TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:09

@Barker As SSD's comment says, an account was compromised and the community noticed. Per standard policy, the moderators locked it down to give the user an opportunity to resolve the issue.

( SSD hasn't been in chat recently enough for @ pings to push an alert to them.)

Barker

@BESW Does that mean the kid wasn't real?

BESW

It means that there was evidence multiple people were using the same account, which is cause for concern according to the Stack Exchange Terms of Service and needs to be resolved.

That's all we need to know; the resolution of the situation is between the user, the moderators, and the Stack employees. If the user returns we'll assume the problem's been resolved and act accordingly.

The user's privacy and dignity is more important than our curiosity, and if they need assistance the moderators are better equipped to offer it than we are.

daze413

@Ben pinged you over at discord, wondering if you got it so im pinging you here. o/

Barker

@BESW Ok, thanks, that is fine, I just was concerned since he had said he was afraid.

BESW

Yes, I think we're all concerned and that's good!

But we need to be careful that concern doesn't turn into voyeurism. If the user returns, we can offer more support within the scope of the site. Meanwhile the mods are aware of the situation and are better able to escalate to actual intervention if that seems necessary.

(In particular, speculation and gossip can poison the user's ability or willingness to participate in the community later.)

Sorry to be such a buzzkill, I know we're just concerned about the situation. And it's good that suspensions are so unusual here that we can take a personal interest in them.

Barker

00:50

@BESW Yeah, sorry, I wasn't trying to get personal information or anything like that, but with the question locked there isn't really an appropriate place to ask something like "I noticed you didn't accept an answer, what are you looking for that you didn't find here?" I was mostly looking to know if it was likely to get unlocked again.

BESW

We don't know exactly what's going on with the asker's situation and the account being compromised. They've got a one-day suspension for things to cool down, but that doesn't necessarily mean the question will get unlocked after the suspension period.

So... unknown. We can hope.

Mike Q

What's fishy is the shared account things. I can't think of any reason why a group of people (who are presumably conflicting with one another) would share an account on the site where their conflict is being discussed

Given sufficient time and string, I could conjecture plenty of interesting theories about the user's situation. But I won't because it's all speculation and not productive.

BESW

Thank you. I think patience and self-control are the watchwords for us onlookers at this point in the journey.

Barker

I choose to believe someone cast awaken on his dog and the dog was using his account to try and help him improve his campaign.

Mike Q

01:07

Besides, there are much more entertaining ways to be unproductive

BESW

01:22

[pokes Roll20 for Fate of Agaptus]

trogdor

01:32

Hehehe

BESW

01:52

I think I like the "weight" mechanic in FoA.

Gonna have to see it in action though.

Basically you calculate how much advantage one side of the conflict has over the other by adding up each character's "weight." In a physical conflict most creatures have a weight of 1, but a really big or powerful creature might have a weight of 2 or 4.

And some creatures are so small or weak that they have weight 0 individually, and can only add weight to a conflict if they attack as a swarm.

Social conflicts have weight too, but that's a measure of influence, respect, credibility, etc.

If one side has at least twice as much weight as the other, any roll by the dominating side can turn one fate die to +.

If they're dominating by four to one, they can change two fate dice to +.

trogdor

Oooh I skimmed over that part

BESW

(This only applies to rolls where the weight matters narratively, of course.)

trogdor

I didn't know the effect

Yes of course

BESW

And weight only adds up in each zone.

So if you've got fifty soldiers with you, but you run ahead into the heart of the enemy army alone, you're still outweighed.

trogdor

Also very fair

I was not expecting weight to count outside one zone

BESW

02:02

(Though, presumably they could probably roll to create an advantage like "Intimidating war chants," get their + benefit from weight, and pass you the free invoke.)

trogdor

I mean, really, zones are as big as they need to be

If your group needs weight to count in a larger area, you can make the zone bigger

The point is people can't add thier weight up from far away from each other

BESW

In physical combat FoA assumes zones are probably the standard "you can take a few steps and punch someone" size.

trogdor

Yeah

BESW

But it's also got some advice for social zones!

trogdor

@BESW and yeah as always there is room for creativity

@BESW I should do a full read through soon

Probably will as soon as I get home today

BESW

02:06

BTW, I think I might stop waiting to figure out how to hack Cthulhu Confidential for non-horror stuff, and just try it and see what happens.

Also I'm wondering what it'd be like to play CC with a GM and more than one player, but the players collaborate to control the PC.

....that might be worth a mainsite question.

trogdor

Ooh

Ok

I just figured the main reason you were so interested in the system was because you sometimes only have one other person

BESW

Definitely.

trogdor

(often, but not necessarily always, me)

BESW

But I'm always curious about outside-the-box-ness, and one thing I've been thinking a lot about is how to tell one-character stories in multi-player groups.

Without, you know, Lovecraftesquing it.

Shalvenay

02:23

hey there @DanBryant, welcome to the RPG.SE lair :)

BESW

@trogdor Basically I'm imagining that you and Greener, or you and Raycia, would probably have lots of fun co-driving one character, but I'm concerned about the implementation details. And I've got a homebrew system concept in the early percolation stages, too.

(Each player would take on one of the PC's priorities or values, and table-level discussion about what the PC should do would be role-played as the character's conflicted internal monologue.)

trogdor

Oooh

Color me interested

The concept and the people involved are both Nice ideas

BESW

(And each player would have their own stats that represent the PC being better or worse at tasks depending on why he's doing it.)

trogdor

Mm

BESW

Like, if you've got Revenge and Justice as your player concepts, then interrogating a criminal would look very different depending on who was dominant for that scene.

Or Clear My Name vs Solve The Murder.

Mike Q

02:38

Hola @Shalvenay

trogdor

@BESW yes and for both examples you could want both things but still feel like you have to choose between them at any given time

For the first one you definitely can't have both reasonably

For the second you could, but not if you are being chased by interested parties

daze413

03:20

Been deleting and retyping my comment on this question: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/122779/23064 I don't know how best to tell the OP about how to think about getting better constraints for the Q

Shalvenay

hey there @daze413

daze413

@Shalvenay heyo o/ whats up?

Shalvenay

not a whole lot, saw Dawn poking their head into Discord the other day :) as to you?

daze413

Just saw this question rpg.stackexchange.com/q/121990/23064 and since it's not closed, I'm mulling over how to ask about how to make the first chapter of OotA more interesting

Shalvenay

ah. what is going on with the stuff with Dawn?

daze413

03:27

@Shalvenay been busy lately. Dawn's been playing a lot of overwatch since that world championship thing

Shalvenay

@daze413 ah, I see

daze413

@Shalvenay They've been missing a lot of our guild's activities as well. Only comes by to chat for a few minutes

doppelgreener

08:28

it's raining in eagle-land.

trogdor

so crush the young one, yes common flyer tactic XD

doppelgreener

08:41

if you get enough xp to level up you get restored to full health automatically

it's a very sound tactic

trogdor

yeah, why else to you think we dragons are always so high level?

BESW

11:03

Note to self: our Atomic Robo-inspired Weird Stuff campaign needs more Middleman inspiration.

> A.N.D Laboratories: Rescrambling Your DNA.

goodguy5

11:44

morning nerds

BESW

[wave]

nitsua60

@DavidCoffron you should also be careful of stepping on the druid's toes because in animal form you probably have claws, and the druid may (thematically) be wearing sandals or the like.

=P

BESW

Also the druid can probably produce more claws than you on short notice.

KorvinStarmast

12:05

@Shalvenay I have set up a discord server, I may need some advice on the best permissions to give to my group (brother is DM, our old crowd; we have had too much trouble with skype).

@Barker what are you looking for that you didn't find here? I asked that in of the user in chat; got no response before the lock. Folks will or won't respond depending on a lot of stuff (the details BESW pointed out among them ...)

goodguy5

12:51

@KorvinStarmast I can talk to you about how I set mine up

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 Which permissions should I give to all so that they can join in before I get into game? I sent invites, all but one showed up, and for the next game I'd like my brother to invite the straglers if I am late....

SPavel

@BESW That implies that my DNA was already scrambled, which is false - it's always been neatly sorted alphabetically

KorvinStarmast

@Shalvenay Hmm, I need to get home and have it open before we have this discussion, I think. Be home in an hour, will probably poke you then?

goodguy5

1. what do you mean "invite"? Are they different people from week to week?

1.1 if they are, then you just need to give him permission to invite people. Set up a role with a name you like "co-manager", "inviter", etc. and give that roll "Create Instant Invite"

You could also set up a permanent invite code, if you wanted.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast I don't think I created any special settings when I made mine.

But I did make a permanent link to send out.

goodguy5

12:57

You may want to make different rooms with different permissions, but that's up to you and how your group works.

I have two D&D groups that coordinate through my discord, as well as some PS4 friends and switch.

David Coffron

@nitsua60 Haha. Thanks for that

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I'll open the toolbox when I get home. @goodguy I was advised against a perm invite, though I wasn't sure why my son made that recommendation.

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast because it lets randos join whenever they want, which can be annoying

but you can just as easily require roles to access any channel other than the welcome channel

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 Once I invite someone, they can always be in the channel, as I understand it, unless I kick/boot someone. (Extremely low chance of that ever happening with my group)

NautArch

@goodguy5 orly? I was just planning on turning off the invite once everyone was in.

goodguy5

12:59

@KorvinStarmast yes, but you can set up sub-channels within the server

@NautArch oh, yea. that works too. Set invite to never expire, then manually expire it.

KorvinStarmast

This conversation isn't going to work without me at home playing with buttons, will check with you gents later.

doppelgreener

A permanent invite is something anyone can pass around, or that anyone who comes across can use (if you paste it in a public setting).

If it's time-limited you know if someone comes across it an hour later it won't work for them.

AND if other people start streaming in from who knows where, you know what invite lead to it, and you know who knew that invite or where you placed it, so you know where the problem is.

SPavel

The most metal ship badge - HMS Devastation

doppelgreener

whether that's "hey i didn't give you that so you could pass it onto XYZ" or "hmm, maybe i won't post the invite that way again"

goodguy5

I have several channels.

PS4
Switch
Switch voice
dnd1
dnd2
general voice

etc

NautArch

13:01

@doppelgreener just deleted mine (just in case.) All players are in anyway.

even if one person still hasn't rolled their stats :P

doppelgreener

cool beans :)

David Coffron

@NautArch Tbh I just manually invite everyone I need. (but I usually vet players in a private chat a bit first)

doppelgreener

permanent invites work for channels that are meant to be a doors-always-open public setting

goodguy5

like I said, though. it's easy enough to require a special "verified" role to use any channel that isn't #general

doppelgreener

less so for small close-knit communities

David Coffron

13:02

@NautArch In the game I ran yesterday one of my players rolled stats 20 minutes before lol

NautArch

@DavidCoffron jiminy. that's not a lot of time for character design. but I guess if they've already made their decisions its just plug and play the numbers.

goodguy5

@NautArch I mean, I can chargen in 10 minutes for level 1

David Coffron

Well they weren't familiar with roll20 and built the character offline first, but decided to reroll the actual stats after (for transparency sake)

Helwar

@NautArch depending on the game. If it were Anima Beyond Fantasy, or Mutants & Mastermind.... you need pleeeeeeeeeeeenty of time even if you know what you want :P

NautArch

@goodguy5 i definitely can't :) I like to play around and build my idea as I go.

David Coffron

13:06

@NautArch I'm the same way, especially if its a spellcaster.

goodguy5

I said CAN, not prefer to

David Coffron

@goodguy5 Well I can make a character in 30 seconds. /me Googles premade characters

goodguy5

heh.

that's not making

that's finding

NautArch

I don't make characters. I kill them.

goodguy5

and I'm not sure even I could find one in 30 sec

David Coffron

13:08

You are probably right

NautArch

i'm debating about removing Counterspell from spell lsit options (for NPCs and PCs)

goodguy5

but why

and I like this tool for super quick chargen
http://www.fastcharacter.com/

David Coffron

@NautArch WHy remove conterspell? I've never had problems with it

NautArch

because i don't like the counterspell wars.

David Coffron

Just make counterspell uncounterspellable

NautArch

13:10

PC has it, so sometimes (especially later when the PCs are known) they bring caster(s) who can counter it.

Helwar

@NautArch I like it. THey either spend the reaction to know what spell is the enemy casting, or they try to counter it.

NautArch

And while it's fun for a PC to stop an NPC, it's not fun for a PC to have been stopped.

David Coffron

@Helwar I took so long for me to get used to not announcing the spell immediately

Helwar

@DavidCoffron haha, I was always sly with it. Just said something along the lines: you see the enemy start waving his hands and muttering

goodguy5

and just trigger OAs from your players with scrub minions to use their reaction

NautArch

13:12

@DavidCoffron you know that's a suggested way of doing it, right?

David Coffron

@NautArch Well I haven't had a player with CS in a while (since pre-XGtE)

SPavel

Only the most powerful druid can cast Tornado of Birds. #DnD

Tweeted by DungeonFacts on May 18, 2018 at 12:13 PM

NautArch

@DavidCoffron I've got a player who is debating whether ot go warlock or bard, so it's definitely a possibility.

David Coffron

@SPavel Conjure Animals level 9 spell slot

(although that's just 32 birds)

Helwar

@DavidCoffron can't they be 32 swarms of smaller birds?

goodguy5

13:14

@DavidCoffron "just"

David Coffron

@Helwar I dont think so. It says they take the form of "beasts" not "swarms of beasts"

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel Birdicane

goodguy5

@Helwar I'd allow it

David Coffron

Q: Can a Druid Wild Shape into a Swarm or "Giant"?

The Players handbook has a list of creatures in the back which are designed for use by the players. Various tweets and materials have said that the players handbook has creatures that players need to create characters. However I noticed in the DM's Basic PDF that there are many creatures which a...

Can you twin Conjure Animals?

No, nvm, doesn't target a creature

NautArch

@DavidCoffron bingo

Helwar

13:17

@DavidCoffron it has no target :S

David Coffron

@Helwar Targets "spaces within range"

Animal Shapes can give you as many birds as willing creatures you can see. Get 1 mile vision from that magic item and you can have all the birds

(is that a magic item or was that a homebrew I read)

Oh wait, range limit

Ugh

SPavel

Hurricane: mid 16th century: from Spanish huracán, probably from Taino hurakán ‘god of the storm.’

That is bad ass

@DavidCoffron But that still doesn't make them spin

David Coffron

Hurricane =

SPavel

David Coffron

SPavel

13:22

I don't know who that is

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel That's a picture of me.

David Coffron

^^ Uh. It's Chris Hemsworth

Rubiksmoose = Chris Hemsworth confirmed

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose you might want to see a doctor about the that electricity.

SPavel

@Rubiksmoose You are Generic White Guy Protagonist #235-b?

Helwar

guys, all of a sudden i'm a player in a new campaign, for tomorrow... It's the dream! Playing again and not DMing!

Rubiksmoose

13:23

@NautArch You have no idea how hard it is to convince insurance to cover the damage I do to doctors' offices.

NautArch

@Helwar wooohooo!

SPavel

@Helwar Congrats

NautArch

@Helwar you have 10 minutes to create your character. GO!

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel How dare y--- well ok yeah.

Helwar

Now to decide WHAT to play

SPavel

13:24

@Helwar A swarm of bees in a trenchcoat

NautArch

@Helwar do you know what the rest of the party is (and do you care?)

David Coffron

@Helwar Always play monk

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel A swarm of trench coats in a bee.

Helwar

@SPavel Sadly i don't want to impose homebrew races to a virgin DM :P

@NautArch Don't know, master said everyone make whatever and he'll adjust.

David Coffron

@Helwar Just reflavor an already existing race.

Gnomes are basically bees

SPavel

13:26

@Helwar Step 1: deflower the DM

Helwar

@DavidCoffron That's a thing to consider. I have an IDEA of the character I wanna play but... it can be a shadow monk... or a thief rogue... or a bard... or a dex-paladin.... even a hexblade....

SPavel

@Helwar Build all 5 and see which numbers you like best

Then when the first one dies a hideous, shameful, desperate death, you can pull out the next one

NautArch

@Helwar One of my players is deciding between bard and warlock. I don't want to push him in one direciton or the other...but I do love me some bards. They are also considering a hexblade.

Helwar

@SPavel Helwar the 2nd appears

Mike Q

@Helwar Try something new. What classes/builds have you not done before?

goodguy5

13:33

^

I usually play something new, or revisit a character I loved.

two favorites are halfling barbarian and human eldritch knight (Harold Blackstone, "OF THE LORD'S ALLIANCE!")

Helwar

@MikeQ I have played just one-shots as a player... I played college of swords bard goliath, a paladin, and a wizard that ended doing nothing (lvl 1 one-shot...)

i love the idea of the eldritch knight but it's so.... subpar, comparing it to a "regular" fighter it always does less

Mike Q

Also, what's the expected duration of this game? 1 session? 5 sessions? 50?

Helwar

@MikeQ permanent, in theory (or until we get bored of it)

Mike Q

Lastly, what other classes/builds are already in the party?

goodguy5

@Helwar the fraction of difference isn't super high and it's fun to have shield. (the spell)

Helwar

13:37

@MikeQ I dunno. DM told us to make whatever we wanted

Mike Q

@Helwar Whatever you wanted? Ok, then go with a level 20 tarrasque wizard

Helwar

I'm thinking to go as thief rogue, maybe with healer feat...

why tarrasque? so easy a target...

@MikeQ well, he specified lvl 3 characters ^^ So it would have to be a lvl 3 tarrasque

Tiggerous

@NautArch I don't think that rest question is a duplicate.

NautArch

@Tiggerous Yeah, i'm starting to think that as well. My logic was Function requires short rest. Is short rest contained in a long rest.

but I think this is the case of duplicate answer, slightly different question.

I asked in the comment what they're going for. I have a feeling it's the latter, which is a very simple thing to answer and can reference the question I duped.

Mike Q

@Helwar Bottom line, though, just play whatever you think would be most enjoyable for you

Tiggerous

13:45

@NautArch I think the question is 'When I take a long rest, can I assume that any features that would recharge on a short rest have recharged, even if they don't specify that they can recharge on a long rest?' Not the same as whether one can long and short rest simultaneously (though related).

goodguy5

I don't see a question on it, but I feel like there must be....

David Coffron

@MikeQ Which is always a healing focused cleric *wink wink

Helwar

@MikeQ yeah I know. It was just overwhelming, all of a sudden I had that many options I had been designing and stashing in the drawer open to use :)

NautArch

@Tiggerous yeah, i reopened and answered.

David Coffron

(Kidding)

goodguy5

13:46

Does the cunning action allow you to use the healer action as a bonus action?

Helwar

@goodguy5 stabilize, yes. The part that heals? i think not

NautArch

@Helwar Nope. Dash, Disengage, or Hide action are your only options.

Helwar

@NautArch not with thief. It has a perk that lets you use objects with cunning action

goodguy5

@NautArch no, the thief part that let's you use objects

Fast Hands
Starting at 3rd level, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, use your thieves' tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the Use an Object action.

NautArch

@goodguy5 oooooh. that's pretty cool.

a healing thief. i like it.

goodguy5

13:50

I feel like I can ask this question and it be stackable

NautArch

@goodguy5 ?

Helwar

@goodguy5 what question?

NautArch

if the healer's kit is an object?

goodguy5

would it be balanced to allow a thief to use the healer action

I mean... it's using an object

it might even be allowed raw, I'm not sure

David Coffron

Thief can use alchemists fire with that btw

Just saying

Helwar

13:51

I think you can't. THe feat specifies "as an action"

goodguy5

You can definitely use a healers kit with the Thief bonus.

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose Probably totally fine but the designers did go out of the way to differentiate short and long rest mechanics and recharges.

Helwar

As an action, you can spend one use of a healer’s kit to tend to a creature and restore...

David Coffron

And alchemists fire adds dex mod to damage since it's an improv weapon

goodguy5

@Helwar yea, but you're using the healer's kit

Rubiksmoose

13:52

@NautArch I assume this is an oversight honestly. Why would something recharge on a 1 hour rest but not on an 8 hour rest?

goodguy5

My argument is that it's augmenting what you can do with the "use an object" action

"normally, healer kits cannot be used this way, but you can now with this feat"

Helwar

@goodguy5 I'd say specific beats generic, in general you can use objects as a bonus, but this object says as an action so.... But I might be wrong

Rubiksmoose

The opposite makes perfect sense to restrict the more powerful features, but I see no purpose in restricting to short rests only.

goodguy5

I'm just trying to figure out how to word it so that I get two questions:
1. would this be balanced
2. is it normally allowed

I think if I frame it as a house rule and it is RAW, then one of the answers would encompass that, right?

David Coffron

@goodguy5 doesn't count as a use am object action unfortunately. It's a custom feat option

goodguy5

13:54

cool. will put up a question in a few

Helwar

huh, i stirred up @goodguy5 to ask a question. I'm like a muse :)

Rubiksmoose

And seeing how it is listed in the DMG it was probably never really playtested that much.

@Helwar You are amusing.

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose DOn't really have an answer, but they could easily have said "long rests include short rests", but instead they wnt out of their to differentiate it.

Helwar

@NautArch I always assumed long rests included short rests. I see no special benefit in them not being included...

NautArch

@Helwar i don't either, but the designers clearly did.

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