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Akixkisu
Akixkisu
12:02 AM
@Someone_Evil If you have some spare time, would you mind retagging this rpg.stackexchange.com/q/7677/44723 locked q (no-bump edit due to lock) to include the dnd-4e tag? This is the third time that I have come across the q, and it would give me some peace of mind.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
12:14 AM
Finally found where to look up a setting detail that I was looking for, huzzah.
There are too many Dragonlance books.
 
Medix2
Medix2
12:43 AM
@Akixkisu I'm not sure that should have the tag? Maybe [dungeons-and-dragons]?
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
@Medix2 since they are preparing a 3.5e campaign it seems appropriate.
Though it was rather useful for the 2e stuff that interests me.
@Medix2 ah my bad, wrong q
@Medix2 why do you think dnd would be a better fit?
 
BESW
BESW
It's not about D&D, much less about any particular edition.
D&D 4e is the context of the question, but not the subject.
 
Adeptus
Adeptus
@AndrasDeak Some friends of mine invented a fantasy written language that was phonetic. They'd sometimes complain about each other writing with an accent...
 
BESW
BESW
So far as I can tell there's nothing about D&D 4e that would invalidate or complicate an answer based in 13th Age or 3.5 or any other grid-based map-and-minis combat game. I'm not even sure answers need to accomodate a square grid.
 
Medix2
Medix2
@BESW Agreed, hence why I said "Maybe" even in italics
 
BESW
BESW
12:57 AM
Aye
(Also I'm gobsmacked by the idea that papercraft is inherently a low quality modelling medium.)
 
Ben
Ben
1:25 AM
Morning all
How has everyone's week been?
 
TheDragonOfFlame
TheDragonOfFlame
Pretty good
hows yours?
As well: I’ve decided to try and lear FATE, we’ll see how it goes.
 
Ben
Ben
On the up, finally. Stress got the better of me for the better part of an entire week - had gut pains and nausea not dissimilar to appendicitis symptoms; but nothing wrong with me, just a little Vitamin D deficient and stressed out the wazoo lol
@TheDragonOfFlame That's always a Catch 22 for me... I want to try new systems, but the only way I can is if I run the game myself, and I am a horrible GM lol
 
TheDragonOfFlame
TheDragonOfFlame
@Ben mood. Usually I just learn the systems, then never play them. My playgroup doesn’t even let me run other games for them (other that d&d5e)
 
Ben
Ben
Oh wow
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
hey, I just hit a bit of a bump with this new "New Answers" review workflow
 
Ben
Ben
1:35 AM
@Shalvenay ?
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
first post that came up in the new queue (on DIY) was a very clear NAA of the "me too" variety. flagged as such, but it's not letting me move on without picking a comment option or skipping it, and neither of the "canned" comment options are useful
 
Ben
Ben
That seems... odd?
is the question still there? It might have been deleted
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Ben the answer? I'm fairly sure yeah
 
Ben
Ben
Ok. Was just thinking sometimes if it gets removed then the ability to update it gets caught
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Ben it's definitely still there
worse yet, I try to delete it (with the appropriate canned comment) in Late Answers and it just throws an error back in my face
 
Ben
Ben
1:47 AM
Very odd... can you post the link?
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
0
A: installing sliding shower door when width is larger than tub

Lily@Michael - did you figure out what to do with the shower door and how to fit it to your tub that has the extra 4inch ledge on the end? I have the exact same issue as you. I have a 3 inchh ledge, also 1 inch tall. And i'm trying to figure out how to install a shower door and what size door. I won...

that's the post, at least
 
Ben
Ben
Huh... ok
 
TheDragonOfFlame
TheDragonOfFlame
2:05 AM
By the way could someone explain Ars Magicka to me?
It’s like a real world fantasy game made by a university or something?
Someone mentioned it the other day but I can’t really find much about it.
Seems it was @GcL who mentioned it
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Ben I added a comment manually -- rendered the item unreviewable in First Answers
but I still can't delete/comment on it from Late Answers :/
 
Ben
Ben
@TheDragonOfFlame The way i interpret Ars Magicka is it's kinda like Urs Magicka, except everyone shares.
 
BESW
BESW
@TheDragonOfFlame It's rooted in 1200s European culture and science/philosophy, and tries to be "accurate" to that mindset. So PCs are playing members of a magical academy/convent/castle, and their magic reflects the period's ideas about how the world works.
It's also very relaxed about "ownership" of characters, so that players are responsible for a shared ensemble cast of magic-users, apprentices, minions, etc.
Lots of politics and slice-of-life play, alongside complicated magical system mastery that involves constructing sentences out of limited Latinate vocabularies.
 
 
4 hours later…
Hot RPG Questions
Hot RPG Questions
6:04 AM
2
Q: Can you get the benefits from tool proficiency to make ability checks, even if you don't have/own the tool?

SubjecterinoI'm sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but all the related questions I found asked the opposite scenario (using the tool you own without having proficiency), and the PHB is pretty poor in explaining how these tools work. I'm gonna use as an example the Cartographer's tool: Using cartograp...

dnd-5e equipment proficiency
 
BESW
BESW
Purplest Prose Personas by billtherad. Writer personas for use with Pammu's Purplest Prose
Swordquest - Micro Edition by Diogo Old Skull. A One Page Fantasy Adventure Game
Adaptation Jam A game jam hosted by Michael Klamerus & mv. A four month long game jam where people create adaptations of games by other game developers into other mediums.
A Life Behind Glass by Michelle Jones. What does it mean to be remembered? What does it mean to be forgotten?
 
 
2 hours later…
BESW
BESW
8:14 AM
Filibusterfrog shared a twitter thread of excellent undead varieties.
3
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
8:54 AM
The options of the new review queues are bad.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
9:09 AM
It works exactly for posts that are already okay or need a small edit, and for nothing else.
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
9:56 AM
@playingsince after you posts and comments I looked to see if there was an index of dragon magazines and I found there was: aeolia.net/dragondex/articles-subject.html it looked like weight was mentioned twice, in issue 10 page 19 and in issue 91 page 10. No sure how useful either would be. — AncientSwordRage 4 mins ago
So do I just post an answer, or do I wait?
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
@AncientSwordRage looks like an answer :)
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
@Akixkisu oh without a doubt
But the user I'm replying to had already tried answering "no" and it seemed fair to give them another crack?
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
10:23 AM
@AncientSwordRage you have done the work, so if they want to add another answer they can do that. But if you don't want to answer, it is also fair.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
@AncientSwordRage ehh, they're answering in comments anyway\
but i agree with Akixkisu: you did the discovery here, you don't have to rely on how this person's going to present it to you
you can share what you discovered in response to your own question presented in a way that's valuable to other people who actually get what your question is about (yourself being a prime example)
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
These new review-queue options are so absurdly bad.
I wonder if they are good on any site that isn't overflow
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
@Akixkisu If you decide to compile your feedback as it pertains to non-SO sites, I'd updoot it.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
@doppelgreener I think most issues are already written down in different places, I'm not sure if compiling them would help.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
hmm
if there's individual issues, but none of them really convey "these present an absurdly bad experience on any site that isn't stack overflow" as a feedback item, then it may be worth presenting that.
I've barely used them so far, so I don't know the extent of it. But you think so, and I don't think you'd think so for no reason.
but yeah, the staff can hear "oh there's this issue" "oh there's this other issue" etc and say "yeah okay i guess it needs work", but if the review queues have been made demonstrably worse for the entire rest of the network, that's worth drawing attention to in and of itself to tell them "hey, so, the issue is, we can't use this very elsewhere, you've just made network moderation harder" and that'd imply some more priority to specific fixes.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
10:37 AM
I think the worst part is that you can't complete the review with proper action.
Things like leaving a custom comment do not complete the review.
And the options that we have for leaving "helpful" feedback are tailored to so.
They add confusion and/or make you choose bad options for the sake of completing a review.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
@Akixkisu has anyone pointed that out specifically in its impact on non-SO sites?
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
@doppelgreener not in a focused manner.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
11:01 AM
-71
Q: We’ve removed the option to disable the fixed top bar

Aaron ShekeyWe’ve removed the option to disable the fixed top bar. We didn’t change the default. We’ve only removed the ability to change the default. According to SEDE, we’ve got ~13k users with the fixed top bar disabled. To put this into context, 730k people have opted into either system or dark theme. Th...

discussion design top-bar announcements preferences
[grumblegrumble]
"oh we made it sticky only because that's the default" but only since 2018, when it got changed to sticky by default, which active users disliked enough that the option got added to begin with
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
@doppelgreener true. Partly I'm being lazy, and partly those dragon magazines don't really cover what I'm after?
I can have a crack later today
I just need to make sure I cover how sexist they are 😬
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
11:17 AM
no worries
if it's not the kind of answer you want to write, no pressure
@AncientSwordRage oh, yeah, yes
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
@doppelgreener I'll see how I feel as I start writing
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
11:51 AM
@Medix2 the question has a concrete problem to solve map-making for a dnd campaign, it is not system agnostic.
We have a decent chunk of questions that are incorrectly tagged - to broaden them - as system-agnostic. In reality, they have a concrete system-specific problem. We should tag them as such when we come across them.
Just because the question could potentially apply elsewhere doesn't change the problem at hand.
 
Medix2
Medix2
12:22 PM
@Akixkisu I really don't agree, but I also don't think I care enough
Especially given that the answer draws nothing from D&D or Eberron
> I am specifically wondering what information would have been likely to appear on a medieval map
Which, for me, means putting in a D&D tag makes the question actively less helpful by hiding it from those who ignore the tags
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
@Medix2 with the intent to use on an Ebberon map for a dnd campaign.
 
Medix2
Medix2
Yeah, and that intent doesn't matter here? It doesn't change anything
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
It does.
It is just context specific.
What information can I gleam from a medieval map is off-topic. What information can I gleam from a medieval map to use in map-making in my Ebboron setting dnd campaign is on-topic.
 
Medix2
Medix2
I want historical realism in my campaign, so what was historically found in medieval maps?
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
What campaign are you working on?
 
Medix2
Medix2
12:28 PM
And I don't think that matters when what the OP wants is historical realism
It can add stuff, sure. But answers there are definitely useful to people who aren't playing dnd
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
Yes, but so are many answers to dnd issues.
 
Medix2
Medix2
Whatever, we both aren't budging, and I'm not making a Meta for a single tag on an ancient question.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
I think you make a good point that it is helpful to non-dnd, but that really isn't how we operate.
 
Medix2
Medix2
I think I'm just gonna @BESW to ask for his ideas on whether this should have the D&D tag
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
Yeah, hearing more opinions sounds like a good idea.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
12:35 PM
If we're putting the generic dnd tag on there, I think we're already admitting some level of system agnosticism.
We're saying that the mechanics of any one edition of D&D arent relevant.
But if that's the case, what work is the tag actually doing?
To me it seems that D&D here is totally incidental. It happens to be the name of the game being played, except not really because we don't know what edition.
I dont think the dnd tag is doing anything for us there.
 
BESW
BESW
BESW reactions:
(a) Eberron is not medieval, it's early industrial.
(b) Answers are going to making choices about the kind of information to prioritize based on assumptions of playstyle preferences.
(c) Setting/system informs playstyle preferences, but not to the extent that it defines the question and justifies tagging rather than just giving context in the text.
Tags are for connecting questions and answers to experts who can answer them and other people with similar problems. This is a problem which is not defined by its system or setting, nor does it require system or setting expertise to solve.
We don't use a tag just because its subject is mentioned; if we did, we would be given more than five tag slots.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
12:54 PM
@ThomasMarkov It is 3.5, but the policy doesn't permit tagging it like that (we can infer 3.5e from context). That is more of a clarity issue than anything else. Dnd as a franchise additionally features completely different requirements for a map compared to other systems that handle map-making and general exploration aspects differently. So what can I use that is system specific to Ebberon which is not a medieval setting - is something that an expert for medieval maps doesn't necessarily know.
 
BESW
BESW
(BTW, D&D's default settings are almost never medieval either. They're a mishmash of aesthetics and conceits from early European Renaissance to mid 19th century industrial.)
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
Treating a dnd-3.5e map making question as if it was an authentic medieval-setting doesn't make much sense to me.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
How do you know its 3.5?
 
BESW
BESW
@Akixkisu Not that it matters for the tagging, but how do we know it's 3.5? I would've guessed 4e; the question is posted after 4e's Eberron book came out and before even the first public playtest of what would be 5e.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
"Eberron" and "DnD" are the only things I can see that even identify it as DnD, much less identifying a particular edition.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
12:57 PM
Because that is what the querent plays and asks about, contextualised by their other questions and their bio.
 
BESW
BESW
Ah, that'd do it.
We still got a good number of 3x questions during 4e's reign but as I recall 4e and Pathfinder were the dominant presence on the site for most of that period, so I was confused about why 3.5 would be assumed.
(Though I have met people who missed that 4e ever had Eberron content.)
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
Does anybody know if anything on this page is accurate? advanced-dungeons-dragons-2nd-edition.fandom.com/wiki/…
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
But assuming 4e is also reasonable as that is their other share of questions.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
eberron is what is doing the lifting here. Really, knowledge about the setting is what should inform the answers here.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
Yeah, I think that is a good idea.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
1:01 PM
Which, as yall have pointed out, "Eberron" should tell us that medieval is not exactly what OP should be looking for.
 
BESW
BESW
Oh right, I remember Cat. We talked about Fate a lot.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
I used the dnd tag (as specified) here as there is enough ambiguity for 3.5/4e.
But the Eberron tag is really what does the lifting there.
 
BESW
BESW
I'm not convinced it needs either tag but I wouldn't argue against them much.
A really good answer would talk about the kinds of info and how to decide which to include.
Since neither "Eberron" nor "D&D" are sufficient to make informed assumptions about that person's table.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
I think the Eberron tag should be there, but the dnd-tag is more of a custom thing and not necessary, so we could remove it.
As the tag Eberron informs the approach to give best guidance for the setting.
Which is especially important for the subset "Moreover, aside from the historical consideration, what kinds of info do DM/GMs feel best aids in story development, progression, and flavour?"
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
1:45 PM
I think that's a really cool idea
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
I was confused about what part of this was a new idea until I got halfway through: it's "roll to find out what happened to your mounts/enterouge back at the dungeon entrance", also possibly implicitly "roll to find out what happened to that village you're visiting", etc etc
It cites this in the context of recreating a novel scene from the Mandalorian. But that scene wasn't just, like, random. It's a significant, deliberately crafted plot lead—they say so right there!
 
BESW
BESW
Yeah, there's a lot of places where D&D-like game designs are inspired by skillful narratives but just assign the narrative choices to randomizers and it drives me buggy.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
I think they took the wrong tool for the job out of the RPG annals. "Your horses stand a good random chance of getting eaten or stolen when you leave them outside" does not make for an engaging story inherently, it makes for busywork and anxiety.
"I need the players to discover certain things, and if I have someone steal their horses just this once I can lead them into it and reward them for bearing with me" could however be a completely ordinary very good deliberate storytelling decision a GM can make. And its exceptional nature (not "oh well I rolled for it") means the heroes don't have to keep horse duty every time now, or watch over everything not nailed down to their person.
 
BESW
BESW
There's a place for that kind of playstyle but it's not a cheat for careful narrative choice, it's a totally different thing that can, in the hands of a skilled group, look like the same thing if seen from the outside after the fact.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
In fact they kind of took the worst lesson possible: if Mandalorian was, in fact, a story driven by just random things with no cause, consequence, or payoff happening to random things left unattended, it'd just be kind of boring and frustrating. It's a good show because they put meaningful things in there deliberately for considered consequences and narrative payoffs.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
1:54 PM
Maybe I'm being petty, but when I see this on a question, "Note that I am looking for rules here (if any)—not rulings. An accepted answer should point to a set of rules which leads directly to its conclusions", I am much more likely to upvote experience based answers over rules analysis.
Basically, I'm a big fan of good rules analysis, until we push good experience to the side to get it.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
A random encounter kit is not a "make a good story happen now" box which a good story falls out of if only you just keep shaking it enough and in the right places, and it remains true when you start shaking it over places the PCs aren't.
@ThomasMarkov the thing you're describing here is pretty much exactly what we told people to do after retiring [rules-as-written]
so, no, that's valid, they're saying they're interesting in rules as written
 
BESW
BESW
@doppelgreener I'll just put this here and run away cackling.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
Right, I know it's okay to want a specific type of answer.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
if the author's making a good-faith request about what kind of answer they're looking for, i think we ought to respect that as we take into account our voting on solutions to their problem. meaning, yeah, it's not good form if you find yourself more inclined to vote for the kinds of solutions they said they didn't want specifically because they said they didn't want it. (unless you genuinely think it's solving their problem, e.g. it's a good and necessary frame challenge.)
now if it's a bad-faith request ("My GM said I can't do this thing [in a game where that's totally fine for a GM to call]. Prove they're wrong using only rules and rules-based conclusions.") then yeah, the frame challenges saying "lol no your GM can totally do that, even if the rules might ordinarily let you do the thing" are deserved and good
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
2:10 PM
Anyway, I'm making an attempt at answering their question within the stated parameters.
 
BESW
BESW
Looking for a word that's like "flinch" but with good associations.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
It's not as clear and satisfying as they want it to be, unfortunately.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
@BESW startle, jump, drew back, hesitated
 
BESW
BESW
Hrm. This is a hard concept to explain without paragraphs of context I'm still muddling through in my own head.
 
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
i'd consider finding a different phrase to describe, well, what are they doing? "flinch" is sort of metaphorical categorisation of a lot of things: if i didn't buy that thing someone think i should've bought, i "flinched", but what i did was pause and make a considered decision that reached a conclusion different to what they wanted of me
if you dive into what they're actually concretely doing—what's it look like, what's their experience of it?—you might find a lead to the term you're looking for
 
BESW
BESW
2:15 PM
Yeeeah... and this isn't really the place for working through that.
[goes back to notes]
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
I think of you're already running random encounters, I don't see an issue with following what they said
I might be wrong, but I think TA uses them to drop clues sometimes
It just randomises which clues
 
Medix2
Medix2
2:32 PM
@ThomasMarkov I don't get what you're saying there (with the Mizzium Apparatus)
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
You have to know and have prepared shield to cast it normally, right?
 
Medix2
Medix2
Only because that's the same as any other spell
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
Right, but reactions are different.
 
Medix2
Medix2
Are they? Er.. I guess, how so?
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
Just like you don't have a bonus action unless a feature grants you the ability to take one, you dont have a reaction unless a feature grants you the ability to take one.
 
Medix2
Medix2
2:33 PM
But you can cast a bonus action spell with the appartus, I would say
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
Hmm.
 
Medix2
Medix2
Maybe you just can't at all, hmmm
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
It doesnt really matter cuz I wrote in my answer "I'm ruling that reaction spells are not eligible, but there is some room to rule otherwise."
so meh
 
Medix2
Medix2
Oh gosh darn it, I broke my answer :(
Oooh no I didn't, I just can't read XD
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
Aight here's the thought
With bonus action, you just select a bonus action spell, and expend your bonus action to cast it
With reactions, the trigger let's you cast the reaction spell, but it does not let you use an item to cast the reaction spell.
Are there any magic items with reaction spells baked in?
 
Medix2
Medix2
2:37 PM
There's gotta be something with shield, right?
I also did break my answer :(
Apparently the Crystal Ball just says "While touching it, you can cast the scrying spell" and doesn't mention any action-economy requirements
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
@Medix2 probably same casting time then?
 
Medix2
Medix2
Yeah but the Mizzium Appartus, for some reason, isn't?
I found an item that lets you cast shield as an action 0_0
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
isnt what
@Medix2 excuse me?
 
Medix2
Medix2
The MA doesn't use the normal casting time but the Crystal Ball does?
@ThomasMarkov Apparently the Staff of Defense...
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
This is why I like to leave questions open to rulings.
 
Medix2
Medix2
2:43 PM
Rakdos Guild Signet: "This ring, adorned with the symbol of Rakdos, allows you to cast hellish rebuke."
And apparently one of the Teeth of Dahlver Nar can cast counterspell. "You can use the tooth to cast counterspell at 9th level."
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
@Medix2 @NautArch's favorite item.
Anyway, I gave a shout out to your answer at the end of mine.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
3:47 PM
@Medix2 We both just got downvotes for trying our best to provide a thorough answer.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
4:00 PM
@AncientSwordRage This is one of those things I specifically don't do, but I did a lot of carefully crafted random encounter tables that exhaust because they are great at managing time. When using those tables, they are too context dependant.
What happens to other entities in a living world is only insofar interesting as it relates to the pcs.
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
@Akixkisu that's interesting
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
@AncientSwordRage Instead of rolling for the bandit group to maybe encounter the hydra, I can predetermine that the bandit group encountered the hydra. As the encounters exhaust, the group is more likely to encounter the remains of the bandit group, which can lead them to the hydra encounter if they are fool-hearty enough to follow the tracks. In a sandbox, this simplifies all kinds of issues.
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
4:21 PM
@Akixkisu I can see how that works out
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
It also makes it much easier to introduce new events, and change things around.
More importantly it changes when prep time happens.
It is a feature when you manage more than one group.
That design style helped a lot while I was organising events at the store where I worked - pre-5e AL. AL also changes around prep a lot.
 
Hot RPG Questions
Hot RPG Questions
5:10 PM
1
Q: How do you cast Mending on a clockwork character?

Lord RatteI'm playing a DnD campaign (my first real one). My DM is pretty new to it as well and we are unsure of the following rules and how they work together. I am playing a custom race: Clockwork. I realise this might not be the best idea since we're new to DnD but here we are... Anyway, my character is...

dnd-5e spells homebrew cantrips healing
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
5:37 PM
5 hours ago, by AncientSwordRage
Does anybody know if anything on this page is accurate? https://advanced-dungeons-dragons-2nd-edition.fandom.com/wiki/Character_Race_Tables
 
Cooper
Cooper
@AncientSwordRage If you ping me in 6ish hours, I can check when I'm home-- I think I've got the handbook in a box that's reasonably accessible (just moved, so most of my possessions are in boxes atm)
I can also try to just remember but I've got a mind like a steel sieve, so the odds of me remembering anything other than that I was supposed to be doing...*something* are pretty low
 
AncientSwordRage
AncientSwordRage
@Cooper amazing thank you
@Cooper I've heard "just remember things!" Too often to do that to somebody else
 
GcL
GcL
@TheDragonOfFlame Ars Magica 5 has been fun. It has a very in depth and philosophical spell creation and casting system. The pacing of stories play out over years yet the group can just focus on the pivotal bits that need to be played in real time. The context and rules of the game are a bit of a hook into a bunch of history and philosophy. So if you're not careful, you could end up with an associates degree in medieval history.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
6:02 PM
If anyone has time on their hands and access to Yawning Portal on DDB, they can check my work in this answer
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
6:23 PM
@ThomasMarkov that is correct.
 
GcL
GcL
@ThomasMarkov I would expect non-combat xp to make up at least 10% of awarded even in a dungeon crawl.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
@GcL Is there a DMG reference that says something similar?
 
GcL
GcL
If combat was the main source of xp and everything else was just nice description, run a combat, read a Robert Frost passage, and repeat.
@ThomasMarkov I recall the DMG gives an adventuring day chart for XP guidance. It also gives a brief list of sample kinds of encounters from negotiation to assassination. If a DM is trying to play as close to the DMG text as they possibly can, it's still up to them on how to chop up that budget among challenges both combat and non-combat.
Traps are encounters. Sneaking places is an encounter. Basically anything that is interesting enough to play and is a challenge of some sort.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
Which is very little in The Forge of Fury.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
@Akixkisu there are several places where the module rewards discretion in some way.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
6:38 PM
@ThomasMarkov yup.
It covers most things already.
You could probably be more generous with the prisoners in particular.
And reward play with the hatchlings.
Theoretically you could also murder the town npcs :)
 
Joshua
Joshua
Help! I tried to simulate a brain-upload of a cleric on a Cray; however the brain-upload cast planeshift and took the Cray with it. How do I track down my Cray?
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
Murdering the whole town actually gets you there.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
@Akixkisu Yeah, I'd award a good chunk of XP for returning the prisoners home
@Akixkisu Ive debated with myself over mentioning that in the answer.
 
Akixkisu
Akixkisu
Even only murdering the named npcs gets you there :D
 
GcL
GcL
@Joshua What?
@Joshua You get a long pole and a strong line. All cray are susceptible to the fish skill. Additionally, you could take the southern route and search for the cray's father. It's relatively easy to find craw daddies down there.
 
Joshua
Joshua
6:48 PM
 
Hot RPG Questions
Hot RPG Questions
10
Q: How to get from 3rd to 5th level in "The Forge of Fury" using XP?

BBeastI am a DM who has started my campaign with new 3rd level characters running The Forge of Fury as published in Tales from the Yawning Portal. The synopsis contains the line It is designed for four 3rd-level player characters. They can advance to 5th level with good play. "With good play" implies...

dnd-5e published-adventures character-advancement experience-points tales-from-the-yawning-portal
 
GcL
GcL
@Joshua Ohhh... that kind of cray. Okay. You'll need a good spoofed email address that looks internal to the owning organization, and the line doesn't need to be as strong, but it should be subtle so they don't notice the hook. It's a less often needed use of the fishing skill, but will still work.
 
Joshua
Joshua
now we have a true pun
 
GcL
GcL
Why bother having words if you can't play on them?
If you're asking about how to track down someone who cast plane shift in general, I think the magical options are pretty limited. You basically have to ask a higher power if they know which plane the target absconded to. Commune Divination and whatever the Dial Other Plane spell is are the options I would try.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
 
GcL
GcL
6:57 PM
@ThomasMarkov I'm entertained. Actually, people don't run with their eyes closed very effectively through roots and obstacles.
 
Thomas Markov
Thomas Markov
The accusation definitely hit home, but it wasn't an answer lol
 
GcL
GcL
@ThomasMarkov I know where all the furniture in this house is and I still bump it in the dark! I'm not even running. Freakin' crit hits on my poor pinky toes.
@Joshua Interesting point of order, for plane shift to be cast, the caster needs a rod attuned to the destination plane of existence.
So a non-magical avenue of investigation would be about the supply chain or maintenance done to the machine such that it had a strut, platter, reader head, etc. worth 250gp and attuned to a plane of existence.
 
Joshua
Joshua
Ah that might be a clue assuming the brain upload doesn't have eschew material components; although I don't know how its casting spells at all yet.
 
GcL
GcL
@Joshua At that point, you're pretty far into homebrew material. So you might as well find a black and white building with deep shadows and walk up floor by floor until you find a door with glass etched, "Philip Marlowe: Interplanar Gumshoe". Either that or just buy a scroll of transdimensional mainframe detection
 
Joshua
Joshua
It's supposed to be a joke a la Zeroth World Problems. To be fair I muffed it too.
 
 
3 hours later…
Hot RPG Questions
Hot RPG Questions
10:07 PM
1
Q: How does a mizzium apparatus function in regards to spells with a casting time other than an action?

FieThe mizzium apparatus allows an attuned creature to do the following: While you are wearing the mizzium apparatus, you can use it as an arcane focus. In addition, you can attempt to cast a spell that you do not know or have prepared. The spell you choose must be on your class's spell list and of...

dnd-5e magic-items spellcasting
 
 
2 hours later…
BESW
BESW
11:41 PM
…nobody answering that “writing underwater” question has a scuba background, huh.
That is, the answers are focused on laboring-intensive ways of making permanent writing when the wax crayon and grease pencil are right there.
 

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