TRPG General Chat

V2Blast

00:14

D&D's Spoilers & Swag stream is beginning now: https://www.twitch.tv/dnd
There will be spoilers... and swag. They're doing 6(?) giveaways.

Also:
Adam Koebel's Eberron: Rising from the Last War preview stream is on YouTube now.
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuMgHdUnUko
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmbOPQHzaDA

KorvinStarmast

02:19

@NautArch Yes. At 6, put a point in dex, and put another point in strength

NautArch

02:35

@KorvinStarmast even with all the math i can't decide :P

V2Blast

02:55

@trogdor It's written "goodfamily5" :P

Hot RPG Questions

8

Q: What's the difference between a creature "can't move" and a creature's "speed becomes 0 and it can't benefit from any bonus to its speed."?

While reading through the conditions described in Appendix A of the 5e PHB, I realised, that some of them say a creature "can't move" (e.g. Stunned, Unconscious), while others state that its "speed becomes 0" (e.g. Grappled, Restrained). Can anyone explain to me the mechanical distinction betwee...

trogdor

@V2Blast :PPPPP

V2Blast

@Xirema 8 days from today!

@goodguy5 @Xirema It's sort of a badly worded answer. Per the linked Crawford tweet, it's still possible by RAW to enter a Rage and get none of the benefits in the Rage feature while wearing heavy armor (which would allow the Bear Totem benefits to apply even in heavy armor). The rules intent is that you basically can't rage while in heavy armor.

V2Blast

03:19

@Gwideon Check out BattleMaster! I played it for a while, but stopped due to life getting in the way. Probably part of what drew me to TTRPGs :) There's a decent roleplay element, a bit of wargaming-ness, and a great community. It's mostly theater-of-the-mind, in a sense, because it's text-based, though there is a world map. And it's free! battlemaster.org

I almost forgot, I was briefly one of the editors of an in-universe "newspaper" on the BattleMaster wiki: the Itorunt Informer

Xirema

05:26

So I had to homebrew a creature for my players to fight tonight.

I was deeply worried about setting its HP pool that high, but with its vulnerability to Radiant Damage, the Monk managed to take out a quarter of its hp in a single round.

Session ended before the rest of the party could get into position to attack, so we'll see how it goes next week....

trogdor

Lol

It reminds me of a beholder ( I dunno if it's supposed to or not)

Xirema

It's a photoshopped image of a Mindwitness.

(As seen in Volo's Guide to Monsters)

trogdor

Ah ok

Xirema

I did some color magic to the image to turn it green/purple.

trogdor

Fair enough

Hot RPG Questions

05:42

6

Q: How are the skeletons in the Tresendar Manor created? And by whom?

I am returning to D&D after many years, and it looks like animate dead only works for 24 hours at a time, so who made the skeletal guards in the Manor, and how were they constructed? Glasstaff isn't nearly high enough level/ doesn't have the spells. The skeletons are not "free-roaming", they ar...

dnd-5e undead necromancy lost-mine-of-phandelver

BESW

@HotRPGQuestions When a mommy and daddy skeleton love each other very much...

(Alternately, have you read The Twisted Ones?)

trogdor

Lol

Hey you stole my joke!

Medix2

06:49

I'm trying to find something in dnd-5e that applies to "magical weapons" specifically, anything known?

Miniman

@Medix2 Pact of the Blade?

Everything else I can think of is specific to nonmagical weapons rather than the reverse.

Medix2

I know that makes a weapon which overcomes resistance to non-magical damage

Oh the ritual thing, thank you!

V2Blast

08:08

Another tag seemingly referring to a specific concept in a specific RPG: thresholds

> For questions related to supernatural barriers in the Dresden Files RPG.

SmokeDetector

08:32

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer (347): Where is a warlock's soul? by John Allan on rpg.SE

BESW

@V2Blast Pretty sure it's a 5e mechanic too?

Pierre Cathé

Morning

V2Blast

09:25

@BESW "Damage thresholds" are. It's what made me look to see if there was a tag for them, and I found that one instead :P

That said, I'm sure supernatural barriers exist in many RPGs, under many names

BESW

10:08

At the very least, they're also a mechanic in Dresden Files Accelerated, which is distinct from the Dresden Files RPG.

Hot RPG Questions

10:48

4

Q: How do gelatinous cubes reproduce?

Last time when our party encountered a gelatinous cube, we wondered how they reproduce. We instinctively agreed that they reproduce like amoeba - by mitosis or cell division. However, I'm curious: Is there a canonical D&D reference to how gelatinous cubes reproduce? I'm very interested if there...

monsters dungeons-and-dragons lore

Pierre Cathé

@HotRPGQuestions ew

Mark Wells

14:36

@HotRPGQuestions I like the answer there because it forces me to say "Wait, how does a cube divide into two cubes?" and then to realize that the answer is Banach-Tarski.

2

Carcer

gelatinous cuboids

gelatinous spheres

gelatinous hypercubes

Rubiksmoose

Goobiks Cubes

Carcer

get out

Rubiksmoose

:)

Gwideon

14:58

hey

Carcer

hoy

Gwideon

how is everyone

still trying to do some writing

actually feeling better about it right now. I'm just gonna write it and worry about revising later

Sdjz

sounds like a good plan

Gwideon

15:17

hey um I'm sorry I'm um just kinda wondering but um is anyone an artist

Sdjz

well that's a bit vague, are you looking for a specific kind of artist?

Gwideon

um character artist

i don't know

Sdjz

ah I see

artist in drawing things

that's what I meant

Gwideon

ahhh

i'm kinda just looking for someone to do character references cause it's easier for me to work if I have visuals and I'm not a good enough artist to do them.

I'm weird. I tend to be very visual oriented and it just tends to be easier for me to work when I have a visual idea of what I'm working with

i'll ask somewhere else

anyways um I'm not really sure what to talk about

Rubiksmoose

15:57

@KorvinStarmast Congrats on hitting 100k!!!

Gwideon

16:22

Just kinda wondering what do people think of world anvil

vicky_molokh

@Gwideon A friend who used to be my GM seemed to like it.

Carcer

never tried it but constantly exposed to ads for it via the videos my husband watches on youtoob

Gwideon

okay

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose Does that mean you'll double my pay? 8^D

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast Triple even!

KorvinStarmast

16:26

@Rubiksmoose Man, that's so generous of you. we are not worthy

Rubiksmoose

Your new allotment of ModCoin(tm) has been transferred to your digital wallet.

NautArch

howdy howdy

@Rubiksmoose @KorvinStarmast mazel tov!

KorvinStarmast

@Gwideon Might want to browse Deviant Art for lots of pictures of lots of people and lots of things.

Some very talented people post their stuff there

Gwideon

okay

NautArch

@Gwideon I'd also come up with a budget for what you're willing to pay.

If it's "nothing", then you may want to avoid asking so as not to show up on r/choosingbeggars

Carcer

16:31

yeah, you might find it easier to just find some existing character art that's close to what you have in mind if it's just to help your own imagination.

NautArch

In which case searching there or just on google images with a decent description may net you a good enough result.

Gwideon

True. Commissions can be expensive and it's a bad idea to ask an artist to do something for free unless they're open for requests

Dorian Turba

Hi, I'm creating some NPC for a homemade campaign, and I'd like to show to my PC how they looks like. But it's very hard to find what I want. I use pinterest, but I only find useful stuff by navigating through "similar stuff" and it's long. Do you have any suggestions ?

Gwideon

No idea

Yuuki

As mentioned above, you could find an artist whose style you like and then pay them to do some art for you.

NautArch

16:42

@Gwideon This is exactly what you're talking about wanting above :)

@DorianTurba I'd also start with figuring out a searchable description and seeing what comes up in google images or on Deviant Art.

Xirema

@DorianTurba I usually just crawl through the monster manual/related books until I find something that kind of resembles what I'm looking for, and then photoshop until it matches the essential description.

Dorian Turba

@Yuuki Yeah, ok, good idea. Could be the best option to get very personalized character.

NautArch

@DorianTurba Definitely be the best option, but figure out a budget you'd like to spend on it.

Dorian Turba

@NautArch Yes. I'm still a student, maybe ask art student for a cheaper com ? ^^

@Xirema Photoshop for me is impossible, it's too complex.

NautArch

@DorianTurba I...would not suggest that. On one hand, it doesn't hurt to ask.On the other....r/choosingbeggars.

Gwideon

16:49

art students already have enough to worry about

Dorian Turba

@NautArch Do you have any idea of the common price for something like this ?

Gwideon

@DorianTurba seriously depends on the artist

Dorian Turba

@Gwideon ok

Gwideon

Artists set they're own prices. general rule of thumb though is the longer it takes to make something and the higher quality it is the more expensive it is.

Dorian Turba

Deviant art is a good place to find artists ?

I don't even know if it is possible to send a private message on deviant art, that's why I'm asking this.

Gwideon

16:54

yeah though deviant artists can sometimes take a deviant art specific currency that you can buy. also if an artist is taking commissions they'll usually have some way to contact them in their commission page.

Dorian Turba

@Gwideon Ok, I will see how it work on deviant art, if there is it's own commission system, could be easier.

Gwideon

hey can I send a conlang

um sorry

Yuuki

It doesn't hurt to ask how much a commission would cost, but don't proceed to complain about the price if you think it's too high.

Just a "that's a little out of my price range, but thank you for your time" is good.

Or just "thank you for your time".

Gwideon

keep in mind that making art is hard and it takes a lot of a skill that is developed over years. So yes it can be pretty expensive to commission something.

Yuuki

17:09

But also there are plenty of artists whose commission costs aren't an arm and a leg. And I know someone who does commissions and varies the price based on the level of quality that the commissioner desires.

But that's something they'll mention ahead of time, don't propose that yourself.

No one appreciates "hey, will you draw something for half-price if I'm okay with it being terrible?".

The Oracle

2

Q: Answering questions across Revised editions

I've been answering a few Cypher system questions recently and I keep encountering cases where the issue being discussed has a justification within the revised version of the core rulebook. In my answers I've been clearly describing how in the revised versions of the rules x can be explained by ...

discussion

Yuuki

> <man sees an image of a person he killed>
> Man: "How are you here? Am I dead too?"
> Image: "No, you're alive. As for me, I'm either a ghost come back to haunt you or a guilt-induced figment of your imagination."
> Man: "That's impossible."
> Image: "Why? Because this can't be real?"
> Man: "No, because I don't feel guilty."

Ladies and gentlemen, our hero.

To be fair, it was in self-defense but that's a funny exchange.

Gwideon

um does anyone have an interest in conlangs

Rubiksmoose

> A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised. Constructed languages may also be referred to as artificial, planned or invented languages and in some cases fictional languages

Neat

Gwideon

um can I send one I've been working on for a while

Rubiksmoose

17:21

oh cool!

Yuuki

Would prison slang be a conlang?

Or would it be a conconlang?

Rubiksmoose

That sounds like a lot of work!

Gwideon

drive.google.com/drive/folders/…

um sorry. it's interesting to do it and there's a good youtube series on making them

nitsua60

@Gwideon @Shalvenay might, if I remember correctly.

Gwideon

okay

sorry if this is boring to people

Rubiksmoose

17:30

I find it interesting. Though I don't have anything particularly interesting to add to the conversation.

Also, not like anybody is really talking about anything else :)

Gwideon

it is super interesting but it can also be pretty difficult

also this is my first one so it probably sucks

Rubiksmoose

Can't be worse than English ;)

Gwideon

true. english is rather complicated and can sometimes be somewhat nonsensical

anyways um it has a verb-object-subject word order which can be a little weird to deal with sometimes

Rubiksmoose

17:48

Oo! That would be a bit strange.

Gwideon

it also uses a suffix to indicate what's being possessed instead of who's possessing it.

so um yeah

Rubiksmoose

oh neat.

vicky_molokh

@Gwideon So like Tatar?

Gwideon

never heard of Tatar.

David Coffron

@Gwideon Hey. That's where you start from; I've made a handful of partial conlangs in my time and they're still not up to chaff with what I'm after

Tatar language

The Tatar language (татар теле, татарча) is a Turkic language spoken by Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with the Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar which are closely related but belong to different subgroups of the Kipchak languages. == Geographic distribution == The Tatar language is spoken in Russia (about 5.3 million people), Ukraine, China, Finland, Turkey, Uzbekistan, the United States of America, Romania, Azerbaijan, Israel, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, and other countries. There are more than 7 milli...

Gwideon

18:05

@DavidCoffron thanks for the clarification. Anyways um if you get a chance and are willing it would be cool if you could look over my stuff and tell me what you think.

David Coffron

@Gwideon In the process :)

Gwideon

awesome

David Coffron

One thing I find makes a conlang feel more "real" is to provide some antonyms with different "roots". Kind of like how in Latin bonum and malus aren't similar. It's good to have some antonyms with similarities, but the beauty of a good conlang is the incongruities. Personally, I find myself making my conlangs fit the rules too well. Real-world languages are full of exceptions; try to put some into yours as you expand the vocabulary

Gwideon

okay

David Coffron

@Gwideon I really like the derivatives showing up in the lexicon though. It demonstrates that the words are evolving. I can imagine how the people treat vetana as its own word even though it is just a compound word (kind of like how in English, people think of words like dardevil as somewhat separate from the words "dare" and "devil" even though it finds its origins there)

One interesting idea would be to have two different words for the same English word. This shows up all the time in real-world languages when certain words carry additional connotation that doesn't show up in another language. For example, "zeka" could also mean "war", but refer to an ongoing conflict that is "technically" made up of many wars. (think how the hundred years war is actually a group of smaller intermittent conflicts)

so we might translate zeka as "long war", but the Vetana people think about it differently than a war in general

Gwideon

18:21

@DavidCoffron Thanks. Um i was really trying to think of that when I was making words in the lexicon. Um it does have a history as being a splinter language from draconic, cause I kinda designed this as a language for dragonborns in my world. Um if you want to read more about um some of the cultural stuff behind the language I talked about that in not a bar.

David Coffron

@Gwideon Oh! Kiki and gohe are great examples of the differing roots in antonyms actually

Gwideon

also yeah sorry for splitting the discussion between two chatrooms

David Coffron

@Gwideon No problem

Gwideon

I am thinking of making a version of infernal as I like to play tieflings and I'd actually like to be able to speak infernal when my characters do

David Coffron

Is there a reason "less" seems connected to "person" (since it uses the same "-no" as "nonaga" for example)? Is the word used in the society particularly or originally to refer to people? Just curious

(I think it is interesting whether there is a history to it or not; I like these kind of tidbits when I look at real word languages. Super neat)

Gwideon

18:32

@DavidCoffron The connection is unintentional. I probably made little unintentional connections like that when i made my words

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose ditto.

David Coffron

@Gwideon Cool; getting into the mindset of the language can make that happen. And some will just be coincidences in real language evolution anyway :)

nitsua60

@Gwideon NACLO might be an interesting ~resource~ for this: nacloweb.org. Check out their practice problems =)

Gwideon

oh that sounds interesting

Yuuki

@DavidCoffron Not the same phenomenon, but like how "isle" and "island" are similar despite having different etymological origins.

English is a poor example to draw from for conlangs, I think, because how much it borrows from other languages, resulting in something that is very internally inconsistent.

David Coffron

18:42

@Yuuki Agreed. I usually use Latin as a basis for patterns, since its a bit more consistent. Anyway, off to lunch; see you all soono

NautArch

19:19

Hmm, i'm wondering if a possible answer to this summoned creatures dying is that they don't die, they just disappear.

kviiri

@NautArch "Like a goldfish down the drain"

That's an interesting question, in a way, because it seems 5e keys some stuff on creatures dying

NautArch

@kviiri Yeah. THe specific rules on summoning seem different.

Hot RPG Questions

20:00

6

Q: Monster Slayer Ranger vs Enervation

If a Monster Slayer Ranger has Enervation cast on her, chooses to use her Slayer's counter ability, deals damage, breaks the spellcaster's concentration, does she still take the 2d8 damage from passing the save even though the spellcaster is no longer concentrating on the spell? The Monster Slay...

dnd-5e class-feature ranger

Gwideon

This maybe a dumb idea but would it be weird to have a distinction built into a language shared by devils and demons whether something is considered lawful or chaotic.

user15026

@Gwideon Language adapts based on what's important to the people who use it, and the ways they communicate those things. So...it makes sense, if that's important enough to them, that they might have words or bits to denote those things.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch yes, that is one answer

David Coffron

Is there any way to read thoughts in D&D 5e without the creature knowing? Detect thoughts says: "Either way, the target knows that you are probing into its mind, and unless you shift your attention to another creature's thoughts, the creature can use its action on its turn to make an Intelligence check contested by your Intelligence check; if it succeeds, the spell ends."

KorvinStarmast

20:18

But the whole text says this: You initially learn the surface thoughts of the
creature—what is most on its mind in that moment. As an action, you can either shift your attention to another creature’s thoughts or attempt to probe deeper into the same creature’s mind. If you probe deeper, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. If it fails, you gain insight into its reasoning (if any), its emotional state, and something that looms large in its mind (such as something it worries over, loves, or hates). If it succeeds, the spell ends. Either way, the target knows that you are probing into i…

It's a complicated spell

@DavidCoffron And I think that there's a higher level spell, let me check ...

Carcer

@KorvinStarmast I don't think there is any mind-reading spell besides detect thoughts

KorvinStarmast

@Carcer Hmm, I checked the spell list for divination, and maybe I need to check my Xanathar's list later ... I could swear there was something like that but memory is not serving.

(And I may also be thinking of a class feature, rather than a spell)

Carcer

and my reading of detect thoughts is that the creature only becomes aware you're reading its mind if you try to probe deeper, so if you only listen to the creature's surface thoughts, it never knows.

KorvinStarmast

Yes, that's my take as well.

Carcer

oh

I think you're thinking of knowledge cleric

David Coffron

20:24

yeah, that's what I meant; Is there a way to probe deeper without them knowing

Carcer

they get a read thoughts channel divinity option

KorvinStarmast

@Carcer Aha! Yes, thanks.

David Coffron

@KorvinStarmast @Carcer Thanks!

Carcer

that only reads surface thoughts, but it has no affordance for the target realising they're being read

David Coffron

Hmph. So say the character's surface thoughts are "I'm going to kill this thing", but you want to find out why. No way to do that without them knowing, I guess?

Carcer

20:26

depends on the situation

David Coffron

well I guess you could ask "why" and then their surface thoughts will reflect that...

Carcer

if you're currently reading a person's surface thoughts and you're able to socially engage them, you can probably get information out of them just by asking

yeah

David Coffron

M'kay. Cleric it is!

Carcer

without interacting with them, you're stuck though

KorvinStarmast

Or have a third party interact ....

kviiri

20:48

@BESW I've been on sick leave today, watching She-Ra and playing old SNES games when I've been awake enough to do things. Apropos that, when I finally get to run Masters of Umdaar, one of the villains' head minions will be a large mutant ape in a tie, with a chemical spray gun that he uses to spray rot-inducing pollutants on his foes. I call him D.K.

BESW

I approve.

kviiri

I've been thinking of reusing one of my planned DnD villains to serve as his overlord, with an added layer of that 80's campiness. They're an evil wizard lord with the working title Wormonger, and they're basically a sentient mass of gross bugs.

Akin to "The Worm That Walks" as described by TVtropes

BESW

I love the Worm That Walks concept!

Gwideon

I finished my sound inventory for my version of infernal

kviiri

The villain concept I had (originally for DnD, pending reworks) is that Wormonger desired nothing more than godhood, but all the decent portfolios were already taken, so they take the path of least resistance and start a cult of filth, rot and decay with themselves as the god figure.

BESW

20:59

My D&D campaigns used to have a Vermin Lord, the god of rats and bugs and such. He was very powerful because there were so many of them, but he had very little influence on the world because all his worshippers were unintelligent.

But every now and then, some intelligent humanoid decided to devote themselves to the Vermin Lord and became a terrifying Vermin Priest because all the Vermin Lord's power was at their disposal.

kviiri

@BESW Because there were so few of those priests, they got a larger share than most gods' priests?

Carcer

@BESW He thought he could control rats with his mind but it turned out that he and rats just had very similar ideas about what rats should do?

kviiri

After years of hard work and building up their power, Wormonger treads the line between mortality and divinity, being quite powerful by mortal standards but very weak by divine ones. He's still confined to corporeal form, although not the one he was born with.

I originally planned Wormonger's High Priest to be the boss of a L4 quest and Wormonger's corporeal form to be the final boss of the heroic tier, but I never got that 4e campaign even started.

Luckily I didn't plan more than just these rough sketches.

BESW

A great thing about Fate is that you don't have to worry about level-gating awesomeness.

kviiri

Yep. I find the Wormonger concept might be equally fun as a stand-in for Skeletor.

A recurring villain, easy for the heroes to foil but hard to truly defeat, and always ready to pull off an evil scheme.

MoU feels like an excellent place to put my skill for punny names to good use.

I just wish all the good ones were in the same language. Everyone I can foresee playing with speaks English but it'd be easier on my sense of aesthetics

oh well. Way past bedtime.

Toodle-doo.

V2Blast

21:24

Hello, everyone

MikeQ

21:35

@V2Blast Hello, specific one

V2Blast

@MikeQ maybe I'm nonspecific

MikeQ

@V2Blast You didn't specifically say you're nonspecific

Hot RPG Questions

22:02

6

Q: Are the female elves in this AL adventure actually Dusk Elves?

In the Curse of Strahd adventure, there are a unique subrace of elf called dusk elves, and the adventure has this to say about them: So it seems that, during the time that the adventure takes place, there are no female dusk elves left alive but then, in DDAL04-06 The Ghost, there are femal...

dnd-5e lore dnd-adventurers-league curse-of-strahd ravenloft

KorvinStarmast

The hostile huns were non pacific

one wonders if that sentence were ever written before in the English language.

(I suspect such a sentence was written in Latin in roughly the 4th or 5th century AD ...)

Yuuki

@KorvinStarmast I mean, Mongolia is landlocked, is it not?

trogdor

22:41

no see it's touching a little water so it can't be landlocked :P

XD

(not the ocean though so I think that means it is?)

David Coffron

@KorvinStarmast Are we trying to name sentences that were never said?

"Ronald Reagan loves her goldenrod ice cream truck."

Yuuki

@trogdor Yeah, at the very least, it's not touching the Pacific.

BESW

23:11

@DavidCoffron I would've said "Who is the Spider-Man of the Annieverse," but I would've been wrong.

Xirema

> I was convinced to change my mind on this issue by a user on Twitter, who eloquently and respectfully explained to me why I was wrong.

trogdor

@Yuuki XD

MikeQ

23:30

@BESW When multiple Worms-that-walk have a fight, is that considered warfare?

Black Spike

Had to skip our Game this week :( too few players. Didn't even get to play replacement-board-games.

KorvinStarmast

23:45

@DavidCoffron I was riffing off of specific and non specific to pacific. (V2Blast Hello, specific one - MikeQ maybe I'm nonspecific -V2Blast You didn't specifically say you're nonspecific ) and that took me to "what isn't pacific?" (Peaceful) someone/something hostile ... huns?

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