TRPG General Chat

Hot RPG Questions

00:43

1

Q: Is the illusion created by Invoke Duplicity affected by difficult terrain?

Is the illusion created by the Trickery Domain Cleric affected by difficult terrain when moving? As a DM, I'm assuming that it is not affected by difficult terrain. Is that correct? I assume if a player does move the illusion at normal pace on difficult terrain you would give the NPC / monster ...

BESW

01:39

DungeonCommandr has "a thread about what I think makes the most engaging combat in games."

The Library of Congress has shared the public domain images of the John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive, one of the most comprehensive documentary studies of vernacular commercial structures along main streets, byways, and highways throughout the United States in the twentieth century.

Hot RPG Questions

10

Q: Discrepancy regarding AoE point of origin between English and German PHB

I own both the English and German version of the D&D 5e Player's Handbook. On pages 204 and 205 it talks about area of effect spells and whether or not the point of origin is included in it. The English PHB states: A [cone,cube,line]'s point of origin is not included in the [cone,cube,line]'...

dnd-5e spells area-of-effect german

The Oracle

02:40

1

Q: Should homebrew review questions tagged as [homebrew] be re-tagged as [homebrew-review] instead?

There are a number of questions asking about whether some homebrew material is or isn't balanced. Some questions are tagged as homebrew, others are tagged as homebrew-review. According to the meta discussion "Do we want a [homebrew-review] tag separate from the [homebrew] tag?", this is intent...

discussion tags homebrew

kviiri

05:13

Kaiserreich runs several times faster than before

Now that I renovated my computer

It's like a whole new world

Ben

Oh it is a glorious feeling isn't it?

MikeQ

What sort of renovations did you do?

kviiri

@MikeQ Got a free GPU from a friend, had to upgrade PSU to support it, but I think RAM uogrades I threw in did this

I had like 4 GB of RAM before, now I'm at 16 which is enough for my gaming tastes

xkcd.com/606 this is me. With caveats

One being that I don't play "old" as much as I play "not very HW-intensive in the first place", although I just started Borderlands 2...

Ben

I helped a mate upgrade his PC the other day. And by "upgrade" I merely moved his hard drive and 4gb ram from his little old Acer into his ex's HP gaming PC. So now he has 4TB of space and 24GB RAM, and he uses it to develop his game notes for DnD night haha

kviiri

05:31

:)

Hey, I have a little game id question for you. Pen and paper but not the RPG kind.

When I was a kid there was a game played on a grid. Each tile represents a land area, and can be one of three types: capital (one per player), normal or fortified. Each player attempts to control the other players' capitals.

The basic action on one's turn was choosing six tiles on one's land or orthogonally adjacent to one's fortified tile, then choosing one of the marked tiles at random (d6 was used) and placing a fort there, capturing the tile if it was the enemy's. Fortified tiles couldn't be marked. The player would then place a new mark placing them back at six

The process was repeated to a total of six times, so the player gets six forts at somewhat random.

There are two alternative actions: guerilla strike which only takes a single tile, but you can pick it at certainty and it can be diagonally adjacent to your fort. The third possible action is defending, which creates three forts on your territory, at desired placed, but cannot be used to occupy territory.

The game would continue until no player could advance because of all fronts being fortified. Then all forts were removed and the game started over with the new borders.

Ben

05:49

I have no idea unfortunately haha

kviiri

The real strategic element is encirclement: players lose forts that cannot path to their capital without going through enemy forts (orthogonally)

V2Blast

@kviiri sounds interesting, but I've never heard of it

kviiri

06:10

Okay, I guess it might've been a rather local one then

I've played a primitive computer version of it though

kviiri

07:28

One of my DnD group contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in playing some Microscope <3

Pierre Cathé

Hi

kviiri

07:42

Hello o/

kviiri

08:34

@MarkWells A pleasant read this was, thanks!

BESW

Public Utility Mechs by Pamela Punzalan, a system-light, modular world and story building game that is all about playing the Drivers of transformable public transportation vehicles in a talyerpunk - more junkpunk, definitely Pinoy - version of the Philippines in the wake of invading alien forces who wish to subjugate mankind with "love".

Many of Pammu's games are currently on sale as part of the Hilagyo Jam Bundle, and some are part of her Pammu Goes to Big Bad Con 2019 Unsale fundraiser.

Hot RPG Questions

09:05

2

Q: Can celestials serve evil deities?

From what I’ve read, evil-aligned celestials are an extreme rarity, but evil-aligned deities exist. I’ve even heard that if a celestial turns evil, they stop being a celestial. Celestials supposedly serve deities, but it’s never been specified what type of deity they serve as far as I know. Do...

dnd-5e monsters alignment religions-and-deities

KorvinStarmast

12:28

@kviiri Sounds interesting, but I don't recall that one.

kviiri

12:39

@KorvinStarmast I actually found a new desktop implementation but haven't had the time to test it yet: gnu.org/software/motti

"Motti" is the Finnish name of the game and is military slang.

(pertaining to the game's major goal of encircling enemy forts)

I was never particularly good at the game but it did inspire me to start studying the basics of probabilities: in particular, using the standard "one out of six, six times" attack, what is the probability of fortifying a particular square you needed to have.

Gwideon

13:14

hello

Andras Deak

hi

Gwideon

how are you?

NautArch

howdy howdy!

Gwideon

hey

Rubiksmoose

Morning all! :)

NautArch

13:20

morning moose!

Rubiksmoose

How's it going?

NautArch

not too bad, have game night tonight, so that's a plus.

Rubiksmoose

Nice!

Game night should always be a good night.

Gwideon

Alright. Dnd club got canceled so i'm a little bummed out

Rubiksmoose

@Gwideon :(

Gwideon

13:23

Yeah

NautArch

@Gwideon :( OUr session last week got cancelled.

Gwideon

oof

NautArch

ALready thinking about next level up spell options for my wizard. DIspel Magic is definitely in his wheelhouse, but I also used that quite a bit with my paladin and think maybe something else is better.

or at least different

kviiri

Hey, if anyone has experience of Microscope and Kingdom or whatever that realm level politics "version" of Microscope was, could you summarize some key differences between the systems?

2

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri [joke] well for one thing, microscopes are generally much smaller than kingdoms.

Andras Deak

13:27

I raise you a kingdom of bacteria

Rubiksmoose

(I starred the message so hopefully it will remain visible to people that come later in the day) :)

Gwideon

I need a name for a sector of space.

kviiri

@AndrasDeak :you beat me to it

@Gwideon How big?

Rubiksmoose

@AndrasDeak Dang. And you could literally raise that as well. Well played.

kviiri

And what is its role --- scientific, political, military?

Gwideon

13:28

a cluster of about three to five systems. not sure as I haven't fleshed it out yet

NautArch

@Gwideon Bob

Rubiksmoose

@Gwideon What type of naming? like (EJK-1980-Moosesareawesome) or are you looking for an actual real name? Or something else?

GcL

@Gwideon George's Gorge

Gwideon

it's next to a cluster called the archon's forge

GcL

George could be the name of a local black hole

kviiri

13:29

Ah, you mean you need a proper name for it? I assumed you were looking for good terms :P

Pierre Cathé

The Iron Conglomerate

Gwideon

some of the other cluster names are NX frontier and Quiet night

Rubiksmoose

@Gwideon Ah ok, so you want a pretty traditional name then? Like fantasy style. Gotcha.

Gwideon

yeah

kviiri

Like, if you had said it's about a quarter of a galaxy, I would've said "quadrant" :>

Pierre Cathé

13:29

Moon's Fall

Gwideon

ooo I like Moon's fall

NautArch

Hammer's Fall

Rubiksmoose

Fall's fall

Gwideon

hahaha

kviiri

Moon's Moon

Pierre Cathé

13:30

Comet's gullet

Carcer

it seems like it would make sense thematically for the name to be relevant to some particular feature of the sector

Gwideon

archon's forge is named for it being the home cluster of a certain race

nx frontier is a cluster on the edge of the frontier

Rubiksmoose

For some reason, Light Bridge stuck in my mind, but you'd probably want some sort of feature there to justify it.

Gwideon

and I haven't quiet night yet

Rubiksmoose

Also maybe not a great name for a sector

Gwideon

13:32

*fleshed out

true

Pierre Cathé

Bob22's Galactic Quadrant

Gwideon

why bob

NautArch

Why not Bob?

:D

Pierre Cathé

Jake22's Galactic Quadrant

Rubiksmoose

This is deep stuff

Pierre Cathé

13:32

there, fixed it :-p

Gwideon

oookay

Pierre Cathé

The Bulbous Zone

NautArch

Doy ou want it to to have a connection to Archon's Forge (hence my hammer suggestion?)

Gwideon

no it doesn't need one. The clusters are kinda supposed to be politically separate regions

NautArch

ah, scrap that then

Back to Bob :P

What else is in that cluster?

ah! Clusterfudge

Gwideon

13:36

okay

Pierre Cathé

Is it a beautiful place ?

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch lol

Gwideon

I'm not sure. I just needed a name so I could label a jumpgate on the archon's forge map

kviiri

My usual joke is naming places somewhat descriptively but throwing in some little subversion. That's all too often how places get actually named :P

Also people tend to remember funny names well

Gwideon

true

Pierre Cathé

13:40

Light Oases

Prismatic Archipelagoes

Gwideon

I think I'll e okay

Pierre Cathé

Dark Matter Zone

@Gwideon Ok, thanks for the entertainment ;)

Carcer

I think if it were up to me I'd name sectors after albums from bands I liked.

Which would be great up until like two dozen different sectors are all called "Greatest Hits"

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer Ah yes, the JoJo method of naming ;)

NautArch

@Carcer Weird Al albums

Gwideon

13:43

cluster: Mandatory fun

Rubiksmoose

@Gwideon That one clearly was named by Friend Computer

Carcer

cluster: Leather Teeth

goodguy5

what did I just come into?

Gwideon

I needed names for clusters

David Coffron

Okay. Weird question (dnd-5e) from a strict RAW. Is there any way for a PC to get a demonic boon according to the RAW? If I polymorph into a monster do I become eligible?

> The following entries outline boons that a DM can grant to monsters and NPCs dedicated to a particular demon lord.

goodguy5

13:48

@Gwideon ah, makes sense.

Rubiksmoose

@DavidCoffron What is that from? the DMG? Or a module like OotA?

NautArch

@DavidCoffron that...seems legit. But unclear if the boon remains after you no longer are the monster.

David Coffron

@Rubiksmoose MToF

Rubiksmoose

@DavidCoffron Ah ok.

NautArch

But I'd also tend to lean that monsters and NPCs means NOT PCs.

Rubiksmoose

13:49

I'd say, strictly RAW, that a PC is still a PC as long as they are controlled by the player, regardless of their form? I think?

goodguy5

NPCs and PCs are mutually exclusive.

Monsters are harder to characterize.

MikeQ

@Gwideon Pick a naming convention. Makes it easier to remember names.

goodguy5

color + Marsupial mammal (or monotreme)

David Coffron

@Rubiksmoose I think I agree. Maybe the only way is to do the Lycanthropy thing and then curing it. (They become an NPC and then go back?)

> The DM is free to decide that a change in alignment places the character under DM control until the curse of lycanthropy is removed.

NautArch

@DavidCoffron What are you trying to achieve? Are you the DM or a PC?

Gwideon

13:55

god these notes are extensive. I didn't realize a sandbox game would be so intense

GcL

@Rubiksmoose lycanthropes lose control over their actions while transformed, unless they embrace it, and then they're a fundamentally different character.

@Gwideon Maybe over thinking it?

NautArch

@Gwideon You may be getting stuck in the overplanning trap.

I've got a very basic world set up, but only fill it out as they plan to enter a region.

Rubiksmoose

@GcL @DavidCoffron hmmm interesting edge case there.

David Coffron

@NautArch Hm? I'm not trying to achieve anything honestly. I know a GM who wanted to give a boon to a PC would just do it. Just curious taht they restricted it in the RAW

Gwideon

I'm only giving overviews of each of the key locations within a small set of clusters

like three clusters

GcL

13:56

@Rubiksmoose That's how it was in 2e and OD&D. You turn into a werewolf, roll up a new character.

NautArch

@Gwideon Sure, but if they aren't currently there and aren't planning on being there, you can just name the region of space.

Or that those unnamed clusters are discovered when they go to that region.

Gwideon

the problem is I don't know the pcs plans so I need to be prepared for whatever plan they make

NautArch

LIke, I've got the cities/towns on a map (named.) But that's about as far as I've gotten. Until the players decide to go there, I don't need to really fill itout.

@Gwideon You know the general plans at the end of a session, no?

GcL

Yeah. Name stuff as you go. I have a player volunteer to keep track of named places or people

goodguy5

And you can always do something (that is a bit controversial here).

Plan out a cluster. Doesn't matter which one they pick, it has the characteristics you've defined.

NautArch

13:58

There are storylines that are being followed?

goodguy5

I can never remember the name of that cheat.

Gwideon

They just got a ship at the end of last session. They didn't have time to make plans as I had to go

Rubiksmoose

@GcL Oh neat. That's pretty harcorde. Seems pretty much like I'd expect from OS D&D. Was it just because they inherently became not in control of their actions?

NautArch

@Gwideon Okay, so they now can get off-world. But what storyline(s) are they following?

They are most likely to pick up one of those threads.

GcL

@goodguy5 I do that. The choice varies only along one or two dimensions. Dungeon or Castle. Fire or Ice. Something that does make a difference but doesn't require a whole new thing.

goodguy5

13:59

And depending on how you communicate with them (We use discord), you can ask them what their plans are, so you can prepare better.

David Coffron

@GcL I think that is the default assumptions but it sounds like the designers of 5e wanted to leave the option open to the players and GM

GcL

@Rubiksmoose Yes. Also, because players that don't try to cure it are likely to look at is as a good thing and not really play "mass murdering a-hole" when they embrace it. So have them roll a new character.

NautArch

@Gwideon That's also why I generally try and leave the session with the next move so I can prepare. But when I don't, the options are still limited and I can make general plans for the options. They can always trip me up, but then that's where @goodguy5's idea works. Have some encounters that can be stuck in anywhere.

Gwideon

They don't really have a story thread yet. I wanted them to go out and find a story they wanted to follow

GcL

Even the werebear prefers to be alone and live as a hermit. Which makes it so they're no longer party material.

MikeQ

14:01

@Gwideon Populate your universe in very broad terms. If they pick a location you haven't fleshed out yet, then say that the journey will take the rest of the session. Then you can fill it in before next session.

GcL

@Gwideon critical-hits.com/blog/2009/06/02/the-5x5-method is probably a decent middle ground as opposed to make up everything on the fly

Gwideon

@MikeQ yeah but that might be kinda boring for them

NautArch

@Gwideon So what did they just do? Having zero storylines isn't necessarily sandboxing. I see sandboxing as there is a world, but that both player and NPC actions provide story hooks. There should still be storylines to follow (and some that may be happening in the background where they'll see the effects of in-game and decide if they want to engage.)

GcL

Definitely have a default direction for the story to follow. No hints are too obvious. If you think it's too obvious, the players might pick up on it... maybe

NautArch

@MikeQ And thenyou can make the travel that session with encounters put in for combat/RP.

@GcL probably not

GcL

14:04

@NautArch Yeah. That's my experience too.

goodguy5

@Gwideon imo (I know you said you liked story planning), the risk of the players maybe running into something that might be kinda boring is not worth me writing for 10 hours.

GcL

On the nose with a sledge hammer still goes unnoticed.

goodguy5

Players are pretty good at causing chaos and enjoying it.

GcL

Tyranny of Knowledge

Gwideon

True

NautArch

14:04

@GcL I've found giving pre-session written recaps helps in reminding them of the current available storylines.

And that's also helped me in planning the possibilities.

Gwideon

Oooh I have an Idea. SPACE PIRATES

GcL

@NautArch I do that, but I make a player do the recap and only correct egregious errors.

NautArch

@GcL Yeah, I've wanted that, too. But supposedly one player (who also is generally the in-game troublemaker), has been taking notes but I don't think they've ever shared it with anyone else.

so....

goodguy5

@Gwideon that is a great filler section. really, just pick any episode of star trek and rif it.

GcL

@Gwideon If you're doing space based fiction, you might like Isaac Arthur for a more pragmatic view of mechanics and motivations and interesting ideas to explore.

@NautArch We keep our notes on google docs to avoid the sharing problem.

Gwideon

14:06

the player's are leaving a giant mobile colony so maybe space pirates attack them as they leave

NautArch

@Gwideon Personally, random encounters can be good, but better to have a story behind it. Do you want to introduce Space Pirates as a storyline or do you just want space pirates as random attacks with no purpose other than 'difficult travel'.

If the former, then build a story around them. Can also then make RP opportunities to engage with the pirates beyond KILL KILL KILL.

Andras Deak

unless Firefly levels of space pirates ;)

GcL

Yeah. Also, what are the options for non-lethal outcomes and what are the opportunities those provide.

Gwideon

I do have a random encounter table setup and I was planning on rolling on it seeing what they get and taking it from there

MikeQ

@Gwideon It won't be boring if you fill it with something fun

And it won't necessarily be more or less boring than whatever's at the destination

Gwideon

14:09

Yeah

true

goodguy5

I also have eschewed random encounters in favor of placed encounters.

Pierre Cathé

@AndrasDeak Do a Crazy Ivan !

goodguy5

granted, I pretend they're random.

"Can someone roll a d12 and tell me the number"
then I throw in some detail about their night or journey or whatever

Or a monster pops out and attacks them (figuratively)

But it's things I choose.

I can't remember who it is here that doesn't like that....

Gwideon

I think I'll be okay. It's not gonna take to long to finish up what I'm doing

MikeQ

One of the big problems with running a sandbox campaign is that the scope and level of detail can get unmanageable

GcL

14:12

@goodguy5 I do the same. The players appear to enjoy feeling that the encounters are entirely random, when really, it's just which of two or four they're going to get.

goodguy5

oh man! I just realized I get to "make" a new monster!!!!

Burned zombie orphans

(Players left off in an old burnt out orphanage)

Gwideon

oh wow

GcL

That's pretty macabre

MikeQ

@Gwideon Since it's a scifi setting, you could give yourself some slack by saying that their ship's navigation computer only has course data for certain areas. Then when you have more time to detail other places, they can gain that map data.

goodguy5

Oh, perfect. There's already an Ash Zombie from LMoP.

Gwideon

14:17

true

GcL

Kids have a peculiar kind of invulnerability in most of the games my table plays. It's primarily "luck" and adventurer intervention based.

NautArch

@goodguy5 Woof. We once had a fight against children taken over by intellect devourers.

we did not do well in figuring that out and just killed a lot of children.

goodguy5

oof

NautArch

yeah, not one of our best moments

GcL

Yeah. We just side step that altogether, or some intrepid band of magically equipped heroes happens to show up around the right time to head off those sorts of disasters. It's weird how that timing works out, but nobody really questions it too intently.

Pierre Cathé

14:19

Every table has shameful children-are-dying-because-of-us moments

goodguy5

Earlier on, I had a girl with some terminal (without magic) disease.

Her father started performing necromantic rituals on her and she was slowly turning undead.

The party uh.... cut short the transformation, let's say.

NautArch

by cutting short her life?

Carcer

[cough]

literally

goodguy5

cutting short her head from her body

Gwideon

oh wow

NautArch

14:21

@Carcer quick, kill him!

Pierre Cathé

This reminds me I'll have to remember to place some children in Vallaki next session, I could get some nice moral dilemmas out of this if a host of undead were to attack the town

MikeQ

Moral dilemmas? Or just "haha gotcha you did evil thing lol"

Pierre Cathé

@MikeQ Eh it's not really evil to save yourself, but it'd weigh on their conscience (if they do have one)

Also that hypothetical horde of undead would appear even more horrible for it

Gwideon

Um is it bad to pull something from another thing and change it a bit to fit into your setting

goodguy5

Oh, perfect. I just found the Allip. That'll be a great bbeg for the orphanage.

@Gwideon That's the name of the game.

MikeQ

14:26

Too often a DM's idea of a "moral dilemma" is just putting the PCs in a scenario where collateral is likely. "Do this evil thing, you know you want to"

Gwideon

cause I'm taking an entire race

Pierre Cathé

@Gwideon I do it all the time and I'm still waiting for the setting police to arrest me

David Coffron

@Gwideon Not at all. In fact that is outright recommended in the Tales of the Yawning Portal book.

goodguy5

@PierreCathé They stopped by last session, but I told them to come back with a warrant.

Gwideon

Um i'm taking the fallen from destiny.

Cause they're a really cool race

goodguy5

14:27

@Gwideon I based my entire world map off of the WoW world map.

Gwideon

wow

okay

David Coffron

@Gwideon If they're cool and you think they fit into the setting then go for it

Gwideon

it's not bad to steal stuff

when it comes to settings

MikeQ

Your mileage may vary. Some players may see it as a lazy ripoff. Other players may enjoy it. Hard to generalize.

David Coffron

@Gwideon Well, if you were publishing or something it could be. IP is very important to protect; but just for some D&D fun I don't see a problem

goodguy5

14:29

Not at all, and you can even sprinkle easter eggs in for your players to recognize things.

Such as a N-17 ship or something.

MikeQ

Oh right - If you're publishing any of this, then yes it is bad to copy other people's published stuff.

goodguy5

^

Gwideon

well none of my players play destiny. this is mostly just for myself

Pierre Cathé

@MikeQ The dilemma I'm thinking about here is something along the lines of "barricade in the orphanage to protect the children or in the church's holy ground to better kill the undead", but that might be a bit weak, maybe it still lacks incentives one way or the other ?

KorvinStarmast

@Gwideon i'll suggest "the indigo rift" for that cluster

goodguy5

14:30

On of the characters in my game is playing Donna Hascomb (from supernatural), so I threw Sam and Dean Chinwester in last session.

MikeQ

Well, it's one thing to sprinkle in easter eggs and pop culture references. Another to copy-paste a whole portion of lore or story structure.

NautArch

@MikeQ As long as the whole table enjoys it, I don't see any problems.

KorvinStarmast

@MikeQ quick question on 3.5 stuff: did you ever get or use Dungeonscape in your 3.5 games?

MikeQ

@KorvinStarmast Nope

KorvinStarmast

OK, I was interested in your review if you had.

kviiri

14:49

@goodguy5 I based one dungeon on Doom's first map, no one found me out

goodguy5

yissss

kviiri

I wish they had because now they missed out on the hidden shotgun.

and the super armor.

goodguy5

Doom OST - E1M1 - At Doom's Gate

►

Andras Deak

and the hitbox hack

goodguy5

the top comments are great btw

doppelgreener

14:58

Doot - E1M1 [Knee-Deep in the Doot]

►

Andras Deak

good thing it's the season since yesterday

goodguy5

hilarious

Andras Deak

music sounds like a bunch of floppy drives

NautArch

this question is interesting.

Carcer

@kviiri be careful if you go basing dungeons on Doom maps

that could go wrong for you

NautArch

15:12

I really wish there were more divination spells of interest

kviiri

@Carcer You got me curious, what exactly do you mean?

David Coffron

@NautArch What do you mean?

What about the present ones is't interesting to you?

NautArch

@DavidCoffron I guess having some more combat related options.

Transmutation has a lot of really fun combat spells, but Divination doesn't.

Carcer

@kviiri the original version of E1M4 had a swastika design in the floor/ceiling of one of the rooms

it was meant as an easter egg reference to the wolfenstein games, but you know

kviiri

@Carcer oh yeah, I had that version

I also remember Keen 5 had a swastika ornament for the same reason

David Coffron

15:26

@NautArch Ah. That's a good point. There are basically none of those

MikeQ

@NautArch Are there divination spells that let creatures reroll things? That could be useful.

David Coffron

Just mind spike I think.

kviiri

It was eventually removed "because it has no place in a cute kid-friendly game. That's why we removed it from Doom too" :-)

David Coffron

(and hunter's mark but that's ranger only)

goodguy5

@NautArch slightly

David Coffron

15:27

(and true strike but that's... well true strike)

kviiri

General Strike

goodguy5

Private Strike

David Coffron

Secret Strike

goodguy5

Secrete Strike

kviiri

Surgical Strike

David Coffron

15:28

Medical Strike

goodguy5

Union Strike

David Coffron

Teamwork Strike

MikeQ

@NautArch How about a reaction spell that moves yourself up in the initiative order

David Coffron

@MikeQ That's kind of meta-gamey

MikeQ

Yeah... kinda weird interactions with the combat mechanics

Ok, maybe it's a duration spell, gives some bonus on perception and initiative rolls?

NautArch

15:31

@MikeQ I mean, i can talk to my DM about homebrewing a spell, but just wish there were more divination options for combat.

Carcer

moving initiatives does throw a lot of spell duration stuff outta wack

David Coffron

@MikeQ guidance?

goodguy5

@MikeQ partially due to a misunderstanding of the rules and partially due to the DM letting me get away with it, my old AD&D DM would let me spend my first turn changing my initiative order.

Carcer

@goodguy5 I mean, in 3e you could Delay, which is basically just losing a turn and deciding where you want to actually be in the order.

MikeQ

How about a divination spell that lets you learn some of a creature's stats? Too metagamey?

David Coffron

15:35

@MikeQ I mean there is precedent for that in the fighter Battle Master subclass.

> if you spend at least 1 minute observing or interacting with another creature outside combat, you can learn certain information about its capabilities compared to your own. The DM tells you if the creature is your equal, superior, or inferior in regard to two of the following characteristics of your choice:

- Strength score
- Dexterity score
- Constitution score
- Armor Class
- Current hit points
- Total class levels (if any)
- Fighter class levels (if any)

@MikeQ But I'm not sure that is the kind of combat spell NautArch is interested in.

You've got transmutation spells like vine whip, catapult, heat metal, and of course buff spells like polymorph and animate objects. All incredibly useful in combat

But I'm not super confident in the combat applications of Divination as a concept:

> Divination spells reveal information, whether in the form of secrets long forgotten, glimpses of the future, the locations of hidden things, the truth behind illusions, or visions of distant people or places.

MikeQ

Yeah, I'm just spitballing ideas for spells that involve divination and would be useful in combat. I kinda like the reaction to let a creature reroll something, the other ideas not so much.

NautArch

@DavidCoffron I think that's the rub here. There probably are things like the battlemaster thing that could fall under it, but we don't do a lot of homebrew, so that option is out.

I'm just looking at reaching 5th level and picking spells.

MikeQ

Ah, is this for a divination wizard?

NautArch

3rd level spells are pretty fun, but the only divination i'm considering is Tongues. I'll probably take it so that I can interact with more creatures we encounter (and at 6th level I can use my Expert Divination.

@MikeQ Yeah. The Expert 6th level feature is pretty underwhelming for divination

MikeQ

DNDBeyond shows there are only two 3rd-level divination spells.

Hot RPG Questions

15:47

7

Q: Can you cure a Gorgon's Petrifying Breath before it finishes turning a target to stone?

The Gorgon has an ability called Petrifying Breath which reads as below: Petrifying Breath (Recharge 5-6): The gorgon exhales petrifying gas in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a target begins to turn to ston...

dnd-5e monsters saving-throw conditions

MikeQ

@NautArch Agreed. Most of those lower-level divination spells are rituals anyway.

NautArch

@MikeQ kinda wish Tongues was a ritual, too.

David Coffron

@NautArch Is there a particular reason you are limiting yourself to divination spells? Just flavor things?

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch We have a cleric in our party who loves to use Tongues to try and communicate with monsters before our wizard goes all murder hobo on it. Last session, he tried to strike up a conversation with ... flesh golems ... who were guarding a treasure chest. As a response to his polite salutation, he got a knuckle sandwich. (It was kinda funny). So the party mopped the floor with the flesh golems.

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Not limiting myself, but do want to get something out of Expert Divination.

KorvinStarmast

15:51

Previously, we got past a pair of hill giants by him just talking to them. Was pretty cool.

NautArch

I'm interested in Bestow Curse, DIspel Magic (but I used that a lot in my previous campaign as a paladin), fireball, haste, phantom steed, slow, and tongues.

KorvinStarmast

I suggest Slow.

It helps your fighters and rogues a lot.

NautArch

Yeah, was leaning to Slow/Tongues.

KorvinStarmast

My brother's transmuter in our first campaign used it as his bread and butter battlefield control spell. And, it made my Sacred Flame attacks Not Stink.

NautArch

Fireball seems obvious, and I could use an AOE thing, but the others fit me more thematically.

KorvinStarmast

15:52

(Disad on Dex saves was big for me)

At 5th level, as your martials get two attacks, that Slow will really boost their damage output ... or so we found.

NautArch

I already got us to avoid an encounter by talking :)

David Coffron

Oh. I completely forgot about thatbailtity

KorvinStarmast

You can always pick up FireBall at level 6 if you think that you need it ... :)

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast yeah, or maybe my DM will hand out some more spells. ALready got Mirror Image and Invisibility.

Been saving a portent roll for putting them in my spellbook successfully.

KorvinStarmast

Both of them are nice.

NautArch

15:55

Don't yet have Invisibility in my book, so won't use it. Have MIrror Image prepared, but my general goal is not to be in range of getting hit :) Haven't yet had to cast it.

Just realizing in areas without stuff for me to catapult, I could prestidigitate some stuff :)

Gwideon

hey

NautArch

@Gwideon welcome back!

Gwideon

how are you?

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Yeah, "Bring Your Own Ammo" BYOA seems to be a transmuter's forte.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast luckily, we're currently in a dungeon tomb with bones about. Or my party's paladin's whip when he dropped it. :)

MikeQ

16:02

Aha! You could say that fireball creates illumination, and is therefore a divination spell

You'd be wrong, but you could say it

Carcer

you can say a lot of things

Gwideon

I'm listening to the interstellar soundtrack to get into a good mind set

for prepping

sorry i'll stop bothering people

kviiri

I don't think you're bothering anyone

Andras Deak

Nope

Upper_Case

16:18

Talking in chat is hardly a bother

MikeQ

Except for the Embothered One, the extradimensional gremlin that is passively bothered by everything in existence. But we usually don't mind them too much.

Carcer

@MikeQ stop highlighting me

Gwideon

oh okay

KorvinStarmast

@MikeQ Wait a minute, did we kill the Embothered One during the last session? I could swear that we got XP for that? Or is it like a Naga: they always come back to life?

Mark Wells

@KorvinStarmast Mopping the floor with a flesh golem sounds unproductive. You're going to have to go back over it with a real mop afterward.

MikeQ

16:26

@KorvinStarmast They live in a dimension beyond death, but not beyond feelings of annoyance

Upper_Case

@KorvinStarmast We got the XP, but it was for talking our way around it

KorvinStarmast

@MikeQ Oh dear, sorta like Night Hags. (Note to self: yet another annoying monster ...)

@MarkWells IIRC, we have a cantrip for that: Prestidigitation :)

@Upper_Case Is that a case of Speaking in Tongues, or speaking by using Tongues?

Upper_Case

@KorvinStarmast I got the impression that multiple tongues were involved, and at that point I thought I might be better off not knowing more details

nitsua60

16:47

New SO CEO announced.

Hmm... no onebox.

kviiri

Random musing of the night: comedy usually favors groups of two (double act) or three ("rule of three"). But there are four Dalton brothers in Lucky Luke. Furthermore, the two "middle brothers" William and Jack are so bland in comparison to Joe and Averell that one would be tempted to believe that they are redundant; one might as well just have Joe, Averell and a Bill-Jack.

But I think there is more thought behind this...

If William and Jack were to be mashed into one, their lack of distinctive character would be showing. They'd now be a single relatively uninteresting exception in a really quirky family.

Whereas as separate characters, they reinforce the joke that "all these brothers are kinda alike, except Joe and Averell who are exceptionally nasty and stupid, respectively". Having two "bland" Daltons kinda sets the baseline for what the Daltons are and do in a way that works better.

Plus it ensures Joe has an actually competent gang, for some standard, making Averell contrast better.

vicky_molokh

I'm not sure I buy into the initial premise of comedy favouring 2-3 people. E.g. Friends seemed to be rather successful at a half-dozen, and there are many comedy teams of 6-12 people.

kviiri

@vicky_molokh The size of the whole cast is not the point, but of individual interactions

nitsua60

@vicky_molokh How many scenes involved more than 3-4 of the Friends, though? (That's an honest question--it was in its original run that last time I saw an episode.)

kviiri

Two and three are of course not the only viable configurations, but they are the most traditional ones. (Three has a special role in writing anyway --- "the rule of three" has a very wide impact from fairytales to humor to marketing)

Upper_Case

16:55

@nitsua60 A decent portion of them did, though I couldn't estimate a ratio or anything.

@kviiri European-derived writing

kviiri

@Upper_Case I'll give you that

Upper_Case

I also wonder if traditional 3-camera style sitcoms do more following of comedy trends or more setting and regularizing of them

I mean, Three's Company rarely had more than 4 people on screen at any time (as best as I recall), and was popular enough. I wouldn't hold it up as a standard for comedy, though

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