TRPG General Chat

Joshua

12:18 AM

Came across an idea for a non-scary lich. He likes to surf the waves.

MikeQ

When you say "non-scary", do you mean it can't use frightening effects?

Mage in the Barrel

12:35 AM

Would a custom feat that allows the user to speak all languages be op?

Joshua

By non-scary I mean plotwise. It's not that can't use frightening effects so much that it doesn't.

MikeQ

12:47 AM

@MageintheBarrel Probably. It's the benefit of a permanent tongues effect, which is a 4th level spell

@Joshua Ok, so what's the idea for this lich?

Ben

@Joshua a lich with dreads and a goatee, that casts spells using words like "radical" and "righteous, man!"

BESW

@MageintheBarrel I don't know what system you're using, but some D&D-like games have limited-access languages that require special permissions like a particular class in order to learn; whether or not you include those languages in the feat permission would probably matter in some games more than others.

Mage in the Barrel

i see

Glazius

@KorvinStarmast @Shalvenay @ACuriousMind chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/94836/fellowship-demo-scheduling for availability for the Fellowship demo.

Ben

@MageintheBarrel mechanically I don't think it would be. Thematically however, it probably would.

Mage in the Barrel

12:52 AM

whats thematically?

BESW

In a lot of D&D-like games, multilingual skill just don't matter enough to spend a feat slot on--especially since there's a midlevel spell which approximates it.

Its usefulness would be down to the kind of game you're playing.

Ryan

heya @BESW hows life been?

V2Blast

@MageintheBarrel for 5e, the Linguist feat already exists, and only gives you 3 languages (and +1 Int and the ability to create written ciphers)

Mage in the Barrel

how many languges are there?

nitsua60

@Xirema Wait, what? I'm not sure I follow.

Mage in the Barrel

12:56 AM

in vanilla 5e

Ben

@MageintheBarrel story-wise. Like, "The big evil demon wizard is speaking in a dark and foreign language, you can't understand him, but it sounds like he's chanting... Repeating the same phrase over and over again". If you know what he's saying then the mystery sort of disappears.

BESW

@Ryan [wave] Hey! Doing okay. Got a lot of little game systems I'm partway through developing, and I've started a semi-regular "cozy" gaming group that's making me very happy. You?

Joshua

@MikeQ: Surf's up! 24-7

Mage in the Barrel

true

Ben

He could just be memorizing his shopping list. But if he's speaking infernal, it sounds a lot more scary

Joshua

12:58 AM

It's not my idea, but it is entertaining.

nitsua60

@MageintheBarrel Off the top of my head, there are 16 in the PHB. 8 common, 8 exotic.

(I generally roll for languages.)

Mage in the Barrel

if I recall correctly the most laungauges any race can learn is 2 or 3

er not learn i mean start with

Ben

Actually I vaguely think that might have been a thing once... A witch or wizard casting a spell, reciting words in a foreign language that actually just was their shopping list. Lol

Mage in the Barrel

so I'd still be short 10

nitsua60

16

Q: Every language character optimization

I've been theory crafting how to design a linguist character who is able to read and speak every language. I managed to accomplish this with a level 20 wizard who takes Signature Spells on tongues and uses Spell Mastery for comprehend languages. Is it possible to do this at an earlier level (i.e...

^^ might be of interest

Mage in the Barrel

1:07 AM

not at level 1 sadly

linksassin

22

Q: How many languages is it possible to learn?

If I want to roleplay an interpreter, is there a max number of languages I can learn? Standard human, plan to get 18 INT.

dnd-5e optimization languages

^^ Also related.

Maximum at first level is 9 according to that post.

Joshua

On that topic, we had a discussion about learning to speak dog. Yes, it let you communicate with dogs. No, it wasn't very useful. Dog language wasn't very effective.

linksassin

@Joshua Sounds like the sort of thing that would only be useful once for the entire campaign. But would still be worth it. Imagine catching the BBEG because their neighbours dog ratted them out?

Joshua

@linksassin: What are you going to do with "Man who smells of sulpher and week-old thyme was behind the barn last night?"

And that's really pushing it for what you're going to get out of dog.

V2Blast

@nitsua60 It's a meme: knowyourmeme.com/memes/im-in-this-photo-and-i-dont-like-it

Ben

1:21 AM

@Joshua "Man who smells of sulpher and week-old thyme was behind the barn last-- SQUIRREL!"

linksassin

@Joshua Maybe not that much. But "Sulpher man brought dead smelling man into basement" could be useful.

C. Ross

2:06 AM

Wow. It's been a long time, so many new people.

Ben

Hey, I @C.Ross has arrived!

Lol, couldn't resist :P

C. Ross

Lol, Hi @Ben

Ben

How's things :)

C. Ross

Pretty good, trying to spin up a campaign in meatspace. You?

Ben

Noice. I've got many things on my plate atm... Working on a Diablo campaign for 5e with a custom Corruption System, also just recently thought of translating a few Savage Worlds mechanics into 5e. So keeping busy! Haha

C. Ross

2:13 AM

Always plenty to do. I've stuck to playing things straight lately to make best use of my little gaming time.

It would disappoint @BESW I'm sure.

BESW

Yes, I am terribly disappointed! ...what am I disappointed by?

Ben

Yeah I do get that. I may have aimed a little high with my Corruption system... the idea of it is cool, but my current understanding of everything in 5e is a bit of a downfall for me.

@BESW The fact that @C.Ross has said you are disappointed?

C. Ross

I'm not doing any cool customization. All by the book.

MikeQ

@BESW What if a D&D question was mistagged as fate and showed up in your feed, would that be sufficiently disappointing?

BESW

@C.Ross Still no Grimm drift for Fate?

But hey, if you've got games that work for your group out of the book, that's awesome!

Ben

2:17 AM

@MikeQ Ooohhh… Even by my standards, that would be bad haha

Shalvenay

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

and hey there as well @Ben

Ben

Howdy, Rowdy

Shalvenay

how're things going?

Ben

(Fun Fact, I knew a guy called Rowdy. Most mellow guy I've ever met.)

BESW

C. Ross

2:20 AM

@BESW I'm not sure what killed it for me, the difficulty of balancing Wesen and Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen, or just the last season of the show :-/

@Shalvenay Hi!

BESW

I enjoyed the last few seasons for being so insanely off-the-wall, but it was a massive shift from the early seasons.

Ben

@Shalvenay The weather doesn't know what it want's to do... it's borederline Jacket-worthy... but with the jacket it gets too hot very quickly... I'm over the moon about FF7 and BotW 2... And I'm frustrated and excited by my Homebrew Corruption System and SW/5e mechanics haha.

You?

C. Ross

@BESW I watched it through to the end but it was a hot mess. I loved the fantasy and believable police procedural mashup of the early seasons. It just got ... soapy towards the end.

Shalvenay

@Ben doing alright, mildly irked at people who are insistent that everything have a "finished look" to it

did you think about the stuff we left off with the other day btw?

BESW

@C.Ross That's fair. I liked both for what they were, but trying to make a single game that encompassed both would've been madness.

I'm currently working on... gosh, almost a half-dozen different drifts or hacks or entirely new systems, all of which feel stuck right now.

C. Ross

2:24 AM

@Ben When you realize mechanics is hard you're starting to understand. When we start out well think it's all just dice rolls and numbers, nothing to it.

@BESW Lol, glad to see some things are still the same.

Ben

@C.Ross Precisely haha

@Shalvenay No I haven't DX I've been distracted by other stuff

C. Ross

The last thing I tried to design was a card based GMless co-op roleplaying game. I was quickly out of my depth.

trogdor

@BESW jeez that's a lot

Ben

@BESW [tentative and sheepishly] is one of those the LLKoM Card Game?

trogdor

Lol

BESW

2:28 AM

@C.Ross I've got a party game about kaiju fighting, an orkless drift of Great Ork Gods inspired by season 1 Aeon Flux, an RPG about luchadore doctors fighting Death, a totally new system where your character's stats are the stories they value, and an as-yet-mostly-formless speculative fiction concept about reconstructing RPGs with your friends while trying not to kill each other.

Oh, and I still think Hounds of God is a good idea but I can't find a place for it.

Also I want to learn how to drift Gumshoe One-2-One away from horror, there's several games I want to try out of the box like Sundown and Bell Songs...

trogdor

Oh yeah

That's been on the back burner a while

BESW

@Ben Yeah. I need to do an aggressive re-write but I can't find a toehold.

Ben

@BESW when you say "toehold" I immediately pictured you struggling with some kind of elastic rope, grappling and stretching it with your hands and teeth, and desperately trying to pin it down with a foot.

BESW

Close enough.

C. Ross

@Ben LLKoM?

BESW

2:36 AM

Also @doppelgreener suggested a totally different mechanic a couple weeks ago and I'm tempted to try it.

Ben

@C.Ross Long Live the King of Monsters.

BESW

Feb 7 at 23:38, by BESW

Long Live the King of Monsters! card game: prototype 0-1 for playtesting (Google Drive PDF download; cards print double-sided)

Ben

It's a "100-word rpg" that BESW made (that I love), which we came up with the idea of turning it into a Card Game

BESW

It was never a 100-word RPG, but it came about during a spate of 100-word RPGs. This one was never going to be that small.

This is the text-and-table version, which has been neglected since I went cardy.

Ben

@BESW Edited my comment there to reflect that :P

I am a little sad that you focussed on that part though... Lol

C. Ross

2:40 AM

Well, night y'all. Hopefully I can drop by again within the next year or so :-).

Ben

@C.Ross [wave]

BESW

@C.Ross Don't be a stranger now, y'hear.

@Ben Aw. I'm very gratified that you love it.

Ben

:D

@BESW Oh?

BESW

@Ben A hand of numbered cards, which are played oppositionally instead of rolling dice. Powers allow drawing and force discarding. It adds a bit of strategy to a game that is, as of now, very random.

As the game's number-one fan, what do you think about moving from randomness toward strategy?

trogdor

I like moving towards a little more strategy personally

But I'm only the number two fan

:P

Ben

2:47 AM

Well personally I really do enjoy the simplicity of it in its current form. You can have 4 games in an hour. That said, I can see it attracting a whole other audience if there is strategy involved in it, as that involves potential optimisation etc.

@BESW Maybe I should add that to my profile haha

KorvinStarmast

@BESW that really depends on the campaign. In some, language matters. In some, not at all. seen it work both ways in different editions.

@C.Ross Welcome! Great to see that resurrection is still an effective spell. 8^D

Ben

Heyo @KorvinStarmast, you're up late!

KorvinStarmast

@C.Ross K.I.S.S. principle is underappreciated. ;)

@Ben Hi ben, I have been on weird time skeds of late. And am about to crash. much prep for a trip ... the missus has this list of things, eh?

Ben

Ahh makes sense

@BESW added that to my profile haha.

By-the-by, anyone know why the word wrap stopped working on profiles?

BESW

[amused]

Xirema

2:54 AM

@nitsua60 It's a twitter meme. =P

KorvinStarmast

arrgh, dive, dive ... crashing ... nite all

Ben

@KorvinStarmast Toodles!

nitsua60

@Xirema Gotcha--I got the notification of the ping on my phone (where I rarely check SE) and was worried that you'd gotten embroiled in some SPAM post somehow and needed mod-assistance disentangling yourself. Glad to know it's just me being middle-aged!

=D

Xirema

@nitsua60 knowyourmeme.com/memes/im-in-this-photo-and-i-dont-like-it

Ben

@nitsua60 Actually that reminds me, getting to the point in my life where I am considered "old" by the younger generation, I thought about the popular culture and the things that people came up with in my youth. We basically came up with new meanings for pre-existing words, or maybe slightly changed an existing word, etc. (for the most part). The stuff that the younger generation are coming up with today are just complete nonsense, in my mind, but thinking about it - it is original.

V2Blast

3:01 AM

@C.Ross I missed a Grimm conversation? Ooh. I moderated (and still do, I guess) the subreddit for the show. It started out interesting, but it seemed like they made a few obvious missteps over the seasons (they didn't know what to do with Juliette... even though it felt like there was an obvious way to integrate her into the show), and I never liked what they did with Adalind. And yeah, that last season or two was a mess.

Ben

"Yolo", "bae", "yeet". Nonsense, and arguably mean nothing, but props for originality. You know the greatest thing we came up with was called "Text Speak"

V2Blast

@Ben Does anything truly mean anything?

Ben

Don't start with the existentialism. I'll end up asking a grasshopper for advice.

XD

Shalvenay

@Ben lulz. I just consider it to be "telegraph abbreviations v2.0"

"have we been in 140 character land before? oh yes we sure have!"

BESW

@V2Blast Ross started working on a Fate Core drift for Grimm seven years ago.

Ben

3:03 AM

@Shalvenay That's not very Text-Speak-y :P

V2Blast

@BESW Ah. wow.

Ben

My Grandparents spoke of having to wake up for school before going to sleep. Bah! That's not impressive. I could get a whole conversation down to 76 characters, back in my day. That's impressive!

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 -- why is it that I spy a certain sheepy wandering around a certain hangar? XD

linksassin

@Ben We had l337 speak too. Or you did? I don't know. I'm in a weird point halfway between two generations. I'm too young to really be a 90's kid but feel too old for the kids of today.

@Ben "In my day you had to walk 50 miles through the snow to get to school. Uphill both ways"

Ben

@linksassin I think that was a product of Text Speak, I think I'm in the same area

linksassin

3:08 AM

@Ben part of my issue is my sisters are all much older than me and I feel more part of their generation since I get all the references.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay Mod flag. Didn't realize I hit the room, not the transcript.

Ben

@linksassin I was a 90s kid that grew up on Queen, Sky, Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys, and Blink-182 haha

linksassin

@Ben I'm talking Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls, etc... My sisters watched a lot of tv growing up.

Ben

Haha. Our family never really watched much TV. Hercules and Xena on Friday Nights, a bit of Doctor Who...

nitsua60

Three's Company, CHiPs, A-Team....

[settles into rocking chair]

Ben

3:13 AM

We did watch SeaChange… for some reason I got into it... Even though it was more on a "Neighbours" level than a kids show

nitsua60

"Let me tell you about a time you had to beat up your younger brother to get him to go change the channel, none of these newfangled ree-motes!"

Ben

(I think only @linksassin will know that last one :P)

@nitsua60 Hahaha

drifts off halfway through telling the story

linksassin

@Ben Ah seachange. Mum has the whole show on DVD.

BESW

@Ben If there's some way I could get a sense of your playtesting, an actual play or something, that might really help codify my thoughts for LLKM.

Ben

I knew David Wenham before he was cool haha

@BESW Sure! Let me know what sort of info you're after

V2Blast

3:22 AM

@linksassin I know of all of them but haven't actually watched any of them properly

BESW

@Ben What makes you excited and pleased, the beats you like; anything that's confusing or slows you down; bits you've added that aren't in the text, or taken out which are...

V2Blast

@Ben Your family had good taste ;)

Ben

In all honesty I've mainly played it with my family, who aren't overly avid "gamers", but they have been interested in this playtesting experience.

Ok, I'll have a think and let you know :)

Ben

3:37 AM

V2Blast

About to stream our D&D 5e actual-play podcast in a little under half an hour: https://www.twitch.tv/events/H0dCJSKeQXWFh70v6XuMJQ

In a universe adjacent to our own lies a world known as Runia. This world, once peaceful and idyllic, is now threatened by a monstrous being from its prehistory. A group of adventurers known as Whiskey Company have risen up to do what they can to fight this entity known only as Nagat. They have trekked far across the mortal realms in search of the shards of Barrinoth, the Titan of Justice, in hopes of returning him to his full power.

Ben

Sidenote: Lucy Lawless is a Goddess.

trogdor

@Ben 5? :P

Ben

@trogdor In spirit? Always

trogdor

Lol

Ben

3:46 AM

I'd much rather enjoy a simple movie than to pick it apart for being simple. I'd much rather have a 20 minute whinge about missing out on coffee than let it ruin my day, and I'd much rather get lost in a good story than to worry about whether or not the rules allow it :)

The Oracle

2

Q: Increased flagging activity (report)

These days I come to the site in the morning and I usually see 10, 15, even 25 flags in the mod-queue waiting to be handled. When I started (two+ years ago) it was usually more like 2 or 3 flags. I wondered aloud how much of an uptick there'd been in flagging recently, and SE staff were kind eno...

discussion moderation flagging

Ben

@TheOracle ...I may be a contributor to this.

@Rubiksmoose This reminded me of my last game, when one of the PCs couldn't do [the thing]. Being a Changeling, he transformed into "Karen".

V2Blast

4:04 AM

We're live!

Ben

@TheOracle Re:- Flagging:Mod activity. It's obviously too late now, but a suggestion was made that I should run for Mod. I stated that I'd probably not be as active as I feel I should be for the Mod role, but on the other hand, even a "background" mod might be helpful?

@V2Blast Watching! :D

V2Blast

@Ben <3

user15026

@Ben I literally ran for Arqade mod with a sort of "I will keep things tidy and handle many flags" platform. (and meant it, I handled more than double the flags of the next highest flag handling mod on the site in my tenure)

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, messaging number in answer, pattern-matching website in answer, +1 more (416): How can I balance the darkness of Dark Heresy with the humor without getting too goofy? by marian mkl on rpg.SE (@doppelgreener)

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: Do the Shadow Magic sorcerer's Strength of the Grave feature and the half-orc's Relentless Endurance trait work together?

I have a player that wants to create a character that is a Half-Orc Shadow Sorcerer; specifically they want to use the combination of the Shadow Sorcerer's Strength of the Grave feature and the Half-Orc's Relentless Endurance to be very hard to kill. If the character is reduced to 0 hp and decid...

dnd-5e class-feature sorcerer hit-points half-orc

JohnP

4:17 AM

@Ben if they are valid, sure. But lit nitsua says, flagging NAA on poor answers and flagging too quickly may or may not be helpful.

Cleanup of old stuff is always welcome though.

Ben

@Ash Ok :) I'll keep that in mind for next time

Shalvenay

hey there @JohnP

Ben

@JohnP Yeah in the past few weeks I have been flagging obsolete comments. E.g comments suggesting clarification etc, after a post has been edited and sufficiently clarified

So apparently, according to twitch, any password that does not contain at least 2 non-consecutive Unicode values for an emoji, a roman numeral, 4 digits and 16 letters from the alphabet, in both lower and upper case, in an undiscernible pattern according to the code breakers at NASA and the Pentagon, and 14 unique symbols is "poor quality".

Shalvenay

@Ben lulz

Ben

4:33 AM

@V2Blast did bigredwun answer about the Jukebox? I'm listening in the b/g and I think I might have missed him answer my question Dx

V2Blast

@Ben no, he said in chat that he'd answer in a bit

I think it's part of Roll20

Ben

Ok yeah. I saw that and I wasn't sure if he was going to answer in chat or just explain it in the broadcast. Lol

Hot RPG Questions

5

Q: My players want to use called-shots on Strahd

Possible spoilers for the D&D 5E adventure Curse of Strahd: So last week my players encountered Strahd at level 3. My intention with this is to teach the players to think before spending their valuable resources. Strahd would not have killed them right away - he was only toying with them and te...

dnd-5e published-adventures curse-of-strahd locational-damage

Ben

4:45 AM

And now I've already forgotten my password! >_<

linksassin

Do my edits to this question make sense to other people?

@Ben That always happens with complicated password policies.

Ben

@linksassin Your edits are fine, but the question itself seems, contradictory? What about this is random? The caster chooses what, where, and how many show up?

The addition of the spell description explains that

linksassin

@Ben I think they have a misconception that the spell says you get to choose a category and the DM chooses the exact creature.

Ben

Hmm ok

linksassin

@Ben Huh, they are actually correct according to this sage advice

>When you cast a spell like conjure woodland beings, does the spellcaster or the DM choose the creatures that are conjured? Some spells of this sort specify that the spellcaster chooses the creature conjured. Other spells of this sort let the spellcaster choose from among several broad options.

The design intent for options like these is that the spellcaster chooses one of them, and then the DM decides what creatures appear that fit the chosen option. A spellcaster can certainly express a preference for what creatures shows up, but it’s up to the DM to determine if they do. The DM will oft…

V2Blast

5:00 AM

yep

it's in the Sage Advice Compendium

Ben

Right... fair enough

In that case the "issue" sounds like an optimisation one.

Rather than a problem with the rule

kviiri

@V2Blast Thank you for sharing your angle! I think I see what you mean; often minority groups are so badly represented in the media that even a bad representation can gather early popularity

CTWind

5:29 AM

@linksassin My understanding is that that's mostly an antiabuse thing, in case there are any monsters that are nuts to have en masse for their CR that a PC is looking to abuse. Common example is summoning 8 pixies with conjure woodland beings and having access to 8 polymorph spells (amongst others) as a result.

Generally speaking, I've found DMs to be fine with giving you exactly what you ask for so long as you aren't intentionally being abusive.

linksassin

@CTWind That's fair enough. Hopefully answers to the question will explain that.

Ben

5:54 AM

@BESW LLKoM Thots

BESW

Thanks!

Ben

I may add more in future, we have had some ideas about "extra features" but they won't affect gameplay, so I won't include them as yet

If you have any specific questions about current features, or thoughts you had and might like to discuss/clarify, I'm open for that too. Ping me on Discord if you like!

Ben

6:33 AM

Current state: [thinks of thing to check on phone … immediately forgets why I opened phone … thinks of thing to search for on google … immediately forgets why I opened a new tab]

1 hour later: [remembers why I opened phone]

linksassin

We really need to get more australian (or similar timezone) rpgers. Site always goes quiet about this time of day, just when I'm looking for a way to spend the last hour of work.

Ben

@linksassin Yeah. I'm always trying to get my friends on for that reason

I do miss daze too, he seems to have disappeared

V2Blast

7:34 AM

@linksassin or be EST and just have a terrible sleep schedule, like me!

:P

linksassin

@V2Blast I think someone was saying the other day that timezones should be measures by activity not location. Night-owls in New York and early risers in Sydney may very well have the same active hours (don't check this example, it's probably wrong)

V2Blast

Jun 2 '16 at 0:58, by BESW

Instead of using different times based on geographic location, use different times zones based on what the time is related to. Physicists all over the world measure observations in the same time zone, but when they watch a movie it starts in the entertainment time zone.

not quite what you were thinking of

linksassin

@V2Blast Well then I will claim it as my own idea :)

Ben

So my my mother just failed to recognise the Jurassic Park theme

linksassin

7:50 AM

@Ben No crime in that.

Ben

True. To be fair it's slipped my mind a couple times when people start singing it. "dah dah daaaah daaaah daaah"

V2Blast

@Ben I'd ask how, but life... finds a way

linksassin

@Ben My wife and her sister have ruined it for me. They added lyrics and I can't even not hear them.

V2Blast

NSFW lyrics to the Jurassic Park theme: youtube.com/watch?v=428IyxSfsls

Ben

@linksassin I'm intrigued haha

linksassin

7:57 AM

@V2Blast Not exactly the lyrics they use but pretty damn close.

@Ben Pretty much the video V2 linked. More or less.

^^ This is extremely satisfying to my OCD tendencies. Makes me not want to contribute for a while. Only wish rep was also a round number.

BESW

Aug 25 '15 at 23:39, by BESW

For almost a year my silver:bronze badgers maintained a near-perfect 1:2 ratio as they grew.

Aug 25 '15 at 23:40, by BESW

Then it hit 1:20:40 with gold and I was very pleased.

linksassin

@BESW This is art.

V2Blast

My numbers, for comparison, are very unround:
30,618
5
113
185

Ben

8:12 AM

@linksassin find an old answer to accept?

@linksassin ahhh yes

I am aware of these lyrics. Lol

I do the same with the "Peter Dinklage" GoT lyrics haha

kviiri

8:31 AM

@linksassin This is beautiful

trogdor

9:06 AM

@BESW lol

kviiri

9:58 AM

I don't recall who recommended me this SSSS comic but I've been reading it now that I have some more time and I like it.

Feels nice to have a not-too-gritty post-apocalyptic scenario for a chance!

Sdjz

May 7 at 14:59, by Carcer

@Someone_Evil https://www.sssscomic.com/

I concur that it was a very good recommendation

kviiri

I'm definitely stealing stuff from that for my own games

Sdjz

10:19 AM

How far have you read?

kviiri

Some hundred pages. I started with the first thirty or so but IRL pressure kept me from digging deeper at the time

Hot RPG Questions

10:34 AM

6

Q: Does the Sharpshooter feat work on spells cast through a ranged weapon being used as a spellcasting focus?

I'm asking as a player: Does the Sharpshooter feat's 3rd clause (-5/+10) work on spells cast through a ranged weapon being used as a spellcasting focus? Specifically, does the Sharpshooter feat work with spells cast through a Warlock's Improved Pact Weapon shortbow/longbow/crossbow options?

dnd-5e spells feats warlock

Carcer

you're welcome friends

Liam Morris

11:49 AM

Hi, I was wondering if some members of the chat can help me to understand why I am getting VTCs on this question. I have three VTCs so far but not a single comment advising me on how i can improve the question. rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/149833/…

Carcer

I wouldn't worry about the VTCs, it looks like the usual "I think this question is too open-ended and should be specifically about whether or not you'd let a tabaxi make a Dexterity (Athletics) check to parkour up a chest high wall on a sunday"

Dale's answer already demonstrates that a perfectly good and concise answer to the question is possible

Sdjz

@LiamMorris Further, I'm not sure what the rep requirement is on this but if you take a look at the question on close review you can see that the review has been completed with the question still open meaning only manual votes to close may get it closed. It's also likely to get reopened even if does get closed, considering how the votes went.

Carcer

yeah, I'd expect it to reopen quickly.

Liam Morris

12:17 PM

@Carcer @Sdjz Ah right, okay. Thats comforting to know. Its just a bit disconcerting when you get a stack of VTCs on a question but with no apparent rhyme or reason for them.

KorvinStarmast

@MikeQ One of my favorite deleted answers has to do with mayonnaise and the alchemy jug: "The mayonnaise is used to make goodberry salad. A must for any adventurer's potluck" @Rubiksmoose

DucksGoMooful

12:31 PM

Might be a silly question, but what purpose is there in going to a question from 3+ years ago and making a comment asking for clarification on something in the question, for example?

Liam Morris

@DucksGoMooful There isn’t much purpose to be honest, unless that user is an active member of the site, its unlikely they will edit the old question or respond. Theres no harm in doing it, of course, but there may not be much purpose to doing so.

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast I love it lol

KorvinStarmast

12:46 PM

@DucksGoMooful I have had people leave comments on my old answers with some frequency. I sometimes respond, and sometimes I edit the question, particularly if new material was released.

@Rubiksmoose GaelL asks some of the mosts fun questions ever.

@DucksGoMooful It is part of the continual improvement process to our library of questions and answers.

Ryan

1:14 PM

@BESW glad the group is making you happy! glad you're happy in general

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast they do ask some really fun ones. And they're always a good sport too.

goodguy5

what a day so far, team

Rubiksmoose

@linksassin accepting an answer is 2 rep. ;)

@goodguy5 oh yeah? How so?

Ryan

well settled on Wizard for a new character. now trying to decide Transmutation or Evocation

goodguy5

1:30 PM

Woke up a little late (which was okay because I was pretty tired anyway)
checked on the baby, got myself dressed, went back to the baby.

Slid my hand under his shoulders and butt to pick him up.

uh oh. Why is he damp?

Look under baby to find a big poop spot that had leaked through his swaddle.

So, that was an extra 20 minutes to deal with cleaning him off, putting the requisite items in the washer, getting everyone and everything out of the house.

But at least daycare is celebrating Fathers' (Father's? Where does the apostrophe go?) Day with some snacks and juice. that'll be nice.

Rubiksmoose

Poop and no snacks? Definitely a tough start to a day.

goodguy5

I know it!

I was weirdly excited about the snacks, and then weirdly disappointed

KorvinStarmast

1:50 PM

@Rubiksmoose Sounds like the name of a mobile game ... Poop and No Snacks! (Something like farmville, but about raising infants ...)

Sir Cinnamon

Is this wizard question opinion based?

DucksGoMooful

I'm the poster of it, and thought it might be, but I figured there might be a more data-driven answer or something so I'd leave it up to you all to close it if need be :)

Sir Cinnamon

@DucksGoMooful Yeah, i'm not confident it is although I don't know if it will have a definitive answer. You never know how many spells you'll find as a wizard, let alone of your school. It'll vary from DM to DM pretty vastly

Sdjz

At the very least it seems heavily dependant on how available scrolls/spellbooks are and how much downtime you have

Carcer

and a good answer says it's heavily dependant on how available new spells otherwise are

that's not opinion-based

DucksGoMooful

2:04 PM

I just got a comment asking to change the title to match the body's question (but I tried and it's too long, even with editing), should I change the body question instead?

Carcer

maybe the best way to phrase it avoid rustling anyone's jimmies is to ask what the positives and negatives are to using your autolearns on your specialist school as opposed to a broader selection

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast Oh my goodness it totally does.

@LiamMorris perhaps my physics comment was ill-advised (but I found my physics-teaching instincts hard to resist). Anyways, I am aware of that but OP was talking directly about fall speed. However in D&D neither of these things matter. Fall speed is physics-defyingly instantaneous and damage is based purely on height.

G. Moylan

I adjusted the title as best I could

to that wizard question

Ryan

hmm seems like Tiefling Wizard from the school of transmutation but also knowing some Evocation spells would be the optimal way to go

that Tiefling feat in XGE sounds like so much fun. Reminds me of Arthur Brown

KorvinStarmast

@DucksGoMooful Thing I learned in 8th grade English, when writing themes/essays. When writing a title, first write out your essay/theme/{or in this case, question} and then choose a title It helps you, in terms of organizing your thinking, and it helps the reader understand your topic.

DucksGoMooful

2:19 PM

I actually did write out the body first, but I guess I didn't quite summarize it well enough in the title :P The edits have been good though, thanks all

KorvinStarmast

@Ryan My brother's first wizard was Transmutation. (Gnome). He loved it.

@DucksGoMooful I think @G.Moylan covered it nicely; one of the nice features of editing is that we can all, as a team, make a question or an answer better. Team Win! :) For example, our friend @mattdm helped me out this morning on the answer to the weight question. Yay.

Liam Morris

@Rubiksmoose Very true, though i too couldn’t resist throwing in a bit more information just to help clear things up for the OP.

G. Moylan

@KorvinStarmast Hooray! I'm trying to get more into good editing habits as I approach my 2k

Ben

@DucksGoMooful great username, BTW.

David Coffron

@Rubiksmoose My head canon is that, because of the nature of crystal spheres, there is a very different measure for falling. When something falls while within a crystal sphere, the subjective gravity for them becomes immense and they fall ludicrously fast and are protected from outside interaction (unless the fall is greater than 500 feet)

DucksGoMooful

2:32 PM

@Ben Thanks :)

JohnP

ugh I hurt this morning.

David Coffron

@KorvinStarmast Transmuataion is my favorite, I love the idea of a variable buff (the Transmuter's Stone). It like helps out in so many ways (give your one human ally darkvision, help your dwarf keep up with your wood elf, prof in Con is so good for casters, and resistance can be very nice for your front liner if you know what your up against )

Rubiksmoose

@DavidCoffron hah! I like it. It is hand-wavy enough where people probably wouldn't ask questions.

Well, ok, my table absolutely would and would still find a way to twist that explanation into something ridiculous.

Ben

@JohnP

Not being snarky of course haha. I hurt too, most days. One reason or another. Just one of the many glories of growing up, am I right? Haha

JohnP

@Ben Oh, mine is a much more proximate cause. I had 60 minute kickbox aerobics, followed by 45 minutes combat (stick) sparring and another 30 minutes regular sparring.

Ben

2:40 PM

That'll do it!

JohnP

@Ben And I've been older (Never grown up) for many years now. Put it this way, I was in my early teens (barely) when the first D&D box sets were rolling out.

Yuuki

@Ben Pet peeve: 3 second gifs. Still images capture the same general feeling.

KorvinStarmast

@DavidCoffron Amen to all that on the Transmuter's stone ...

JohnP

Steam, twitter, youtube, league legends... @DucksGoMooful is there a social media platform you aren't on?

:)

DucksGoMooful

you researching me sir? and yeah, I've never used instagram

JohnP

2:50 PM

@DucksGoMooful I was curious after someone commented on your name if it was a reference I missed somewhere so I googled it.

CTWind

@DavidCoffron Yeah, I rolled a dwarf transmutation wizard because while I typically highly value starting with a 16 in primary stats, medium armor proficiency sounded real good and +10ft move speed with the stone can make up for their short little legs.

goodguy5

@CTWind you're not supposed to roll dwarves, they get upset

Ben

@Yuuki I get that.

@JohnP Same feel, different generation haha. I still enjoy my fandom of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Biker Mice From Mars haha

CTWind

@goodguy5 They can get as upset as they want, but it's basic moss-prevention hygene.

goodguy5

THE MOSS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THERE (caps intentional)

Ben

3:05 PM

(something about seasonal musk)

The trick is, you've gotta lean in to the "dirt" taste

@JohnP Actually I think I was that age when Pokemon was first announced. So there's a good reference point haha

Ryan

3:38 PM

There are plenty of wizard spells that do not deal damage. If they meant overchannel to apply on a hit, they would have specifically stated that. — Benjamin Hubbard 1 min ago

What do you all think is Benjamin's interpretation correct?

3

Q: Is Overchanneling announced before or after determining if a spell hits?

School of Evocation Wizards in 5E gain Overchannel at level 14. It states: When you cast a wizard spell 1st through 5th level that deals damage, you can deal maximum damage with that spell. The first time you do so, you suffer no adverse effect. If you use the feature again it gets progres...

dnd-5e spells wizard

G. Moylan

@Ryan I think the interpretation is when you roll damage you may instead use this feature, but I can't back that up atm.

@G.Moylan although thematically it would make sense to "overchannel" when you cast the spell, putting your energy into it, BUT the way I've described isn't so different from being able to reroll 1s or 2s, like so many abilities allow you to

CTWind

I think it might be correct, because some spells do not immediately deal damage. If you decide on a later round, it's no longer 'when you cast' it.

G. Moylan

perhaps that's why they allow you t use it multiple times

since you aren't automatically getting a damage increase, it's a risk. so if it fails the first time around, they didn't want to ability to just outright be wasted

CTWind

It also applies for the duration of the spell. I believe we know that you can, for example, Overchannel Bigby's hand at casting time and all followup attacks you make for the duration benefit from the feature.

DucksGoMooful

wow I just got an Association bonus thingy

Rubiksmoose

3:58 PM

@DucksGoMooful Don't forget that now you must pay Stack Association dues.

DucksGoMooful

oh noooooo

Rubiksmoose

Address all checks to Rubiksmoose

G. Moylan

or if you'd rather do Bounties you can send them to me

Rubiksmoose