TRPG General Chat

Ben

12:00 AM

Well I worded it that way, so if they activate it, then It's the butcher's turn, then it ends almost immediately

linksassin

@Ben You might want to look at the Merrow. A CR2 monster with a hook ability similar to yours.

Ben

@linksassin Awesome

linksassin

In fact if you remove the water thematics you can basically just reskin that monster

Give it a 30ft speed instead of 10ft, 40ft swim.

Replace Bite with 'Cleaver' or something.

And Harpoon with Hook

Ben

I can see this working

linksassin

use Claws for melee attacks with the hook

A single merrow will be a reasonable challenge for a level 1 party. Provided they have full health. Even then it's likely at least one of them will go down. So spread your attacks.

If you want a more interesting boss fight though. I would suggest reskining a CR1 creature and giving it some CR1/8 or CR1/4 allies

Ben

12:11 AM

@linksassin That's the style for the next boss

Tohugh, with some different levelling

linksassin

For instance reskin the Bugbear. Give him two pet Blink Dogs. Better in terms of action economy and a more interesting battle.

Joshua

12:24 AM

I got a great idea for a spell: tremorsense. Like see invisible but grants tremorsense instead

linksassin

@Joshua Does that not exist?

Blindsight and truesight both exist

Joshua

Google says it doesn't.

linksassin

Weird. I think it did it previous editions. Whoops turns out blindsight doesn't exist eitehr

Ben

Ok, so what I took form this is that the Merrow is a good basis. Reskin that for a balanced monster. Change the Charge to perhaps a bonus action. And bloodlust needs changing.

linksassin

@Ben That's about right. I would suggest dropping bloodlust and charge entirely.

Keeping them will make it CR3 or 4

Ben

12:30 AM

I want to keep charge, at the very least

linksassin

Make it an action then. Recharge on 5-6

Ben

I'm thinking the damage is probably unnecessary, so instead it just knocks PCs down.

@linksassin Ah yeah that's a good idea

linksassin

I'd actually up the damage to compensate for the lost attacks

The typical "Charge" ability just adds damage to an attack roll if you move up to 20 feet first

See the Giant Boar or similar

Ben

The charge isn't really meant to be used as an "attack", in this regard, it's an opportunity to reposition the fight. switch it up... freak out the players a bit

Like, primarily the Barb/Fighter will be in combat with it, then all of a sudden, it's charged at the Sorc

Same sort of thing with the Hook. This fight uses mechanics to reposition itself and others

linksassin

Make it: "As an action the butcher can charge up to 40 feet in a straight line. Each creature in this line must make a DC12 Dexterity Saving throw. On a failed save creatures take 2d8 bludgeoning damage and are knocked prone. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and isn't knocked prone."

Ben

12:37 AM

I think an iteration said that the Hook only pulled them 10 to 20 feet, instead of all the way up to the Butcher

linksassin

"Movement during a charge does not provoke attacks of opportunity"

Merrow can only pull 20 feet. So that's a good point to make

Ben

Thoughts: I lower the Butcher's overall HP, say, to 30, then at half health, Bloodlust automatically activates

That way it will still effectively have 45 HP

And so at the very least, that sort of acts as a "theatrical" middle point

I also removed the +2 to hit, because that would bump it up to +8 to hit... that's probably overkill

linksassin

The "bloodied" condition from 4e did this. I don't mind people using it in 5e but you won't find it in standard stat blocks

Some creatures had abilities that only triggered once bloodied

That much health is still closer to CR3 or 4 though. It may feel like a grind for players even if they can survive long enough to win

Ben

So maybe 20 hp

Just using the Merrow's stats as a start point

linksassin

12:53 AM

That would be better for CR2. But the only issue it that they will likely go straight to Bloodlust in the first round.

Ben

The boundary flor bloodlust would probably change, too

linksassin

I would use 30HP and drop the mechanic. The players won't know the difference

Players can't tell the difference between resistance and just more HP

Plus if you have a mainly caster party. 20HP isn't a lot.

Ben

Yeah

That is the idea though. The casters would be the ones dealing most of the damage

linksassin

Your choice. I don't think it provides a meaningful differences to the fight but does make the stats more complex

I favour simplicity whereever possible

Ben

Again, this is meant for a party of up to 5 players, with the ability to retreat, so the chance that they will be fighting this guy at full strength is an intended outcome

I will also be playtesting this guy too

linksassin

1:00 AM

Resistance vs more HP. The players really won't know the difference.

I only both with resistances when there is specific ways the party can figure them out and overcome them

At this level they don't really have enough abilities to do anything about it anyway

Oh no, they are resistance to bludgoening? What is a Level 1 Fighter with a warhammer going to do? hit them anyway

Whereas at level 7 they might have a magic weapon stashed away. Or a wand of magic missle. Or a cool ability to help their allies.

Ben

I suppose I'm just getting caught up on the difference between "oh no he's suddenly angry, but other than that nothing is different" and actually having something change to show that "he's suddenly angry" actually means something

more HP is the same as half damage, but the players will be able to see the half damage

Ok, instead of the extra health, what about more damage? or perhaps just more chance to hit? drop the resistance and bring back the +2 to hit?

@GreySage lol same

linksassin

1:31 AM

@Ben Maybe give them reckless attack? Advantage on attacks but so do the party.

That would be cool

Ben

2:33 AM

@linksassin That's a good one. Perfect :D

Hot RPG Questions

3:04 AM

3

Q: How many arrows is an archer expected to fire by the end of the Tyranny of Dragons pair of adventures?

Tyranny of Dragons spans two supplements: Hoard of the Dragon Queen Rise of Tiamat If an archer was expected to buy all of their arrows up front, what is a reasonable estimate of how many arrows they would need throughout the coarse of a full Tyranny of Dragons campaign? Assume that we are n...

Ben

@HotRPGQuestions I think I'm missing the point of why this is something that needs an answer...?

linksassin

@Ben So what? It's an answerable question that the OP wanted an answer to. I can see a reason for it but it doesn't really matter

If i were playing in a game with a DM that strictly tracked ammo I would want to buy enough ahead of time to never have to worry about it. I think that is reason enough for the question

Shalvenay

hey there @linksassin

Ben

@linksassin I'm not arguing that. Just because the question doesn't need an answer, doesn't mean it's unanswerable.

And, if you're going to get enough arrows ahead of time, walking around with 150lbs of arrows seems a bit farfetched.

Again, that's something manageable over time.

I didn't VTC, because it is answerable.

linksassin

@Ben Sorry, some people were and I've already had this argument once.

150lbs isn't that much if you have Bag of Holding or Haversack

Ben

3:16 AM

@linksassin That's true

linksassin

g'day @Shalvenay How's it going?

Shalvenay

@linksassin alright here, was wondering that since we probably won't get the chance to play together in the intermediate-term future, at least I could show you some logs from a prior play session I ran?

linksassin

@Shalvenay Sure, always keen to read entertaining transcripts

Shalvenay

@linksassin chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/13/2018/1/22

Ben

@linksassin Right. Just read that. If anything, the only thing that makes this question "viable or not" is purely up to your choice of how you want to run the game in particular. But that has nothing to do with the question itself.

Shalvenay

3:28 AM

@linksassin if you have questions or comments, btw, please feel free to share them :)

linksassin

3:40 AM

@Shalvenay So that was about 2.5 hours play? Are you both concentrating on it or doing it while doing something else?

Shalvenay

@linksassin that was spread over 3 sessions, and kinda-sorta-concentrating

(there are 3 days worth of transcript there, not just 1 :)

linksassin

Oh... I had only read the first day. Didn't notice the rest.

linksassin

3:53 AM

It seems like you guys rolled an inordinate number of 1s

Shalvenay

@linksassin yeah, the dice did some interesting things XD

@linksassin what did you think of the storyline and characters btw? (that was more the centerpiece, vs. the dice and mechanical bits)

linksassin

@Shalvenay I quite enjoy it actually. Your characterisation of the Orcs is brilliant. I might just steal that

Ben

@linksassin One of the players in my group has that issue. It appears he is the one that has weighted dice... they're just weighted the wrong way

Shalvenay

@linksassin XD thanks. I've been working with them some in a Dungeon World campaign that I'm running these days (in fact, I made them available as a PC race, and one of the players took me up on that :)

Ben

I played one game with Shalv where there was a bunch of Librarian/Receptionist Driders

We went into their lair, expecting a fight, and it turns out they needed our help to find a bunch of missing records and files. Lol

V2Blast

4:10 AM

subverting expectations indeed

Shalvenay

@Ben only one drider, but it's even more complicated than that XD they actually need a public-interest lawyer (a la ACLU)

Ben

That's right haha. It was a little while ago

Shalvenay

@V2Blast it's a pastime of mine as a DM :)

Ben

Jan 11 '18 at 4:35, by Ben

@ATaco Grug Grug's Diary, entry 311. The other orcs still laugh at me for my ability to think, read, write, and create. I'm at my wit's end, and have already made plans to leave this place. I seek adventire, danger, glory, and most importantly, friendship.

I can't remember if it was made into a collection/how to find it, but the following conversation for that one led to an unlikely band of characters, that broke everyone's expectations, and filled everyone's hearts with love

@nitsua60 showed me once... like the wizard on a lawnchair

Shalvenay

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

linksassin

4:21 AM

@Shalvenay I love breaking the traditions of races. In my world every race has the full gammet of alignments

Orc's can be Lawful Good. so can goblins

My players learn to treat everyone with respect and not judge a book by its cover.

Shalvenay

@linksassin yes! it's really sad how many people get stuck in pidgeonholes regarding that

Ben

Jan 11 '18 at 4:36, by ATaco

Grug teams up with a particularly friendly Goblin, a mud loving High-Elf, and a Claustrophobic Underdark Dwarf.

Shalvenay

(and how much D&D up through 3.5e encouraged that pidgeonholing of classes and races by writing it into the game mechanics)

Ben

Jan 11 '18 at 4:59, by ATaco

Grug Grug, Level 2 Orc Bard. Friendship is Magic.
Jiblet, Level 2 Goblin Rogue. Sneaks gold into other's pockets.
Fioren, Level 2 High-elven coward(druid). Herbal remedies for his friends.
Frump(y), Level 2 Ranger. Favoured terrain is not inside.

Ok. I'm done with the link spam haha

linksassin

@Shalvenay The current arc is actually about the Salvation of the orc race. I have a half-orc paladin and the god of the orcs has sent him visions of the end of orcs due to a war. So he is going around trying to make orcs peaceful.

Shalvenay

4:24 AM

@linksassin interesting XD

linksassin

I'm having heaps of fun with the story. The old war priests of the orcs don't want peace. So he is building a new church to his god.

Orcs are my second most common race behind humans

Shalvenay

in my DW campaign, one of the factions is a bunch of religious zealots gone off the deep end

(it's "I took some pieces from WWII, tossed them into a fantasy universe, and shook until the campaign vision started emerging" basically :)

linksassin

My campaigns don't usually take shape until I have characters. Though the next one will.

Ben

@linksassin My characters don't ususally gain depth until they've experienced campaigns

linksassin

Character backstories made up all of my arcs. Wizard out to end dark magic, orc out to save his people, druid wants to find her mother, bard wants to find her brother, barbarian wants to find herself

@Shalvenay From that transcript I'm a bit sad that I don't have time to play. It looks like fun. I even started thinking about characters to play.

Ben

4:35 AM

@linksassin Rage fueled by her own lack of self awareness. But, once she finds herself, she sheds all manner of emotional conflict, and becomes a monk. With 27 Strength.

linksassin

@Ben I like to do a bit of development from character and a bit from campaign but leave lots of open questions for the DM to fill it.

@Ben Look it's possible. She is a Dwarf that never quite fit in to her very tradition driven home.

She just likes hitting things

Ben

Haha

linksassin

But every place she goes she hates. Or hates her (dwarves aren't popular in my setting due to past crimes)

She wants to find a place to call home but it's more of an internal journey.

Ben

I have a human fighter that was raised by Gay Dwarves. He's 6'7", and is the biggest, cuddliest, red-heady-est, most dangerous and loveable man you'll ever meet

linksassin

I think it would be amazing if she did decide to multiclass and do some growing up.

Ben

4:41 AM

I think that was posted recently... I've been tagged in it so many times this past week I'm not sure where I have haven't seen it.

linksassin

She is already the protector. Apart from the pally the rest of the party is squishy

I do like that though

Ben

But that is Doug. Haha

kviiri

5:20 AM

@Shalvenay That's how I used to write fantasy settings, haha :D

Although most weren't ever used for RPGs...

V2Blast

5:45 AM

@linksassin Reading that makes me think of the krogan in Mass Effect

trogdor

@BESW I guess this makes me true neutral or neutral good, all the others make me a little mad XD

One choo is horrible,

Anything other than two or four chuggas is reprehensible

V2Blast

6:04 AM

lol

same

Ben

4 chugga 2 choo

kviiri

7:17 AM

Hmh, a bit of a pickle

0

Q: How much XP do you need when multiclassing?

It's hard to explain what I mean by this. All I can really do is give an example. Say there was a level 3 paladin that just reached its level with 900 exp. This paladin for some reason wanted to multiclass into a druid. Now basically what I'm asking is, would you have to reach level 4 to become ...

dnd-5e multi-classing character-advancement experience-points

BESW

@kviiri Ah, the Harry Turtledove school of fantasy writing.

kviiri

The duplicate question answers the literal question of the user there, but I'd like to address the confusion that "wouldn't it be easier to take the druid level first then?"

Namely, that the total XP required is going to be the same, as well as the approximate time required to earn that level (thanks to higher-lev encounters yielding more XP)

kviiri

8:13 AM

@BESW I keep pouring in lots and lots of historical influences, but I guess WWII stands out because it's a bit odd for an otherwise late Medieval style setting

trogdor

it's not so odd

kviiri

I do try to make sure that everyone in my settings, except maybe some really profoundly obviously evil gods or spirits or so, have good intentions, which I wouldn't say of all the participants of WWII.

trogdor

historically speaking there were large famous wars much like WWII during the time period

it might be a little weird considering just how many countries were involved in it I suppose

as for evil I mean,.... WWII is fresher to us than large wars that far back,....

kviiri

@trogdor True, but I mean more in the sense for motivations of conflict... Late Medieval war was usually driven more by personal issues like claims to titles or such, less so by ideological or nationalist cause

trogdor

true

more or less

kviiri

8:19 AM

My favorite self-made fantasy setting started out for RPG campaigns, but it was around the time when I was falling out of love in sprawling settings in favor of smaller, collaboratively built ones

One of its driving conflicts is the legacy of a federal monarchy of mainly elves and dwarves. The first monarch was an elven queen who had pretty much 100% approval rating among everyone. When she died, the dwarves were like "ok it's our turn to be king yes? Meet our archduke, pls make him king"

And the elves were like "no no, of course we elect the late queen's son, he has good genes"

And some more elves in a distant overseas province, when the fight breaks out, decide that "the federation was a nice try, let's ally the local human empires instead"

After a long series of pointless wars to subjugate the dwarves, the elves are basically an army with a state and turn their eyes overseas to "rescue" their brethren from under "human oppression".

trogdor

8:34 AM

lol

so how did that turn out?

kviiri

We never played it :D but I had planned that if the nazi elves win, they lose raison d'etre and start infighting between the military rule and those who want to reinstate the old Federal constitution

trogdor

ah

Hot RPG Questions

9:09 AM

9

Q: What is the duration of the spell Creation when used to create non-precious metals?

I was looking at the description of the spell Creation in 5th Ed, and saw a gap. It lists the duration for "Precious Metals" but not for other metals. I thought it might be the same as stone and crystal, since they're mentioned together.

dnd-5e spells time

vicky_molokh

How does the bot work?

@HotRPGQuestions I see my question became hot 12ish hours ago, yet I can't seem to find the bot announcement.

trogdor

I think it's got more than it can post right now

if it's anything like the Oracle it's not supposed to spam post too much

so there might be a few that got the status of "hot question" before yours?

that's all conjecture on my part though

vicky_molokh

9:28 AM

Random thought: would it be a good thing for the Hot RPG Questions bot to @ the author of the question? I can see arguments both for and against it.

BESW

That's logically unfeasible. Even if a feedbot could customize an @, which I'm pretty sure it can't, pings in chat don't target people who haven't been in chat recently.

vicky_molokh

Could be still of use for those who do show up in chat from time to time, assuming a double message with the second one including a ping (which may or may not be feasible).

BESW

What's the purpose?

It's not like someone's gonna be unaware their question is an HNQ, their mainsite alerts are gonna be lighting up with vote/comment/answer notifications.

vicky_molokh

9:43 AM

Right now it takes reading the edit history to learn one's question became cross-network hot rather just being high on the substack. Maybe more experienced stackers can easily tell the difference, but for me it was a surprise today.
It's not a must-have thing, just something I thought could be neat.

BESW

Would knowing the different change how you interact with the responses?

vicky_molokh

Nah, it's purely a 'neat to know' thing, much like the reaction to the HNQ bot's notices in the chat in general.

BESW

The HNQ bot in chat is not a neat-to-know. It's about getting multiple experienced eyes on questions that are vulnerable to problems because of sudden high-volume interactions by people unfamiliar with RPG.SE standards.

4

vicky_molokh

I suppose I'm viewing the bot from a perspective of someone who's not a veteran, yet still 'uses' the bot in the sense of watching what it says and occasionally browsing through the questions it quotes.

If that's not a valid perspective, OK, then my idea isn't worth considering.

(This is not sarcasm/hmph/etc., it's a genuine acceptance.)

BESW

What you're suggesting is un-heard-of and would probably require changing the bot code. So there needs to be a more significant purpose than curiosity or we shouldn't ask.

vicky_molokh

9:51 AM

Yeah, if it's something that requires complex coding, of course it's not worth the trouble.

BESW

Heck, we're really lucky they gave us a dice bot as a graduation present, but requests for adding extra functions like Fudge dice are going too far.

vicky_molokh

I have no idea whether the content of the bot's messages is a matter of just adding a single standard, already existing variable to the output-line-concatenator, or something else entirely.

BESW

It's a feed. I put in a feed http and the bot publishes whatever the feed pushes.

Elected moderators can change the name of the feed, but I've ever seen them make any other modifications.

And I've been in chats where if they could get fancy with the feed, they would.

vicky_molokh

Hmm. So essentially all the customisation comes on the feed-making side, yes?

Seems like I had the wrong impression about the customisability of all these things.

The Oracle

0

Q: Is it OK to change answers to facilitate vote changes?

A rule has been changed, and an answer that was correct became wrong. The recommended course of action is to downvote and wait. However, downvoting is not possible if you upvoted earlier, because your vote is locked1. I know it is discouraged to change an answer just to make your vote change p...

discussion

BESW

9:59 AM

The Stack Exchange chat system is remarkably full-featured for a site that really doesn't need to give chat much attention at all. But it doesn't have fancy bells and whistles.

vicky_molokh

When I arrived here, the reason I looked into chat was not because chat felt necessary on its own, but rather because it seemed like the only substitute for more private, discussion-oriented communication (notably, there seem to be no private messages and no ways to ping 'hey, I would like to contact you on Discord/Telegram/email but without revealing the contact to everyone else') that seems absent on SE.

BESW

Yup. Everything is public, which (among other things) makes it much harder for harassment to go un-noticed.

vicky_molokh

That's an interesting trade-off.

BESW

295

A: Any way to send a personal message to another user?

Nope. This has been suggested many, many times, going all the way back to the earliest days of the site. Prior to the creation of Meta SO, feature requests were posted on UserVoice: Messaging between users Declined without comment. User messaging or wall it's possible we might have so...

What's being traded? The Stack's goal is to be a well-sorted pile of actionable solutions to actual problems. Private messaging would quickly bypass that by allowing people to ask questions and gives answers in a way that nobody else could ever see.

vicky_molokh

The way I see it, it's a loss (or at least complication) for situation when two people like each other's reasoning, style etc. in answers/questions/comments, and would like to exchange contact info privately, without revealing it to everyone else, in the hopes of becoming friends.

BESW

10:07 AM

From the perspective of "collecting Q&As others can reference," making it difficult to retreat to private channels is a feature.

Unfortunately, the Stack has no interest in friends.

If we want a Q&A site that doesn't treat users as faulty, incorrigible, fungible cogs in an ambivalent, supposedly morally neutral machine, someone will have to make something that's not the Stack Exchange.

vicky_molokh

@BESW Could you elaborate?

BESW

Sep 24 '18 at 21:46, by BESW

I suspect there are more compassionate and effective ways to go around curating a community, but this "users as faulty incorrigible cogs in an ambivalent, morally neutral machine" attitude is typical of the programming epistemology.

Sep 24 '18 at 21:50, by BESW

Someday someone will make their own Q&A repository, with ~~blackjack and~~ accounting for the value of emotional labor.

The people in charge of the stack are enmeshed in a worldview that doesn't let them make the kinds of choices and changes necessary to make this site's user experience more compassionate and dignified.

The current information-curation landscape doesn't know how to combine the dignity of the individual with the wisdom of crowds.

Ben

10:54 AM

[politely flips the table]

BESW

trogdor

lol

but it's a defense mechanism

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: What if a revenant (monster) gains fire resistance?

As a GM, I use some revenants for my campaign. Those revenants all have class abilities and 2 are spell casters (an abjuration mage and alchemist artificer). The "problem" (it's not a problem, but an "and what if they do that?") is that they can use the Protection from Energy spell, so they can h...

dnd-5e monsters magic

BESW

@HotRPGQuestions It gets offered a job as a revenant (firefighter).

vicky_molokh

11:22 AM

@BESW Having read some of the surrounding transcript and the messages posted here, I'm now unsure whether I unintentionally poked the bear/sleeping dog/hornet again. In some ways, the balance between the crowd and the individual is something that characterises the difference of a Q&A site like this one versus a forum site. Understandably, there are downsides in either.

I also have more thoughts on the topic, but I don't think they're formed well enough to put into sentences yet.

KorvinStarmast

12:24 PM

@Axoren which is easily defeated by a spell called goodberry.

@Miniman Rogue is what I started with, it went well. Keep a bow of the bear handy for the end. They only drop early on.

@linksassin The original Butcher in the game as released was insanely overpowered for where you ran into him. That was sort of the point. You had to figure out a way to outsmart the AI to beat it.

@BESW those two quotes of yours there encapsulate some of my thoughts on the SE writ large very concisely; thanks for putting that so pithily.

doppelgreener

It's also a thing moderators deal with

Because there tends to be little reward for the emotional labor involved in being a diamond moderator, and because most interaction a diamond moderator has with community members ranges from neutral to negative and further downwards, moderators tend to eventually burn out.

nitsua60

12:41 PM

@BESW Or even making the dice bot accessible.

vicky_molokh

> moderators tend to eventually burn out

Serious question: aren't SE moderators supposed to minimise their 'moderatory' interaction with the community, being the exception handlers for things that regular community members don't have the privileges for?

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh Heh, you are actually nvoigt and I claim my five dollar prize. :)

vicky_molokh

At least that's how I remember things being presented.

@KorvinStarmast I can claim to be this nvoigt for five minutes if you show me where we can claim the prise (and split it 50%/50%).

nitsua60

@vicky_molokh Yes. But I'll tell you that even just running into a grade-A asshole every few months, or trying to handle/help/hand off a suicidal user once... there are some real emotional loads that can suck the wind out of you.

I think before running I was notionally aware that such things would exist, but had no conception of what the experience would be like.

vicky_molokh

@nitsua60 Is it fundamentally different from moderating a forum and/or a Discord server?

nitsua60

12:45 PM

@vicky_molokh I've no experience with either.

kviiri

2019: Please click to subscribe! 👇 1999: This show is made possible by viewers like you 1979: And now, a message from our sponsors ... 1360: story about a werewolf is interrupted to ask you to pray for the nobleman who paid for the translation

Tweeted by __apf__ on March 22, 2019 at 6:13 AM

doppelgreener

Also because in the course of normal moderator business we have to suspend people (who may respond with verbal abuse) and we may have to delete answers or comments (leading to the person whose content was deleted responding with verbal abuse)

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh nvoigt was a contributor here who, when we only had two mods, made some very pointed observations about mods as exception handlers during a variety of our meta discussions. TuggyNE made similar points. Both have since stopped dropping by here, much to my disappointment.

nitsua60

@vicky_molokh I assume that the support I have from hundreds of other moderators across the network and SE staff doesn't really have a parallel if I'm moderating most discord servers. I don't know about the large forums.

vicky_molokh

@nitsua60 Ah. I'm not acquainted with moderating SE, thus asking in the hopes of learning how it compares to things I'm familiar with.

nitsua60

12:47 PM

@vicky_molokh Ask away!

=)

vicky_molokh

I just did.

KorvinStarmast

@nitsua60 I am on my second mod position at an internet forum. I was a mod on one years ago but after two months at that, got ahold of the forum owner and let him know I'd be stepping down. I was far less tolerant of shennanigans than he was, and I had no interest in being a part of how that ran.

The forum where I moderate now is a far more cohesive operation.

doppelgreener

@vicky_molokh Extremely different. The moderator tools here are way, way more developed than Discord tools — we actually have timed suspensions, records of deletions and edits, user annotations, and the ability to send direct messages to users about moderation issues but those messages are visible to the entire moderation team. All of these features require additional conscious effort and/or bots on Discord.

That makes a world of difference in how we're able to moderate.

Also we have flags!

nitsua60

@vicky_molokh Well, I guess I mean you should feel free to ask more-targeted questions. Obviously I can't say much about this-vs.-that, but I'm happy to tell you all about this!

vicky_molokh

I think in my moderative experience elsewhere, the most emotionally exhaustive things aren't the regular users (even bad ones), but very heated disagreements with other moderators about policy when none has been supplied from above (lack of consensus + strong enforcement = drama).

nitsua60

12:50 PM

@doppelgreener We also have meta. I have a dedicated place to go to the site users who're self-selected as interested and caring to say "this thing happened, how do you think it should be handled/what do you think of how we handled it?"

vicky_molokh

@doppelgreener Are there things that make things harder than a forum or discord?

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh The community mod function here is a great SE feature, as it allows some of the low level trash removal to be handled by members of varying experience/rep.

vicky_molokh

@KorvinStarmast That seems to be something that makes moderation here easier, not harder.

KorvinStarmast

@vicky_molokh I only use private channels in discord. I will never do a public channel on discord, ever. Life's too short.

@vicky_molokh It is supposed to, yes.

On the forum where I mod, only the mods take out the trash; all the community can do is report stuff they think is not right.

nitsua60

@KorvinStarmast TIL discord has public channels.

KorvinStarmast

12:55 PM

Maybe I should say "open" channels? I need to get my terms right.

doppelgreener

@vicky_molokh the toolset and community support here makes this the easiest place to moderate

nitsua60

@doppelgreener The community ain't bad, either =)

doppelgreener

when i'm moderating discord i quite often think "ugh i wish discord moderation had [thing stack exchange moderation has]" but i've never been on stack exchange wishing i had something from discord

nitsua60

@doppelgreener How's volume? There's not been a day yet where I haven't come to the site and had something moderation-wise I should do. I've taken days off, but I've never had a day off, if you see what I mean.

vicky_molokh

@KorvinStarmast Ah, I see (rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/a/6131/50419).

doppelgreener

1:09 PM

@nitsua60 the discord channels i moderate are pretty quiet

Rubiksmoose

1:23 PM

morning all

kviiri

Hi Rubik

Rubiksmoose

hows it going?

kviiri

Enjoying tea, tolerating work, craving for board games

Rubiksmoose

has packing for the new place begun?

kviiri

Yes, quite a while ago actually :D

Rubiksmoose

1:28 PM

oh yeah I think I remember that being mentioned in the context of getting rid of stuff

hows that whole thing going?

kviiri

Decent. Lots of work still to be done but I think I'm glad we started early :)

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose How're the teeth doing?

Rubiksmoose

excellent. yeah rushing that stuff is what gets you into lots of issues when it comes to unpacking I have found. "What's in this box" "Oh, a bunch of miscellany that we shoved into the box minutes before the moving truck left."

@nitsua60 honestly, pretty rough. I think its one of those, "its going to get worse before it gets better" type things :(

I've got to work so I'm staying off pain meds during the day at least.

But I'm surviving :) My game group moved last night's session to my house to help me out which was very nice of them and very much appreciated.

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose Sorry to hear that. Is the weekend coming up one where you can just kick your feet up and rest?

Hot RPG Questions

5

Q: What if you are holding an Iron Flask with a demon inside and walk into Antimagic Field?

Do the magical powers of the Iron Flask stop, releasing the demon? Also, would the demon then be sent back to its original plane (the Abyss)?

dnd-5e spells magic-items antimagic-field

Rubiksmoose

1:37 PM

@nitsua60 it is! thank goodness. (I was able to take a couple paid days off of work so I'm luckier than some so don't feel too bad for me either).

I just find it incredibly unfair that my head feels like I went on a college bender but I can't touch alcohol until I'm sure I don't want the pain meds lol. Sigh.

Anyways how are things on your end?

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose Well, I just looked out the window and it's snowing. I can't reconcile how to feel about that.

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 my wife pointed out the same thing to me via text and I sent her some choice rage gifs in return if that indicates how I feel about it.

@nitsua60 hopefully not too much at least?

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose I don't think it'll stick. The ground's too warm. But it means that going for a run today's going to be pretty slippery.

Rubiksmoose

oh ick. That is never fun. I'm always super paranoid about falling while running :(

goodguy5

@nitsua60 that's what you get for being sofar north. no snow in philly!

kviiri

1:54 PM

@Rubiksmoose Being the smart person I am I also bought Cuba Libre the board game now

Instead of after moving, when we'd actually have the room to play it

:-) go me!

On the bright side, the game seems super interesting and I have friends lining up to play it

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri hah! The sign of a true board gamer lol. Adding to the collection does not work by the normal rules of logic ;)

@kviiri I'll have to look into it because I don't think I've actually heard of it. Though I think I've heard the name. It's the name of one of my favorite cocktails but I don't think that's it.

Yuuki

@Rubiksmoose I'll have a virgin Cuba Libre.

Rubiksmoose

@Yuuki One is being mailed to you. Hope it gets there quickly! A flat virgin cuba libre is probably not the best thing ;)

goodguy5

2:10 PM

@kviiri is that the one with the wet erase markers?

kviiri

@goodguy5 I don't think so

@Rubiksmoose I don't have much of a collection though :)

goodguy5

hrm....

kviiri

I usually go with whatever my friends have

goodguy5

@kviiri Sorry, I was thinking of Saint Malo

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: Can a college of swords bard use blade flourish on an OA from dissonant whispers?

Consider this scenario: a college of swords bard uses dissonant whispers on a creature within 5 feet of him while he is holding a melee weapon. The creature fails the save and has to immediately use its reaction to move away. In my understanding, this movement provokes opportunity attacks. So: ...

dnd-5e spells class-feature opportunity-attack bard

kviiri

2:16 PM

@Rubiksmoose Cuba Libre is about the Cuban revolution, it has the curious feature that it has four factions with dramatic playstyle differences

It also comes with flowcharts so if one doesn't have friends to play with, they can experience the joy of losing to a piece of cardboard \o/

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri oooo I love asymmetric games.

@kviiri Well protip: the best time to start a board game collection is right now! Especially right before you move.

kviiri

@Rubiksmoose Yea, I was recommended this after I enjoyed Labyrinth: War on Terror

Although WoT is heavily based on knowing the cards... to the extent that it's borderline impossible to play the game well without having a good understanding of the events there are

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri ah yes that one I've heard of. It is very similar to very highly regarded one about the Cold War IIRC right?

Twilight Struggle

kviiri

Yea, it shares some core concepts

Although is far more asymmetric

Cuba Libre doesn't use a hand of cards, instead each card has a precedence order for factions to play it and the two first eligible factions can either play or pass. A faction that played on the last card is ineligible, so if no one passes there'll be a fairly regular rhythm of two factions acting, then the other two, and so on.

goodguy5

I generally don't like asymmetry in games. Maybe if there's a betrayer, I guess

kviiri

2:29 PM

> But this game doesn't have a traitor
> "now it does, suckers!"

An interesting twist in Cuba Libre is that the action chosen by the first player on the freshly-drawn card determines what the second player can do on their turn.

David Coffron

Sanity check. Is Ghostly Gaze's ability to see through "solid objects" referring to the game term "objects" (and therefore not including walls) or just a layman's term (thus including walls). Or is this a stack question?

Sir Cinnamon

Lowercase o = english definition? IMO

RAI, definitely it can see through walls

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (260): Which side starts first after initiating a Psychic Duel? by Aiwekhoe Valencia on rpg.SE (@doppelgreener)

David Coffron

Crawford seems to think it can see through walls in this video.

Sir Cinnamon

Real question is, can you see through fog? or waterfalls?

Those are gas and liquid... well i guess not objects

David Coffron

2:37 PM

> One of the invocations is called Ghostly Gaze, which allows the warlock who has it to see through objects, see through walls... One of the pieces of feedback we got... was, "This is a really neat ability, some adventures it's going to be awesome to be able to just look right through the wall," but it didn't last long enough... We increased the amount of time that it lasts, and also made it a concentration effect so also there's a little bit of a trade off for keeping it going longer...

Sdjz

@DavidCoffron According to this question parts of wall should be objects anyway (well maybe, there are two answers there)

Sir Cinnamon

"Big objects such as castle walls often have extra resilience represented by a damage threshold." hey look at that

David Coffron

Ok. Easy answer then

Thanks guys

Sir Cinnamon

I think they were ambitious in trying to write a common description for "object" that would apply to every spell and rule

BESW

2:53 PM

@SirCinnamon I object to this ambition.

David Coffron

@BESW oh dear

kviiri

@BESW So the definition is subject to your objection?

BESW

It's a narration mechanization ambition objection.

The Oracle

0

Q: How should we handle this question which was edited and reopened in a way that OP does not agree with?

In this scenario, how do I determine whether the enemies are surprised? was originally a series of related by (arguably) separate questions linked to a common example scenario. The question was closed as too broad presumably because voters felt the question needed to be broken up. The question wa...

discussion questions

Yuuki

3:19 PM

> Danny Trejo to voice Boots in live-action Dora the Explorer

what

> Benicio del Toro to voice Swiper in live-action Dora the Explorer

what

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, messaging number in answer, pattern-matching email in answer (433): Do you waste sorcery points if you try to apply metamagic to a spell from a scroll but fail to cast it? by june on rpg.SE (@doppelgreener)

BESW

> live-action Dora the Explorer

Yuuki

> If someone told me there was a movie starring Danny Trejo, Benicio del Toro, and a young girl, I would assume it was about the two of them rescuing her from a human trafficking ring.

Rubiksmoose

huh....well that is something.

kviiri

Dora the Explorer Movie Trailer (with Ariel Winter)

3:22 PM

Oh, parody thing.

No, the actual trailer isn't out yet.

The rumors are true, I finally can tell you I am a monkey...Boots!!! Don’t miss the @DoraMovie trailer this Saturday 3/23, debuting live during the @Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards! #DoraMovie

Tweeted by officialDannyT on March 21, 2019 at 6:20 PM

kviiri

I was kinda surprised to see that become a reality

I wonder how different language regions localized Dora's bilinguality. Here she inserts bits of English into her dialogue

Yuuki

The director for this movie made the last two Muppet movies and was a writer for Flight of the Conchords and Da Ali G Show.

> A sharp satirical take on the state of expensive film adaptions of shows to cash in on nostalgia? It’s like a family friendly 21 jump street and it’s gonna be amazing

GreySage

@Yuuki That's pretty great.

Xirema

3:48 PM

rpg.stackexchange.com/q/143707/42386 → ♫♫Reason #9024 that the Writers for the 5th Edition PHB should have dedicated a specific section to adjudicating the Stealth Rules~~♪♫♫♪

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema only reason 9024?

Xirema

@Rubiksmoose They're not ordered by priority.

You think I have time to do that?

Psshaw.

Rubiksmoose

hahaha

fair.

Sir Cinnamon

@Yuuki I'm.... in awe.

Yuuki