TRPG General Chat

1:41 AM

@Trish I've no idea why people do that

1:57 AM

@AncientSwordRage me neither... and apperently "Back up your answers with how your solution went" is something some people just overread...

Joshua

He is a man of piece who polymorphs his opponent into a glass vase and throws it.

V2Blast

2:46 AM

@Trish Agreed. It's not a great answer, but I don't think it's intended as self-promotion/spam.

Hot RPG Questions

5:41 AM

5

Q: If an Echo Knight fighter turns invisible, do their echoes also turn invisible?

My question is inspired by this question: How can I make an Echo (or any Object) invisible? I was about to answer it by saying that the invisibility spell would work. However, on second thought, it's not clear to me that that's actually the case. The description of the Echo Knight fighter's Manif...

AncientSwordRage

10:45 AM

@HotRPGQuestions @ThomasMarkov where's your canned answer of "Echo Knight be crazy yo. Speak to your DM"?

AncientSwordRage

10:55 AM

We're generating some community ads over on sff.se and wondered if you would mind any of these pointing your way: dungeons-and-dragons, or warhammer?

Someone_Evil

As in those tag wikis linking to ours? Or actual sidebar adds to those specifically?

AncientSwordRage

ahhhh I missed a word

should be 'any of these questions'

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage not sure I’ve written one like that, but every time an echo Knight question gets asked I want to answer “let’s just all agree that the echo knight requires lots of DM homework and stop asking about it.”

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov nothing here? rpg.stackexchange.com/search?q=user%3A62294+%5Becho-knight%5D

@Someone_Evil like this could be shown to RPG users in the side bar, if we asked for it to be an advert on our meta post about ads

16

Q: What is the origin of the “clerics can create water” trope?

All Dungeons and Dragons edition I'm familiar with have its Cleric character class. Apparently, D&D Cleric is a trope of its own. Many D&D "clerical" spells were still inspired by popular fantasy tropes, like priests' blessings and healing hands. However, the Create Water spell seems to stand ou...

history-of fantasy-genre trope dungeons-and-dragons

Someone_Evil

@AncientSwordRage Still not sure I'm following you. At a brief glance those questions are generally better fits for your site than ours (origins and inspirations can be a bit hard here sometimes), and I'm not sure what kind of linking you mean. And FWIW the origin of Warhammer would have its origin in board games

@AncientSwordRage Oh, you mean on RPG.SE pointing to SFF.SE?

AncientSwordRage

11:07 AM

@Someone_Evil I'm talking about this: rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/11612/…

Someone_Evil

@AncientSwordRage Oh, I know about them, but not used to the idea that a stack can gen adds to appear on other stacks.

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil same

Someone_Evil

Personally, I'd not have specific questions show up on other sites. It seems likely to generate more confusion than it's worth. I wouldn't mind you having an ad with what you can handle, but just a question that looks on topic but link off site rubs me the wrong way

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil yeah, were definitely conscious of stepping on toes so to speak

Someone_Evil

One thing I'm keeping in mind is that we occasionally get mainsite questions posted to meta (from newer users) who don't realize they've changed sites, and I can see that getting worse if we're doing that kind of promotion

AncientSwordRage

11:15 AM

it's a bit of a challenge finding stuff from SFF, that would appeal to RPG users, but not mislead

They should look distinct though

doppelgreener

VTRO: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/188378/1204 closed for unclear system, which is now specified

AncientSwordRage

11:32 AM

@Someone_Evil I hadn't considered that

I'm trying to see if there's a mock up we can look at

doppelgreener

you ever start a bounty then realise you used completely the wrong adjective in its description? :D

(cf. pertinent, not prescient)

BESW

@doppelgreener "And by that I meant entirely tinent!"

doppelgreener

@BESW yes quite!

RevanantBacon

12:22 PM

@ThomasMarkov Matt Mercer seems like a nice guy, but his game design skills need some work :p

NautArch

@RevanantBacon Darn good voice actor, tho!

RevanantBacon

Honestly, he's just a good actor in general. Have you seen the Mythica movie series? He plays the main villain.

AncientSwordRage

1:31 PM

@Someone_Evil I just got a response from Catja, who said the question ads might look similar to this:

but with site branding, and no #StackOverflowKnows tag at the top

AncientSwordRage

2:25 PM

@V2Blast what do you think re: Sci-Fi questions advertised on RPG?

Hot RPG Questions

3:12 PM

3

Q: If I have the Aberrant Dragonmark feat and get the Boon of Spell Mastery at 10th level, can I choose the spell I learned from the feat for the boon?

I'm playing a variant human fighter with the Aberrant Dragonmark feat who just hit level 10. The Aberrant Dragonmark feat lets me choose a 1st-level spell from the sorcerer spell list and cast it through my dragonmark. The Greater Aberrant Powers optional rule for the feat also grants a chance to...

dnd-5e spells feats boons

KorvinStarmast

3:26 PM

@ThomasMarkov or do what I do, and offer up "well, you need to pick a different fighter since I don't do Echo Knight"

NautArch

Can you filter out specific options in dndbeyond? I know you can do with sources, but not sure that granular.

Thomas Markov

@KorvinStarmast Ive DMd for one before, it isnt so bad. But its very much a "write down your rulings" class.

RevanantBacon

@KorvinStarmast TBH it's probably just best to ban the whole Wildemount book. There's some nice stuff in there, but there's also a lot of poorly written garbage

NautArch

@RevanantBacon I've never heard of this book. Are you sure it exists?

RevanantBacon

XD

GcL

3:32 PM

@NautArch It was supposed to be in those matrix sequels before they got cancelled.

Thomas Markov

The Chronurgy Wizard subclass features are actually pretty okay. The only issue is the Arcane Abeyance feature shenanigans.

Like "Tiny Hut bomb"

RevanantBacon

@ThomasMarkov elaborate

Thomas Markov

It lets you store a spell into a mote that any creature can release using their action.

RevanantBacon

oooohh yeah, I know the ability. Doesn't one of the Artificer subclasses have a thing like that too?

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: What makes a heavy armor in Chult for Chultans?

Recently, our DM asked us to create an alternate character in case ours is killed. So I want to play along and create a Chultan fighter from Port Nyanzaru who's sent by the merchant princes to help a group of adventurers lost in the jungle. My DM likes that idea very much and approved it. However...

dnd-5e lore forgotten-realms armor tomb-of-annihilation

Thomas Markov

3:42 PM

@RevanantBacon I think spell storing item is restricted to action spells

RevanantBacon

Requires a spell that takes 1 action and it can only be level 1 or 2 (strangely no cantrips allowed)

Just checked

The only balancing factors on the wizard ability are the 1-hour limit to activate or lose the spell, and the requirement of having spent a spell slot, so you can't stuff a ritual spell into it, and of those, the second is the only real limitation

KorvinStarmast

@RevanantBacon not gonna disagree; I don't use it at all but I did drag Order Domain Cleric from the DDB site and save it to a folder. Wait, that might have been Ravnica that came from ... I do use the blood hunter NPC in the game I currently run. As a bad guy, they are pretty fun.

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast originally Ravnica

NautArch

4:19 PM

Is this question too broad?

Do each of the easter eggs really need their own?

AncientSwordRage

4:39 PM

@NautArch nah so long as it's kept to that list alone

NautArch

@AncientSwordRage kk, just seemed like each one of those could have quite a bit of content and research.

AncientSwordRage

anything speculative can be answered as "We don't know who first put the kettle on in Wayne Manor" or whatever the speculative bullet point was

@NautArch could be! But I think it's still well contained

GcL

@NautArch Who wants to poke V2 about answering in the comments?

AncientSwordRage

@GcL that's not really answering but discussing potential answers

"You do realise <an answer> might be <type of answer>?"

GcL

That comment isn't describing a type of answer. It's answering some of those points on the list. The caveat being, they don't know which it covers.

AncientSwordRage

4:51 PM

let me re-read

oh what I mean is that V2's pointing out the page the list is pulled from says somethings aren't known

I think that's ok

NautArch

Some is okay, some isn't. It's a partial answer. Flagged. Sorry V2.

NautArch

5:06 PM

@AncientSwordRage It's not that big a deal, either. We'll see if and when answers come in.

Thomas Markov

I'll see if I can nail one down this evening and start an answer.

@NautArch On this question I want answer with "make on of the kobolds Bernie".

Also I think its probably opinion based.

GcL

@NautArch Actually, following up on a few of those listed references, I think that is the entire answer for the list. Some stuff could be elaborated on, e.g. the object in the closet is an empty hat box that corresponds to a top hat in the optional pre-adventure for curse of strahd.

Both the box and the hat are mundane items in both texts, so the question of what happens when you put them together is covered by V2's answer.

Upper_Case

5:26 PM

@ThomasMarkov Yeah, if the question were asking about an adjective other than "interesting" it would probably be fine though

It seems like they're looking for something along the lines of "more challenging" anyways

Thomas Markov

@Upper_Case But its still idea generation.

Upper_Case

@ThomasMarkov I'm not so sure. I mean, all questions ask for answers, and those answers which rely on experience rather than a review of published material can be classed as "ideas"

A question like "How can I make an encounter challenging when the enemies are way below a CR that can challenge the party?" seems pretty stackable, and there are lots of questions like that

That's probably a dupe though

NautArch

We have to have a q&a about tuckers

Upper_Case

I feel like we must have a canonical answer about generically increasing combat challenges. There aren't that many generic approaches: more enemies, better tactics, enhancing stat blocks, environmental hazards, impose penalties on PCs...

RevanantBacon

While there are a great many number of ways to make an encounter "more interesting", this is an XY question. They're asking about "more interesting" but what they mean is "more challenging", which has different types of solutions.

Because they are assuming that for a fight to be interesting, it must also be challenging

And since kobolds are weak (and thus, not much of a challenge), they must therefore not be interesting.

NautArch

5:38 PM

That's the really neat thing about 5e. The way to turn a weak monster into a strong encounter is volume.

Just add more!

I really wish the community would stop upvoting unsupported answers.

8

Upper_Case

We can dream...

RevanantBacon

The other way to make a ~~strong monster weaker~~ weak monster stronger is to take a strong monster, and file the serial numbers off :p

Medix2

Wow this search really just fails to find this question, somehow...

What in the world... why was it giving me zero results and now it gives me 64...

NautArch

@Medix2 Did you mean to not say which answer you are bountying?

Medix2

@NautArch Oh fudgesticks...

GcL

5:49 PM

@Upper_Case Isn't there an entire book written on monster's tactics? Just that one avenue seems to be rather broad.

Upper_Case

@GcL Oh it is broad, but that's the price of a generic question/answer on the topic. For kobold's it's pretty easy (hit and run with ranged weapons, set up opportunities to mob opponents with Pack Tactics). I feel like a lot of DMs run a lot of monsters more or less identically, which leaves a lot of room for tactical improvement

The Monsters Know What They're Doing is a great book for sure though. I refer to the blog all the time

Hot RPG Questions

6:05 PM

9

Q: Does Assurance literally forgo a roll and thus prevent effects that require a roll?

Here's what Assurance has to say: Even in the worst circumstances, you can perform basic tasks. Choose a skill you’re trained in. You can forgo rolling a skill check for that skill to instead receive a result of 10 + your proficiency bonus (do not apply any other bonuses, penalties, or modifiers...

feats pathfinder-2e

V2Blast

6:30 PM

@NautArch I considered posting it as an answer, but without knowing which was which (which I did not know), it feels like it'd be a pretty useless answer :P

(I'll leave the flag for another mod to deal with)

NautArch

@V2Blast THat question is a sticky wicket.

Axoren

6:44 PM

"You try to uncork the potion, but the rim is covered by a Protective Seal."
"I cast Speak with Animals to tell the Seal to go away."

GcL

I'm entertained.

Thomas Markov

@Axoren If elegance doesn't work, brute force might, the barbarian is wielding a club.

Axoren

@ThomasMarkov Oh no! Why did we ever Plane Shift into Canada?

The Oracle

7:33 PM

0

Q: How are you meant to provide personal experience on mostly mathematical questions?

In this question there was a question of how to make an encounter more challenging. I noted the example of Tucker's kobolds, where you lead the people to monsters, use cover, set traps, and use explosives and such and so low level people can hurt PCs. Naut noted this. How does that work when the...

support answers citations subjective-questions

RevanantBacon

I just had to teach one of my account managers that ctrl+f would bring up the "find" function....

This is a person who gets paid many times the amount of money that I get paid

And she's only in her early 50's

Thomas Markov

@RevanantBacon bruh, I had a department manager ask me how to save a website as a book mark. I go over there and it was an email address, not a web site.

RevanantBacon

7:55 PM

I have customers who submit orders via telezon units because they still don't own computers'

sptrashcan

8:21 PM

@Upper_Case I really wish I had the chance to provide an answer on the question, because nobody else had talked about something missing from this list: consider the context and stakes of the conflict. This isn't the party stumbling over kobolds in the middle of nowhere - it's kobolds raiding a populated area, with lots and lots of soft targets for fire, poison, and explosives. That's a situation with the potential for a way more complex and memorable encounter.

Upper_Case

@sptrashcan I understand the feeling, but it's probably just as well that you didn't have the chance to answer. The specific form of the question makes it hard to write good, stackable answers. Even a good answer may not be a good SE answer

And it may yet re-open as a better version

sptrashcan

Fair enough. Admittedly I mostly want the opportunity to call out the tendency to treat all conflicts as a context-free deathmatch...

It's always fun to give people reasons to cast Create Water on initiative timing.

Upper_Case

9:05 PM

@sptrashcan That's definitely a valuable observation. The question (or at least the question I assume is buried in the X-Y problem there) is a decent one and has a good chance of getting re-opened after some light edits

MikeQ

@ThomasMarkov Technically mailto links can be saved as bookmarks in a web browser.

AncientSwordRage

9:25 PM

@RevanantBacon my dad works in IT support... Whoooo boy

"computer doesn't work" → not plugged in

"microwave broken" → was put on for 50 minutes to cook a small pie

"copy and past to another computer doesn't work" → copied on one computer, unplugged mouse and plugged it into another computer and then expected it to paste

3

sptrashcan

That last one shows some ingenuity, even if the mental model is wrong.

Upper_Case

I mean, it works for malware

L Cooper

The copy-paste example reminds of the time that I finally got my mom to understand how a USB stick worked, which was by pointing out that it's, well, a bus! The data gets on the bus at one stop, and then gets off the bus at the destination. Years of not understanding anything about computers, but that one analogy broke through.

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage this person thought you could plug a usb stick into a phone charger and any computer in the building could access that usb.

L Cooper

@ThomasMarkov Like... into the wall?

Thomas Markov

9:37 PM

@LCooper yeah

It if you had a laptop you had to have it plugged in to access the usb

sptrashcan

... You could probably make that work, with powerline ethernet and a custom wall jack.

It would be complicated and there would be no good reason to do so, but you could.

AncientSwordRage