TRPG General Chat

Himitsu_no_Yami

00:55

tfw the party rogue with 18 passive perception gets pickpocketed cus she had too much to drink

NeutralTax

01:07

@Xirema Not the Variant Class Features right?

Hot RPG Questions

4

Q: How to handle a player having two characters when everyone else has one?

I started a new campaign for my D&D 5e group and we had made some excellent progress and the characters had made it to 4th level. While entering the "Stone Tooth" through the front door one of the players had their character advance across the rope bridge over the deep chasm. The character was hi...

6

Q: Does the Grave Cleric's "Path to the Grave" feature override an immunity of a creature?

Let's say a creature (like a devil) is normally immune to fire damage. The unfortunate devil is within 30ft of a Grave Cleric and their Sorcerer friend. The Grave Cleric uses their Path to the grave feature: As an action, you choose one creature you can see within 30ft of you, cursing it unt...

dnd-5e damage immunities vulnerability

NeutralTax

01:35

0

Q: Is the Blood Transfer cantrip that my player came to me with overpowered

Now, I know that healing cantrips are completely broken. So then, my player comes to me with this: Blood Transfer Evocation cantrip Casting Time: 1 action Range: Touch Components: S Duration: Instantaneous You touch an ally, you sacrifice hit points up to your th...

dnd-5e spells balance homebrew-review cantrips

Can anyone think of anyway to break this?

Bradley Lindsey

Damn that dwarfs rolls suck as bad as some if mine.

Bradley Lindsey

01:53

The parties dragonborn tiefling rogue with modified 21 stealth tries to sneak around the newly introduced half fire giant tinkerer to figure out if he's a threat on the shadows of the tree line, on a cloudy sickle moon night and rolls a 2 on stealth and is basically oblivious to the fact that everyone can see his lanky 5'10 ass tiptoeing around and just for the DM's s&g's humming the mission impossible theme.

MikeQ

Dragonborn tiefling? Is that one of those half-something race options?

Bradley Lindsey

3

3.5 hoemebrew my DM helped me balance out but yeah he was a half and half.

Himitsu_no_Yami

tiefling rogue? you mean... thiefling?

Bradley Lindsey

Oh forgot and carrying a six foot Great Falchion strapped across his back while his once more homework optioned cloaker beast companion flapped around him like Batman's cape on a windy day.

@Himitsu_no_Yami never thought of that but that's a nice one.

Homebrewed not homework I hate spell check

And the house rule was 19 and 20 are crit and 1 and 2 are crit. I confirmed with a crit and then with a 17

The house rule on crits was that you confirmed everything one no matter how many times it happened. So if it got ridiculous the DM would jist wing it and throw something out that he thought was either appropriate or just funny or even consult his crit charts.

nitsua60

02:44

OMG the crunch and complexity and unreadability of CP2020.

80s RPG design, amirite?

Medix2

02:55

@NeutralTax Break it by having a Warlock cast false life infinitely (through the Fiendish Vigor Eldritch Invocation) and then transfer the THP they get

Mark Wells

@Medix2 since it's been clarified that it grants new THP each time, I don't think that happens

I mean they could give a buff to a bunch of different people but it's not much of a buff

Medix2

@MarkWells It's a free 8 THP to the whole party instead of just the Warlock

NeutralTax

03:17

@Himitsu_no_Yami Nah tiefling bards are equally valid

Bradley Lindsey

04:29

@NeutralTax the tiefling bards favored song is a morale killer for the enemy to instill depression while riling his allies into a frenzy by flipping his hair down and to the side til one side of his face is hidden and beginning with the line, Dear Diary. Mood? Apathetic.

Xirema

07:01

@NeutralTax I'm not sure what the context is here.

V2Blast

11:09

@nitsua60 I like that it grants the flexibility to approach the same theme from different mechanical perspectives. Though I sort of agree that celestial warlock and divine soul sorcerer's main thing is "warlock, but with cleric spells too" and "sorcerer, but with cleric spells too" and that feels kinda meh. I disagree that it necessarily "makes classes less like classes", though. I do think retreading same ground is less interesting than finding new approaches and design spaces.

@Xirema Was your player aware of the official one? In most such cases, I figure such players just see a concept they like without having any idea of how to assess balance - and often they don't know what official options are out there to begin with.

@nitsua60 Emphasis on unreadability. I've tried looking at the Cyberpunk 2020 rulebook twice and noped out before making any real progress both times.

kviiri

@V2Blast It gives me a bit of anxiety that there is now a much clear-cut idea of what class should represent the idea of my character, though.

V2Blast

I mean... I kind of like that. It means I don't have to go "well, if I want to play this kind of character, they have to also come with all this other mechanical baggage that I don't want or like". And that's coming from someone who constantly experiences choice paralysis in making/leveling characters.

on an unrelated note before I go lay down in a bit because holy moly it's 6 am:

kviiri

@V2Blast Yeah, I definitely understand that angle as well. But I guess I'm personally more keen to reconcile with "well, this class doesn't perfectly represent my concept, but it's an acceptable compromise between good mechanics and the concept" than "well, this class doesn't perfectly represent my concept... but some other class might and now I need to actually think about which one works the best"

V2Blast

83

A: Is it necessary to purchase all the D&D 5th edition books to have access to all player character options?

Short answer: To get all the "official" things you can use for player characters, buy the Players' Handbook (PHB), Xanathar's Guide to Everything (XGtE), Dungeon Masters' Guide (DMG), Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (MToF), and Volo's Guide to Monsters (VGtM). Also download the Elemental Evil Players...

would it be out of line to edit out the massive list of races and (sub)classes in this answer (which is also outdated)?

Specifically because:

I think it's sort of unnecessary to list the races/subraces and classes/subclasses here, since these related questions already cover those: What are the playable D&D races in 5e, and where can I find them?, and What are the official, WotC-published classes and subclasses in 5e? — V2Blast ♦ 3 hours ago

Since the querent has been on the site in the last day (though they haven't edited the answer to account for some of the comments), I did leave a second comment asking them directly whether they'd be okay with that stuff being edited out for the reason given in the above comment.

nitsua60

13:05

For me the "classes feel like *classes*" bit has to do with some siloing. If I want to be all sneaky-sneaky infiltrate and get the goods and get out, and there's a class called "thief," then that should be the one *and the only one* to pick for that. College of Secrets, or Trickery Domain, or probably some of the warlock stuff I'm not thinking of breaks that feeling for me.
It's probably also (for me) a function of D&D ditching a lot of what made classes in the mid- to upper-levels unique: followers and demesnes. Thieves end up building guilds, fighters have castles, barbarians have hordes,…

V2Blast

14:27

Question for D&D 4e players: does the opportunity-actions tag refer to basically a category of actions 4e had that included opportunity attacks among them?

Reading the tag wiki, at first it sounded like the description was referring to the triggers provoking the "opportunity actions" rather than the actions you could take in response to them

> For questions about opportunity actions, which refer to an attack or maneuver that occurs where an entity would have to theoretically let its guard down near a nearby attacker in order to concentrate on some delicate action.

Mostly the phrase "that occurs where an entity would have to [...] let its guard down" confused me, making it sound like the entity letting its guard down was what the tag was about, rather than about the attack

maybe I'm just tired. on that note: good "night"

doppelgreener

15:25

@V2Blast opportunity actions in 4e are an action economy element, as well as powers (such as the classic attack of opportunity) which use that element

Xirema

16:06

@V2Blast Maybe. The version they were looking at was a "Frost Walker" path (don't remember the exact name, but basically cold-themed) and I was basically looking at it, ready to rubber stamp it ("well, it's not going to break anything, so...") but then I glanced over at the actual official barbarian paths and noticed that you could fit the flavor by just taking the Tundra option of the Storm Herald path, and also it's just a better subclass.

I was even gonna let them reflavor some of the other options to cold (Desert->blizzard, fire->cold) if they really wanted most of the same mechanical benefits, just because of how similar they otherwise were.

V2Blast

16:33

@doppelgreener So am I right in assuming the term/tag refers to actions you take in that instance (kinda like reactions), rather than the thing that triggers/provokes those "reactions"? i.e. if creature A's action triggers action-economy element B, opportunity-actions refers to B (or the type of thing B is) and not to A

just trying to figure out whether my earlier interpretation of the ambiguously/confusingly worded tag wiki was correct

In other news: Wizards of the Coast’s new game studio is making a new sci-fi [video game] RPG with BioWare vets:

> Called Archetype Entertainment, the game developer will be lead by former BioWare veterans James Ohlen and Chad Robertson. [...] Archetype’s debut project is described as a multi-platform role-playing game “set in an all-new science fiction universe that will send players on a story-driven epic where choices they make will have real consequences on how their story unfolds.” The property will be set outside of the D&D and Magic franchises.

Hot RPG Questions

17:04

5

Q: How to tell potential players to pick up their game

Everyone in this story works mostly together. Some work friends and my wife were talking about playing D&D, and I was appointed the DM. I've played the game once 20 years ago, so I've spent the past few months buying the resources and learning as much as I can about the game so I can make it as e...

dnd-5e new-players system-introduction

Black Spike

23:37

I've been spitballing my own "generic fantasy setting" for D&D 5e. I don't want to take it too far from what people might expect, but I do want my own take on it ... Does anyone have advice for writing a setting?

General setting/geography:
Human "empire" (split into 3 Realms).
North: Elven Forests
East: Badlands (Here be Monsters!)
South: Dwarven Mountains
West: The Great Ocean

Empire is about 400 miles n-s, 800 miles e-w

Initial changes:
Removed: Halflings. Gnomes. cross-breeds (1/2 elfs, 1/2 orcs, etc)
Not sure what Gods to use. Homebrew? Forgotten Realms? Greyhawk?

"Between The Rivers".
Across the North, the "Silver River" weaves through the hilly lands, fed by tributaries from the Elf Forests
In the South, the "Red River" gathers strength as more mountain streams pour into it, as it charges towards the sea.

mbork

Hi there, a potential new rpger here. I read that rpg.stackexchange does not accept recomendation-type questions - is there some good place I could ask one?

Black Spike

hi @mbork

one moment ... checking for links

Someone_Evil

@mbork Here would be a good place, otherwise we have a list of forums here

mbork

ok, so let me try - I have a very specific list of criteria

Black Spike

@mbork @Someone_Evil aha! that was the link I was after :)

mbork

23:48

it is possible that the right answer is "go away, there is no game for you" ;-)

Black Spike

@mbork it is possible ... but I would hope you can find something! :)

mbork

1. I'm completely new to rpgs (I tried something more than 20 years ago, but it wasn't much). I would be GMing in a 1-on-1 setting with my 10yo daughter, so it would have to be rather simple (though she handles pretty complex boardgames well).

2. She does not speak English, so the game must be either in Polish (our native language) or language-independent for the player.

Black Spike

@mbork cool. There is plenty of material for 10yr olds

I don't know about Polish. Your English is good, so a simple game might not be too much work to translate :)

mbork

3. It should be either realistic or low-fantasy (no sci-fi, nothing with "dark" in the description, nothing "too magical").

Black Spike

(aside: could this be a "teach your daughter some English" opportunity? :) )

mbork

23:55

nope - she only begins, she knows maybe 50 words, but speaking is beyond her ATM

(though the idea is nice, I'll consider it one day)

4. It shouldn't be too expensive - I do not know if the idea will catch on (most probably yes, we both love stories and reading, but you never know...)

Black Spike

(blatant plug) I wrote a quick "how to write a VERY SIMPLE game for kids" article. I don't know if it is too simple, and it means you have to do a lot of the heavy-lifting:
https://maddwarf.co.uk/rpg/blog/2018/11/23/its-a-game-for-kids/

mbork

5. Based on the above, the game should focus more on storytelling than mechanics, leveling up etc. (Of course there is going to be zero PvP interaction unless Mommy joins in - possible but not certain).

Black Spike

my personal favourite Forum for rpgs is rpg.net you may have to do some searching, but there is info on "games for 10yr olds".

mbork

6. A Middle-Earth setting would be a plus - we are both huge JRRT fans

7. Nice artwork would be a bonus

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