TRPG General Chat

BESW

12:00 AM

@trogdor And I'm trying not to think of Ben as a fainting goat.

Ben

@BESW I'll be right back

[Changes social media profile to "fainting goat"]

trogdor

Lol

user15026

@Ben giggles I like this.

BESW

@Ben And yet, your hovercard isn't updated yet.

Ben

@BESW This is frustrating because I can't access temporary or video profiles on PC. It appears to be mobile only :/

@BESW As an established C# and Delphi user, I try to stay away from any HTML-based technology XD

Shalvenay

12:52 AM

hey again @Ben

Shalvenay

1:07 AM

hey there @linksassin

linksassin

@Shalvenay G'day hows it going?

Shalvenay

@linksassin alright here, as for you?

linksassin

Not too bad.

@V2Blast That's a pretty decent article. I like the concept of an elf character who doesn't speak elven. Surprisingly open and honest about some of D&D's racial downfalls too.

> To no great surprise, the language used since D&D’s early days to describe its “evil” races has been used to describe many real oppressed groups in modern history. The idea of humans being a race which conquers and that being presented as one of their more respectable traits, when paired with the prevalence of evil races, should come under scrutiny by those wanting to create a gaming space that is welcoming and fun.

BESW

1:23 AM

Would've been nice for them to give some sort of hat tip to the fact that there's a massive amount of material on the subject and the writer's not just coming up with this stuff in a vacuum.

But that would probably result in people becoming aware that D&D isn't their only viable RPG option.

user15026

We couldn't have that.

linksassin

@BESW True, but its still a solid step in the right direction.

BESW

1:40 AM

I mean... kind of? It's still putting the burden of analysis and rehabilitation on the group and absolving the designers of responsibility because "tradition, what are you gonna do?"

linksassin

@BESW I don't know about resolving them of responsibility, they still wrote it. But they are at least admitting there is an issue and that is surely the first step toward a solution.

BESW

Look at the article. It presents the D&D lore material as an unchallenged assumption, the base from which you have to build. And so it gives "tips" to GMs and players on how to rehabilitate the D&D lore in their own groups.

Feels to me a lot like telling people to fight climate change by taking the bus more often. Yes, that's great, but it's ignoring entire systems which need more of our attention.

@linksassin This line is great, but let's look at the context:

Glazius

@BESW Tangentially, have you had a look at Spire?

BESW

> D&D is, in many ways, subconsciously rooted in Western and imperialistic ideology. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were fans of wargaming which clashed imperial armies against one another, and of stories in which individualistic heroes battled foreign hordes and took their treasure.
[okay, so they know the lore is based on a narrative of colonial violence]
To no great surprise, the language used since D&D’s early days to describe its “evil” races has been used to describe many real oppressed groups in modern history. The idea of humans being a race which conquers and that being presented as o…

linksassin

@BESW Agreed. I would like to see a more substantial step when they eventually publish a 6th edition. Or maybe "Bigby's Guide to Races" with better racial information.

BESW

1:49 AM

@Glazius I'm passingly aware of it.

linksassin

@BESW Meta question, how did you include that big a text in chat? I wanted to include the context but got "message too long"

BESW

@linksassin If you include a sticky return (shift + enter) the maximum text length increases significantly.

V2Blast

@BESW It's an article on D&D Beyond, directed at players and DMs... Pretty sure they'd see addressing "the designers should fix this" as a bit out of the scope of the article

MikeQ

Yeah this seems more targeted toward the assumed majority of D&D players, not the greater TTRPG community (if such exists) as a whole. And that's ok, it just makes a lot of assumptions about what most other tables are doing.

Shalvenay

yeah, it would be nice to see some premade adventures that tackle these sorts of things as well, though

perhaps that might be something coming down the pike? we can only hope....

BESW

1:52 AM

@V2Blast Then we run into the Token Representation problem: an article for GMs and players would be much less... dismissive of the systemic problem... if Wizards' other material gave any indication at all that they're aware of how deeply rooted their own culpability is.

user15026

It feels very much like "there is a problem but we are who we have always been and I mean y'all know how these things go, but fix it if you need to"

user15026

Like they just kinda go "oh, well, y'know, product of it's time, whatcha gonna do"

trogdor

@Ash I wouldn't even go so far as to say Wizards admits there is any kind of issue

V2Blast

@Ash Sure, but it's an article by a contributor to D&D Beyond. It's not by Wizards of the Coast. So it's not really "we" in any fashion.

But yeah, I don't think WotC has ever addressed it themselves?

user15026

Sorry, I don't know the difference

trogdor

1:55 AM

Oh it's someone else

user15026

that makes it worse then

V2Blast

Totally different companies.

Rubiksmoose

@V2Blast It has been touched upon by JC.

IIRC

kinda sorta

user15026

(Stuff like this is why I am happy to kinda...not touch D&D because it is so confusing as a thing)

Rubiksmoose

Jul 24 '18 at 20:47, by Rubiksmoose

@_JustinVO_ @JosephCAllen @HMGrazzt Our use of “race” is anachronistic. Anachronism can be quaint—D&D is packed with anachronism—but as writers, it’s our responsibility to know when a word’s meaning has changed for enough people that our intended meaning is at risk of being unintelligible.

Tweeted by JeremyECrawford on May 8, 2018 at 9:36 AM in reply to _JustinVO_

BESW

1:57 AM

@V2Blast Well then, if it's not a Wizards article I can expect her to maybe mention some of the things the wider community is doing on the subject?

user15026

@Rubiksmoose Except afaik they don't do much more than give it lip service.

Rubiksmoose

@Ash Yup! Pretty much. I don't really know what is more ~~insulting~~ dissapointing.

user15026

"well we know we do it bad, and we know that we shouldn't do it because it is bad, but.....oh well."

BESW

"I learned these tips from James Mendez Hodes," or "I first encountered this way of looking at D&D morality on Ursula Vernon's blog" or whatever.

Shalvenay

@Glazius -- you mind if I poke you in Discord PM for some feedback btw?

Glazius

2:03 AM

@Shalvenay Sure, go for it.

Hot RPG Questions

2:15 AM

8

Q: Does this Wild Magic result affect the sorcerer or just other creatures?

A result of 75 or 76 on the Wild Magic Surge table triggers this effect: You glow with bright light in a 30-foot radius for the next minute. Any creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of you is blinded until the end of its next turn. Does this blindness affect the sorcerer who triggered ...

Shalvenay

2:37 AM

hey there @KorvinStarmast

KorvinStarmast

hi shal, catching up

@CTWind give ranger what they give artificer: control your pet with a bonus action

@NautArch Or being able to negotiate with frost giants when you are 4th level, and completing a mission ... since you speak giantish ... due to favored enemy ...

MikeQ

@KorvinStarmast Do you think 5E ranger (beast master) would be too strong if they could control the beast companion without any action?

V2Blast

@KorvinStarmast alternately, you could just do that by playing a Goliath ;)

KorvinStarmast

@MikeQ The issue is I think tier 1 action economy. I love the "hunters mark" upgrade to favored enemy as a concept. @V2Blast I could never find shoes that would fit, so no goliath.
Plus, I don't want to walk about paranoid about short people with slings

Like hobbits and, shudder - kender

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast or batiri for that matter? :P

KorvinStarmast

2:46 AM

@Shalvenay we seem to have established a rapport with a few of them, I'll roll with that for a while

V2Blast

Giant is also a standard language, so you could take it as a language with any character using a language proficiency from background or other feature

KorvinStarmast

Only if you get extra languages, which in this edition is not a guarantee. I miss Original's "more languages with more int" feature, and 1e's.

Plus, if your favored enemy is undead, there is no language that goes with that. ;p but you do get to walk around moaning "brains" for as long as you like ....

V2Blast

@KorvinStarmast Every background grants a combination of 2 tool or language proficiencies

so it is kinda guaranteed if you want em :P

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast XD yes, I have been liking how the campaign is going so far in terms of that

KorvinStarmast

3:02 AM

@V2Blast They don't quite guarantee two language proficiencies. You need to choose those from the menu of "x from column A and Y from column b" I've spent some time with people on custom backgrounds, and the prefab ones.

V2Blast

hence "if you want em" :P

KorvinStarmast

@V2Blast With Ranger, you get another one at 6, and so on, but it's a narrow choice. With backgrounds, the choices are a bit broader.

(I wont digress into the whole "tyranny of too many choices for new players" ...

CTWind

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, my worry is that might be too much damage early on. That's why I'm tempted to allow that but add on the concentration requirement. Prevents adding on more damage with hunter's mark or some other similar conc spell (not that hunter's mark is great on beastmasters). Would also have to decide what breaking concentration means, if that prevents commands to your beasts or something, as that could be another tradeoff that makes bonus action pet control more reasonable.

KorvinStarmast

@CTWind Hunters Mark already requires conc, so making the concn go along with it is consistent ....

I suspect that the WoTC gang went round in circles about this very thing back in 2012 - 2014 and settled on what they ended up with .... and are still not all that happy with it.

V2Blast

@CTWind Hunter's Mark only benefits the caster anyway... and you'd have to use your bonus action to cast it or to move it after the marked creature dies

KorvinStarmast

3:08 AM

@CTWind Favored enemy: add damage of 1d4 on a hit at levels 1-4, 1d6 and 5-10, 1d8 at 11-16, 1d10 at 17-20 ... similar to monk weapon progression ....

Joel Harmon

@KorvinStarmast But isn't that bonus damage, rather than the monk (optionally) altering base damage?

CTWind

I think I like today's amalgamate brainstorming of: Favored enemy becomes ranger Eldritch Invocations. Pick a type of creature. Always treat creatures of that type as hunter's marked. Gain a unique general perk based on the creature type (Ex.: Favored Enemy: Oozes, gain proficiency in perception, Favored Enemy: Aberrations, gain resistance to psychic damage... probably more interesting/dynamic perks than that, like Eldritch Invocations can be).

KorvinStarmast

@JoelHarmon It is, but the +2 flat damage was added in RR since regular ranger FE was so flat.

My point on dice changing was to reflect a progression that matched the "Bag of Hitpoints INcrease" as CR goes up. .

@CTWind I like the way you present that, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter. :)

Shalvenay

@CTWind that is kinda interesting XD

KorvinStarmast

Make it changeable as you level up, as you can with invocations ......

Joel Harmon

3:12 AM

@CTWind I'm reminded more of wizards. You pick a favored ~~school~~ enemy, then get bonuses at fixed levels.

KorvinStarmast

With all of these fiddly bits, I am still happy with my level 14 Fighter Champion ... he's been a blast to play ... DM on a break for a while ... burned out

Sword and Board.

Joel Harmon

@KorvinStarmast Though I don't think I've actually played one, I do like the 5e fighter over 3.5

4e seems like too much of a different beast to compare.

KorvinStarmast

If I can find a game, I want to play a battlemaster. We had a "found" NPC who the DM allows us to level up with us, who we all chose to be a BM since none of us had played one. That is a neat a heck sub class

but like a monk or warlock, short rest recharges matter.

CTWind

My beastmaster idea I wanna let simmer in the back of my head a bit more. I kind of like the 'fine grained control of an animal takes your concentration to manage/pay attention to them', but would have to figure out the numbers of how much of a trade off concentration is, and would have to figure out what kind of trade off that concentration being broken means to level things off. I do think a full beast & character action economy is a lot early game.

KorvinStarmast

@CTWind How about unlocking more beast master features as one goes up in level, with the spike at 6 rather than at 3?

At 3 it's a scout, at 6 it becomes a full combat ally?

CTWind

3:16 AM

Yeah, I also just like how diverse battlemasters can be. I kind of like the idea of one that leads the charge, takes Alert, runs in, and does a bunch of 'maneuvering attacks' to immediately get the party melee in position. But you could also do a trick shot archer that punches people back 15 feet from range :-P

Joel Harmon

@KorvinStarmast With the addition of subclasses, aka required prestige classes, I've been intrigued by the idea of single class parties distinguished by good use of them. Fighter could do sword and board, archer, and demi-caster.

CTWind

@KorvinStarmast Would make the numbers more manageable, but I'd worry people would dislike it taking that long to get the pet online for the 'main' pet class.

V2Blast

@KorvinStarmast I played a multiclassed Mastermind rogue/Battle Master fighter in my Monday night game

KorvinStarmast

@CTWind yes, the wait for level 3 to unlock is a design issue I am not sure I agree with.

Joel Harmon

@V2Blast How do you like Mastermind? I remember feeling underwhelmed when I read through it.

V2Blast

3:18 AM

@JoelHarmon I was underwhelmed when I played it

part of why I multiclassed

Joel Harmon

@V2Blast Fair.

V2Blast

it was a combat-heavy campaign (with not much in the way of intrigue) as well, so part of the features were just kinda wasted

KorvinStarmast

@JoelHarmon Our mastermind giving our barbarian advantage on attacks was kinda neat, and he'd follow up with sneat attack damage.

V2Blast

bonus-action Help was nice though

Joel Harmon

It seemed like it was bolting an inherently social character into a combat-focused system.

KorvinStarmast

3:19 AM

@JoelHarmon Yes, it is.

V2Blast

@KorvinStarmast If you're looking for games, I can shoot you a Discord invite link to one of the servers I'm an admin on. New games get posted pretty regularly

KorvinStarmast

@V2Blast I may check it out when we get back, but at the moment, the Missus is about had it with a weekly one with brother, and an every two week deal on Mondays. ToA being hit and miss has been a blessing in that regard, though I really like that campaign ...

V2Blast

@KorvinStarmast fair enough!

If you or anyone else wants it, here's the invite: discord.gg/ttEge3p

KorvinStarmast

... let me visit with you when I get back. We'll see.

@V2Blast heh my discord pword is corrputed it seems .. gimme a sec

Joel Harmon

Man, if only I had time for a regular game again.

KorvinStarmast

3:25 AM

@V2Blast OK, I am in, but I now turn into a pumpkin. ;)

Nite all

V2Blast

@KorvinStarmast Haha, good night

Joel Harmon

@KorvinStarmast Good night!

MikeQ

@KorvinStarmast I think the big flaw with PHB's BM ranger is that the companion is presented as a melee combatant role, but if you don't expend action economy every round, then the animal just stands in the frontlines, twiddling its thumbs (or paws)

Then it drops to 0, and poof, the ranger loses access to their archetype, at least for the rest of the adventuring day

BESW

the threads we inherit is a meditation for one or more participants. an exploration of indigenous, diasporic, and settler communities; their relationships to each other; and their relationships to the land that they inhabit. By caro asercion.

V2Blast

About to stream our D&D 5e actual-play podcast in about half an hour: https://www.twitch.tv/events/S9dzaDrdQVKDHUrbKEEZVQ

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.

BESW

3:40 AM

Asians Represent! Podcast Episode 9: Safety Tools for Streamers ft. Kienna Shaw (I don't see a transcript.)

Rubiksmoose

@V2Blast Good luck!

V2Blast

4:06 AM

@Rubiksmoose Thanks!

We're live :)

V2Blast

6:31 AM

I just (re)discovered lifehacks.SE. Such an interesting assortment of questions there...

linksassin

@V2Blast Their on-topic page is certainly unique.

Liam Morris

@V2Blast I’ve noticed you’ve started re-tagging questions about [food-and-drink], would you like some help with that?

Hot RPG Questions

8

Q: How does a monk's Martial Arts feature modify damage done by magical monk weapons?

I'm curious about how exactly the Martial Arts class feature modifies damage done with magic weapons that add extra damage. Here's the relevant bullet point of the class feature (which is on page 78 of the PHB, and in the basic rules). You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of you...

dnd-5e magic-items weapons damage monk

V2Blast

@LiamMorris Just wanted to add it to a few questions without flooding the front page. If your assessment in your answer on meta is correct, it'd be way too many to add all at once :P

> This leaves us with a total of 593 questions which may need to be re-tagged, just under 280% of 212, the number of questions you estimated in your question.

> I have not been around long enough to know if a re-tagging process would be so extensive. Indeed, 593 may be a trivial number compared to previous re-taggings, though I would not know as I have no frame of reference. My point though is that the number of questions which may need to be re-tagged is significantly higher than what you may have thought.

> This also helps to demonstrate why such a tag is needed, there are around 600 different questions about food and drink but there is nothing to link them all together. There are probably more hidden behind overly obscure or overly broad synonyms, rendering them almost impossible to search for. A tag to collect them all in one place could help massively.

Liam Morris

@V2Blast Yeah thats why i offered, it seems that there are far too many questions for one person to try and tag alone :P

V2Blast

6:45 AM

@LiamMorris Haha, less about being "too many to tag alone" and more about me not wanting to make the front page unusable

Liam Morris

@V2Blast Very true, it is something i was concerned about myself, i think i mentioned that in my meta post, or at least i did in a draft of it.

Miniman

@V2Blast Lifehack: Create an SE site with a sufficiently broad topic that it lets you ask any question you want.

4

V2Blast

@Miniman Hahaha. Pretty much.

linksassin

@Miniman Any question that would be off-topic on the rest of them basically. At least according to their help.

Liam Morris

@linksassin From your description, it sounds like Miscellaneous.SE :P

linksassin

6:58 AM

@LiamMorris You're not far off. It's a bit all over the place. If you blacked out the title of the website I doubt anyone could guess it just by the questions

Derpy

9:07 AM

Morning

in case someone is interested, now there is an official statement from the staff on the main Meta about the advertisement testing

4

Q: We're testing advertisements across the network

For several years we've had advertising solely on technology-related sites. But many of our sites aren't about technology at all, so we haven't sold ads for them. Traditionally, that hasn't been a hardship since Stack Exchange sites have required only a small investment from the company to set up...

discussion featured advertising

goodguy5

12:17 PM

morning

DucksGoMooful

12:32 PM

Hiya

Derpy

afternoon

goodguy5

12:51 PM

has anyone played tales from the floating vagabond 2nd edition?

NautArch

1:08 PM

@JohnP I survived! Got lucky against a water weird when a DM coudln't roll above a 5 on 3 rounds of attacks against me. And took out his caster with Tasha's Hideous Laughter for the entire encounter. He got one Hold Person off, but I used my divination to have my ally succeed.

KorvinStarmast

1:19 PM

@NautArch Teamwork for the win!!!

NautArch

@V2Blast I"m honestly not sure what your reply was :(

@KorvinStarmast Absolutely loving the divination wizard. Used my other die to ensure the caster failed their initial save against Tasha's.

GcL

@NautArch Divination for the win! "who's laughing now?!... oh... well it's you."

NautArch

@GcL Also helped that the DC to beat it was a 17. When it was just him left, teammates attacked and even with advantage on the save he couldn't get it.

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