TRPG General Chat

nitsua60

14:01

It's got four reopen votes already. Watch this post!

AncientSwordRage

I think this is the perfect borderline question, and it's on-topicness is very much down to the wording. "How does CRPG rolls stats?" => Off-topic, "Which edition of RPG does CRPG stat rolling match?" => On-topic — Pureferret 2 mins ago

NautArch

howdy howdy!

AncientSwordRage

> I'm Woody

NautArch

@nitsua60 (and anyone else, but you're more of a local): Anyone know what these things are. I saw them on my hike this morning.

They look kind of like yeast and they're coming up out of the ice and aggregating like that

nitsua60

14:20

Yeeesh. No, doesn't look familiar to me.

NautArch

they were all over the trails

doppelgreener

google says that an algae named chlamydomonas nivalis has been found developing amid snow in Alaska and in other arctic regions

NautArch

@doppelgreener interesting! A guy a work with just suggested algae

Someone_Evil

So the ice has chlamydia?

doppelgreener

@Someone_Evil no relation. but also yes

NautArch

14:25

hmm, not sure that's right. those images for it are coming up with more of a watermelon/blood color

these really look like yeast

doppelgreener

@NautArch i agree, it's not the same color

NautArch

@doppelgreener and it also looks like a swath of color in those rather than the singular 'things' that these are

doppelgreener

@NautArch what about it looks like yeast? (i am not exactly an expert yeast spotter)

NautArch

i believe i'm using the technical term here :)

the particles

like a bag of self-rising yeast

Someone_Evil

The nature and appearance of baking products may vary between countries. There is not product called self-rising yeast available in mine, so I don't know what that looks like

But a google search suggests it looks like dry yeast (if anyone cares/were curious)

NautArch

14:31

oh my bad! It looks like little singular particles about 2mm in length. They are rising up out of the ice and aggregating in pools of water.

brownish in color

the water does not change color

SmokeDetector

15:06

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted website in answer, link at end of answer (153): What is the general education level of people in the Forgotten Realms? by Edmond on rpg.SE

GcL

15:55

@NautArch Needs more jpeg. Take a look under a magnifying glass. Take a sample next time you're out hiking and see what it looks like after it's melted and settled.

Little ruddy spheres in the ice sounds interesting.

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch Make beer out of it, then report what it tastes like.

GcL

@Rubiksmoose This guy sciences

2

RevenantBacon

Fun fact about alcohol, and Ethanol in particular: Any creature can digest it, regardless of Chirality

Rubiksmoose

@GcL When science and drinking intersect, I'm there XD

Chirality

Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word chirality is derived from the Greek χειρ (kheir), "hand," a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is chiral if it is distinguishable from its mirror image; that is, it cannot be superposed onto it. Conversely, a mirror image of an achiral object, such as a sphere, cannot be distinguished from the object. A chiral object and its mirror image are called enantiomorphs (Greek, "opposite forms") or, when referring to molecules, enantiomers. A non-chiral object is called achiral (sometimes also amphichiral...

Someone_Evil

@RevenantBacon Chirality of ethanol or the creature? because ethanol doesn't have chirality

GcL

16:04

@RevenantBacon it has a chiral center?

@Rubiksmoose We used to call that Thursday.

RevenantBacon

@Someone_Evil Of the creature

It can be done because Ethanol doesn't have Chirality

NautArch

@GcL less sphere and more rod

GcL

@NautArch ruddy rods... maybe soil being extruded through holes in the ice.

Like a frozen muddy play dough spaghetti maker

RevenantBacon

This also assumes that it doesn't have some other reaction with the creature that kills it anyways

Perhaps I should have worded my initial statement to be: "Ethanol can be digested by any creature, regardless of that creatures Chirality"

GcL

@RevenantBacon That makes even less sense to me.

RevenantBacon

16:10

They would also probably want to be carbon-baesed

Ah, it's because the vast majority of creatures on Earth have the same Chirality in most things, like their amino acids. If ever an alien race from another planet came here, and they had opposing Chirality, they may not be able to actually eat anything from our planet for nutrients.

Unless they ferment it into ethanol, which has no Chirality.

GcL

I'm pretty sure all amino acids used in biochemistry are L. That's my recollection from coursework forever ago, and my recollection of culture media additives. They're all L-whatever.

Rubiksmoose

Too much science, too little drinking.

;-)

Someone_Evil

But will the ethanol get these alien lifeforms drunk? That's a much more useful thing to know

RevenantBacon

@GcL All amino acids in Earth based biochemistry. With a very few, exceptionally rare exceptions.

@Someone_Evil Theoretically. We can all try and get drunk together!

GcL

@RevenantBacon That's seems awfully presumptive of the biochemistry of aliens.

AncientSwordRage

16:16

@GcL it's already true that our body processes some left-handed molecules differently, unless the alien lives in a racemic environ, it would likely also have that behaviour of it's chemistry being 'handed'

GcL

@AncientSwordRage I find statements about the likelihood of traits of aliens dubious at best.

AncientSwordRage

@GcL you doubt they have traits?

or you think we know too little to say either way therefore it's moot?

GcL

Heck, the generalizations about the capabilities and functioning of organisms on this planet have been routinely overturned. Much to my happiness. Thank the deep oceans for TAC polymerase.

AncientSwordRage

because the chirality of molecules is going to be universal

GcL

tac? tak? taq?

Carcer

16:20

eh

GcL

taq. geeze I havent' been at a bench in a long time.

Mark Wells

Taq, yeah. The PCR stuff.

RevenantBacon

I suddenly have the overwhelming sensation that this discussion got way to sciencey for a fantasy forum. And that's it's very heavily my fault

:p

Mark Wells

The D&D game I ran at the con has a chemistry lab, and this is the first time I've run it that someone didn't set the lab on fire.

Carcer

from where we're sitting it seems more likely than not that alien life is going to depend on some of the same organic chemistry as we've got here, if only because in our limited sample size it's been involved 100% of the time.

RevenantBacon

16:27

Oh, sure, the chemistry will likely be incredibly similar, but the chirality of the molecules could be flipped. One day, we'll get to Mars, and see if it ever had bacterial life trapped in its ice caps. Then we can check out the Chirality of neighboring bacterium!!!!

Rubiksmoose

@MarkWells How did they resist setting it on fire?!

GcL

@Rubiksmoose Everything was labelled "inflammable" and they made the common misinterpretation most do and just assumed it couldn't be set on fire.

Rubiksmoose

@GcL That word annoys me lol

Because it just looks so much like it means exactly the opposite.

GcL

@Rubiksmoose Would you say it inflames your sense of order?

Rubiksmoose

@GcL I would now!

GcL

16:34

How do you feel about the term "anti-clockwise" ?

Medix2

Is achirality not an option for chemistry? (I know math not chemistry)

Someone_Evil

@GcL I'm pro-clockwise myself

Medix2

Isn't counterclockwise only in the US?

GcL

@Medix2 Yes. Plenty of things don't have chiral centers. Amino acids which are the building blocks of your proteins all do have chiral centers.

Mark Wells

@Rubiksmoose They were very focused. It didn't have the guy they were looking for, so they closed the door and moved on.

GcL

16:35

@MarkWells Does that seem like a victory or a loss to you?

Medix2

@GcL Inflammable, unravel, irregardless... There's history for all of them and merit therein

Mark Wells

@GcL I got to be surprised, and they got to make a decision and experience the results, so I call it a win.

Someone_Evil

@GcL Except glycine

nitsua60

@Medix2 "Widdershins" elsewhere, right?

Mark Wells

For contrast, the first playtest group walked into the lab, yelled "Hey, this looks like science!", and threw a torch into the acetone still.

Xirema

16:38

@GcL I'm definitely setting a puzzle for my players that relies on significant portions of a room being described as "inflammable" with no clarifying distinction. =P

Medix2

@nitsua60 Yes though that can also describe something that's just crooked or off

GcL

@Xirema I hope your table enjoys word play and has a high groan factor tolerance.

Mark Wells

@Medix2 compare "sinister"

Yuuki

@nitsua60 "Widdershins"? I 'ardly know 'er shins!

Medix2

There's always deiseal

RevenantBacon

16:50

@Yuuki I can always tell when you enter the chat :p

Yuuki

Yeah, that weird floating-in sidebar animation is pretty obtrusive.

RevenantBacon

Related: that link you sent me for the clarified alcohol turned out super good.

Yuuki

I halved the amount of sugar in that recipe.

The color change is the really cool part, imo.

The rum and brandy starts off with this dark brownish amber color and then when you mix it into the milk, it turns this cloudy beige. And then after curdling and filtering, you end up with this pale clear yellow.

Medix2

@Yuuki Meanwhile on mobile your picture just materializes all-at-once, it's very aggressive

RevenantBacon

I tweaked it slightly. I used rum and vodka, less lime, more pineapple. It was a very pale yellow after.

I'm probably going to do it gain, but actually follow the recipe this time.

Rubiksmoose

16:59

@MarkWells My party would have been focused too... on burning that place down.

Yuuki

@Rubiksmoose Clarified milk punch.

Rubiksmoose

@Yuuki (found it lol)

@Yuuki Sounds amazing.

Yuuki

It's also remarkable how the taste changes too. The infused rum and brandy had a really strong spiced kick but after curdling and filtering, it gets really smooth and subtle.

Rubiksmoose

Link? this sounds like a fun project.

Carcer

@RevenantBacon oh yeah, my intent was "and so it seems likely that chirality will be relevant and meaningful",

MikeQ

17:09

As the saying goes, chirality is dead

AncientSwordRage

@MikeQ you are dead to me

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage SFF Chat room (Mos Eisley) is dead to all of us.

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast and we must never speak of it again...

Yuuki

17:25

@Rubiksmoose Wait, I thought you found the link?

Here it is.

Rubiksmoose

@Yuuki nah just the message. Thanks!

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage Indeed, speaking ill of the dead is bad form.

MikeQ

17:46

What about speaking dead of the ill? Also bad form?

Yuuki

@MikeQ That's how Mos Eisley got permanently frozen in the first place.

NautArch

Can we VTC this?

grazie!

Someone_Evil

18:02

Elvin Lightbalde is a fun name for a character

KorvinStarmast

18:41

@Someone_Evil Was he Elvin Hayes' cousin?

David Coffron

@NautArch I misread that question. I thought the chain devil is who had died

Yuuki

19:03

@Someone_Evil Is that the 50-year old version of Elvin Thickmullete?

NautArch

19:38

@DavidCoffron no worries, i almost put up an "Ask your DM" answer, but it's really unclear what mechanic is going on there.

@KorvinStarmast I'm almost 100% sure it's going to be a "ask your DM" answer.

darnit, bought some t-shirts from teepublic and paid with paypal. Just noticed I have no confirmation other than from paypal :(

KorvinStarmast

that's not a good sign ...

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast yeah :( I just emailed them.

Yuuki

20:08

So what if virgin blood is less "haven't had sex before" and like olive oil where the first pressing will give you the best results? Like anyone's blood will do for this eldritch ritual but if we really want to summon Cthulhu as opposed to Cthulwho (the name-confused absent-minded cousin), we need to make sure the sacrifice hasn't had their blood used in a previous ritual.

GcL

@Yuuki This is the difference between virgin blood-ritual and vigin-blood ritual?

In this analogy, are the donors the olives or the olive tree?

Yuuki

@GcL I suppose the olives.

'Cause you can't get a second first pressing from the same batch of olives.

Whereas you can definitely get another first pressing from the same tree, just with another harvest.

GcL

@Yuuki Hmmm... olives don't refill of their own accord while blood donors generally do.

Yuuki

The pressing in this case would be the ritual.

GcL

@Yuuki They have to be present? Does this ritual involve post-ritual cookies and juice?

Yuuki

20:17

I would imagine that this would be a charity organization in some kind of comically evil kingdom where everyone is comically evil.

"Donate my blood to save lives? Ewww... Have my blood taken to be used in an unspeakable evil ritual to hasten the apocalypse? Don't mind if I do!"

GcL

@Yuuki Comically evil doesn't require them to be wasteful. If you only get one donation out of a participant, I imagine there's plenty of other chanting and shuffling jobs they could fulfill for subsequent rituals.

Yuuki

And the eldritch cabal is actually a blood drive masquerading as a host of evil warlocks.

GcL

@Yuuki Probably one of the most effective ways of doing it. Also, you'd imagine they'd have all sorts of blood preservation, shipping, and clean-up accoutrements.

One thing I can't abide is inefficient evil.

Yuuki

Aaaaaand now I'm thinking about a country with a lot of social benefits and progressive thinking masqueraded under a thin veneer of evil because their culture forbids altruism.

GcL

@Yuuki I had an entire story arc where the lawful evil mastermind never actually got around to the evil part of the plot and spent a great deal of effort on infrastructure and economy.... you know to support the eventual take over the world war effort. That kind of martial and arcane power doesn't come cheap and the logistics are mind boggling!

Yuuki

20:22

"No, I'm not taxed at a progressive rate proportional to my wealth to fund financial safety nets, I pay a percentage of my net worth that goes towards funding cheap mercenaries (read: poor people)."

GcL

So you get some nice stuff for the people, but with ya know...skull emblems.

Yuuki

"They make look the same but they're different things altogether!"

GcL

@Yuuki Could you write an entire story where the mastermind has lawful evil intentions, but ends up just doing good from everyone else's perspective because it serves their own evil ends?

Yuuki

a villain who unintentionally always does helpful things

►

GcL

@Yuuki Yes, but more win-win. Where both sides get to claim "winning"

Yuuki

20:33

I mean, it's easy to do for a villain with long-term goals (like you mentioned, growing a country in order to have the manpower for world domination). It'd be far more interesting to see if you could pull it off with a villain that has particular short-term goals that they need accomplished quickly.

GcL

20:48

@Yuuki Just send everyone cookies.... like... a lot of cookies. Now!

KorvinStarmast

21:16

@GcL A good friend of mine was served some cookies last year, whose ingredients included some cannabis (let's say that he was somewhat taken aback on being served this without a warning) ... so cookies in the above case (LE overlord) may or may not be part of a plan to dominate the populace via chemical means! Carefule with them cookies!

goodguy5

Does anyone else cut/tear off skin tags or is that just me?

Hot RPG Questions

6

Q: How do Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2's "rolling" for stats actually get generated?

When I have played BG1 & BG2, a big part of the character creation is rolling (and rerolling) for stats. This rolling for stats is subjected to racial minimums and maximums (and class minimums iirc). The result of the rolling mechanism is a number of points allocated to specific scores, but you ...

BESW

@nitsua60 I love saying widdershins but around here it's a poor choice for effectively communicating.

@Yuuki ...good name for a band.

RevenantBacon

@Yuuki OMG, I've seen some of this guys videos, he's hillarious.

Someone_Evil

Hiya @Frozenstep! Welcome to the RPG.SE lair

Anything on your mind, or just lurking?

goodguy5

21:40

I find that lurkers rarely respond when I call them out.

Frozenstep

Well I'm a trend breaker >:U

Rubiksmoose

hahaha

Yuuki

@goodguy5 Don't get too close either or they'll send a spike up your sternum.

Frozenstep

I'm a DM for a dnd 5e homebrew campaign and I'm thinking about giving my players some feats as a reward from a country they're helping. Basically a few of the high-level characters will show the characters a trick or two. I have a few ideas for what to give them, but I have an artificer (artillerist) and I'm trying to think about what options would make sense to present, and that he'd actually want.

Someone_Evil

Is there a hard need for all of them to get the same kind of reward? For a item-oriented character (as artificers can easily be) it can make sense for them to be given an item

Frozenstep

21:52

Any ideas for feats that feel "teachable"? Preferably by high level fighters/rogues (ninjas)/maybe a cleric

NautArch

@Frozenstep as in Homebrew feats or feats from the phb?

Rubiksmoose

@Frozenstep What kind of power level are you aiming to add here?

Frozenstep

Not a hard need, but it would feel a bit awkward if one person gets an item while others get shown neat tricks

Someone_Evil

The vast majority of the PHB feats are "teachable", no? It's probably easier to list the other way around

Frozenstep

homebrew feats aren't off the table

Rubiksmoose

21:55

@Someone_Evil I'd say so.

Frozenstep

The kinds of feats I was thinking about giving the others are things like charger, defensive duelist, mounted combatant

Someone_Evil

What are the characters like and what are their interests (and that of their players)?

Yuuki

> Fête. Once per day, you can set up a large selection of food on a giant table. Creatures who eat food and spend at least one hour within 10 ft. of the table gain +1 to the next four saving throws they make.

Frozenstep

utter murderhobos

jk no they're cool

RevenantBacon

So important question: are these going to just be added to the list of options for feats that the players already have, or are they going to be granted as free bonus feats?

Frozenstep

21:56

free bonus feat

Rubiksmoose

there's an interesting opportunity here to make use of the feats that are fun and situational but never worth a full ASI to take...

Frozenstep

exactly

RevenantBacon

Then it doesn't have to be specifically tailored to the party. Make it something that is generaly useful in a variety of situations, but not always useable.

Frozenstep

yes, exactly

RevenantBacon

Like what @Yuuki posted

goodguy5

21:57

Feels like a great time to offer the non ASI half of a feat.

Frozenstep

though I'd prefer to avoid something like resiliant con

Rubiksmoose

I would definitely shy away from the top tier feats (and it seems like you are leaning that way)

Frozenstep

yep yep, and yuuki's option isn't bad

goodguy5

oh man, making durable "worth" taking? sounds like a dream

Frozenstep

I feel like I already have a decent selection of stuff for the martials/half casters in the group

Yuuki

21:59

> Feet. You regain any appendages that you may or may not have lost. If there are no limbs to regain, you may choose to use the effect of the Feet feat in the future or you may use the Feet feat to get more feet.

goodguy5

get out

RevenantBacon

You could also go with a feat that grants them an extra skill proficiency to represent the tutoring, along with perhaps advantage on particular types of skill checks.

Frozenstep

but it was just the artificier (who prides themselves as being an inventor, always making something new and then moving onto the next shiny project) that seems like they wouldn't benefit from those

Yuuki

> Bonus Feat. You may choose one Feat. Gain the effects of that feat.

RevenantBacon

Everyone benefits from having more skill proficiencies

Someone_Evil

22:00

@RevenantBacon Do you mean Skilled?

RevenantBacon

Oh, wait

Actually, granting them the Skilled feat for free would probably be fine.

goodguy5

Seems like a fun idea.

If it were me, I'd probably actually try to do a "quarter" feat, but I'm a stickler and understand your desire.

"You gain proficiency in 1 skill"
"you learn 1 cantrip"
"you gain proficiency in 1 weapon"
etc

Frozenstep

hmm

he's a gnome

BESW

> Stop, Charge, & Flail. When you take fire damage, add that much damage to your attacks next round.

Frozenstep

maybe I can have him learn fade away from watching the ninjas that the party is working with

without the half asi

(the ninjas basically can teleport when they uncanny dodge a few times per day, doing the log substitution thing)

Well thanks for the ideas everyone, gotta go.

goodguy5

22:13

ooh. removing a minor penalty, like allowing small creatures to wield heavy weapons

Yuuki

> I Can Feel Something Inside Me Saying. You gain +2 to Will saves to break compulsion effects. You believe in life after love.

> A Warm Gun. After making a ranged attack, you gain +2 to Will saves against fear effects until your next turn.

BESW

> Sacred patterns. You've been gifted ritual tattoos that mark you as a hero. +4 to Diplomacy checks with anyone who recognizes the tattoos.

> Words of Empathy. You've been taught a powerful phrase of welcome that transcends language. You may cast calm emotions 1/day and all your castings of calm emotions (whether granted by this feat or not) can affect any living creatures rather than only humanoids.

Yuuki

22:29

> And This Is Crazy. After encountering someone for the first time, they gain the ability to telepathically communicate with you (as the spell sending) for three days.

Hmm yeah, fits better the other way around.

It's "call me maybe" not "I'll call you maybe".

Mark Wells

23:00

but it changes your name to "Maybe"

Yuuki

Now I want Carly Rae Jepsen to star in an adaptation of Moby Dick.

Akixkisu

rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/165417/… <- would you tag this content-identification instead? I felt like both tags have been ill-defined since a while, and there a few people who feel very strongly about what either tag means.

Someone_Evil

Yeah, I'd say content if either (though I agree the lines are a little blurry). It is asking for a thing inside a rules set, not a product.

Dobbel seems to think neither, which is probably also fine

Akixkisu

23:17

Since Greener removed the product tag, I'll replace it with the content tag, let's see how that group of people reacts to that.

V2Blast

23:29

@Rubiksmoose Right now the Eberron AL campaign doesn't even use PHB+1. They only allow content from the PHB, E:RftLW (and WGtE to the extent that it's the same as E:RftLW), and most recently Xanathar's. Unclear how they'll proceed with that moving forward.

@Akixkisu It's tricky. The Product ID tag is for questions asking, basically, "which book is this thing from" or "which system am I thinking of", whereas the Content ID tag is for "what is this thing I remember". In this case it's not entirely clear...

@nitsua60 See the listing here on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

Akixkisu

@V2Blast I agree, I think either tag is fine. So I go with whatever doesn't get removed by people who feel more strongly about this.

V2Blast

@G.Moylan They only adjusted 2 encounters to be slightly less deadly (but still deadly). Not many changes besides that. They incorporated all past errata and added an introductory chapter that sort of gives an overview of the adventure and its structure.

@JeffreyWitty Hello! BTW I dunno if anyone else has pointed this out to you but your avatar/profile picture seems broken to me (I've noticed it both on mainsite and now here in chat).

Someone_Evil

Did the social contract question pop up twice the feed up top for anyone else?

BESW

Yup!

V2Blast

23:47

@BESW Pretty much. Regarding redundancy, there's no real consistency on whether redundant info is restated; sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. I'm inclined towards the interpretation that "other components are required" only because the DMG errata specifically changes the phrasing from "without having to provide any of the spell's components" to "without providing any material components".

goodguy5

@Someone_Evil yea, I was wondering about that. I compared the urls and everything. was odd

V2Blast

@nitsua60 I believe Indian English uses "anticlockwise". Seems to come from British English too so probably not just in India.

Someone_Evil

Going to the xml feed there's not a duplicate entry, so it's probably only in the chat interface. Is it worth posting a bug report anywhere?

V2Blast

strange

Someone_Evil

Speaking of chat feeds, did we ever put the enworld/morrus' news feed back on?

BESW

23:57

Nope. You can see the feeds here.

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