TRPG General Chat

Xirema

01:50

Popping in to brag that my level 5 Barbarian managed to deal 52 points of damage in a single attack, AMA.

Critical Hit as a Zealot Barbarian with Great Weapon Master→2d12 (Greataxe) +2d6 (Divine Fury) +4 (Strength) +2 (Rage) +2 (Divine Fury) +10 (Great Weapon Master) →[12] + [10] + [6] + [6] + 18 →52.

nitsua60

02:11

What did that stirge ever do to you?

Xirema

02:31

@nitsua60 I play RPGs to fulfill fantasies I could never live in real life, like finally making that mosquito pay in a way that's proportionally justified. 😋

nitsua60

Fair =D

Shalvenay

03:16

@nitsua60 who the #@$$ gave all the stirges on-hit Contagion DC-35?

Hot RPG Questions

05:17

6

Q: If you cast a cantrip as a bonus action, can you also cast a cantrip as your action?

The rule in the PHB is fairly clear on casting a cantrip and a spell: if the spell is a bonus action, you may cast a cantrip as an action. My question concerns the two bonus-action cantrips, magic stone and shillelagh. Can one of these spells be cast as a bonus action and then another cantrip, l...

kviiri

07:36

The 13th Age approach between rigid combat magic and free-form magic is quite interesting.

Basically normal spells are "spells do what they say they do" style combat magic. Wizards have cantrips like mending, light, prestidigitation etc they can do a handful of every now and then, but they're relatively ineffectual for larger-scale stuff.

kviiri

07:56

But when you want to do world-shaking wizardry, you can make a "ritual" which is basically "make some plot-relevant magic happen by creating freeform effects building from the rigid spells one has".

Eg. casting Shield as a ritual to create a protective barrier to fortify a fort's entrance with

BESW

I think I might use a similar concept if I ever make a Rivers of London type game.

You've got the little spell-bits that you've practiced so much you can do them swiftly under fire, but you can build them up into much more impressive effects if you have the time to do it carefully and thoughtfully.

kviiri

It feels like a natural extension from the d20 spell system, and I've been thinking about there being a single system for "blast things to bits" which generally should be lightweight enough to not bog the game down while meshing neatly with the combat engine, and plot-relevant larger-scale wizardry, resurrections etc.

err.. that was meant to end with "doesn't really make sense"

SmokeDetector

09:23

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (348): Alternatives to rest for restoration of spell slots by morgan john on rpg.SE

AncientSwordRage

09:56

It feels a lot like the distiction Mage: the Awakening make between Rotes and free form magic.

kviiri

Dungeon World has similar with its wizards having "spells" and "do anything with magic but the GM tells you what do you need to do to make it happen"

The latter is essentially a re-skin of Apocalypse World's workshop

Hot RPG Questions

10:23

9

Q: As a DM, what changes do I need to make to my preparation when transitioning to online play?

I, like many others, have been forced by the current situation to re-evaluate how my games are played. I current run/play in pathfinder 1e and D&D 5e campaigns that have been played entirely in person with pen/paper character sheets and hand-drawn battlemats. We are investigating the move to on...

dnd-5e pathfinder-1e gm-preparation online-roleplaying

10

Q: Can I reskin a Tabaxi as a canine in AL?

Would it be legal in Adventurer's league to play a Tabaxi, that I called a wolf? I want to play an anthro-canine, but seeing as there is no official race of that sort, would it be considered legal to use the play a Tabaxi, that looked like and was a dog equivalent?

dnd-5e dnd-adventurers-league tabaxi

KorvinStarmast

10:47

@NautArch oh yes, that stinger can take a bit out of a PC, though our dwarf both hit his save and has dwarf resistance, so he didn't feel that spike of damage ...

nitsua60

12:05

@Shalvenay lol

@kviiri Yes, and here you'd have a pre-built library of examples (the spell lists/descriptions) to draw on--both as GM and as player.

kviiri

@nitsua60 Hm, "here"?

Someone_Evil

RPG.SE really changes when you unlock the see deleted spell

4

BESW

Gosh yes. Now imagine if you could see deleted comments.

Someone_Evil

That's past the normal progression, and it's really rare campaigns go that far

AncientSwordRage

@BESW laughs in moderator

kviiri

12:16

@AncientSwordRage We'll have the last laugh when the comments are actually really dull and occasionally disturbing

BESW

Jun 11 '18 at 6:35, by BESW

> I've seen posts you people wouldn't believe. Frame challenges on fire off the shoulder of rules-as-written. I watched house rules glitter in the dark near the D&D tags. All those questions will be closed in time, like tears in rain. Time to vote.

3

AncientSwordRage

@kviiri yup, just keeping the illusion up

doppelgreener

sheds a tear in moderator

Mark wishes Monica well

If I mention a new user here, will it notify them? I'd like to make a suggestion regarding a closed question they asked.

kviiri

@MarkwishesMonicawell No. I think you can only ping users that have been to the room recently

Someone_Evil

12:29

@MarkwishesMonicawell Only if they show up on the autocomplete which is based on visit time and/or post time iirc. Can you not give the suggestion in a comment on that answer?

kviiri

you can use [chat] to create a short link to here

Mark wishes Monica well

I can, but I'm not sure how a near-answer comment would be seen on an off-topic question

Someone_Evil

@MarkwishesMonicawell Try to avoid answering, but you can suggest they join us/you in chat to talk about it (and that you have some specific ideas for them) no problem

kviiri

Yea, "we can help you at [chat]" is a pretty normal route

nitsua60

12:52

@kviiri Sorry--I mean if you were layering that onto an existing system with d20-like spell lists.

NautArch

@doppelgreener can we talk about why you closed my meta question?

and morning all!

goodguy5

13:09

yea, @doppelgreener! Let's talk about that!

doppelgreener

o/

@NautArch sure

for context: when i'd closed it, i'd seen a total of one question touching on the transition to online play, being that one where someone was surveying "what are all the things that could go wrong?"

NautArch

@doppelgreener ah, gotcha. Now that you've seen more, do you think you can reopen?

An answer of "nothing, just keep on keepin on' is fine". BUt I think there may be other viewponts.

doppelgreener

i've taken a look at the questions linked in this comment:

Some relevant main Qs: Strategies for effectively running a temporary online game, Best/worst experiences you've had with a DM?, Group music/audio/ambience for Roll20, What are 2 pros and 2 cons of using Roll20? — Someone_Evil 14 hours ago

i don't think there's actually a specific mainsite problem yet, as in, escalation to meta isn't needed yet. we've seen this:
- two survey questions
- one tool recommendation
- a question surveying how people have converted
the three questions among those first two bullet points have been closed appropriately. the last question in that last bullet point is also a survey and, i am pretty sure, should also be closed. (as in i might close it in a few minutes once i have the time to give it a proper look through and some proper thought.)

that is 3 out of a total 4 cases being handled completely appropriately, and one possible breakdown

AncientSwordRage

Does this feels like the sort of question that could do with a cannonical Q&A though?

NautArch

OKay, so because you personally don't think it's necessary, but another mod (@nitsua60) feels like it was good to ask, I don't see why it needs a mod-hammer.

doppelgreener

13:22

but you were asking "how do we handle these questions?" and saying "I think we need to figure out if these questions are really on-topic for us here", but I don't see any evidence of any actual contention or breakdown such that we need to examine the question so broadly

NautArch

if the community doesn't think it needs to be open, then let the community close it

but if the community thinks it's a question worth considering, then let us do that.

doppelgreener

@NautArch I closed your question because it showed no evidence of an actual problem occurring warranting meta escalation. Super duper early meta escalation causes its own problems because, y'know, there's no actual problem to discuss.

So we can't actually solve it

Or address practical realities

NautArch

@doppelgreener then maybe ask Nits why he thinks it was good to ask. Because that seems counter to your opinion on this.

doppelgreener

@NautArch - @nitsua60 what's your thoughts on this?

@NautArch the community is welcome to vote to reopen

NautArch

@doppelgreener here was his response when oracle posted it.

doppelgreener

13:26

@NautArch sure

NautArch

@doppelgreener Honestly, that seems unfair. You also could have let the community close it if they felt it needed to be closed.

doppelgreener

@NautArch "if the community wanted X they could've done it themselves" isn't a reason for me to not act as a moderator, because it could be applied to anything

NautArch

Fine. I'll just agree to disagree about your moderation choices here.

doppelgreener

i saw a serious problem in a meta question that could have some severe ramifications if not handled well.

you should consider what could happen if people come up with a poor approach because there is little actual material to discuss in the policy question you're opening about topicality

meta escalation of topicality and question handling is for when there's demonstrable problems happening in community moderation

nitsua60

@doppelgreener The thing I'd like to see would be us pulling some sort of collective resource for all those, suddenly transitioning on online play, whom we expect to see crashing over our decks. Something in the style of our [forums] meta or the Academia Meta post that collects both on-site and off-site resources.

doppelgreener

13:29

Now, your question right now is "should we relax our standards on these questions so that we can better help folks out?" which is ... really different to your original one, and I haven't had the time to think about it and assess it properly to cast a reopen vote. Maybe if it was that question to begin with I wouldn't have closed it. (Again, haven't fully thought about it yet.)

NautArch

@doppelgreener I personally think the material is obvious. Folks are transitioning to online and asking general questions about how to do so. That normally isn't appropriate for us, it's too broad. But in this case, I"m asking if should loosen our standards so we can more proactively help people.

@doppelgreener yeah, imagine that. YOu gave feedback and I tried to adjust to make it work. :P

nitsua60

I don't think (personally) we should loosen the standards--I worry about us then answering the same question a hundred times in the coming month. I think the over-broad or unfocused "I'm transitioning... help?" questions should still be closed. And I'd love to hae a great place to point people when we close those questions.

doppelgreener

c'mon dude, is that necessary

put yourself in my shoes: I arrive Sunday night after being out of things for a couple of days and see someone calling into question an entire category of questions which appears to have only one(!) actual concrete case even after I go look for a bit, and the question doesn't link any. I close it and ask for the question to clarify what's actually going on such that this is warranted.

NautArch

sorry, i'm frustrated. And there were more, you just didn't see them. THat's not my fault, either.

nitsua60

@NautArch Part of it is (it seems to me) they're not always completely even asking how to do so, they're just looking for support and encouragement. Again: not great mainsite Q&A, but I'd like to think "I'm looking to transition to online quickly, where can I find help/advice?" would be a much more friendly, welcoming, and helpful meta to point them toward than just "this isn't really a good fit. But we've got a list of forums."

doppelgreener

13:32

And now I have you being grouchy at me for daring to close your question, "how dare you not let the community do it", "imagine that, I actually listened to your advice", and it's Monday morning and I've barely gotten back into things.

NautArch

@doppelgreener Put yourself in my shoes, too. I think we both could act better here.

doppelgreener

... me act better than close your question and ask for clarity?

NautArch

But I saw an issue forming, I want to help folks, another Mod seemed to think it was a good iea, and hten you shut it down single-handedly.

doppelgreener

@NautArch Yes, I closed your unclear question and asked you to be more clear about what was going on

NautArch

@doppelgreener OKay, I think i Need to step away. I have given a mea culpa, but you keep attacking.

doppelgreener

13:34

I am not plugged into a moderation hive-mind

KorvinStarmast

@doppelgreener I think that the parts (the plug and the cable) are on order; not sure when the shipping data will firm up. ;-)

doppelgreener

I'm attacking? For explaining what I did in response to you explaining what you did? I get you're hurt, but this doesn't mean I'm attacking you.

nitsua60

I'm going to try posting a meta along the lines I describe above. Here's to hoping it helps =)

NautArch

Maybe we should be trying to work together to figure out how to ask the question rather than what we're doing.

doppelgreener

Yes, I think that'd be super

NautArch

13:37

OKay, so how does my recent edit work for you?

doppelgreener

Do you mind if I take a few minutes to consider it? Putting aside this conversation, I've been on this site for all of five minutes today & since that revision was made

NautArch

@doppelgreener sure

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 I'd be interested in your thoughts on the current state of that question

nitsua60

@doppelgreener there's a bunch of them interleaved in yours and @NautArch's colloquy above, and then a little in the comments underneath.

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 i've caught up on that, yeah. okay, gotcha

nitsua60

13:41

Briefly: out of it I'd love to see us develop a little resource for CoViD refugees that we expect coming (akin to [forum]), so that on mainsite we can close and have a targeted, timely resource to put right in people's hands.

BESW

@nitsua60 That was exactly my shower thought.

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 i think that would be super, since we can just collect a ton of tools there for virtual play, including virtual tabletops, character sheets for various systems, document sharing, etc

nitsua60

I think that could be helpful both in terms of useful info, in terms of making people feel supported and connected at this time, and in having newcomers to the site see it working well.

KorvinStarmast

@nitsua60 Kind of like a community wiki on meta with a resource pointer? As we do with forums? (I think I am catching your drift, but maybe not)

NautArch

Honestly folks, it's great that we're hashing it out here, but my intent with asking was for the community to hash it out in meta itself under the question. Maybe I worded it wrong, but that was my intent.

doppelgreener

13:43

@NautArch Ok, now I better understand your response here. I hadn't yet read your mea culpa when I sent my next message, and you were responding to that happening. I'm sorry about that, from your POV that would've been intense and unwarranted.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch wait, use meta for why we have meta? (heretic! 8^D ) Oh, OK, I'll drop by there and drop a comment under the questoin.

nitsua60

42

Q: I need help adapting my academic workflow to the COVID-19/coronavirus crisis – where do I start?

The current COVID-19 crisis impacts academia in several ways: teaching and exams are moved online, conferences are cancelled, travel is restricted, etc. If your are here because of this, here is a brief introduction to our site and resources that may help you. Finding existing questions We have...

support faq featured

Academia's meta I'm thinking of as a pattern.

NautArch

thank you. We're all definitely a little short right now.

doppelgreener

@NautArch and "here" I thought you were still talking just about the conversation we were having and the question closure, but hadn't yet had that part ^^^^ sink in, so I thought I was being given grief for ... closing your question and talking to you about why. But now I think I get what was going on for you.

KorvinStarmast

@nitsua60 nice example, thanks!

nitsua60

13:44

It's featured, and I think there's even a possibility that it may be linked in a site-banner on academia.se.

doppelgreener

To be clear, I really have been trying to understand what was going on, and I also want to be careful to minimise potential damage since meta escalation of topicality is pretty serious.

I don't think a meta Q would've been opened for no reason

NautArch

And this is a serious time where I thought it was warranted.

Times are not normal, so acting normally doesn't always work.

doppelgreener

the meta Q in its original version from my POV looked like it might be taken as angling at "hey, we've had a couple of bad questions, let's boot out the entire topic forever before it's started" and handled that way by a lot of people

that would be bad for helping people

nitsua60

Meta: "I need help transitioning to online gaming because of CoViD-19/pandemic restrictions. Where do I start?"
A1: We have a lot of answers on the mainsite that discuss specific aspects, here are a bunch of the best to start with (from general to specific issues), and the [tag:whatever] tag has hundreds more.
A2: Here are a lot of offsite resources that we've gathered for this. [Links that've been dropped here and in the positivity room during the last week or so, with brief annotation as to how they may be helpful.

NautArch

It may have been better to ask me to clarify if that was the intent before closing it, but it's done and what we can do is move forward to do something well for the community.

nitsua60

13:48

There's ^^ my suggestion, but I'm 18minutes late to start today's homeschooling. Sorry to drop that and run, I'll be back a bit in the afternoon.

Those answers might want to be in different orders--I don't know.

Actually, I guess the voting will out.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch RO doot done

doppelgreener

@NautArch i don't think that was the intent, no, just how a lot of people would've received it. (that and, still, escalating a question of whether an entire category of question is on topic is a big deal: it should ideally only really happen after multiple serious breakdowns)

(or at least after one person actually says "hey, this isn't on topic", and specific examples should be provided, like: "this question just got asked, here's a link, is this thing on topic?")

@nitsua60 that sounds neato. Personally I was thinking "here's some virtual tabletops", "here's some document management options", "here's some good free online hangout apps", etc would be different answers but they probably make more sense being rolled into one (A2)

NautArch

14:03

@KorvinStarmast yeah, i'm pretty worried about a TPK at this point

AncientSwordRage

15:01

Ok this article was very cool, and gave me lots of ideas for campaigns

cbr.com/aboleths-dungeons-and-dragons-trivia-mythos

NautArch

aboleth's are super cool! I think dndbeyond did an article on them, too? Maybe?

AncientSwordRage

@NautArch possibly?

JohnP

15:25

Day 4 wfh with small boiz. send help

NautArch

@JohnP I'm in a lose-lose. Leave wife at home with kids alone, or leave workers without leadership.

JohnP

@NautArch What industry?

NautArch

@JohnP medical devices

JohnP

And we are basically on "if you can you will work from home".

Ah, we do some of those. Evidently Honeywell produces a lot of PPE, which I didn't know.

NautArch

@JohnP yeah, i sent everyone home that could.

AncientSwordRage

15:45

@NautArch I can't find it

goodguy5

16:15

anyone have any luck re-waterproofing clothing?

NautArch

@goodguy5 yes, but actually no.

MikeQ

Cover the cloth in oil so that water can't permeate it

goodguy5

I need to also be able to wash it

MikeQ

You can wash it in oil

goodguy5

But I need one side to stay permeable

NautArch

16:24

@goodguy5 SO it was once waterproof and now isn't?

goodguy5

yes

I think it's technically highly water resistant, and now isn't

NautArch

@goodguy5 was it gore-tex or something else?

goodguy5

imo, it's like gortex, but they call it PUL, I think

NautArch

okay, doing some research. it's a polyurethane laminate.

goodguy5

o.O

you're a damned wizard

NautArch

16:33

my first thought is that you can't 'refresh' it. It's not a Durable Water Repellant, it's actually a laminate on the fabric.

@goodguy5 backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/6627

nitsua60

goodguy5

I can't find any fact facts on the subject.

It's relating to my cloth diaper question from the other day, that I think I asked.

I'm going to toss the suspect units in the dryer on high and go from there.

Maybe it'll "reseal" it

idk

time for video games

anyone playing warzone on ps4?

NautArch

@goodguy5 yeah, i figured it was a cloth diaper question. EVery search for PUL talked about for diapers :P

JohnP

So my wife is running a scavenger hunt for the boys. My older one was in tears over finding "A book with numbers" in it, and his brother grabbed the one counting book that we still have.

NautArch

@goodguy5 I'm no good at this FPS games.

JohnP

16:43

Then I showed him page numbers again and his mind was blown.

AncientSwordRage

@goodguy5 try outdoors.stackexchange

Rubiksmoose

@JohnP That is adorable!

nitsua60

@NautArch @doppelgreener (and others) answered the meta; feel free to point out gaffes/omissions!

JohnP

17:03

After 5 days around the kids 24/7 I am discovering parts of their personalities I've never seen. My 3 y/o is supremely ultra competitive.

AncientSwordRage

17:57

@JohnP that's really interesting

KorvinStarmast

18:25

@NautArch My gut instinct is "trust wife, provide leadership" but I am biased by my life experiences (career Navy)

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast that's what i'm doing! :)

Just very hard on wife, who also has to work from home.

KorvinStarmast

@nitsua60 That's a win. Where's my snack? 8^D

@NautArch On the bright side, she does not have to deal with distracted drivers ... so safer all things considered ...

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast ha, true! We also decided that any grocery store runs are done by her. She gets significantly less sick than I do.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I have been assigned as the grocery store lackey by my wife. I can live with that.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast I was doing it, but that point she brought up is true.

In 5e, is there a mechanic for enchanting weapons with spells?

kviiri

18:46

@NautArch Shillelagh?

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch yes, but are you looking at a crafting thing? (Sword casts X spell once per day, recharge at dawn) like certain magic items?

Someone_Evil

@NautArch Enchanting in what sense? Elemental weapon, Artificer infusions or enchantment-school effects?

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