When's the deadline? I suggest 54 days from now.

@gszavae I wouldn't underestimate the amount or inertia of technical debt of a system we only see running. Some of my favorite notes and comments are along the lines of, "dear future person, you might think this is easy to change. It's not. See: X,Y, & Z."

@GcL hah! Well I obviously wouldn't be opposed to that :P

(Catija is one of our amazing CMs)

Don't know them. I think I'm missing what's interesting about that. Why do you find that interesting? Was it surprising?

Definitely surprising. And interesting because it does put one person unprotecting everything a bit more into perspective (though unprotection could arguably be said to have more potential for harm)

I'd be shocked if 1 person on this site accounted for 50% of close votes, or up votes, or really anything else moderation-wise to be honest.

Maybe V2 with all his edits ;-)

hey i answered that question

Does that mean its a HNQ or something else?

It does indeed mean it is a HNQ!

neat

@ThomasMarkov Does your answer need a downvote? I've still got nearly ten of them left. I could spare one for you if you really need it.

@ThomasMarkov [Secret SE achievement unlocked]

@GcL idk does it?

Looks like it needs 9 or so in order to bring it back into balance.

@Rubiksmoose Do you have experience with SQL or have just taken it upon yourself to learn it to dig into question protection?

TSQL. You'll find it's a different dialect than common SQL. Just in case you ever find yourself looking for documentation or answers.

@ThomasMarkov The latter. Before SE I had 0 experience with any SQL type. I'm kinda getting there though. Enough to hack my way through the simple stuff anyways.

@GcL Are we downvoting?

@NautArch I dunno. I'm waiting to hear back from Vonnegut's Handicapper General. Apparently they're busy dealing with some Harrison Bergeron situation.

@GcL Argh. Again?!

@NautArch Not that I remember

@kviiri Yup, it appears that there's a Monthly where they cover it.

@NautArch I only have the core rulebook and 13 True Ways. (Monk seems super cool btw.)

@kviiri For my group i think i'm just going to stick with core

trying to build a sorcerer right now :)

If you absolutely want some extra rules / splat beyond that I'm cool with extra sources as long it's not too complex, it's either freely available or easy to summarize and I am made aware ahead of time x)

@NautArch oo hey, they seem nice too. I like the chain spell thing, you can't really know how your turn is going to go!

@kviiri Yeah, the randomness is fun and I have a concept from a book character I want to play

> Unearthed Arcana returns with 16 new D&D feats to playtest! Check out the feats at the link below, give 'em a try in play, and we'll release a survey soon to find out what you think: dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/feats — Jeremy Crawford, Twitter

@Xirema I know most Sorcerers are used to it by now, but that metamagic adept feat really feels like a "kick 'em while they're down" move against Sorcerers. 😐

A lot of those read like as a kind of multiclassing lite

@Xirema I personally think it actually buffs Sorcs; the feat is better on them than anybody else and 2 points is very little (and basically removes Twinned as an optino)

@Medix2 So it's more an issue, IMO, that it's giving stuff that should have been part of the baseline Sorc package to begin with. I'm guessing the "replace one of these options when you level up" part is part of the recent trend towards acknowledging "hey campaigns can run a long time and early decisions can be regretted!" that they did with the Class Features Variant UA, but they also didn't grant that as part of that UA.

@Xirema Oh yeah, any campaign I do very much lets people rearrange the options they've made when they realize they weren't what they thought they were

I dunno, I've finally had a second chance to play a Sorcerer (.... pretending to be a fighter...) in a campaign for the last several months, and it's becoming increasingly clear that if the Sorcerer player ever returns to the campaign I'm DMing, I'm adding "allow Sorc points to recover on a Short Rest" as a house rule.

I don't understand how anyone plays a Sorcerer and doesn't burn through all their Sorcery Points in like 1 or 2 combat encounters.

The poisoner as a bonus action seems... rather nasty actually.

@GcL I think it's balanced in isolation, but the text doesn't preclude using any of the poisons found in the DMG, and those can get really nasty if the DM permits the player access to them.

Like having one of those dish pads with the detergent already caked onto the metal, but in this case it's poison.

@Xirema Aren't those rather expensive?

Although Poisoner is definitely a powerful one.

@GcL Define "expensive". In most campaigns I've been in, the DMG's poisons are pretty cheap relative to their rarity (and thus the implied level at which a PC could purchase them or harvest them from their kills).

But also it's been pretty rare for players to actively seek them out, so....

I don't think there's been the mechanical options to really support a character themed on it, and I think maybe that feat is enough

@Xirema 300-500gp is usually the point at which my players balk at stocking up on things. Potions of X resistance at 250-350gp they have a couple of for the type they're expecting... and then forget to quaff them, but whatever. They got points for being prepared!

@NautArch Yuh, I like how it does randomness, too!

Occasionally getting a lot of extra mileage out of a spell is fun

@GcL I mean, my players are mostly at that point too, but they're also level 7 currently, and very close to the point where it's feasible to walk out of a dungeon in excess of a few thousand gps worth of saleable treasure, if the DMG's guide for loot tables is anything to go by.

@kviiri I wasn't sure if my character was a wizard or sorcerer, but really feels more sorcerer

@Xirema Yeah. Same here. They also have a commercial bent to their choices so usually have 4-5k gold on hand. The drow and serpent poisons are 200, and 150 gp and aren't all that different than what the poisoner's kit offers.

@NautArch I've never played either in DnD or any DnD-like, excepting NetHack and such

Wizards are cool but I feel they're more suited to be NPCs in my taste

@kviiri Haven't played a sorcerer, but played a wizard for a little bit until covid

Wyvern poison at 1500gp per dose is appreciably nastier and the purple worm one at 2000gp is very nasty... for 2k gp.... probably better to rare magic consumables at that point.

For me the distinction of wizards and sorcerers has always felt kind of arbitrary, but emphasizing the research aspects of wizardry allows for interesting options for NPCs who are expected to not spend a lot of time adventuring instead of doing science

So I love wizard NPCs who are some sort of proto-scientists

Oil of slipperiness is pretty nice so is an elemental gem. Action to conjure elemental can often turn an encounter.

@kviiri "Fazza! Why are you always measuring the... err... horns of all the vanquished monsters?!" ".... ummm research? Yeah! Research."

@Xirema The fey touched would be nice for some wizards that find themselves one INT away from a bonus increase. An extra casting of misty step is always useful, and it's a way the could get dissonant whispers without multiclassing.

I like this UA

What do you like about it the most so far?

Artificer Initiate feels like "we didn't want to errata the Magic Initiate feat"

Yeah, also maybe didn't want to overload the magic initiate feat.

Crusher, Piercer, Slasher look awesome to me. Makes the choice of weapon matter a fair bit more

The piercer, crusher, and slasher feats are neat

how would one go about getting a letter to someone in Faerun, if they don't exactly have the recipient's mailing address (or the recipient is a frequent traveler who may not be around to check their "home address" much at all, for that matter)?

That's an interesting question. How does mail work in Forgotten Realms?

I'm not sure how 5e can find design space to make anything like Chef really distinct, but I like this version a lot (maybe mostly that I just want any version of it)

Does the physical letter matter or just the words?

@Shalvenay Sendings?

@ThomasMarkov I've considered Sending, but it may or may not work here

Why wouldn’t it work?

the recipient is "a dude who my char's seen around a few times" so it might not meet the "person you are familiar with" criterion in Sending

Do we have a Q about that already?

@Someone_Evil According to reddit, sending letters is addressed in this book. Basically priests carry letters in exchange for a small donation.

Maybe this Q helps.

hmm... I wonder if drive thru rpg has the book digitally.

In various medieval mail systems (AFAIK) you say "This person near X" and as it is handed to messengers who are more locally familiar they direct it to the correct person

@GcL Reply to the wrong message there?

Yeah.

@Someone_Evil yeah, my char has a name and a face, but isn't really sure where they could have moved on to

Time for a little scrying I guess :p

@Someone_Evil yeah, that's kind of his plan B, but there's also the thought that might ruffle the dude's feathers a bit, which isn't quite what you want to do when you're replying belatedly to an offer they made you

Are they affiliated with any organizations?

@Someone_Evil they are a bladesinger if that helps at all?

@Shalvenay Looks like Ed Greenwood had a brief twitter thread about it.

@GcL I think that might be somewhat helpful? my char is in good graces enough with at least one representative of the local Seldarinian clergy to try to send a letter through that means?

@Shalvenay I think the most effective way is the surreptitiously tie a note around and arrow and fire it out your window. When it strikes the adventurers hired pack bearer through the heart, they'll tell them "Message for you, Sir."

@GcL LOL, but heck no!

@Shalvenay I don't get the impression that one has to be in good graces with a particular sect in order to have mail delivered for a fee.

@Shalvenay That Holy Grail documentary made it pretty clear that's how it works. Doesn't even need to be a very large bow & arrow.

@GcL delivery is also very expedient. Same day guaranteed!

It's either that or you have to "fox 'em", but I think that only works for getting messages to "the villagers"

The delivery rates of 12-century fox are quite reasonable.

[wave]

@kviiri My first PC was a very old librarian wizard/cleric.

@Medix2 did you see my answer about pact weapon?

@ThomasMarkov I agree with it, I just wonder if the question is a duplicate

I think the wording is different from the UA and the printing of Xanathar.

@ThomasMarkov Nah, of the one I linked I mean

At least the wording the invocation is.

Oh, that one. Not quite, you still have to go outside the invocation’s text to find where it is described as magical.

We do have: "Are all Eldritch Invocations nullified by an antimagic field?" which I might close a duplicate

I think the argument has to be made that your linked question applies, and making that argument is part of this question, not that one.

Mmm maybe.

Thats a case of “different question, same argumentation”.

Is that considered a duplicate here?

@GcL @ThomasMarkov as it turns out, 3.5e has Discern Location which fixes the "getting the letter close enough the couriers can take it from there" problem quite nicely

FWIW the "how do I know if something is magical" has 12 duplicates (post ID: 113364)

Matt Sanders wants to know "As a GM, what info do you need from a system neutral statblock?" (twitter link).

the '"Sonic 2006" of the tabletop' game jam hosted by Speak the Sky. 1. Pick a game you've released (or a WIP; if you have neither, this jam is mercifully not for you). 2. Imagine a Sonic 2006-level sequel to it: too much and not enough, completely wrong tone, focuses on unfun things. 3. Write a short review of this imaginary game from the doomed future where it exists.

@BESW ...that question like, makes no sense :P or are they asking "what do you want a creature entry to tell you, besides all the system-specific crunchy bits that make it go?"

@Medix2 The trouble I see is that if we closed as dupe with no answer, we would still have to explain the relevant sourcebook text we use to argue it is a dupe in comments.

If you're not familiar with system-neutral statblocks, then it's probably not a question for you.

@Medix2 Where can I find other RPG players? has 31

@ThomasMarkov Yeah that's why I'm thinking of closing as a duplicate of the general Eldritch Invocation one... but then I also want to close that as a duplicate of the general general one...

@kviiri Can I do the 4d6 drop lowest for stats?

@Medix2 I think this is a case where “dupe” is in intransitive relation

A is a dupe of B, B is a dupe of C, but A is not a dupe of C.

Blood and Meat by Alyssa will give you a taste of revisionist history where you can exact revenge on oppressors of people. This game is a rewrite of Babblegumsam's Savage Blood to fit a real-world historical setting, and players are encourage to apply research to the story for immersion so that the feelings you generate are raw and genuine.

@ThomasMarkov Quick we gotta make a cycle of nontransitive dupes!

Oh I love this one ^

Not gonna lie, kinda want to do the dog one.

What's So Cool About Monster Blood by Bad Quail Games is an expanded hack of Jared Sinclair's What's So Cool About Outer Space? Track and slay the beasts that beset the city. Unravel the mystery of the scholastic Masters who discovered the blood. Divine the intent of the dreaded Moon. Or plumb the ruins below the city to discover from whence the blood came. It's all up to you.

@NautArch remember, no backsies

@Medix2 Do you think “Is duplicate always a transitive relation?” an appropriate meta question?

@ThomasMarkov Could you explain to me what that question means first? :)

@BESW besets the city with mega-buns!

@Someone_Evil If A is a duplicate of B, and B is a duplicate of C, is A always a duplicate of C?

It seems that being a second degree of duplication away might make C sufficiently different from A.

@ThomasMarkov Eh probably not since it'll just be case-specific likely every time

Which... I guess that assumes the answer is "no"... I wonder if this stems from my math or linguistic knowledge where transitivity is quickly thrown out the door...

@ThomasMarkov I'm tempted to say yes. But I'm not sure I'd want to look at B when considering to whether to dupe A. Closing something as a dupe of a closed question feels... wrong (excepting a few cases)

@Someone_Evil The questions in questions are "Is a Warlock's Improved Pact Weapon considered a magic weapon?" which might be a duplicate of "Are all Eldritch Invocations nullified by an antimagic field?" which might be a duplicate of "How do I know if an ability is magical?"

I'm tempted to just close the first as a duplicate of the third... but figuring out the Improved Pact Weapon is magical requires looking at either Pact of the Blade or Eldritch Invocations in general so I'm also tempted not to do that :(

I'm happy with none of these being dupes. B acknowledges the central point in C and thus isn't a dupe (C is already known to the Q in B). A and B have the same root, but that root is invoked for different considerations (damage resistance and anti-magic field)

Oops

+ antimagic field might knock out the invocation, but that doesn't mean the weapon would be (it would just stop being magical, presumably)

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