TRPG General Chat

user15026

12:15 AM

Yeah, I know that feel - now that I don't drink, though, the whole "If I walk like Iam drunk and slur my words please take me to the hospital because my brain is imploding" line is a lot clearer...

trogdor

I've just never been interested in it

BESW

@Ash Oh hey I never thought of it like that.

trogdor

And I have tasted some alcoholic drinks that were supposed to be special but because I don't drink all I taste is the burning alcohol

And when I tell people that they get confused because they got used to it because,... They actually drink

I don't actually understand why so may people drink when it seems like there are so many downsides to it

user15026

@BESW Sheldon pointed that out the other day and I was like hey that's an unintended side benefit...

trogdor

@Ash and yeah that seems like a pretty good bonus

user15026

12:20 AM

@trogdor I used to drink quite a lot and yeah, you get used to the taste of it. I mostly stopped drinking because I knew I couldn't be trusted, and now I don't for faith reasons, so it works out

BESW

user15026

@trogdor yeah, makes it easier lol although I honestly hope I can go a good long while without someone opening up my head again

2

trogdor

@Ash I don't even want to meet drunk me anyway, another good reason I don't drink

user15026

@BESW eeergh yes. I notice so much now how people just have all these weird focuses on when one should drink and how its so built into so many social things

BESW

Seriously though there's a lot of reasons. Part of it is cultural inertia from the days when mild alcoholic beverages were one of the only ways to know your hydration wasn't gonna kill ya without using a fire to boil the stuff.

trogdor

12:22 AM

@Ash I hope I don't ever need that X(

user15026

@trogdor I know eventually I likely will (becsuse the shunt will eventually break down, it's mechanical bits and plastic) and I mean as far as brain surgery goes it's relatively mild

trogdor

That's extremely scary to hear

BESW

Part of it is that thing where we think it's necessary for sociability.

user15026

@BESW that is the thing that weirds me out the most

BESW

Part of it is that we're really bad at psychology and therapy so we've found even worse ways to cope with stuff.

trogdor

12:24 AM

@BESW I've never found anyone more pleasant when they have been drinking honestly

BESW

@Ash Oh gosh I once met someone who said that they drank and did drugs in order to "learn who they really are" because their inhibitions got in the way of their true self.

I was like "...I've worked very hard on my inhibitions, they're part of who I am."

trogdor

@Ash mild brain surgery still doesn't sound that fun

@BESW yes exactly, those are what I use not to say or do stupid things

Or at least not as often as I otherwise would

And I mean, on top of the promise of whatever effects it has on you however temporary, the taste is just ridiculously horrible

At least in my opinion

user15026

@BESW saaaame

trogdor

It doesn't help too much to know you can get used to it eventually

user15026

@trogdor its not great but hey its been 4 years since my last one

user15026

12:30 AM

@trogdor sure can...

trogdor

I Know that not only because I have heard it but because my own family who knows I don't drink get really confused when I tell them "I can taste the alcohol and nothing else in this"

I've tried Sake and some honey,... Thing? I am not sure other than that it had both honey and alcohol in it. And an extremely expensive fancy wine

user15026

I stopped tasting alcohol in things loooong ago. :/

trogdor

And among other things I felt bad for wasting that stuff on me XD

BESW

@trogdor Mead, probably?

user15026

Probably mead of some kind yeah

trogdor

12:34 AM

@BESW no because it was supposed to be some new thing

Mead has been around a while

BESW

[squint] Tech-bro mead.

trogdor

Err maybe a new kind I guess?

That could also make sense

@BESW look I don't know man

It was a while ago

Whoever bought it didn't just call it Mead

BESW

Silicon Valley has proudly re-invented vending machines, mass transit, and landlords; they might as well re-invent alcohol too.

trogdor

I don't remember what it was they called it but it wasn't that simple a name

People seemed to like it and I figured I could try a taste because I like honey

But I couldn't taste anything but alcohol pretty much

And sometimes I taste a little of something just to be polite and then feel bad because I don't want the rest of it XD

I don't mind people drinking by itself but the "social" aspect is extremely annoying as a teetotaler

Especially when people assume it's going to taste the same to me

I realize that they are not assuming that on purpose but it still gets to me

Because suddenly I'm the one explaining myself over a principal they already know I hold and how that effects what a drink they want me to try tastes like

:/

Because my taste buds are directly clashing with their rationalization

user15026

12:52 AM

Oh yeah, the "no really just tryyyyy this it won't doooo that" has got to get frustrating

trogdor

Yeah

Thankfully it's not a common occurrence

user15026

1:14 AM

That's good!

trogdor

Indeed

V2Blast

2:15 AM

@BESW they reinvented reinvention too; it's called "disruption" now

BESW

Oh, "disruption' is just re-invented "cavalier disregard for consequences."

trogdor

Lol

Ender Look

Any idea of how much could cost a pound of magnesium in D&D 5e? And not, I don't plan to make thermite

trogdor

What would you use it for exactly?

Because D&D isn't typically a great system to use to determine that

BESW

Feb 9 '16 at 3:16, by BESW

Yeah, the D&D "economy" is balanced around usefulness for adventuring, making gold a meta-textual rating of adventuring utility rather than an actual currency.

trogdor

2:19 AM

Because no one thinks you are going to need it for anything when they make cost tables

Glazius

Refining techniques for magnesium are all mostly modern because that shit is highly reactive.

It's present in decent amounts in seawater, but like the man says, the trick isn't getting the magnesium compounds, it's letting go.

Shalvenay

@EnderLook it's probably going to be fairly nasty to get from an alchemical standpoint in that sort of 'verse, yeah

trogdor

@BESW yeah for exactly that reason

Shalvenay

so its "how much do you want to pay to convince the alchemist to run the dangerous reactions to extract/purify the stuff?"

Ender Look

@trogdor en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flameless_ration_heater It's very cold here (a CON saving throw with disadvantage per hour) and when we cut down trees to make firewood a fire they attack us...

trogdor

2:21 AM

Ouch

No one knows protection from elements or something I take it

Glazius

Yeah, I was going to say, a potion of endure elements would probably be cheaper.

trogdor

Oh yeah if they make potions of it that's perfect

I would think

V2Blast

@EnderLook have the characters studied chemistry?

Ender Look

@V2Blast Its proficent on Alchemy, does that count?

Glazius

Yeah, well, who has two thumbs and no ideas about 5E's alchemicopia? This guy.

V2Blast

2:25 AM

@Glazius "alchemicopia"?

Glazius

Well, it's not a pharmacopia.

Ender Look

@Shalvenay Well, I am alchemist, and I wasn't planning on doing a reaction, I was thinking in a transmutation (Artisan's Blessing).

Hot RPG Questions

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Q: How do I find my Spellcasting Ability for my D&D character?

I'm new to D&D and just started making my first character, she's a wood elf druid. On the skill sheet there's a section on "spellcasting ability". I've tried looking elsewhere to find out how to calculate what it'd be but can't find any way to do so. How do I find out what my spellcasting ability...

Shalvenay

@EnderLook ah. I see :)

Glazius

(ah, right, pharmacopoeia)

Ender Look

2:26 AM

@Glazius What is alchemicopia? A compound word?

Glazius

A pharmacopoeia is a "drug-making manual"; alchemicopoeia is a "potion-making manual". And I have no idea what potions exist to be made in 5E.

(though I just made up alchemicopoeia on the spot and it probably doesn't even work as a unified linguistic word)

Ender Look

As far as I know, an Alchemist kit can do acid, alchemist's fire, antitoxin,
oil, perfume, or soap (XGtE). No idea about potions.

trogdor

@Glazius I don't know for sure but if they have rules for non temperate climates I would think they would have at least one spell for it

If not more than that

Because it's D&Di fully expect them to have more than one spell if they have any

Ender Look

Protection from Energy only last an hour, with concentration. That isn't very good if you have a party of 4 PC spending days on such cold climate

trogdor

That is pretty bad yeah

I expect that one is meant for combat

Maybe the one meant for travel, as long as there is one, is for a different class or is higher level

That's honestly one of the minor reasons D&D isn't exactlyy favorite anymore

All the unnecessary complications like that

Glazius

2:38 AM

Ah, right.

You can't have endure elements because Mike Mearls wants you to suffer.

Well, Mike Mearls non-canonically wants you to suffer: sageadvice.eu/2017/10/03/…

Ender Look

Is still D&D the most popular TRPG? Or that title was already lost?

Glazius

Much like magnesium, it came into contact with streaming and caught fire.

In the good sense.

And, uh, I realize stacks tend to develop their own insular culture because time and chance happeneth to them all, but you have seen the front page, right?

trogdor

@EnderLook in terms of number if people who play it? Probably

But there are also so many new games coming out and also ones that have existed for a little while getting more popular

Ender Look

And after D&D, what is the second most popular? Pathfinder (because it's based on D&D)?

trogdor

There might just be more people playing different games than there are people who only play D&D

Ender Look

2:49 AM

Well, it's quite late, I should go to bed. Bye, and thanks for the sage advice link, now I know that D&D want they players to suffer!

trogdor

Lol

It certainly feels like that

V2Blast

@loribarett @Major_Rampage We tried to remove all spells that would trivialize challenges that are often part of fantasy stories

Tweeted by mikemearls on August 4, 2017 at 4:41 AM in reply to loribarett

Has... has he looked at some of the spells that are still in the game? Goodberry?

Glazius

"Tried" doesn't mean "succeeded".

Besides, ~~Goodberry feels like D&D~~, which is not something you can say about Endure Elements.

V2Blast

tbf I haven't played previous editions so I don't know what Endure Elements is/how it works

trogdor

@V2Blast it's basically a spell for clerics in 3.5 that gives protection from any environmental damage or effect for hours of time depending on how high level you are

If you are high enough level it would typically last at least long enough that you would be expected to be able to find shelter for the day

V2Blast

3:04 AM

how does that feel "not like D&D"?

I see

trogdor

I don't know how it would "feel not D&D"

No idea there

In my personal oppinion it's a very D&D spell Because you aren't supposed to be struggling all day to fight off the cold or heat or wind or wtv

Your supposed to be fighting orcs or kobolds or dragons or illithids or wtv is level appropriate

Because you don't have sufficient mechanics to make a good story of fighting the elements in D&D

Unless you count 4e's challenge mechanics but even that is not something you should have to do for every day of travel

And it's kinda tacked on to the system really

Glazius

Well, the target demographic thinks Goodberry is a "more D&D" spell than Endure Elements.

Because the aim of D&D5 is to give people a game that "feels like D&D again".

And they're the best judge of that?

trogdor

Well I think that's silly myself but not much I can do about it XD

V2Blast

:thinking:

trogdor

I mean, personally I felt like 4e was the best version of D&D but not everyone agrees with that

And all I can say is, everyone has their own opinion and is entitled to it

Glazius

3:15 AM

I mean, I realize it makes no sense on the face of it, but 3e and 5e were both sold on the strengths of their being able to emulate D&D.

trogdor

Yeah I agree

Glazius

And 5e did a lot of market research to that effect!

trogdor

I can't personally say how similar 3.5 is to earlier editions but 5e definitely feels to me like the new 3.5 with little bits of 4e carelessly stitched on to it for good measure

And maybe just slightly more streamlined than 3.5 in some ways

But not, in my opinion, as well streamlined as 4e was

I honestly do think 5e is a better edition than 3.5

Even if taking away certain spells like endure elements is baffling to me

But it still feels to me like a big step backwards from 4e

Even if that can be counted as a matter of taste

Hot RPG Questions

5:06 AM

1

Q: Can I cut the hair of a conjured korred with a blade made of precious material to harvest that material from the korred?

The Korred (Volo's Guide to Monsters, p. 168) is a CR 7 Fey that can be summoned by the Conjure Fey spell. The description of the Korred has this bit of text: Korreds have hair all over their bodies, but the hair that grows from their heads is magical. When cut, it transforms into whatever...

dnd-5e monsters summoning

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Q: Is there night in Alpha Complex?

I know that in principle as the GM I can run Alpha Complex any way I want. However, is there a canonical answer to whether or not Alpha Complex has a "night time?" There are plenty of quotes like "have a nice day-cycle" so there is a concept of one "day" (however long that might be). I don't r...

time paranoia

kviiri

5:55 AM

Morning

Stackstuck

Evening.

V2Blast

Late night?

Stackstuck

TIME

(is an illusion)

Stackstuck

6:15 AM

meanwhile, I'm asking a question about it here! rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/145607/…

V2Blast

6:31 AM

@Stackstuck lunchtime doubly so

BESW

6:43 AM

😂 True no? #dnd

Tweeted by GlossandGadgets on April 21, 2019 at 10:34 AM

V2Blast

speaking of which, we just had our session 0 for my first Adventures of Middle-earth campaign earlier today (Sunday)

I, uh, kinda procrastinated on reading the rulebook

but I managed to settle on an interesting character concept

BESW

This cold is one of the worse ones I’ve had in years. Loaded up on *Quil to deal with it, but ugh. …You know what? A drug induced delirium is DEFINITELY a great excuse for accidentally leaking a link to the Fate of Cthulhu KS preview page WHUPS oh no! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/186851036?ref=800483&token=b9a76046

Tweeted by fredhicks on April 22, 2019 at 1:14 AM

V2Blast

I mentioned my frustration here earlier with the lack of POC in Tolkien's writings:

Apr 11 at 5:13, by V2Blast

> this ~~race~~ culture decision is probably the hardest one for me. damn it Tolkien why couldn't you have more people of color that aren't faraway villains and such

BESW

Looks like http://RPG.net woke up to the clearance sale we’ve been running since January https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-talk-through-recommendations-for-the-evil-hat-clearance-sale-anything-unsold-will-be-pulped-in-november.844756/ Original announcement of the sale: https://www.evilhat.com/home/diamonds-in-the-rough-our-big-inventory-clearance-sale/

Tweeted by fredhicks on April 21, 2019 at 10:28 PM

@V2Blast Mood: tempted to go back through all my RPG.SE answers and put the word race in quotes.

V2Blast

lol

I ended up settling on a Rider of Rohan that was adopted after his parents were killed (backstory and all still tentative)... by the Riders of Rohan. my thoughts are that he stood up to them, and the unit leader respected him for it, basically adopting him. he grew up clearly understanding that he was different from the others and that some of them disapproved of his presence

went with the Slayer class (...basically a barbarian), planning for the Rider subclass

BESW

6:49 AM

If I ever have a group that wants me to run a LotR campaign, it'll be Realm Guard.

MikeQ

@V2Blast I haven't read Adventures of Middle Earth. Does it prevent having POC characters?

BESW

That's... kind of tangential to what V2B is talking about.

V2Blast

@MikeQ Not mechanically, just... it gives you a set of Cultures you can pick from, and they're pretty much all "standard Tolkien races". which tends to exclude POC by definition, as he wrote it as a sort of epic history for Europe (...my wording may be imprecise here, I've been drinking a bit :P )

I'm not a Middle-earth expert, so if anyone here knows more about it than I do, help is appreciated. would the Easterlings make sense as a people he's descended from?

MikeQ

@V2Blast Ah ok. It would have been interesting if the authors mentioned something about playing characters from cultures that weren't as represented in the source material

V2Blast

@MikeQ if only. this is the full list of official playable cultures I found for AiME: reddit.com/r/AiME/comments/badjsy/…

(though none of us have access to the Lonely Mountain Region Guide, which contains 2 new ones: Dwarves of the Iron Hills and Dwarves of the Grey Mountains)

basically the campaign setting is shortly after the end of The Hobbit, before the events of LOTR

BESW

6:57 AM

Personally I'm not usually interested in post-hoc rehabilitation of deeply racist material. Especially material that's already used to justify so many of the problems with the genre.

Have you pitched playing in a LotR-esque world with fewer Catholic Elves and Yellow Perils?

Ben

OK, so I got a couple of notes about about my Influence system

V2Blast

credit to BESW for sharing this in Discord:

Four principles for anti-racist worldbuilding 1. Represent class struggle 2. Represent hybridity/multiplicity 3. Give people their dignity 4. Give people a homeland

Tweeted by kazumiochin on April 21, 2019 at 7:21 PM

@G_R_I_M_D_A_R_K No worries! Hybridity is the idea that people are often composed of multiple cultures and identities at the intersections of power. Multiplicity is that everyone sits differently at different points of power in different contexts based on their hybridity.

Tweeted by kazumiochin on April 21, 2019 at 7:49 PM in reply to G_R_I_M_D_A_R_K

Ben

One was the use of the 2d10. Basically, the system is a d20 system, so the use of another dice is a bit out of place.

BESW

@kviiri I also thought this was a good nuance.

Ben

Additionally I do use "Corruption" and "Influence" a little interchangeably, which can confuse things. I like the "flavour" of using corruption, but I feel "influence" is a bit more suited to the way the system works

V2Blast

7:07 AM

@BESW agreed

kviiri

@V2Blast I think point 4 is a bit too simple, because migratory/traveler cultures really deserve their dignity and legitimacy too --- although as a general guideline I think it's ok.

BESW

@Ben That had occured to me, but you were embracing so many other more fundamental non-D&D praxes that the die size seemed trivially superficial... but I suppose it's the most visible divergence and that counts for something.

kviiri

@BESW That reply is a preply. Neat!

BESW

Ben

Yeah, the only reason I wanted to go with a different die size was to go with the "more dice" thing. But other than that, it might be more confusing to use a different dice, in a d20 system to carry out a "check"

BESW

7:11 AM

D&D has, confusingly, become a game which doesn't consider itself a dice-pool system despite relying almost exclusively on dice pools for conflict resolution.

Tautological Revelations

7:55 AM

How would you build a lawful good Blood Mage seeking life extension/immortality through blood magic(k)?

do you know any high fantasy novels with this story and/or theme?

BESW

What system/edition? What does blood mage mean narratively in your campaign?

I've done some work with blood-kinetic characters but it's all in Atomic-Robo-style Fate Core so probably not particularly helpful.

Tautological Revelations

5th edition, I suppose.

MikeQ

Does blood magic use their own blood? Or blood from other creatures?

BESW

Jan 10 '18 at 23:26, by BESW

> AAAAAH. Once per scene by squirting blood out of your eyeball you can make a mental attack with Physique targeting everyone in your zone.

V2Blast

@BESW D:

Tautological Revelations

8:02 AM

A blood mage effectively practices manipulating blood and the lifeforce around him to gain mana. I know there many variations of this in many video games, such as *Dragon Age: Origins* and *Warcraft III*

Narratively, we would have some sort of morally ambiguous character that still strives for law and order. He would a reclusive ritualist.

BESW

Well, the D&D alignment system is such that you can justify pretty much any actions as according with any alignment you choose.

MikeQ

Alignment is subjective - in the sense that everyone has their own opinions of what is which alignment - and ultimately it's gonna depend on your setting, DM judgment, and what the group considers ok

V2Blast

I know that idea is sort of what Matt Mercer's Blood Hunter is about

dunno if there's anything official that fits the theme

Tautological Revelations

That's interesting V2Blast. :)

BESW

There are homebrew blood mages on D&D Beyond, which suggests to me that there aren't much options in terms of official material.

MikeQ

8:07 AM

Some cursory googling found me at least 20 homebrew classes and subclasses called "blood mage" or something similar

Tautological Revelations

Yeah, I've done a bit of looking around myself. :)

V2Blast

Mercer's unofficial one: dndbeyond.com/classes/blood-hunter

BESW

I'm not familiar with 5e lore, but in a lot of D&D settings sorcerers have a blood-inheritance focus.

MikeQ

Narratively, if you want an mostly ethical character with morally questionable powers (blood magic, dark magic, jquery, necromancy, etc), you could try the "fight fire with fire" angle, where they study it in order to keep up with similarly-powered foes

kviiri

Immortality is a bit of a tough one --- generally in modern fantasy fiction, the pursuit of immortality as an end in itself is implicitly or explicitly a violation of the natural or spiritual order of things. To make your pursuit for immortality not seem like a selfish act of cowardice, you should have a just cause for pursuing immortality (eg. Dnd 4e arch liches)

MikeQ

8:15 AM

That seems a bit arbitrary

"It's not part of the natural order" isn't much of an argument against things, especially in a setting where magic is normalized

BESW

It's a thematic thing, not a logical thing.

Contemporary "classic" inspirations for high fantasy are interested in maintaining the status quo and authorized power structures; just revolutions in these contexts tend to be about re-organizing who's at the top of the existing hierarchies, not in demolishing the hierarchies themselves (for contrast, see the Broken Earth trilogy).

Tautological Revelations

What should I do if I've made typos in a message in chat and I can no longer edit the said message?

V2Blast

regret

but in actuality: it's fine. can't really do anything about it

MikeQ

@TautologicalRevelations you should make pancakes

BESW

8:35 AM

Both 3.x and 4e had "and then you are functionally immortal" as a high-level feature for some classes. Does 5e have that anywhere?

V2Blast

sorta, as capstones or high-level features for some classes/subclasses

assuming you mean they stop aging

MikeQ

5e's level 20 capstones can be pretty powerful, but I don't recall any involving apotheosis like in 3.x

kviiri

@MikeQ A lot of things are, in the trope-verse.

trogdor

@BESW oh yeah that was a great one

kviiri

And the "natural order of things" doesn't really mean "natural" in the "not-magic" sense

Tautological Revelations

8:46 AM

--[Let me rewrite my message and correct the typos.]--

A blood mage effectively practices manipulating blood and the lifeforce around him to gain mana. I know there are many variations of this in many video games, such as Dragon Age: Origins and Warcraft III.

Narratively, we would have some sort of morally ambiguous character that still strives for law and order. He would a reclusive ritualist.

kviiri

@BESW It also conveniently matches the idea common across world religions that good people have no reason to truly fear death.

BESW

10:03 AM

@Dr_Hailey_Who Here's one of my fey inspired tiefs🌻💖🌻💖

Tweeted by samraeduke on April 21, 2019 at 11:56 PM in reply to Dr_Hailey_Who

trogdor

11:29 AM

@BESW as in Tieflings I assume?

BESW

Aye.

trogdor

nice

I kinda like that idea

I can't believe I never saw it before or thought of it myself

Tautological Revelations

12:38 PM

Thank you to everyone who responded to me.

kviiri

No prob, if you need more input don't be afraid to ask!

doppelgreener

Is there a rule in D&D 5e forbidding druids from teaching outsiders Druidic? I seem to remember there is.

Rubiksmoose

morning!

goodguy5

Morning!

@doppelgreener I think that's only previous editions

Miniman

@doppelgreener Not in 5e - there was in 3.5e.

Rubiksmoose

12:50 PM

@doppelgreener I don't think there is. The entry for Druidic just says that it is the secret language of the druids. I can't find anything that explicitly says it cannot be taught to others

Miniman

But as it's a class feature, not a regular language, it's questionable whether it can be learned without taking a level of Druid.

Rubiksmoose

Yeah I certainly wouldn't say it was allowed by any means, but it certainly isn't disallowed explicitly.

Miniman

Er, or not. It's explicitly mentioned that you can learn it with DM permission.

Rubiksmoose

Oh really?

Miniman

> With your DM’s permission, you can instead choose a language from the Exotic Languages table or a secret language, such as thieves’ cant or the tongue of druids.

Rubiksmoose

12:52 PM

well then.

where is that?

Miniman

Languages, at the start of backgrounds chapter.

I certainly never realised that Druidic is technically just as much an option as, say, Undercommon.

Rubiksmoose

ahhhh. I always forget that they put languages there

good catch

doppelgreener

Thanks. I saw someone recommending you could just have the druid in your party teach you Druidic.

kviiri

Xanathar's got downtime rules that include teaching languages or proficiencies, although they seem to me as if they meant the instructor has to be an NPC

goodguy5

1:07 PM

I would rule that as long as the druid is also using their downtime to teach, then it's fine. A PC can't doubledip to learn something and teach it at the same time

Hot RPG Questions

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Q: If something is halfway in a bag of holding... what happens to it?

If I put something in the bag of holding and get attacked, and drop it, so it's laying half in and half out of the bag.. what happens to the item? Meaning if I'm putting a long piece of lumber inside the bag of holding, and drop it before I finish putting the lumber inside, does the lumber get ...

dnd-5e magic-items

goodguy5

@HotRPGQuestions booo

Someone_Evil

I'm guessing they didn't leave PC taught activity in the book, so players would feel compelled to spend their downtime solely improving another player..

@goodguy5 you disagree with the HNQ?

goodguy5

yes

Someone_Evil

Yeah, that one shouln't have got hot...

BESW

1:14 PM

Aug 5 '15 at 5:21, by BESW

("lost to a popped bag of holding" is a simplification to the point of absurd inaccuracy, but the actual story involves trying to explain what we were doing with an artefact that was shifted halfway between two planes, and why we were putting it into a bag that was only shifted 1/3 of the way between those planes.)

kviiri

I think HNQ feels more and more like "questions that fog a mirror when spoken aloud"

2

goodguy5

1:29 PM

yea, need to adjust the hotnessbot.

that question has under 100 views at this time. 1 comment, 1 answer, and 1 edit.

And a number of those 99 views are surely from it ataining hotness status.

nitsua60

1:45 PM

Apr 15 at 16:04, by nitsua60

Watching the HNQ feed makes me thing the "velocity" term in the hotness equation is too twitchy. When we have a question with 4 upvotes and one +2 answer hit the HNQ... that doesn't really seem right to me. What do you-all think?

vicky_molokh

@goodguy5 Of course, adjusting it down would result in reducing our stack's visibility. Whether that's a good thing may be a matter of different views of various members.

trogdor

@doppelgreener I know that is a thing in 3.5 at least, it wouldn't surprise me if it carried over

nitsua60

That's ^^ unclear to me. Because IIRC each stack is limited to 5 questions on the HNQ at any time. If the hotness equation were a little less twitchy I wonder if we wouldn't still fully populate those 5, but just do so with more exemplary Q&A.

trogdor

ah I see a lot of people already answered and apparently it's Kosher in 5e

so there goes my spitballing XD

doppelgreener

2:08 PM

@trogdor Yeah. I thought it did.

goodguy5

2:48 PM

@Rubiksmoose I'm not convinced by your answer re:BoH and fire

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 Oh yeah, how so?

I have my own doubts but I'm curious to hear yours as well

goodguy5

one, it doesn't mention burning, as DP mentions.

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 by it you mean the item description?

goodguy5

yes

Rubiksmoose

DS?

goodguy5

2:50 PM

two, a fire would quickly consume the oxygen available in a BoH

Darth pseudonym

Rubiksmoose

oh lol sorry I thought it was another item name lol

Mark Wells

Does a BoH have limited oxygen? Surely there's a rule on how long you can survive in one.

Rubiksmoose

valid points, but 1) the default rules for magic items assume all items are subject to damage. I would expect any exceptions to that to be noted in the item's descriotion yes?

Xirema

I think the general rules for Magic Items covers it sufficiently: the Bag of Holding's description is only creating additional conditions under which it can be destroyed/rendered unusable, not overriding the normal conditions.

Rubiksmoose

eg, my +1 arrow doesn't say it can be destroyed by fire, but if I throw it into mount doom you can bet I would say that it would following the magic item rules.

Mark Wells

2:53 PM

(ah, there it is, yes. It explicitly has limited air available.)

Xirema

It depends on the DM, but typically, I wouldn't rule that a small tear in a Cloak of Elvenkind would render it unusable; but it would for a Bag of Holding, because of how it is described.

goodguy5

@Xirema good point and I agree now that you say it

regardless, back to the oxygen point

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 you think I can rephrase or add something that would clarify what Xirema said? My intent was to convey that information, but it seems I may not have done that?

Xirema

A Bag of Holding is explicitly described as containing 10 Creature-Minutes of breathable air.

Rubiksmoose

I would say lighting a fire on something instantly damages it.

Xirema

2:56 PM

..... I don't know how much that is.

Rubiksmoose

so oxygen would not be a factor.

goodguy5

"and, in fact, details some of the ways it can get damaged:"

changing to "gives some additional ways to damage it"

Rubiksmoose

in determining fireproofness anyways

goodguy5

but damage does not destroy a magic item. They have hit points.

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 well the question wasn't how fire could be used to destroy it so that is a good point

I only meant to convey that it could be damaged by it.

After all, there isn't even a solid rule for how much damage a campfire would do...

goodguy5

2:57 PM

The big question is "can BoH be damaged by fire", but the little question is "can I put out a campfire with a BoH?"

and I feel like someone official is on record saying that a fire may not even deal Fire Damage.

though, it could have been crawford in a tweet....

regardless, I've awarded your updoot

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 oh that is a different way to read that. I read the question as saying they just wanted to move the fire not put it out necessarily.

@goodguy5 daw thanks!

goodguy5

to amend my own comment, as it's past the mark, *"Can I stealthily put out a campfire with a BoH"

I don't think they're trying to store the campfire, but I could be mistaken.

And regardless, it is immaterial to the question they actually ask.

Rubiksmoose

Well I added some more stuff at the end to flesh out their use case. So thanks for that.

oh and I'll make that change as you suggested.

thanks @Xirema for saying it better than I did lol

Yuuki

3:14 PM

@goodguy5 IIRC, it had something to do with Fire Damage being magical in origin or something.

goodguy5

right, but I can't recall enough about it to find it

Yuuki

Yeah, I think it just so happens that there's very little, or possibly none at all, instances of fire damage from mundane sources.

Someone_Evil

I think hitting someone with a (mundane) torch deals fire damage

Yuuki

19

Q: How much damage do torches used as improvised weapons do?

I'm trying to get to the bottom of using a torch as an improvised weapon in 5e D&D. Moving from the more to the less certain: If you make a melee attack with a burning torch and hit, it deals 1 fire damage. (PHB pg.153) The most certain thing is "1 fire damage", though the wording does not...

dnd-5e weapons

1 fire damage, it seems.

Kinda funny that, per RAW, a torch actually does more damage if you attack with it unlit.

goodguy5

BUT! it overcomes damage resistances of things

Mark Wells

3:17 PM

@Yuuki Does it not also do its bludgeoning damage?

goodguy5

and maybe you have a negative strength modifier

Mark Wells

Also, a dude waving fire in your face is scary.

Flasks of oil also do fire damage, and are presumably mundane.

dndbeyond.com/equipment/oil-flask

Yuuki

@MarkWells Specific beats general.

The rule doesn't say it does an additional 1 fire damage so the fire damage replaces the bludgeoning damage.

goodguy5

@Yuuki tbh, though, I'd give it the 1d4+str

but that's purely a houserule

Yuuki

For me, I'd stick with RAW because rule of funny.

Xirema

3:32 PM

CMV: the RAW on creatures that have resistance to non-magical damage actually stipulates that they would have resistance to the magical damage as well, save for the last damage type. So for example, "Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing From Nonmagical Attacks" actually means "Resistance to Bludgeoning (Magical or non-Magical), Piercing (Magical or non-Magical), and Slashing (non-magical only)."

Unrelated: my god (or one of them anyways...) is the Oxford Comma, and I'm feeling kind of abandoned at the moment....

Mark Wells

@Yuuki The description of the torch doesn't say the 1 fire is its weapon damage. It can just as well be read as an additional effect that triggers when you hit someone, in the same way as, say, the Dagger of Venom.

MikeQ

What if you roll up a ball of paper, light it on fire, and try to use it as a bludgeoning weapon

Is that 1 fire damage or 1d4+STR ?

goodguy5

likely neither.

wait, how big is the ball?

MikeQ

Let's say 1 scroll's worth of paper

Yuuki

How are you using it as a bludgeoning weapon?

goodguy5

3:44 PM

regardless, it's not 1 fire damage because nothing in the rules allows a lit ball of paper to deal fire damage.

However, a sufficiently large and dense ball of paper may constitute a improvised weapon.... and deal 1d4+str

Yuuki

Holding in your hands and punching someone?

MikeQ

But what if I use the burning paper as a torch?

Yuuki

@Yuuki In that case, it would be an unarmed attack and deal 1+STR bludgeoning damage.

goodguy5

@MikeQ It's an improvised torch that gives off 1d4 light

Yuuki

@goodguy5 1d4+STR light.

goodguy5

3:46 PM

my apologies, you're correct.

Yuuki

> Player: I'd like to cobble together some twigs and leaves as a makeshift glider.
> DM: Would you say that "makeshift" is an synonym for "improvised"?
> Player: ... yes?
> DM: An improvised glider will allow you to remove 1d4+STR feet from the calculation for fall damage.

goodguy5

XD

I'd remove 1d4+STR damage, but yea

MikeQ

@Yuuki When you crash, it deals 1d4+STR bludgeoning damage to the ground

Yuuki

> Absolutely no one:
> Me as DM: Being grappled by a journeyman blacksmith is technically an "in pro viced" weapon and deals 1d4+STR bludgeoning damage.

goodguy5

dawg

you can't just...

I'm going to lunch

Hot RPG Questions

4:07 PM

3

Q: Flameskull resistant to magical piercing damage?

Most creatures in D&D 5e have specifics on what attacks or weapon damage types they are resistant to. For example Damage Resistances: Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing From Nonmagical Attacks However, the description of the Flameskull entails resistance to piercing damange without the ph...

dnd-5e monsters damage-resistance

Davo

Any thoughts about communicating with a familiar (and seeing/hearing through the familiar) from within a bag of holding?

Rubiksmoose

4:35 PM

@Davo familiar has to be on the same plane right?

Someone_Evil

@Rubiksmoose Yes

Rubiksmoose

Ah yeah I see it's a question now.

Other than that I can't think of any other issues off the top of my head and I'm not sure how the plane ruling would actually come down

I suspect it's either unclear or on the same plane

Yuuki

Well what if you designate your bag of holding as carry-on luggage?

Then you're on the same plane, right?

Rubiksmoose

hahaha

But then I get to charge you more!

Someone_Evil

hmm... 'demiplanes are extradimensional spaces [...]'

Rubiksmoose

4:40 PM

yeah it's tricky...

Someone_Evil

The description of Portable hole implies its extradimentional space is another plane...

Xirema

> While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

—Find Familiar, Player's Handbook, pg. 240

It doesn't actually say that you have to be on the same plane of existence...

Someone_Evil

@Xirema If you are on a different plane you are infinitily far way

Xirema

@Someone_Evil Do we have a post adjudicating that?

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema oh, I must be thinking of a different ability then.

@Xirema only a tweet.

(though several Q&As touch on it tangentially)

Xirema

4:44 PM

@Rubiksmoose Possibly the Voice of the Chain Master Warlock Invocation?

> You can communicate telepathically with your familiar and perceive through your familiar's senses as long as you are on the same plane of existence. Additionally, while perceiving through your familiar's senses, you can also speak through your familiar in your own voice, even if your familiar is normally incapable of speech.

—Voice of the Chain Master, Player's Handbook, pg. 111

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema that's it! good call

Xirema

Okay, I went ahead and made that post. I couldn't find any duplicates, but feel free to mark it as such if we have a post clearly answering this question: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/145634/42386

Davo

Does anything say that extradimensional spaces are (or are on) other planes?

"Demiplanes are extradimensional spaces" does not mean that all extradimensional spaces are demiplanes - or does it?

Xirema

5:04 PM

@Davo My instinct is to say "yes", they are; but I can't find proof that definitively indicates as such.

(I also cannot find proof that disproves it)

Davo

Thanks. Hence the question, although I could just stick my head out of the bag. Nothing requires it to be closed to function... lol

Hot RPG Questions

5:25 PM

3

Q: Can a Wizard take Magic Initiate and select spells from the Wizard list?

Like the title says. If a Wizard takes Magic Initiate, can he select 2 cantrips and a lvl 1 spell from the Wizard list? Or does he have to take them from a different class?