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3:25 AM
3
Q: Can a Fathomless Warlock's Tentacle of the Deeps help flank?

Zweiclops1206The Fathomless Warlock has a feature called Tentacle of the Deeps, which allows them summon a 10-foot long spectral tentacle (exact wording below). It can be moved and make attacks,but is spectral and doesn't necessarily have a physical presence. However, it can affect events around it by dealing...

@doppelgreener I feel like I've seen this but I can't remember where. Maybe Ultraviolet or the Blade TV show.
Deck Assault by Hairic Lilred. A Zine powered TCG
wereoctopus wrote a twitter thread reviewing Bloodbeam Badlands by Viditya Violeti. Gunslinging Vampires in the Unsetting Apocalypse
Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast (Ashcan) by Jay Dragon @ Possum Creek Games, Nightling Bug. A slice-of-life TTRPG about a family of misfits at a magical Bed & Breakfast.
Anzekay asks on twitter "are there any recorded talks or panels, or written articles, about community management you’d recommend?"
Simon/Lucha Libris of Color Spray Games wrote a twitter thread about considering RPG design through the lens of pro wrestling narrative tools.
Rob Donoghue wrote a twitter thread about "electronic formats beyond PDF for RPGs" and the need for learning from other fields' experiences.
Youtube: "On Being and Playing Mixed Race" by LegalKimchi
Diverse Vampires by Nala J. Wu. An Art Collection featuring BIPOC Vampires
"space is an ocean, spaceships are submarines" article by MV. 1. I’ve been working on a game about a lonely space traveller. 2. For the game I am using my homebrew space setting. 3. People wanted to hear more about my approach to sci-fi, so now you can enjoy this post.
4:01 AM
Of Promises & Paper Airplanes by Ar-Em Bañas. One-page RPG about making promises and saying goodbye.
Turo-Turo by Urania Games. A solo journaling game about analog food in a digital future.
LOGAN: An Autobiographical Tabletop Game by breathingstories. A tabletop game that is also my autobiography. It is deeply personal and vulnerable, and quite the experience.
BESW has stopped a feed from being posted into this room
BESW has made a change to the feeds posted into this room
BESW has made a change to the feeds posted into this room
4:34 AM
Hah, it worked. Added Across RPGSEA to the ticker.
5:29 AM
7
Q: Do the rules for running a business contradict themselves?

TigersEye120My players recently came into possession of an inn in a small village and I'm trying to figure out how to run it. On page 127 of the DMG, it says that an inn costs 5GP maintenance per day, including payment for one skilled and 5 unskilled hirelings. There are two main points of confusion for me. ...

 
4 hours later…
9:35 AM
7
Q: Does Faerûn have timezones?

AncientSwordRageI read this tweet by RPGBOT.net: In #DnD5e a lot of magic items reset at dawn. Dawn is a geographically-dependent time. What time "dawn" occurs changes based on where you are. There is nothing stopping you from teleporting somewhere, waiting a few minutes for dawn, then teleporting back. And wh...

 
3 hours later…
12:16 PM
Dead Coast Games started "a #ttrpg creator thread for Non Binary folks and Transmen. Drop your info so folks can find you."
Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous: Free Playkit by Witchstitches. An appetizer to show you what's to come.
For the true polymorphed group, my players are considering coming in all as kobolds.
Ooh what kind of kobold?
@BESW Not sure :0
Not sure if the whole group is on board with it, either :P
12:35 PM
@ThomasMarkov Are you able to get a stat on the percent of acceptances that choose self-answers?
@Medix2 yeah, one second
@ThomasMarkov Oh might be this
@Medix2 thats not all of them, I dont think.
735 self accepts out of 30059 accepted answers.
2.44%
Whereas my search found only those that weren't also the highest-scoring answer?
So 78% of self-accepted answers are also the highest-scoring answer, wow
12:42 PM
@Medix2 The Divinyls had a song about that
Well, there goes my unpinning accepted answers answer, ah well XD
Speaking of self scoring answers, I have a few questions that I never got a good answer too, but o feel I know the answer to now. Should I self answer?
@TheDragonOfFlame share them here, they may be worth a bounty
@KorvinStarmast what even
That seems like an entirely normal set of choices for a wizard to make if the wizard wanted to hit stuff
35
Q: Can a prisoner invite a vampire into his cell?

stupidstudentIn my adventurer a vampire wants to free a prisoner from a prison. And maybe kill the guard of the city watch, whose office is right above the prison in the same building. Can the prisoner invite the vampire into the prison, if there is a window in his cell? Forbiddance: The vampire can't enter ...

Two days and only 3 close votes? Maybe this doesn't need to be closed but it seems to be attracting lots of very subjective unsupported answers
I'll try and get my answer up there today.
12:55 PM
@AncientSwordRage Of note, those close votes wouldn't come in until after the subjective, unsupported answers came in, which would take time
It was also tried to be closed earlier, and was voted to be left open from review
@Medix2 yeah, I've been thinking about whether SE needs a mechanism to redact answers on questions closed for certain reasons
@Medix2 I hadn't looked at that
@KorvinStarmast @ThomasMarkov is your view that the OP in the above question is clear enough, or that it doesn't matter and the answer it's getting are good? Because they all seem to be making assumptions that I can't see a basis for in the question.
@AncientSwordRage I just VTC'd for opinion based.
@TheDragonOfFlame sure, and if the answers are good I'll up vote them. :)
1:00 PM
I initially wanted to give the question a chance, but it looks like most of the answers are just opinions about what the words mean.
@ThomasMarkov I think it's very answerable if there's details tying it to the OPs game.
If the vampire is controlled by the DM they get to decide what works best for the story, etc
Anyway, I've got to go back to work now
Share and enjoy
@AncientSwordRage I had my close vote in on day one. We could have probably reduced issues by removing from hnq.
@AncientSwordRage Part of the askers problem is word meanings, given the "not native English Speaker" entry.
It would have been a way better question if they provided the details to their concrete problem.
@AncientSwordRage Is that a problem with the question or a problem with vampire lore or a problem with the text itself?
@ThomasMarkov I like where your answer to the related question begins. I'd suggest maybe (up to you) taking it a step further: Vampires know the rules, and they are lawful evil, so they don't even try to enter; they instead use their charm abilities to get others to take care of that sort of thing (getting in and out of a prison).
1:19 PM
I voted to close instead.
Too many highly upvoted bad answers.
1:30 PM
@NautArch Semantic wrangling questions and answers can get that way .... plus, if the prisoner can invite them into the cell, the vampire only has license to be in that cell. That's what the prisoner occupies, thus he is the cell's occupant, not the larger building's 'occupant' - well, it could be argued that way, right?
@KorvinStarmast It can be argued a lot of ways, that's why I needs to be closed. It's also why none of those answers are actually supported in the all should be pretty much downvoted.
The questions don't have to get that way. They only get that way because the community upvotes answers that they like, not necessarily answers that are actually supported. If we didn't, these questions could probably stay open.
1:45 PM
We have been 8 days since a new meta discussion.
2:45 PM
@ThomasMarkov Let's go for 10.
@NautArch (In the voice of Sancho Panza) I'll get your lance, Don Quixote 😊
@KorvinStarmast I don't fully agree it's tilting at windmills, but it is an incredibly uphill battle.
@NautArch I am glad that it is finally closed; I tend to be less quick on doing that for non native speakers, English can be a bit confusing here and there, even for native speakers.
@KorvinStarmast It isn't the fault of the questioner, it's the fault of the answerers.
and the Voters.
@NautArch I was making an allusion to the 'we should vote better' crusade that crops up now and again. 😊 you are not the only voice asking for better voting habits
@NautArch That is also true.
@KorvinStarmast But it does feel like tilting at windmills most of the time.
2:49 PM
@NautArch Luckily, your squire also has ice packs. He's a modern Sancho Panza. And under the ice packs in the Yeti Cooler are six packs of cerveza 😎
@KorvinStarmast Look at Mr. Money Bags over here with a Yeti cooler.
@ThomasMarkov I got one for my wife and she won't use it (a small over the shoulder one) so I do use it. Nice products, but yeah, a bit pricey. My son won a small one in a raffle, and he loves it.
@ThomasMarkov Not that unpinning hasn't gotten a lot of answers though
@ThomasMarkov As to money bags: when both cars are paid for and both kids are out of college, a dollar here and there will sometimes be available for such luxury items as a Yeti.
Or even a cooler. 😁
@KorvinStarmast Literally every single person I know with a yeti cooler won it in a raffle or contest of some sort.
That's not true, I've a friend that runs a deep sea fishing fleet who outfits all his boats with Tundra 350s
But everyone that owns a yeti that isn't for their business won it in a raffle or something similar.
I just took a quiz at yeti for them to recommend me a cooler, and I selected "single person carry" as one of the options, and this is the image it gave for the recommendation I received:
2:59 PM
Both of those people are single, thus it is single person carry. If you're in a relationship, then you can't carry it.
3:13 PM
@KorvinStarmast a wholesome mix I guess?
Puzzling have a close reason that amounts to "you had your chance but this attracting bad answers, let's close you"
2 hours ago, by AncientSwordRage
@Medix2 yeah, I've been thinking about whether SE needs a mechanism to redact answers on questions closed for certain reasons
3:43 PM
rpg.stackexchange.com/q/191672/44723 this seems to be two questions that should have one dedicated question each.
@Akixkisu We can probably remove that second question. It's left unanswered for the most part by the current answers.
@Akixkisu I think the title question covers the two examples, but it could be better worded
Even if the title would cover them I don't see how that would merge them into one question.
That second question is either going to be designer intent unless there is an errata.
@NautArch good point
3:46 PM
How do Hirelings work is one question, why don't these costs add up is another question.
@Akixkisu I thought question 1 was: I don't understand the inn system. It doesn't seem to add up. Question 2 was I don't understand how job X pays more than job Y.
@NautArch the numbers seem to be of much higher importance than the functionality.
4:07 PM
This recent Am I The Asshole question is the kind that I have no idea what to do with...
@Akixkisu with the top shelf close reason:
I’m voting to close this question because we aren't r/aita please frame your question so we can answer it. — Akixkisu 1 min ago
Right but that's not a close reason for me
Yeah, it's pretty clear to me what they want help with and I appreciate that they are actually asking.
Like, if that was closed, I could see countless of our other subjectively answered questions closed; I think I just lack whatever eye is needed for discerning the topicality requirements of subjective and/or personal questions
Feels like we just frustrated someone who was already frustrated.
4:21 PM
@Medix2 The answer to that is often "If you have to ask" ... 😊
I would actually say that is very often not the answer. I've read plenty of AITA where the other people are despicable and manipulative
@Medix2 It can go both ways...
Well yeah, otherwise the forum simply wouldn't exist
@ThomasMarkov now you know a person who bought one, for his wife (I had a coupon). :)
In this situation, I think they probably made the right move (in-game) to stop enabling a problem player who is actively ruining their game experience, but the better move would be to have an out-of-game discussion ASAP.
And they're asking "AITA" because the group hadn't established clear boundaries and expectations, so naturally they're unsure if their reaction crossed some sort of line.
4:30 PM
@MikeQ This right here; and it's quite possible that this is the first time this player has seen this behavior manifest to this degree of difficulty.
One of my first games had PVP creep in and I often felt bad for not enjoying it and complaining to the GM, because I thought the PVP was normal.
@MikeQ I do think it's interesting that the "my guy" players have so little tolerance for other players doing the same thing. Sure, maybe having your barbarian switch between personalities (which, ugh) is what your guy would do, but my guy is sick of it and is gonna let you die.
It seems more like the player is sick of it, not just their character. Whereas a "my guy" situation would be if the players enjoyed the PVP, but they had their character oppose it.
Oh, absolutely, but it'd also be perfectly reasonable if it was a purely in-character action, y'know?
True
4:47 PM
@MikeQ Shutting down PvP is almost always an early GM statement from me (if they missed session zero.)
@MikeQ I think MGS is more about taking any actions any of the players find unfun because they feel obligated from a character/roleplay perspective
Yes, if it's exclusively for in-character reasons. Doesn't really apply if it's for out-of-character reasons too.
@MikeQ ahh ok
5:02 PM
question still seems vague
I'm not really sure what is meant by "do they have their origin in D&D lore?" like, "these gloves give you the strength of a giant" is about the extent of the definition I can think of, there
AFAIK, non-artifact magic items are assumed to be made by powerful enchanters
whereas artifacts can have provenance
We can probably remove the 'lore' bit, it's a history of gaming question. WHen were they introduced, how have they changed over itime.
but even then, the part of the Q asking about the origin of a given item with a bonus on it seems like a long shot to answer. I feel like we're still asking about designer intent
OP isn't able to get the answer they want, so they've narrowed it to just what's the history of the item.
It may not be helpful, but it's a reasonable question.
"when you were designing X version of the game, when/why did you add items with bonuses?" still seems like designer intent
But it's not at all what the querent originally asked. They had a disagreement with the GM. Maybe they wanted to ask a balance question, but I don't know if asking about the lore history really helps anyone.
5:06 PM
There is no Why. It's just when.
@MikeQ They were the ones that edited down to that. I fully agree that it isn't helpful.
@MikeQ I contend that there isn't really any lore to begin with on items like this
"these give you big strong punchy hands" "cool, what will wizards come up with next"
That question reads to me like the player is wondering if the explanation the DM gave is correct or not, given the frankly bizarre reasoning the DM used for denying the item
@Cooper Yeah, kinda. I think the real question is "how do I talk to my DM about my frustration."
@NautArch I'm not even sure if it's that at this point? It seems like they've accepted the ruling and are just curious about the history of the game now
@NautArch saw your comment, nice add
5:09 PM
@Cooper Im not sure it's that bizarre - but it's also easily fixed: Don't pick a STR-based class and dump STR.
Put in your highest, and then take the item.
Boom, done.
OP confirmed they just want the history.
but then how will they min-max their MAD lad? :P
@G.Moylan Not with one-off shenanigans :P
title and body name the item differently. what is the actual name of the item again?
@G.Moylan Gauntlets of Ogre Power
fixed
most of the Q body serves as fluff at this point
5:13 PM
Fair enough, but keep in mind that they'll take any lore answers to their GM and say "See, the internet people say I'm right", and then they'll come back when that causes another disagreement
@MikeQ They've been really specific in the question and comments that that isn't what they want.
a lot of those comments can be cleaned up now
I want to say that this is okay now, but the change still gives me questions of opinion. While I think that there may be categories we can all agree on, I'm very worried that this will devolve into "this is what I think the categories are", and that's not helpful. This also seems quite different from your original question. Instead of trying to narrow to something that might be more stackable, can you please let us know what you're trying to do with this information? What problem are you trying to solve? — NautArch 35 mins ago
good comment
@G.Moylan I would not be surprised, in the least, if a Dragon Magazine or something talked about these sort of things
I think fireball is battlefield control.
5:28 PM
@NautArch I can support this sentiment with significant experience playtesting fireball for its control utility.
I think spell categories just aren't exactly useful; even if you get past the subjectivity of categorization, it's the campaign that tells you what kind of spell you need
Fireball is a scouting spell (not sure what's in the next room? throw in a fireball and see what happens), therefore it should be categorized with other divination magic
@MikeQ Ive used it for this as well.
I might write a frame-challenge saying that categorization is not remotely as helpful as looking at the oh... I thought of a use
If you have a categorization of spells based on what sort of scenarios they apply to, then you can know what sort of spells you probably want to actually meet a given scenario
Mordenkainen's Sword is a deception spell, because enemies won't see you as a serious threat despite having 7th level spell slots
4
5:36 PM
@Medix2 Maybe? But you need to have those spells. The spells you actually have are more important than a theoretical categorization.
@NautArch Not if you have time to prepare
If you know beforehand that you're going to perform a heist, it would be helpful to have a list of "heist spells" at the ready to inform your preparation
@Medix2 Not if you don't have access to more spells.
@Medix2 But what's a heist spell? The specific heist is going to matter.
I suppose the real solution is just to know what every spell does; which is required in order to categorize them in the first place
@Medix2 Solution to what?
I still am unclear as to what the problem is.
@MikeQ Or they'll mistake you for a cleric using spiritual weapon
5:39 PM
@NautArch Knowing what spells should be prepared?
I had been preparing an answer of "Hopefully by educated guesses."
But I don't think that's actually helpful.
@NautArch The question also claims to know what the categories are, so yeah, not sure what the problem is.
"What are the de-facto spell categories that players use to balance spell selection"
@Medix2 Well, then that's going to be by making an educated guess of what may be coming that day.
@NautArch Yeah, I'm probably gonna write something along those lines
5:40 PM
> These spell "categories" are not RAW, but are deployed widely.
@Medix2 Do players use de-facto categories for spell selection?
Then why are you asking the question?
I'd rather we not answer it at all. I don't think the question is at all clear.
It's why mine is sitting in a unsubmitted state.
@NautArch Mine certainly do; they discuss their spell selections with things like "Did you get any Charm spells? Any AOE? What about shutdown?"
We've had a lot of conversations on "What spells should my Sorcerer learn?" and categories come up a lot; of course, all under the umbrella of "Your Sorcerer learns whatever spells that character would learn"
Which I might write an answer "The spell-preparer is the one who knows what spells to prepare" just worried that's too anti-Metagaming
@Medix2 Hmm, but yes - those are very much personal categorizations.
Because an answer could be "I have an AOE"..."Oh, not that one."
5:44 PM
Fireball is an AOE control spell because it can impose the "dead" debuff condition on many targets
@NautArch Yeah I have no data whatsoever on the prevalence of any categorization. Which is why I might do a frame challenge
@Medix2 That's what my answer is, but I'm still wary about posting it. I don't think we're going down a helpful tack here.
I'd rather first understand what OP is actually trying to figure out.
You're welcome to post your own, of course, but that's my thought process.
I think you make a good point. And I probably don't want to answer their question without actually knowing why they are asking it or what they are looking to get out of it
Animate Dead is a charm spell because it lets you make friends
2
Especially if you've just cast Fireball
@MikeQ golf clap chuckle
@NautArch finally dug up the 3.5 info on the gaunts.
5:52 PM
TIL that in the harry potter movies, harry doesn't cast a single spell for the entirety of the first movie
and in fact, he does not intentionally and successfully use magic on-screen until halfway through the second movie
If anyone has info on the ogre gauntlets from D&D 4e, I'll be happy to fold that into the answer.
huh. he also doesn't cast a single spell in the first book so it's not really an adaptation difference either
6:22 PM
@NautArch I found a secondary source for 4e gaunts, will get more later when not behind a firewall.
@trogdor If you've got any D&D 4e books that you can get your fingers on, would you be able to edit in the details on the ogre gauntlets in this answer? I don't have any of the books.
@Medix2 I think the really important thing about this question in this post right here-- optimizing spell choice depends a lot on what everyone else is playing! When I played my paladin in a party with a pure pacifist cleric, he never took any spells for healing or buffing, because I was never going to need to use those spells
It feels like, in an attempt to get the question opened, it's been edited to be increasingly broad and general, rather than giving the specific details of the problem that the person is trying to solve
@Cooper I agree, VTC!
I provided the "probably best handled at a forum" link to our meta with the curated list.
6:38 PM
I'm seeing a rep weirdness
@AncientSwordRage hhmmmmm
Check here for your official rep report: rpg.stackexchange.com/reputation
Trying to figure out if it's the same as this meta.stackexchange.com/questions/288558/…
The bar at the top has all kinds of inaccuracies
Now, I'm no math expert, but even I can tell something's up with that
6:41 PM
Does this mean I get unlimited* downvotes on RPG until midnight? (*Assuming that timezone question gets me infinite upvoted)
@AncientSwordRage if you downvote, then get another upvote, you get your rep back.
Ahhh ok
It needs to be in order, it's not retroactively using capped rep
My rep page is showing 232 today, which isnt correct.
I had an undownvote and a downvoted answer was deleted, so my rep page is showing 2 more than it should
@ThomasMarkov too low?
@AncientSwordRage No, it should be 230 for today
6:46 PM
Curious
🤷🏻‍♂️
Im pretty sure this isnt actually correct.
Yes, Because I had 76028 at the end of yesterday, and I have 76258 right now, which is +230
Why does board and card games se have a tag called
4
A: How did we get all these untagged questions?

Jeff AtwoodTo be clear, the policy: Any tag with only one question in it for an entire six month period, will be automatically culled at the end of that six month period. If this culling results in zero tags, the question will be retagged untagged. Does every single question really need a unique board...

7:06 PM
@ThomasMarkov that's why
8:01 PM
@trogdor the nice user @MirrorImage kindly provided what I needed. 😊 Hope all's well at your end of the world.
8:12 PM
btw, The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is out
It's already available in the stackizen campaigns
@ThomasMarkov Except that for some of us, who pre ordered via amazon, we are told "Oh, wait, you don't get yours yet" Such wonderful customer service. (Note to self: get the DDB app for phone, I am now in two campaigns that link to DDB).
@ThomasMarkov is anything eberron available?
@AncientSwordRage ERLW is on there
@MikeQ quite possibly true, we'll see.
8:58 PM
@ThomasMarkov for some reason I always forget to create the character from inside the campaign
@KorvinStarmast I assume those are paper, and we should all be very accomodating towards print. That landscape is currently terrifying due to supply chains.
If you want a print product for christmas, now is the best time for orders.
9:51 PM
@ThomasMarkov was that the lengthy edit rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/a/3103/44723 in the suggested-edit queue? I skipped that one, but I'm curious.
@Akixkisu hmmmm?
There was a lengthy edit in queue, it was someone adding 4e material to Korvin’s answer.
@ThomasMarkov yes - that one. I didn't have the time to look into it, so I skipped it. It looked like one of the more interesting cases.
Or was that an unrelated search?
Ah 2 hours ago, so unrelated.
 
2 hours later…
11:54 PM
@Akixkisu Lucky for me, I am not counting on it for a campaign, unlike Salt Marsh from a few years ago which was late for a campaign start :(
@ThomasMarkov Which JoelHarmon is kindly offering input to. This is exposing 4e's problem with multiple instances of 4e's PHB ... or just an errata issue. Hopefully one of our 4e experts can clear that up.
@trogdor Guess I'm looking for help again. 😊
6
Q: What should I do about another player who randomly starts PVP?

GoldmonCharacters (both players, both level 9): Me: Life cleric and party healer/support "Barb": Beast barbarian with split personalities (in character) We have a player (let's say "Barb") who is playing a barbarian who has two personalities, similar to the Winter Soldier, where one side is good, the ...

@KorvinStarmast what's up?
@trogdor Not sure if you have your 4e PHB around, but I have an answer that is needful of an edit with 4e source material, of which I have none. Two different users helped, but their two PHB's don't agree.
Tell us your secrets, dragon! Only you know the arcane mysteries of D&D 4e.
I don't really have one lying around anymore

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