We are pretty good I the DM am the most skilled. We mostly do casual but sometimes we go extremely competitive. I was kinda thinking about Getting tomb of annihilation.
I had success with using the Tomb of Horrors Super-Adventure as a spine for a full 1-to-30 campaign, and filling in the gaps with selections from Dungeon adventure paths, but I don't know what the 5e equivalent would be.
@TrevorFait More specifically, what sort of things do they enjoy in TTRPGs? Mystery & investigation? Epic stories? Character-focused story & drama? Dungeon crawling?
@TrevorFait ToA, being half-hexcrawl half-dungeon-crawl, can take some DM legwork to fill in gaps
it's also a campaign that is not built around encounter balance. it's normal and expected to run away from or simply avoid encounters in the jungle in ToA; trying to fight everything you see there is a really good TPK recipe, even
@Miniman Well, you'll always have the newest version of the content contained in WGTE. The new Eberron book reprints the character options, but seems to add more DM-facing content in the form of monsters and an included adventure. Mearls did say when WGTE came out that a potential hardcover would likely reprint character options but otherwise be complementary
@TrevorFait - @nitsua60 has been DMing ToA for some of us, he can probably tell you a bit about his experience
Relatively new to DnD/TTRPGs. Playing a Barb with +0 to INT and -1 to WIS. I just realized that my party might be walking right into a gelatinous cube. What is considered "average" intelligence and wisdom? Would my character be able to reason through subtle clues that we might be wandering throug...
I am working on a campaign in 3.5e and the big baddy is a hellfire warlock. When the players are going through the campaign I am guessing they will be around level 4 at this point. My question is, because there is an NPC at level 15 to even the playing field a bit, does and antimagic field canc...
Related to this Q/A ("Does a controlled mount share its rider's turn?") where there doesn't seem to be a consensus on whether or not the rider and their mount actually share a turn.
I am left wondering what even happens when things do share a turn:
The true polymorph spell states:
Object int...
@Miniman I mean, Mearls basically said exactly this back when WGTE was released - that some character options would likely be reprinted in both but that the books themselves would be complementary
This is for d&d 5e. I can't find the rules for multiclassing into artificer. My character is starting out with Rogue through level 3 and then going into artificer, after which I will bounce back and forth. Which skill proficiency do I get? Rogues normally get 4 and artificers normally get 2, ...
Wow I just found out about this RPG card generator which actually lets you put your own text inside the cards ! Awesome for homebrew spells, or for foreign players !
4
I might also use it to make my players a cheat sheet for available actions in combat
I could probably carry this conversation on for approximately two and a half exchanges more before running out of my middle-school French, but for the benefit of the non-francophones of the chat room, I'll stick to English: how's it going?
Pianos used to be quite standard for middle class housing here but nowadays fewer and fewer people up here have one
I reckon they might be more common in the countryside where detached houses are more common --- old acoustic ones don't go too well with block housing x)
I haven't played to any audience apart from various partygoers at student speakeasies and block parties in ages. Now I signed up to play at a company party, like on an actual stage. I'm a bit freaked out :P
I have a very small set list so far though: there are four pieces I could conceivably play. I'll probably play just one. I am practicing two more pieces at this time but I won't have them ready by then
Currently the favorite is the ever-so-great Maple Leaf Rag. I mean, it's easily one of Joplin's best works, and I play it better than the other pieces mainly because of lots and lots of grinding. The only major downside is that it's what every ragtime player plays, except if they go for The Entertainer, and as such people might be primed to hear it more as an amateurish rendition :P
I can also play Joplin's Magnetic Rag and Elite Syncopations but Magnetic is a bit sombre --- I have a huge personal admiration for the piece because it blends ragtime, usually associated with revelry and celebration, with more sorrowful bits. I'm not sure if it's a good piece for an audience that doesn't really know what to expect. Elite Syncopations is a fun piece but a tad less impressive, IMO, than the other two Joplin pieces
And as my ace up my sleeve, I can pull of Joseph Lamb's Champagne Rag if I get to practice a bit beforehand. It's one of my favorites even if it has a bit of stereotypical honky tonk feel to it. It might actually be desirable here.
Well kudos to you, and I wouldn't worry too much about what other people might be expecting to hear, in the end trust your gut on what goes well and what you can pull off
Cure Light Wounds:Sometimes, it's the little things that really cure those wounds. A simple addition to casting the spell, for use in any game that has it. Submission by Viditya Voleti for the Cure Light Wounds Jam.
Yeah Ive done some chamber music (string quartet galore) and symphonic orchestra (about a year with the Orchestre symphonique du campus d'orsay) but then university took most of my time and I stopped playing for about 5 years
I just picked it up now and will be trying some solo pieces first
@kviiri I know about these guys who do covers of pop/rock songs with cellos
@kviiri Golden Sky Stories and Cozy Town both have a mechanic where every person at the table can give any other person useful token currency for making the game better (making them laugh, being helpful, furthering the game's explicit goals, etc).
@Medix2 One thing that probably backs up my answer is that Whirlwind Attack is one of the choices for Multiattack, and it's been established (correct me if I'm wrong) that Multiattack is its own action separate from the Attack action.
@PierreCathé Curse of Strahd is really fun, I'm sure you'll have a blast!
Though if you're GMing, try to remember that the book doesn't give you any specifics on how to play Strahd or where/when to have encounters with him occur, so keep opportunities in the back of your mind so you don't forget to use him. ^_^
I just recently did the big reveal for my group that the "Ireena" who had been accompanying them since they were in Barovia was actually Strahd in disguise; he bit the druid, charmed her to tell him everything she knows about the party that he didn't already get from his interactions with them, wiped her memory of the event, then attacked them to test their abilities.
He left the high elf cleric a letter offering to let her leave Barovia if she joins him and betrays the party, but she told them about it so he has his sights on the druid and fighter now. He's basically making a game out of trying to get one of them to turn on the others.
@JohnClifford That's... really good. I've seen suggestions online of having Strahd offer freedom to the PCs but only offering it to one of them is next-level evil
In a later session (the next one we're able to have in person probably) I'm going to try enticing the party to Castle Ravenloft for dinner and a chat, and Strahd is going to give each party member an envelope and two pieces of paper: one saying "stay" and one saying "leave". He'll ask them to put the one they want to do in the envelope and hand it back.
But I've prepared a "dummy" envelope that has one leave and a stay for party members - 1, and just as he says one of them appears to have already given up I'm going to switch envelopes, drop it on the table, and tell them he vanishes in a cloud of mist, leaving them to discuss.
I just really don't understand how you can allow it to make a melee weapon attack (bypassing its normal requirement of the Attack action) but not allow it to make a melee spell attack (bypassing its normal requirement of the Cast A Spell action)
You're right in your argument that dealing damage with a weapon requires you to use the Attack action, so it's not mechanically any different from dealing damage with a spell's melee spell attack via Cast a Spell.
Because otherwise how would you know what the attack roll and damage were going to be?
Question: is it a rule that if you rent a room at an inn in a city and rest there for the night, you're going to have a full 8 hour rest? Or is there an (optional) rule about an encounter table that might mess with that rest and that a DM might roll on? Stuff like a mosquito keeping you awake, a burglar breaking in at night and stealing 7d10+6 GP from your purse, exceptionally loud neighbours arguing, one of the barmaids sneaking into your bed at midnight,...
Like, I don't have the books and I don't have a group, and I know you guys don't like hypothetical situations as questions
Used in hand-to-hand combat, a melee attack allows you to attack a foe within your reach. A melee attack typically uses a handheld weapon such as a sword, a warhammer, or an axe. A typical monster makes a melee attack when it strikes with its claws, horns, teeth, tentacles, or other body part. A few spells also involve making a melee attack.
That's from the SRD.
Might be helpful to include that last sentence in your answer.
@Nzall I don't recall seeing any actual published rules about rest interruptions during an inn visit, but the "DM has the final say" rule means that you could absolutely do that if you want to. If you have a legitimate reason to interrupt them and it isn't going to cause a huge disruption I'd say go for it.
Yeah, I know. I was just wondering if there's some kind of encounter table I might be able to use for this, because most of them AFAIK are based on outdoors interruptions
Doesn't sound like there are many things there that would interrupt for at least an hour, so it would add some flavour to the rest without actually stopping it.
"If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity—at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity—the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it." might be relevant here.
Yeah. The way I'd do it is to make a table of possible interruptions and have some sort of flag to denote "one-time" things that will only ever happen once (so they don't end up being repetitive).
@JohnClifford The Sage Advice Compendium states: Grappling and shoving are special melee attacks that require the Attack action (PH, 195). This may help your answer
Unfortunately it also says this: You can’t if the spell attack is created by casting a spell. When a creature triggers an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against it. The opportunity attack doesn’t suddenly give you the ability to cast a spell, such as shocking grasp.
@JohnClifford Is it also fine for some results to have a different effect than a rest interrupted? something like "during the night, you were stung in the arm by a mosquito. The bite itches fiercely as you wake up, giving you disadvantage on your next concentration/spot check."
Imposing disadvantage on one roll isn't really unbalanced; I mean you can give Inspiration for pretty much any reason you want and that gives advantage on a roll of the player's choice.
Maybe give it like -2 or something for a mosquito bite rather than straight up disadvantage though, unless it's a really bloody big mosquito. ;)
I'd also perhaps make that a little more interesting; if the PC has a passive perception of X or higher, they feel the mosquito on their arm and splat it before it can feed.
You can apply modifiers to rolls at your discretion on the basis of environmental or situational factors.
That'd be neat too, good way to reward them for having certain class features or stats.
Mundane things like that really help to bring the world alive as well, since it starts to feel like a place where stuff happens rather than a sandbox in which the players cause happenings.
When a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, instead of making an opportunity attack. The spell must have a casting time of only 1 action and must target only that creature.
@Nzall Assuming you mean DnD, no such rule exists (at least in 5e, I doubt in earlier editions either). DnD tends to lean towards "realism" in these things: it states what in-universe features must occur for the mechanical effects of a rest to happen, and the rest (pun totally intended) is up for GM to decide.
You would be able to use your reaction to cast the spell you readied, but you'd lose the readied spell anyway because you used your reaction for the opportunity attack.
The Player's Handbook only describes that a melee attack is allowed when making an Opportunity Attack. Does this only mean melee weapon attacks, or does it allow some spells? Also assuming that if it does, then only spells with a casting time of 1 action, right?
I personally run rests quite differently from most GMs I know, because to me they represent a crucial balancing component of the game more than realism.
You still only get one reaction per turn: if you've readied a spell and you make an opportunity attack, you lose the readied spell and your reaction is spent.
If the trigger happens before the OA, your reaction isn't available for the OA. If it happens after, your reaction was already used by the OA so the readied action wouldn't happen.
What you could do is ready a spell with the trigger "when this enemy moves out of attack range".
Resting is a funny thing. You need to allow enough of them that casters have enough resources to not be completely useless in the majority of combats, while also not allowing them to be ubiquitous enough that they never feel any pressure on their resources whatsoever.
Ready, say, inflict wounds with the trigger "When goblin Jim comes into range, I will attack him" But then, when Kobold Bob walks up to you and attacks and walks away you could instead use the spell on Bob
Right, but then you're making an opportunity attack with Inflict Wounds that's entirely separate to the one you readied, and the one you readied is lost.
@JohnClifford I usually run a "only long rest in towns" house rule. Technically it doesn't really even have to be a house rule, just a general fact that outside designated safe zones any long rest'd be interrupted.
Without War Caster you could ready Inflict Wounds with the trigger "When Kobold Bob moves out of range, I will cast this" and it would function like an opportunity attack without actually being one.
The only time I've let my group take a long rest outside of an inn was in the "dream sequence" Death House because I figured there wasn't any actual danger present within the scape of it (though they still got flattened by the end boss and had to run away from it)
@JohnClifford It does have one problem, namely that 5e has a bunch of spells whose only purpose seems to be to grant safe rests absolutely anywhere. They kill the tension for me :(
And no disrespected to my players, but they usually don't appreciate the constructive aspects of constraints as much as I'd hope
Aww, I wasn't able to post my comment in that virus question.
I've never heard of the verasto system but if it's anything like Roll For Shoes just say you want to "fix the virus 1" and roll a d6 to see if you roll higher than the virus's opposing roll. If you get a 6, you can get a new skill like "send the virus to a friend 2".
@JohnClifford The specific quote I gave you from the SAC was regarding whether or not you could grapple/shove as an opportunity attack (as it, like Whirlwind Attack, uses the phrase "melee attack") so you could add the entire Q/A into your post as it helps show that another thing that allows you to make a melee attack does not allow you to grapple/shove
It does open up some interpretation quandaries, but generally when I come up against one I just figure out what my most logical interpretation of it is and rule that way.
Occasionally players have argued their case as to why a decision I've made hasn't been correct, and I do take that into account.
Thankfully I only have one tabletop veteran in my group (well, 3 now) so I rarely have to deal with people being smarter than the rules.
We haven't really had many rules debates of the "ain't no rule say a dog can't add a damage effect to a long-range detection spell" variety, but I run into them all the time on the internet.
At one point the party was up against a suit of animated armor: the cleric cast Create or Destroy Water to fill it up (since technically it was an open container) and the silver dragonborn fighter used his breath weapon to freeze the water inside it, causing it to slow down.
I mean if I'd wanted to shut that down I could have pointed out that a suit of armour isn't really an open container (there are gaps between plates etc. that water would seep through) but it was such a cool idea I let them do it.
@JohnClifford Which the dragonborn could have chilled at the same time to get around that, but why add more mental gymnastics to an already entertaining trick.
@JohnClifford I probably would have shut it down :) Not an open container, can't 'fill' a creature with water, and the dragon's breath cold doesn't say it freezes things like Cone of Cold does (which only does upon death.)
This is the same cleric who did a 46-damage critical Guiding Bolt to Strahd when he was "testing" them, which very nearly screwed up an entire mechanic of the campaign. XD
@NautArch Yeah, there were many ways I could have shut it down, but I tend to allow things if they make for awesome narrative opportunities.
Like strictly RAW Fire Bolt doesn't ignite creatures but I allowed it to set a vampire spawn they were fighting on fire so that it was taking a bit of extra damage. Which also birthed the line "If you want to expose your genitals to a vampire who's on fire, be my guest!" when someone suggested urinating on him to put him out, so definitely worth it.
Oh agreed it depends on how you rule. And if you want to adhere strictly that's perfectly alright. I just think the whole point of playing a TTRPG is to at some point enjoy it, otherwise why do it?
@NautArch Yup, that makes a lot of sense, that's what I enjoy as a player
@Medix2 I think we treat it much more as a combat wargame. There's also the risk that "I can do something cool to the bad guy" becomes "the bad guy did something cool to us and it's not cool"
Oh yeah definitely, I have always disliked idea that "If the NPC's and PC's can do it, it's fair" because PC's die less frequently and therefore they are more important (their health is more valuable)
The good thing about controlling the world and everything in it is that things can only be unfair to your PCs if you let them. Though there is a significantly-large grey area somewhere in the middle where you end up ruling yourself into a corner where not dicking over your PCs doesn't make narrative sense.
Shield is kind of a special case; nobody has it yet, but we actually discussed it the other day. If anyone ever does get it, I'll probably let them know whether using it would prevent the hit.
We only have one person with levels in Bard; if she takes a third level I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but I'd probably do the same thing as Shield and let her know whether using Cutting Words could change a hit to a miss without specifying the value.
There might be some advantage of deterrence in using the shield even if one'd get hit even then --- assuming some stuff about the foes' behavior model of course.
Though there's an argument to be made that it might not be worth it for the sake of a difference of 1 point so it would be useful for them to have that information.
There is only a very marginal advantage of using shield when you know you will get hit still. Which would be if you might fall unconscious or something before another attack hits you.
@NautArch Agreed
It's just GM style/decisions at the end of the day
@Medix2 Well yeah, that's the more mechanical aspect of it, but using the shield ASAP could also serve to make one a less appealing target than their comrades which could be useful in all manner of situations.
@JohnClifford I prefer the extra immersion that comes from knowing the numbers ;)
The first part of the description for Blink reads:
Roll a d20 at the end of each of your turns for the duration of the spell. On a roll of 11 or higher, you vanish from your current plane of existence and appear in the Ethereal Plane (the spell fails and the casting is wasted if you were alre...
@Medix2 (Assuming you mean the Shield thing) In a sense --- of course it depends a bit on how the opponents act. Most GMs I've played with don't really emphasize monster behavioral quirks when running them, but aren't exactly proficient minmaxers either so they could easily rush into the conclusion that a target under Shield isn't a good target before actually doing the maths.
Hmm, that's fun, means I get to think up narration for an attack hitting through the shield that wouldn't contradict later ones not being able to penetrate it.
I've always imagined it to be a pretty visible effect too, so an intelligent creature would be able to make an educated guess that the thing they're trying to hit is going to be harder to hit now.
Similar with opportunity attacks --- most people and GMs I've played with go out of their way to avoid them even in situations where it's a very minor nuisance
Would they though? Truesight allows you to see invisible creatures and objects, but what Shield creates is an invisible barrier of magical force, which is neither.
Though that would be a cool thing so I'd totally do that.
Air is invisible, most of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum is invisible... I'd imagine a creature that would actually see everything would either have a really large brain for filtering all the useless information out of the useful stuff, or they'd be effectively blinded by seeing too much :-)
Here's my tables: The players explain how they want something to work out, the GM determines how it actually works out (telling the players such). When a monster rolls a die the GM does not know whether it will hit or not the GM asks whether it hits and is then told the result by the players. If the GM instead asks for the player's AC then the GM reveals the preliminary result of the roll (hit/miss) as they themself are learning it
Well this is one of those things I've been whinging about for ages to my group. Our GMs run checks so that the player rolls, adds a modifier, declares a number. Then the GM, through a process that's completely opaque, decides whether that number is a success, fail or something in between, and what exactly the outcome means, and whether the player needs to do something more to accomplish something more.
@Medix2 Knowing the die roll only tells you one thing. Once you've figured out modifiers, you know a bit more about success/failure. But you still don't know what hte success/failure necessarily means. FOr an attack, you know a bit more, but still need to see the damage roll. For an ability check, the power is hte in outcome description.
@NautArch Sure, but if you're rolling the damage etc out in the open, the players will have a very good idea of what the immediate future holds. The only unknown is the first time an attack hits when which damage dice get rolled is a question.
Can either the Nondetection or Mind Blank spells prevent information about oneself being divined from others through the Legend Lore spell?
In this instance, the party was trying to legend lore the true name of a legendary creature that had protected itself with nondetection and mind blank.
Ho...
@Medix2 They maintain their own sheets on their accounts, I only have the URL for that character loaded so it's always current with what modifiers they have.
In my head the players can determine the modifiers and dice of an enemy if they wanted to (they have the books, they can remember how much damage got done), so I roll dice in the open. Whether their characters understand that is never a question to me. You can approximate the relative strength of your opponents
I'm also in the process of making MapTool macros for all the creatures in my game for their attacks etc. so that all I have to do is click a button, put in the target AC, and it tells me the roll, whether it hit, whether it crit and how much/what type of damage was done if it hit.
@Medix2 That I almost always give the character with the experience that info. E.g. the fighters can readily id the opponent with martial prowess and the magic types get a feeling of, "that guy magics" etc
So the things I've been pestering my GMs for are open target numbers, and open stakes, as much as appropriate. Knowing these things before committing to the course of action would be nice too
I'm almost enjoying it more than I enjoy actually DMing the sessions. XD
@kviiri If my players asked me to be open about that stuff I'd be more than happy to do so, but they like it the way I do it now so I continue to do it that way. ^_^
@GcL True, and maybe this comes down to table preference. BUt we generally like rolling dice and seeing the dice roll. THe DM pulls out D12s to roll damage and that adds to the table experience for us as we get really worried.
@JohnClifford Yeah it's ultimately up to their taste, but remember that people can always seem happy with stuff because they don't know there's another way to do things, or assume there's a really good reason for things to be done exactly like they're being done now
The good thing about the players only having narrative clues for the behind-the-scenes mechanics of things is that all I have to do is laugh maniacally for a bit and they know it's about to get real.
@Medix2 Also encourages player cooperation. When the rogue asks the fighter which of the thugs is going to be a problem. I'm really happy when that happens.
@kviiri Agreed. I actually check in with my players regularly asking them for feedback on my style and their enjoyment of the game, and ask them if they'd like to try doing things X way instead.
@JohnClifford I generally look worried when they get themselves into a tough combat they're not prepared for. Like, I don't want the characters to die. I'm not particularly rooting for the foes.
Eg. I had a group of friends who were perfectly happy to level grind themselves to level 15 to play a high-level homebrew campaign their GM had prepared until I pointed out I'd just start directly at or at least close to the level... :P
there have been a lot of organizational changes, for the worse imo. And I don't like my current managerial structure.
The last straw was someone raising a bug report - some field has missing values. I remembered seeing the exact same ticket, so I dig and find it. Closed as resolved.
I comment in the new ticket "This seems related to this ticket".
And my grandboss tells my boss to "push back on (goodguy) to propose next steps" and my boss forwards me the email and just says "don't link new tickets to closed tickets. see grandboss' email"
Related to this Q/A ("Does a controlled mount share its rider's turn?") where there doesn't seem to be a consensus on whether or not the rider and their mount actually share a turn.
I am left wondering what even happens when things do share a turn:
The true polymorph spell states:
Object int...
This is for d&d 5e. I can't find the rules for multiclassing into artificer. My character is starting out with Rogue through level 3 and then going into artificer, after which I will bounce back and forth. Which skill proficiency do I get? Rogues normally get 4 and artificers normally get 2, ...
The Player's Handbook only describes that a melee attack is allowed when making an Opportunity Attack. Does this only mean melee weapon attacks, or does it allow some spells? Also assuming that if it does, then only spells with a casting time of 1 action, right?
The first part of the description for Blink reads:
Roll a d20 at the end of each of your turns for the duration of the spell. On a roll of 11 or higher, you vanish from your current plane of existence and appear in the Ethereal Plane (the spell fails and the casting is wasted if you were alre...
Can either the Nondetection or Mind Blank spells prevent information about oneself being divined from others through the Legend Lore spell?
In this instance, the party was trying to legend lore the true name of a legendary creature that had protected itself with nondetection and mind blank.
Ho...
