TRPG General Chat

AncientSwordRage

00:06

@NautArch 👍🏻

Ben

00:52

Astartes Part 5 has been released

Astartes - Part Five

►

GcL

@Ben Sometimes you just have to pile up a few million shell casings for the emperor of mankind? or is this stamping out the heresy of something ?

Ben

@GcL Sometimes? All the times!

GcL

I feel the same way. You just never know what chaos is going to come out of the warp.

Ben

01:09

I'm so glad they're is still going too. It's one person doing this all on their own, they even had their YouTube acct hacked for the views, and basically the entire internet is screaming for this person to do an actual movie.

GcL

You stream. I stream. The internet streams for actual movies.

BESW

MonkipiQuinn has a short Twitter thread about creating safety-as-culture by holding spaces for being proactively curious about the state of the group.

Hot RPG Questions

01:59

4

Q: Is Reckless Attack active with Retaliation?

For the Barbarian, is Reckless Attack still active if you retaliate (lv 14 Path of the Berserker) against someone when they hit you? On Reddit, it said for the Fighter's Evasive Footwork that, "While most people see the game in rounds, that is not how things happen at all. If your character mov...

Hot RPG Questions

02:18

3

Q: Mechanics of a town where magic doesn't work

I'm planning a campaign and I want to have a village where magic doesn't work. You can't cast spells, magical items lose their ability, things like that. I am fairly new to the lore and mechanics of the D&D world so I don't have a good grasp on how to do this. I could say the village is cursed...

dnd-5e magic world-building

Joel Harmon

02:45

Apparently, several board game companies are offering to send a portion of online game sales to your Friendly Local Gaming Store, to help stabilize them. If you're planning to order something, see if you can send some love to your local (or preferred) FLGS!

BESW

...gosh I haven't visited my FLGS in years. I wonder if the old guy's still kicking, or if it's run by someone else now.

Hot RPG Questions

03:54

4

Q: Do unarmed strikes work with the Great Weapon Master feat?

A new player told me he wants to use the Great Weapon Master feat and choose 'Unarmed Strikes' as his weapon. I told him no because Unarmed Strikes are not considered weapons. He argued with me and I told him I would ask here and let this be the ruling. Can you use this feat with an unarmed stri...

dnd-5e feats attack unarmed-combat

V2Blast

04:13

Per Onyx Path Publishing's blog: Get up to 75% off digital files (PDFs, ebooks, digital soundtracks) of every edition of Exalted via the Storytellers Vault until April 14.

Adeptus

04:53

@GcL Feature-wise, the Epic store is a bit lacking. No wishlist, no cart (you have to buy each item individually), etc. The launcher has few bells & whistles, but works fine. And some of the games they've given away are great.

BESW

05:15

It's kinda shady in terms of business ethics, though. Not like Steam isn't.

Adeptus

@BESW So far, I've spent $10 on one game from them (an exclusive), and picked up probably close to a hundred freebies.

BESW

Yeah, it's the Amazon model. They're burning money on freebies and exclusives in order to undermine other platforms.

Pierre Cathé

07:00

Morning all, how's it going ?

Could someone come take a look at my answer on this please ? The OP seems to have taken it badly and I wouldn't want to mishandle it

kviiri

They're definitely out of the line.

Pierre Cathé

Yeah I feel like they overreacted, got any idea what to do to calm them down ?

kviiri

Might be there's nothing you can do, really.

BESW

07:39

@PierreCathé Capslock and bold typefaces tend to be read as shouting in online text.

Pierre Cathé

@BESW I see how that could be interpreted as me being angry, I edited the bold caps out

AncientSwordRage

09:42

@PierreCathé IT's not the most focused question anywho

Hot RPG Questions

10:51

7

Q: In D&D, does the idea of a check with multiple DCs make sense or have a name?

For example, say a character is placed in a supernaturally hot environment, requiring a constitution save with the following result table: \$\begin{array}{|c|l|} \hline \textbf{Result} & \textbf{Effect}\\ \hline \text{16+} & \text{no effect}\\ \text{10-15} & \text{1d6 fire damage}\\ \text{9 or l...

dnd-5e saving-throw difficulty-class

KorvinStarmast

12:55

As the party entered a cave in last night's adventure for 1st level PCs a kobold shaman (after a lame thunderwave that barely moved the PCs, though the two giant spiders did get two effective webs off) dropped a fog cloud on the whole party. My nephew's response? Create / Destroy water. He did the Destroy part. Cleared out enough of the fog cloud for the party to lay into the spiders. I thought that was a great tactical move.

nitsua60

@KorvinStarmast That's pretty excellent =)

AncientSwordRage

Thats very clever

Pierre Cathé

Nice thinking, that's exactly how you want your spellcasters to play

KorvinStarmast

@PierreCathé My nephew does a lot of neat stuff like that, I love his lateral thinking.

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast Extremely clever!

KorvinStarmast

13:01

@PierreCathé By the way, I liked your answer and upvoted it yesterday. I was going to leave a comment about "why not use continual flame" since glow lights are not sunlight, but when I read "does not produce heat" I suspect they would not receive that too well, given the question's slant.

@BESW Agree on Caps Lock, but since when is bold shouting? It is, like italics, used for emphasis. (Did I miss a memo?)

Pierre Cathé

@KorvinStarmast Thanks, I'm always a big proponent of not stopping at a literal rule-reading

I was a bit sad that the OP responded so defensively

KorvinStarmast

@PierreCathé We can only control our own replies, and make the best of running into stuff like that ...

Pierre Cathé

@KorvinStarmast In BESW's defense, I did have a word in bold caps

Rubiksmoose

@PierreCathé ~~Online~~ communication is hard and prone to unexpected failure sometimes :(

6

Someone_Evil

@Rubiksmoose I was about to respond with a copy of that with online scratched out. Glad you beat me to it :p

Rubiksmoose

13:10

@Someone_Evil hah! Great minds... :)

KorvinStarmast

@PierreCathé Oh, bold and caps at the same time? Aha, yeah, that would be a shout. @BESW I guess I never saw the commment, sorry.

A favorite comments exchange of mine ... @MatthieuM says there's a lot the DM can do to avoid PCs death if she wishes to and DaleM replies But I don't wish to! {evil chuckle} Death stalks my table; over there ... Near the salt The "over there...near the salt" just made me chuckle again.

nitsua60

13:31

@Rubiksmoose There's an old book, You Just Don't Understand Me, that (among other things) describes the facets of communication as including (a) what I intend, (b) what I say, (c) what I recall, (d) what you hear, (e) what you understand, and (f) what you recall. Given all those failure points, I'm always kinda amazed when communication succeeds.

Rubiksmoose

13:50

@nitsua60 That's a really good point!

Powerdork

@PierreCathé With a game as widespread as D&D, I always get frustrated when I hear stories from casual players who find some way to play it in a way that deviates from expectations in a way that detracts from their enjoyment of it. And whenever I hear such a story and realize the letter of a rule expresses the notion of what ought to have happened for fun, and the spirit of the rule (as nebulous a concept as that is) is taken as asserting the avoidable poor outcome...

NautArch

@Powerdork Just remember that there are lots of different playstyles. Both in here and at table. Frustration can occur when playstyles collide, but that's where communication comes in.

Powerdork

I'm not talking about playstyle collision, I'm talking about the tables that have a bad night because of a misread.

kviiri

14:19

@Powerdork I had one of those GMs, I agree

A huge part of RPG culture, esp. with DnD, is built on the assumption of the GM being the infallible god engine of the game. Meshes poorly with the GM actually being a fallible human who might not even know the system that well.

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri Just as a referee is the "infallible god engine" of a soccer game? The original concept of DM as referee (well, that's part of a multi faceted role) still applies.

Meshes poorly with the GM actually being a fallible human who might not even know the system that well Yeah, GMing for this style of game calls for at least a modicum of system mastery.

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast Are you disputing what I'm saying?

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri I think you were engaging in hyperbole.

kviiri

I mean, we have terms like "rules lawyer" for players who have the audacity to argue the rules with the GM.

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri Simply discussing the rules with the DM is not being a rules lawyer, connotation wise. It is the extent to which that activity disrupts play that the problems arise.

kviiri

14:26

@KorvinStarmast I've been in groups that'd disagree.

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri Really? Explain?

kviiri

Well eg. in my first DnD game our GM allowed my party-mates to loot weapons out of a monster and he said they use the same stats they used when used by the monster. To-hit and damage bonuses included, despite those coming from the monster, not the weapon itself.

KorvinStarmast

and the problem was or became ... what?

kviiri

When I argued about this, the GM said "it's given as a constant in the MM" (which is true for all weapons there... the modifiers are pre-calculated) and the other players quickly jumped in to say that I can't know what the bonuses are supposed to be

Then I reminded that the bonuses used by the weapon are a bit on the crazy side for PC use but that too was ignored.

KorvinStarmast

Well, the way I look at it is, raise the objection, and then listen to the ruling. Abide by it, particularly if it advances table harmony.

AncientSwordRage

14:31

The conflict we're hinting at is somethign I've seen elsewhere, between an Authority and a Leader

@KorvinStarmast the problem comes if your experience says it will lead to disharmony later

KorvinStarmast

Given that the rest of the group was good with it ... that's a good argument for moving on.

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast That the other players got a blatantly over-powered weapon that completely shifted the focus of the game because the GM didn't understand the rules, mainly that 1) the players shouldn't be just able to lift monster special attacks and use them as is and 2) even if they should, there should be some modicum of table balance present

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage agree

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast No, the rest of the group was living by the very assumption I'm talking about: that the GM is an infallible god-engine.

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri I don't disagree. A point best raised after that session is over

AncientSwordRage

14:32

@KorvinStarmast taking these conversations 'offline' is a powerful tool

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri Or, that they saw a great boon and didn't want to be deprived of it. (Wait, you gave me candy and now you take it away?)

AncientSwordRage

by 'offline' I mean after the session, and possibly one on one

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast That's just one extra reason for the GM to be really careful and subject to vetting.

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast "but it's poison candy!" "You can't know that until you eat it!"

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri I 100% agree with you. Group dynamics thing. Yes. Very Much.

AncientSwordRage

14:33

@kviiri I think it takes a humble GM to cede they may be willing and able to run the game, but they may not be an authority on the rules

I once ran a WH40K RP game, with no knowledge of the rules (extreme example)

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri Even back in grognard days, power tripping DM's often found that people would migrate away from their games, and plenty of people were interested in trying their hand at it.

AncientSwordRage

I was calling out "The Witch sniper you're chasing over roof tops wants to do this, what does she roll?"

kviiri

@AncientSwordRage Not a sole authority, perhaps.

AncientSwordRage

@kviiri good distinction

kviiri

I mean I play with mostly the same group and people generally look into my direction when they have a rules question, regardless of who is the GM x)

So I think we've sorta got over it

KorvinStarmast

14:35

Every DM I ever liked playing with, going back to 1975, would at least listen to a "wait, I thought it works like this" position.

RevenantBacon

@KorvinStarmast That's the ideal right there

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri I fulfill that role in my brother's campaign, but I rely on my nephew to keep me straight. I still make goofs. (ask V2, I did quite a boo boo a few weeks back on turn order, DOH!)

RevenantBacon

Although most of the people I play with know the rule system of any of our regular games rather well, so it usually doesn't come up

kviiri

Except I don't really play with them anymore because I just find their games boring

@RevenantBacon Yeah, this is by my experience the case with experienced groups. The case I described earlier was basically a table full of first-timers with a couple of people with some previous games under their belt, from years ago.

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri heck, my first two months with 5e were kinda disorienting, since I was relying mostly on AD&D 1e/2e, and small amounts of 3.x for reference and a decade long layoff. I had to embrace "think of it as a new game" before I began to get it.

And I still think that Warding bond is woefully underused ... :p

kviiri

14:40

@KorvinStarmast btw I have to resist some powerful urges regarding 13th Age

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri such as?

kviiri

The worldbuilding there hits a sweet spot for me where it's super easy to come up with cool adventure hooks, but I don't want to script too much in advance x_x

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri Yeah, they sure fill the bucket with bait, don't they? :)

Speaking of 13th age, I am trying to figure out how we'll accomodate the time zone differential.

kviiri

Oh right, that's a thing. Hmm.

KorvinStarmast

And I owe you a follow up on the bard, I am almost ready with her, but I have to think through what spells I will start with.

And the feat. Too Many Choicse, all of the Good! 8^D Kind in a Candy Story with only one coin ...

kviiri

14:43

Remember that spell picks aren't permanent, so whatever you pick, don't stress about it :)

KorvinStarmast

I may switch from scimitar to long sword since I cannot find a good picture of a lady with a scimitar that I can use ...

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast race/species?

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast worldchatclock.com

goodguy5

neat!

KorvinStarmast

It is Too Elfy. I need the ears normal, hair auburn, and maybe not so skinny. But it's in the right direction.

@goodguy5 Half elf, Bard. Background Mercenary, Caravan Guide, Minstrel ...

goodguy5

14:47

ah, if I'd just gone up a little lol

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast photoshop (or free equiv.) is your friend

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast What's your preference, text or audio?

KorvinStarmast

@kviiri I can do both, audio is fine if we can all agree on a discord server or whaterver. (Skype stinks IME)

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast I assume this is too much?

KorvinStarmast

Text is also fine.

kviiri

14:47

Text might be easier to accommodate with late-night (from UTC+3) gaming because my SO maintains a fairly rigid schedule

@KorvinStarmast I personally prefer text, I am considerably more eloquent this way x)

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 Yes, I am not looking for a lady in her underwear being an adventurer.

@kviiri I am good with text, sure.

goodguy5

I assumed

kviiri

...or well. My colleagues tell me I use fancy words no one else understands but that's just me finding exactly one word for a given situation :D

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage You know, maybe now is the time for me to get GIMP or some such and work in using it effectively. it's a few months from now that the game will begin.

OK, just noticed the SO important factor: text be fine. :-)

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast one more, then let's go to NaBbPOoTV so that I'm not flooding pics here

KorvinStarmast

14:50

@goodguy5 Saw that one pinterest, it is over done, and not who my char is.

And was the plunging neckline really necessary? Not for me. But otherwise a lot to like about it.

goodguy5

I def thought about just now editing the picture and scribbling the neckline lol

kviiri

@KorvinStarmast heh, my thoughts exactly. Weird given how decent she is otherwise x)

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 That would be cool. While the bling is over done, if you can shade the hair auburn and maybe a neckline raise, I might find it to hit "good enough" though my ladies always wear sensible boots when adventuring. :-)

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/816x37/art_halfelf_bard deviantart.com/bchart/art/C-Ily-Half-elf-Bard-675436112 pngwing.com/en/free-png-plqkj ?

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage first one: ears too elfy, no dual scimitars; second one "almost right!" (But ears too elfy)

(THird one blocked)

AncientSwordRage

14:54

@KorvinStarmast yeah I only saw the google images thumbnail for the third

goodguy5

@KorvinStarmast interesting because I think the third one might be it

I'll reupload it for you

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage Hmm, is GIMP still the go to, or is there a better new one that isn't photoshop?

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast I've not done photo manipulation in years

goodguy5

still gimp

paint.net is my goto if I don't need something as complicated as gimp

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 OK, I guess I need to get it and practice with it.

goodguy5

14:58

just to confirm, you can't see this either, right:
https://w7.pngwing.com/pngs/201/91/png-transparent-pathfinder-roleplaying-game-dungeons-dragons-bard-half-elf-elf-elf-cartoon-fictional-character.png

before I save and reupload

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 Oh wow, If the ears weren't pointy I'd go with that. Fiddle is the instrument I intended to use .. (How do we get the checkerboards to go away? )

goodguy5

gimp, I think lol

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 OK, that looks more dagger than scimitar, but the genaral mode of dress is good ... thanks to you both!

goodguy5

heres a different shot
https://img.favpng.com/11/7/5/dungeons-dragons-pathfinder-roleplaying-game-bard-half-elf-png-favpng-sKsZZCh2mt5MfwzY9DAhSSxvE.jpg

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 That's nice. All I need to gimp is hair to auburn and ears to round/almost round. Niiiice bard on a fiddle, yeah.

Sensible boots, leather armor, modest dress, dagger and blade, bling but not too much ... all around good combo... any my favorite color is blue anyway :-)

goodguy5

15:13

@KorvinStarmast You could also build on on heroforge and take a screenshot

Then awkwardly digitally paint it in your application of choice.

nitsua60

@goodguy5 Today's Best New Thing: "NaBbPOoTV"

goodguy5

lol

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 I could; did that for my life cleric. But the hero forge ones seem a bit too 'clunky' for the picture I have in mind. Maybe I'll revisit ... PS: I saved that pic, and if the 13th age game gets into mid to upper levels, maybe I'll order a custom bard from HF and paint it up. :)

goodguy5

I've always wanted to paint minis, but never felt like investing the time or money (or counter real estate )

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 I have hundreds painted, and more not painted. I think I need new paints.

goodguy5

15:29

We all have our vices.

I just got a new one

RevenantBacon

@goodguy5 I have probably about 3 dozen mini's (maybe 4) that I've painted myself, with about 55% of them being squads of near identical guys, and the rest as unique characters.

goodguy5

40k'?

nitsua60

@NautArch I threw out my sourdough starter after day 5. I decided I like having sourdough less than I hate having a new chore.

NautArch

@nitsua60 hahaha. We've killed it twice now :( Wife keeps forgetting it's in the oven and turns it on. But honestly, I think it was dead before she did that on the 2nd run.

I'm not giving up, though. I really want this to work. I freaking love bread.

KorvinStarmast

Irish soda bread is delicious and needs no yeast. :)

NautArch

15:34

@KorvinStarmast it is delicious, but not what I like to have daily.

kviiri

I made ginger beer instead of getting on the sourdough train. Turned out okay

Although drinking it hurts only a little so it's not gingery enough ;)

RevenantBacon

@kviiri Well, now you know for next time.

kviiri

@RevenantBacon I upped the amount of ginger 50% from the last time already x)

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch For every day bread, our default is Ezekiel 4:9 since the Mrs decided to crack down on gluten last year.

(Evne though it is not gluten free, but don't tell her that. I like it)

goodguy5

15:50

Ah Gluten, the latest in a series of things we arbitrarily demonize

This reminds me of how we treated peanuts (Though, I'm aware that Ciliac is an autoimmune problem and not an allergy).

Some people have a legitimate problem, so let's encourage everyone to stop using it. /s

RevenantBacon

@kviiri Well, apparently that wasn't good enough, now do it again

:p

@goodguy5 Oi, you got a loicense fer that piece o' bread?

goodguy5

Well, that seems like a greater symptom of our current wasteland

KorvinStarmast

@goodguy5 I remain addicted to peanut butter even at my advanced age. My wife mostly buys almond butter to try and get me to kick the habit. I do like it, but my life long love of peanut butter cannot be so easily foiled!

goodguy5

I've gotten to try cashew and pistachio butter and those are both incredible

Medix2

16:09

I have the vague memory of there being a dnd-5e question on here about some subclass or something that granted spells but they weren't automatically prepared/known when every other subclass that granted spells does have them automatically prepared/known... Anybody somehow know what I might be thinking of?

Someone_Evil

@Medix2 rpg.stackexchange.com/q/148257/52137 ?

Medix2

@Someone_Evil Unfortunately no, it was some official subclass that just seemed like it had a typo or something since it was bizarrely not the same as the rest

Someone_Evil

Was it someone noticing that warlock subclasses don't automatically prepare/learn(/teach?) the spells (which I think is the only case of that)?

Medix2

I don't believe so either... I'll keep looking though perhaps I dreamed it all up

Medix2

16:32

Hmmm, I think I just dreamed it up or something

RevenantBacon

@Medix2 I was gonna say, I can't think of any class/subclass that gives you spellcasting where you don't automatically learn spells. I have to agree with @Someone_Evil in the closest thing is Warlock patrons, who add spells to your list of choices.

Someone_Evil

There's also the Ravnica backgrounds, come to think of it

Medix2

Yeah but it wasn't those either... I'll probably give up by the end of the day

goodguy5

17:11

@Medix2 first instinct is UA/Psionics

Medix2

Yeah I tried that too... I'm thinking it was all a dream

GcL

18:54

I feel like this question would have been better phrased as, "Can a wizard permanently turn themselves into a tea cup?"

KorvinStarmast

19:48

Pro Tip: it might be best to not refer to teleworking as Twerking. I had to advise one of my co-workers that a lot of people will not appreciate the joke. He gave me one of those vacant looks, so I had him look up the term Twerking and a few twitter posts related thereunto ... and then asked him if maybe some of our lady colleagues might not appreciate his attempt at humor. The light went on.

RevenantBacon

@KorvinStarmast Oof: 100

KorvinStarmast

@RevenantBacon I had the hardest time not facepalming during the conversation.

Hot RPG Questions

20:22

7

Q: How can a lich imprison a player character during combat?

According to Monster Manual (page 203), "A lich must periodically feed souls to its phylactery [...] using the imprisonment spell." But looking at the Lich's stat block on Monster Manual page 202, it has no imprisonment spell prepared. Hence, how/when can a Lich actually imprison another ...

dnd-5e spells monsters

GcL

22:02

Has anyone here mucked about with Fantasy Grounds Unity?

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