TRPG General Chat

KorvinStarmast

00:48

@Medix2 fred is and was one of my favorite participants on ChristianitySE for quite a while, and I have found his input/thoughts to be pretty reasonable over the years. Glad to see him back to using his old name and his old avatar; during the kerfluffle that started a few years ago, he changed them (I think in protest?) and I'm glad to 'see' him again.

@Medix2 I pointed him to our meta in case he finds anything there to be helpful for his cause at SkeptcisSE.

Hot RPG Questions

02:05

4

Q: Are Legion roles permanent or reassigned after every mission?

This comes up after the first mission, just as we are discussing who takes what roles. One of the question that comes up is "do we rotate this role, like characters?". I've looked at the Chapter 3, about the roles in the Legion, but it does not say explicitly whether this is something every playe...

TheDragonOfFlame

02:17

I am going to be starting a semi continuous adventurers guild based campaign, and the players are going to be creating a guild. I’m sending them through a series of questions to customize their guild. Any suggestions?

BESW

What are the guild's goals? Wealth accumulation, knowledge sharing, mercenary violence, charitable services...?

What's its scale and how is it run? Is it a local group, a franchise or chapter of a bigger group? Top-down management assigned by a central office, local leadership with regional oversight, local co-op?

How does it find new members? Recruitment drives, legacy slots, open enrollment? What happens if an adventurer doesn't join (pressure, blacklisting, legal action)?

Guilds aren't just clubs, they're professional organizations that try to guarantee quality and fairness. What does that look like for adventurers?

What benefits does the guild offer its members? Easier travel through certain areas, legal mediation, access to elite clients, resources and rest stops across the land?

What does the guild expect from its members? Percentage or flat membership dues, behavioral standards, enforcing blacklists, sponsoring recruits?

TheDragonOfFlame

So far, they’ve decided that they are a mercenary company esque guild, and want to start out on a small scale. They are ‘chaotic neutral’, not afraid of crime and selfishly motivated by money.

These are good, thanks!

BESW

02:32

They may be thinking of "guild" as synonymous with "club" or "company" rather than being more like a proto-union-slash-co-op.

I'd ask what makes their group different from just a bunch of mercenaries for hire, both for the mercenaries and the people who want to hire them.

MikeQ

Are the players creating a larger guild that their characters will belong to? Or are their characters inventing the guild (consisting only of themselves)?

BESW

For example, a baker's guild might say "If you buy from one of our members you can be sure we do surprise inspections to check if they're putting sawdust in the bread! And if you join our guild, we'll get you bulk discounts on flour."

TheDragonOfFlame

@MikeQ They are founding it.

BESW

I had one campaign where a group sponsored a "help wanted" board in every town and city. People paid a bit to put up a notice on the board, and adventurers paid a bit to read the board when they were in town. With the money, the group also set up waystations, little huts with basic bed/food/water accommodations, in remote areas. The waystations were free for all to use.

MikeQ

Ok, maybe my question wasn't clear. Would the guild just consist of the players' characters? Or would it be a larger organization for other adventurers too?

TheDragonOfFlame

02:44

What I was s envisioning for a mercenary guild is basically a bunch of soldiers for hire, but with a tighter organization similar to a military, where soldiers and adventurers become employees of the guild.

MikeQ

That sounds more like a private military contractor, not a guild

TheDragonOfFlame

@MikeQ what I had in mind is them being in charge and allowed to take whatever jobs they want, and their underlings generating revenue over time

@MikeQ I had a clearer idea at first but control has kind of been rested from my grasp…

MikeQ

02:58

What might work for an adventurer guild is if they befriended a bunch of other adventurers/mercenaries, and convinced them to pool resources, services, and job contracts

Or even just pool information, like a shared bounty board or exploration map

Unless the players want their characters to be administrators who manage the guild of NPC adventurers?

TheDragonOfFlame

@MikeQ No, they want to adventure

@MikeQ that’s a good idea

So I just explained my original idea in more explicit language, instead of assuming they knew what an adventurers guild is (as they are sort of new players), and they seem interested in that.

Hot RPG Questions

04:57

3

Q: How can a player smoothly transition from death to playing a hireling?

When a you roll last breath "On a miss, your fate is sealed. You’re marked as Death’s own and you’ll cross the threshold soon. The GM will tell you when." Sometimes, the fictional positioning can allow you to keep the character alive until the end of the session, though they are marked for death ...

dungeon-world character-death followers-and-hirelings

AncientSwordRage

09:17

@HotRPGQuestions I swear I misread this as Tiefling earlier

@BESW these are some excellent ideas

BESW

09:47

@AncientSwordRage I think something that gets lost in the D&Dness of it all, is that a guild is a social and administrative institution. It acts as a union, an oversight and investigative commission, and anyone in its profession who doesn't join the guild isn't just "not in the club," it's a punishable act the equivalent of violating licensing and health-and-safety codes AND scabbing on a strike.

In the system of D&D where "kill the problem" is the default solution, real guilds operate in a world of societal consequences that would make the entire D&D kill-sapients-and-take-their-stuff paradigm fall to pieces.

I love the idea of an adventurers' guild, ~~but~~ because its very existence would fundamentally change the nature of the world it exists in.

3

AncientSwordRage

@BESW same here

Guilds can have interesting worldbuilding consequences

Trish

12:06

Guilds and Licensing - especially if they are non-monopiolistic (as in, there is a "Fishers Guild of St. Peter" and a "Fishers Guild of St. Martin" in the same town!) they offer a lot of hooks in between.

KorvinStarmast

12:25

@Trish I see what you did there; nice pun. 😊

doppelgreener

12:42

eyyyyy

fishing pun

i missed that

KorvinStarmast

12:56

@BESW In the homebrew world I play in (usually Saturdays) that DM/world builder has done exactly that. To be an adventurer, one has to have pledged to a guild by about level 5 (in the north eastern continent, anyway) or one may be subject to sanction, bounty hunters, etc. The guilds each have a particular charter, and PCs can be in the same party but act as the agents of different guilds. Our party has four characters; two of us are in one guild, the others each picked their own guild

The guild system is 'recent' in that it was born within the last two 'in world' centuries and acts as a clearing house for trouble shooting/problem solving of that sort. Dues, fees, etcetera, and a non tolerance for murderhobos are features of this structure. The DMs players, a few campaigns ago (which is when he transitioned his world from 4e to 5e) collaboratively came up with this structure with him. I'll find a link.

KorvinStarmast

13:31

Hit this [wiki page](https://wiki.admiralbenbo.org) and look for the link to Registered Companies. Really like what he's done with this; it is tied to an 'in world' political structure that I'd liken to Metternich's 'Concert of Europe' or the 'Peace of Westphalia'
; it is a kind of 'post cataclysm' treaty protocol intended to support peace and prosperity after a generation or so of warfare/unrest/{other bad things in a fantasy world}. (Called 'in world' the Crystal Spire Protocols). Overarching name is Dawn of Hope.

AncientSwordRage

14:47

Sorry for stepping on toes @KorvinStarmast... I was trying to use mod-magic to make the link work

I'm guessing it's got newlines in somewhere?

Separately from guild talk (though don't let me stop you) I was thinking about what @BESW says recently about playbooks and d&d classes, and I think a better analogy would be backgrounds in 5e at least

For instance you can be a Folk Hero Wizard or a Sage Wizard, and they're meant to feel/play differently

Akixkisu

What was the formatting for showcasing a hoverover spoiler text bit?

Someone_Evil

Feb 28 '20 at 4:43, by Adeptus

[spoiler](http://like-this "like this")

Akixkisu

@Someone_Evil thx :)

Ah it is a link pseudo-spoiler what I'm looking for is a markdown spoiler where when you hover over it, it show keywords - so you cand decide whether to click on it.

So integrated into the >!

doppelgreener

15:48

@V2Blast i just noticed you're missing a close paren! (actually the parenthetical might be incomplete anyway)

Hot RPG Questions

16:19

10

Q: IF a creature with a fly Speed of 30 ft. has the Fly spell cast upon it, does it now have a 90 ft. fly speed, or only 60 ft. total?

According to the wording of the fly spell: You touch a willing creature. The target gains a flying speed of 60 feet for the duration. When the spell ends, the target falls if it is still aloft, unless it can stop the fall. The wording of the spell says that the creature "gains" 60 feet, so I am...

dnd-5e spells movement stacking flight

TheDragonOfFlame

17:41

@BESW the players have expressed interest in managing finances and stuff like that so that’ll be fun.

Thomas Markov

18:31

vtc needs details.

AncientSwordRage

> a melee weapon should be able to hit his armor easier (whether or not it's a hit on him is entirely different).

That's the nub of the point

(should still be closed)

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage I just dont know what the question is.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I think what they're getting at is, good armour means a weapon can connect narratively, without being a bit mechanically. Because the food armour is heavy, at higher ACs you should be narratively hit more often, despite mechanically being hit less often

It sounds like hold over logic from the days of Flat-footed AC and touch AC and all that 3.5e nonsense

V2Blast

@doppelgreener Haha, yeah, I think I rethought my phrasing halfway through and never finished. ADHD be like that

AncientSwordRage

9

A: Is your character's ability to avoid attacks based solely on AC?

Armor Class has historically represented your ability to avoid taking the brunt of a hit, not your ability to avoid the hit. When your characters are in melee, don't assume they're all standing still staring at each other. They're constantly in a state of brawl, swinging blades, trading jabs, pa...

V2Blast

18:43

@Akixkisu That's not currently possible with Stack Exchange's formatting, though I agree that it'd be useful.

AncientSwordRage

> If a creature hits you with a melee attack while you have these hit points, the creature takes 5 cold damage.

Hot RPG Questions

4

Q: Gift of the sea + Gift of the depths

I made a warlock that gains 40ft of swimming speed due to the fathomless pact (Gift of the Sea). If I now pick the Gift of the Depths Eldritch Invocation will they add up and result in a swimming speed of 70ft?

dnd-5e warlock movement stacking eldritch-invocations

AncientSwordRage

The OP is imagining the word hit above narratively, not mechanically

Thomas Markov

18:58

@AncientSwordRage If you wouldnt mind fixing the question :)

Akixkisu

@V2Blast I thought I had seen it, my mind must play tricks on me. Maybe it was a clever positioning of text that I remember, thanks :)

Thomas Markov

Question still needs to be closed.

The author confirmed that two entirely different questions were their actual question.

And now we have two different answers that are answering two entirely different questions.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I can't think of how to fix it without potentially invalidating the point of the question. If you differentiate narrative and mechanical hits then it's a non-question... I.e. my answer has nothing to clear up

However as I've had my answer accepted is that a tacit indication that's what they mean?

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage I've rolled back the edits. OP Positively confirmed two totally distinct questions in comments, so we cannot update the question to match only one of them.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov agreed, I tried to make my edit answer agnostic though... Is it worth reapplying those at least... Or should we wait?

Thomas Markov

19:09

@AncientSwordRage IMO we should definitely wait for OP to tell us which question they were actually asking.

Because asking about house ruling and balance for the spell is not even related to asking about the rules confusion you addressed.

AncientSwordRage

Agreed... Also one of my cats just weed on my pillow so I may not be as communicative as I'd like given I just posted an answer to an almost closed question

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage bummer.

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov that was clearly a follow-up question by someone who doesn't understand the system.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu seems plausible

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu I'm not following.

Akixkisu

19:11

The querent would like it if answered all their questions.

That doesn't invalidate their initial question.

So we should neither rollback nor close.

Instead tell them to open a new question.

(which we then probably close as off-topic.)

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu Their initial question is totally unclear, you and Falconer asked if they meant (X or Y), OP confirmed that they meant X and then confirmed that they meant Y.

So we still don't know if they meant X or Y.

@Akixkisu Please dont reintroduce that edit. OP positively confirmed that a completely different question was what they meant in comments.

Akixkisu

let us take that to meta, if you disagree with that.

AncientSwordRage

> does Armor of Agathys triggers when the attack roll that tries to hit the player does not clear the armor class

I know they said it in the comments, normally that's enough, but I'm not clear they understand that they can't ask extra questions in the comments

Thomas Markov

Do we really need to go to meta when we can just wait for OP to clarify?

Akixkisu

No, we don't need do that.

We can wait, and let the question sit in its current state.

AncientSwordRage

19:16

Agreed

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu Please roll back your edit.

AncientSwordRage

I'll add a clarifying comment and ask them to [edit]

@MaxPower it looks like you've replied to two different users suggesting two separate ways of clarifying your question. One would be a question about rules from the book and one would be a question about changing how those rules work. As we can only have one question per post, please can you edit to add your own clarification. — AncientSwordRage 30 secs ago

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov okay, though I think that is not the best approach.

AncientSwordRage

I can't delete my answer as it's accepted... 😕

That's not normally a problem

@Akixkisu normally I'd agree but I think the asker is being super unclear here

Thomas Markov

You can flag it for deletion.

Akixkisu

19:21

You can also leave it be for now.

Until we have that clarifying edit.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I've flagged it

@Akixkisu I don't want to sway them

Maybe low rep users shouldn't be able to accept questions so quickly... Sorry for the confusion my answers caused

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu If the asker had not also confirmed that they meant something entirely different there wouldn't be an issue. It doesn't seem particularly fair to Falconer to insist that your suggested clarification is the right one when the author of the question confirmed Falconer's.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov this↑

Thomas Markov

and theyve added a clarification that is a totally new, third take on the question.

Akixkisu

The op did more than that, but I'm not out to convince, if AncientSwordRage's wants that answer deleted to not sway decision-making then I feel like that is unfortunate, but a choice made.

Thomas Markov

19:29

I think ASR's answer probably addresses the recent clarification from the author.

Akixkisu

Yes, all of these could have been new questions instead.

Then we could have had 3 different stackable questions.

Now we have 0.

But at least we also got some answers in.

Or perhaps 2 stackable questions and 1 that is off-topic.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu we can ask the op to ask the questions though

Akixkisu

Sure.

Just uttering why I like the other approach, like I said I'm fine with this method.

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu what is the "other approach"?

Akixkisu

Encouraging them to leave the question 1, that I edited in like it is - then open a new question that is about what they confirmed with Falconeer, and so on.

AncientSwordRage

19:35

@ThomasMarkov if I had to guess, edit the question to match an answer and get the OP to ask the third question separately?

Yeah that

Akixkisu

This way we keep the upvoted answer and don't invalidate it, and also give the new answer a chance.

AncientSwordRage

> Is there a mechanic that allows for glancing blows, or a way to trigger this effect without needing to trigger a "hit"?

That seems unclear to me... And closer to falconers interpretation

I strongly suspect they made that edit because they already got an answer form me (again, sorry to have rushed my answer in, I really shouldn't have done that)

Akixkisu

They already got an answer for the initial question, so it seems intuitive that they are going to iterate.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu how do we explain that to the OP though?

@Akixkisu yeah

Akixkisu

"If you have a new question, then please open up another question." and we can elaborate. But we settled on refining the question, so we shouldn't confuse them even more by help-piling them.

Thomas Markov

19:42

@MaxPower We really want to get this question down to what your original intention was, and if you have further questions, you can post those separately. Does AncientSwordRage's answer below answer your original question? — Thomas Markov 16 secs ago

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov that's good

AncientSwordRage

20:19

> If the question was changed because the original poster decided that now they have their answer they don't need the old question any more, that user doesn't understand that questions are supposed to be persistent on this site. The user should be educated, a new question posted, and the edit to the question reverted.

7

A: When a Question changes, should answers change, too?

When a question changes, any answers that do not answer the new version of the question should be changed as well. There's a very simple reason for this: The purpose of this site is to provide useful answers to questions. If an answer does not fully address the question as it is posed at the top...

KorvinStarmast

21:11

@AncientSwordRage yes, if the player embraces the background it can play differently.

AncientSwordRage

21:32

@KorvinStarmast yeah absolutely

Hot RPG Questions

22:29

1

Q: Can the Blood Hunter Order of the Mutant raise an ability score past 20 using their mutagens?

I am playing an Artificer 5/blood hunter 2 and I was thinking of going order of the mutant next level. I currently have 20 int and was wondering if I use the sagecity mutagen can it raise my score to 23.

dnd-5e ability-scores blood-hunter

V2Blast

23:05

Hope everyone's having a relaxing Friday :)

AncientSwordRage

23:37

@V2Blast no comment 😅

V2Blast

Well, I hope your weekend is more relaxing, then!

AncientSwordRage

Thanks

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