TRPG General Chat

doppelgreener

00:15

I think that's the right call

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu would you say it has been…*bugging* you?

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov maybe two hours later, in the shower.

Hot RPG Questions

00:39

2

Q: Does the Hex Warrior feature allow a Hexblade warlock to create a ranged pact weapon?

Can a Hexblade warlock create a ranged pact weapon using the Hex Warrior feature, assuming they do not have the Improved Pact Weapon eldritch invocation? I'm pretty sure they can't, because it's not stated as such (the way I read it, at least). But what gives me some doubts is how the sentence is...

Medix2

It definitely feels like a bug report to me but eh

Ben

02:21

Saying things in a NZ accent to make it sound naughty
"That was a bit of a hiccup"

BESW

03:08

Meguey Baker wrote a #worldbuildingthread on twitter about parallel development and trade.

Tubby & Coo's wrote a twitter thread about the supply chain issues facing the publishing industry.

"Blades in the Dark’s TV series could blow away the D&D film" opinion article by Richard C. Shaffer for Dicebreaker. The cinematic gameplay and dramatic heists of John Harper’s RPG makes it perfect for a small-screen adaptation.

Sense and Sensibility by armandah. A hack of John Harper's Lasers&Feelings, inspired by Jane Austen's novels

Meguey Baker wrote a #worldbuildingthread on twitter about "memory and how we hold things."

linksassin

03:50

@Medix2 There was no bug, it was simply user error. Bug tickets make more work for SE teams. By removing the bug tag we prevent them from wasting time investigating the issue. I agree that changing the tag was the right call.

Hot RPG Questions

5

Q: Am I being unreasonable with my role playing of a cursed item?

If a player from my campaign sees this, please don't take any offence to it. It's just I'm really not enjoying the item and can't RP it in a way that other players will care about. My character recently got a cursed magic item in our campaign that is weakening him. We (as players) know it is curs...

dnd-5e magic-items roleplaying curses

Hot RPG Questions

06:51

4

Q: Does Darkness dispel Luminous armor?

The spell Darkness (PHB p. 216) reads: Darkness counters or dispels any light spell of equal or lower spell level. In our last session a drow used his Darkness spell-like ability against the Luminous armor spell (BoED, p.102) of a PC. Luminous armor does not have the light-descriptor, which se...

spells dnd-3.5e counterspelling

Thomas Markov

09:16

@HotRPGQuestions @linksassin why did you remove this from HNQ?

AncientSwordRage

11:05

I wrote some code to sort the warlock invocations on rpgbot.net webpage when run in the dev console

If people like it I might make more for different pages

@ThomasMarkov I don't see that in the timeline (I don't know if you would though?)

Thomas Markov

AncientSwordRage

Wild, also it turns out I'm blind?

doppelgreener

11:32

You can also see it in the edit history

Thomas Markov

11:53

13

Q: When should a question be removed from the Hot Network Questions List?

As it has been announced on the main meta, diamond moderators now have the ability to remove questions from the Hot Network Questions List. Since the policy on what to remove seems to be on a per-site basis, the same post also recommends the creation of a meta discussion with guidelines for both...

discussion moderation hot-network-questions

The question definitely didnt meet either of the criteria given there.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov as far as we know

maybe the OP flagged it and asked the mods to un-HNQ it

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Nope. OP hasnt logged in since posting the question.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov regardless, maybe the mods know something we don't

Thomas Markov

The criteria offered in that meta discussion deal with the community disagreeing on of the question should be open at all, and the question receiving poor answers because of HNQ traffic.

AncientSwordRage

I see that

Thomas Markov

12:03

The question has received 0 close votes, two good answers that were posted not longer after the question was, OP definitely didnt ask for it to be removed, and it was only on HNQ for 40 minutes, which isnt enough time to see if it would be problematic.

AncientSwordRage

I don't think Vicky has ever been a mod here though, so their answer may no reflect the mod's behaviour ? I honestly don't know

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Yeah, I think that meta probably needs more attention, for sure.

AncientSwordRage

I'll wait and see if/when one of the local mods turns up

Thomas Markov

anddddddd vicky swoops in with the bump I was trying to find an excuse to make.

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica thanks for bumping that.

doppelgreener

it's not like that question is a prescritive list

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

12:14

I realised that my post could be misunderstood. I can't really participate in deep discussion at full speed at the moment though.

Thomas Markov

@doppelgreener Of course not.

doppelgreener

cases i've removed a question from HNQ include: people from other sites repeatedly join and leave disruptive comments or answers that require my intervention, low-qualtiy but entertaining or snappy answers are receiving disproportionate amount of upvotes (i.e. HNQ's entertainment factor is distorting our process and leading to a worse outcome), or it's simply the kind of question i've had to remove from HNQ five times already so this time i'll remove it before the fire starts

AncientSwordRage

I think I trust the mods here to either have a good reason, or explain any mistakes... but the stakes aren't exactly high here so I don't see any reason to dig further into it?

Did anybody see this:

1 hour ago, by AncientSwordRage

I wrote some code to sort the warlock invocations on rpgbot.net webpage when run in the dev console

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage It's just highly irregular. It's only the 12th time it has happened in the history of the site.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov well then I'm sure the mods will have a good response when they're available 🤷‍♂️

but like I said I don't think this is urgent

whats URGENT is me picking an invocation for my warlock

Thomas Markov

12:26

agonizing blast

mask of many faces

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov Too obvious

@ThomasMarkov thats' where I'm leaning

Mithical

@AncientSwordRage mmmm.

AncientSwordRage

except as a dwarf, she can only appear to be at most 5'1"

Mithical

You might have an extra week, I'm not sure I can make it this week.

AncientSwordRage

so... not the perfect disguise

Thomas Markov

12:28

Devil's Sight

Eldritch Sight

AncientSwordRage

@Mithical no worries, I don't expect us to level up anytime soon...?

@ThomasMarkov not planning on taking Darkness

Thomas Markov

Eyes of the Runekeeper

Are you trying to decide between all the good ones?

Cuz theres a bunch of "cant go wrong" picks.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov going to get Book of Ancient secret -> detect magic is a ritual

@ThomasMarkov same goes for that one

Thomas Markov

Armor of Shadows

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov just the ones I can get at level 2

Thomas Markov

12:30

I played a melee warlock and vowed I wouldnt be an EB spammer, so I took Mask of Many Faces and Armor of Shadows.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov Dwarves get medium armour proficiency and this is what rpgbot has to say:

> You already get light armor, and Mage Armor is only +1 AC over studded leather. You don't get enough invocations to justify wasting one on this. Hexblades might consider this to close the AC gap between light/medium and heavy armor, but I'm not convinced that this is better than multiclassing to get heavy armor proficiency.

@ThomasMarkov TIL I get 2 at level 2

1 hour ago, by AncientSwordRage

Wild, also it turns out I'm blind?

@ThomasMarkov Fiendish Vigor and Eldritch Mind also crossed my... mind. I also don't want to be an EB Spammer, but will see where we go

NautArch

I still loves me battle master 3/hex blade X build for a weapon based warlock

AncientSwordRage

12:47

@NautArch that sounds very optimised

NautArch

@AncientSwordRage very optimized. But also very thematic for that build.

But outside of a dip the hex blade is not very optimized. It's only optimal if you're doing it for a one level dip

AncientSwordRage

that makes sense

The reason I've been leaning towards Eldritch Mind is that I'm probably going to have lots of concentration spells going on

@Mithical everything ok though?

Thomas Markov

Ive been looking through all the outfits from the Met Gala

Some interesting choices were made.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I've been deliberately avoiding them :p

doppelgreener

13:04

@ThomasMarkov wait, only the 12th time a question has been removed from HNQ?

wild

i would've thought there'd been more than that

but i guess that doesn't count the times we closed a question to let it cool down, before we could remove from HNQ

and the other HNQ changes have overall been very positive in reducing problems

Thomas Markov

The "remove Q" feature has only been around for 2.5 years I think.

@doppelgreener You did 6 of them

doppelgreener

that's more like it, lol

Thomas Markov

Here is the query, most of the cases it's quite obvious why it was delisted.

That said, there is a pattern to the type of question that gets delisted.

doppelgreener

in my case it was mostly questions that would appear salacious and clickbaity but needed sensitive and careful handling, instead of becoming a sensation for the masses to gawk at

which is, unfortunately, what HNQ frequently does: take someone's deeply sensitive issues that need exceptionally careful handling from a knowledgeable community, and put them in front of a crowd who may as well be given buckets of popcorn

3

Akixkisu

In that sense, is the handling of the question or the querent more important for that decision?

Thomas Markov

13:15

@doppelgreener I'd say it is frequent with social relationship questions, which are not themselves particularly frequent. Most of our HNQs are just rules questions, because most of our questions are rules questions.

doppelgreener

@Akixkisu in the cases i'm describing, it's not an either/or.

Akixkisu

@doppelgreener to a degree these are intertwined, but they also lead to different approaches.

doppelgreener

i'm not following the difference

Akixkisu

Protecting a querent from comments, help piles, etc, is different than protecting a question and its answers from less informed voting.

doppelgreener

ok, well, my answer is "mu"

Akixkisu

13:18

I think making that distinction helps us get a t the why, even when results are the same.

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu One of them we closed at the request of the asker.

doppelgreener

The whole thing sums up to the question receiving an inappropriate reception, the querent receiving a lower quality of feedback, and generally just more people acting poorly in front of their serious issue.

There is no distinction to make from how I handled those. The question of whether querent or question is more important doesn't, to me, make sense to answer as such.

Akixkisu

That is fair, and insightful, thanks.

doppelgreener

I guess my approach has been that the people are important, and they deserve the system to handle them and their issues gracefully, whether they're the querent or someone sharing the issue. I don't moderate the stack for the Q&A system, I moderate it for the people using it.

Mithical

@AncientSwordRage Yep, it'll just be right after a 25 hour fast.

Akixkisu

13:37

It is unfortunate that we can't sort answers by reputation generated.

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu what do you mean?

Like you want the sorting to account for the post owner hitting rep cap?

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov Yes, and also include the bounty/checkmarks.

I think if that was an option, it would be the one I use.

NautArch

@linksassin @Someone_Evil One of y'all around to chat?

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu Interesting. I think in most cases it wouldnt differ from score sorting.

Someone_Evil

@NautArch What's up?

Akixkisu

13:42

@ThomasMarkov I think so too, but in those cases when it does, I think it would make a meaningful different sorting.

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu hol up that would disproportionately affect my answers.

NautArch

@Someone_Evil can we grab a room?

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov It would more so affect hnq answers where we have several answers ;)

Have you ever looked at the difference between lost to cap answers on questions with more than your answer compared to those only you answered?

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu that was a doozy of a sentence.

Gonna need a rephrase there

Akixkisu

My excuse is that I have a flu smothering my cognitive abilities ;)

Thomas Markov

13:49

@Akixkisu Oh no!

NautArch

@Akixkisu Hydrate!!!

Thomas Markov

I cast create or destroy water

Akixkisu

How much rep do you lose to the cap on answer where your answer is the only answer? And how does that compare to the rep that you lose on questions where multiple people answer?

I'm well hydrated, thanks :)

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu Ah, gotcha.

I have no idea, and I don't know how to figure that out lol

Akixkisu

Neither do I, but I'm curious about it.

Thomas Markov

13:51

I do know that 5700 of the votes on my answers and questions did not generate rep

Akixkisu

My intuition is that you lose more rep when you provide the only answer.

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu I dont think you would be able to find a pattern there since the rep cap considers all your posts for the day.

Akixkisu

Because you have more chances to gain rep on later occasions due to more chances to edit.

There are two things that drive votes, being on the homepage and targeted searches.

So generally if you contribute an answer to a fresh question that is active for more than one day, I think fewer of your rep points should burn.

And the potentially for activity should go up the more answers the question has.

Thomas Markov

Targeted searches is going to be a pretty low proportion of vote activity.

Akixkisu

Yes, but they also result in putting things on the homepage in some cases.

Thomas Markov

13:57

And you can check that by looking at passive rep generated.

Ive only gained about 4000 rep from posts that were more than 15 days old.

Or about 5% of my current rep

Akixkisu

Yup, you want to increase the amount of time on the homepage when the question is fresh.

In once and done situations you only have day 1.

In more active questions you might have up to 3 days of steady gain.

My most viewed question had 5 votes from searches, which I think is a lot. rpg.stackexchange.com/posts/148100/…

But none of them lead to moving it on the homepage.

AncientSwordRage

14:13

@ThomasMarkov I'd really like to see that with tags added in

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage ill try to do that.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener "I ~~fight~~ mod for the users"

@ThomasMarkov you'll need to join on the posts, and I didn't feel like doing that right now :D

@Mithical yup, that makes sense! Let us know how it goes :)

@Akixkisu How do you know they were from searches?

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage because the question was not on the homepage or linked for these votes.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu try this: data.stackexchange.com/rpg/query/8116/my-money-for-jam

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage I like that query, but it does something else :)

AncientSwordRage

14:23

@Akixkisu oh yeah I know, but I can't think of how to programmatically know that the post wasn't on the homepage when it was voted on

Hot RPG Questions

15:08

4

Q: Focus spell count for things that ask to be able to cast spells?

I was looking at the new shadowcaster archetype and it ask to be able to cast a spell to take it. My question is: can a ranger take it since they have the Warden spells and take the shadow hound animal companion?

spells spellcasting pathfinder-2e

AncientSwordRage

17:00

62

Q: Weapon attacks compared with damaging cantrips?

Cantrips scale automatically with character level. Weapon attacks only scale with ability score and any extra attack features you might get. How could the damage of weapon attacks keep up?

dnd-5e weapons optimization damage cantrips

That doesn't consider multiple opponents though...

but it doesn't rule it out either?

I mention that because of this analysis

> 3 targets is where Sword Burst starts to edge out other options. The gap in damage fluctuates depending on your level, but sword burst remains consistently more effective.

Thomas Markov

18:44

Credit from First Posts queue has been applied to the First Answers and First Questions queues.

Thomas Markov

19:00

The community user now has its own bot tag. Shout out to @doppelgreener for this one!

V2Blast

@ThomasMarkov Excellent :)

AncientSwordRage

19:16

@ThomasMarkov bleep-bloop 🤖

doppelgreener

nice!!!

NautArch

20:06

@doppelgreener I love it when a plan comes together!

NautArch

20:45

Anyone available for a look at a fighter subclass homebrew?

MikeQ

20:56

Yes I volunteer to look at the homebrew and encouragingly tell you how bad it is

KorvinStarmast

@Someone_Evil insert counter rant that artificers are found anywhere other than in Eberron ...

Someone_Evil

@KorvinStarmast I play homebrew worlds, your rant has no power over me!

KorvinStarmast

@GcL no

@AncientSwordRage that's just naughty, and I love it. 😃

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast blame @ThomasMarkov

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch yes, I just reviewed a dragon rider home brew the other day (needed tweaking so bad I didn't even post it here for another look) Love to see your brew.

@doppelgreener Community Bot — not a real person. Replies to this bot are not monitored does this mean that I can insult it whenever I like? I have a strong aversion to bots.

doppelgreener

21:11

@KorvinStarmast no, i think that'd be discouraged

i mean, nobody's gonna hear the replies, but we're still gonna see it

KorvinStarmast

@doppelgreener Aaw man ... 😕

I think the first comment I recall making on RPGSE was something like "No, you useless bot, I do not want to take this to chat, I am hear to talk to real people" and it got me a private comment from SSD (diamond mod era) asking why I was being so mean.

NautArch

@MikeQ @KorvinStarmast Combat Engineer

Also open to ideas for the schematics

@KorvinStarmast I think this is how I, Robot started.

KorvinStarmast

21:26

Comments are as follows: interesting idea. A few things I'll suggest improving: Researcher {Replace the word "science" with something that fits the Swords and Socery/Fantasy Genre-there is no 'science' ability}
Improved RMMPL {wordsmithing suggestion}
At 10th level, your customization *builds' damage* increase by one damage die and you can use them up to 2/LR.
Improved RMMPL {wordsmithing suggestion}
At 18th level, you can apply two customization builds to your RMPPL and *they increase their damage by another damage die*. You can now can now use them up to 3/LR.

NautArch

The overall character design has been focusing on options and uses more than increasing damage.

@KorvinStarmast Do you think the double proficiency is too strong? It replaces the BM's ability to spend a minute watching someone and then learning about them.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I'll think through some BM maneuver/battlefield effects to add, and I think Blindness/Deafness Schematic could use an add. Something like "Smokescreen" or "Smoke Bomb" as a name.

@NautArch No, but I wish you'd use an in game ability / proficiency / skill rather than the term "Science" since it is too vague for a mechanical add like this.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast I 100% agree!

Alchemy doesn't feel right

Book learner?

KorvinStarmast

Or, you need to make a very tightly worded definition for the game term science, which might be difficult to do well

NautArch

Experimenter?

KorvinStarmast

21:30

Something to do with tool use/proficiency.

(Artisan?)

NautArch

This is going to be more of a RP thing. If they can come up with something relevant using their tinkering(!), then they'd get the bonus.

keep it simple? Tinkerer?

KorvinStarmast

Oh, hmm, I wasn't getting that, thanks.

Yes, tinkerer.

And like a wild magic sorcerer, there needs to be some chances for things to blow up during development. 😁

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast noooooooo

amirite @ThomasMarkov?

KorvinStarmast

Yeessssssssssss! (The damage levels are low, so the explosions are mostly egg on face and not party wiping in potential ... usually ...)

Science was built on a lot of trial an error! 😁 (NASA's rocket programs of the 50's and 60's being a fine case in point, the tail fluctuations that killed pilots in the P-38 Lightning being another)

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast although I'd consider trying to fire the RMMPL customization more than once per long rest with an increasing chance of blow up in your face interesting.

KorvinStarmast

21:35

The Hatch Just Blew!

anyhoo, gotta leave keyboard for a moment

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast grazie!

MikeQ

22:13

@NautArch What is the RMPPL? Does it have weapon qualities, range, damage dice? Or can it be any ranged weapon?

NautArch

@MikeQ I knew I forgot something

It's going to be a ranged weapon attack using INT modifier. 60' range

Possibly 90

MikeQ

Ok, and what happens when the fighter gets a cool magic weapon that isn't the RMPPL?

NautArch

Normally fires bolts

His cool weapons will be modifications to the rmppl

The rumple

The class is designed around the ability to launch these things

MikeQ

Right, but it locks them out of any other weapon. As a whole the subclass seems overtuned to fit a very specific campaign with very specific challenges; in any other campaign, it's just a weaker version of Battle Master.

NautArch

You think it's weaker?

MikeQ

22:24

The effects are more restrictive, like the ones that are usable once per long rest. Although some are individually strong, yes (like the AOE save vs disadvantage on all attacks for 1 round). The 7th level ability seems very situational.

...Ah, ok. I misunderstood. I thought the schematics were expendable, like battle master's maneuver dice. That changes things. If the fighter can add one of any of these to every attack then it's very powerful.

NautArch

Still expendable, but they get more.

MikeQ

The wording could be clearer. They learn 5 different schematics, each of which is usable 1/long rest? But they all refresh on a short rest? How does that work?

NautArch

22:40

Yeah, that bit is confusing.

They learn 5 schematics and have 7 builds to use on a short rest.

Only the builds for the RMPPL(marked) are limited 1/LR

So once used, it's just taking a build option slot.

AncientSwordRage

22:55

Stackexchange needs a proper draft functionality with full connectivity to (preferably private) chat

I don't know if it would be a gated by rep, or badges or... I'm not sure what

But I can probably name a bunch of sites that want it

Puzzling, PPCG, homebrew questions here etc...

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