TRPG General Chat

1:34 AM

Morning all

As some of you may know, YouTube has changed it's Policies, which has basically removed their accountability when it comes to managing the site's integrity. Dozens of accounts have already been hacked due to this.

One such channel was the Astartes channel.

V2Blast

2:14 AM

@RedRiderX I think someone mentioned that, yes:

Nov 13 at 23:56, by V2Blast

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

;)

Hot RPG Questions

3:14 AM

6

Q: How can I make this labyrinth feel more alive/Daedalian and less like an RNG?

Spoilers follow about the new D&D 5e Stranger Things Starter Set from Hasbro/Netflix. I've recently bought the Stranger Things-themed D&D 5e Starter Kit. I'm a vet of the edition, but thought it could make an interesting thematic introduction to D&D for some friends. The module promises to b...

Ben

@HotRPGQuestions Use Animate Objects

Hot RPG Questions

4:17 AM

5

Q: When climbing certain terrains that require an Athletics check, do you need to make the check again every turn?

When you are climbing certain terrains that require an Athletics check, do you have to roll the Athletics check on every turn you climb? Or just once?

dnd-5e skills movement

kviiri

5:53 AM

Tere hommikust

Hot RPG Questions

8:02 AM

4

Q: Exchanging control of a mount

This is a situation that came up recently in a game I play in. Two player characters were riding an elephant in combat. The elephant was acting as a controlled mount under control of one of the riders, who was higher in initiative order than the second. During their turn, the controlling rider ha...

dnd-5e mounted-combat

Youjay

Yeah all, quick clarification, what are the mechanical benefits that come from blindsight?

For instance what if a normal regularly sighted adventurer or monster gained blindsight for 5ft (or 30ft) what would be different about theme mechanically?

Carcer

8:27 AM

basically, perceiving invisible things

also works the same no matter what the light level is

BESW

8:40 AM

Tonight's dinner is a salad of hardboiled local eggs, a couple kinds of local lettuce, locl cucumbers, and non-local bell peppers, served on cold leftover whole wheat penne, with an orange juice and apple cider vinegar dressing.

Pierre Cathé

9:14 AM

Good morning

kviiri

9:37 AM

@Youjay Being able to see without light, I guess. (And yes, I think the usual consensus is that it counts as "sight" for the purposes of spell targeting etc)

So it's a massive advantage when fighting in darkness or thick fog or smoke

vicky_molokh

@kviiri Does it see through obscurement like smoke, blindfolds, walls etc.?

kviiri

@vicky_molokh The ruels specify that it allows a creature to perceive its surrounding "without relying on sight", so blindfold and smoke ought to be fine. Walls are probably more divisive.

vicky_molokh

@kviiri That's . . . well, doesn't clarify the criterion at all.

Because fundamentally a blindfold and a wall are both obstacles. If the ability/spell/whatever allows ignoring insufficient brightness, but perceives unobscured objects (calculating obscurement using optical transparency), that's one thing. If it's a Lensmen-ish 'sense of perception' that just detects items in a radius regardless of other factors like obscurement, that's another.

V2Blast

@vicky_molokh Essentially, yes. You perceive your environment as if you could see normally in that radius. (...Assuming we're talking about D&D 5e here; that was never specified by @Youjay.)

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/monsters#Blindsight
"A monster with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius.

Creatures without eyes, such as grimlocks and gray oozes, typically have this special sense, as do creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as bats and true dragons.

If a monster is naturally blind, it has a parenthetical note to this effect, indicating that the radius of its blindsight defines the maximum range of its perception."

Youjay

yes i was talking about 5e

soz

V2Blast

9:46 AM

twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/976901520800141312

> Blindsight lets you perceive your surroundings, including environmental phenomena, yet a phenomenon that impedes only sight (it doesn't provide cover) doesn't work against blindsight. You'd essentially perceive a person in heavy fog as if they were surrounded by static.

It doesn't see through cover: twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/553730387751337984

> "Does Stealth or Invisibility work within Blindsight range?" A creature can try to hide within blindsight range behind cover. [...] Blindsight lets you spot an invisible creature in range, but that creature can still try to hide behind something with Stealth.

vicky_molokh

Ah, so cover works normally, making smoke and blindfolds relevant.

kviiri

Smoke and blindfolds aren't cover, they're just concealment

Or in game terms, the area'd be obscured by smoke, (lightly or heavily) which'd potentially blind a creature without blindsight, much like a blindfold would.

V2Blast

^

within blindsight radius, you can still hide behind physical obstructions (e.g. a column or wall); however, visual obscuration alone (e.g. fog or darkness) is defeated/overcome by blindsight

vicky_molokh

@kviiri They're objects that get in the way and are perceived by blindsight, from what the descriptions by V2 seem to indicate.

@V2Blast O_ò What kind of definition makes blindfolds aphysical?

kviiri

@vicky_molokh Neither blocks attacks.

vicky_molokh

10:01 AM

@kviiri A thin carton wall doesn't block attacks either, yet you can't see through it.

kviiri

Thin walls, windows etc are classical edge cases of the cover rules, but smoke and blindfolds are obviously not cover.

By DnD 5e rules, I mean.

vicky_molokh

Then again, the addition of echolocation into the mix is making things even less clear, because echolocation operates by principles very different from visual sensing.

kviiri

Cover is something you can stand behind for safety: walls, trees, rocks, other creatures, et cetera. Stuff that blocks sight only is obscurement but not cover.

(again, in 5e terminology. I'm well aware real life usage doesn't follow half as clear definitions)

vicky_molokh

@kviiri Ah. Well, if it's a term of art, then at least that disambiguates things for people who are used to it.

kviiri

And yeah, blindsight is sometimes explicitly echolocation (and therefore disabled by being deaf) but not always so

Vision rules are one of those parts of DnD that don't last too well if looked at too long

BESW

10:12 AM

Like darkvision used to be infravision.

kviiri

The dungeon is full of infrared light, yes

vicky_molokh

10:57 AM

@kviiri Well, teechnically, depending on how magical the sensor is, and whether it covers both near and far IR, it can be a good substitute for visible-spectrum vision.

GURPS has a history of conflating the two subsets of IR. It finally took a step to supporting a playable approximation of the distinction in Powers: Enhanced Senses, but IMHO the point costs of 'less inaccurate' advantage variants are too high compared to the conflating variant.

KorvinStarmast

1:03 PM

@kviiri heat sources are all you need. I'ver operated a variet of IR devices from the 80's to the 00's. What's needed is a heat source, and more importantly, heat differential between one thing and another, or one thing and the background.

Pierre Cathé

@KorvinStarmast But it won't help you against cold-blooded lizardmen !

KorvinStarmast

@PierreCathé Depends on their heat signature compared to the background heat level.(and on the elegance of the display/delta logic)

vicky_molokh

@PierreCathé Near IR reflection though.

goodguy5

<ITAG>!

vicky_molokh

This is why 'which subset of IR, and how magically awesome the sensor is' are relevant.

RandomPerson

1:31 PM

I am going to make a Homebrew Tank Class, any help with doing so would be greatly appreciated

Suggestions would be geat

great*

kviiri

Hello

What have you got so far?

RandomPerson

Tank

and, then I got lost

could you get me some links?

goodguy5

Don't we have a class-building post somewhere? Meta maybe?

Someone_Evil

@RandomPerson What do you mean by tank (what would you like it to do) and why aren't the base classes working for you?

7

Q: Are there any online guides, official or unofficial, to help create new classes?

I'm looking at creating a homebrew class for dnd-5e, but have had trouble finding resources to assist with this. The DMG includes guidelines for modifying existing classes, but there don't appear to be any official guidelines/rules for creating classes from scratch. Are there any online guides ...

dnd-5e homebrew class online-resources

7

Q: Are there guidelines for homebrewed content?

I am going to be a first-time DM in the near future, and one of the players wants to run a homebrewed class that sounds pretty exciting. I'm eager to include the class, but some searching only turned up homebrewing guidelines for dnd-3.5e. Are there official dnd-5e guidelines for homebrew conten...

dnd-5e homebrew class gm-preparation

RandomPerson

tank as in, take huge damage, deal smaller damage, outlast enemies

goodguy5

1:40 PM

@Someone_Evil yep, that's it. thanks

@RandomPerson What about Barbarian or Fighter don't meet those criteria?

RandomPerson

...

I just wasted chat space didn't I

Someone_Evil

@RandomPerson shrug. Don't worry, Just don't over-do it

kviiri

Well, this'd certainly be easier if we knew more about what you're going for.

But... I have a recommendation

If you want to homebrew a character around defense, borrow a DnD 4e PHB from somewhere and see how it implements Defender classes

Pierre Cathé

@RandomPerson Every message I send wastes chat space, especially this one

Someone_Evil

@goodguy5 Easy to find now that there are way fewer homebrew-review questions clogging up the '[homebrew] [class] [dnd-5e]' search

JohnP

1:44 PM

@RandomPerson - I'd look to start with a totem barbarian, and then play with tweaks to that if you want to add your own flavor. There are a lot of build guides for totem barbarians out there already.

Pierre Cathé

And this one

And that

RandomPerson

okay gtg

kviiri

@RandomPerson Aaanyway. If you want to base a character around defense, it isn't sufficient that they have high HP and defenses --- the enemies also need a reason to try to hit you in the first place as opposed to your significantly squishier allies.

That's what 4e defender classes do, and I'd pick that as a defining idea of your tank class.

user15026

If that's going to be discussed any further can it at least be moved to NAB?

JohnP

Sorry, Ash, I'm done.

kviiri

1:49 PM

Yeah, I don't really need this either :P trying to wrestle my curiosity.

goodguy5

[redacted]

JohnP

→ 10 messages moved to Not a bar, but plays one on TV

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast I do, but I want to word it inclusively.

I'm thinking "Are there any light-producing spells that can produce a strong enough light to light a fire?"

needs work

kviiri

@RandomPerson But if you want to spare yourself the trouble of homebrewing, the Barbarian class is already pretty much what you want. They have lots of hit points and damage resistances that make them last for ages in battle.

Someone_Evil

Otherwise a Samurai Fighter (XGtE) is very enduring

KorvinStarmast

2:01 PM

@goodguy5 I found that spell in s different file, so I included it

@goodguy5 If you can c & p the dawn spell description into chat, I can fold it into the answer. I don't have complete books handy. SRD doesn't have it.

Sdjz

oops you said dawn

goodguy5

Dawn
5th-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S, M (a sunburst pendant worth at least 100 gp)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
The light of dawn shines down on a location you specify within range. Until the spell ends, a 30-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder of bright light glimmers there. This light is sunlight.

When the cylinder appears, each creature in it must make a Constitution saving throw, taking 4d10 radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature must also make this saving throw whenever it ends its tu…

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 duration not long enough.

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast hrm... idk..... a minute seems enough

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy see the rules on magnifying glass that I included.

5 minutes

@goodguy that's in the PHB and Basic Rules

goodguy5

2:10 PM

oh! yea. you're right. I totally missed that

KorvinStarmast