TRPG General Chat

GcL

7:01 PM

22 is irregular damage?

Hot RPG Questions

8

Q: How do I choose a villain in the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure?

In the first pages of Dragon Heist, you're told to When you run this adventure, you choose its main villain at the outset. Your choice determines the season of the year in which the story takes place, as well as the antagonists in several of the encounters in chapter 4. While multiple pla...

MikeQ

@GcL Having a +9 bonus means they auto-succeed on concentration versus anything within 21 damage, because the DC is 10. Unless they auto-fail the save if they roll a natural 1.

DucksGoMooful

@GcL 21 damage or less, and the concentration check DC will always be 10

GcL

Yeah, but why is 21 the limit for a regular damage hit?

MikeQ

@GcL Concentration save DC = half the damage (minimum 10). If the damage is 22+, then the DC is more than 10.

DucksGoMooful

7:06 PM

because half (rounded down) is <= 10

and concentration check takes the higher of 10 and half-damage

NautArch

@CTWind I could get my Wizard's Dex to 12 to help my AC a bit. Basically a +1 AC (which brings it to 11 :/ since I haven't picked up Mage Armor). But it also seems kinda bleh. Alert may be a better option to help my initiative.

@Ryan My primary is at 20 :) Rolled extremely lucky.

GcL

@MikeQ The DC of a concentration check is determining what constitutes regular hits? Seems like a peculiar way of delineating damage into a regular category.

MikeQ

Damage is irregular if its sides and angles aren't all equal, or if it occurs on varying intervals

NautArch

@JohnP I just got the lifejacket badge.

Xirema

@GcL "Regular" in this context being synecticy for "the amount of damage a typical creature does in a single hit", which even in the mid-upper CR ranges (10-15) still tends to be around 16-20 damage, which then gets repeated over 2-4 attacks to hit the 60-90DPR target for those CRs.

CTWind

7:10 PM

Alert's nice. I also do like Squat Nimbleness as a safe choice for a feat if I need a 'half-feat'. dndbeyond.com/feats/squat-nimbleness

DucksGoMooful

@Xirema do you mean "synecdoche"?

NautArch

@CTWind Oooh. I didn't even notice that one. I saw dwarf and didn't read any small race. Still not sure if that's more useful than Alert for the initiative boost or Resilient (CON) to help with keeping concentration.

CTWind

Res (Con)'s definitely been nice on my 'lock. Having ~+10 to con saves is great for never having to recast hex.

Xirema

@DucksGoMooful It's a related word, yes.

GcL

@Xirema What does "synecticy" mean?

MikeQ

7:14 PM

It could be a type of fancy cheese

DucksGoMooful

> syn·ec·do·che
/səˈnekdəkē/
noun
a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”).

ACuriousMind

Perhaps a mangling of synecdoche?

ninja'd by like 3 seconds :/

NautArch

@CTWind We use a proficiency die, but my CON is +3 right now. Would go to +4 with resilient.

Xirema

@GcL It's a different grammar form. First time I heard it was Dan Olsen using it in one of this video essays, though I don't remember which one.

goodguy5

I like the idea of a proficiency die, but I dread trying to put it into practice because I've yet to play with a table and think to myself "yea, all of these people can handle their numbers well."

GcL

7:19 PM

@Xirema What did that Dan mean when they said it?

Xirema

@GcL He was using it the same way I was, where a word or phrase was being used as a symbolic stand-in for a larger, more complicated expression. Almost like a linguistic programming variable.

MikeQ

How do proficiency dice work with half-proficiency, e.g. a bard's Jack of all Trades?

GcL

@Xirema So, "shorthand" or "stand-in" ?

CTWind

@MikeQ I would assume it's 'half rounded up' in that scenario, but that's just a guess.

Xirema

> So in—there’s a—there’s an expression in English literature where it’s called synecticy (spelling?), I believe. And it’s when you take a part of something and you use that expression to refer to the whole thing. Like ‘The Crown’ to refer to the whole kingdom. — Robert Sternberg, discussing a completely unrelated topic

GcL

7:23 PM

@Xirema What's the correct spelling of it?

Xirema

@GcL That's how I keep seeing it get spelled, so I'm presuming it's the correct spelling.

JohnP

@NautArch It's going site by site, I guess. I just picked it up on a couple different sites.

goodguy5

@MikeQ WHY YOU DELETE

GcL

@Xirema I can't find a definition of it. From that link it looks like he just messed up the word. "So in—there’s a—there’s an expression in English literature where it’s called synecticy (spelling?), I believe. And it’s when you take a part of something and you use that expression to refer to the whole thing. Like ‘The Crown’ to refer to the whole kingdom."

DucksGoMooful

googling "synecticy" gives 34 results, by the way, so I'm gonna say it's referring to synechdoche

MikeQ

7:25 PM

@goodguy5 My words of wisdom are not for all eyes to see. Sometimes they must be hidden for the greater good.

Xirema

@GcL It's used verbatim in discussions about poetry. I believe Synecticy is the correct spelling, but it has a very niche use.

JohnP

@GcL That is a synecdoche

ACuriousMind

@GcL It's synecdoche. "synecticy" is reasonably close as a phonetic spelling, so one can see why people who first encounter it in spoken conversation would spell it like that

MikeQ

@Xirema Spelling it as "synecticy" would be a very "neesh" use

goodguy5

@MikeQ Well, I saw it, so there

JohnP

7:26 PM

@ACuriousMind Wiki entry for it

ACuriousMind

@JohnP I linked that one a bit further upstream already!

Xirema

@ACuriousMind I pronounce that "Syn-Ech-Doche", is that not how it's pronounced?

JohnP

@ACuriousMind Bah. Ninja'd on my ninja.

@Xirema sineckdakee

DucksGoMooful

sin-eck-duh-kee

Xirema

@DucksGoMooful Huh. TIL.

DucksGoMooful

7:28 PM

it's weird, for sure

GcL

I don't think that fits with the meaning of an ad-hoc variable.

Xirema

So yeah, odds are pretty good that it's two spellings for the same word.

GcL

More like canonical variable.

ACuriousMind

@Xirema Well, the original Greek pronounciation is of course markedly different, but its modern English pronounciation is close to how one would naively say your "synecticy", especially when speaking quickly.

GcL

@Xirema Oh, like "epitome" and "epitohmee"

DucksGoMooful

7:30 PM

in other news, I hit 200 reputation gained today :O so that means I can't get more, right?

GcL

@DucksGoMooful Yeah. No more for you ever.

ACuriousMind

@GcL You mean epitomy? ;)

Xirema

@DucksGoMooful Not through upvotes. You can still get accepted answers (+15 past limit) or accept other people's answers (+2 past limit) or have downvotes removed (+1 past limit).

DucksGoMooful

ah, interesting. cool

Rubiksmoose

@DucksGoMooful Wooho! Congrats.

@DucksGoMooful And bounties as well.

GcL

7:32 PM

@ACuriousMind That's where someone owes your a classic example? for them it's an epit-iou

NautArch

@MikeQ We roll and round down. Round down is the general norm, no?

DucksGoMooful

Confusion will be my epitome, as I crawl a mispronounced synecdoche

> King Crimson

MikeQ

@DucksGoMooful Did you erase the past 10 seconds of chat messages?

goodguy5

The word I remember mispronouncing the most in my life was Hermione from Harry Potter. And not even in the way that makes sense.

I read through 3 books before I realized I was flipping the i and the o.

"herr moyne"

sure it's a name, and a weird one, but even still.

GcL

@goodguy5 Did anyone know how to pronounce that name before the movie came out?

DucksGoMooful

7:39 PM

Some did, surely. I think it's an actual name

goodguy5

@GcL my friend did, I think. She might have said "herr me own", but I think she said "herr my oh knee".

Xirema

@goodguy5 "Herr me own" was how I kept messing it up.

DucksGoMooful

> "Hermione was now teaching Krum to say her name properly; he kept calling her ‘Hermy-own’.
> 'Her – my – oh – nee,’ she said, slowly and clearly.
> ‘Herm – own – ninny.’

GcL

@DucksGoMooful That book was published before the 1st movie?

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 we used it in a tier 1 game, worked fine.

DucksGoMooful

7:42 PM

@GcL no clue, just wanted to quote it

goodguy5

@DucksGoMooful yea, I don't know how I messed it up. brain just reading things wrong

NautArch

@DucksGoMooful Given how much she's changing her lore, who knows?!

Xirema

@goodguy5 I think someone told me I was pronouncing it wrong before that book came out.

GcL

Goblet of fire was published in 2000. The sorcer's stone movie was already filmed by then.

Xirema

TBH, I'm pretty sure that exchange exists only because readers complained they didn't know how to pronounce her name. XD

goodguy5

7:44 PM

tier 1 doesn't intrinsically mean anything. You can have 5 veterans play a tier 1 game.

Like I said, I just always have 1-2 people who are sooooo slooooow at rolling and adding; the thought of giving them more dice is almost offensive to me.

DucksGoMooful

@Xirema funnily enough I was just trying to search for that passage and came across an article confirming that exact theory

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 We didn't get to use the higher dice, only the 1d4. As I said, it worked fine, rolling the d4 and the d20 at the same time.

Akixkisu

@DucksGoMooful one of the weird aspects of .se is that when you hit 200 rep on a given day you can gamble on receiving more rep and downvote bad posts without losing reputation overall - with the added benefit that if those bad posts are improved, you then have effectively stored reputation that you can access at a later date.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast @goodguy5 We use it exclusively. From level 1-20. Rolling that d12...oh yeah baby.

goodguy5

yes I know all of these things. I also roll my damage dice and weapon dice at the same time and I remember my modifiers.

But, like I said, some of my players are less..... efficient.

NautArch

7:49 PM

@goodguy5 We also love rolling dice :)

goodguy5

@NautArch expertise with two dice or double dice?

NautArch

@goodguy5 Two dice, of course! MOAR DICE

goodguy5

MOAR DICE

MikeQ

I'm a bit concerned about the swinginess of proficiency dice at higher levels

e.g. you have a +5 bonus, so you roll the d10 and get a 1

goodguy5

or a 10!

MikeQ

7:53 PM

Right, but the flat bonuses are kinda there to make those rolls more reliable

goodguy5

hence the optional variant

but just the thought of a level 20 (level 16?) rogue with expertise getting 2 12s on top of their roll and abilities is hilarious.

NautArch

@MikeQ Honestly, it's swingy. But that's why we liked it. Just because your proficient doesn't mean you're always that good. SOmetimes you're better. Sometimes you're worse. For us, it makes it more interesting.

goodguy5

"Give me a stealth roll"
"45"
"no, a stealth roll"
"yea, I know"

MikeQ

Hm. What if it went 1d4, 1d4+1, 1d4+2, etc?

...Nah, that's too 2E style. That way lies madness.

G. Moylan

what if the die changed with proficiency? start with d4, then d6, then d8, etc

goodguy5

7:56 PM

@G.Moylan that's the variant.

NautArch

@G.Moylan That's the DMG variant we use.

goodguy5

+2 = 1d4
+6 = 1d12

G. Moylan

oh whoosh I totally missed that

goodguy5

/whoosh

G. Moylan

too bad D&D beyond doesn't allow you to do that

afaik

MikeQ

7:58 PM

@NautArch Do NPCs use proficiency dice in your game?

Xirema

As weird as this might sound, Proficiency Dice actually skew things towards the mean.

MikeQ

@Xirema Not weird it all. It's our good ol friend, the normal distribution.

NautArch

@MikeQ They don't.

Rubiksmoose

@MikeQ They don't call it the normal distribution for nothin'.

MikeQ

Well at least, it's the triangular distribution, which is like the diet version of gaussian

Xirema

8:02 PM

I wish I could reliably remember the names for each distribution type.

goodguy5

Bernoulli Distribution
Uniform Distribution
Binomial Distribution
Normal Distribution
Poisson Distribution
Exponential Distribution

Xirema

I feel like every time I need to do research on probability distributions, I have to relearn everything.

MikeQ

@goodguy5 Some of those have inverse distributions too

goodguy5

It's simple.

Bulls Under Bears Never Pay Expenses.

Akixkisu

@Xirema lucky, I feel like I have never learned anything.

Xirema

8:05 PM

@goodguy5 Aww geez, why didn't I ever think of that?!

DucksGoMooful

Is the ordering important on the distributions?

goodguy5

btw, is normal distribution a subset of binomial distribution?

@DucksGoMooful no

DucksGoMooful

then it should be an acronym instead :P BUBPEN perhaps

goodguy5

don't tell me you've got a better mnemonic.

MikeQ

@goodguy5 I don't think so, at least not theory-wise, but you can have binomial curves that look gaussian, and can be approximated that way if the dataset is large enough

goodguy5

8:06 PM

oh geeze...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_probability_distributions

There are an upsetting number of options

Rubiksmoose

Well, go on. Mnemonic it for us. ;)

DucksGoMooful

Handy mnemonic for remembering them all is just remember that URL!

goodguy5

8:19 PM

173, by my count
Binomial distribution
Degenerate distribution
The Bernoulli distribution
The Rademacher distribution
The binomial distribution
The beta-binomial distribution
The degenerate distribution
The discrete uniform distribution
The hypergeometric distribution
The Poisson binomial distribution
Fisher's noncentral hypergeometric distribution
Wallenius' noncentral hypergeometric distribution
Poisson distribution
Skellam distribution
The beta negative binomial distribution
The Boltzmann distribution

alright. dy over.

ACuriousMind

@goodguy5 Ah, the famous "Miscellaneous distributions"

goodguy5

@ACuriousMind hush you, I copied the whole page into a notepad and just deleted everything that didn't say "distribution"

Rubiksmoose

@ACuriousMind It's discoverer, Miscell Aneous, was a brilliant, but very eclectic, person.

ACuriousMind

Wonder if he's related to Prof. Eigen...

goodguy5

eigen aneous

nope, above me

ACuriousMind

8:26 PM

eigenvalues, eigenstates...sorry, forgot this is actually the RPG chat :)

MikeQ

Wait a hot darn minute

Proficiency dice doesn't produce a triangular or normal distro

It's more like a plateau, assuming the proficiency die is smaller than a d20

Xirema

@MikeQ It produces the "will start to resemble a Normal Distribution if you keep adding dice, and can use stuff like the Central Limit Theorem to approximate values by treating it as though it were a Normal Distribution, but technically is not a Normal Distribution" Distribution.

Whatever it's called.

NautArch

This question very much seems like a duplicate. Am I missing something that shows it isn't?

DucksGoMooful

8:43 PM

Question about editing (edit wars?): If I make an edit to fix some grammar and spelling, it gets approved, and then another user makes a new edit that changes back or otherwise "un-fixes" a lot of my changes, what is the proper protocol?

ACuriousMind

@DucksGoMooful Do you think that they deliberately reversed the edit or are the time stamps close enough that they may have started to edit the original post and you submitted your edit while they were typing?

Because if it's the latter, I wouldn't think twice about just re-submitting your edit.

DucksGoMooful

From the revision history it seems like they were editing my revision, the edits are spaced 1 min apart according to the "edit approved x mins ago"

ACuriousMind

@DucksGoMooful The revision history always looks like that

Rubiksmoose

@DucksGoMooful To me it looks more like you were editing at the same time and their edit just overwrote a lot of yours.

It happens unfortunately often.

DucksGoMooful

But for example, the newer revision contains the bolded text that I put in

So wouldn't that mean it would have to be a revision of my edit?

Rubiksmoose

8:48 PM

The edits were <30 seconds apart in submission

So, I'm not sure.

DucksGoMooful

Alrighty

I guess I'll just submit some of my changes as a new edit and see what happens

Rubiksmoose

@DucksGoMooful I think that would be an agreeable option in this case.

DucksGoMooful

Thanks :) Still trying to figure out all the protocols

KorvinStarmast

@DucksGoMooful I got the life jacket badge.

DucksGoMooful

What's that?

Rubiksmoose

8:56 PM

Newly minted badge :)

CTWind

@KorvinStarmast Same!

NautArch

You get a lifejacket! You get a lifejacket!

user15026

Everyone shall be safe upon the sea!

BESW

9:27 PM

@goodguy5 Wow, that's probably bigger than the List of Things Of Rassilon.

Ben

9:38 PM

@Ash because I just got 2 lifejacket badges :P

@Rubiksmoose ahhh this makes more sense lol

user15026

@Ben you are super safe

Ben

@Ash [pulls the tag on both lifejackets at once]

user15026

NOT INSIDE THE HOUSE

Ben

[starts bobbing about like a balloon]

[muffled chuckling]

Carcer

is that a new badge or something

I just got one as well

user15026

9:48 PM

Yeah, it's new.

Carcer

ah yes, I see a tremendous number of people were awarded it two hours ago

user15026

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! …

user15026

This explains what they are :)

Ben

46 mins ago, by NautArch

You get a lifejacket! You get a lifejacket!

Carcer

I only just got here

Ben

9:53 PM

Same

Quick! Pull the tag on your life jacket!

BESW

I got... a meta lifejacket.

Carcer

that's impressive

Ben

10:10 PM

@BESW niiiice

John Clifford

Is that a lifejacket that saves itself?

Ben

Technically don't all life jackets save themself?

Wait. I get what you're saying haha

BESW

It's on a rather belligerent question from the Dark Days of meta a few years ago, so I'm not sure how to feel about that particular badger.

JohnP

@BESW realize that you provided a ray of sanity in an otherwise troubled time?

That's all I got.

BESW

That's not what the Lifejacket badger is really... about... though.

user15026

10:16 PM

@BESW greyscale jacket then?

JohnP

@BESW not completely, but that is a close approximation. I'm not sure it fills what they were trying to achieve with the retired reversal badge, but...

trogdor

What about just a really stylish jacket without any floatation properties?

Will that do it?

XD

BESW

(source)

trogdor

Perfect

You are, just the best

XD

Shalvenay

hey there @Ben, @JohnP, and @BlackSpike

Black Spike

10:28 PM

hi

V2Blast

@NautArch I've never played in AL (as is evident by my character being an aarakocra and not following PHB+1).

Ben

[wave]

Black Spike

So, we had the chase through the Candy Factory!

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike XD how did the candyland adventure go? :D

@Ben how're things going?

V2Blast

also, I assume someone in that chatizen D&D Beyond campaign has a Master Tier subscription? add me and you'll have access to anything released before GoS (I think). Yay for winning that Legendary Bundle in a raffle ;)

Black Spike

10:32 PM

Went pretty well! Thanks fro all the ideas!

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike cool! any highlights you wish to share here? :)

Black Spike

Didn't manage to squeeze everything in, but we had a fight on a conveyor belt, headed towards a Chocolate Enrober, a chase over a spiral-bladed Candy mixer,

Shalvenay

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

DucksGoMooful

Thanks :)

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike as to the fate of our "vampiric" candyman, vs. the party? XD

BESW

10:34 PM

In Which We Live And Breathe, (early access; links to DTRPG, itch.io, and free text-only version) is a cyberpunk fantasy tabletop roleplaying game by Ashton McAllan. It is modelled after Shadowrun and Blades In The Dark. It explores themes of multilayered existence, finding balance between the head and the heart, and the importance of community in resisting corporate oppression.

(And apparently it doesn't have the awful "personhood is a function of your original parts" weirdness so prevalent in modern cyberpunk games, so that's nice.)

Black Spike

and the party Scientist (on the verge of collapse, after several drug-fueled nights of research), charged through the factory on a hijacked forklift truck, smashing into machinery and scattering Workers

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike LOL

Black Spike

The highlight was actually after the factory ... it all built up ... they defeated the"vampire", all jumped on the forklift (including the vamp's prone body), and smashed out of the factory, dripping in candy-canes, blobs of sugar, syrup in places best not mentioned ... and off into the City!

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike LOL

Black Spike

Scientist had jury-rigged the forklift for extra speed

and they head home ... via the Red Light District ...

Ben

10:39 PM

Well that does sound like reason to celebrate

Black Spike

As it is Xmas, there was a parade. Sexy Santa, Sexy Elves, Sexy-you-name-it ...

Ben

@BlackSpike Sexy Christmas trees

Black Spike

:D

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike LOL

at least Santa didn't have to put up with my elves ;)

Black Spike

So, how does a forklift full of Players negotiate a Xmas Parade through Sexy-town? hint: they have psychic powers

Shalvenay

10:42 PM

because boy, they sure wouldn't put up with Santa and his foolish elf-slaving antics!

Ben

@BlackSpike I would have just leaned on the horn

Shalvenay

@Ben btw, want to get on Discord? :)

Ben

Unfortunately going to be pretty busy today. Only got a half day today

Black Spike

They prop "vamp" on the front of the truck, in "jesus" pose, and hit the crowd with "We are part of the Parade" psychic attacks. It is now a "thing" that "industrial machinery" is a known kink.

Shalvenay

@Ben ah

@BlackSpike oh gosh, to go with the boots and the music?

Black Spike

10:44 PM

Sexy forklift truck! Oh yeah /duffman

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike but yeah -- I can only imagine the scene if your Santa went after one of my elves....he'd turn up dead in his own bed or something like that, I reckon

Black Spike

heh

My sexy-santa was a bald, over-weight ex-part-time-porn-star, full-time b'stard, trying to eek out enough cash to feed his addictions ... :D

(Dirty, Used and Broken! Like everything in my Manhattan 2082)

Shalvenay

oh gosh

Mage in the Barrel

I know this is kinda a dumb question but do light sources give away your location?

Like if I’m in a dark room and trying to sneak would holding a torch give me away?

Black Spike

@MageintheBarrel kinda? What sort of light source?

Mage in the Barrel

10:50 PM

Or using some sort of magical light spell

Logically speaking it would but in RAW does it?

Black Spike

I'm gonna go with YES. Either a flashlight or a burning brand would say to everyone present: "Here I am!"

Mage in the Barrel

We all know raw isn’t very logical

Black Spike

Light spell maybe not ... lights the whole area, maybe the source is not evident ... but you can be seen, on account of the place being well-lit!

Mage in the Barrel

How big is a light spell typically

Black Spike

(Aside: you are in a Dark Room! Anyone know John Robertson's Live Computer Game Show?)

Mage in the Barrel

10:52 PM

Someone can sneak in broad daylight can’t they

Black Spike

If you have cover

Mage in the Barrel

But in a dark room carrying a light source would give you away

Just curious if it’s like that in RAW

Black Spike

I'd think so. If any of my players tried it, i'd look at them askance, and say "-really-?"

Don't know RAW (presume D&D5)

Ben

It'd like if someone cast darkness on themselves and used that to sneak about during the day. It'd give you away, due to the contrast

Black Spike

We did have (sortof) similar situation a while back. Trying to sneak over a river, in a boat. Cast a "Fog Cloud" to obscure our presence. River was over 150' wide. Fog Cloud was 10' diameter.

Ben

10:57 PM

MikeQ

@Ben The person may be hidden, but the light is not.

Unless it's sneaky light.

Black Spike

They couldn't see out boat ... bit they could see a small cloud of fog slowly crossing the river!

Sneaky light?

Ben

> Sneaky Light: Wondrous Item This torch has experienced much in the way of stealth and sneakiness in its lifetime. This light has +4 to stealth

V2Blast

Q: Does using a light in darkness make a sneaking Rogue obvious to monsters?

Playing D&D 5E we ran into a problem concerning our Rogue. With normal vision he seemed useless in scouting caves ahead. Trying to fix this by using Lamps and candles strikes me as problematic as this must influence his stealth checks (in a negative) or the Monsters perception (in a positive way)...

dnd-5e stealth vision-and-light

20

Q: How far away can you see light?

Darkness is dark. Torches and the Light spell provide bright light for 20 feet, and then dim light for another 20 feet. A dwarf (with 60 foot Darkvision) standing next to a lit torch could see for 20 feet as if in bright light, 20 feet beyond that as if in dim light, and then, due to Darkvision...

dnd-5e vision-and-light

Black Spike

(another aside: the Genetically-Engineered Super-Soldier grabbed a HUGE block of candy on the way out ... and is sculpting it into a Xmas present for the local Voodoo cult that they "own")

MikeQ

10:59 PM

> Guard 1: "Should we do anything about that incoming fog cloud?"
Guard 2: "We've been ordered to keep out burglars. They didn't tell us anything about clouds."
Guard 1: "Okay mister fog cloud, you are free to pass. Enjoy your stay."
Guard 2: "And if you see anything suspicious, make sure to report it."

Black Spike

@MikeQ heh! Pratchett: Didint you stop the witch? She said she was a simple apple-seller. And you believed her? Well yes. You dont' argue with Witches!

(the players know that I'm not-at-all-a-pretend-pretentious-artist, so Mrs Super-Soldier has a side-line in Sculpture, and leverages it via Rule-of-Cool :D )

Ryan

@KorvinStarmast decided to drop Wizard for Warlock. My background, race, and story still work that way. I know I enjoy Warlock in AL too.

MikeQ

@BlackSpike What system was this candy factory adventure?

Black Spike

Fates Worse Than Death, by Vajra Enterprise. It's cyber/gutterpunk

Really fun setting. Clunky system :)

Manhattan 2080 is run by Street-gangs.
Most people stay home and watch the corporate-funded VR.
Central park got nuked and is now home to Mutant Monsters
no guns! parts of the constitution have been "temporarily suspended"

My players are a faction of the "Bleeder" gang (Special power: taste someone's blood: have psychic power over them!)

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike well, at least that's consistent with Manhattan 2019 for the most part (given NYC's insane laws re: both guns and knives)

I'd be willing to admit to no guns in Manhattan 2080 :P but what about Burlington, VT 2080?

Black Spike

11:12 PM

No idea on that, @Shalvenay. In FWTD, there are big Scanner on the Bridges. national Guard look very dimly on people trying to sneak guns/gun-parts ...

Luckily may players are cool with some campaign-conceits. "You don't leave the island" being one.
They've built a small arsenal of maybe 10 pistols, 5 small assault rifles. but daren't use them in public for fear of the Black Helicopters ...

A NPC mini-gang (actually undertakers) got there hands on a mini-gun, and a few SMGs, went wild with them (hearse with minigun!), so I showed the players the Black 'Copters.

So we've got rules for slings, and catapults (Bart Simpson, not castle-siege!), crossbows and tomahawks.

Shalvenay

@BlackSpike I take it the gravity knife law got tossed sometime between now and 2080, at least?

Black Spike

The who now?
Oh, like a switch-blade, with no spring?

MikeQ

"Gravity knife" sounds like some futuristic guillotine

Hot RPG Questions

12

Q: Does the monk's Step of the Wind feature activate the benefit of the Mobile feat?

The Mobile feat (PHB, p. 168) says: When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn't cost you extra movement on that turn The monk's Step of the Wind feature says: You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn... Due to the wording...

dnd-5e feats movement monk actions

Black Spike

the cops are reduced to "just another gang", underfunded, over-worked, Dirty, Used and Broken, so they don't really care about what kinda Blade you're carrying ...

Shalvenay

11:25 PM

@BlackSpike well, a bit more than that...people get busted under it for walking around NYC with run-of-the-mill utility pocketknives on them

the original "gravity knives" were indeed like spring-less switchblades, issued to paratroopers so they could cut themselves free from snarls of paracord one-handed-ly

Black Spike

ugh. You can carry m16s, but not camping knives?

Shalvenay

it's a NYC peculiarity, really

although knife carry laws are actually mildly messed up in many places in the USA

Black Spike

I got "busted" for a camping knife once. here in UK

literally at a camp-site

Shalvenay

here, have a US federal district judge on the NYC gravity knife law's issues: courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.433708/…

Black Spike

(ok, maybe there might have been some possibly-illicit smokable substances in the vicinity)
But they made me turn out my pockets, and the two things they picked up on were the pocket-knife that literally said "Camper" along the side, and the pack of pills (luckily the female cop recognised them as my gf's contraceptives)

Shalvenay

11:31 PM

and also a few, generally conservative, lawprofs on the issues with local and state knife laws in the US in light of the current state of Second Amendment law over here: repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/…

Ben

@BlackSpike small white pills... dangerous weaponry... yup. you're definitely a criminal

Black Spike

"Me and my gf are living out of a tent for the weekend "
"yeah, but what's with the BLADE and the PILLS?!?!"
"I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave some moments ago"

Ben

Gotta love how the English can be incredibly condescending without actually being rude haha

Black Spike

:D

MikeQ

@Ben [Great British Baking Show marathon intensifies]

Black Spike

11:39 PM

Our parliament has rules over what words can be used. You are not allowed to call someone a "liar". "Economical with the truth", "varying the facts to to fit the situation" ...

Carcer

@BlackSpike yeah, it's part of why the sessions are so daft

Black Spike

true

Ben

@MikeQ XD

Carcer

directly insulting someone is not allowed so you just have to waffle around it to say the same thing

Black Spike

Also, the parliamentary benches are still two-sword-lengths apart.

we do have a thing about being polite. Not in the same way as Canada, but ... if someone bumps into you, you apologise ...

V2Blast

11:42 PM

interesting

Black Spike

the codified rituals of the corridors of power are a thing to behold! Watch Parliament TV , its fascintaing

Shalvenay

hey again @JohnP, how're things going?

Ben

@BlackSpike our government has assumed the similar tactics after assimilating a group of hosts, naming their crash site after the plane they came in on, and assumed a position of power based on the practices of what they assumed as "government".

Nov 28 '18 at 3:21, by Ben

@KorvinStarmast It was named after the plane that crashed there, carrying a strain of intelligent fungus called "politicia"

JohnP

@Shalvenay not bad. Wishing I had a witness, just mock rolled a char at 18 18 17 14 14 9

Shalvenay

@JohnP nice!

Black Spike

11:45 PM

Xo

Shalvenay

@JohnP were you able to get to the transcript I linked a while ago, btw?

JohnP

But I think the group uses 27 pt buy (if I get in). Still, that would make a heck of a monk.

Black Spike

That'd make a heck of a anything!

JohnP

@BlackSpike 4d6 reroll all 1's can be very forgiving.

Black Spike

I did watch a player roll 18,18,16,16,15,12 once. 4d6 drop lowest

JohnP

11:48 PM

@BlackSpike nice.

Black Spike

We tend to use point-buy these days. no room for random highs'n'lows

JohnP

@Shalvenay yeah, read it once. Still need to reread all of them

Black Spike

Although I did have a really good game (Deadlands) where I had the lowest of the low stats. My only feasible ability was Animal Handling (horse-whisperer kinda thing) ... and we met ... considering this was Wild West ... NO HORSES!

Ben

@BlackSpike [roll for horses]

Black Spike

@Ben Nat 1

(we were POW in an Internment camp)

Ben

11:53 PM

Aug 10 '17 at 14:11, by Ben

GM: [rolls d0]

Shalvenay

@JohnP ah :) no worries

Black Spike

The GM gave me the option to re-roll. I'm glad I didn't
1) It was really fun to play. A change from "uber-hero"
2) "Carl" has gone down in local history. Despite his many and obvious failings, he was part of the successful break-out from Camp Omega.

Ben

Why is "roll for horses" pinging something in my brain..?

BESW

@Ben Cowboy version of Roll For Shoes?

Black Spike

Oh, where's that from?

Ben

11:58 PM

@BESW I feel like that's it haha

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