TRPG General Chat

Miniman

00:48

@Zachiel Since you've got the Deneir thing going on already, how would you feel about Visionary Seeker (knowledge) or Sacred Exorcist (churchly wizard)? I have some ideas to make the numbers work out, but I'd like to know if those are in any way options for you before I start trying to figure out levels.

Nvm, I just ran the numbers enough to know that's not going to work out.

Enlightened Fist really makes hitting 16 BAB tough. I mean, it loses 2 spellcasting levels already, did it really need to be 3/4 BAB on top of that? Dammit, Complete Arcane.

goodguy5

01:18

1. you just changed my life.
2. I initially tried win and plus "win++", because I didn't see the period. It brings up the magnifier and I thought I'd gotten trolled super hard.

Rubiksmoose

🙌

@goodguy5 you weren't the only one either lol

goodguy5

Team, I'm doing it. I'm going to set an alarm on my phone so that I can check in every day. I'm getting that damned Fanatic badge.

2

Ben

@goodguy5 Oh my god

How far technology has come

Ok so I finally finished reading the answer to my Extreme reaction to PC choice question, and I have to say, it is very good. I'm personally thinking about perhaps rewarding it with a bounty.

I have been thinking about it and one major thing is that this is building towards a character climax, which may result in a very different character, following this little arc.

KorvinStarmast

01:50

@Ben I am so glad that you asked on main site after our chat discussion. Yay Ben!

Ben

@KorvinStarmast I am too. I think the chat discussion really helped me figure out what the question I wanted to ask was. I knew what the problem was, and the "potential" solution, but talking about it really helped me narrow it down.

And the answer has even pointed out some things that have been really helpful too!

KorvinStarmast

As questions go, I think it was a good one and I like how the answer went besides wasting text on D&D stuff for a non D&D question.

Ben

@KorvinStarmast Well, that was actually helpful, IMO. It used a couple of concepts that I am familiar with to explain the vagueness of some of the SW system mechanics

KorvinStarmast

If it was helpful to you, then whatever I am not satisfied with does not matter. ;)

Ben

02:23

And in truth I was surprised it got so many views - 1k in less than 24 hours haha. To be fair though I did tag it with a few different tags

nitsua60

02:55

@goodguy5 If you have to use an alarm to make it happen, that badge is always going to have a little asterisk next to it....

trogdor

03:09

Lol

I got it because I'm good at creating routines, unfortunately I'm bad at breaking them and now I'm stuck here forever

Send help :P

nitsua60

@trogdor I think I did. Years ago. (Un?)Fortunately, that means I'm stuck here forever, too.

My school's extending spring break and then going digital/distant after that. I've spent more time to date working on how I'm going to convert my current kids' CP2020 game to something that'll be easier to do over voice/discord than I have working on how I'm going to convert math classes to online.

trogdor

03:35

@nitsua60 lol

Adeptus

03:56

@nitsua60 Naturally. Worry about the important things first.

Ben

@goodguy5 I got it over on Arqade.

I don't quite remember how. I think it was one of those black out situations.

Yes. I blacked out for a year

kent

Since this may be considered opinion based I'll ask it here. Does anyone know why UA Mystic's psionics is considered magic for the purpose of an antimagic field but monks ki is not? I looked through it and things like mystic talent dont explicitly mention magic or magical effects.

And going by monk, the section at the beginning for mystics that refers to psionics as magic shouldn't be sufficient to shut down all their abilities.

Ben

> What is a Spell? A spell is a discrete magical effect, a single shaping of the magical energies that suffuse the multiverse into a specific, limited expression. In casting a spell, a character carefully plucks at the invisible strands of raw magic suffusing the world, pins them in place in a particular pattern, sets them vibrating in a specific way, and then releases them to unleash the desired effect-in most cases, all in the span of seconds.

V2Blast

About to stream our D&D 5e actual-play podcast momentarily: https://www.twitch.tv/bigdredwun

In a universe adjacent to our own lies a world known as Runia. This world, once peaceful and idyllic, is now threatened by a monstrous being from its prehistory. A group of adventurers known as Whiskey Company have risen up to do what they can to fight this entity known only as Nagat. They have trekked far across the mortal realms in search of the shards of Barrinoth, the Titan of Justice, in hopes of returning him to his full power - and now they finally have all 6.

Ben

Ki is different to this; it works as a feature specific to the Monk, similarly how Manouvres are specific to the Fighter

kent

04:12

@Ben remember ki is referred to as creating magical effects. And they are discrete

Ben

You can't use Ki to cast magic, and you can't use spell slots to use Ki features.

kent

And a dragons breath attack resembles an actual spell yet it is not one

Ben

@kent Because dragons are inherently magical themselves.

Like how a Tiefling can cast Hellish Rebuke, regardless of their class

kent

You can use ki to cast spells with 4elements. Just as you can use psionics to cast spells with wu jen

It's not the question of whether psionics is spellcasting. But why psionics is suppressed in an antimagic field regardless of whether it is producing a spell. But ki is not until it produces a spell.

Both use magic and magical effect heavily in their initial descriptions. But people seem to have treated the descriptions of specific actions differently. I feel like I'm missing something about the language. As far as I can tell mystic hand is no more or less magical than stunning strike. The magical energy that suffises the brain is no more or less magical than the one suffising the body

Ben

04:46

Could you provide a link for the UA?

Also, it does specifically state that you use Ki Points to "cast spells"

> Some elemental disciplines allow you to cast spells.

kent

As best as I can tell from rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/76005/… RAW neither should be usable in an antimagic field. But ki has the benefit of Crawford tweeting about it and psionics has not.

dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/mystic-class

So for way of four elements the feature elemental spells says you are casting spells with some of the disciplines

That area also refers to disciplines as magical. Which mystic disciplines also do.

Ben

I think the issue is that there is no hard definition for what psionics actually is.

But, just from a quick skim, it looks like it's similar to the Sorcerer. Basically an open link to the "raw magics suffusing the world"

kent

Basically both psionics and ki are introduced as magic.

However in the subsections not all of the features meet the requirement laid out by the compendium

So while monk and mystic disciplines refer to themselves as magic. Stunning strike and mystic talents do not

Ben

I think the way they've built it is that ki is a sub-form of "magic".

It doesn't quite meet the requirements of "using magic". For example, it takes 3 Ki points to use a 2nd level spell slot

kent

Well but so is psionics

Also in 4e ki was psionics

I think from his tweets they messed up. So he had to clarify rules as intended they shouldn't be considered magic for balance reasons

So then it becomes whether that RAI should extend to mystic talents, or maybe the RAW should extend to ki

Also @Ben it takes 3 psi points to use a 2nd level slot with arcane dabble

I have to go. Thanks Ben. Maybe people like @KorvinStarmast can help untangle this mess of RAI/RAW later

Ben

05:09

👍

Ben

05:28

Right, So I was reading the wrong UA lol

> Psionics is a special form of magic use, distinct from spellcasting.

So it's not that they aren't using magic; they are. It's simply that they access and form their magical talents differently from the rest.

> [Ki] is an element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse - specifically, the element that flows through living bodies. Monks harness this power within themselves to create magical effects and exceed their bodies' physical capabilities.

Ki on the other hand is not spellcasting, but can be used as spell casting, but only if they choose the correct sub class

Hot RPG Questions

06:38

1

Q: Does Evasion work against Elemental Adept'ed spells?

I really think its a silly question, but does evasion from a ranger reduce damage from a spell (Dex save), cast from a caster with Elemental adept?

V2Blast

09:08

Q: Are a Mystic's psionics (UA) affected by an antimagic field?

Unearthed Arcana has taken up the concept of Psionics several times now. At first, with some basic rules for a Mystic class up to level 5 (which I can't seem to find online anymore, they seem to have been removed), then an expansion up to level 10 for that class based on previous feedback, and fi...

dnd-5e psionics unearthed-arcana antimagic-field mystic

Basically, ki is called "magic" in the "flavor text" of the monk class (despite Crawford's insistence that there's no "flavor text" in the game) but not in the "Ki" class feature that mentions it. In contrast, psionics is called magic in the "Psionics" class feature (of the UA Mystic class) that first mentions it.

And neither of those is spellcasting unless something specifically says otherwise (e.g. some of the Four Elements monk's elemental disciplines).

BESW

10:00

"Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps" and "Asian Representation and the Martial Arts" by James Hodes.

3

BESW

10:54

For tonight's dinner, I stir-fried onion, garlic, bok choy, and kale, with olive oil, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Then I fried some leftover whole wheat spaghetti in olive oil, sesame oil, ginger, cayenne, garlic, peanut butter, lemon, and soy. Mixed them together and topped with tuna marinated in lemon and soy, fried in olive oil with black and cayenne pepper and ginger.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW a) I would read your food blog if it were that cut down, 2) do you have photos of your cupboard or a list of essentials and how they're stored? iii) why am I changing bullet notation?

Or even a Twitter handle like @BESW_eats

BESW

Heheh. I might just do that food blog.

I'm curious what you mean about the second bullet point? Like, where do I keep my garlic?

AncientSwordRage

@BESW where and what are your essentials. I'm chronically disorganized, and looking for a template of sorts

BESW

Ah. Heh, I'm not a great source for "where"ness in the kitchen, it's a tradeoff between "where can things fit in this tiny kitchen" and "how close can I keep things to where they're gonna get used."

Like, utensils that mostly get used while cooking on the stove--spatulas, noodle spoons, that kind of thing-- go in the drawer closest to the stove so I can grab what I need mid-cook because I will forget to grab it ahead of time and I don't want to have to move my feet away from the hot stove.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW that seems smart though, and leagues better than "where did I get this from?" Or "I haven't got a place for this, I'll pile it on top of whatever else is in the cupboard"

Probably my ask is something to do with this concept: google.com/amp/s/www.additudemag.com/…

BESW

11:07

Stuff for making hot drinks (cups, tea bags, honey, chocolate) goes in the cupboard above the part of the counter with the electric kettle and the space to actually put the cup down and make the drink.

Things that don't get used often AND don't need to be grabbed quickly, get put in the less convenient places--high up, low down, in the far back of the cupboards and drawers, etc.

"Unopened food that will need to go in the fridge when it's opened" is a category.

We just came up with that category last year and it's working well.

Fresh stuff that doesn't need to be refrigerated, like garlic and onions and unripe bananas, goes in wire-mesh baskets and rarely-used over-large colanders in the dining room; it doesn't need to take up space in the kitchen, we're keeping it away from steam and we can keep an eye on it to make sure it's not going bad. We put little plates underneath the baskets to catch the inevitable "oh, the egg fruit went bad before we noticed" dribbles.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW genius

BESW

(It's also moderately decorative.)

"Stuff that keeps a long time" is a location category with sub-categories like dry pasta, canned goods, flour and unopened baking mixes (opened flour and baking mixes go in the fridge to try and combat the humidity).

Spices are in a basket in a high cupboard, where we can pull it down to get what we want.

So yeah, categories are about what you do with the stuff, where, and how often.

As for basics... that changes over time, but generally if I have onions, rice or dry pasta, some cans of beans, and a couple spices or sauces for flavoring, I can convince you I meant to make that dinner.

We subscribe to the weekly CSA (community-supported agriculture) box, so we don't go out and buy fresh fruits and greens and that sort of thing very much, we just use what's in season.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW that sounds worthwhile investigation

BESW

Essentials are things that keep or get used fast, and can be used in a lot of different ways. A can of beans can be used all kinds of soups or salads, or mashed into the base of a very nice sandwich spread, or added to a stir-fry...

(and the thick water from a can of beans can be used for almost anything you'd use egg whites for--from replacing eggs in baking bread to whipping up for meringue.)

For oils, I use olive (or grape if I can't find extra-virgin olive at a decent price) for most everything, and I add sesame oil for flavor.

The Oracle

11:27

0

Q: Can we slow down with the "when did X appear and how did they differ between editions" style questions?

There's now four on the top page: Artificers Druids Rangers Warlocks The first line of the help page states: You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. There's no problem to solve here. They're fun research questions that engage the communi...

discussion

BESW

Spice-wise, for dinner-type cooking I always keep cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, ginger (salabat powder because I'm lazy), turmeric, paprika, and soy sauce. I also like to use Worcestershire, chili, cumin, mustard...

I also try to always have cinnamon and cloves or all-spice, but those don't usually go in dinners; they're for coffee and sweets.

But my cooking tends toward stir-fry type stuff, and my concept of essentials is defined by that.

If you make chili, keep baker's chocolate around, it's the secret ingredient that gives good chili depth.

I usually have little cans of tomato paste, and a big can of lentil broth, because those are the sorts of things that can be used to unite whatever leftovers are lying around into a sauce or stew.

Here's the thing: as far as essentials go, I need a protein, a starch, a veggie, and something to tie them together.

AncientSwordRage

I'm making notes (probably going to copy this out onto my phone)

BESW

My proteins tend to be stuff like nuts, tofu, fish, eggs, and beans.

My starches are usually whole wheat pasta, brown rice, or some kind of bread, but YMMV, I spent a year using couscous because it's a lot faster than rice.

I also like potatoes. Yes.

2

My veggies are... whatever's in season, augmented by onions and occasionally something like bell peppers or organic carrots if they look really good in the store. (I don't buy organic everything, we don't have that kind of budget, but there are some foods where the difference between organic and non-organic is palpable and carrots are one of the most dramatic examples.)

(aside: I always make sure we have powdered garlic, because fresh garlic isn't always available but when it is, ooooh boy yes please especially if it's organic. My aunt taught me "Provided it is fresh, one can never use too much garlic.")

My default meal plan is to grab a protein and a veggie and stir-fry them with onion, garlic, soy sauce and ginger, and put them on top of a starch.

Sometimes I add a can of tomato paste and it's a pasta sauce! Sometimes I fry potatoes and it's a hash! Maybe I use honey and orange juice and apple cider vinegar and make it kinda teriyaki-ish on top of rice!

The other default is roasting. Chop up all your veggies and potatoes into finger-food chunks or slice, toss them in oil with flour and spices (I often just use off-the-shelf curry powder from an Indian store), then spread them out on a tray and bake 'em at maybe 350F for 45 to 60 minutes.

It's a good response to "these root veggies are going to spoil before we can eat them!"

Because now they're snackables.

Often I Google the food we've got that needs to be used up before it spoils, and read several different recipes as inspiration for the kinds of tastes and techniques to use.

Like, for tonight, the reason I added peanut butter was because I wanted something reminiscent of pancit. A common denominator in taste for many pancit recipes is soy sauce and peanut oil.

I didn't have peanut oil so I threw in a glob of peanut butter.

Ummm. Questions?

The single most useful cooking resource I've ever had (aside from actual people working alongside me) is my mother's old battered copy of Tassajara Cooking by Edward Espe Brown. It's a great cookbook (rather than recipe book) which goes through lots of basic ingredients and generalisations, then goes by kinds of food (soup, dressing, casserole, etc) and lays out the concept and principles of that kind of food before giving examples.

So Edward will say "thin soups are this, thick soups are that, you'll need something from each of these categories (with examples), and here are how some soups you're familiar with break down into this pattern." That means I can think "I want to make soup" and see what I've got in the cupboard that will go into a soup, OR I can look at my available ingredients and say "That looks like a soup."

Someone_Evil

12:07

@BESW So... blog when?

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil this

BESW

I struggle to set up a professional web presence.

AncientSwordRage

Who says it has to be professional?

BESW

12:28

I do. I need one for work and refuse to add the needless complexity of maintaining multiple websites.

Unlike many here, I have no training or experience with online infrastructure and no particular interest in learning an entirely new profession.

goodguy5

@nitsua60 thats fine

nitsua60

@goodguy5 My son and I ran a few miles to and then up the steps of your art museum yesterday =)

\O/ \o/

goodguy5

Wait, are you guys back in town?

nitsua60

We were there just for a few hours.

goodguy5

ah

Those are fun steps.

nitsua60

12:37

Left DC yesterday morning, took a couple hours in your fine city to break up the trip, then got home for bedtime.

goodguy5

Was that old guy at the top offering to take pictures?

nitsua60

I did not encounter such a person.

goodguy5

He might only go up on weekends. If he's still there.

But there's a guy (as recently as last year) that hangs out at the top and takes pictures with your device, with the expectation being that you "tip" him.

It's a better version of the aggressive window washing.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW the best balance between ease and professionalism I've heard of is square space but I have no experience myself.

nitsua60

@goodguy5 I've run across a lot of those in NYC.

NautArch

13:06

o/

nitsua60

\o

(Keeping 6 ft. away.)

NautArch

@nitsua60 ha! well, not ha!, but y'know.

BESW

@AncientSwordRage Really I'd be content with a wordpress.com site but I need to figure out how to do all the legalese and image processing so that I'm exposing myself as little as reasonably possible to copyright problems with my work.

GcL

@BESW The easiest way to begin to handle copyright issues is to have a take down policy and actually follow it if a take down request comes in.

BESW

...

GcL

13:17

Then you can decide what to do from there if and when a problem arises.

BESW

I'm a graphic designer who's looking to make a portfolio website. I'm not worried about my getting takedown notices, I'm going to be posting my own work.

I'm looking to reduce to misuse of my own content.

NautArch

@BESW watermarks? Or are these easy to strip now?

nitsua60

@NautArch Yeah, I know =|

GcL

@BESW Still need to find them. There's got to be a service for this now days... and hopefully one that also knows something about what's fair use and what's not.

BESW

@NautArch The general consensus among professional artists these days is that watermarks which are conspicuous enough that you can't remove them just by some judicious margin-cropping, make your art so undesirable to look at that it's better to expect the misuse than to stab yourself in the foot with effective watermarking and never be seen at all.

GcL

13:26

@BESW If it's subtle enough to be encoded in a pattern of subtle color alterations it gets destroyed when people "add more jpeg"

Looks like there are services for this sort of thing. Cursory examination found this one

NautArch

@BESW ugh. :(

BESW

@GcL That's massively overkill for my scale and still not actually what I'm talking about anyway.

I'm talking about setting up my own website so that it reasonably reduces the chances for misuse and increases my chances of having a case if I ever need to. That means stuff like balancing "the picture is big enough to showcase my work" vs "the picture is so big that people can print it out from my website instead of buying it" and making sure I have the proper legalese in the proper places so that if things do ever go to court my butt is covered.

NautArch

@BESW While there's a cost, one of the best things you can do is engage a good lawyer about these things. And the cost of a good lawyer is well worth it.

nitsua60

@BESW Yeah, I was curious (in a bystander-fashion) how much the thinking, industry-wise, is around prevention of misuse vs. detection of misuse vs. dealing with it afterward.

BESW

My budget for an online presence is almost literally "do I have change in the couch cushions?"

My clients find me by word of mouth.

At some point in the future I'd like to be able to scale up, but right now a web presence is "it would be nice" and establishing a footprint to build on in the future. I just don't want to make tragic mistakes that'll make it harder to build up later.

@nitsua60 Here's James Gurney on how to handle various social media as a professional artist, from 2016.

There's a lot of digital ink spilled on this subject, but most of it doesn't exactly apply to me and given my overall stressload it's overwhelming to sort through all the material and figure out what's useful for me--and then make my own decisions based on the extremely contradictory advices.

nitsua60

13:39

@BESW Yeah, I can get that. Given I have two weeks to convert a term's worth of teaching to online delivery, I sympathize with "sort through all the material and figure out what's useful for me--and then make my own decisions based on the extremely contradictory advices."

BESW

@nitsua60 Thanks for the comisery and for not offering advice without asking if I wanted it.

BESW

13:56

Netflix has choose-your-own adventure interactive stories now? How long has that been a thing?

nitsua60

@BESW Currently I'm just here to avoid my own problems, not solve anyone else's =)

BESW

Earlier today I did the Carmen Sandiego one and I rather enjoyed it!

nitsua60

@BESW Whaaaaaaa...?

BESW

CARMEN SANDIEGO: To Steal or Not To Steal Official Interactive Game Trailer (NEW 2020) Netflix HD

►

NautArch

@BESW There's a Carmen sandiego one? I don't think my daughter has discovered that yet!

nitsua60

13:57

@BESW OMG my kids are going to freak.

NautArch

But we've done the minecraft and there's some other show that's like a truck driving animal of some sort.

BESW

I liked the Netflix Carmen Sandiego cartoon itself, too. It's silly and stylish.

I kinda wish they'd leaned into the over-the-top-ness of the original franchise more, but it's not a deal-breaker for me.

GcL

14:10

@BESW the upside of copyright as the holder is that there's no special paperwork to file like patents or trademarks. If you're the content creator, the default is you've got the copyright. Usually a notice with a date at the bottom of the page is nice to provide for people. Copyright (c) 2020 The Real BESW is nice to put in the caption and footer and removes any ambiguity about who's it is.

NautArch

@BESW I really like the CS cartoons, as well. I mean, I've got a fairly low bar for enjoying cartoons, but it's a good show!

BESW

Gina Rodriguez kills the title role.

kviiri

@GcL I realize you mean well but offering unsolicited advice to other people about how they should do their work can come off as a bit rude

NautArch

@kviiri @GcL No good deed goes unpunished :) But I think we can just move on to new conversations at this point. Like cartoons. But not RPGs.

Yuuki

@BESW I think the Black Mirror episode was a proof-of-concept.

NautArch

14:22

@Yuuki I think minecraft had theirs prior, but i may be wrong.

BESW

@Yuuki That'd be why it slipped past me, I guess, I've always ignored Black Mirror.

Yuuki

Black Mirror, aka "what if phone but too much"

NautArch

And Buddy Thunderstruck

Netflix branching narratives from 2017

Yuuki

I'm naturally pessimistic about advances in technology so Black Mirror just felt unnecessarily depressing to me.

BESW

@Yuuki I get the impression it exists to answer the question which nobody asked, "What if Twilight Zone had been a William Shatner vanity project?"

kviiri

14:24

I haven't watched almost any Black Mirror but I think Jabberwocky was... well, decent-ish. Maybe a bit too formulaic given how the concept was to be that "wow it totally branches everywhere and remembers everything you do" etc

NautArch

@Yuuki unnecessarily depressing or unnecessarily accurate?

Yuuki

@NautArch Unnecessarily depressing to me. Might be necessary for some other people who think the tech industry will save everyone (hey you, Silicon Valley).

kviiri

But I liked how it extensively featured a video game as an object of cultural interest

MikeQ

@kviiri It's hit or miss, some episodes are good. Many can be summarized as "internet bad! social media bad!" or "surprise, it was a simulation all along!"

kviiri

@MikeQ That was my impression, yes x)

Yuuki

14:26

@MikeQ "what if phone but too much"

kviiri

^ not a what if for me

Yuuki

next on black mirror

2

Sir Cinnamon

@Yuuki Then again, the TV Show Silicon Valley will snap a lot of people out of thinking tech will save them, and make you laugh while doing it

Carcer

@BESW we're hard at work training the legions to reflexively bludgeon people who repost art without credit

user15026

14:51

@BESW wait what that's a thing?

NautArch

@Ash yup

user15026

Ooooooh fun yay thanks

NautArch

They're a lot of fun. I haven't done the black mirror movie yet

but done the kids ones with my kids

my son was just starting to read when they started and it was pretty awesome

user15026

15:42

I probably will just do the kids ones because black mirror isn't really my jam but this sounds pretty fun

Yuuki

@Ash wait they released jars of fruit preserves too?

man, i thought netflix interactivity was as far as they were going to branch out

user15026

15:54

facedesk

Yuuki

@Ash dangit, i was hoping you'd deviate for a facepalm this time

then i would've been like, "don't touch your face!"

Upper_Case

What's the markdown for putting a link title in a comment? Is it just the typical [text](link) formatting? I tried putting in some "related questions", but the naked links just produced naked links.

Yuuki

@Upper_Case That should work, what's the text and what's the link?

Upper_Case

The first related question link was just the url of the related question:

7

Q: Does the Wall of Fire spell damage creatures on both sides of the wall?

The spell Wall of Fire has the following text: One side of the wall, selected by you when you cast this spell, deals 5d8 fire damage to each creature that ends its turn within 10 feet of that side or inside the wall. Does the 10-foot damage zone extends in both directions from that side...

dnd-5e spells damage wall

The link is formatted correctly, but I was hoping to have the question title appear rather than the link itself

Yuuki

Should just be

[Does the Wall of Fire spell damage creatures on both sides of the wall?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/145509/does-the-wall-of-fire-spell-damage-creatures-on-both-sides-of-the-wall)

Although if you're linking a site question, just posting the link should automagically turn it into a hyperlink with the title text for comments.

So https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/145509/35181 should also work just fine.

Upper_Case

16:08

@Yuuki Hm, the latter is what I did, but no question titles

MikeQ

@Upper_Case To reduce character count, you can write [text](/questions/12345) in an answer, question, or comment

Upper_Case

@MikeQ That worked really well, and I had no idea it was an option! Thanks!

MikeQ

And ensure that the question number is correct, otherwise it will link to a different question and confuse people (yes, I have messed that up before)

KorvinStarmast

@GcL I hope you don't mind my adding to your nicely organized answer, rather than creating a second one.

I wonder if some of these might be useful as Wiki's, but that's just me thinking out loud really ...

@kent I think I already provided an answer a while back on the ki/magic thing, not sure what I can offer beyond that.

@BESW my wife's been doing that for the last year or two, and our snacks are either those roasted veg, some raw veg, or nuts in the main. Our "chip" and "cracker" snack intake has massively decreased over the last year or so.

Yuuki

@KorvinStarmast I tried a bag of "veggie straws" a couple weeks ago that were really good, I should get more.

KorvinStarmast

16:22

@BESW Now that you have asked it, is Black Mirror doomed? My son and I have enjoyed a lot of BM episodes together. (the quality varies)

@Yuuki my younger brother introduced me to raw jicama (chopped into roughly frech fry sized chunks), with a bit of lime juice and black ground pepper, as a snack. It's still a favorite. The only work is in peeling off the thick skin.

And it has a kind of "crunch" like a carrot or a chip that gives a satisfying sensory feel in the mouth

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Or you can pay more and get it pre-cut. But I love jicama.

good dipping in hummus, too if you want some protein.

so crunchy fresh

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Yes, we do that. Mrs S only occasionally makes hummus, but when she does it replaces salsa/picante sauce as our dip.

I am the fresh salsa/pico de gallo maker of the house. Lime Juice. The Key.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast I haven't yet made my own salsa or hummus :(

Yuuki

@KorvinStarmast I should get a food processor and make my own hummus.

@NautArch It's actually pretty easy.

Well, easy if you have a food processor.

Not so much if you only have a mortar and pestle.

NautArch

@Yuuki I do! this is the recipe i want to make.

speaking of...@goodguy5, if you haven't eaten at Zahav, you need to.

GcL

16:31

@KorvinStarmast Works for me. I only have a vague recollection of the original men and magic text, as I was very young and never had to directly read those rules myself. My recollection was that races and classes were kind of mixed together if you weren't playing a human.

KorvinStarmast

It wasn't in Men and Magic, but was usable with Men and Magic. So was Illusionist. The six issues of Strategic Review had officially usable content presented as "OK, here's a new one we've been trying out" - when they moved to Dragon and discontinued Strategic Review, Tim Kask made clear that Dragon was not the official house organ, but a gamer's magazine that covered a variety of topics and games. (That D&D was the cash cow was a separate issue) Little Wars continued with Strat Reviews

... minatures battles themes and topics. It didn't last as long as Dragon, needless to say

@GcL yes, that is correct. A dwarf and an elf were a race/class combo in Men and Magic. (But with Greyhawk, anyone could be a thief)

GcL

@KorvinStarmast Gotcha. There was a lot of what we called "canned" quests and content published by magazines and fanzines. I have a hard time remembering what came from where. Heck 1st and 2nd edition AD&D are kinda merged in my memory.

NautArch

@GcL Same here. I only played briefly and I'm pretty sure it was just AD&D. I have memories of looking through the AD&D monster manual.

But I was just a player at that time and we played pretty infrequently. The only things I really remember was I had a rogue, and a shortsword of backstabbing.

GcL

@NautArch The one with the brilliant illustration for invisible stalker?

NautArch

@GcL that level of detail i can not confirm :P

but please tell me it was an empty page

GcL

16:42

Yes. The picture was blank.

NautArch

awesome

KorvinStarmast

@GcL Yes, our local game store subscribed to two new letters that would have little adventures in them once per month. But I went there to get Ral Partha minis mostly, and fresh dice.

GcL

@KorvinStarmast I only ever used figurines for battletech. D&D was theater of the mind and trying to draw a map on paper from the description for a very long time. What game did you use the minis for?

KorvinStarmast

@GcL D&D.

And table top battles. I painted up all of my PCs with flat, Testors, oil based paints.

goodguy5

@NautArch too many dollar signs for my taste

GcL

16:48

@KorvinStarmast How did you measure distances?

Yuuki

@goodguy5 i want to re-edit that "I'm too 10k" meme I made with the original text on top.

KorvinStarmast

All it took was a piece of paper and some pencils to sketch in a room, but we also did ToTM where all we had was graph paper for the "where you are" and the minis were just sitting there on the graph paper.

@GcL When needed, with a tape measure.

Yuuki

hello

NautArch

@goodguy5 If you can save up for it, it really is worth it.

KorvinStarmast

Or a ruler. But DM's rarely had us measure distance unless something was "too close to call"

NautArch

16:50

one of the best meals i've ever had

KorvinStarmast

@GcL They eyeballed it and off we went.

goodguy5

@NautArch I think that I refuse to "save up" for a meal, as a fundamental part of my character

GcL

@KorvinStarmast Yeah. I recall all the distances were in inches. We had them marked on the cases of our mechanical pencils.

NautArch

@goodguy5 Fair. But not going to a meh restaurant twice so you an go to a great one seems like a good trade :)

KorvinStarmast

@GcL grin that works too.

goodguy5

16:51

@NautArch but I can go to a cheap restaurant like 5 times.

NautArch

@goodguy5 I'd still rather skip a cheap restaurant 5 times for it.

goodguy5

See, the thing is....

I'm distinctly low brow.

I don't like being in fancy places. I'll take a cheeseburger and wings and beer for $20, thank you.

NautArch

@goodguy5 totally fair. Just sayin' the food is delicious..

Carcer

I just want curry

goodguy5

I'm sure the food is delicious. I'm just unlikely to ever go there lol

@NautArch I think I've actually been to a Mediterranean place a block or two from there.

NautArch

17:01

@goodguy5 there used to be (maybe still is) a hookah bar/restaurant that was near

on chestnut i think

bah, maybe walnut

goodguy5

My friend is a Rabbi and we went to a Halal place, right by there.

NautArch

@goodguy5 is your friend the rabbi at society hill synagogue?

goodguy5

no. She works out in west PA (well, central.... west to me)

I think she's trying to get back when something opens up

NautArch

@goodguy5 ah. I can understand wanting to get back to eastern PA

GcL

17:22

@KorvinStarmast I found a copy of some old characters from 3.5. The notes on a sheet about power attack + greater cleave are pretty entertaining. A little chart of the observed AC and the penalty to trade for the damage bonus. Apparently the player kept track of the record number of things they glaived in a single round.

Yuuki

max ranks in knowledge (history), nothing in knowledge (geography)

oh wow, that blows up super big.

Gimme a sec to break it down.

NautArch

MikeQ

Yuuki

> Frame 1: Dan has a very strange patchwork of knowledge
> Frame 2: It's anybody's guess as to what he knows about ANY given topic. Watch.
> Frame 3: (Louder) Hey Dan, who sculpted Mount Rushmore?
> Frame 4: (Dan) Gutzon Borglum, then his son finished it. Why?
> Frame 5: Now what state is it in?
> Frame 6: (Dan scoffs) I don't know. Ecuador or something.

Someone_Evil

17:42

So the timeline feature has been given a fresh coat of paint. And I don't think question timelines linked to the answer timelines previously

Yuuki

17:57

Soul | Official Trailer

►

V2Blast

18:08

@BESW I know they had one episode in that style for Black Mirror. Didn't realize they did it for Carmen Sandiego too! (Though Googling indicates the choices don't really matter, which isn't surprising given the younger target audience.)

@NautArch IIRC, you're talking about Minecraft: Story Mode, which is actually a Telltale game that was then adapted to work with Netflix's interactive mode.

NautArch

@V2Blast that sounds right

kent

@KorvinStarmast yes you wrote a while back on ki being magic rpg.stackexchange.com/a/76010/53064 vs someone quoting Crawford tweets. I noticed mystic used similar wording as monk and was wondering if RAI psionics was background magic unless a section described otherwise.

Yuuki

18:39

Change My Mind: The only reason for handshakes to be part of a greeting ritual is so that you know the other party isn't a spooky ghost.

4

MikeQ

No, I usually determine whether strangers are ghosts by initially throwing salt at them

Also if you ask a ghost if they're a ghost, they're legally required to answer truthfully

4

Yuuki

@MikeQ Just whisper "who you gonna call" under your breath as you walk past them.

MikeQ

Throwing salt at people is also good practice, in case they are demons or slugs in disguise

Yuuki

I should make a kensei monk that uses a club and skin it as a frying pan.

MikeQ

If they're plants in disguise, then it's ok because you're providing them with free electrolytes, which they crave

Yuuki

18:46

Hmm... I suppose you could use a Great Old One but I'm also thinking about a warlock whose patron isn't a singular powerful entity but a collective of weak entities. Think the Guardian of Tirisfal if you know Warcraft lore.

The Patreon patron.

MikeQ

Most of the existing patrons could work with that. I've also seen a few homebrews about a swarm/hive/army patron.

Yuuki

oh, there's a reddit thread

MikeQ

Even a cleric's domain could involve a collective entity, e.g. animistic spirits

The warlock's pact could also be a sort of magical license to deal with a category of entities, whom they can ask for patronage

V2Blast

@Yuuki lol

Yuuki

@MikeQ Kinda reminds me of ancestor worship.

"Worship" is such a poor word for it, but that's how it's been translated.

We (Chinese and maybe other East Asian cultures) pray and bring offerings to our ancestors to represent us and our desires/wants/needs to the celestial hierarchy for us.

Well, depends on which part of China.

Ancestor worship is varied and the reasoning for it is manifold.

MikeQ

19:07

Yep, that sounds about right

It's a concept that can translate well into other settings too - My current cleric (PF game) works like that

Axoren

@Yuuki It's to make sure that the spooky ghost doesn't have a wrist dagger.

GcL

19:31

Patrons don't even have to be directly aware of their warlock devotees. Like a little leaf deriving some power from the Sun. Sun doesn't know. Doesn't really care. Just hanging out fusing hydrogen like it does. The fact there's some plant casting food from light using the material component chlorophyll doesn't really affect it.

MikeQ

Shhh don't tell the sun

GcL

@MikeQ I know. It might do that thing it does when it finds out you're hung over.

KorvinStarmast

19:45

@kent my answer to you is that until Mystic goes from UA to "official" it is not worth worrying about (for me). Mystic is play test, and psionics looks like it will be as it was in AD&D 2e: yet another way to do magic that isn't divine and isn't arcane. I have an answer on psionics that includes the 2e bit on "do we need a third way to do magic?"

GcL

@KorvinStarmast I always had the issue of which wins: psionic telekinesis or arcane? arcane tower of iron will vs psionic dominate? etc. I've never found the interactions with psionics and magic done very well.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL If they are both ways of tapping into the weave, they ought to be about the same, so check spell level/DC and roll a contested check.

GcL

@KorvinStarmast Sure I could homebrew it, but that's a lot of edge cases to handle. At that point, it might be easier to implement the whole kit and caboodle one's self.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL But you do put your finger on a sore spot, which was a sore spot back in AD&D 1e and before in Eldritch Wizardry: since the psionicist harnesses inner power, is it more limited than arcane power that taps into the ... uh ... great ... well of power thingie ... which takes us back to psionics as more of an SF trope than Swords and Sorcery

(yes they overlap)

GcL

Yeah. It's tough to find a copacetic interface between actual magic and stuff that's pretty much magic but we don't label it magic.

KorvinStarmast

19:54

@kent to whit: The last section of this answer

@GcL wait, is that ki? 8^D

@GcL I am trying to recall the mentalist power thing from Original Traveller, but it's too far back in my brain's cob webs.

GcL

@KorvinStarmast That's one of them, yeah. Fewer edge cases, but they do crop up.

KorvinStarmast

Space Quest had a mentalist / psionic kind of power, but my friend who ran that game (1) lives in Virginia and (2) no longer can find that book.

We played it IIRC in the late 70's.

SpaceQuest

Space quest- "Mutates" (Mutants?) have access to Psionic powers) and "Technics" (who are psychically connected to the machinery they maintain)

Yuuki

20:15

I remember that Marvel used to separate superpowered characters into mutants (people who got their superpowers from genetics - X-Men) and mutates (people who got their superpowers from external incidents - Captain America, Spider-Man, The Hulk).

KorvinStarmast

@Yuuki Mayhap Space Quest got the idea from them.

there is a lot of cross pollination between genres ...

Yuuki

> One interesting element our party discovered, is that, for our table, the alignments are not equally sized, so to speak: It's fairly easy to slip from neutral to good. But more difficult to fall from neutral to evil.

Akixkisu

Sometimes when writing answers I get touchy about the amount of copyrighted material that I directly cite. I'm unsure if I should use more in this 5e-answer anyone might have a gander?

AncientSwordRage

20:39

@Yuuki interesting fact, during house of m, when they were in the mutant friendly reality everyone loved spider man until they realised he wasn't a mutant.

@Akixkisu seems fine at a glance

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage appreciated :)

BESW

21:14

@V2Blast I was pretty conservative about my choices, and made one choice that failed but I was able to keep going, and another choice that led to a "bad ending" and then they re-wound the mission to the last viable option tree.

cavegirl (@DyingStylishly) explains OSR in a Twitter thread.

Yuuki

21:29

> You've heard of the Cloak of Elvenkind and the Belt of Dwarvenkind. Now prepare to be astounded by the Socks of Humankind: Your two lowest ability scores increase by 2, your highest ability score decreases by 1. You are now more average.

Hot RPG Questions

2

Q: Confused about spell sources for Artificer

I am going to play my first D&D campaign soon. I have played lots of Neverwinter nights (not the mmo) which I hope will give me something of a grounding. Anyway, I have chosen to be an Artificer. The spell list states that some of the spells are from Xanathar's Guide to Everything. I did some...

dnd-5e artificer

V2Blast

@BESW Yeah, the review I saw when I looked it up after you mentioned it basically said the choices were effectively either ignored or just led to a bad end right away

@Yuuki Is this from the Reddit thread I just read a few minutes ago? :P

Yuuki

@V2Blast Tweaked a little bit, but yeah.

BESW

21:45

@V2Blast Mechanically it was "right away" in that I didn't have to back up through a chain of choices to get back to a potentially good journey. But in terms of viewing time it was quite long and entertaining.

V2Blast

Ah, okay

@Yuuki For anyone wondering, the Reddit thread in question: Belt of Dwarvenkind and Boots/Cloak of Elvenkind, what items would the other races have? (and the specific comment referenced: reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/fhgjrs/…)

Yuuki

I like the Halfling Soup Spoon.

BESW

@V2Blast I chose to be stealthy and bide my time on a heist until a perfect opportunity arose, and then just as I was about to make my move somebody else was in a lethal situation and they faked me out because it looked like it was going to be a choice... but then Carmen said "no choice here" and saved the person but the perfect time to commit the crime was missed, she tried anyway, got away with the goods but not in a way that satisfied the client and that triggered the Bad Ending.

So they re-wound me and I chose the "grab and run" option instead, and it gave me less cool animated cutscene material but a successful outcome.

So I felt rewarded for making a bad choice because I got to see some good story.

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