TRPG General Chat

NautArch

12:37 AM

@nitsua60 I'm actually considering asking that room to be frozen.

Hot RPG Questions

12:49 AM

6

Q: Can a rider in a Saddle of the Cavalier be unseated against their will?

Is there any circumstance that a rider on a mount, in a saddle of the cavalier, could be unseated against their will? Here are some possible things to consider: Mount is pushed (combat action), grappled, moved against or with its will. Rider is pushed (combat action), grappled, moved against or...

nitsua60

1:01 AM

@NautArch It certainly doesn't seem, in the last couple of months, to be serving the same purpose it did a year ago.

Hot RPG Questions

1:13 AM

6

Q: How do you handle role-playing NPCs as a DM?

I DM a 5e D&D Campaign. I've been playing D&D for under a year. In this new campaign I'm planning to have a few NPC allies. While I'm able to Role-play less important NPCs, these NPCs feel more intimidating. I have a hard time adding depth to them. I have a complex personality for them inside my ...

dnd-5e gm-techniques roleplaying new-gm

Hot RPG Questions

2:28 AM

8

Q: Bag of Holding and fragile items

My party has a bag of holding and I have a fetch quest prepared for them. They have to go run a noble woman's errands and pick up items at the store for her. Some are fragile and they are supposed to be holding them because they are going to wind up in combat and have to make checks to make sure...

dnd-5e magic-items

KorvinStarmast

2:40 AM

@NautArch +1, nice to see that a doctor responded to my post. Wait, they didn't. 🙄

Hot RPG Questions

2:52 AM

1

Q: Is there any way to change one magic item into another with the same properties?

Is there a spell, ability or skill that will let a player transform one magic item into another? For example, if I have a Staff of power could I transform it into a rapier, with all the same attributes and abilities? If so, how? I'm looking for existing rules as opposed to "ask your gm" using a...

dnd-5e magic-items

SmokeDetector

4:01 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (88): How does the spell Healing Spirit work? by Bright Aik on rpg.SE

Bardic Wizard

4:14 AM

Hi other sapient beings, how are things?

Ben

Improving

In a large scale way

Which I am feeling good about

Bardic Wizard

@Ben yay!

Ben

Wbu?

Bardic Wizard

Boring, mostly. I’m having my weekly what-do-I-write dilemma, although this week it’s more do I write the pattern I promised a while ago but haven’t finished or do I do the thing I’m not sure will work (and I’m a bit afraid to put out into the world) but would be kinda fun

And I started a pattern from the latest Knitty magazine (which dropped just this week) today which is going to be awesome. It’s the Hand Sown pattern from the cover and it’s gorgeous

Ben

Defintely go for the fun one

Bardic Wizard

4:31 AM

The fun thing is something I’m not sure could work though, because it requires a lot of backstory and stuff before I can do the thing I want

It’s a few random bits of lore I wrote for this world, written in the styles of various in universe guidebooks, letters, menus, reviews, and other texts that describe various bits of the setting.

Adeptus

@Ben I've been reading too much about RPGs... I read that as improv-ing

Ben

@BardicWizard Just [insert dragons here] at a point you haven't plotted out fully. You an come back to it :P

Bardic Wizard

Except I’ve been thinking about this world for going-on-5-years now, and explaining enough for it to be understandable would take a lot of work

Ben

@Adeptus Well I mean, you're not wrong

Adeptus

@Ben So, you're making it up as you go? (aren't we all...)

Ben

4:36 AM

Precisely :P

Adeptus

In unrelated news... My employers have decided, to make the organisation more inclusive, the official email signature template will include pronouns 🏳‍🌈

Bardic Wizard

The other risk with doing the fun things is that I’m really emotionally invested in the world and concept and I’m not sure I’m ready to share it yet, but I kinda want to anyways

@Adeptus yay!

Ben

@Adeptus Oh wow!

BESW

@BardicWizard If there's one bit of it that you can make coherent enough to be engaged with, the unanswered questions are often a feature rather than a bug.

And you can always write "draft" on it and point at that it anyone complains.

Ben

@BESW Very true.

BESW

4:46 AM

Sometimes it's just cool to share process without any expectation that the mid-process thing is usable. I really like seeing people in my field share unfinished work because I learn more from that than from the finished piece.

Ben

In that case, I have a few things you could have a look at XD

I've got a couple of starters, just haven't done anything with them in a long while

Bardic Wizard

@BESW I might try it

It’s just — it’s a world that’s mostly fully formed in my head, but doesn’t translate well to the rest of the world, and it’s pretty personal cause it came out of a really tough time for me, so I’m afraid to share it and afraid of how others will use it.

BESW

@BardicWizard I get that, yeah. Sometimes sharing vulnerable projects means finding people that it speaks to in ways we never thought possible outside ourselves; and sometimes it means finding people who want to tear it, and us, down. Often both.

If I don't have the ability to distance my heart from others' reactions to the thing yet, then I'm cautious about the amount of the thing I share widely.

And... some things aren't for the public, at all. And that's cool too.

Bardic Wizard

It’s a world (sorta. It’s something I conceive of as being loosely in the real world, but I’ve put it in every possible setting in my head) of magic, but magic follows loose rules at best. There’s one main city of magic users, and the magic users are mostly descended from the Eldest Mage and his seven daughters, and organized into seven Houses based on lineage (and genetics and affinity and personal preference). There’s a mess of myths and then in the present there’s some other stuff going on

Most of it I haven’t shared with anyone, and that’s less because of the personal things (that’s buried more in the characters of the world than the setting). It’s more because nobody wants to listen to me talk about the intricate details of whatever I’m putting in now for hours on end

An example would be the week I spent coming up with three thousand or so years of the historical differences between Auril tapestries and Lyril tapestries, and the reasons that Ziul divinatory tapestries use features of both

BESW

5:01 AM

Hah, nice

Ben

I'm impressed as to the level of detail!

Bardic Wizard

@Ben When you work on something for nearly five years, it tends to grow more and more detailed

Ben

Very true

BESW

I was very blessed that one of my earliest TRPG groups genuinely wanted that kind of detail and were happy to spend entire sessions interrogating NPCs about obscure trivia regarding the impact of international trade disruption on orc-werecrocodile folk art or the political history of immigration labor which lead to the sewer-worker's union cooperating with the priests of beauty to conduct murder investigations in this city.

Bardic Wizard

(The major difference for the tapestry thing is weft material and whether the shapes are woven one at a time or the whole row is woven at once. The mages have a lot of textile traditions because I like them)

@BESW Wow. That sounds like an awesome group.

BESW

5:18 AM

[fifteen sessions later...]
"So, in order to get the gnome city's army of airships across the desert to fight the Witch Queen, we need to resolve the catfolks' trade dispute with the djinn who live in the desert? Hey, somebody track down that itinerant salesman we bought a dog, he was a smooth talker. And we need an envoy to the Pirate King, he'll break the treaty with the 'free magic' cult if we present this as an anti-slavery issue and reveal the cult's financial ties to the old empire, but only if we don't mention his wife."

Bardic Wizard

@BESW giggles, sighs I wish my groups were into that. I get “wait, the Pax and the Visigoths were different groups?” Or “so now we have to go hit the Queen with pointy sticks, because… why again?”

Despite me spelling it out

BESW

Heh. I mean, I did have some tricks to remind people about things.

Bardic Wizard

I tried beating them over the head, or threatening to, with the monster manual, but that didn’t work.

BESW

Entry to each level of the Witch Queen's pyramid, required answering a question about the history of the Witch Queen and her relationship to something else in the world. I accepted any answer, but I phrased the questions to get the players to talk amongst themselves and remind each other of what they knew before deciding on an answer.

Adeptus

I know (in general terms) who the Visigoths were... but my brain is choosing to interpret them as goths who are into hi-vis... "We wear lots of black. But also neon yellow."

BESW

5:26 AM

So by the time they met her, her status and role were clear in their minds. And then it turned out that even while comatose in magical slumber she could whip their butts and kick them out without even breaking a sweat, which is why they decided to return with a united army of every group they'd met for the last fifteen levels.

Preferably before she woke up.

Bardic Wizard

@Adeptus That was actually from the game in which I named nine out of ten countries by flipping to a random page in the history textbook and picking the first group of people I came across. The tenth country was the Pax Romana, named because they all died horribly and their deaths brought war instead of peace

The visigoths were the seventh group and the goths were the third. Other highlights included the Franks (second) and the Gauls (fourth). You can probably guess where my textbook opened to

BESW

(She was the last member of an ancient Rakshasa clan which got addicted to a reagent that boosted their magic dramatically, but drained their XP slowly over time. Their living descendants were repentant catfolk, but the Witch Queen had instead built a pyramid designed to suck the magic out of the world for a thousand years and cram it into her in order to level back up again.)

(She planned to emerge with fifty levels and take over the world, but the party interrupted her so she was only about level 25.)

Bardic Wizard

@BESW Oh dear…

BESW

(Hence the existence of things like 'free magic' cults, which thought the world's reducing magical power was the result of rich elite hoarding it in permanent magic items, and that if all magic items were destroyed the released magic would give everyone access to sorcerous abilities.)

(Then the old world empire found the magic-enhancing reagent and used it to conquer most of their continent... until the Tarrasque woke up from one of its regular naps and nommed a regiment armed with the reagent, and it got addicted and destroyed the empire by seeking out and eating all the reagent stockpiles (and thus all the empire's places of power), and still refused to go back to sleep 'cause it was on a magical sugar rush.)

(So naturally in the middle of the party's big climactic fight with the Witch Queen on top of her temple made of the reagent material, the Tarrasque shows up and starts munching the battlefield. Except at that point it's eaten so much weird magic rocks that it's got three heads and six Tarrasque-sized dragonfly wings and other lovely additions.)

BESW

6:25 AM

A God Awakens! Sixty-Six Titan by Axes&Orcs. Can you save the Sultanates from an awakened Titan? Do you even want to?

Asphalt Among Ashes by Andrea Duarte. a journaling game of solitary journeys on post-apocalyptic highways

Solo Game Summer Sale by Lexi the Fae, Valistarri

"PWYW Terms Now Included in Fiasco Playset License" announcement by Bully Pulpit Games

trogdor

7:02 AM

@BESW oh yeah I remember this story

XD

BESW

It was a big sprawling story, there's a lot of it. My biggest most ambitious campaign of the time, it probably lasted... thirty-five sessions, at least? And those sessions were four to six hours apiece.

I've never done anything quite like it since either, thankfully.

trogdor

7:42 AM

Yeah

That sounds a little grueling

To be honest

Hot RPG Questions

1

Q: Can a Paladin use a Necklace of Prayer Beads as slots that can be expended to use the Divine Smite feature?

My level 7 Paladin(2)/Fighter(5) found a necklace of prayer beads. Can those spells bound to the beads be used for Divine Smite? The relevant part of the paladin's Divine Smite feature description says (emphasis mine): Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, yo...

dnd-5e magic-items paladin spell-slots

AncientSwordRage

11:02 AM

@BESW I'd rather watch that than critical role any day

@BESW I can sympathise with that Tarrasque

NautArch

11:53 AM

@nitsua60 is it possible to close the room?

AncientSwordRage

'lo thomas

BESW

12:21 PM

@AncientSwordRage It was fun! But woof just thinking about all the work I put into it makes me tired.

@NautArch Room owners can activate “gallery” mode in the access tab.

NautArch

@BESW Grazie! I'll give it time. Since this ain't over yet, Id like to keep it for use, but if it's going to be misused, it's time to close up shop.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch so ive had an idea for bernie

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov do tell!

KorvinStarmast

@Adeptus That got a grin out of me

Thomas Markov

What if Bernie forsakes his blessing and entreats another god to help him control his magic in exchange for devotion

I was thinking about how Bernie would play the impending encounter with Auril, and my options were betray the party, or forsake Auril entirely

goodguy5

12:58 PM

@ThomasMarkov re: spell beads.
I'm struggling to get this thought out right. But I'd like if your answer had more bedside manner, I guess?

You've already got the upvote, but something about the answer leaves me .... wanting? again, I can't even put the thought to screen quite right

I think what I'm really wanting is whether or not that allowing it would be detrimental, but I guess that's not in the question. idk

Thomas Markov

Idk, sometimes there are satisfying explanations to questions, and sometimes the answer is "there's nothing here to relate these things, so they arent related", which can be unsatisfying.

@goodguy5 Yeah, that would basically be homebrew review, since allowing the necklace to interact with divine smite competely changes the function of the item.

It would be an entirely different item, and to commentate on that I would need a proposed item description.

goodguy5

@ThomasMarkov yea I guess

@ThomasMarkov I think "completely changes the function" is a bit of hyperbole, but I'm inclined to think that I agree with the sentiment. It certainly makes it more Paladiny than Clericy

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov I like the Auril forsaking - you've set yourself up for it with the things that have happened so far.

Who do you think you'd move to?

Your time on this island can be a start to that move.

Thomas Markov

1:17 PM

I never thought I'd say this, but let me check my Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov :-o

BESW

"Solve a mystery and rewrite MÖRK BORG’s history with DUKK BÖRG next week" article by Elisha Deogracias for GAMING TREND. f you thought the grim and enthralling world of MÖRK BORG couldn’t get cute and cuddly, you’d be wrong!

Thomas Markov

@NautArch Amaunator, god of the sun

BESW

LeftOblique wrote a twitter thread about "the way we experience the worlds in our role-playing games."

Thomas Markov

And eventually respec into a light cleric.

NautArch

1:29 PM

@ThomasMarkov and move to Florida?

Thomas Markov

@NautArch Floridur's Gate, yeah.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW DUKK BORG? WOO-HOO

oh it is what I thought it is

> a grindhouse fantasy game of apocalyptic ducks banding together in pursuit of fortune or death before the world ends.

RevanantBacon

2:26 PM

Here's a question: Can an Arcane Eye see into the area of an Antimagic Field? Does the eyes vision count as a magical effect, and by extension is that magical effect then excluded from the area of the Antimagic Field?

Hot RPG Questions

5

Q: Muffling sounds during attack (booming blade cantrip)

My character is a Rogue Arcane Trickster casting Booming Blade. Unfortunately the setting is very adverse to large noises, particularly magical noises/effects. What are my options for muffling or muting the sound effects of the booming blade? I have seen the Silence spell. Which, aside from the c...

dnd-5e spells rogue

RevanantBacon

@ThomasMarkov for your answer on that Booming Blade question, you might also include a note on the Subtle Spell Metamagic (possibly acquired by the Metamagic Adept feat) and why it may or may not be helpful.

Thomas Markov

@RevanantBacon What, like add a note "subtle spell is useless"?

RevanantBacon

Yeah, basically. I'm sure someone will think of it and be like "Oh, why don't we just use Subtle Spell?"

Someone_Evil

And the short answer of why, would probably be the suggestion

RevanantBacon

2:34 PM

^

If you don't feel like it, I'm more than happy to throw up a short answer that does that instead, but I feel like by itself it's not really enough for its own answer.

Thomas Markov

2:54 PM

Aight, I’ll mention it.

RevanantBacon

3:08 PM

Excellent

nitsua60

@NautArch Yeah, making it gallery or a mod deleting it. I dunno when I'd make that call, though.

Thomas Markov

@nitsua60 inb4 "NautArch is in on the conspiracy"

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov Our DM has an alternate means of spell scroll crafting. For the same cost/time constraint, the 'scroll' is a set of runes etched onto a stone (about an inch or two so in diameter) - it is employed as a spell scroll is employed. My bard has a few of them worn on a necklace (her 'bling') after any long down time session. (follow up to goodguy5 comment on spell beads) Not sure if Naut will go for that, but it's an idea.

We occasionally find those as treasure (a sub in for the rolled up spell scroll) and sometimes scrolls proper

RevanantBacon

3:34 PM

@nitsua60 Will it not auto close after a set period of inactivity?

bobble

14 days - but if people want to talk in there they can keep it alive

That's called freezing, and a mod can un-freeze (or force-freeze)

There's enough activity that it won't auto-delete after 7 days

GcL

@KorvinStarmast They played a lot of Ultima as a kid?

Spevacus

4:02 PM

@ThomasMarkov Thanks for explaining that in an easily-digestible form. Also, fancy running into you again. :)

Thomas Markov

@Spevacus heyyyyy spevacus

Have you been playing a Blood Hunter?

Spevacus

I have! I raised the question with the DM (not quite level 6 yet, but was curious) and he followed my logic that we should probably assume it requires no action, but the foundation for that decision is a bit shaky. Your answer clears that up, though!

Thomas Markov

What do you think of the class? I found it to be harder to learn than most classes, but enjoyed it once I figured it out.

Spevacus

4:19 PM

Well, at a lower level my options are relatively limited. Hit points as a resource can also be somewhat taxing, which means using your ASIs on Constitution is heavily encouraged. While a dual wielding melee fighter makes sense because of how Crimson Rite functions, I've opted for a dex fighter with Dueling, grabbing a shield and using a much higher AC to stay alive. Overall it's fun, and the flavor of the class is neat, but it's not a walk in the park for sure.

Spevacus

4:50 PM

@ThomasMarkov Not sure if anyone answered this yet, but probably because meta is behind a (albeit low) reputation gate. If you meant Meta Stack Exchange (the global meta), it definitely gets its fair share. It's the fourth most-spammed site on the Network.

Thomas Markov

@Spevacus ah, I forgot about the rep requirement for site metas.

Spevacus

Well, perhaps that last sentiment isn't quite accurate. MSE's got the fourth highest number of reported posts, including false positives.

Someone_Evil

FWIW IIRC users who have had a question closed (or answer deleted?) gets a by past the 5 rep to ask a question on site meta

Spevacus

I do believe you're right. I've never seen the UI that allows them to do so, though.

bobble

93

Q: A way for "new users" to ask about their post specifically

We currently require that new users have 5+ reputation to participate in meta support discussions (bugs, feedback, governance, etc). This is primarily because the use case for meta is not intrinsically obvious, so we require a modicum of "experience" with the site before jumping into it. But th...

feature-request status-completed asking-questions new-users per-site-meta

It doesn't need to be closed/deleted, I think, but new users would normally only go to meta if it was

(bobble the search crown!)

JohnP

4:58 PM

@bobble It does not, but closed/deleted is not a bar either. A 1 rep user can ask about any of their own questions.

bobble

yes, that's what I meant

AncientSwordRage

Jun 9 at 14:09, by AncientSwordRage

@bobble bobble is search-royalty

going to be in MTG packs, ~~probably~~ almost certainly there will be other monsters too

bobble

s/monsterstoo/monsters too

then there will be space monsters, too

or monsters (space) too

hehe

Someone_Evil

5:14 PM

The numbering implies there are 81 additional cards (I assume that's what the A rarity is about), don't know whether that includes anything other than those monster cards.

AncientSwordRage

@bobble thank ye

@Someone_Evil I think so too, but that's seems to be a lot for art/token cards...

Someone_Evil

The idea seems cute, but with them not actually having full descriptions, it's probably not actually useful

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil that seems to be the opinion on reddit as well

Someone_Evil

Right, these will presumably not be valid alts for the MtG cards? Because I know there's to be a Flumph in that set

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil pretty sure it won't be legal to play if that's what you mean?

Someone_Evil

5:19 PM

@AncientSwordRage That was. I suppose they've left (textless) full art cards behind

KorvinStarmast

5:40 PM

@GcL unlikely

Axoren

6:01 PM

"Does anyone else name their source books? Have you met Monster Manuel?"

KorvinStarmast

6:21 PM

@GcL I do have a Dungeon Master, Clyde - but he's not a book. 😎

RevanantBacon

8:04 PM

Why did my comment get removed?

Someone_Evil

Are you able to be more specific?

Sorry, I'd just need know where to start looking to help

RevanantBacon

Here

8

A: What is "fantastic melee", and "non-fantastic melee"?

Fantastic versus Non-Fantastic goes back to Chainmail. The first reference I have (Original D&D) is the discussion on page 3 of the second issue of Sratetgic Review(Summer 1975), which was a newsletter from TSR that had some FAQ for their new game Dungeons and Dragons. The excerpt you are referr...

Someone_Evil

Reiteration suggestion the post owner didn't feel like doing, and I guess you're right that there was more noise there that could go away too

RevanantBacon

8:24 PM

Oh, no I wasn't suggesting that they make an edit, I was asking if I understood correctly :(

Someone_Evil

Ah, I don't know whether some more words directly to that effect, or a question mark, would have helped clarify that

FWIW my reasoning above is my reading based on a NLN flag, but I'm hoping I'm not misreading anything/anyone

And I think that's a reasonable simplification, but I don't know if some parts of the simplifying runs counter to OD&D perspectives

RevanantBacon

Well, a "... yes?" probably would have made it more clear, but whatevs

AncientSwordRage

9:03 PM

Question: these are 5 more land cards from the AFR set... I'm not sure if I should wait for any others or post another question about these?

Hot RPG Questions

9:30 PM

7

Q: Can I move an Arcane Eye in&out an Antimagic Field?

An Antimagic Field is a 10-foot-radius invisible sphere which suppresses the magical effects on objects and creatures, prevents spell casting inside its AoE and spells with an AoE (e.g., Fireball) can't extend into the sphere. Moreover, magic items become mundane. In particular (emphasis mine) S...

dnd-5e spells antimagic-field

Ben

10:43 PM

Myyuuurrrnin'

Feeds

11:00 PM

Needles & Nilbogs: A lot of random in-universe documents for a world

posted on June 24, 2021 by Bardic Wizard

I’ve had a few ideas of what I wanted to write this week, and I’ve begun drafting a few patterns, but I think I feel like I should share this thing. It has sort of a long story behind it, and it’s really detailed, so I’m not sure how much I should explain, but I think I can give the gist of it easily enough. I just really want to show off some of the lore I’ve been thinking about lately. This …

bobble

11:15 PM

@BardicWizard I, too, make up stories in my head to help myself fall asleep. They used to be very short - one or two scenes at most - but from late elementary school on got gradually more complicated until now, where they're complex enough that I can daydream into them for hours (on a long plane ride, for example). I still always choose a piece to play in my head at night, and fall asleep to that ^.^ otherwise I can't sleep.

mine are nowhere near as detailed as yours though; I tend to get bored in two weeks or so and move on to the next

AncientSwordRage

11:28 PM

I'm sure I used to do something similar 🤔

Ben

I count sheep.

bobble

my brain just does not shut up, so I distract it with in-house plays :)

Ben

But then I lose focus on the sheep, think about something else, but keep counting

So then I have to actually picture the sheep

And get into proper detail. How they look, the movement of the sheep jumping over the fence... Do I make it cartoon? Animated? Realistic?

Though parenthood helps a lot of the time. I just pass out.

And then wake up 3 times to check if the kids are still in bed and haven't woken up and started doing arts and crafts in the kitchen

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