TRPG General Chat

AncientSwordRage

00:07

@nitsua60 ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I've dropped an arm and the reference...?

nitsua60

@AncientSwordRage Just that they were UA back in the early 80s, then appeared in the 1e ~book~ Unearthed Arcana, and nowadays I feel like they've reached "wouldn't be D&D without" status for most people.

BESW

00:24

A lot of the 3.5 UA material can be traced directly to 4e standard practices, but 3.5 UA didn't have the "experimental" disclaimer so I dunno how relephant that is.

AncientSwordRage

00:40

@nitsua60 that's long before my time

Like before I was born...

nitsua60

@AncientSwordRage I think you and I have different definitions of "ancient," then =)

Oh, or is the sword ancient?

AncientSwordRage

@nitsua60 It's an anagram of my full name

@BESW I remember barbarians in Baldur's Gate

Bardic Wizard

Nearly everything is before I was born

BESW

@BardicWizard I find that this becomes less of an issue as we get older. [grin]

AncientSwordRage

@BardicWizard unless you're ≥7 billion years old that's normally is the case

Ben

01:06

[Insert appropriate Time-of-day greeting]

AncientSwordRage

@Ben `Good ${Greetings[now()]}`

Ben

@BardicWizard I am part of the "we can make everything smaller, and bigger" generation. It was a messy time.

Grew up with Floppy disks VHS and Cassettes, where and impressive household PC name was an IBM. RAM that had more than 2 digits was impressive. Then walkmans were replaced by discmans. Then CDs became writeable. Then re-writable. Then USB was a thing. Then the "Gigabyte" was introduced. But I still have a tapedeck in my stereo system? But if I want to use a floppy I have to get an external device?

IMO, their biggest mistake was removing the ability to take your phone apart with the clip-on phone cases and removeable batteries. This is why Nokias were indestructible. It's like the NES and SNES "100% failure rate" conundrum. Nokias weren't designed to smash apart when you threw them at the wall, but they did, which meant all that force was dissipated by the phone exploding into pieces that you could clip back together.

@AncientSwordRage How are we

Hot RPG Questions

01:31

2

Q: Water Elemental grappling a Huge creature, does it take damage from Whelm's second paragraph?

If a Water Elemental were to use the grappling rules to grapple a Huge creature (since it is Large), would that creature then take damage from this: At the start of each of the elemental's turns, each target grappled by it takes 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. Or does this damage only work aga...

nitsua60

02:00

@AncientSwordRage Wait a minute, you're Town Arcade Reigns!?

Inert Cargoes Wand!

I was going to stop, but...
Dragon Weir Secant!!!

TheDragonOfFlame

Anyone want to brainstorm fun 5e character builds?

nitsua60

shoot--I've got 24 more minutes to kill.

TheDragonOfFlame

optimisation, role play, whatever type of fun

nitsua60

(And at a certain point anagramming a stranger's name crosses into "creepy," and I may well be past that point already.)

TheDragonOfFlame

a character i play for an ongoing campaign is a rogue 5 wizard 2 bard 3 cleric 1 sorcerer one

nitsua60

02:06

Because...?

TheDragonOfFlame

final leveling most likely rogue 5 wizard 2 bard 6 cleric 1 sorcerer 6

dont ask why so many classes, he was supposed to be a rogue wizard

but then I added some classes

also I’ve been meaning to make a rogue barbarian

sneak attacking with a great axe seems very very fun to me

nitsua60

@TheDragonOfFlame I've done that before, and had lots of fun with it.

[rummages]

TheDragonOfFlame

what barb subclass though? Rogue would be swashbuckler or assasin probably

BESW

One of the most powerful rogue builds I ever saw was a 4e rogue who dual-wielded clubs and got sneak attack... basically because everyone was surprised he was trying to sneak attack them with clubs.

nitsua60

Aug 27 '18 at 23:33, by nitsua60

@NautArch (My) Jake the Snake was a member of a thieves' guild who'd really just been a muscle-guy. (The campaign conceit is fugitives from a fallen thieves' guild, so everyone had at least 1 level of rogue or criminal background. I went with Ro1/Bb many and the folk hero background.) We band of refugees came back to my homeland to find that my childhood friend, Jim Duggan, had been disappeared the previous year. So now: to find the source of mayhem!

Sep 13 at 22:41, by nitsua60

@AncientSwordRage Strength rogue with expertise in athletics and a barbarian dip for rage (advantaged athletics checks) was one of my favorites.... Took acrobatics, animal handling, performance, and intimidation as my other proficiencies (I think performance was the other expertise?) and named him Jake the Snake.

@TheDragonOfFlame I'm the wrong guy to ask: the last two barbarians I played I never got around to actually picking subclasses.

TheDragonOfFlame

02:10

@BESW ha that’s great

rogue with a club

oof you mean you never got to L3 or just never bothered

nitsua60

Never bothered.

Got to level 9 in one of them, IIRC, and nothing ever jumped out at me.

TheDragonOfFlame

Berserker could be good.... I’ve never played one I usually go zealot for some reason

nitsua60

Is this for table-play, or just brainstorming for funsies?

TheDragonOfFlame

Justbrainstomring

I play at weekly one shots just to kill monsters though so probably for that

right now I play a kobold light cleric who only ever casts fireball

nitsua60

The thing that's always jumped out at me about Bb/Ro is: rogue gets expertise, and barbarian's signature feature (rage) grants advantage on a (particular) skill check. So expertising athletics just feels so good to lean in to.

The rogue's signature (combat) features, Sneak Attack and Cunning Action, play pretty nicely, too. Cunning action gives a good use for bonus actions that your Bb might otherwise not be getting great use out of, and extra damage (if you can trigger SA) is nice for a frontliner.

So how do you want to approach SA?

TheDragonOfFlame

02:16

Ooh cool

nitsua60

(Focusing on combat since you said monster-hunting is the likely use-case.)

TheDragonOfFlame

amazing grappler

sneak attack due to adjacent allies probably or because of swashbuckler

nitsua60

Grapple, stabby-stabby with daggers?

Or short swords?

They're finesse, but you'll use STR for attacks. I'd flavor it as just laying into people with the flats of blades. Or they're weighted practice swords so you're just swinging for the fences....

The thing about grappling is that you lock yourself in place, in some ways, which isn't great for Cunning Action.

TheDragonOfFlame

Oh yeah sneak has to be finesse doesn’t it

nitsua60

The weapon has to have the finesse tag, but you don't have to use DEX when attacking with it (for SA)--it's a subtlety that trips some up.

TheDragonOfFlame

02:24

Probably dual wield shortswords

nitsua60

What's your thought on proning an opponent once you've got them grappled?

(I.e. are you of the camp that one must use the Shove attack to prone an opponent, or can one move them prone once they're grappled?)

So this conversation has been pretty "use some rogue features (esp. expertise) to make a barbarian awesomer"-focused, but let's not forget the reverse: use rage to make your thief-acrobating awesomer!

Advantage on an expertised athletics check when you get mad? That's a cool circus trick!

AncientSwordRage

@nitsua60 also known as the Wainscotted Ranger; famous for my Inward Ogre Stance. And I emanate the Wrongest Radiance.

MikeQ

angry sneaking intensifies

BESW

Back in 3.5 when I was making higher-level characters I'd often take my first level in barbarian: maxed d12 hit points, good BAB and saves, extra proficiencies and solid skill points, a damage boost option, and a speed increase!

nitsua60

@MikeQ Thief to castle walls: "LET ME IN!!!" [success on athletics check to vault walls]

MikeQ

02:30

Ah, an angry acrobat. That makes more sense. Use rage to jump.

nitsua60

@BESW They're all pretty nice. Nice stealth with that unarmored defense, too =)

Ben

@MikeQ The barbarian has begun whistling like a boiling kettle.

BESW

Barbarian once helped me make a ranger who could out-run... anything...

nitsua60

@MikeQ The catch is that skill checks are occasionally so dicey in 5e. rogue expertise athletics+barbarian grappling/shoving is so reliable, because the rules say you get an athletics check then. But any time else, there's a bit of table-culture around skill checks that has to come into play.

Alright, my watch has ended, I no longer guard the realms of ~~men~~ teenagers.

Ben

I think I have reached that dangerous "I should start a Blog" point in my life

And my brain is also immediately screaming at the idea.

Not in a good way

BESW

02:37

Oh gosh I really need to set up a web presence but I'm so intimidated by all the options and legalities because I want it to be associated with my business.

Ben

Well, mine would be more just a "scream into the void" blog, so thankfully there's nothing in that line of thought affecting my decision.

"I'm here to scream into the void, scream along with me if you want"

Bardic Wizard

02:50

I kinda do that on Instagram but my Instagram followers are 70% high school friends, 25% middle school friends, and 5% my parents and friends of my parents

So nobody who actually knows about crochet or rpgs or anything

Beyond what you pick up on by being around me

Ben

03:23

Caster obsessed with dogs. Casts "Fireball" in shape of dogs. Varies from Wolf to Chihuahua. Also has nicknames like (not limited to) "hotdog", "I.E.Dog", "Flash-bork", and "Go fetch"

TheDragonOfFlame

03:37

Lol

Hot RPG Questions

03:57

6

Q: How does Haste interact with Boots of Striding and Springing?

So I am currently playing a vine leshy ninja in Pathfinder 1e. I am taking the Acceleration of Form ninja trick and Boots of Striding and Springing. Important information that you need to know before I ask the question: The race’s speed is listed as 20 feet. The boots give a +10 bonus to base sp...

spells pathfinder-1e magic-items movement

TheDragonOfFlame

Weird how pathfinder has so many things exactly the same as dnd 5e

i know it’s based off dnd but still

BESW

Thereby hangs a tale.

Ben

Come, sit while we tell you a story, of Wizards Palladiums and Paizos

trogdor

lol

TheDragonOfFlame

But I mean, it takes very little imagination to change a name a bit, for example, boots of lunging and leaping

MikeQ

04:08

It takes even less imagination to leave the other names unchanged and reuse like 80% of the same material

TheDragonOfFlame

True

BESW

Pathfinder was built on the d20 System license, which was exactly like D&D 3.5 except you couldn't use words like "illithid." It came into its own when 3.5 was retired in favor of 4e: people who wanted to still get new 3.5 content just moved to Pathfinder because its compatibility was its main feature.

When 4e proved memetically unsuccessful, Wizards reverted to a lot of 3.5 material in their design for 5e--to the point that I've seen bits of 3.5 text copy-pasted directly into 5e, and I can tell because they left in references to 3.5 stuff that isn't in 5e anymore.

So it makes sense that 5e has a lot of Pathfinder in it; they're both copying verbatim from 3.5.

For both 5e and Pathfinder, the similarity to 3.5 is a feature, not a mistake. They're each designed to appeal to people who miss that edition.

TheDragonOfFlame

Ah

when does 5e reference 3.5e content that does not exist, if you know any examples offhand

BESW

05:08

@TheDragonOfFlame In the section on animal barding, they copied the table for Large animals from 3.5. And only the table for Large animals, so that in 5e barding prices don't scale with size.

TheDragonOfFlame

oh yes ok.

though niether does humanoid armour, it might be useful to point out

BESW

05:29

Okay, had a moment to go find the actual quote, and the give-away is the weight. From the 5e SRD:

> Barding: Barding is armor designed to protect an animal’s head, neck, chest, and body. Any type of armor shown on the Armor table can be purchased as barding. The cost is four times the equivalent armor made for humanoids, and it weighs twice as much.

From the d20 SRD:

> Barding is a type of armor that covers the head, neck, chest, body, and possibly legs of a horse or other mount. Barding made of medium or heavy armor provides better protection than light barding, but at the expense of speed. Barding can be made of any of the armor types found on Table: Armor and Shields.
Armor for a horse (a Large nonhumanoid creature) costs four times as much as armor for a human (a Medium humanoid creature) and also weighs twice as much as the armor found on Table: Armor and Shields (see Armor for Unusual Creatures). If the barding is for a pony or other Medium mount,…

You can see where they tried to tidy up the d20 phrasing and simplify it, but they oversimplified in order to compensate for NOT including all the accompanying tables.

And that oversimplification resulted in, oops, armor for a squirrel, horse, and whale all costs and weighs the same.

Sorry, your adorable squirrel armor weighs 24 times as much as the squirrel.

But good news about your elephant's plate armor, it weighs less than the knight riding her.

Xirema

Womp womp.

BESW

05:45

I mean, of all the problems with Wizards of the Coast, D&D is not my primary concern. Of all the problems with D&D, 5e's particular issues are not my primary concern. And of all 5e's particular issues, poorly edited copy-paste from previous editions is not my primary concern.

2

Xirema

Although mostly this just motivates me to try to invent a diegetic explanation for why Barding for a squirrel A) weighs as much as barding for an elephant, B) why the squirrel totally can handle that weight (but only in this context and in every other context its capacity to carry weight is normal), and C) why this is actually a strategic advantage for the squirrel.

BESW

It's still funny, and indicative of why I find a lot of the mainsite questions rather pointless.

Bardic Wizard

This is kinda hilarious (the squirrel barding and elephant barding thing)

BESW

It's right up there with 3.5's decree that nothing weighing less than a pound can ever take or inflict falling damage.

Bardic Wizard

Also TIL how not to walk in a hoop skirt along with (theoretically) how TO walk in one and how to sit in a hoop skirt

BESW

05:48

Ooh nice.

Bardic Wizard

In theory. It is not easy

BESW

This is a skill I have great respect for.

Bardic Wizard

Stairs and doorways are the worst since you have to kinda pick up some of the hoops and tilt them to fit through. Sitting down is also hard since you kinda have to push the top hoops back so the front doesn’t pop up and then sit down quickly so it’s centered

trogdor

XD

I don't like walking in anything that makes it hard to move around

but I can also respect that skill

Bardic Wizard

Surprisingly it’s not that hard to move in. It’s awkward but I figured out everything but sitting pretty easily

BESW

05:54

Good for physical distancing too, I imagine.

trogdor

is it constrictive? because that's part of why I don't like,... a lot of wearable items

the best example I can think of are belts and ties, I hate those XD

Bardic Wizard

@trogdor no, not really. It ties at the waist and could have a corset attached which would be v constraining but it sort of poofs out and doesn’t weigh much, or at least mine does. I don’t feel super constrained; we tested it and I could run as long as I lifted the hoops up, though it kept hitting into my legs

trogdor

yeah a corset for sure is,.. I don't know how anyone got anyone to ever wear those

Bardic Wizard

If you don’t like belts it might not be so good though since you do have to pull it a little tight

BESW

Hoop skirts actually improved women's fashionable mobility, because it's basically a cage that comes out from your waist and holds your skirt away from your legs, so your legs can move freely. Prior to hoops, the only way to get a puffy skirt was layers on layers on layers on layers of cloth, making the skirt heavy and constricting.

Bardic Wizard

06:00

@BESW some are. Mine’s not that wide (thank Tiamat) but I saw one that’s 6ft across that the seller marketed as the “keep away skirt”

trogdor

@BESW but the corset is also constricting, and maybe my sensory issues with that in particular are really strong, but I hate it XD (not that' I've put a corset in particular on ever)

BESW

[grin] Most corsets aren't the "rearrange your internal organs" kind that movies love to use as a symbol of oppressed womanhood, but they're definitely fitted.

MikeQ

@BESW I dunno if creature weight exists in 5e, so it's possible the elephant and squirrel weigh the same.

trogdor

@BESW for me fitted still counts XD

I'm not a huge fan of the fancy dress shirts and stuff I have to wear sometimes, or jeans

Ben

@MikeQ I am going to present this argument to my DM

And I am interested to see what comes out of it

Bardic Wizard

06:05

@BESW yeah. I did not get a corset

For that reason

BESW

(I've worn a corset, but it wasn't fitted for me so it was very loose.)

Ben

Same, and same. Especially around the chest and waist :P

MikeQ

@Xirema Squirrels eat many acorns, and thus they have absorbed the strength of the mighty oak. Elephants don't eat acorns. Therefore, squirrels are stronger than elephants and can wear heavier armor relative to their body size.

Ben

@MikeQ Elephants eats leaves, fruit and brush, and thus are light and buoyant

An adventurer walks into town, with a squirrel on his shoulder. all the commonfolk gawk and gape at the sight. "The strength they must have!" They think. The wizards and sorcerers are wiser though, they see it for what it truly is; merely an elephant transfigured to look like a squirrel. They scoff at the attempt to parade themselves.

2

Hot RPG Questions

06:48

4

Q: The 5e Inquisitive Subclass allows perception checks as a bonus action. Would that matter in a heavily obscured area during combat?

Let's say an Inquisitive is in a fog cloud. By my understanding, advantage and disadvantage cancels out if you are fighting someone else in that cloud. But if you were able to make a bonus perception check (and succeed) before attacking, could that negate your disadvantage? As far as I can tell...

dnd-5e rogue advantage-and-disadvantage

kviiri

08:00

@TheDragonOfFlame People are attached to names of things. (In addition to the ease of copy pasting). It also makes migrating one's existing games --- which I've heard is a thing --- to one's cool new system if most of the things can remain the same

Hot RPG Questions

08:25

6

Q: Gaining a new type of movement speed after being hit by a Sentinel OA. New speed = 0?

In the following example, what is the spellcaster's fly speed? Example: A character with the Sentinel feat, successfully makes an Opportunity Attack against a spellcaster creature. The spellcaster in turn, casts the fly spell on themselves. Gaining a fly speed of 60. A new type of movement for t...

dnd-5e spells feats movement opportunity-attack

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

08:37

@nitsua60 Could you elaborate what you mean with the last part of the sentence? (I did notice that the skill+attribute total competence bonus range seems surprisingly narrow relative to the dice swing, but that seems not to be what you're referring to in the end of the post.)

Bardic Wizard

13:02

@Ben That sort of makes me think of this book I read years ago called Eats, Shoots, and Leaves that was on the dangers of bad comma placement

NautArch

@BardicWizard Phenomenal grammar book

Bardic Wizard

I have the sequel too but the name eludes me currently

NautArch

The Art of Punctuation is also pretty good

KorvinStarmast

13:43

@ThomasMarkov The ranger one isn't bad, the monk one seems a bit OP but maybe it's meant to replace Four Elements Monk, which is UP.

Carcer

@KorvinStarmast that arbitrary dynamic damage typing for free struck me as a bit wild

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Most of the reviews I provide to WoTC on the feed back for UA / surverys is scathing. However, the genie Warlock got my up doot.

@Carcer yeah, it reminds me of the mess that was Lore master wizard

Carcer

overcome basically any and all damage resistance/immunity, and sucks to be a monster with any kind of vulnerability!

RevenantBacon

@BardicWizard I for, one hate, when people use, commas, incorrectly.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL Zealot Barbarian Half Orc Chumba Wumba can already do that. 😁

Thomas Markov

13:47

There used to be a dragonrider homebrew question

I think its gone now.

Im gonna go find it.

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage Yes, hollywood ruins some books, yes, yes, yes.

Bardic Wizard

@ThomasMarkov what if it was a WotC employee trying to get help from people who know what they’re doing

Someone_Evil

13

Q: Is this homebrew Dragon Rider ranger archetype balanced?

Firstly, this was inspired by these recent questions: Is this homebrew Dragon Rider class balanced compared to the other official classes? Is this Revised Dragon Rider homebrew class balanced compared to the official classes? I really like the flavour of these classes, and you should definite...

dnd-5e balance ranger homebrew-review archetype

Bardic Wizard

@RevenantBacon argh, it burns, it burns ARRRRGGGGHHHH the horrors

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil I dont think thats the one.

Someone_Evil

13:49

11

Q: Is this homebrew Dragon Rider class balanced compared to the other official classes?

Is this homebrew Dragon Rider class balanced compared to the other official classes in 5e? Note that all the spells I've put on the Rider spell list require concentration. The class: Dragon Rider Dragons terrify most adventurers, but for you, one very small dragon decided to bond wit...

dnd-5e balance homebrew-review class dragons

RevenantBacon

@BardicWizard Wizards R&D Department

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil That's the one

RevenantBacon

Someone_Evil

@RevenantBacon I don't think that's a very nice characterization, and in this case I don't actually see where it is coming from. We having multiple homebrew attempts at an archetype strongly indicates this is a character archetype people want and making things people want should be pretty high on their list of goals

Thomas Markov

Is anyone aware of a canonical reference to the travel distance from Baldur's Gate to Candlekeep? Ive calculated about 170 miles using the map scale.

RevenantBacon

13:57

@Someone_Evil Wizards R&D has a long history of not being good at balancing things. And honestly, it's not exactly a mean characterization either. Also, this has nothing to do with the homebrew posts on the site?

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast but my point is this, in the same way no one remembers the bad books that became good movies, no one remembers the UA material that is well received after publishing in a book

RevenantBacon

@AncientSwordRage Pepbridge Farms remembers

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage I have found that films made from short stories or novellas tend to be better than films made from novels, but that's a really broad statement. (Elmore Leonard has had a number of his works made into good films, for example ...)

NautArch

@AncientSwordRage Out of curiosity, which ones do you think qualify?

I'm not sure Id say the Warforged is one.

Someone_Evil

@RevenantBacon My point about our homebrew posts was w/re to a Dragon-companioned character being something wanted, so it's fair for them to go look at it. I can only remember seeing that image macro used as an insult to people intelligence, generally for partaking in some activity (though usually there is some amount of joke in the exaggeration in the text that is absent from your image)

KorvinStarmast

14:04

People wanted an Artificer, and the UA ones were IMO bad. The finally published one isn't awful, but I have noticed that the artillerist's protector canon is really, really good at preventing damage to the party.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, same with the artificer.

But balance is a fickle beast.

Hot RPG Questions

1

Q: Is my homebrew melee Eldritch Blast cantrip balanced?

Intent A complaint I often hear about Warlocks is that, unless they choose Pact of the Blade/Hexblade, they are effectively pidgeon-holed into playing a caster that sits in the back, blasting foes from afar. This homebrew cantrip attempts to remedy that by providing an alternative to Eldritch Bla...

dnd-5e warlock homebrew-review cantrips eldritch-invocations

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Yes, and you can't make everyone happy. 😎

RevenantBacon

@Someone_Evil And my image was in reference to Wizards balance team having a reputation for not being good at balancing the multiple games they produce.

NautArch

and if the table is happy, balance isn't important.

5

Someone_Evil

14:14

@RevenantBacon I wonder how much of that reputation stems from exaggerated expectation and selection bias

RevenantBacon

@Someone_Evil Have you heard of the MTG set Kaladesh, or the keyword abilities Storm, Annihilator, and Infect?

or Banding?

Or perhaps the D&D edition 3.5e?

KorvinStarmast

@RevenantBacon giggles

Someone_Evil

Pretty sure these are different teams, which limits the applicability

And was the problem with banding that it was too powerful?

NautArch

I find it amusing, although expected, that we are a mix of WoTC defenders and WoTC detractors

RevenantBacon

@Someone_Evil the problem with banding is that no one is really sure how it works. And I didn't specify the Wizards D&D balance team, did I?

Someone_Evil

14:19

No, but 1. that's the relevant to us, and 2. I'm pretty sure there isn't just one WotC balance team

NautArch

Is there a balance team?

Is that a thing?

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch For some weird reason, I have a virulent dislike of MtG (When it came out, the business model just bugged me and I wanted nothing to do with it) and yet I really like Hearthstone and I've sometimes bought the pre order/discounted season preview packs. Not sure what it was, now, all of these years later, about MtG that bugged me, but it might have been having kids and having a budget ... :)

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast fully agree

Someone_Evil

I guess it's more a hat some of the designers wear at the latter stages of the design process, but the concept works

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Yeah, games where you have to buy stuff to get 'better' rub me the wrong way.

It's a cash grab, not a game.

AncientSwordRage

14:21

@NautArch Book adaptations?

Forest Gump is an awful book from what I've heard

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch thank you. Hence my side eye on supplements as they come out for D&D ... I'd rather spend the spare cash on another miniature or more dice, or on an adventure.

NautArch

@AncientSwordRage UA that turned official

AncientSwordRage

@NautArch Hnmn

Someone_Evil

@NautArch I assume you're not big on warhammer either then?

NautArch

@Someone_Evil Nope, but played it in high school (40k)

AncientSwordRage

14:23

@NautArch not sure

I don't keep a close finger on where/when subclasses are published

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage It wasn't a bad movie, but for my money it was overly praised for what it was.

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast yeah but the book is AWFUL

KorvinStarmast

Props to the team who put it together, though. It was a great success.

RevenantBacon

Very nice

NautArch

@AncientSwordRage okay, but you had said earlier that we forget "good uA is published in a book, we forget it was UA"

so was wondering what qualified as that

Thomas Markov

14:25

@NautArch The universal collective of DMs who run the game are the balance team. Each is responsible for balance at their respective tables.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Celestial Warlock was published. The Seeker, Star Chain Warlock was UA, and it did not make the cut.

AncientSwordRage

@NautArch I thought I phrased it as 'I suspect that...' but I may have just mispoken

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov So you're saying that there is no balance team at WoTC?

:D

KorvinStarmast

My nephew is now playing a Seeker in our game; he retired his rogue/ranger, and we now have two warlock. A Celestial and a Seeker.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast I would probably say Celestial is a pretty good one.

Thomas Markov

14:27

WoTC's Balance Team is the Milli Vanilli of the gaming industry.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I love my celestial warlock. She's been fun, and her sailor/merchant family background / back story has accidentally fit into my brother's major story arc in a few unexpected ways.

Someone_Evil

Wasn't most of the XGtE subclasses through UA?

KorvinStarmast

@Someone_Evil Most, yes. Gloom Stalker sure was. I'd need to go and check all of the UAs to be sure.

Thomas Markov

Also if you dont want everyone to know youre old dont admit to knowing about Milli Vanilli.

RevenantBacon

@Someone_Evil A few were, yes, some were completely new, and there were also a bunch pulled straight from the Sword Coast book

NautArch

14:29

@KorvinStarmast I had a celestial in the Doomvault and he was pretty dominant with wall of light and the radiant damage getting his ability modifier.

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov snort newcomers. Don't admit to having seen the band Angel in concert.

@NautArch Very effective, yeah.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast between his good damage and good healing, it's a phenomenal build. NOt sure if it's OP or not, but he definitely was one of the more versatile players with high output.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch We have no cleric, so I have to do that healer thing; part of why I chose Celestial.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast We had a light cleric. DPS!

KorvinStarmast

Noice!

NautArch

14:32

Who also never flared.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I hate this

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Oh, wow, I just realized I can inscribe cleric spell Ceremony (Ritual) into my pact of the tome - the PC I replaced is the retired 6th level cleric. Next time we are in town, I know what I'm doing ...

GcL

@AncientSwordRage Being responsible, having a sense of balance, or running games? /S

AncientSwordRage

@GcL having the sense of balance vary between groups

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage I like the table arriving at the 'sense of balance' but it takes invested players to do that.

@NautArch wha? Never flared? That's odd.

NautArch

14:35

@KorvinStarmast yeah, another player was our light cleric in the 1-20 campaign (his brother in law) and he was pretty miffed.

GcL

@AncientSwordRage That seems pretty normal considering the gaming groups are all people. What would you have different?

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch tee hee, sounds like a "play your own character, pal" kind of conversation ...

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast agreed, but they shouldn't be solely responsible for balance

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage The coarse balance is already done; fine balance it tuned at the table

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Well, that guy is also our leroy jenkins.

AncientSwordRage

14:37

@GcL I guess I didn't get across what I mean...I'd like there to be a base level

@KorvinStarmast truuuuue

GcL

@AncientSwordRage I don't think you'd find agreement among all or even most tables about that base level.

AncientSwordRage

I'm only half paying attention to chat, so I don't think I've been clear/focused

I'll be quiet now

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Snort, every group has one ... or so it seems. We have a Wizard who does that, and he's our Monk in the other group (where I DM) who is for sure the "I'll just kick their butts" kind of guy. Wood Elf Monk with a serious Attitude problem. Last night he rolled a 1 for an attack on three different occasions. Frustrated, he was.

GcL

@KorvinStarmast You want a tpk? because that's how you get a tpk!

KorvinStarmast

@GcL Yep, Leroy is the examplar of that thought.😎

GcL

14:39

At least he had fried chicken

KorvinStarmast

The Hearthstone card with Leroy Jenkins is fun to play also ... and would it have killed him to get a nice gyro instead of chicken?

Not sure why this is, but the older I get the more I like gyros.

And I have lots of sad faces going on, since the local Greek sandwich shop closed down last year ... they made their own baklava on site!

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast wow nice

KorvinStarmast

Yeah, now and again I'd surprise the Missus with some baklava, stuffed grape leaves, and a gyro that I'd pick up on my way home on her long work day when dinner is my duty. She'd say, in re the baklava "You shouldn't have" and enjoy the heck out of it anyway! 😁

NautArch

@GcL I've actually decided that should he continue to run ahead and open doors, i'm going to have him magically pulled in and the door shut.

@KorvinStarmast that is a bummer. We've only got one real greek restauarant and its'..okay.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Make that a password for arcane lock: Leroy Jenkins!

NautArch

14:45

@KorvinStarmast I just don't want to punish the rest of them for his shenanigans anymore

KorvinStarmast

Fair...

Here's another idea: a magic mouth and an aracne lock combo platter. Trap. Party walks into the room, the whole floor is wooden (it's a big hinged door). Using a particular If/Then magic mouth says "thanks for dropping in" and the hinged door swings open, dropping the party down a chute or into a pit. To get the door to open again, they of course have to say "thanks for dropping in" .. right?

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil See my recent flag, probably needs mod attention. I think it was supposed to be an edit to an old answer of their's, and I think its a pirate site.

Bardic Wizard

@KorvinStarmast That pun was horrible

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov Yay...

KorvinStarmast

@BardicWizard Yeah, smart alecky puns are a very old D&D tradition...

I mean, Dave Arneson's tavern in Blackmoor was called the Comeback Inn

Thomas Markov

14:51

@Someone_Evil I believe in you.

casts guidance

AncientSwordRage

I thought you wrote Cats Guidance, and I got very confused

KorvinStarmast

@BardicWizard The first tavern I made for my AD&D 1e world, the first time I DM'd, was the Dew Drop Inn.

The second one was the Green Dragon and it is still on a large piece of butcher paper folded up somewhere ...

AncientSwordRage

Jul 28 at 13:47, by AncientSwordRage

@HotRPGQuestions I want to run a Cthulhu-esque game and have a fishing themed pub called "The Ten Tackles", and wait to see how long it takes players to pick up on it

would also work for RotFM

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage Golf clap

GcL

@NautArch Eh... seems like a specific punishment.

NautArch

14:58

@GcL yep.

He also doesn't pay a whole lot of attention during the sessions.

GcL

Does that bother you?

NautArch

yes and no.

I'm running that group for just folks from our in-person table who want to stay playing.

since we're not meeting in person still

I put up with his shenanigans, but I'm not going make it risk-free, and i'm not going to punish the party for it, either.

It's a pretty free and loose dungeon crawl anyway, so there's not a lot of investment.

Thomas Markov

Questions concerning green flame blade and booming blade will likely have to updated when Tasha's comes out.

Someone_Evil

Wait, will they be updating those cantrips?

Thomas Markov

Looks like it.

> Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade now target Self. Notably, this locks them out of use with Twin Spell, Spellsniper and Warcaster.

Reported from the alleged leak of the book.

Bardic Wizard

15:10

Ugh I’m still going to use the SCAG versions

AncientSwordRage

@BardicWizard same

Thomas Markov

@BardicWizard Will probably be updated in future printings of SCAG.

Bardic Wizard

@ThomasMarkov Well, I have an old version. As do my GMs. feels smug a bit

Hopefully nobody I know will notice the difference

Or if they do then hopefully I can use the original version

NautArch

I think as long as you don't have metamagic mis-use with them its fine.

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov For all I can tell, the content on that site is all OGL, though their link to it is broken (which I hypothetically breaks that licence?)

Thomas Markov

15:18

@Someone_Evil Goodness, I didnt even notice the two accounts

Bardic Wizard

I finished writing a Cthulhu Dark scenario for a friend

Finally.

Thomas Markov

How should we handle the change to booming blade (if it proves to be true)? It looks like 8 questions will need updated answers.

Bardic Wizard

Now I kinda want to run it but both my regular groups are canceled this weekend because halloween

Thomas Markov

Post new answers?

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

Add
*This answer is valid for edition 5.0.32 (or whatever) and below.
Then also optionally edit some of the answers to include edition 5.0.33 (or whatever) and above, or post new answers with such a note.

Someone_Evil

15:31

Usually shouldn't be a problem for the answerer(s) to update theirs. Comments (and optionally bounties) work for that. New answers are always acceptable

Thomas Markov

I'll check the last seens on those.

ha one of them is mine.

I'm a big fan of the interaction between the "no flavor text in spells" principle and the Acquisitions Inc. spells.

> You create three twisting, whistling, hypoallergenic, gluten-free darts of magical force.

Jim's Magic Missile

GcL

15:49

@ThomasMarkov You can post if you want to. You can leave upvotes behind. Cause we won't post and if we don't post then they're no updates to mind.

Bardic Wizard

@GcL whyyyyyyyyy

GcL

Because my other response was too long.

AncientSwordRage

@BardicWizard awesome

@GcL safety post

GcL

If you like upvotes a lotta,
and getting comments in your brain,
if you're not into dota and have half a brain,
if you like updating your post mid-write;
using markdown as tape,
then this is the stack you're looking for.
Post your answer and await.

Bardic Wizard

I had a related idea that’s either really good or really stupid. Anyone know how well Cthulhu Dark works over PbP?

AncientSwordRage

16:02

@BardicWizard no idea

why not?

KorvinStarmast

16:38

@ThomasMarkov It's the 'locking out of warcaster' that grinds my teeth on that one.

TheDragonOfFlame

16:48

For those who are interested, I think I’ve completed my barb rogue build that was discussed yesterday

start rogue for extra skill proficiencies, and IMO Dex saves are more common than con, tell me if I am wrong. Multiclass barbarian at next level. Final levelling barb 5 rogue 15. Subclass berserker barbarian and assasin rogue. L1 expertise atj

oops

NautArch

@TheDragonOfFlame 5e>

?

TheDragonOfFlame

start rogue for extra skill proficiencies, and IMO Dex saves are more common than con, tell me if I am wrong. Multiclass barbarian at next level. Final levelling barb 5 rogue 15. Subclass berserker barbarian and assasin rogue. L1 expertise Athletics and stealth. Take grappler feat. Sneaks up on enemy, grapples with advantage and +9 or 10 bonus, thus gains advantage on all attack rolls and jabs with a strength using rapier for auto crit and sneak.

5e yes

either var human for free feat at L1 or bugbear for sneak attack and reach

GcL

You play a lot of campaigns that go to L20?

TheDragonOfFlame

@nitsua60 I was discussing this build with yoy

No I’m just mapping out the character

it works quite well at just L8

NautArch

Is this for a campaign or just theory crafting?

KorvinStarmast

16:57

1 rogue 5 barb rest rogue. Is that your build plan? Or do you intend to drop in a second rogue level for Cunning action earlier than that?

TheDragonOfFlame

Theory crafting mostly

@KorvinStarmast not sure

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast Bludfont was a rogue/barb

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch heh, I am still kicking myself for us not going after that cyclops.

NautArch

@TheDragonOfFlame Tough thing with a muticlass barb is giving up the barb capstone. That is a BIG deal.

It's one of the best in the game.

in my opinion, at least

TheDragonOfFlame

Cunning action doesn’t add a lot to the build so probably rogue1 barb 5

Transcript for