TRPG General Chat

Joel Harmon

01:30

@Zachiel Isn't this the question that plagues us all?

JohnP

01:59

@nitsua60 Which one? Vegas last week or the one yesterday? Pretty much same either way, 1st in all creative/extreme events, 1st in weps/form, 2nd in teams, 3rd in combat sparring. One slightly strained quadricep, so a week on the couch.

Shalvenay

hey there @JohnP, how're things going? busy as usual?

Hot RPG Questions

02:57

5

Q: Is summon woodland beings (pixies) broken?

As a DM I want to be fair and not just never allow a druid the chance of summoning pixies, but it seems so broken. At one point I had four PC's and two NPC's all running about as dinosaurs. I'm hoping it's not too broad of a question asking for ideas to balance this type of encounter. Also the ...

Hot RPG Questions

05:43

5

Q: What happens when the UA Bait and Switch maneuver is used on a grappled ally when the maneuver-user is out of the grappling monster's reach?

The recent Unearthed Arcana Class Feature Variants includes the Bait and Switch fighter maneuver (page 5), which states: When you’re within 5 feet of an ally on your turn, you can expend one superiority die and switch places with that ally, provided you spend at least 5 feet of movement. This...

dnd-5e grapple unearthed-arcana combat-maneuver reach

kviiri

08:05

Håfa adai o/

trogdor

XD

hello refined gentleman

kviiri

I haven't been fined nor refined except by the library establishment --- enriched I have been but by no fault of mine.

trogdor

lol

kviiri

I have that awkward deal where I am somewhat allergic to dogs and cats, but how seriously depends on a wide assortment of hidden variables probably including the phase of moon and the oscillation of pulsars. I visited a house with two dogs and a cat over the weekend and I'm still sneezing frequently, and it's also the flu season. I can't tell if I'm getting sick or just recovering slowly from the allergies.

Usually allergies ought to clear out fast after exposure I'd guess but recurring sneezing is a bit of a self-perpetuating thing.

BESW

08:34

I know somebody who is allergic to dog pee, but not to dogs.

Carcer

I spontaneously developed awful hayfever at 21 and every summer since has been awful

but it would be worse not to be able to hang with dogs/cats.

kviiri

Usually I can hang around them just fine, but this time was unusually bad.

May 29 at 10:03, by kviiri

^ that dog

and his older adoptive brother Hiski, of whom I don't have as good pictures but he looks just like a Chewbacca.

BESW

Do antihistamines help?

kviiri

Yes, although I'm usually a bit slow to take them. This time I practically had to because I had stuff to do on Sunday evening after getting back home so it was important to know whether it was the flu or just allergies :)

BESW

I can't use extra-strong antihistamines, they make me badly depressed.

trogdor

10:39

@kviiri yeah my dad and I both have allergies but they seem to be seasonal and I have no idea what they are to

basically we both get really clogged sinuses around the same time of the year

not that my nose is particularly sturdy most of the time anyway but it's markedly worse around the middle of the year I think

SmokeDetector

11:07

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, messaging number in answer, pattern-matching email in answer, +1 more (438): When casting the Alarm spell, does the caster need to explicitly specify which creatures to ignore? by SHAKA MOMUDO on rpg.SE

kviiri

@BESW I read Masters of Umdaar, it seems really cool and inspirational. I might have trouble ever getting to run/play it because it's Fate but I'll hang onto it in case the opportunity strikes.

BESW

Cool!

kviiri

I especially like the point where it especially tells you that they recommend starting it as if you've faced the villains before

BESW

Yes! That was nice.

I have some trouble with the Cliffhanger mechanic, I usually just ignore it and use something else like brainstorming.

kviiri

Yeah, I'll need some time to absorb that and the more Fatey stuff in there

BESW

11:16

When I had our PCs visit Umdaar as a mini-arc in a bigger Earth-based campaign, one of the players rolled up a native Umdaarian to join their party and he was the one with the recurring history with the Umdaarian villain.

The villain assumed all the Earthly PCs were Ancients who had returned from... wherever the Ancients went... and she kinda freaked that her foe had made an alliance with them.

That was this one:

Aug 4 '18 at 0:50, by BESW

But our latest major adventure involved recovering a lost moon-sized Atlantean generation ship, the inside of which has mutated to become a Masters of Umdaar world, with the unexpected side effect of destroying the world's electronic infrastructure.

Atlantis had tried to colonize Mars... and missed.

kviiri

Ooh

Have you used the five swords -plotline the book suggests?

It kinda reminds me of Jackie Chan Adventures with its artifact collection setup, although I'm well aware that's one of the most common types of fiction there is :>

trogdor

@BESW XD

BESW

Not for that particular campaign, but for our pure Umdaar campaign, yes.

trogdor

it turns out the Atlantians weren't the best at space travel

BESW

@kviiri Notes on swords.

The Rule of Fantasy Apostrophes is always in effect in my Umdaarian games:

Jul 14 '13 at 15:57, by BESW

The Rule of Fantasy Apostrophes: All apostrophes in the middle of fantasy names are now to be pronounced "boing."

kviiri

11:28

@BESW What about the Firerain wheel?

BESW

I set it up so that each sword points toward two other swords, so you can collect them... and maybe track opponents who also have swords, or be tracked by them.

I had not yet determined what the Wheel was. Maybe a terraforming device.

kviiri

@BESW That sounds cool

BESW

@kviiri It was very Shadow of the Colossus: you raise the sword and shout the name of the sword you're looking for, and a piercing column of light rises straight up out of your sword for all to see for miles around... and then it bends toward the sword you named.

Key point about Umdaar artifacts in my games: they are Not Subtle.

kviiri

@BESW Does the holder of the other blade, if any, know they're being tracked this way?

BESW

No, except for the giant pillar of light pointing at them.

kviiri

11:50

Hehe :)

BESW

12:09

@kviiri Yeah, using a sword's tracking ability was always a strategic risk. Sometimes we'd have sessions dedicated to finding other ways to track down new swords, because we didn't want to give away our location and plans.

...and because it's Fate, I think at least once we compelled the villain to use her swordtracking so we'd know where she was without giving ourselves away.

kviiri

Interesting idea. I'll be sure to include the sword tracking, either in the swords themselves or a separate artifact, if we ever play this.

Or separate artifacts*, rather, because I think it makes it more interesting if there's more than one actor capable of using this power.

BESW

Yeah, I agree. Or a single artifact that the whole group uses together.

Back in my D&D 4e campaign I gave them badges which let them communicate with each other over over long distances, and gave them a long-cooldown emergency teleport on each other so they could yank somebody out of danger.

Vehicles can also make for fun group artifacts.

kviiri

12:25

Interestingly, the Masters of Umdaar setting is quite close to a setting I had envisaged for a DnD game recently: a wizard cold war with the superpowered sorcerers ruling over dominions they have no interest to protect but to collect their magical reagents, leaving the common folk miserable and poor as their daily life consists on hard work and trying to dodge whatever magical attacks their land has to withstand from their overlord's enemies.

BESW

That'd be a great model for the lands the Masters rule!

kviiri

Yes!

Joel Harmon

@BESW Like how it takes several people to pilot a TARDIS, and you can get hilarious results if you don't have enough?

kviiri

I recall this being inspired by something in particular in my case but can't recall what... it's not really as much "cold war" as it's "nukes already flying but everyone's powerful and aloof enough to not care much" :P

But the idea that magical reagents or items are not an infinite resource but something the strongest wizards would want to corner seems like an interesting one to explore.

BESW

@JoelHarmon That's pretty much how a ship works, yeah. Imagine a flying ship that the whole party needs to operate or you have to take costs in order to succeed. (Only the Tenth Doctor ever seemed to need a crew to fly the TARDIS, though. Her unreliability is inconsistent, and usually due to being either broken or having her own ideas about where to go. I think Ten just made up the "needs a crew" thing to give all his companions something to do as a distraction from a very traumatic experience.)

Hot RPG Questions

12:40

4

Q: How could a limited amount of gasoline be duplicated when such "future technology" doesn't otherwise exist in the setting?

In my current game, I pulled some dimensional hijinks, and now my players have access to a temporally displaced modern car (the driver is a mild mannered accountant from Quebec, who is very confused). They got really really lucky on a roll to see if the car was destroyed in the process, and so ha...

dnd-5e

goodguy5

13:13

<ITAG>, gamers.

kviiri

Halloo.

goodguy5

@Xirema I just stumbled upon this comment and boy is that surreal:
https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/122674/is-this-homebrew-feat-for-a-combat-medic-balanced/122681#comment301588_122680

It's hard to think that you were ever a new user, let alone that I welcomed you.

nitsua60

@goodguy5 Looking at my 11yo, I can confidently say you'll feel that way about goodbaby5 sooner than you'd like.

goodguy5

haha

goodbaby5 was sick yesterday :*(

he's feeling much better today, but goodwife5 is still staying home with him.

trogdor

13:33

The good 5 family has my prayers

Hopefully recovery continues

Until it's complete anyway

goodguy5

Thanks!

trogdor

13:49

:)

user15026

@goodguy5 I hope everyone feels better soon!

goodguy5

@Ash Thanks!

Though, he seems like he feels great. today is just precursory

NautArch

@goodguy5 glad he's doing better! Sick babies are the saddest :(

Yesterday our table had a birth and a death. One of the players had his first IRL kid born, and my wizard died.

goodguy5

14:12

poor wizard

NautArch

@goodguy5 Yeah, I was really enjoying the wizard-life and looking forward to his progression.

oh wells

goodguy5

what was his name?

NautArch

Wizzlewick Rhys Deallus Farfflunger

It was about halfway through the session, so we took a 45 minute-ish break and I created a new character. I think that's the fastest I've ever done that.

Introducing Urskin the Sweet.

Heavy armor wearing totem barbarian

goodguy5

I was going to say that it sounds like Wizzlewick's (older) brother should just show up to avenge his death.

Rizzlerickle Whys Lleadus Farfflunger

Afterall, he does have 6 brothers.

NautArch

@goodguy5 The first session I did have a brother, he died.

Was another PC.

goodguy5

14:21

*5 brothers, then

NautArch

hehe

cursed family

goodguy5

Though, I do now want to do a family of dwarves.....

Xirema

@goodguy5 Hmm, I feel like I should have spent more time backing up that answer....

NautArch

d8

Dice Service

1

NautArch

14:23

1d8

Dice Service

3

goodguy5

@Xirema It was your first answer! You did great!

Xirema

Hehe

Oh man, remember when the first version of the Artificer seemed like the model the actual version was eventually going to use?

Gwideon

good morning

kviiri

Hi!

Xirema

14:30

@Gwideon Hello!

NautArch

@Gwideon sad morning

Gwideon

has the artificer been released

also how is everyone

kviiri

Slightly fluish, otherwise fine

Xirema

@Gwideon Next week is the Eberron book, I think?

Gwideon

awesome. Kinda can't wait to see what it's like

goodguy5

14:33

@kviiri is that similar to flemmish?

kviiri

@goodguy5 I wish

NautArch

ohno, i think i made a major miscalculation in my character gen.

goodguy5

@NautArch do tell?

NautArch

@goodguy5 I missed that barbarian's in heavy armor don't get rage benefits.

goodguy5

@NautArch none of em?

NautArch

14:36

25

Q: Can a bear totem barbarian gain damage resistance while wearing heavy armor?

I'm starting a campaign at level 8 soon, and I'm curious if this Fighter 5/Barbarian 3 build is possible, although the DM may reject it working this way: If I choose Bear for my 3rd level totem spirit, I gain the following feature: [PHB 50] Bear. While raging, you have resistance to all dama...

dnd-5e barbarian damage-resistance

goodguy5

that answer is suspect.

at any rate. yea. generally armor = bad

Xirema

@goodguy5 I think their answer is probably how I would rule at my table, but yeah, I'm not certain it's a RAW answer.

goodguy5

I'm certain that it's not a RAW answer.

Xirema

Would need to review how the features are written.

goodguy5

Especially because Eagle specifically mentions "and not wearing heavy armor", while bear and wolf have no such mention

NautArch

14:40

"While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor"

that seems fairly clear

either way, just talked to DM and allowing me to rebuild.

goodguy5

yea, but "your whole subclass" isn't on that list.

NautArch

So...which fighter subclass to pick?

goodguy5

I'm partial to EK

NautArch

@goodguy5 -1 INT

goodguy5

One of my favorite characters is Harold Blackstone ("of the Lord's Alliance"). He's an EK

@NautArch doesn't stop you, per se

Xirema

14:44

@NautArch * digs around for the list of useful offensive spells that use neither an attack roll nor saving throw...

Someone_Evil

@Xirema EK doesn't need their spells to be offensive

NautArch

that's a good point

Xirema

@Someone_Evil Also that.

NautArch

probably between EK and BM

for EK, though, the spells would need to be verbal only unless i take warcaster.

plan on sword and board

Gwideon

so I'm about to ask a question about how to handle NPC companions

NautArch

14:47

could do protection and shield

Someone_Evil

@NautArch Or sweet talk your DM for a Ruby of the war mage

Gwideon

well it maybe two questions in one

NautArch

@Someone_Evil heh, that's unlikely

Xirema

@NautArch Depends on how fully you plan to use your Bonus Action, since that's all it takes to summon your weapon to you. So it's not infeasible to simply drop your weapon any time you need to cast a spell, then BA it back to you when you need it.

NautArch

i think i'll build both and see which one i end up liking more.

@Xirema true!

Xirema

14:51

Although if you do have a good use for your Bonus Action, then that could be limiting.

NautArch

i'm not sure i do (yet). FInding a consistent bonus action is always something i look for.

and my paladin was a GWM build, so I don't want to go that route again.

Can't decide now between going S&B with dueling for +1 AC, or take the dual-wield route so I can bonus action attack.

goodguy5

@NautArch dual wield champion is fun.

NautArch

@goodguy5 We have a champion in the party, so was thinking of a different subclass

goodguy5

Do you have a rogue?

if so, a BM can give the rogue some extra opportunities

NautArch

We do

goodguy5

14:57

Then just slide that BM onto the battlefield!

NautArch

yeah, that may be the best so that I can get the rogue more sneak attacks

goodguy5

15:21

@NautArch or you can be a cavalier. ride around stabbin stuff

Gwideon

@Someone_Evil just asking for a bit of clarification. what do you mean by my players reactions

NautArch

@goodguy5 my paladin was a mounted warrior so trying to do something different

Gwideon

also um to anyone interested here's my question rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/159367/…

goodguy5

@Gwideon I saw it.

Gwideon

sorry

NautArch

15:32

:5250939 Hmm, S&B with shield master(we do play with flanking, so it's not quite as useful) or dual-wield?

goodguy5

@NautArch how does shield master interact with flanking?

NautArch

@goodguy5 we get advantage more easily and in ways that doesn't create disadvantage for ranged players

goodguy5

oh! so "we don't have to knock them prone"

but the ranged characters can just drop prone as well

Gwideon

sorry If my questions are um annoying.

NautArch

@goodguy5 SOmetimes a dangerous choice. but yeah, i guess they could just stand back up after firing 'normally'. But for a ranged rogue, that would be problematic

they'd lose their sneak attack

goodguy5

15:40

Are there rules for crawling?

NautArch

@goodguy5 1/2 speed, i believe

goodguy5

That's my assumption....

17

Q: What is Crawl Speed?

On page 182 of the PHB, there is a section titled Climbing, Swimming, and Crawling that contains no details about crawling. In the section, it says: While climbing or swimming, each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain), unless a creature has a climbing o...

dnd-5e movement

NautArch

so i may be able to get advantage more often when i'm solo with a monster, but once someone else comes, it's not useful for that role (but i'll get the dex save stuff, which i'll need because my dex is -1)

or, i go dual wielder and have a consistent bonus action attack.

Gwideon

um I should probably go

goodguy5

Interestingly, if you start your turn prone in difficult terrain, it's more effective to crawl for that round than to stand up.

half speed to stand then double move cost (7.5 feet) vs triple move cost (10 feet)

even over two turns, it's 22.5 movement if you get up first, then 20 feet if you don't.

NautArch

15:49

@goodguy5 i'm leaning dual-wield. With my low dex, those things are unlikely to make a huge difference for shield master and already monsters are coming in swinging pretty hard it seems. With plate mail and mundane shield, that's a 19 vs 21

goodguy5

also, when I work from home, I can't access facebook for about 15 minutes around this time.

I assume something funky on the vpn

@NautArch Is your DM going to let you improvise weapon shield bash?

NautArch

@goodguy5 I don't think so, but that's also not an option with shield master

goodguy5

@NautArch oh no, I wasn't suggesting it was, I was just wondering if you got to use dual wield with shield

NautArch

@goodguy5 oh, gotcha. Yeah, i doubt it.

Gwideon

is it weird to feel uncomfortable running romance as a GM

goodguy5

15:58

@Gwideon unsure.

romance. yea, I guess. A relationship? not as much

Carcer

some uncomfortableness at roleplaying a romantic interaction is pretty normal

NautArch

@Gwideon Not at all. And you can opt not to include it. It opens the door for a lot of potentially uncomfortable situations.

Gwideon

I kinda can't at the moment as it's already in the campaign. Also um yeah It can lead to some really uncomfortable situations

Carcer

different people have different tolerances for that kind of thing.

NautArch

@Gwideon Well, no. You can always decide not to do something, but it's a table discussion at that point.

Gwideon

16:02

true

NautArch

And if it's making things uncomfortable for you (or anyone else), then it's probably not worth including.

Carcer

you don't have to arbitrarily "ban romance", as well, but you can decide where the line is past which it is something that is not played out in detail

NautArch

@goodguy5 oh geez, commander's strike is giving up an attack AND bonus action?

Gwideon

yeah it definitely isn't. I haven't started this yet so I don't really know what the interactions are gonna be like. I'm just hoping things go well

Carcer

@goodguy5 as opposed to Speed Crawl, for which the current record is 21m31s.

MikeQ

16:04

@Gwideon One possible DM technique is a "fade to black" when things start to get uncomfortable, so that the DM/players don't need to act out the scene in detail, and instead skip ahead

NautArch

@Gwideon hol up. confused. So for your question is how to handle a problem that you don't know is an actual problem yet?

MikeQ

@NautArch Asking about potential situations is quite normal around here

Gwideon

@NautArch I'm trying to get ahead of the problem so I know what to do if it does come up as a problem

Also the question isn't just about the romance it's also about um how to run companions mechanically.

anyways I should probably move along. I'm gonna try and write some more today

NautArch

@MikeQ true, but that wasn't clear to me in the question (but i may have read too quickly.) iguess it is just asking the 'what are the pitfalls", but the question can definitely be cleaned up to be more straightforward.

Gwideon

sorry

NautArch

16:12

@Gwideon No need to apologize or move along! Clarifying things is a good thing!

Gwideon

um what do I need to do to make it better

NautArch

So i'm not sure with fighter that having the one bonus action attack with dual wielder is really that much better than a +2 AC. But moar attacks...

@Gwideon It's kind of up to you, but given you don't have anything specific, i think removing the specifics would help. It doesn't matter what the NPCs are or even what your players are. You're asking a general question on what are the pitfalls when having romantic relationships between PCs and NPCs.

I can try and do a re-write if you agree.

Gwideon

I'm also asking how to mechanically run a companion

MikeQ

@Gwideon You may want to search some related questions - I'm sure we have gm-techniques questions about PC-NPC or PC-PC romance.

Gwideon

@NautArch also um sure go ahead and um try and do a rewrite

NautArch

16:17

@Gwideon that's gonna be a 2nd question and I think unless you've got a specific question that one may be too broad. There are a ton of ways to run companions.

MikeQ

@Gwideon In its current state, the question is a bit rambly, and it's hard to determine the scope of your concerns & goals. You may want to isolate the problem you want to address.

Gwideon

okay. Let's just stick with the romantic relationship question

@MikeQ I agree. I've been trying to preen it and make it more clear but um I can't

NautArch

@Gwideon ok, take a look!

Gwideon

@NautArch seems pretty good

Gwideon

16:34

Wth is a locate city bomb

also why would you want to nuke a city with it

MikeQ

@Gwideon Ah, did you find our cheese collection?

Gwideon

Found a question asking about how to make a locate city bomb without using locate city

also why just why

Carcer

so

NautArch

Hmm, so if I do go dual-wielder battlemaster, i'd give up both one of my attacks AND my bonus action attack if use commander's strike. That seems suboptimal, but sneak attack would still generate more damage...so maybe not?

MikeQ

@Gwideon In short: 3.5 had some shenanigans when players found (and/or exploited) the right combination of feats

Carcer

16:37

Locate City is the spell to use for the exploit because, as written, it has a huge area (1-mile radius or whatever)

it doesn't require there to actually be a city

and it doesn't even bomb

the effect actually involves pushing creatures in the AoE to the edge of the AoE and dealing damage to them based on how far they get pushed

obviously a bit evil to do somewhere nice and populated like the prime material plane, but you could always go to a hell/the abyss/etc. and just absolutely ruin a bunch of fiends' days.

NautArch

@goodguy5 Argh, going either S&B or dual-wield, I wouldn't be able to cast shield as an EK without taking warcaster. It has a somatic component.

Gwideon

it just seems so.... weird and really cheap

NautArch

@Gwideon welcome to the cheese collection

if that bothers you, i don't suggest reading the other entries :P

Gwideon

oh gosh. (is thankful I don't have to deal with 3.5e spell casters)

Carcer

I mean, to be clear, as an exploit it's so obviously egregiously against the spirit of the game's rules that no sane DM would allow it

but there is some joy to be hand in theorycrafting at systems and finding the ways that they break.

Gwideon

16:44

I know someone who would try to do it and then be very stubborn when I disallowed it.

Carcer

3.5e is quite notorious for this because it's got a quite simulationist design bent and a truly obnoxious amount of content

Gwideon

If wizards were this powerful in 5e then I wouldn't be able to run anyhigh level stuff. I have enough trouble dealing with powerful spellcasters but um yeah.

Carcer

see also: the jumplomancer

yeah, 3e is well known for the problem expressed succinctly as "linear fighter, quadratic wizard"

Yuuki

@MikeQ I read some DM dealt with that like so: "1. Locate City is centered on you. 2. You'll have to make a Reflex save as well. 3. 'Are you sure you want to play this game?'"

Gwideon

oh that is clever and very evil lol

Yuuki

16:49

@Gwideon A key part of the problem is that 3.5e had a lot of splatbooks.

NautArch

@Carcer ha! is that why this user named themselves that?

Yuuki

And you couldn't realistically expect every designer of every splatbook to read through every other splatbook.

Gwideon

true

Carcer

@NautArch most likely!

@Yuuki the thing is there's probably like half a dozen different ways to exclude yourself from the spell's area with various metamagic feats and prestige classes

Yuuki

Really, splatbooks were a key portion of maximizing spellcaster power in 3.5e. Unlike martials, whose powers were tied to class features, spellcaster power was tied to the breadth of their spellbooks. So with splatbooks, you could literally buy yourself more power.

Mark Wells

16:50

@Yuuki Another key part of the problem is that 3.5e had a culture where this kind of thing was considered "clever".

NautArch

okay, so pretty sure i'm going Battlemaster with Commander's Strike, Lunging Attack, Sweeping Attack. Still can't decide on dual-wield or S&B/Shieldmaster.

Carcer

@Yuuki yeah, it's the obscene versatility of full-casters that was the biggest problem. There's a spell to do anything and it probably does it better than any non-magical character ever could.

NautArch

S&B seems like that may be better. I hope to use commander's strike as often as possible with the rogue, so not losing two damage-producing attacks seems like a better trade off.

Yuuki

Splatbook power was noticeably more accessible for casters. New spells? Oh, I can just throw that in my spellbook next level or something. Whereas martials generally only got splatbook power via new classes or something.

MikeQ

@Yuuki Or at the cost of several useless prerequisite feats

Yuuki

16:56

Or feats, which is still a more premium resource than spellbook capacity.

@MikeQ wew feat chains

sounds fun and immersive in concept, "ugh five more levels until i'm moderately useful" in execution

MikeQ

And even at the cost of prerequisite feats and ability scores, the capstones of most martial feat chains were very situational, and not nearly as powerful as what the casters got several levels prior

Yuuki

@MikeQ And spells didn't have pre-requisites. Would have been an interesting balance mechanic for spellcasting, "Fireball requires knowledge of Control Flames and Flaming Sphere".

NautArch

Little help reviewing my build?

goodguy5

@NautArch I would, but work vpn

Mark Wells

@Yuuki I remember GURPS Magic trying to do that.

and the first spell in each school being something trivial. Like, the spell tree that ends with Deathtouch starts with a spell that makes someone itch in a specific spot.

Gwideon

17:18

sounds interesting

Carcer

the DA RPG has a similar requirement of knowing lesser thematically related spells to pick up the bigger ones

JohnP

@MarkWells Rolemaster did something similar, not in prerequisites, but really nicely scaled spells

Mark Wells

17:38

@JohnP You could do this in D&D 3.5 by eliminating class spell lists, and using only domain spell lists. You don't get "8 wizard spells of your choice"; you get to pick 4 domains and as you level up you gain the spells in each of those.

JohnP

@MarkWells Yes, quite easily. Good point.

Mark Wells

Or leave wizards as they are, and just do this for cleric spells. There shouldn't be "generic cleric spells" anyway. They should all be expressions of your god's nature.

JohnP

"We're going to be GODS!"
"I'm gonna be naughty! I'm gonna be a naughty vampire god!"

Mark Wells

yes, now you get the Naughty and Vampire domains

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: Do magic staves require the wielder to have their spells on his/her list in order to cast them?

All of the magic staves in the 5E DMG simply state that the wielder can use an action and expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the spells from it. Literally none of them require the spell to be on the caster's spell list. But a few of the magic staves from the Lost Mines of Phandelver-...

dnd-5e spells magic-items lost-mine-of-phandelver

KorvinStarmast

18:05

@Gwideon not weird, for mostly the reasons that you spell out in your question. We have a Q&A about Veils and Lines that you might want to take a look at. Related to how things can get awkward.

Gwideon

@KorvinStarmast I would love a link to that. Also um yeah it could be very awkward.

KorvinStarmast

Gimme a sec ....

@Gwideon Have a look here at some Q&A about lines and veils

Gwideon

thanks

KorvinStarmast

@Gwideon MikeQ already covered fade to black.. which is one of numerous tools

Gwideon

@KorvinStarmast yeah I have used fade to black. It is my standard way of dealing with something before it goes to far

KorvinStarmast

18:12

@Gwideon Yeah, I find it a handy tool.

Gwideon

anyways um i'm moving on. How do I write another players character. I'm um writing a um ship fic between a PC and an NPC

I don't want to write them out of character

actually nevermind

The Oracle

0

Q: Why this old user has unclickable profile, yet retain the profile name?

This user looks like a deleted user, but unlike most (all?) users, they retain their username - usually a deleted user become user123456 or something random number. Is this a bug? What happened to the user?

discussion users

NautArch

18:27

@KorvinStarmast Can I pick your brain about a fighter battlemaster build?

Someone_Evil

@NautArch Are the rest of us allowed to chime in as well, or must we suffer in silence?

NautArch

@Someone_Evil ha! you can definitely all join in :)

This is the current build as a Shieldmaster Battlemaster. But I keep flipflopping on that feat or going with Dual Wielder.

On the shield side, I get +2 AC and some bonuses to my dexterity save related stuff (which is awful at a -1 DEX currently) vs a consistent bonus action attack. However, I do plan on using Commander's strike which takes up one of my attacks AND my bonus action.

We also utilize flanking rules, so the shove prone is only useful when I'm not teaming up with an ally on a target.

We also just hit 5th level, and was planning on using most superiority dice on commander's strike to the rogue (currently at a 3d6 sneak attack)

Someone_Evil

Are you wanting to strictly consider mechanics? Because at a charisma of 4 the character doesn't really strike me as a "commander"-person

NautArch

@Someone_Evil yeah, that's also kind of an issue. But low charisma doesn't mean doesn't understand a battlefield.

I was also considering EK because of that issue (and another reason why i avoided samurai)

but with EK, I'd have to start with warcaster in order to even cast shield.

Someone_Evil

I will say the board+shield+commander's strike build sounds more interesting to me, because 1) it's more cooperative and 2) I have not encountered it/really heard of anyone doing it, whereas dual-wielder-flurry-of-swords is much more done

NautArch

18:43

It's also the longer play. Right now, giving my attack(s) as a DW to do the Strike would result in missing out on an average of 18 damage (assuming I hit twice.) The Rogue's Sneak Attack is 21. But that will increase while mine won't (much.)

It also seems that the DM is putting monsters against us with some fairly decent to hit modifiers. Last battle, they were netting over 20 fairly often. Not sure how effective that shield will really be vs more sustained damage output.

But no guarantees i'll be around for hte long play given my recent character death (2nd PC death since campaign started and we're just at level 5)

Xirema

@NautArch Somewhere I dumped the stats showing that each additional point of AC is more valuable than the previous point, so if you can get your AC relatively high using a Shield, it's probably worth it.

NautArch

@Xirema Battlemaster with shield would give me 20AC (Splint 17, +2 Shield, +1 Defensive fighting style.) Battlemaster with DW would give me 18AC(Splint 17, +1 DW)

Add one to each when I can get plate.

So 21/19.

Xirema

Hmmm.

NautArch

So the additional features of Shield Master will for dex saves targeted only at me change my save modifier from -1 to +1 and then the 3rd bullet works as normal.

goodguy5

wait, @NautArch dur. I can open it on my phone.

oh snap, you guys rolled stats, I see.

NautArch

18:55

@goodguy5 3d6 straight down the line.

goodguy5

brutal

NautArch

yeah, and the DM doesn't really seem to creating encounters for that type of character. oh well /shrug.

goodguy5

So, you're playing Chonk, from the Goonies. got it

Then, obviously, a swashbuckler

actually, no. Chonk has a high Cha.

Man, those stats are something else.

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