TRPG General Chat

trogdor

12:01 AM

I was implying that for sure

V2Blast

@MikeQ I'm doing that thing again where I fill all my free times with D&D/TTRPGs. Whether this is a good or bad thing remains to be seen.

@PeterCooperJr. Haven't read it in much depth, but I think SCAG details some of the differences between the human ethnicities in Faerun

Joshua

We had some fun with an industrial strength bag of holding. We filled it full of lead.

V2Blast

@PeterCooperJr. Might also be worth checking out the subreddit for that particular campaign and/or asking there: reddit.com/r/WaterdeepDragonHeist

Joshua

Good for defending walls or a decent passive trap.

Black Spike

12:23 AM

hi

I can't do accents at all. I give my NPCs character-traits. Kinda 'stereotypes'. Hooks. In our last game they were literally known, in-game, by their archetype! (The Goth, The Geek, The Artist). Along with a Picture, and some interaction, soon the players knew who they were :)

Shalvenay

@Joshua Supersack of Holding? XD

(more formally, FIBC of Holding, where FIBC = Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container)

BESW

Also there's a lot more to voice than accent.

Aside from obvious things like lisps and stammers and hesitation markers, vocabulary and syntax choices are massive in defining character and distinguishing individuals.

Black Spike

@BESW Very true. I do try to vary NPCs by -how- they say things

BESW

That's part of why I use actors as models--especially actors who either have a consistent style across their work, or who inhabit one particularly memorable role I can draw on.

Using a performance as a touchstone gives me a lot of different cues--body language, vocabulary choice, hesitation markers, etc.

Black Spike

The Geek was obsequiously polite, and fawning (and gathering as much blackmail info as possible!). The Artist referred everything to The Great Masters: "Oh, how very Monet, but I feel a more Caravagian approach would work here" (planning a heist!)

I do try to model things around Movie Scenes nowadays ... sometimes the trick is to figure -which- movie it is! :) often that's the dice rolls. :)

It helps that we play in our lounge, with a Big TV to chromecast pictures to. "That's the imagery for this Scene" ... "That's -this-NPC-" ...

BESW

12:40 AM

in Fate chat and game room, Nov 16 '14 at 6:08, by BESW

@doppelgreener One of my dreams is to have a rec room with a big white wall and a big table, with a swing-mounted projector on the ceiling that can point at the wall or down at the table.

Black Spike

<looks over previous posts .. oh, Bechedel Test!> Yeah, it's not the be-all and end-all. It's not meant to be

Shalvenay

@BESW no doubt

Peter Cooper Jr.

@V2Blast Yeah, I should probably borrow SCAG from my brother again, or actually go ahead and buy my own copy. Thanks for the tip.

Joshua

1:17 AM

@Shalvenay: made of a more durable material

Hot RPG Questions

8

Q: What magic extends life or grants immortality

Are there any magic items or spells that extend the natural life of a creature (meaning the age of the creature, and not preventing death from a wound or injury) or that grants immortality in the 5e books published by Wizards of the Coast. I'm looking only for options available to PCs through ch...

dnd-5e

V2Blast

1:33 AM

@PeterCooperJr. Seems there's only about a paragraph or two for each ethnicity (plus some example names), from p. 110-112 or here on DDB: dndbeyond.com/sources/scag/races-of-the-realms#Humans

though there is a short sidebar listing each human ethnicity/nation's languages

JohnP

2:30 AM

@V2Blast - Did you get a chance to look through those postings?

V2Blast

2:50 AM

@JohnP Honeywell, right? Haven't had a chance yet

V2Blast

3:29 AM

About to stream our D&D 5e actual-play podcast in about 30 minutes: https://www.twitch.tv/events/oGzGrCoxSbS1S1Zg61gSqg

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.

Joel Harmon

@V2Blast If I recall correctly, didn't Crawford's twitter account get un-official-ized, and only the stuff that actually made it into an official correction still counts?

V2Blast

@JoelHarmon You recall correctly.

Joel Harmon

I'm working through Seven's wall of text still, so maybe there's a still-official reference in there that I'm missing. Or maybe I'm just being ornery.

Well, at least this gives rise to one other way to interrupt a long rest - ask a mildly controversial question about a niche hobby on the internet. This will probably keep me up tonight.

V2Blast

@JoelHarmon Nah, it's just some mildly ambiguous rules phrasing and an unofficial clarification of that phrasing by Crawford. Crawford's explanation is how I interpreted it to begin with. It'd seem weird to me to throw in a duration intended only for one activity in a sentence listing several such activities.

@JoelHarmon Hahahaha.

:D

Joel Harmon

3:49 AM

@V2Blast Well, I've taken a crack at an update to my answer. Please let me know if I should make further changes.

V2Blast

@JoelHarmon Will have to take a look later, due to the podcast being about to start :P

V2Blast

5:05 AM

A writing.SE thread relevant to our interests:

37

Q: Avoiding racist tropes in fantasy

I'm interested in starting a pleasure project: a fantasy story, along the lines of a witch delivering a prophecy to a king about a dangerous and deceitful foe who will overthrow him, and the king enlists three other witches to seek out and destroy this foe. I want to draw on traditional, argua...

creative-writing fiction characters fantasy

Hot RPG Questions

7:03 AM

6

Q: What is the difference between true neutral and unaligned?

Something I’ve never gotten is that true neutral and unaligned seem to be the same in the long run. The only difference is that unaligned is for wild animals, and true neutral is for intelligent creatures - pne being driven by instinct and the other by choice. Similarities Neither leans toward...

dnd-5e alignment

Nyakouai

7:15 AM

Morning all

Pierre Cathé

Morning

Nyakouai

7:37 AM

@MikeQ In some campaign our GM mastered, there is a whole trap that just spring an AOE disjunction all around

I was supposed to be the "arcane expert" around, but the GM decided to be a dick and chrono the time before the next dispelling blast while he was explaining me what I could piece from examination

Took the full brunt of it, and had to do a Will save for every magic item on me

(And somehow passed them all, but we never hang in this room ever again)

The Oracle

1

Q: How does the bot choose Q&A to publish on Twitter?

I already saw some of my questions being tweeted on the RPG Stack Exchange Twitter account. At first, I though Q&A were put on Twitter when someone, like a moderator, find it good and interesting. When I started to read other's question's edit, I also saw these "tweeted notification" and someti...

discussion

Nyakouai

So yeah, there is no spell too low for a GM that doesn't pull punches

Pierre Cathé

I just had an idea to cheat death in dnd-5e

Use magic jar and keep possessing younger bodies

but as everyone knows the catch is that if someone smashes the jar and your body's gone, you die

So you cast Imprisonment on your catatonic body and put it in a gem

Nyakouai

Don't you have any means to preserve a body in 5e?

Pierre Cathé

And you set the spell to end when your magic jar is broken

And you carry the gem everywhere you go

Nyakouai

7:48 AM

(there it is)

Pierre Cathé

@Nyakouai Yeah but I never thought about it before

Nyakouai

So you basically created a phylactery, but involving more steps and less suicide :P

Pierre Cathé

The only potentially contentious point is whether your soulless catatonic body counts as a creature for imprisonment

Nyakouai

(Which is good, just fun in comparison)

Pierre Cathé

@Nyakouai yup, and less dark magic

You could even found a cult around yourself and find willing people for reincarnation purposes

Nyakouai

7:50 AM

I'd advise against carrying the gem at all time

Imagine you fall in lava, or another situation where you don't want to pop on the very spot you died

Pierre Cathé

@Nyakouai Then you also cast contingency to somehow protect yourself ?

@Nyakouai The problem is that if your jar is smashed, and you're more than 100 ft from the jar, you die

Nyakouai

@PierreCathé Ah. Yes, that's a problem.

Pierre Cathé

Also you should carry the jar/phylactery, just in case the host body is killed, for the same reason

So it might be cumbersome, but it's less risky/evil than suicide-lichification

Nyakouai

Okay, so not as good as a phylactery, but still pretty decent as back-up

I think it has a very Palpatine vibe to it

MikeQ

@Nyakouai Yep, this was the Runelords campaign. I remember the trap you're talking about. It was annoying.

Nyakouai

7:54 AM

@MikeQ (Didn't want to spoil the AP :P )

MikeQ

The BBEG shouldn't have that spell anyway (I checked afterward), but I suppose this is a heads-up if you also have a vindictive GM

Nyakouai

He cloned himself and could transfer his consciousness to a new, younger body. (And now that I think about it, it's the clone spell...)

@MikeQ Wait, your story happened in RotR?

Pierre Cathé

I love how the target in Magic Jar is allowed one saving throw, and that's it

MikeQ

@Nyakouai Yes. I think it's a very problematic AP, but nobody was running anything else.

Pierre Cathé

"Toss a coin to see whether you're fine, or you lose your body forever"

Nyakouai

7:59 AM

@MikeQ Ok, so we're not the only group thinking it's tedious as hell... Good, good...

@PierreCathé Is the DC hard to pass, or...?

MikeQ

@Nyakouai Gosh no. It really favors certain classes over others, the dungeons are grindy, the NPCs are boring, and the plot jumps around. Combine that with a GM who communicates poorly and won't improvise, and you get a mess.

Hot RPG Questions

2

Q: Can a PC's alignment be forcibly changed?

Can a PC's alignment be forcibly changed? I've been skimming through the classes on PFSRD, and noticed a lot of them have alignment restrictions. Many state that if their alignment changes, they lose X, Y, and Z, or just stop gaining class levels, period. Since that's the case and a number of c...

pathfinder-1e alignment

Pierre Cathé

@Nyakouai "The target must make a Charisma saving throw. On a failure, your soul moves into the target's body"

MikeQ

@Nyakouai There were annoying moments where it's like "Did you miss this obscure clue from 10+ sessions ago? That'll cost you a TPK."

Nyakouai

@MikeQ Haven't finished it yet

I can guess a few, but still have a book and a half to crush

MikeQ

8:08 AM

The final chapter was the worst. No story, no loot, no chance to return to town. Only grind.

Nyakouai

(It was a subtle way to say: please no spoil :P )

MikeQ

Just a heads-up. In retrospect, I wish someone had told me. I'll say no more.

Nyakouai

Yeah, just warning before you go further :P

I can kinda guess what's gonna happen, but prefer to go in there as un(-meta-)knowingly as possible

Though, this isn't the worst move a GM pulled on us ever

There have been some royal scamming moments

Pierre Cathé

Not sure if this is worthy of a mainsite question : can you use the same item as spell component for two different spells ?

MikeQ

@Nyakouai Oh for sure. Getting TPK'd before the end of round 1 was insulting, but it's far from the worst thing I've experienced in a TTRPG.

@PierreCathé If you're asking 5e - Material components aren't consumed unless the spell says so.

Pierre Cathé

8:20 AM

@MikeQ Yeah 5e, and they aren't consumed but they serve as container for the magic jar

my idea is to cast magic jar using a gemstone

and then use the same gemstone to imprison your body

From Imrisonment : "The target shrinks to a height of 1 inch and is imprisoned inside a gemstone or similar object. Light can pass through the gemstone normally (allowing the target to see out and other creatures to see in), but nothing else can pass through, even by means of teleportation or planar travel. The gemstone can't be cut or broken while the spell remains in effect.

Makes an indestructible magic jar container

Nyakouai

@PierreCathé I doesn't slow passing of time, though?

So your body is still decaying?

Pierre Cathé

@Nyakouai Nope : "While affected by this spell, the creature doesn't need to breathe, eat, or drink, and it doesn't age."

Ultimate cheese ?

Nyakouai

Ok, so a very nice phylactery, as long as you don't die

Pierre Cathé

Yeah, if your new body dies, you have to pass a Cha save to be allowed to return to your body

MikeQ

Oh I see, so you'd use magic jar to put the soul into the gem, and then use imprisonment to put the body in and make the gem indestructible. Would that work?

Pierre Cathé

8:24 AM

otherwise you die

@MikeQ Exactly

Nyakouai

So +1 life, but on a Charisma save

MikeQ

You'd need to possess someone else in order to cast imprisonment, correct?

Nyakouai

Suppose if you can cast those spells, you could manage to have a decent bonus to said save

Pierre Cathé

@Nyakouai Yeah, but if you make it, you can just cast it all again

@MikeQ Yes

V2Blast

@PierreCathé I think it's worth asking a question about your specific example. A general question about all spells might be a bit too broad to be answerable

Pierre Cathé

8:26 AM

@MikeQ And when they are close to death, you possess someone else

@V2Blast So something like "Can a magic jar gem be used to cast imprisonment? " ?

V2Blast

Yep

MikeQ

@PierreCathé Possible complication with imprisonment: "nothing else can pass through, even by means of teleportation or Planar Travel." So maybe you can't return your soul to the gem.

You could magic jar your soul into the gem, then have someone else cast imprisonment on your body, but then your soul can't leave the gem.

Pierre Cathé

@MikeQ Then you set the end condition for Imprisonment to be "whenever my soul departs from this host"

And you cast it again after possessing a new body

It has the side effect of dumping your soulless catatonic body on the floor whenever you change host, but that's what you get for using a cheap phylactery

Nyakouai

Cheap phylactery that doesn't require you to slice your own throat and raise as an undead

Count that as a win in my book

Couldn't you rig more contingency spells on it?

Such as Teleport/Planar Shift to a safe location once your soul return your body?

I'm unfamiliar with high level magic, especially in D&D 5e

Pierre Cathé

Contingency only works with 5th-level spells or below

There I got my questions out

BESW

8:47 AM

> Cut-rate immortality. When you take this stunt, choose a location and also pick one: Lose your highest consequence slot, or add "and lose all your fate points" to this stunt's effect. When you die, you reappear at that location, naked and confused. You may change the location by spending the time between one significant milestone and the next in that place.

MikeQ

9:01 AM

There are much easier ways to become naked and confused

2

BESW

9:15 AM

Well, if easy is all you're interested in....

Nyakouai

Maybe everytime you wake up naked and confused is because you died the day before, and you just don't remember

Nyakouai

11:27 AM

Question: Any question regarding an homebrew's evaluation should include the "balancing" tag, no? Doesn't make much sense to evaluate an homebrew that is not meant to be balanced?

(In D&D5e, regarding rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153952/… )

Someone_Evil

That doesn't and shouldn't exist as a rule. It is possible (if rare) for a homebrew review not to ask about balance (and still be on topic)

Nyakouai

Yeah, I guessed this was equivalent to the "Not guessing the system" rule. Since I wasn't sure, I asked first

Thanks for the answer

Someone_Evil

If one tag always needs a specific other tag, something is fishy with our tag definitions

KorvinStarmast

12:50 PM

@V2Blast If my son drops out of our Monday night (every other) campaign, I'll let you know. I am getting the feeling that he's about to have another work schedule change ... :(

@Nyakouai The other times had to do with grain alcohol ... 8^p

@Someone_Evil I like the depth to which that HB effort went. I am afb so my ability to research some of the balance trade offs is curtailed. (Though Hexblade is so out of balance with the other patrons ... arrgghh ...)

NautArch

@Nyakouai that would probably be a good question to ask on Meta.

My hunch (and possible answer) would be around being redundant with Homebrew-review.

KorvinStarmast

2:19 PM

@NautArch My favorite part of the "pay the weregild" RP was when my cleric cast a continual flame spell on her mace and gave it to the son of the slain guard. "this flame will be a memorial of your father's undying love for you." That got quite a reaction from the DM and the other players. They really liked it.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Actions are always opportunities :) It's about making those opportunities interesting.

But it can a hard line to determine if the response is fun. Balancing "this isn't going to go the way you want/think" with "you'll still have a good time" is the trick :)

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Oh yeah, it helps to know your group well when trying to walk that line.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast even then it's hard. I tend to go with "punishment" that actually offers up interesting non-punishing story lines.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Yeah, GcL's answer seems to fold some of that in. "OK, you did this, and now you find out the consequences of that ..."

GcL

What now?

NautArch

2:25 PM

@KorvinStarmast I"m still not totally convicned all those related Qs I linked aren't duplicates.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch If not dupes, very related.

@GcL I am saying that I like the approach your answer took.

GcL

Oh thanks. This is the murder-hobo question?

KorvinStarmast

@GcL The most recent one of those, yes. :)

GcL

So many murder-hobos converted... and so many more to go.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL but sometimes, what the world needs is a band of murder hoboes, since nobody else will do what needs doing .... insert appropriate theme music here

GcL

2:28 PM

@KorvinStarmast I've found it very gratifying to have stories where that is the starting assumption, but not the actual solution.

Illustrating the mistake, "if we could just kill all of the enemy, we'd win"

NautArch

Looks like NathanS is itching to be the next V2Blast with edits :P

GcL

That's a nice aspiration for them.

Have another V2 around to fix posts would be great. So much grammar and punctuation.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL But sometimes, that is a solution. When dealing with the undead, for example, eradication is a good way forward.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast The representative from the Union of Undead Workers would like a word with you.

JohnP

@NautArch Oh, man...that guys a stiff, I hate dealing with him

Nyakouai

2:31 PM

Don't laugh, Paizo managed to create a setting with unionized and "civilized" undeads...

GcL

@KorvinStarmast Sure. If the characters are cardboard cutouts, burning everything should work just find. Elimination of the undead still might not solve the problem though. Like, where'd they come from in the first place and why?

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch My life cleric will use Turn Undead. We don't negotiate with ~~terrorists~~ undead

Nyakouai

It's not legal to shoot them on sight anymore

GcL

@Nyakouai Karrnath in Eberron is like that.

Nyakouai

@GcL What a nightmare. Please don't let this become a trend, burn the undeads

JohnP

2:32 PM

@GcL They were avatars of the gods from a 2 dimensional plane. And now they're flat out pissed.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL Yes, that's a good way to write an adventure: someone is sending the undead forth, go and solve the root cause or you get more undead next week ....

GcL

@JohnP Yeah, you've got to take it to another level. Plane shift the thinking.

@KorvinStarmast And keep adding as many layers as players are interested in. Like... great, you found the necromancer, but how did they get that way? They can always dig deeper if it's fun.

JohnP

@GcL do I get credit for the subtle pun?

GcL

@JohnP You did until you called it out. Now it's revoked. /S

Hot RPG Questions

6

Q: Would a house rule letting anyone cast their ritual spells as rituals be game-breaking?

By default, there are limited ways for characters in D&D 5E to cast ritual-tagged spells as rituals. Either they choose a class with the Ritual Casting feature, choose warlock with the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, or choose the Ritual Caster feat. I'm considering a house rule that gives ...

dnd-5e spells house-rules spellcasting rituals

JohnP

2:35 PM

@GcL Bah. :p

KorvinStarmast

@GcL heh and so the party encounters the necromancer's mistress, who begs for mercy. As they dig through the necromancer's belongings and stuff, seeking loot, they come across a *ahem intimate activity toy ahem shaped as a smaller replica of .... dun dun dun! ... Wand of Orcus! Oh, no, was the necromancer part of a cult worshipping Orcus?

Or did she just have a skull fetish? Tune in next time as we discover what the party does next!

Nyakouai

@KorvinStarmast You dug too deep there

GcL

@KorvinStarmast I was with you up until toy. You really got me with that twist.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast I'll take "actions I don't want to know about for 500 gold, Alex"

GcL

That's probably an avenue my players would laugh about and immediately drop.... into lava.

KorvinStarmast

2:44 PM

@NautArch It's no worse that Tsukiko in OoTS having a lust for Xykon ...

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast maybe no worse at your table :)

KorvinStarmast

@GcL Yeah, some of my players would do similar, other groups I'd not even insert that into the story.

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast Which wand of Orcus would that be?

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP The one Finieous Fingers tried to steal ...

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast The "there's no rule that says I can't" is often a problematic argument. But don't want to engage in that in comments ;)

JohnP

2:55 PM

@KorvinStarmast Fineous Fingers filched the filthy floozie favorite?

goodguy5

@NautArch No rule says that I can't have a dog that plays basketball

GcL

@goodguy5 Actually, there's a documentary about that called Air Bud. It's from a time when we were making all sorts of documentaries about dogs doing incredible things.

So that's RAW and you can't hide from it.

NautArch

3:11 PM

@GcL TIL that movie is actually based ona real life dog named Buddy that also was Comet in Full House.

GcL

We're in a post truth society. Any movie can be a documentary.

kviiri

3:34 PM

Love being late at work, I can drum with the music I'm listening and it bothers no one

NautArch

@kviiri I read that as "love being late to work" and got very confused.

kviiri

@NautArch I actually have a patently pointless story about this, from yesterday.

I was just leaving for work, and I met this lady in the lobby with her really enthusiastic but confused-looking dog

She had left her phone home and dropped her keys in the elevator chute

Well, that's of course a sad situation, so we called the maintenance folks for emergency unlocking and key fishing services, but they had a queue. So after a while of waiting I took her name and apartment number and left for work still waiting

well, I was about a third way there when they responded and they were like "nuh sorry we need her SSN and stuff to verify it's actually her asking"

So I jogged back home and handed her the phone

But I'm happy she got the help she needed eventually I guess.

Of course that resulted in me being late and sweaty work

AND I also had to leave early to see Midsommar with my SO (been to Sweden, that film is 110% accurate)

So this actually segues into why I am here today at this hour :D

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch The question explicitly asked if there was or wasn't a rule preventing that. That is why I made that comment. Has it since been edited out? No, it's still there I just wanted to know if there is anything that says he can't

Zachiel

Dwarves.

> Well maybe yer clan dinna ride, but bear calvary is well known among my folk. Nothing like a couple o' hundred pounds of furry fury in yer face! - And the bear's pretty scary too.

The Oracle

3:51 PM

1

Q: How to ask about changes resulting from homebrew?

I am currently having difficulty drafting an appropriate question for the following scneario: I have a player that wants to swap out the spellcasting ability for Warlocks in D&D 5e from Cha to Int. I am not looking for an opinion or ruling on whether that should be allowed, but rather looking fo...

discussion questions homebrew

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, I just realized that :) And i'm glad I didn't say anything in the comments!

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch You get 50 XP for most excellent self control! :)

Medix2

4:13 PM

Sometimes I wish downvotes required comments, but there's plenty of good reasons they don't

Yuuki

4:27 PM

@Zachiel I thought dwarves used boar cavalry?

And goat/ram cavalry?

Zachiel

4:41 PM

@Yuuki The boar and the ram start as small creatures. The dwarf is medium. Charaacters can only ride creatures one size larger or (with a feat) of their same size.

So the only valid choices are horse and camel at level 1

Rubiksmoose

Does any other game use notation like "+3/+3" for magic items?

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose i'm guessing +3 to hit / +3 damage

but why do you think it's not 5e they're talking about?

Hot RPG Questions

6

Q: Can a gem used as the material component for the Magic Jar spell also be used for the Imprisonment spell?

I want to cast Magic Jar to transfer my soul into a gem, then possess someone, then cast Imprisonment (using the Minimus Containment option) on my now-soulless body to store it safely into the same gem, making it indestructible at the same time. Can the gem used as a material component for Magic...

dnd-5e spells spell-components

5

Q: Is my soulless catatonic body a valid target for the Imprisonment spell?

I want to cast Magic Jar to transfer my soul into a gem, then possess someone, then cast Imprisonment on my now-soulless body to store it safely and be able to carry it everywhere with me in case my new body dies. Is my soulless catatonic body a valid target for Imprisonment ?

dnd-5e spells targeting

Yuuki

@Rubiksmoose Hearthstone?

MtG?

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch ohhh that would make sense I guess. But isn't that just +3 in 5e?

NautArch

4:53 PM

@Rubiksmoose Yeah, but what the books use and what an individual uses can be different :)

ONly thought about it after my weapon was damaged and I had a +3 to hit / +1 damage weapon.

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch Oh I'm confident that they're asking about 5e. I'm just curious if their choice of notation indicates something about their past gaming experience.

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose Ah, gotcha.

kviiri

@Rubiksmoose some roguelikes do that

NautArch

i'm more interested in if it's AL or not.

Rubiksmoose

Yeah that would drastically change the answers.

We'll just have to see if David comes back and helps out I guess.

KorvinStarmast

5:04 PM

@Rubiksmoose AD&D and original D&D had some items like that.

Someone_Evil

I guess you would only (want to) use it if you included +1/+0, +4/+2, -5/+10 style weapons as well, which are probably more interesting in the game design space as opposed to story space

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast oh neat! Maybe they are from older editions.

@Someone_Evil I'm not sure there are any items in 5e that do this by default are there? Certainly none with that notation that I've encountered at least.

Someone_Evil

Certainly not enough to use the notation. Such a notation doesn't quite fit with the design/language style of 5e anyway (for better or worse)

Xirema

5e does have a few magic weapons that are +1 [Weapon] (Damage Only)

Someone_Evil

Black puddings apply -1/-0 to weapons, I believe

Rubiksmoose

5:10 PM

Interesting. I thought I remembered something like that though I thought it was more on the flip side of + to hit. Then I thought I might have just been remembering masterwork from PF.

KorvinStarmast

@Someone_Evil to non magical weapons.

Xirema

(Actually, upon checking, it looks like they only have +1 [Weapon] (Attack Roll Only) but you get the idea)

I've also been homebrewing a system for procedurally generated weapons [magic and non-magic] that can involve weird bonuses like +2HIT/+4Damage or +6HIT/-3Damage, so if there's ever been a group that used a system like that, it would be easy to see how they might have learned to split those bonuses out like that.

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose For example, from Original Game, Vol 2, Monsters and Treasures, SWORDS, DAMAGE BONUSES: The swords all receive bonuses as far as the probability of hitting an opponent is concerned, but some also gain a damage bonus when they do hit. These swords are those with a +2 or +3 against specific creatures, but not those with a general bonus of +2 or +3

@Rubiksmoose Sword +1 , +2 vs Lycanthropes; Sword +1, +2 vs. Magic-Users and Enchanted Monsters; Sword +1 , +3 vs. Trolls (Clerics); Sword, Flaming: +1 +2 vs. Trolls (Pegasi, Hippogriffs, + Rocs) +3 vs. Undead (Treants); Sword +1 , +3 vs. Dragons

That is the whole lot of them from the original game.

Someone_Evil

5e does the same story representation (ie. sword of killing X) by adding damage dice when hitting X. Greater bonus, less mechanics being very similar to eachother/overlapping in notation. Also, you get to roll more dice

Rubiksmoose

5:27 PM

@KorvinStarmast That makes sense! Though it makes less sense as an example in this particular case since they said +3/+3 which seems like you wouldn't need to break it out at all. shrug

@Xirema That makes a lot of sense as well.

Someone_Evil

6:12 PM

Ok, I've sat on this one for long enough: First draft of a (non-joke) RPG of mine. Feedback, comments, questions are all appreciated.

3

nitsua60

@Someone_Evil Are you comfortable with the amount of personal info that sharing via the google doc opens up to the room?

Someone_Evil

Name is fine. Is there anything else I should be aware of? (Is google sharing something it isn't telling me about?)

nitsua60

Just name that I'm seeing, but I haven't really poked around.

KorvinStarmast

6:50 PM

@Rubiksmoose yeah, that question is sloppily written, hope dave comes back to clarify

@Someone_Evil I will give it a look this weekend. currently playing catch up in real life.

Rubiksmoose

7:09 PM

@KorvinStarmast Well he came back and deleted. So that's something. Though that was after I clarified that I didn't think it was answerable as-is.

And I think it would have taken quite a bit to get there.

Basically the question would boil down to "what is the most powerful item in the game" and then "can the PCs craft it"

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose Ahh, good, and I think we have a question on that about crafting legendary items. Maybe.

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8:28 PM

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Q: Is a player able to change alignment midway through an adventure?

My players are level 9 and one wants to change alignment from lawful to chaotic. I have the DMG, but I can't find anything about changing alignment half way through a campaign. Personally I feel that life experience during an adventure can change a character. I just wanted to know if there is...

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BESW

DC wrote another D&D Beyond article: "Character Creation and the Importance of Frontstory." And here's LuchaLibris's tweets about the principle from the improvisational theater perspective.

GcL

Did the Eberron book get rid of alignment?

NautArch

8:45 PM

@GcL the upcoming new one or the wayfinders guide?

GcL

@NautArch Either. I recall Keith Baker having a far more nuanced view than the stock alignment system. I'm wondering if WoTC let him slide that by the editors in the new editions.

KorvinStarmast

9:24 PM

@GcL I will check the WFG when I get home. I don't recall seeing it removed.

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Q: Is there any way to keep a player from killing an NPC?

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Black Spike

11:37 PM

@BESW Interesting article. We tend to build characters with a GM glancing over them saying "what's that about then?" ... "How did you learn that?" .. we -have- to have backstories ... and the GM raids them mercilessly for PLOT!

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