TRPG General Chat

12:04 AM

@Gwideon -- there's a conlang SE, with its own chat room: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/72781/constructed-languages

12:48 AM

Suggestions please: My Rolemaster PC (Lvl 3) is a grumpy Healer. He really likes taking peoples' injuries off them, but hates them for being stupid enough to get injured in the 1st place.
He considers himself "Divinely Chosen" (it is a Channelling/divine power), but is poorly educated in Religion (especially compared to the Paladin PC)
I have a pet Hawk, Dog and Horse (The Dog is Mystically Bound)
Where can I take this character, as we plough inevitably towards the Heights Of Power?

Ben

1:00 AM

Morning all

hi @Ben

How's it going?

so-so. how's you?

It's hot haha. I wear long sleeves and slacks everyday to work, so it's always warm haha

Black Spike

@Ben pfft. getting Wintery here :( With mega-floods, the like of which had never been seen! (since last year)

Ben

1:27 AM

Oh wow. We had our worst flood last year. Our dam levels went from >20% to over 300%, with a voluntary unload to prevent overflow. The rain lasted a week

The rivers came up by like, 4m

Black Spike

Our city is thankfully spared (we invested in flood defences int he '70s). But surrounding villages have been deluged. And we're not getting the worst of it.
I'm sure some is just media hype, but there do seem to be a lot more videos of "Silly Peopl trying to drive through flooded roads" this year ...

Although I am reminded of a visit to Yorkshire, when we saw a historical Flood Marker (from back in the 1800s or so) , a few feet up the side of a building ... hmmm .. .ok, that's not good ... then realised the building was half-way up a hill-side!

Ben

Oh wow

That's why you don't drive through flooded roads

Black Spike

1:46 AM

@Ben woah

Our floods have been officially declared (if the Prime Minister is considered an Official Source) NOT a National Emergency. Lots of Localised Emergencies, maybe. Lots and lots. But not enough to actually consider it National (London is fine ,thankyouverymuch)

Hot RPG Questions

9

Q: Are there concrete advantages for being proficient at social Skills in a table that rewards roleplaying these interactions?

I'm a new DM running D&D 5e's LMoP with a small group of new players. So far everyone is having fun even though we're all learning on the fly, which I think is great. But there have been situations where I as a DM have had to adjudicate the use of social interactions against NPCs, but I'm unsure...

Ben

Yeah. That's what our situation was. Though that's probably just due to the size of Qld

Black Spike

in other news : no Games News this week. :(

1 player ill, 1 player out-of-the-country, 1 player working late .... #CatHerding

Ben

2:13 AM

Yeah. Our games have been like that lately. In the stead of one player missing each time, we've started up like 3 other games. Pathfinder, 5e, and one that's meant to work with one missing player, but since it's always one missing player, we never focus on the story

GcL

2:30 AM

@BlackSpike There's only 3 players? Lucky you. It's only a DC 25 arcana check to get the bleeping heavens and stars to align so you can all show up at the same place at the same time to play.

Hot RPG Questions

2:51 AM

12

Q: Can a Tiefling be born from two human parents?

This may seem like a dumb question on the surface but hear me out Background of my Tiefling So I made a pretty in-depth background for my warlock that intertwines deeply with the bard in the party. Their family has a long-running pact with Graz'zt and due to this, every other generation or two,...

dnd-5e races tiefling human

nitsua60

Aug 13 '18 at 19:46, by Mike Q

@ColinGross The DC of scheduling a regular D&D game for 4 adults is "Impossible", +5 per additional adult

MikeQ

@BlackSpike Suggestion: Come up with activities (or even campaign structures) that don't require a specific set of players, so that you can still have fun when regular players are out, or a guest player wants to join in

Black Spike

3:07 AM

@GcL 4 players +1 GM

Usually we have a cupboard full of board-games ready to play ("Small World" is our go-to).
This week, there was only 1 player available! (and he was not the host! I was not well, and my house-mate is away) .... so ... no games! :(

@Ben We have 4 players + 1 GM. we will (usually) play with 1 missing player, but 2 unavailable means no game. But if it is a Session that the Missing Player should be a Big Part of (or a scene requiring ALL players) ... we hold fire

Black Spike

3:25 AM

@MikeQ We do have a local game that is specifically set-up to run with "who-ever turns up". oD&D, once a month. Each Session is "go to the Dungeon, get back to town by end of Session". I played a few sessions, and it worked well. There are now a few veterans, and some newbies, and some in'n'out ... not what I want as a Main Game, but really good to see working!"

GcL

@BlackSpike Western Marches?

Black Spike

@GcL Homebrew setting

Hot RPG Questions

3:52 AM

5

Q: What is the maximum distance you can cause damage from?

What is the maximum distance a creature can cause damage from, without moving? This can be via any method (making an attack roll, forcing a saving throw, using an item), aside from the Wish spell. The creature inflicting the damage can receive any help from any number of creatures or use any n...

dnd-5e optimization ranged-attack

Ben

5:18 AM

@HotRPGQuestions Depends if you have discord or not

trogdor

Lol

V2Blast

5:59 AM

13 hours left on that Rogue Trader Humble Bundle: humblebundle.com/books/…

kviiri

7:15 AM

@Yuuki Relatedly, one of my friends thought until their mid-teens that "pros and cons" referred to professionals and convicts.

Unrelatedly, there was a brief but amusing phase of my life where I thought the Simpsons were supposed to be anthropomorphized potato chips.

Pierre Cathé

8:27 AM

Morning

kviiri

8:56 AM

Hi!

BESW

9:11 AM

@kviiri Headcanon accepted.

kviiri

Why else should they be yellow, etc.

BESW

I've seen Bart's hair. No further explanation is needed.

Pierre Cathé

@kviiri Jaundice

BESW

He is clearly Ruffles.

kviiri

@BESW Yes, that was another contributing factor. Lots of characters having these odd jagged edges instead of hair

brb, lunchies

Pierre Cathé

9:17 AM

My headcanon is that they all have some kind of liver failure

BESW

Miniman

9:36 AM

@kviiri In high school my skin turned yellow because I ate too many carrots (~2kg/week).

kviiri

9:53 AM

@Miniman Homer doesn't seem like a person to do that, though.

Marge might, she even looks like a carrot.

@BESW "The Simpsons: Nacho Cheese Corn Chips." I guess that's the explicit confirmation we needed!

Bart exclaims his elation upon us finally correctly establishing our understanding on his species' identity.

BESW

trogdor

10:13 AM

lol

yeah the yellow skin color on the Simpsons is,... a weird seeming choice

kviiri

@BESW Homer doesn't take it in stride I see.

trogdor

I think the potato chip explanation is as good as any

@kviiri lol

kviiri

In addition to the skin color and weird head shape things, plus the additional evidence on these clearly canon products, is that the word "Simpson" just happened to sound close enough to sipsi (potato chip in Finnish) to child me.

trogdor

XD

that is great

kviiri

I think I'm re-promoting it to headcanon

BESW

10:23 AM

[has never seen an episode of The Simpsons]

kviiri

@BESW Huh, that's a really high-level never-have-I-ever you got there.

trogdor

lol

kviiri

I think I've seen every episode until about season 20. Most of them twice or more.

trogdor

it isn't like I watched it religiously but I've seen several dozen episodes probably

kviiri

A TV channel has had loose syndication rights around here for over a decade. We used to watch episode after episode with my brother because I guess it was an easy way to pad TV content

Just put in more Simpsons

trogdor

10:28 AM

they certainly made more than enough of it

BESW

@kviiri Also Game of Thrones, Friends, Seinfeld, original TMNT, any TV version of Power Rangers, Orange is the New Black...

kviiri

@BESW Ditto for GoT, Friends and Seinfeld I've never watched intentionally but they used to have a weird way of being on when I turned on the TV without knowing what was on, original TMNT and Power Rangers I did watch as a kid but have never revisited either. OITNB I watched and largely enjoyed with my SO although I missed quite a few of the earlier episodes.

We did watch Biker Mice from Mars at the university a few years back. Its dub was famous for featuring good, err, adult bonuses.

goodguy5

1:06 PM

<ITAG>

kviiri

Hiya

JohnP

2:06 PM

GOOD MORNING @goodguy5

NautArch

@goodguy5 howdy howdy! And good news!

DM approved improvised weapon shield dual wield

goodguy5

yisss

1d4+str?

NautArch

the only downside is that once we start fighting more monsters with resistance or immunity to nonmagical weapons i may just go normal dual wield

Yup. And will take tavern brawler at 6 to get proficiency in it

Evasive footwork looks like a fairly bad maneuver option.

goodguy5

2:26 PM

@NautArch oof. that's weird. It should be worded "until the end of your turn"

well... I guess if you make a reaction movement...

NautArch

@goodguy5 Or until you make an attack or do something other than move.

It's basically a way to help reduce an opportunity attack risk.

only

goodguy5

I mean, it doesn't even say "the end of your move" which would be more acceptable.

NautArch

But even then, it's really just to increase AC to limit OA risk. It's a downgraded disengage.

goodguy5

but for no action

it's "free"

NautArch

right, just a resource

goodguy5

2:29 PM

maybe that's why it's so mediocre

NautArch

yeah,i think i'm going to start with commander's strike, sweeping, and maneuvering. Debating about swapping out maneuvering, but that could save someone's life potentially.

goodguy5

I'd rather do goading than maneuvering, personally, but ymmv

David Coffron

I don't think I've ever actually played a battlemaster fighter...

I've played eldritch knights and champions, but not a battlemaster

NautArch

@goodguy5 you have intrigued me with that option. IT's a bit riskier with needing the save and the disadvantage may not be as effective as i'd like.

was also debating riposte

Rubiksmoose

For anyone interested: we've posted a response to the question about editing the tag field:

0

A: What is the process for editing the tag prompt?

We won’t be changing anything right now The system restrictions around changing this field means that we have no realistic options for changing the tag recommendation text in a way that meets our goals. Our most practical option is to lock one of the tags to [dnd-5e], our primary suspect, but we...

NautArch

2:42 PM

@goodguy5 I think this is my final build.

And I could still opt to shove with one of my attacks, too.

David Coffron

@NautArch This is something I think many people forget is an option. Knocking someone prone with the shove special attack can be extremely valuable

@NautArch Investigation, eh?

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Yeah, why not :)

Give him some non-combat skills ;P

considered switching history in for acrobatics

David Coffron

Bagpipes... -_-

tilts head How did you get Dual Wielder and 19 strength? Rolled stats?

Oh wait. 4 Charisma... Definitely rolled stats xD

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Yeah, rolled stats. 3d6 straight down the line.

@DavidCoffron goes with the 4 charisma :P

David Coffron

@NautArch I have a hankering to make a character now...

NautArch

2:56 PM

@DavidCoffron dooo it

goodguy5

does the chat bot have some sort of (roll 6 sets of 3d6) without me doing it 6 times?

Though, I suppose I could go to NaB

David Coffron

Dice roller & formatting tests playgr…

The roller supports: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20. You can roll ...

goodguy5

ah, yes. ty

David Coffron

@NautArch Firbolg could work, grabs 14 Strength and 16 Wisdom after ASI

goodguy5

14, 18, 9, 9, 10, 14

David Coffron

3:04 PM

I think human is best with my stat line. Rounds out my Dex, makes my Constitution not as crippling and gets me to 14 Wisdom and the 15 Strength breakpoint after ASI

12, 9, 7, 10, 13, 11 -> 15, 10, 8, 11, 14, 12

goodguy5

I think Shadar Kai is my way to go

David Coffron

@goodguy5 That's fun

Gwideon

hello

David Coffron

+2 Dex, +1 Con? Probably right

goodguy5

@Gwideon <ITAG>!

David Coffron

3:06 PM

Stout hafling is the other one with that line

goodguy5

@DavidCoffron oh yea!

David Coffron

(or Goblin)

goodguy5

@DavidCoffron goblins make excellent warlocks

Gwideon

THROW THE HALFING/ DWARF/ GOBLIN/ GNOME. sorry had to

David Coffron

@goodguy5 Oh yeah. Fury of the Small for days

goodguy5

3:08 PM

@DavidCoffron and just thematically.

Gwideon

anyways how is everyone

David Coffron

Hmm... Mark of Making human gets the stats I need. 15, 10, 7, 10, 14, 11

@Gwideon Doing well; how about you?

goodguy5

Great Old Ones must just go around being like "man, I'm board. Want to give some goblins magic?"

David Coffron

@goodguy5 haha

Gwideon

doing pretty well. can I show the sound chart I made for my version of infernal.

David Coffron

3:11 PM

@Gwideon Sure

@goodguy5 Interestingly, there are no goblinoids with warlock spellcasting

goodguy5

That's the only way I think a goblin could reasonably make a pact.

Fiend and Raven Queen would consider it. Archfey, Hexblade, and Undying would all be like "I'm sure we can find something better".

And Celestial would be like "Excuse me, who's entreating us? Do they have the wrong number?"

Although..... a Celestial-run Goblin rehabilitation program.........
"You may gain cosmic powers, as long as you're not too much of a jerk and try to do good"

Gwideon

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/… um here it is. it has alot more sounds than my previous language so um it'll be interesting to work with.

David Coffron

@goodguy5 Maglubiyet surely has some celestial associates

goodguy5

@DavidCoffron the word you're looking for is "enemies" and yes, I'm sure he has plenty.

David Coffron

@Gwideon Ooh. Pharyngal fricatives. I like

Gwideon

3:16 PM

@DavidCoffron yeah. I was just going through the sounds using an interactive ipa chart and I really liked those sounds

maybe we should move over to not a bar to discuss this further

so we're not clogging up general chat

nitsua60

Man, a spreadsheet to track sounds. In my day [rocking chair creaks] we had to use index cards!

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 [oils rocking chair]

David Coffron

@DavidCoffron whoops. I meant Mark of Handling

David Coffron

3:30 PM

A Mark of Handling human can cast animal friendship on the Tarrasque...

> When you cast a spell that affects only beasts, it also affects monstrosities with an Intelligence score of 3 or lower.

NautArch

@DavidCoffron almost would work on our half-orc fighter INT 3.

David Coffron

@NautArch If you consider him a monstrosity xD

NautArch

@DavidCoffron we definitely do

we caught him eating human meat

David Coffron

@NautArch We're working at level 5, right?

NautArch

my wizard tried to use negative reinforcement by using prestidigitation to make it taste bad.

@DavidCoffron Sure, that's what our campaign is now at.

goodguy5

3:38 PM

Nov 5 at 15:12, by Yuuki

@GcL what if the real monster was the friends we made along the way?

NautArch

4:00 PM

Anyone read about the Maclunky on disney+?

Rubiksmoose

4:19 PM

@NautArch I did!

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose c'mon disney! stop it!

Rubiksmoose

I need to watch the comparison vid on a big screen.

NautArch

I wish they'd put up the harmy's despecialized versions :P

Rubiksmoose

oh man, that would be amazing

Gwideon

any one know the hierarchy of devils in 5e

JohnP

4:30 PM

I'm considering replacing netflix with Disney+/Hulu combo.

Sdjz

@Gwideon It's in the MM entry for devils

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch I wonder if they'll ever release the original theatrical version again.

Gwideon

okay

Sdjz

dndbeyond.com/sources/mm/monsters-d#TheInfernalHierarchy

page 67

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose Doubt it

JohnP

4:38 PM

@Rubiksmoose Probably not, but you can still get the original DVD versions on ebay for 10-30 bux.

KorvinStarmast

@Ben I just went through a youtube binge on Diablo videos last night. Announcement of Diablo 4 has me on edge.

Yuuki

#FreeLeah

I know Diablo's supposed to be a grimdark world, but I still feel really bad for her.

JohnP

5:07 PM

I didn't much like Diablo III. I felt it was way too easy and not enough open world exploration.

David Coffron

5:23 PM

@NautArch Dayie, the Griffin Rider, was born on Eberron, but has the worst luck for he and is griffin mount. They always end up falling through portals into other material planes. He spent some time on Ravnica, but now joins the ranks of the Emerald Enclave in Faerun.

David Coffron

5:33 PM

(although he is in desperate need of an amulet of health)

NautArch

@DavidCoffron oooooh!

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP Were you there for the beginning before the patches? There were some difficulty spikes where clvl mlvl matchups weren't there.

NautArch

love the wildshape to resolve some of the HP issues

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP In its current form, it's all a prelude to the end game item hunt ...

@JohnP also the items dropping in the original torment (hardest) difficulty did nothing but create a never ending grind ...

.. but that's all old news now.

@JohnP Next season, if I can coordinate my son's schedule and mine (He's in a different city) we are going to try a full clear on Torment mode starting from level 1. No adventure mode, not farming to build levels. We'll see how that works out. We are trying to figure out the best combination of two characters.

Yuuki

@JohnP The story just made me depressed. Sure, we killed Diablo (again), but that one character just had a pretty terrible week.

KorvinStarmast

5:47 PM

@Yuuki You mean Leah?

"Hi, long lost mom, it's great to see you ... wait, what??????"

Yuuki

also, (grand)father figure died

David Coffron

@NautArch I guess...; went circle of the land for haste

Yuuki

And was completely ignored in Reaper of Souls.

David Coffron

I just went high armor and mobility on a griffon to hopefully cover for the low HP

NautArch

@DavidCoffron Careful...you ain't so good at con saves

Yuuki

5:49 PM

I suppose they figured her story ended with "and was taken over by Diablo".

but that kinda sucks

David Coffron

@NautArch Mhm. Amulet of health and I'm gold though...

NautArch

@DavidCoffron yeah, that'd do it!

David Coffron

@NautArch It'd probably be strictly better to do regular human for 8 Con instead of 7, but I wanted to do the Mark of Handling because it looks cool

KorvinStarmast

@Yuuki So did Prince Albrecht's story ... end like that ... so I guess that they are internally consistent.

Yuuki

Yeah, a lot of stories in Diablo just end with "and then [Diablo or some other Evil] killed them".

KorvinStarmast

5:55 PM

@Yuuki Well, they are evil and they are demons and that's kind of their schtick ...

I liked what they tried to do with Maltheal, in terms of a variation on the "fallen angel" theme ... but it only sort of worked out ... and it got into a kind of creepy genocide vibe.

We had a player years ago in our Diablo II group who did a variant that I had to play support Barbarian for since I didn't have his self restraint. His entier theme was "we only kill the bosses and leaders, we have no quarrel with the run of the mill monsters/demons/minions, etc." He played a blade wielding Necromancer ...

... and I was a battle Cry Barbarian. I was the support, he was the killer.

We made so many weird builds in that game ...

NautArch

So...looking for a Dwarven god to follow. Character is Chaotic Neutral. Low charisma, won't save anyone who can't save themselves.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch FR, or any setting?

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast pretty much any setting.

But probably not eberron

KorvinStarmast

Hmmmmmmmmmmm ... and my books are somewhere else, let's see what I have in my files.

Rubiksmoose

Just a heads up everyone:

We’re Rewarding the Question Askers

Sara Chipps on November 13, 2019

In my very first blog post, I wrote about what a personal experience taught me about the Stack Overflow community. I said we were going to step back and re-evaluate how we deliver feedback, how we can improve content quality, and how we can reduce friction between people. I said that our goal is to have the question asking process be painless and beneficial for new people and Stack Overflow veterans alike.

During this re-evaluation period, we noticed something in our reputation reward system. We give anyone who receives an upvote on an answer ten additional reputation points, but only give five reputation points to people who receive an upvote on a question. …

The amount of rep you get for asking questions is being upped from +5 to +10 and being applied retroactively.

7

NautArch

6:11 PM

@Rubiksmoose Guess @KorvinStarmast is going to go waaay past 100k.

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch :)

Part of me is glad he got over the hump even before the rep change, because I think it was more fun.

NautArch

So I just received a direct mail piece from a company that was advertised on a podcast i'd listened to.

Never been to their website or anything.

Rubiksmoose

Weeeeird.

NautArch

Spotify be scraping and selling data.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I don't ask very many questions ...

@Rubiksmoose This is a bad idea.

@Rubiksmoose Thank you kind sir.

@NautArch Your dwarf, cleric?

NautArch

6:24 PM

@KorvinStarmast battlemaster

KorvinStarmast

OK, gimme a sec ...

goodguy5

@Rubiksmoose I wonder how it will interact with rep caps

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 I think the recalc means that every day will be calculated as normal, but taking questions to be +10 instead of +5.

My understanding anyways.

goodguy5

@Rubiksmoose I mean, that makes the most sense, but that doesn't mean it's how it will be implemented

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose This looks like "fixing something that isn't broken" to me. sad face

Rubiksmoose

6:27 PM

@KorvinStarmast Well from them this is unbreaking something that didn't fix what it was supposed to fix.

2

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast My hunch is that they're maybe not gaining new users as much.

user15026

@Rubiksmoose whoa

Rubiksmoose

One good practical side effect is that it is easier to get users to have enough rep to come into chat now.

user15026

For sure!

Rubiksmoose

One downside I'm hoping that doesn't occur is that people start voting less on questions. Questions are already severely undervoted on.

NautArch

6:32 PM

@Rubiksmoose My gut says that's unlikely. I just think people have stronger stances on answers.

And it's harder to 'judge' a question.

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose Good questions are hard to find

@NautArch I'll toss out Tempus (War) as a very suitable deity for a battlemaster, and as a caveat, I am not where I can get at my old Greyhawk stuff.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast i've got some time. Don't need to decide today :P

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I'll check my other stuff when I get home ...

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Just checked my stats. 10% questions.

@KorvinStarmast Looking at Kord right now

KorvinStarmast

Looks like a great fit.

Hot RPG Questions

6:52 PM

12

Q: Is there a mechanic for a PC to learn the relative strength of an opponent, stat-wise?

TL;DR: It would be realistic for a PC to be able to evaluate how mechanically strong their opponent is, but I couldn’t find any RAW for this. Am I missing something? Certain skill checks in DnD, like Nature or Religion, allow PCs to learn bits of lore or narrative information about their opponen...

dnd-5e monsters gm-techniques combat

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Read on one site "fickle and moody" works with a 4 CHA emo fighter :P

Rubiksmoose

4

A: Regarding the recalc in question rep increase what happens due to the cap?

The recalc process correctly handles the rep cap. The rules are somewhat complicated, but if you earned 200 from question upvotes in a day (and nothing else) you will still earn 200 for that day after the recalc finishes. (So no change.) It essentially simulates each day for each user. Also, you...

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Snort, yeah, fickle and moody sounds like it can be fun to role play, just be alert internally for MGS moments ...

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Definitely. We don't do a lot of RP type stuff anyway. It's more that i'll focus on whether or not people are pulling their weight. If I don't believe they are, they get no help from me. Our other fighter is similar, but reacts at a baser level from his low intelligence.

This may get me into trouble, though. Similar to my paladin: "If you surrender, flee, or give up in the face of obstacles, you have failed far worse than simple defeat. In Kord’s eyes, courage is another kind of strength, a form of strength worthy of recognition and respect. Cowardice, regardless of its form, deserves nothing but scorn."

goodguy5

@NautArch I was trying to figure out what 4cha means. I was thinking super un-confident. Maybe a little depressed - not unlike Marvin the Robot from HGtG

ACuriousMind

7:01 PM

4 CHA can also be: Super confident - and super annoying

NautArch

@goodguy5 I'm definitely going with unkempt as a physical CHA attribute. In terms of emotional, i'm just awkward. Probably use that to highlight my preference of communicating and judging others by combat prowess rather than anything else.

Gwideon

7:14 PM

hey

Xirema

@Gwideon This establishment does not sell hay.

wow

lol

how is everyone

> Charisma measures your ability to interact effectively with others. It includes such factors as confidence and eloquence, and it can represent a charming or commanding personality.

goodguy5

7:22 PM

right, so what's the oppisite of that?

uncharming and/or uncommanding

David Coffron

I don't know, but the only humanoid monster that has 4 Charisma is the Yuanti Broodgaurd

Yuuki

@goodguy5 Well, just tack an 'n' to the end of "4cha" and you got it.

David Coffron

So maybe it means you have little to no personality

goodguy5

got it, you're an anon

that actually makes alot of sense.

Xirema

In my campaign, Gundren drank a potion that caused him to only roll the lowest possible values on any Charisma checks he made, so I had that turn him into a whiny loudmouth who kept cussing out the party every time he spoke.

V2Blast

7:25 PM

@Yuuki lol

goodguy5

dren is deer in ... uh.. albanian?

regardless, if that player isn't a gun-toting deer, I'm disappointed

NautArch

@goodguy5 An uncommanding battlemaster Commander's Strike "So, Mr. Rogue? Can you please maybe consider attacking this guy now? Or not. Whatever. I mean, it'd be nice if you did, but if you don't want to I understand"

goodguy5

@NautArch "I'm just going to leave you the opening, and if you um, want to use it, I'll uh... I'll shut up and swing my axe now."

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer, no whitespace in answer, repeating characters in answer (263): Are balanced groups important in D&D 5e? by user60215 on rpg.SE

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch To me a 4 cha is blunt, rude, obtuse, does not pick up well on social clues, may have a few problems with grooming as they don't see its utility.

The gravy stains on my tunic match my boots, what's the problem?

Likely halitosis as well ...

Unleashes flatus during the eulogy at a funeral ...

NautArch

7:40 PM

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, that's kinda how i'm going with it. I basically look and smell awful. Our 4 INT half-orc even doesn't take too kindly because of my smell.

KorvinStarmast

Laughs at weddings ...

NautArch

I mean, i've been pretty loose with my downvotes, but I don't understand why this question has one. At least the new user isn't put off.

David Coffron

@NautArch shrug Only thing I can think of (although I don't think its downvote worthy by any means) is the posting of the entire spell text and the lack of a real thesis

NautArch

@DavidCoffron I tried to insert that at the top. Debated removing the full spell text, but it's relevant for answerers.

kinda sorta

maybe not so much, but it's not NOT worthwhile.

David Coffron

@NautArch Yeah; like I said, not a downvote (imo) but just a nitpick. Could easily be relevant, so idk if I'd remove it anyway

rpg

NautArch

8:01 PM

@DavidCoffron I wonder if it's the RAI bit in the question. Either way, I'd allow it mostly because I can't see a situation where it'd matter :P

goodguy5

easy enough, mathematically. where X is side length:
((X^3)/2)^(1/3)

So, for an actual gelatinous cube, about 7.9 feet per side.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I have edited it slightly, and I think it is an action economy question.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Maybe? I think it's more a question of whether or not the Verbal component of a spell counts as a performance.

Or if it is singing/reciting a poem specifically I guess.

Or maybe if you can dance while doing so (even though it's not required for the casting.)

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch yeah, which then has to fit into the action economy. Are you taking the spell casting action , or is your action taken up by the performance?

It seems that this might be used outside of combat, as well

goodguy5

Matt Colville's newest RtG video is great.

NautArch

8:06 PM

@KorvinStarmast Oh, I didn't even think about an action for the performance. It doesn't talk about that at all in the language.

goodguy5

oh no! I just realized that I missed a perfect opportunity to use lair actions in this weekend's game

NautArch

@goodguy5 You're a bad DM and you should feel bad. You could have killed a player!

goodguy5

@NautArch almost did, but that's a separate issue.

NautArch

hehehe

goodguy5

I made a matroyshka mimic and it was great

NautArch

8:07 PM

@goodguy5 a mimic inside a mimic?

goodguy5

A Wardrobe, containing two Chests, containing two little... uh.... ottoman thingies.

ACuriousMind

Ah, the fearsome Ottoman Thingy Mimic.

goodguy5

:P

NautArch

@goodguy5 like a footstool or an historical figure?

goodguy5

footstool

Regardless, the final enemy was an Allip in her lair. I didn't realize that they only have a handful of hitpoints (40hp for a CR5!)

goodguy5

8:22 PM

I hope the party never attacks Toothy Joe. :(

1. because I'd have to decide how tough he is and I don't feel like it
2. because I like his existence.

Mark Wells

8:43 PM

@goodguy5 Dividing the volume by two is easy. Cutting the cube up into two identical cubes is hard.

goodguy5

why would it cut?

it just uh.... that biology word....

mitosis?

Mark Wells

@NautArch Whether you rule that the performance uses an action or not, Motivational Speech seems to require you to give a different performance (a motivational speech, not singing/dancing/poetry reading).

The solution, of course, is to go Shakespearean and give your motivational speech in verse.

KorvinStarmast

8:59 PM

@NautArch Real DM's don't kill players, they kill characters. X^P

NautArch

@MarkWells yeah, I definitely don't think it works strictly, but I also can't see a situation where you'd want it to. Unless it's what @KorvinStarmast thought with two separate groups .

But even that seems kinda weird.

KorvinStarmast

@MarkWells I agree with the Bard (of Stratford) angle ... but I don't have the Acq Inc book and I'll not ever be getting it. As much as I like Jerry and Mike's comic, and Scott's comic, I don't need to try to play vicariously in their campaign.

NautArch

9:19 PM

@KorvinStarmast aren't you in the chatizen dndbeyond group? The book is there :)

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I am but where I am now does not let me in. ;-)

It considers DDB to be something like a leperous web site, or something like that.

NautArch

Hehe

V2Blast

9:42 PM

@KorvinStarmast Are the two mutually exclusive? :P

GcL

@V2Blast I thought character assassination ran afoul of the be nice rules here.

V2Blast

hahahaha

Medix2

I've just suddenly earned about 2000 reputation, what happened?

My profile from here lists 19.7k and when I go to my profile I have 22.1k

NautArch

4 hours ago, by Rubiksmoose

Just a heads up everyone:

Medix2

@NautArch Ah I see, thank you!

GcL

9:49 PM

@Medix2 I blame the cats

Crawling in your internet tubes. Fluffing up your internet points.

BESW

Gwideon

hahahaha yep

BESW

Seriously though, "Hooray for the askers" is potentially huge if it really is the beginning of a systemic rejection of Pearls, Not Sand.

(pictured above: a Pearl on the sand.)

KorvinStarmast

@V2Blast I plead the fifth, your honor! 8^D

trogdor

10:04 PM

@BESW lol

GcL

@BESW Why is rejecting that a good thing?

Yuuki

@GcL For one, there's no implication that rejecting "pearls, not sand" is a good thing. For two, "pearls, not sand" feels like a "putting the cart before the horse" situation.

In that the cart may be the more valuable part of a merchant caravan, but it's not getting anywhere without the horse.

BESW

Because while it sounds plausible, a decade of experience has shown that it's fundamentally wrong, as hinted at in the new post. It's at least as hard to write a really good question as it is to write a really good answer, if not harder! and it bakes hostility into the system by automatically expelling any potential user who isn't willing/able to figure out the system with minimal human interaction.

Yuuki

10:19 PM

There's also the consideration that implementation of "pearls, not sand" thinking has been putting an emphasis on "removing bad questions" over "enabling good questions".

2

BESW

The philosophy underlying Pearls, Not Sand, conflates "we get a lot of these" with "these are not valuable," and most importantly it's one of the most obvious and explicit implementations of the Stack's unfriendly premise:

Jul 19 at 1:23, by BESW

The Stack's built on an unfriendly premise: that users are fungible creators of content whose value lies only in their accumulated and quantifiable contributions rather than any quality of their individuality.
All its coding and infrastructure, the value judgements that informed their choices at every level, are rooted in that disregard for the individual and that preference for the "wisdom of crowds" and the production of content which means individuals can be discarded when they are no longer useful to the machine.

The Stack does not encourage or support question-askers because it's got so many that it doesn't have to care about or nurture or train them in order to achieve its goals... because those goals are not friendly to anyone but question-answering is less common so it has to pay more attention to making that happen.

"Hooray for the askers" is potentially a shift toward celebrating the individuals the Stack relies on, without grading their participation on a sliding scale of rarity.

Xirema

10:40 PM

@BESW That Pearls, not Sand article is getting a big "yikes" from me.

Like, being in the workforce already turns your life into a Value Extraction Algorithm by the forces of Capitalism itself, we don't need to replicate those systems everywhere else. >_<

BESW

Exactly.

in Not a bar, but plays one on TV, May 14 at 20:23, by BESW

Yeah, it's not like this is a unique Stack problem. The idea of treating users as fungible content creators is baked into the modern Internet-based business model, and is a distillation of the wider "profitability is the primary good" paradigm of our economy.

BESW

10:56 PM

I've been on a journey understanding this, myself. When I first joined the Stack I was very excited about seeing what seemed to be a successfully curated community using mostly soft gamification techniques. So I threw myself into it and became and expert, which really changed my understanding of what was going on.

And the more I talked with people who've been "in the trenches," like elected moderators and users who the system just isn't interested in, the more I saw the human impact of these philosophies.

Black Spike

In my tiny amount of experience: My questions (java/android) tend to go unnoticed, while my answers (D&D5) get upvoted/accepted.
I get constructive advice on how to improve my answers. My Questions go unmentioned.
I know they are in very different areas of The Stack. Just sharing my XP

BESW

RPG.SE tries to help people with their questions... but the fact that people need so much more help with questions than with answers is part of the problem, the site doesn't invest resources into creating ways for questions to be guided toward quality. If a particular Stack site wants to do that, it's all on the users.

And even with that help, well. I've got a long track record of helping people write good questions but I have a terrible time doing it for myself.

user15026

Questions are tricky, and I say that as someone who mostly asks on Arqade where most of my questions are of the "I am stuck in my video game" variety.

BESW

11:12 PM

Yup! But there's no shortage of new suckers to replace the question-askers who get discouraged or frustrated and leave, so the Stack doesn't have to cultivate them.

user15026

It's a self feeding bad faith machine.

user15026

Maybe this is a start of new change.

BESW

Maaaaybe. I'm not confident that they'll realize how fundamental this shift has to be, but I can hope that at least the people who make the next Stack-like thing will have learned.

(I suspect that the Stack has so much sunk costs into its current paradigm that there's too much inertia for real change no matter how much individuals in the company want to.)

user15026

11:28 PM

I keep hoping they'll take more of a ...idk, posture of learning? But...I dunno.

user15026

@BESW mmmyes alsothat

Black Spike

Well, here goes nothing: new Question in java/android. stackoverflow.com/q/58847224/3902474

Gwideon

11:48 PM

hello

Glazius

@BESW I think the original value proposition also include "you get a useful answer", which drops off sharply in measurability once you leave the realm of math and math byproducts.

BESW

That might be the theory, but in practice that's only true if you discount all the users who don't get useful answers because they failed to jump through all the poorly documented hoops required to make a question answerable by Stack standards.

But yes, another major flaw in the Stack model is that they developed their infrastructure around one particular content paradigm and then applied it without modification to dozens of other content paradigms, leaving those communities with soft policy hacks as the only form of customization.

...including their own meta discussion sites.

V2Blast

@BESW Pretty much. SE has previously seemed more interested in keeping the people who happen to figure things out themselves than in actually teaching people.

@BESW Also this

BESW

Sep 6 '18 at 20:59, by BESW

The Stack Exchange devoted years to developing an interface and infrastructure to enforce an epistemology that values pithy independent responses to clear, precise problems. This interface and its accompanying infrastructure actively discourages discussion, ambiguity, and accompaniment.

Sep 6 '18 at 20:59, by BESW

Then they applied that interface to their space for discussing policies, identifying ambiguities, and accompanying each other.

Sep 6 '18 at 21:04, by BESW

Also, check out how the official response to "it's really hard to learn how to use the site" is "well if you're not going to put in the effort then you're not the kind of person we want using the site."

Black Spike

@BESW I got that impression. :(

BESW

11:55 PM

Jul 19 at 1:35, by BESW

@JoelHarmon One really glaring quality is that the Stack is designed specifically to avoid building communities. In the name of "signal to noise," nuanced human interaction is shoved into back channels that are unsuited for the purpose and which many users will never know exist at all.

Black Spike

But as I tried to learn, I kept running into " Keep trying ... we'll let you know when you're good enough" as about the only response to asking for help

user15026

@BESW It took me so long to shed that elitist attitude.

BESW

@Ash I'm in this post and I don't like it.

V2Blast

Another great article by DC on D&D Beyond: Session Zero: A Foundation for Greatness

user15026

@BESW pats but we got better?

BESW

11:57 PM

I hope so!

Dice roller & formatting tests playgr…

Transcript for