TRPG General Chat

3:00 PM

Just because Wild Shape is an at will ability and when you take a different form you get its starting HP, so as long as your druid form still has more than 0 hit points you can keep shapeshifting to be at full health.

Someone_Evil

@JohnClifford Ehh, depends how much you can pound them in one turn. (or you are mean and use power word kill)

Xirema

@JohnClifford Some monsters can deal more than the maximum health of their wild shape forms in a given round. That will eventually overpower them.

Mage in the Barrel

would it be bad to replace one of the drow abilities with natural armor

G. Moylan

@Someone_Evil "I'm not mean, Vecna is!"

John Clifford

That's true.

Xirema

3:00 PM

Moon Druids are indeed extremely powerful at level 20 though.

NautArch

@JohnClifford You can still be killed before you can wild shape again, no?

Xirema

@MageintheBarrel Which ability would you replace?

NautArch

@MageintheBarrel YES. Any mechanic change isn't a reskin.

John Clifford

My Druid isn't savvy enough with the rules to realise she'll be able to do this anyway, but the fighter was wondering if she'd figure it out. @NautArch Also possible, yeah.

NautArch

If your DM is concerned with that, and it seems like they are, just work on reskinning if you don't like the narrative around a race.

G. Moylan

3:02 PM

@MageintheBarrel reskinning example: A barbarian, but instead of a rough man-of-the-wild type, he is a spoiled noble. His rage is because people haven't heard of him or his family name. "my father will hear about this"

goodguy5

well.... arguable about damage types, or skill types
i.e. - "gain intimidation and perception" vs "gain athletics and acrobatics"

G. Moylan

@G.Moylan "how dare you touch me, peasant!"

Mage in the Barrel

probably the drow magic but i think i'll keep that since their i line with a place that's always dark

NautArch

@goodguy5 Maybe, but I'm thinking of his DM"s reaction. Backgrounds are more fluid because custom backgrounds are described in the PHB.

Mage in the Barrel

so yeah i'll just stick with it as is

John Clifford

3:03 PM

Speaking of, anyone know if there's a way to include the Hermit background in DnDBeyond?

I had to do it manually because it's not in the list, was just wondering if it just straight-up wasn't in the system.

CTWind

Do you not own the PHB?

(on D&DB)

John Clifford

If it's a purchase, no.

Someone_Evil

@JohnClifford Its on D&DBeyond, but it is not SRD so you need to own PHB on there

John Clifford

Ahh.

That makes sense, cheers.

G. Moylan

DnDBeyond includes the core rules stuff by default but not every background is included in that

NautArch

3:05 PM

@JohnClifford did you see my note on dndbeyond access?

John Clifford

@NautArch I did not.

NautArch

@JohnClifford enjoy my dndbeyond content access

John Clifford

Sweet, thanks.

Xirema

So after a month of trying to coordinate schedules, my new D&D group finally had our first session in LMoP last night. They killed a bunch of goblins, played cards with more goblins, and then killed them. And then right before the session ended, our Artificer lit a forest fire. So pretty standard beginning of LMoP, in my opinion. 8)

John Clifford

I haven't done LMoP with my group yet but I predict chaos.

JohnP

3:13 PM

@NautArch Tease. That gives a 404 error. :p

NautArch

@JohnP timed out :) here it is for another minute

I think that's the last spot, too

Xirema

@JohnClifford They spent like 20 minutes arguing over whether they should kill the goblin they took captive, or torture and then kill him, or torture him, interrogate him, then kill him, and somehow, after all that, they ended up not killing him at all.

The Oracle

0

Q: Why has this NLN comment flag been declined?

My DM insists on rolling a single save for groups affected by AoE save spells. How does this affect my odds of successfully affecting the enemy? Why has this "no longer needed" flag been declined? 2 I think this answer cuts to the heart of the matter quite clearly. Well explained. – steven...

John Clifford

My D&D groups always contain my best friend Callum and my wife Kytt; one time I was running Lone Wolf for them and when they came across a deer with its leg caught in a trap they immediately jumped to WE BUTCHER IT FOR MEAT.

Not even a moment of consideration for whether they might be able to free it and heal it up. Just straight-up deer murder.

JohnP

@NautArch Hrm. I never had a DDB account. What am I supposed to see after creating one? I get the marketplace, mainly.

KorvinStarmast

3:18 PM

@nitsua60 Well nuts, now I have to buy one of those. Mrs Starmast will not be pleased ...

NautArch

@JohnP if you joined the campaign, you should be able to open up all of the paid-content sources (DMG/MM/etc.)

Xirema

@JohnClifford For what it's worth, they did go into the initial combat expecting they could try to talk their way out of fighting. They abandoned that course of action after the first round, when none of them got to take any actions due to being surprised.

Someone_Evil

@JohnClifford Would you rather they took that line with a goblin?

NautArch

@JohnClifford free rations! Smart players.

roll survival and see how much meat they get :)

Someone_Evil

@Xirema My players usually try to fight their way out of talking...

JohnP

3:20 PM

@NautArch I have no campaigns to join. Maybe it got bollixed when I needed to create the account?

@KorvinStarmast Two. It's only 28" wide.

Xirema

I feel bad about not giving them a genuine pacifist option, but having seen the module quite a few times, the goblins are pretty obviously uninterested in diplomacy. I only let them gamble with the guards outside the cave because they surprised the goblins and didn't immediately start fighting them. And even after that, once the PCs refused to leave, the goblins didn't really have a choice not to attack them.

NautArch

@JohnP another try

JohnP

@NautArch eets full. Story of my life. :p

NautArch

argh. hold on. let me try and remove my character from it.

JohnP

@NautArch wait!

It has me in the list, must have done something weird on my side.

NautArch

3:24 PM

waiting!

yay!

KorvinStarmast

@JohnClifford That leaves helicopters out of the equation ..

NautArch

@JohnP tkd_teacher?

realized that's probably you :D

John Clifford

Helicopters?

Was that directed at @JohnP?

KorvinStarmast

@MageintheBarrel If you want to home brew, the DMG has a section just for you. Also, the fundamental keyword characteristics for monsters and NPCs in the MM is very useful when home brewing.

Someone_Evil

@JohnClifford If your follow the arrow on the left (visible when hovering) it takes you to the message it is a reply to

(You can similarly reply using the arrow on the right of a message)

Xirema

3:28 PM

Oh. I also had one of the goblins deliberately not use their Nimble Escape feature when running away because I wanted the Opportunity Attacks to finish the fight quickly.... And then three of the four players immediately missed with their Attack Rolls. XD

John Clifford

Ohh. That was from a while ago, but yeah. XD

Generally if my players are chaining misses I'll fudge a situation that allows a reroll or just let someone hit to move things along.

NautArch

@JohnClifford Dice can be fickle. We've definitely had characters die because of awful rolls.

Yuuki

@JohnClifford If my players are chaining misses, I'd talk to them about their commitment-phobia and how maybe they should see a therapist before they hurt more people with their relationship troubles.

John Clifford

I'm polyamorous so I don't have that problem. :P

Yuuki

Also, if they're chaining misses, I'd talk to them about the importance of consent and how you should always have a safe word or phrase.

John Clifford

3:37 PM

Don't forget nonverbal safe gestures for times when speaking isn't possible!

KorvinStarmast

@JohnClifford Rocks will fall and all will die when the sickle shillelagh's. Game over. Otherwise, no problem.

John Clifford

I already did "rocks fall, everyone dies" when the players were being silly. :P

Xirema

The first encounter of LMoP always scares me a little, for a few reasons:

- The Goblins start hidden, and with a +6 to Stealth, the odds that players spot them are relatively low, even if some of the players have proficiency in Perception, meaning they'll get a free round of attacks most of the time, potentially knocking a player unconscious right away.
- Their Nimble Escape feature makes the rules a little too complicated in the early game (I never have them use Hide with it, and I only occasionally let them disengage with it)

John Clifford

Also just pointed out to them that if they pooled their money together they could buy a pony.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP This. So much this for homebrew step zero advice. Nice one, John.

@JohnClifford It never was. But it's very survivable in the right hands.

NautArch

3:40 PM

@Xirema What's hard for me is my group I play with as a player is very combat focused. We generally understand it and how to work together. The group I DM for doesn't seem to have gelled yet or work together/intelligently in combat.

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast thx.

If I'm putting together a shadow monk starting in rogue, which of the variant human races would be better?

Rubiksmoose

25

Q: Does unlimited Wild Shape make Circle of the Moon archdruids virtually unkillable?

Page 67 of the PHB states that druids gain all the hit points of whatever creature they become when using Wild Shape, and when that shape drops to 0hp, only the excess damage carries over to the druid's original form. Since archdruids (level 20) can use Wild Shape an unlimited number of times pe...

dnd-5e class-feature druid wild-shape

NautArch

@JohnP Hmmm. I'm generally a big fan of the original v.human. Feats are awesome.

Xirema

@NautArch A lot of my players have MMORPG backgrounds, which is both a blessing and a curse: they understand perfectly well how to coordinate with each other (our Tortle Monk served as a very effective tank against some of the early arrow shots), but their ideas of how to manage resources are very off base.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP great, that will make her happier, eh? :)

Rubiksmoose

3:43 PM

@Xirema how so? (as someone that has never played MMoRPGs I'm intrigued)

NautArch

@Xirema Same with my group around resource management. We generally run 1-4 combats/day so it's sometimes hard to know when to use them. I did decide to handwave ammunition tracking.

THey usually blow resources early and then complain later.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnClifford it was a reply to your observation on vibrations. Click on the little gray arrow.

NautArch

Or they don't use any at all and the combat gets very deadly.

John Clifford

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, I got that now.

Xirema

@Rubiksmoose I dunno if you're familiar with stuff like WoW, but in those games, healing spells/features are things you spam relentlessly, because a few seconds without a heal, and the tank drops from 90% to 0%, and that's just expected. In D&D, if you waste healing on a character that's still at 90%, that's a heal you might not have when a character is bleeding out at 2 failed death saves.

JohnP

3:45 PM

@KorvinStarmast Oh, and don't forget some under table flourescent lights for the underlighting.

@KorvinStarmast - Might need a custom table to house all this.

NautArch

@JohnP egad no. LEDs, man!

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP variant human. I'd take alert feat, but a lot of people swear by Mobile.

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema Ah ok. I'm very vaguely familiar, but I've spent enough time around people who play that I think this makes a lot of sense.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Depends on Mobile. If they're going Swashbuckler it's less necessary. But Mobile is great for kiting.

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch Swashbuckler is so good.

G. Moylan

3:47 PM

@Rubiksmoose as a former healer in said game, the mindsets are indeed very different

Yuuki

@NautArch I have a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, the feat is so useful. On the other hand, I feel like variant human is way too useful in charop to go with any other race.

NautArch

@Yuuki Until it's dark out. Then it gets dicey :)

Xirema

Alternatively, if you're a level 1 character, and you hear "As an Artificer, you have 2 first level spell slots at level 1, so you can use Cure Wounds twice", your thought becomes "oh, that must mean Cure Wounds is a super valuable spell, I should hold onto it and never use it", and then you have a character bleeding out and they're panicking over whether they need to use it or not.

G. Moylan

@NautArch you only roll dice at night?

NautArch

For my wizard, I'm debating about the Gnome feat.

KorvinStarmast

3:47 PM

@JohnP We are in full blown "I love this idea, NOT" response from the Missus. So I must have one! And build that table. I own a table saw, I have skillz!

NautArch

@G.Moylan pretty much :P.

Xirema

Either the players don't respect that their spells are limited resources, or they respect that fact too much.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast but do you have a skilsaw?

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast Mobile might work well with shadow step later.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Two, one battery operated

John Clifford

3:48 PM

...I think I've been fundamentally misunderstanding spellcasting in D&D for years. I was thinking that to prepare spells you had to put a specific spell in each slot and once used you couldn't use that spell again, but it seems how it actually works is that each time you use a prepared spell you use up a slot of whatever level it's cast at, but you can use any of your prepared spells as many times as you have slots for it.

NautArch

@Xirema There have been days where I used mine early, and days where I have them left over. THat's part of the game (to me.)

John Clifford

is idiot

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan Fascinating!

NautArch

@JohnClifford Nope, I think that's the way it used to be. Paging @KorvinStarmast

Xirema

@JohnClifford That was how it worked in 3.5 for non-Sorcerers.

G. Moylan

3:49 PM

Yes Vancian magic used to work like that

Someone_Evil

@Xirema This (and many more) is why the edition is so important for any question/discussion

John Clifford

Ahh, so I used to know how it worked and just hadn't updated my thinking for 5e. That makes me feel less stupid.

Xirema

@NautArch Which is fine, but I'm more referring to players not being able to make intelligent choices because they're still learning the system.

G. Moylan

once you cast the spell itself, it's gone

KorvinStarmast

@JohnClifford That's how it worked in the original game for Vancian magic ... loaded clip. I'll find you an answer that explains it. BRB

Someone_Evil

3:50 PM

@JohnClifford I believe there are questions on this site to attest that you aren't only one to have made that mistake

John Clifford

The PHB doesn't explain it massively well but I'm still ashamed of myself. :P

NautArch

@Xirema That too :) But how long should it take? We've had 10 sessions and they're still not getting it. I think part of the issue is they aren't really looking at books/characters between sessions.

Someone_Evil

@JohnClifford Ehh.. it explains it well (enough) if you aren't coming in with an idea of how it used to work

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema That was actually going to be m y next question. My impression is that MMORPGing requires the ability to learn and master systems pretty well right?

John Clifford

@Rubiksmoose Depends on the MMORPG really.

Xirema

3:53 PM

@Rubiksmoose Not really. I mean, ostensibly yes, but it depends on how you play the game. That kind of stuff is way more important at max level, when you're learning how to fight raid bosses and need to memorize attack patterns and such.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnClifford I use the image of charging a capacitor. I majored in engineering at university. But, these two answers are very good explanations. 1 and 2

John Clifford

@KorvinStarmast Appreciated, thanks.

Xirema

Most MMORPG players don't reach max level—or if they do, they don't get involved in the raiding scene. And the leveling in MMORPGs is such that you spend so much time grinding that you eventually learn your features and abilities through repetition.

KorvinStarmast

Ace Calhoun's is very thorough, and Aramis's is very concise. I love them both since the do a great job of trying to explain better than EGG did how it works.

John Clifford

@Xirema I was once in a dungeon with a level 80 Hunter on WoW who didn't know how a pet worked.

KorvinStarmast

3:55 PM

Mana pools seem to me to be a Larry Niven thing from SF that has been ported into Swords and Sorcery ....

And I think he got Mana from a Polynesian mythos/cultural reference .,....

Xirema

So raid bosses are the only time where you're having to Dark Souls your way through a fight, having to learn mechanics and integrate those mechanics with the abilities your class is capable of.

@JohnClifford Sounds like someone bought a pre-leveled account. ;)

KorvinStarmast

My capacitor model is a bit more like "construct additional pylons" in SF referential terms ...

John Clifford

@Xirema That was my thinking too.

KorvinStarmast

Mana IIRC was in "A Mote in God's EYe" but I have not read his entire catalog.

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema Ah ok. That makes sense. And I guess there's at least a decent amount of crossover in mechanical assumptions between MMORPGs that generally the kinds of habits you pick up are pretty deeply ingrained.

Xirema

3:57 PM

@Rubiksmoose Yup. For good or worse, D&D is a very different kind of RPG than WoW or its brethren.

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose Yeah, the D&D 5e resource management game is its own thing. I have two players in my brothers game who I have to keep mentoring on that ...

JohnP

4d8

Dice Service

3

5

8

3

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema @KorvinStarmast Neat! I'll have to file this away for if I ever DM for new players and see them exhibiting this kind of behavior. At least understanding where it comes from is probably a useful first step. I'll be curious to hear if you find any kind of solutions to helping them adjust.

Yuuki

@Xirema I mean, I guess. But most players not reaching max level is mostly due to burnout, in my experience.

Mark Wells

4:00 PM

@JohnClifford "Spell slot" is incredibly confusing terminology in 5e. They should have called them "spell charges" or something.

Yuuki

I don't know anyone who's stuck with an MMORPG for any amount of time that surpasses a flight of fancy and hasn't reached max level.

John Clifford

@MarkWells I'd be down with that. It gets the point across way better.

Yuuki

Whereas you can happily play multiple D&D campaigns for years without ever reaching max level.

JohnP

@NautArch - Take a peek at my char so far, see what you think.

Yuuki

@Xirema For one, attack misses are far more common in D&D.

JohnP

4:02 PM

If y'all are higher level, I can add. Right now it's at a cumulative 4.

NautArch

@JohnP dats a lot of multiclassing :)

what's your goal here?

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose let them die/fail due to going nova in the first encounter. No lesson like a lesson learned the hard way. :)

NautArch

@JohnP Oh! You'll have to ask @nitsua60 if you'd like to join the chatizen game. That was the original impetus for creating the 'campaign' - but once I did I realized I could share dndbeyond access with 12 chatizens :D

KorvinStarmast

@MarkWells Spell Knots, per the answer I linked up there by Aramis.

JohnP

@NautArch Shadow ninja optimized.

Xirema

4:06 PM

@Yuuki Oh yeah. There's an optimization puzzle that used to be a big thing in WoW (haven't played in half a decade, no idea how much it has changed) based around making sure each player has exactly a +13% to hit, which was the magic number needed to ensure you never miss against a raid boss, whose innate dodge% was 87%.

NautArch

@JohnP I actually had to drop out of the game because of scheduling (pattern?) But @KorvinStarmast is still playing (i think) if they still are :)

JohnP

Thee next 6 levels will be monk, then pick up a couple more in rogue for the assassin archetype.

Xirema

Too much +hit, and you're wasting stats. Too little, and you're missing shots.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP zip nits a note quick before he leaves the country. I don't think I can invite to that game, as a player, I think DM has to send invite. ROll 20

JohnP

@nitsua60 ^^

KorvinStarmast

4:07 PM

@NautArch Yes, we are, V2 joined us but sadly our brave Paladin Trogdor has left us. (We miss our BLudfont!)

Yuuki

@Xirema And of course that hit chance would change depending on your weapon mastery.

KorvinStarmast

Hal O Jinya and Rauj both made level 5 this last session, and we had to deal with frost giants

Yuuki

So every time you got a new weapon type for the xpac, you'd spend the next hour or so AFKing against a wooden dummy.

Xirema

@Yuuki I....... don't think I started raiding until after they got rid of that? I don't remember whether that was a thing in WotLK→ or not.

Yuuki

There were a few times that I skipped out on an side-grade for my Warrior tank because I'd have to grind up a new mastery and we still had raiding the next night.

G. Moylan

4:09 PM

@Xirema that is no longer a thing.

@G.Moylan thankfully

Yuuki

@Xirema It was still a thing in WotLK but they've since gotten rid of it.

Xirema

I mostly only played spellcasters though (Ele Shaman FTW!) so it never would have affected me either way.

Yuuki

They've also gotten rid of hit rating.

Missing an attack is honestly okay for DPS because yeah, you miss a little damage, but it was absolutely encounter-changing for tanks.

Screwed up your aggro generation something horrible.

Mark Wells

@Yuuki That, and if you got parried you were DEAD.

Xirema

@Yuuki Probably the right call. Those kinds of optimization puzzles are only interesting for people like me who love spreadsheets. XD

KorvinStarmast

4:10 PM

I joined WoW server with in a few hours of the game going live. The lag was so bad I stopped playing. Never looked back. Two years ago my son asked me if I'd join him. Took a blood elf to about level 12 and got bored with the grind. It was only fun due to playing with my son. WoW uninstalled again, over a decade later.

I have friends who are still in their original guild who still enjoy the game.

G. Moylan

Having spent a good portion of the last 3-4 years of my life playing WoW at a high level, it's not worth your time.

Yuuki

People say that the game really gets fun when you start raiding and I agree with that. But the leveling slog is a serious problem that gets worse every time they raise the level cap.

KorvinStarmast

I can't start playing Diablo III Season 17 until I get back from out of town trip. The Missus insists, and I find her reasoning sound.

Yuuki

@G.Moylan Every now and then I do miss WoW raiding. But then I remember how much grinding I'd have to do to get back into it.

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast - I suppose @nitsua60 would be the one to find out starting gold, equipment and magic appropriate for level? And final level determination for character?

G. Moylan

4:12 PM

@Yuuki I just retired from it about a month or two ago, and I don't at ALL miss the grind

KorvinStarmast

@G.Moylan If I had had a group of regular friends to play with, I think it would have been easier.

@JohnP Yes, V2 dropped in as level 4, but had had previous time in AL ToA. We started AL, not sure if we still are. Nits was an AL DM but stopped doing that when season 8 stuff came out ....

G. Moylan

@KorvinStarmast yeah if you have folks to play with its not too bad. Leveling in particular is much easier with friends.

KorvinStarmast

Lunch break, see you in a bit.

Yuuki

And these days, the level cap doesn't even do anything. At least in previous expansions, you had some token progression tied to leveling.

Mark Wells

@G.Moylan My wife and I spent much of our early relationship leveling up our druid/priest pair.

JohnP

4:14 PM

@KorvinStarmast I've never done AL, and limited 5e.

Yuuki

@G.Moylan I miss the raid encounters themselves, not the grinding.

G. Moylan

@Yuuki true. They've come up with some clever fights in the past few years

Yuuki

> Cleric
> Teammate goes into death saving throws around a wall
> Another teammate yells this out to me
> Within range of healing word but can't see them
> Moving or dashing would bring me just to the edge of a doorway and still wouldn't be able to see them
> Cast Divine Intervention to Healing Word through the wall of stabilize them
> Succeed on roll
> DM says Divine Intervention doesn't work that way

-__-

Xirema

@Yuuki Oh, you discovered that post too? XD

Yuuki

I did like this response:

> The god should have been like "healing word? You called me for healing word? OK, no, all your allies are now at max health with 50 additional temporary hit points. Holy me, if you're going to ask for a miracle, ask for a miracle. Now don't call me for at least a week."

Xirema

4:20 PM

Trying to decide if that DM is better or worse than the DM that will raise the Save DCs on NPC spells by +5 right after the Paladin unlocks their Aura of Protection at level 6.

Yuuki

Whomever wins, we lose.

NautArch

@Xirema that's awful

Yuuki

I suppose that's technically divine intervention.

JohnP

huh. That's a new one. Just earned my first lifejacket badge.

Xirema

> BuT nOw NpC sPeLlS aReN't WoRkInG aNyMoRe!!1!

Rubiksmoose

4:27 PM

@JohnP Nice! I had no idea that was even a badge. And apparently nobody on this site has gotten it.

NautArch

@Yuuki I talso really does seem like divine intervention should have worked. Just not a very interesting use of it.

@JohnP Also, if you are building for that game, I think we used a point buy. 27 points maybe?

JohnP

@Rubiksmoose I got it on IPS.

G. Moylan

@Rubiksmoose where did you find that info?

Rubiksmoose

@JohnP Oh yeah I saw, I was just noting that as an FYI.

JohnP

@NautArch Oh. I just used the rolls I had yesterday. Might have to redo that, I rolled well. :)

Rubiksmoose

4:29 PM

@G.Moylan rpg.stackexchange.com/help/badges/242/lifejacket

JohnP

@Rubiksmoose There are 37 on IPS. They have a lot of weird voting patterns.

@G.Moylan Also here shows all badges with award counts: rpg.stackexchange.com/help/badges

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan You can see all the badges here and get to that information for any of them by clicking on them.

NautArch

@JohnP Yeah, multiclass rules get trickier with point buy

JohnP

I am absolutely astounded nobody on this site has the illuminator badge.

Rubiksmoose

(easiest way to get to the badges area IMO is to click the Achievements icon (trophy) and click the badges link there in the top right of the drop down.

Yuuki

4:32 PM

@NautArch Divine Intervention is like a minor cleric-only Wish. It could have easily duplicated any number of healing spells that don't require line-of-sight instead of just removing the line-of-sight clause for Healing Word.

Rubiksmoose

@JohnP Nobody here is even that close to it.

JohnP

@Rubiksmoose - When did they retire reversal?

Yuuki

@JohnP At least a year ago. IIRC, because of perverse incentives.

NautArch

@Yuuki Whoa, I think we've actually been playing this wrong (but I like our way better). The RAW is "The DM chooses the nature of the intervention; the effect of any cleric spell or cleric domain spell would be appropriate."

Yuuki

People would downvote questions that they would then answer in order to try to get the badge.

JohnP

4:33 PM

@Yuuki Huh. Missed that announcement.

@Yuuki I wonder if they introduced lifejacket and lifeboat then, because I hadn't ever heard of those.

Yuuki

@NautArch Well, I interpreted that second clause, "the effect of any cleric spell or cleric domain spell would be appropriate", as basically a minor Wish.

Rubiksmoose

@Yuuki Same.

Yuuki

Since Wish also has the ability to duplicate the effects of any spell.

NautArch

@Yuuki You're right on that - but it's the DM that decides what spell. The player I guess just describes what they're asking for? Either way, we've played it with the player asking for a specific spell.

We shaved off a couple months of IRL campaign time by using it to Gate someone we had to find. We knew their name :)

Yuuki

Well, what I meant was that even if the DM doesn't think that Divine Intervention can remove the line-of-sight requirement for Healing Word, Divine Intervention definitely can mimic other healing spells that don't require line-of-sight.

G. Moylan

4:36 PM

@Rubiksmoose @JohnP thanks! that's a neat page

Yuuki

Like Mass Cure Wounds.

NautArch

@Yuuki Go big! Mass Heal.

Rubiksmoose

Adios to Unfriendly Badges: Ahoy, Lifejacket and Lifeboat

Jon Ericson on June 18, 2019

Analytical

Documentation badges

Tumbleweed and Reversal

Julia Silge’s analysis demonstrated that the Tumbleweed badge wasn’t serving its purpose.

Meg Risdal is our Product Manager who led us to make these changes.

Jane Willborn wrote the code.

Nick Craver made sure the Lifejacket and Lifeboat triggers don’t break the site.

Ben Voigt suggested the trigger we used first for Winter Bash hats and now for two new badges.

A bunch of people tested those triggers on our sites and prodded us to keep considering something like these new badges. We also got a bunch of feedback about Reversal and especially Tumbleweed that helped us understand how they worked in practice. We’ve got an amazing community here! …

Yuuki

Huh.

JohnP

@Rubiksmoose - Lifejacket/Lifeboat just went "live" today evidently - Relevant meta

Ryan

4:41 PM

hmm Dragons Breath seems ridiculously overpowered

Yuuki

Could've sworn Reversal has been gone for longer than ... checks notes today.

NautArch

@Ryan Depends on who it's on :)

Ryan

familiars of course

two Owl Familiars with Dragons Breath and you dont need to fight

NautArch

@Ryan THen yes, yes i tis :) Was at a table where our druid summoned a giant constrictor and the wizard gave it Dragon's Breaht.

Still concentration to do it, though.

Ryan

sure so the Wizard doesnt need to even be in the same room

still debating between continuing with this Wizard since its almost level 4 and starting a different level 1 or just changing the Wizard out immediately

Rubiksmoose

4:49 PM

@JohnP Presumably they have yet to calculate the stuff for RPG.se because I'm certain we should have at least a few.

JohnP

@Rubiksmoose Yeah, I would imagine so.

Rubiksmoose

@JohnP Oddly we now have 6 new lifeboaters but no lifejackets lol

All these lifeboats with no lifejackets seem like it should be violating some sort of regulations huh?

JohnP

@Rubiksmoose They made it into the lifeboat but gave their lifejackets to the ones that wouldn't fit?

Rubiksmoose

@JohnP We should give them an extra badge for their bravery

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP not to worry, just let nits know. Five may be our cap. Ask nits.

@NautArch @JohnP Yes we did, 27 point buy.

JohnP

4:59 PM

@Rubiksmoose Sink or Swim?

Rubiksmoose

Perfect lol

KorvinStarmast

@Ryan that's smart tactics. And familiars die easily.

Ryan

like I told my strange group on Sunday -- I don't name Familiars. I'm a Tiefling Wizard that doesn't care about them not a druid. It is merely a tool to me

Rubiksmoose

5:28 PM

This edit feels like too much to me. Am I off base here?

GcL

@Rubiksmoose Spirit of the question is the same. Too verbose for my liking, but I'd leave it.

Xirema

@Rubiksmoose It looks like a good faith effort to improve the post, but I think we have a[-n informal] policy to try to encourage the original user to improve their post when the original is low-effort. =/

JohnP

@Rubiksmoose It's a bit much, I'd have asked the OP for a clarification on what happened in the incident that caused the question

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema It certainly does seem good faith! I'm definitely not questioning the motivations here.

GcL

@Rubiksmoose Let's open up a new question in met to question the motivations. I'd really like to know where those motivations were on the night of Saturday the 8th. Something just seems too good about them. Then we'll check out their alibi.

JohnP

5:32 PM

@Rubiksmoose I just don't think there is enough information. How many goblins? How many adventurers? What happened? What level were they?

Xirema

@JohnP That too. Even with the improvement, it still lacks enough details to stay open.

GcL

@JohnP I think it's obvious that it was 5. /S

Rubiksmoose

Yeah, I'll note that nobody has voted to reopen yet. I think waiting for more details is the right course here.

Yuuki

@Rubiksmoose Just by volume alone, I'm tempted to reject.

Not that I can approve/reject edits on RPG.SE.

But if it was on Gaming.SE, I'd definitely consider it.

NautArch

5:48 PM

@Rubiksmoose That edit assumes a huge amount. I'm not comfortable with it.

Rubiksmoose

That was certainly my initial reaction as well.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL that is tdw's prose style...it took me a while to get used to it

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose I personally am never a huge fan of making big edits on a question that aren't what the querent asked. I almost always prefer to get the author to make the changes rather than do it for them. In this case, I think we need to roll back, but I don't want to start an edit war.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch in re the edit war, nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure

A roll back is in order, I'm doing it. Let the complaints on meta come ...

whoops, the moose beat me to it.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast those darn mods, amirite?

Rubiksmoose

5:54 PM

I went ahead and acted on my instincts and reasoning and reverted the edit. It is OP's job to give us details and making assumptions for them would, among other things, actually make it harder for them to come back and give edit them in potentially (if false assumptions were made or the style is incorrect) and could lead to a premature reopening.

I'll take the heat if there is any to be had :)

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose works for me. all is well, remain calm

NautArch

My head imagery is going crazy from "Destroy adventurers in the face". That's gotta be a language barrier thing.

DucksGoMooful

@NautArch I figure it's similar to stuff like "kill them to death"

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch Or a word substitution to avoid being Rude

NautArch

@Ryan Keeping the wizard?

Anyone have thoughts on the gnome racial feat fade away?

I want to like it, but I'm just not sure it's worth it.

goodguy5

6:09 PM

Well, that was exciting. My wife has some sort of eye-illness and I had to go and get her from her work and bring her home.

It was less than eyedeal

G. Moylan

@goodguy5 bangs head on desk

NautArch

@goodguy5 I see what you did there.

goodguy5

*eye see

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in body (96): Why can't mages just enchant armour to have no spell failure or have a light weight enchantment aka why mages don't wear armour? by nameless0139 on rpg.SE (@doppelgreener)

GcL

@goodguy5 Aye yai yai stop already

G. Moylan

6:14 PM

that question needs some heavy lifting

GcL

A game system would be a good start.

G. Moylan

what did smoke detector even flag in that post, I don't see anything other than maybe the youtube link

GcL

That exact thing has been done in Ars Magica.

MikeQ

@G.Moylan It triggered on "weight reduction"

CTWind

@NautArch It has a niche. If you need a half feat (have one odd score) and need a defensive option (or a way to gain advantage via invisibility) it's not a bad choice. I could see a rogue taking it if in a pinch.

G. Moylan

6:16 PM

@MikeQ oh weight-loss spam I guess

@MikeQ how can you tell that?

MikeQ

I have powerful divination magics

Sdjz

@G.Moylan metasmoke.erwaysoftware.com/post/182252

oops, I mean, Mike has divination magic

G. Moylan

oh neat I never payed much attention to that link

MikeQ

Sometimes it picks up some real gold nuggets in terms of spam

G. Moylan

I saw one a bit ago with some "spellcaster" that revitalises marriages

Rubiksmoose

6:20 PM

@G.Moylan Yeah it seems like it is going to need some serious work from my brief readthrough. I'm not actually sure where to start (besides the system obviously)

G. Moylan

@Rubiksmoose it seems to me like OP is asking about traditional portrayals of magic-users in media, and not necessarily about a particular game system

the question being long and strangely phrased doesn't help, either

MikeQ

Looks like a new user who thinks SE behaves like a forum, where you can dump some ideas and expect it to open a discussion

G. Moylan

well that, but I'm not sure OP is even asking a game question at all

GcL

@MikeQ Yeah. Reddit or enworld is probably a better place for that question. Doesn't dndbeyond have a fourm as well?

G. Moylan

@GcL they do

dndbeyond.com/forums

limited to D&D though

GcL

6:27 PM

I do like the questions that are essentially, "why not just break game balance with magic?!" To which the answer is almost always, "Go for it. If it's fun for your table, continue doing it."

Xirema

I kind of want to put a bounty on that question I posted about the starting encounter for LMoP. Would really like someone to challenge the self-answer I posted.

My group ended up finding a fourth person, so I wasn't able to put the theory into practice.

Ryan

@NautArch debating on the Wizard and on Adventurers League in general. Thinking I'm going to stick it out with the Wizard while starting another character if I can find more tier 1 tables. Try to learn a bit more and then try to start DMing non-adventurers league

and that Fade Away feat seems good depending on your class. Like Gnome Thief, Gnome Bladelock, Gnome Bard could really use it if they find themselves in melee

but is it better than +2 stats or one of the other feats? thats im less sure about

i typically think Feats are largely overrated for casters and shouldnt even be considered until you get your primary to 20

Xirema

6:44 PM

@Ryan I could probably see someone picking up Resilient(CON) pretty early if they use a lot of buff spells.

Ryan

@Xirema could you give an example as to why?

you mean just to make sure you dont lose concentration?

Xirema

@Ryan Yup.

The amount of spell slots my paladin was consuming per combat dropped by like half once I could reliably sustain my concentration spells.

GcL

@Ryan The elemental focus one can be really good for a one trick pony caster. If all your damage are fire spells, ignoring fire resistance is quite handy.

Ryan

@Xirema but is that really better than +2 Con?

Xirema

@Ryan You mean Cha?

Ryan

6:49 PM

I don't play Paladin or know but you were talking about Constitution saves

Either one really. +2 to an ability score seems like almost always a better option. Feats are niche and can be fun for RP

GcL

For the paladin, that DR 3 heavy armor one is pretty nice.

Xirema

@Ryan Well, the resilient feat still gives +1 to the score you're gaining proficiency in, and I managed to negotiate with a lesser god to lower my dexterity from 10 to 8 to get my Constitution from 12 to 13, and then with Resilient, it went up to 14, giving me the +1 modifier improvement.

Ryan

But it could've gone to 14 and given you another point in Charisma or one of the other odd stats

Xirema

@Ryan It could have, but that extra +4 to my Concentration checks put me to +9 total (+2 from Score, +3 from Paladin aura, +4 from proficiency), and +9 is the magic number because it means regular damage hits (≤ 21 damage) don't trigger Concentration checks [that are possible for the character to fail].

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