TRPG General Chat

3:02 PM

@NautArch ew.

@Carcer I weeded the back yard, and then I want back to the front yard and weeded that too. I went back to front. Am I doomed? 8^o

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Interestingly, the shield master question as a paladin does raise additional concerns for more smiting and better AC.

A big reason I took PAM was the bonus action attack.

Hot RPG Questions

4

Q: How fast does a character need to move to be effectively invisible?

One of my players wants his monk to reach blinding speed like Rock Lee from Naruto. He is so fast he's invisible when he moves between attacks, like the character in this video after he takes off his weights. I worked it out with him that reaching this kind of speed will not increase his damage...

KorvinStarmast

3:17 PM

@NautArch Yes, I did not open that can of worms since scream line mentions in a comment that he'd rather not limit the answers to any one class. But another chance to smite ... yep.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Especially when opting for S&B is to improve defense at the general expense of damage. Now they get the best of both worlds.

But you could generalize that with typically you'd only get a bonus action attack with PAM (which requires two-handed).

KorvinStarmast

But with PAM you sacrifice at least to AC, depending on Tier. At tier 3 you could expect to find a +2 shield, or in Tier 4.

(And if the new UA Artificer becomes main stream, by level 12 a +2 shield can almost be guaranteed)

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Yes, but my thought is that with many builds (especially paladin, tho), you can opt for higher damage, or better AC. THey're generally mutually exclusive.

KorvinStarmast

Get this. UA Artificer is waay overpowered for standard 5e. We are at level 2, and our artificer was able to infuse the cleric's chain mail with +1.

@NautArch I concur.

And at level 2, he can make a claok of the manta ray. So he's going to.

NautArch

High damage builds are based on bigger damage weapons and two-handed weapons. If you can have something that gives you higher AC AND another damage opportunity, you've skewed it to always going that direction.

KorvinStarmast

3:22 PM

Sorry, the Artificer that busts D&D 5e's magic item concept over a knee and tosses it into the fire. What the heck is Mearls thinking?

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast UA stuff generally always seems OP.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I had to nerf it down to "one infusion per long rest" and the player agreed, once I explained a bit. But we will have fun with it. I hope the play test takes us to level 6. We are doing the salt marsh campaign, and I have great hopes that it will be a lasting run.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast You could also just say no cloak of manta ray

Or that he needs some quest material to do it

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Heh, it's a maritime campaign, so I have decided to let him do that as it will be useful. I don't want to rain on his parade that much, since we are not AL and I did agree to let him play the Artificer. The others in the group may ask him to make them stuff, which I think this player will get a kick out of doing.

As to "needs quest materials" the darned UA simply says "needs a cloak" which is part of any "traveler's clothes" suite from the PHB equipment list. :p

@NautArch For me as DM, the problem with "cloak of the manta ray" is that ... it splits the party.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast That sounds like a problem for them :)

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, but you can also choose to make it more interesting given the power in this particular campaign

David Coffron

3:33 PM

Alright team. What cleric spell would be best to always count as upcast by 1 level?

MikeQ

VTC too broad. Best for what?

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Party size?

Sdjz

Also, what game is this about?

NautArch

'cause bless is first thought

G. Moylan

@DavidCoffron Heat metal? Spiritual Weapon? Spirit Guardians?

NautArch

3:35 PM

otherwise, command

G. Moylan

It's clearly ceremony

NautArch

oh dang, read that wrong. Thought you wnted 1st level spells

upcasted

not any spell upcast

David Coffron

@NautArch 6

@Sdjz D&D 5e

@NautArch Yeah, any spell upcast. I was thinking hold person but there might be better ones

Sdjz

by count as upcast you mean it still uses the normal level slot but the effect counts as 1 level higher, right?

David Coffron

@Sdjz Yep

KorvinStarmast

3:39 PM

@NautArch Actually, since we play on roll20, I find "split the party" harder to manage, not easier, than IRL.

NautArch

@DavidCoffron I dunno, that's a big slot to have folks succeed.

David Coffron

@NautArch True

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast I just meant party spliting is usually just a bad idea for survivability.

David Coffron

@NautArch Well, actually its only 2

G. Moylan

I still vote Spiritual Weapon. To automatically count as being upcast is huge for an already efficient spell

David Coffron

3:40 PM

(I thought it was 3)

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Yes it does, depending on the situation and the lethality of the dungeon/adventure.

David Coffron

@G.Moylan But spiritual weapons scales pretty slow; 1d8 for two levels

G. Moylan

@DavidCoffron mm that's true. My next pick would be Heat Metal

David Coffron

@G.Moylan Forge only :'(

G. Moylan

@DavidCoffron still cleric!

NautArch

3:41 PM

@DavidCoffron what level cap?

David Coffron

@NautArch Starting at 6, probably would want to have access to it by 9

KorvinStarmast

@DavidCoffron HOld MOnster.

G. Moylan

@KorvinStarmast I need that for my child

KorvinStarmast

But not on line until level 7

David Coffron

@KorvinStarmast Don't think thats a cleric spell

KorvinStarmast

3:42 PM

@G.Moylan Snort There went the coffee.

@DavidCoffron lemme check, I may be remembering that wrongly.

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Spirit Guardians!

Sdjz

@DavidCoffron Animate Dead scales nicely

G. Moylan

@NautArch I suggested that above. I think that's good value for the slot

@G.Moylan auto-4th

NautArch

@G.Moylan Yeah, most clerics have that going very often. Getting it upcasted auto is pretty awesome.

@DavidCoffron Is it just an autoupcast at it's base level. Or if they cast it at a higher level, will it autoupcast?

KorvinStarmast

@DavidCoffron Hmm, not sure why my brain thought that was a cleric spell. Maybe it is a domain spell for nature domain ...

David Coffron

3:47 PM

@NautArch upcast always

So basically spell slots count as one higher for each spell

NautArch

@DavidCoffron yeah, I think @G.Moylan has it with Guardians.

But generally, spells with ongoing effects will be get the most bang.

G. Moylan

what if we cast at 9th level?

NautArch

@G.Moylan then the guardians attack you

G. Moylan

@NautArch I regret this decision

NautArch

too late!

G. Moylan

3:49 PM

it's never too late for regret!

3

oh jeez that was unintentionally dark

David Coffron

8

Q: Does a spell cast using a 10th-level spell slot count as a 10th-level spell?

The Enlightened Magic feature of the Book of Exalted Deeds (DMG, p. 222) allows for 10th-level spell slots per this question. Nothing seems to disallow level 10 spell slots, but would the spells cast with these slots assume level 10? There are two relevant rules as far as I'm aware. The section ...

dnd-5e spells spell-slots artifacts

NautArch

yeah, that gets a star :P

G. Moylan

@NautArch I'll cherish it :P

David Coffron

Ooh. My domain gets hex, is that better than spirit guardians to get the 8 hour version with only a level 2 slot?

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Depends, what's your go-to action?

David Coffron

3:56 PM

@NautArch Domain gets Divine Strike at level 8, so probably gonna try to focus on weapon attacks

Could dual wield short swords to trigger hex (have really nice dex)

G. Moylan

You have a good Hex to DEX ratio?

David Coffron

There also might be a cantrip in one of these 3rd party books that does multiple attacks rather than dice-scaling

I'll have to skim through them

FYI this is the roll 5d6k3 until you get at least one 18 game. My stats are 16/18/16/6/20/12 after my level 4 ASI and racials

KorvinStarmast

@DavidCoffron May your party steer clear of Intellect devourers and Mind Flayers ...

NautArch

@DavidCoffron That extra d6 for damage is nice, but youl'l get more bang out of spirit guardians.

better use of your concentration

David Coffron

4:17 PM

@NautArch Is 1d8 extra for 10 minutes better than 1d6 for 7 extra hours?

Maybe, I guess it depends on the adventuring day

10 minutes could be 1 encounter or 3; 7 hours could be 1-2 encounters or 1-2 dozen

NautArch

@DavidCoffron It's not 1d8, it's minimum 4d8 for an encounter for 1d6 for several

assuming ou can keep concentrating across those several encounters

HOw free are AL DMs in use of optional rules?

David Coffron

4:35 PM

@NautArch I was describing what the upcast benefit was (the opportunity cost). It's 1d8 additional damage for 10 minutes and 1d6 damage for an additional 7 hours

NautArch

@DavidCoffron I'm not sure I agree. It's an additional 1d8 on top of the 3d8 for that 10 minutes. I think you need to cmopare the total damage over the course, not just the increase.

Someone_Evil

Is this Cleric spell upcasting related to Book of Exalted Deeds by any chance?

David Coffron

@NautArch not if I'm trying to choose which one to boost. I can always cast spirit guardians at normal if I want the high powered 10 mins

@Someone_Evil no. It's a separate boon my GM granted

NautArch

@DavidCoffron and you can always cast hex for an additional 1d6 for an hour.

I guess it's 6 of 1.

David Coffron

@NautArch at the cost of more and more spell slots

NautArch

4:40 PM

How many encounters doyou generally have per day?

Someone_Evil

Has anyone put mass healing word on the block? Or maybe you want to steer away from stereotypes...

NautArch

Is this supported? I'm not sure playing a different game and saying it's kinda like Gritty Realism is sufficient.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, blacklisted website in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (179): How fast does a character need to move to be effectively invisible? by zeshii on rpg.SE

Someone_Evil

@SmokeDetector Hey, relax. It is already gone.

Or animate dead. Two zombies for the price of one. Bargain.

NautArch

@Someone_Evil yeah, I was looking at that, too.

Sdjz

4:49 PM

@Someone_Evil 3 actually, and yes I suggested that before

Someone_Evil

Huh... for some reason I parsed that upcasting clause as two instead. Well that doesn't make it a worse choice exactly

Sdjz

@Someone_Evil I had a wizard for ToA that almost always upcast Animate Dead (or Tiny Servant when bodies were lacking). The scaling of 2 per level really incentivizes upcasting

David Coffron

@Sdjz animate dead is so much better when you have access to animal shapes though. I find it kind of underwhelming otherwise

(my tier 4 circle of spores druid was a monster)

Sdjz

@DavidCoffron Well admittedly for ToA having minions for trap triggering is particularly useful, combat-wise, not so much

David Coffron

@Sdjz That's fair. Never played ToA, so hadn't considered that

NautArch

4:55 PM

@Sdjz minions for heavy crossbow attacks ain't bad either.

David Coffron

26

Q: Can animated undead wear armor and use weapons?

A wizard has just killed a group of heavily armored fighters with great weapons. He uses Animate Dead on the bodies. The spell reads as: This spell creates an undead servant. Choose a pile of bones or a corpse of a Medium or Small humanoid within range. Your spell imbues the target with a fou...

dnd-5e spells monsters equipment

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Right. Is your DM allowing them to use weapons?

or wear armor?

Sdjz

Zombies in full plate sound useful for taking hits

David Coffron

@NautArch shrug never asked, but he did say that alignment is playing a larger role in this world, so maybe necromancy is best avoided

NautArch

@DavidCoffron that's a bigger issue :) Hopefully no one picked necromancer.

David Coffron

5:00 PM

@NautArch Rest of the group is 2 rangers, 1 blood knight (idk what this is, some kind of homebrew maybe?), 1 barbarian, and 1 warlock

NautArch

@DavidCoffron blood knight sounds totally good :P

David Coffron

@NautArch Blood magic doesn't have to be evil; Lily Potter used it

NautArch

@DavidCoffron if it's dandwiki, it's definitely evil. dandwiki.com/wiki/Blood_Knight_(5e_Class)

David Coffron

Alright found a cantrip that makes hex stronger. Not sure if it changes whether you think it beats out spirit guardian. Lacerate: "Two bolts of necrotic energy shoot from your fingertips towards a single creature within range. Make two ranged spell attacks against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d4 necrotic damage."

NautArch

@DavidCoffron What cantrip is that?

David Coffron

5:05 PM

@NautArch It's 3rd party. Shows up in Dark Arts Player's Companion

NautArch

I think it still often depends on how many encounters per day.

@DavidCoffron found another on reddit. Is it definitely the one you linked?

David Coffron

@NautArch Yeah, which I'm starting to think will be low or at least concentrated on specific time frams(based on what my GM has said)

@NautArch Probs

Looks like that's where Blood Knight comes from

NautArch

@DavidCoffron If you're not doing many encounters throughout the day, then spirit guardians is preferable.

David Coffron

@NautArch Yeah; think that's right. Can always use hex as a 3rd level slot if I'm entering an area that will have tons of encounters in 8 hours

NautArch

@DavidCoffron that's different than the one I found on reddit.

David Coffron

5:08 PM

> Blood Knight was completely reworked. Now its a 1/3 caster that can cast hemomancy spells using warlock-esque spellcasting.

NautArch

@DavidCoffron but uses CON. At first glance, this definitely doesn't look balanced.

@DavidCoffron Your cleric has access to these hemomancy spells?

David Coffron

@NautArch Maybe. Haven't asked. Planing to tonight

NautArch

@DavidCoffron MOstly asking because you brought up lacerate which was on that list :)

David Coffron

@NautArch Ah; I have access to those. Haven't asked about hemomancy specifically since it has special rules.

NautArch

If that is their build, I get that playtesting homebrew was a thing for this, but that seems like a huge thing. It's a homebrew class with homebrew spells.

I mean, can you go off and find some homebrew spells, too?

David Coffron

5:19 PM

@NautArch Specific mention were three 3rd party books that are available

Reason I was going to ask about hemomancy is if it is considered associated with a certain alignment

NautArch

@DavidCoffron ah, gotcha. SO that book was already approved. You kids crazy :P

David Coffron

@NautArch I mean, I kind of expect a high-power game when we are told we have to start with at least one 18

NautArch

@DavidCoffron High stats is very different than overpowered classes/spells.

David Coffron

@NautArch True, especially if you have both

NautArch

@DavidCoffron By choosing not to go that route, you may just not be as 'powerful'.

Would have been interesting to offer high stats vs pointbuy and homebrew.

or something like that.

David Coffron

5:22 PM

@NautArch Blood Knight doesn't seem that strong to me. It's just like an Eldritch knight but with a different kind of spell progression and a bit of healing

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Right, it's a more powerful eldritch knight. I haven't started looking at the spells yet, but I'm guessing they're better than the ones that EK gets.

David Coffron

@NautArch I looked over the hemomancy spells; they seem pretty well balanced at first glance.

NautArch

As compared to EK spells?

David Coffron

@NautArch EK gets wizard spell list so probably

NautArch

but either way, no sense digging too deep. It's already approved :)

@DavidCoffron THey have a limited wizard list, and they use INT, not CON.

David Coffron

5:25 PM

@NautArch Oh I didn't notice that; that's a big difference

Removes the MAD-ness

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Yeah :(

well, good for your party

mustard

5:45 PM

I forgot this existed

David Coffron

@mustard What's that, the chat room?

mustard

yes

Yuuki

@DavidCoffron They said "this" not "that".

mustard

last time I sent a message here was october

David Coffron

@mustard Welcome back then!

@Yuuki -.-

Yuuki

5:51 PM

@mustard From the future?!

David Coffron

Now mustard remembers why he stopped coming @Yuuki xD

mustard

god

what have I come back to

David Coffron

@mustard The realm of all things discussed and left unsaid

Sdjz

2 hours ago, by G. Moylan

it's never too late for regret!

David Coffron

For what its worth, we have serious discussions here too

(sometimes too serious)

mustard

5:54 PM

(ponies)

NautArch

@mustard we're serious about ponies

mustard

serious ponies

Hot RPG Questions

6:37 PM

9

Q: Does Invulnerability protect me from Warding Bond damage?

As a Wizard, I can cast Invulnerability on myself, which states: You are immune to all damage until the spell ends. Now, if I cast Warding bond do I suffer the reflected damage when the warded creature takes damage? Further information about my build: I intend to go for a 3 cleric (temp...

dnd-5e spells immunities

Mage in the Barrel

6:51 PM

quick question does controls flames extinguish ability allow you to part flames? if not are there any spells that allow you to do so or extinguish them in large quantities. like say I'm trapped in a forest fire could I repeatedly cast control flame to make a path through it

G. Moylan

spells do exactly what they say they do

it doesn't read like you can part flames per se but you can definitely extinguish a path through them

which is effectively identical

just a bit of a flavor difference

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan (and any additional effects are left to the DM to decide on)

G. Moylan

@Rubiksmoose indeed

Mage in the Barrel

sorry i meant make a path in general part is an entierly different thing

thanks

Rubiksmoose

7:11 PM

Huh, am I crazy or would that Glyph of Warding question not work the way OP wants even if you can store a GoW in another GoW?

They want to do this to effectively cast the spell stored at the end multiple times, but I can't figure out how that would work. The way I figure it, triggering the top level GoW would just cause another glyph to be cast and trigger no other effect until the last Glyph.

Am I missing something?

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose No, that was where I was going with my question.

in the comments

I don't understand the sequence

Rubiksmoose

Yeah I can't wrap my head around how they expect this to work.

Weirdly enough, I'm not even sure you could store a spell in the GoW that is stored in the GoW since they are cast without effect when stored and the storing is an effect lol

Xirema

The question about the confluence of Dispel Magic, Simulacrum, and True Polymorph is getting to me.

NautArch

@Xirema Gael finds the best questions.

Xirema

Indeed.

I think I know how ///I'd/// rule at my tables.

But there's just no rules for it to find a RAW answer, as best as I can tell.

G. Moylan

7:23 PM

wouldn't it just revert to snow and melt? The fact that it's polymorphed doesn't change the fact that it's a simulacrum. Now it just looks like something else

Simulacrum spell says what happens when it ends. Why would True Poly change how that works?

NautArch

@G.Moylan because true polymorphmakes it no longer a simulacrum?

Xirema

Because True Polymorph is a Transmutation spell, not Illusion. It's not just making the creature appear to be something else, it transforms it into that thing.

G. Moylan

@NautArch but it was created with Simulacrum and the duration is "until dispelled" not "until polymorphed"

Xirema

There's probably a few permutations of this essential question. Create some plant matter with Creation, and then True Polymorph it into a creature. What happens when the Creation duration wears off?

G. Moylan

it's gone. True Polymorph doesn't say it ends magical effects on the target

so Simulacrum would still be active and its conditions would still apply

MikeQ

7:27 PM

Same is true about polymorphing summoned critters. Polymorph doesn't change their summon duration.

NautArch

@MikeQ yeah, that's a really good point.

Rubiksmoose

And I'm assuming that a TPed Simulacrum would still have restrictions on HP regeneration and other recovery under this logic?

MikeQ

Yes. That seems to follow. The simulacrum is still "affected" by the Simulacrum spell.

Xirema

Hmm. Now I'm thinking TP/Simulacrum would have different rules than TP/Creation or TP/Summon creatures.

kviiri

@Rubiksmoose TPed simulacrum, a classic student prank among college ice mages.

2

Xirema

7:32 PM

Because in the former case, when the Simulacrum dies, it collapses into water. But in the latter cases, when their summonables' durations end, they simply vanish.

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri hahahah

Xirema

The snow/water/whatever is what got polymorphed into a creature.

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema Is this the part where we start talking about what happens when the creature stops being the valid target of an active spell?

Xirema

And you're perfectly capable of casting TP on a clump of snow.

G. Moylan

except that Smulacrum says "The duplicate is a creature..."

so it's not an object @Xirema

Xirema

7:33 PM

@Rubiksmoose Probably; but it's not totally clear in this case that the target became "invalid".

G. Moylan

"it can take actions and otherwise be affected as a normal creature"

Xirema

@G.Moylan But TP can be cast on a creature or an object. So the creature (simulacrum) turning into an object (a mass of water) doesn't make it invalid.

Rubiksmoose

@Xirema Very true.

G. Moylan

@Xirema true but the target changed

@G.Moylan I guess that gets into philosophy though

if the target physically is no longer the same thing, but is still a valid target, does it affect a spell targeting it

that seems to be the underlying question

Xirema

@G.Moylan TBH I'm not even sure your explanation of what should happen is wrong; I'm just unsure how to prove that it's correct.

G. Moylan

7:37 PM

@Xirema same. I'm trying to think of a scenario where we do have an explanation for the TP target changing like that

wait can you stack polymorphs?

two unique spells, so two separate effects

back in a few. I'll think about it

Xirema

@G.Moylan I assume in this context we mean Polymorph and True Polymorph stacking with each other, since two Polymorphs or two True Polymorphs definitely cannot.

G. Moylan

@Xirema yes

@Xirema so here's my thinking: TP was cast with a particular target: a creature. The rules for creature poly apply for how the spell works. Simulacrum ends and the creature "dies." The target becomes an object (or collection of objects, since the simulacrum is an amalgam of material) and TP's effects no longer apply properly. We chose our target when we cast the spell. TP does not check for additional targets after cast, so since TP's original target is now gone/changes, TP ends

@G.Moylan in order to TP the mass (or a part of it) we need to re-cast TP

I'm not sure if that "proves" it per se but it makes sense to me

G. Moylan

8:11 PM

although reading Simulacrum now, I'm unsure exactly what happens when the spell is Dispelled. There's a description for what happens when the creature drops to 0 HP, but not when dispelled. I assume it would be the same, but it doesn't say

Carcer

8:37 PM

I think it's safe to assume you get the same visual

either way, it stops existing

Hot RPG Questions

8:57 PM

6

Q: What advantages do focused Arrows of Slaying have over more generic ones?

I was looking at the arrow of slaying magic item and part of it intrigued me (bold for emphasis mine): Some are more focused than others; for example, there are both arrows of dragon slaying and arrows of blue dragon slaying. Is there any mechanical benefit from having a more focused arrow?...

dnd-5e magic-items ammunition

kviiri

9:08 PM

I was feeling a bit bad at home so I went outside to watch a big shadow move over a rock the size of about one Australia

(A lunar eclipse)

user15026

9:21 PM

That sounds like fun

Akixkisu

Does anybody know why dnd AL questions also use the 5e system tag when the AL system tag makes that tag redundant?

Someone_Evil

@Akixkisu Future proofing against AL name being carried over to 6e, could be one reason.

BESW

AL is not a system, and other things can be called AL.

Someone_Evil

Better searchability, all 5e questions use the same 5e tag

Akixkisu

The system tag includes the 5e information.

And regarding searchability would not season tags be better?

Someone_Evil

9:25 PM

@Akixkisu That may change in the future should AL start using 6e (or whatever comes next for D&D)

Akixkisu

We are we then not using season tags for AL?

BESW

When someone is looking for D&D 5e information, they would probably be interested in AL content, no?

Someone_Evil

Eh... season tags don't sound like they would be much useful.

Akixkisu

No.

I would like to avoid AL content at any cost.

BESW

Then you can!

Akixkisu

9:27 PM

Not when the question is tagged 5e instead of AL when someone asks the questions.

BESW

Search [dnd-5e] -[dnd-adventurers-league] or just add dnd-adventurers-league to your block list.

Someone_Evil

No-one would use the old season tags, because they wouldn't play under the old rules. New season would mostly mean updating of rules etc., which isn't to different from new material (ie. source books) being published.

Akixkisu

Sounds like a system of rules to me that uses a system tag. But oh well, it apparently is this way.

BESW

Also, if your goal is to avoid seeing content, lead with that instead of asking broad related questions about site policy? We can help you more easily that way.

Someone_Evil

@Akixkisu Yes, that is currently a quirk, but it is (in my opinion) not a frequent or serius enough problem to warrant any changes

BESW

9:29 PM

And you're not gonna change policy here. We can tell you why things are, but it's meta that'll get things changed.

Akixkisu

I want to avoid answering 5e questions that turn out to be AL questions.

That does not happen when 5e is the system tag that is established.

BESW

So your problem is when AL questions aren't tagged AL?

Akixkisu

Yes, avoiding taggeg questions is simply adding them to the filter.

BESW

Okay, so that's a totally different problem than the one you opened with.

The problem is that a tag isn't getting added to questions that it should be used on, not that a tag is getting added to questions that it shouldn't be used on.

Akixkisu

Oh I disagree, the 5e tag shouldn't be used on AL questions is what I would endorse, but if that tradition in prep for future al systems is in place then that is fruitless.

BESW

9:33 PM

Sure, it's fruitless if you only talk about it in chat. If you want to try and get it changed, make a persuasive argument on Role-playing Games Meta.

2

Policies change when a problem is identified and demonstrated and a solution is found.

Akixkisu

I do not see how I could be persuasive about that in our meta environment.

SE makes that pretty much clear with the ratio.

Someone_Evil

Assuming this is the question/event that annoyed you, AL wasn't stated by querent and was only supplied because someone explicitly asked. I don't think AL is super related to that, nor how AL would affect answers.

Akixkisu

It affects me in that I have to make sure that it is correct.

Someone_Evil

I'm not sure AL is the real problem here. Any information that is provided late will can invalidate/force revision of answers.

But I don't think we should close every 5e question until Querent has specified whether they are playing AL or not.

Akixkisu

I mean I know about 700 AL pages, but AL is generally a different set of experts than 5e.

Like I said, not going to see it happen, but I would simply remove the 5e tag from AL.

V2Blast

9:44 PM

@BESW Shared narrative control is cool but I really dislike the way it's presented in that tweet

Akixkisu

If that means I have to delete my answer later down the line or revise it that is fine.

BESW

@V2Blast I think the rest of the thread is pretty good at clarifying, and that extreme stances are sometimes useful for shaking people out of considering micro-millimeter changes sufficient.

Someone_Evil

Would a generic [official-play] be better in your opinion? I'm guessing we don't because there aren't too much official play outside 5e

V2Blast

There's an organized-play tag, I think

ye

Carcer

@BESW to be honest I just read the thread and I feel like the guy should be playing a narrative game that does the kind of thing he wants rather than playing D&D or whatever it is

G. Moylan

9:52 PM

Adventurer's League has special rules that apply on top of the D&D5E shell. Therefore it needs a unique tag

@G.Moylan advancing characters works differently, down time rules, leveling, even rebuilding characters. It is also a subset of 5E, so it requires the 5E tag

Carcer

it's worth there being a tag for AL imo, since it does imply a specific additional ruleset yes, but the questions are also still about 5e

G. Moylan

a question about AL should be searchable for both AL and the edition of D&D it applied to. if they use AL for 6E in the future, using just AL would not make sense

using both now ensures future-proofing and removes the potential need to go back and retag thousands of questions

BESW

@Someone_Evil Off the top of my head, I know of official organized play events for Pathfinder and the previous two editions of D&D.

Someone_Evil

@BESW Yeah... I found that skimming through the tag V2 linked. Why do I even try to find something on my own...

BESW

Weirdly, there's no RPGA tag.

nitsua60

10:00 PM

@BESW Did RPGA get re-branded when WotC bought out TSR?

user15026

RPGA?

G. Moylan

woudl it be necessary to add one since it's no longer funcitonal?

@Ash old organized play before Adventurer's League

nitsua60

Nope.

RPGA

The RPGA (also called the Role Playing Game Association and the RPGA Network at various times), was initially part of the organized play arm of TSR, Inc and then Wizards of the Coast. From 1980 to 2014, it organized and sanctioned role-playing games worldwide. == History == Frank Mentzer, one of the first full-time employees of TSR, Inc., the original publishers of the Dungeons and Dragons game, conceived of the Role Playing Game Association (RPGA) in order to promote quality roleplaying and to allow fans of roleplaying games to meet and play games with each other. Mentzer founded RPGA in November...

user15026

Oh, fascinating.

user15026

So organized play = official organization related play stuff?

BESW

10:01 PM

Yup.

G. Moylan

is the AL tag part of the ORganized Play tag?

nitsua60

@G.Moylan Tags (sadly) can't have hierarchical relationships like that.

G. Moylan

@nitsua60 nuuuuuu

V2Blast

@nitsua60 Did RPG.SE ever get any questions about RPGA?

apparently... there have been two

BESW

@V2Blast Two.

V2Blast

10:04 PM

haha

18

Q: Can a DM be kicked out of the RPGA for making an encounter more dangerous?

On his web show The Spoony Experiment, host Noah Antwiler had a video called Leaping Wizards in which he described an AD&D module he DMed for the RPGA. Basically, one encounter was ridiculously easy (three first level wizards try to go melee versus six second level optimized melee characters, a...

organized-play

5

Q: What's up with RPGA Living Campaign player rewards cards?

The Wizards of the Coast archives host the following RPGA Living Campaign player reward cards: Living Greyhawk (3/2003 to 6/2008): Set 1, Set 2, and Set 3. Legacy of the Green Regent (5/2003 to 7/2005): Set 1, Set 2, Set 3, Set 4, and Set 5. Mark of Heroes (11/2003 to 3/2006): Set 1, Set 2, Set...

dnd-3.5e forgotten-realms eberron greyhawk organized-play

user15026

Huh, this is fascinating, I for some reason never thought of organized play as a thing

user15026

Like I guess it's similar to the Hearthstone stuff that Blizzard does, like the Fireside Gathering stuff?

Someone_Evil

16

Q: What is a "Living" campaign?

I have gone to many game conventions where I have seen a "Living" campaign referred to. I do not quite understand what a "Living" campaign is. Explain the overall concept of a "Living" campaign and perhaps how it differs from a "traditional" campaign.

terminology campaign organized-play

(Honorable mention)

G. Moylan

@Ash it's more like Friday Night Magic for MTG

user15026

I'm not really familiar with that

G. Moylan

10:06 PM

Magic the Gathering. they have weekly Friday tournaments at shops that register with WotC, who makes the game

Yuuki

I'm not sure if comparisons to TCG are appropriate for describing TTRPG organized play.

nitsua60

@Ash The "organized play" of the 80s RPGA that I first came in contact with and modern "organized play" like AL or PFS are pretty different, IMO. I have no idea how much of a continuity there was in that transition, or if it was an abrupt one at some identifiable time. (Might want to tag in @KorvinStarmast or mxy or ssd on this one--I'm pretty sure they all had RPGA contact back in its early years, too?)

G. Moylan

@Yuuki i don't think it's that far off. They both amount to "get together at a shop to play X WotC game"

user15026

@nitsua60 That's fair, I am just more looking for a broad understanding of what makes it different than like just grabbing a bunch of humans at your local game store or whatever for a thing

user15026

(Which is why I compared it to the organized "we are doing x on date y with Blizzard's support for some fun giveaway stuff and rules stuff" of the Fireside stuff)

Yuuki

10:10 PM

Well, the tl;dr is that whatever body is organizing the organized play standardizes a ruleset so it becomes very plug-and-play.

And so you can carry a character from one organized play table to another with minimum fuss.

V2Blast

@Ash Your character is able to carry over between different games, and you don't generally have to play with the same people each time - rather than having to make a different character for each game with a different group. Essentially, having a shared ruleset such that anyone can start playing easily, basically

user15026

Ah, okay, I can see how if they do it well it would be fun/easy

Someone_Evil

Maybe a Formalized Social Contract, which includes some stuff to allow drop-in/out etc., is the best simplification of organized play?

Ben

"organise" and "fun" in the same sentence is never productive haha

G. Moylan

@Ben Amy Santiago begs to differ

Akixkisu

10:20 PM

@G.Moylan Not if you order the AL system by its seasons.

Yuuki

@G.Moylan Until she stops giving a hoot.

G. Moylan

@Akixkisu then you create a new tag for each season. There are fewer tags if you stick to system and AL

@G.Moylan it is more correct to use larger categories like that

@Akixkisu also there is very little that changes is season to season. Creating a tag for each season in each iteration of AL would be ridiculous.

Yuuki

@Akixkisu Oh boy, having fun with the concept of "constantly updating"?

G. Moylan

@G.Moylan you'd also have to try to convince people to use the right tags when they ask questions pertaining to seasons, which won't happen, so then we'd have to rely on editors to add them in more often

Yuuki

Please let Gaming.SE know if you make any headway.

Akixkisu

10:22 PM

@G.Moylan ? We have thousands of tags and if you have the "parent" AL you can find experts to seaons of Al.

Someone_Evil

As far as I understand the main point of non-system tags is searchability/discoverability. Having seperate tags for each season lessens that.

Akixkisu

There is the parent tag AL.

G. Moylan

@Akixkisu it doesn't make sense. Logisitcally it creates FAR more work than its actually worth. it won't add value to the site.

Carcer

tagging for AL makes sense, tagging for specific seasons of AL is overkill - that kind of thing can be specified in the question, just like D&D questions will often specify what additional books/resources their table accepts

Someone_Evil

@Akixkisu Now any AL question would need 3 (of their five) tags for this. If the specific season matters: include it in the question, and if ends up mattering: look at the date posted.

BESW

10:25 PM

Tags are not for communicating information.

user15026

@Yuuki agreed. :P

Akixkisu

@Someone_Evil it would use two tags, that is the whole point that you would remove the 5e tag, but like I said, I don't want to argue this. It is merely something I'd like to see, but don't see happening.

trogdor

@V2Blast oh, huh I had thought that meant something else, learned something today XD

Someone_Evil

On a different topic: What arcane way exists to answer a closed question?

Akixkisu

The difference would be to treat AL as a system tag.

Yuuki

10:27 PM

@Someone_Evil Vote to re-open, answer, vote to close (/s)

(/s)

V2Blast

@Someone_Evil I believe it has something to do with having the page open before the question is closed. you can still type and submit that way

nitsua60

@Ash IMO it's a great way of getting a person newly into the hobby, because they can find a game with experienced players who've explicitly shown up to a "we play with anyone who shows up--including newcomers" location. It's a great way to find a couple of people you like and spawn a group for a home game--a nucleation site, of sorts.

Someone_Evil

@V2Blast I don't think so, when I've tried that it wouldn't let me, though that was closing as a dupe so maybe it's different.

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch I went ahead and fleshed out my thoughts on the GoW Q in an answer

nitsua60

Personally, I don't care for it as a long-form campaign structure, though.

Akixkisu

10:30 PM

@V2Blast the client side check can fail and then the grace period is extended.

Rubiksmoose

^

V2Blast

104

Q: How was this answer posted after this question was closed?

Question: lot of .exe folders are created on my windows7 Answer: try that... The question was closed at 11:57:57 (according to the hover-over-"x-mins-ago" bar) and the answer was posted at 12:16:35. It's a fairly lengthy answer, so it's possible that it was started to be written before it was c...

bug status-bydesign answers closed-questions

user15026

@nitsua60 that makes sense!

BESW

@nitsua60 How does that mesh with having even more rules to follow?

Akixkisu

It works by arranging the rules differently and making the initial investment on the player side very low.

A player can jump in after reading 6 pages.

(If they have a patient GM).

user15026

10:36 PM

@BESW oh wait what how does it add more rules?

BESW

@Ash I mean, I don't know the details, but I know it's adding in stuff to standardize expectations which are normally set table-by-table.

trogdor

@nitsua60 it really does seem more useful as a one shot format

Akixkisu

It has rules like being able to completely recreate your character (while they retain their acquired rewards) up to including level 4.

So the whole additional rules investment is on the DM side. Player's are also guided in the material that they can use and the like.

trogdor

@BESW oh yeah,... that's a good point

Akixkisu

The rest are things like a formulised code of conduct and tracking log sheets which are supposed to make play accessible.

user15026

10:43 PM

Interesting.

Carcer

there's a few which are AL-specific loophole closers that haven't been deigned to include the core rules

like "If your simulacrum casts wish, the stress applies to you"

Ben

Why is it always the IT guys PC that's the worst?

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: Is the Gritty Realism variant incompatible with dungeon-based adventures?

The variant Gritty Realism rule presented in the DMG (see p. 267) changes short rests from 1 hour to 8 hours, and long rests from 8 hours to 7 days. Its description suggests, casually and without elaboration, that [t]his approach encourages the characters to spend time out of the dungeon. I...

dnd-5e rests optional-rules

Someone_Evil

@Ben Because you notice all the wrong things as wrong, a lot of users think it just is like that and get on with their day

Ben

@HotRPGQuestions That doesn't really answer my question

@Someone_Evil I'd say that would play a major part... however my PC took half an hour and a restart to actually decide to work. Lol

Someone_Evil

10:58 PM

Well clearly you just need to apply more grit to your machine and it will be all the better.

Ben

To be fair, it is 5 years old, been used as 4 different servers, run key registers and databases, and is the main programming PC.

And it's a laptop. Not an actual PC.

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