not yet come; someone's cheating so I'll cheat too" kind of thing.

Personally I like the idea that Death takes sides and is rooting for some particular outcome amongst the living.

What is a psychopomp?

A Death that's only bound by rules and the breaking of them is sorta boring.

A psychopomp is a person/animal/spirit/etc which guides the souls of the dead safely to their intended afterlife.

Oh man, what about a Death with a sense of humor. Normally I'd have to let you go through, but I can juggle the numbers for a bit and send you back. BUT you must trade me your halberd for this massive banana. Trust me, it is a magical weapon in its own right. But, beware monkeys.

Anyway, in terms of gameplay, I recommend nothing too drastic like taking away a wizard's ability to use magic. I think best deals, whatever the motivation, are those that emphasize characters' personalities by forcing them out of their comfort zone.

See Shiva, Charon, Anubis, Vanth, Daena, Azrael, etc.

I never knew that by that word. Neat!

The newest Pixar film, Coco, uses alebrijes as psychopomps.

Psychopomp is such a great word.

Eg. the dashing, chivalrous knight might get afflicted with a curse that makes them hideous to everyone around them. They're still the same character and keep doing the same things as before, but where they previously used to be objects of adoration at victory parties, now they are lucky to be admitted in in the first place.

I prefer deals to be... additive rather than subtractive, myself.

Does this motivate them to try harder to be a good hero, so they'd be accepted despite their looks? Or maybe being an outcast makes them see the world differently and seek friends elsewhere, in places where everyone looks strange.

@BESW Extra warts and boils are certainly additive :)

No, no.

Additive as in it adds to what the character does, rather than preventing the character from doing something.

"I'll delay collecting you, if you swear to genuinely forgive anyone who asks for forgiveness."

"You may return to your life, and be guardian of this alebrije."

Yes, taking away options is usually just boring.

Deals with Death are a really powerful tool to emphasize character

"The Daughter of Spring pled for your life. Go and offer humble thanks at her temple in Southern Ibra."

It's very easy to model this off real-life examples: the faithful often take on some difficult task to honor or thank the god, saint, or other power they credit with an unexpected boon or reversal of misfortune.

Going on pilgrimage, taking a vow, giving an offering, dedicating something to the power, making a significant change in the way they live their life...

And it doesn't have to be divinely reinforced, like if you swear to give alms to the poor every day and you miss a day you don't drop down dead... but you feel guilty and anyone who knows you broke your vow is going to mistrust any promises you make in the future.

One of my favorite speculative fiction novels starts with a widow going on a pilgrimage as an excuse to leave her suffocating family duties.

I recall reading a rather odd novel with biker samurai and a guy on pilgrimage with tattoos on his palms that could kill or incapacitate anyone who saw them.

On the road she joins up with a group of other pilgrims. Most of them are traveling to a shrine, where one will pray for a favorable outcome of a lawsuit; one prays for the safety of a daughter nearing childbirth; one prayed for her daughter to find a husband; one is giving thanks for safe travel through a nasty winter...

Real-life Mythos location: Lost Carcosa and the Yellow Sign.

The important thing is, though, that the Deal must be something the players are ok with. It shouldn't be a major gamechanger, but rather a drama hook.

A wizard losing their magic or the fighter being forced to shed no blood would render the characters pretty much better off dead from many a player's POV.