TRPG General Chat

BESW

01:01

When D&D Next was an ongoing concern, all Next discussions had to get a blanket "take it to the dedicated side room" because (a) it really was overriding every other discussion: if a discussion is ongoing then people aren't going try and start a new one, and the Next discussions really were dominant; and (b) it wasn't all easygoing and friend discussion, there was conflict and high emotion.

As for adding Dando answers to 5e questions... Dando is just a playtest, its rules are uncommitted and in flux, so it has little bearing on questions about officially published material.

As for ROs: I became this room's owner by default as the most talkative person after the previous RO was absent for many months, that's an automagic process. After a while I started to feel like being the sole RO was influencing my interactions with the room in a bad way and the elected mods weren't sufficient to mitigate that only-me-ness, partly because of time zones.
So I consulted with the mods to identify people we thought would be good additions to an RO team so none of us would have full responsibility and we could check in on each other.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I said it was driving people away, they said "that's fine actually" and I said "is driving away people fine?"... I don't know what else needs qualifying?

BESW

The current room owners are those from that list who accepted.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov it's more like me saying "wives are being beaten" and when someone says "that's fine" and asking "is beating wives fine?" Y'know, just to make sure you heard right

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Touché.

user554842

01:24

Stack is down? Is it for maintenance? 🤔

Exempt-Medic

Yes stackstatus.net

user554842

Hm, it says all systems operational for me?

AncientSwordRage

@user77842 scroll down

Ain't broke, still down

user554842

Oh 😅 perhaps a permissive interpretation of "operational" haha

AncientSwordRage

@BESW I wasn't here for DnD next, but based on what I've seen I don't want to have to schedule my chat topics based in what's just come out for playtesting (but I still want to chat about it somewhere in chat)

V2Blast

01:54

37

Q: Planned maintenance scheduled for Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at 00:00-03:00 AM UTC (Monday, August 22, 8:00-11:00 PM US/EDT)

tl;dr Planned upgrades that will impact Stack Overflow & Stack Exchange Network sites including Chat. All sites will be read-only for up to 3 hours beginning shortly after Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at 00:00-03:00 AM UTC (Monday, August 22, 8:00-11:00 PM US/Eastern). You can always view the current...

SmokeDetector

06:53

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with email in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (86): Does a user of supernatural abilities know if they are taking effect?‭ by arthur joe‭ on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose @ThomasMarkov @linksassin)

linksassin

07:21

→ 164 messages moved to RPG Trash

Thomas Markov

11:17

@Trish I think your conclusion is right on that Tiamat answer, but the support was just lacking. I think you could adjust a few things and have a good answer.

Maybe just a few more details about the dracolich ritual, then point out that it doesn’t work on god-level fiends.

Trish

11:35

@ThomasMarkov I think I got everything now?= it doesn'T been work on the Aspect, as that isn't adult or ancient but just "large" XD

NautArch

11:59

@Trish I had no idea Tiamat wasn't actually a dragon - neat!

Trish

12:15

@NautArch in dragonlance her statblock read "god" iirc.

NautArch

12:34

I never really got into the Dragonlance books. I mean, I think I read a few. But they never grabbed me.

KorvinStarmast

@AncientSwordRage it doesn't matter, actually. Most of the stuff that makes SE happy about this site is views, and most of them happen without any interaction. IIRC, the number was well over 90% in terms of visiting to see an answer without further input.

@AncientSwordRage I am not sure how that will work out in the end, but I like the conceptual aspect of that: divine, arcane, and primal sources of magic. Even if it's only bookkeeping, it will reduce the number of spell lists and clean up that aspect of spell casting. Now if they'd do a ten percent reduction on the number of spells, that would be even nicer. The spell books have gotten bloated, which brings me to my next 'thing that needs cleanup' - "do we really need all of these damage types?"

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast That’s a solid point. But damage is fun!

KorvinStarmast

As but one example, can we make thunder damage bludgeoning damage? It is by default magical ... just a thought.

NautArch

I’m going to try out the new slowed condition with a new character of mine.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch True. It adds complexity and some flavor, but I wonder at the value added sometimes. (On the other hand, with the metaphysics of earth/wind/fire/water there is a thematic fit. And poison is so embedded in the genre that it needs to be fit in.

NautArch

12:46

I think I agree that we don’t really need them, but it sure is fun with them.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I want to find out if anyone nearby is going to start a play test from level 1 up or level 3 up. All of the on line groups are in the middle of a campaign, and Every Other Tuesday is Blades in the Dark.

AncientSwordRage

13:12

@KorvinStarmast I'm not too concerned about making SE itself happy, and anyway I'm happier when there's a diverse (as in plays different games) userbase

@KorvinStarmast there's a handful of monsters vulnerable to thunder damage, but if it was sonic damage it would make sense for even more

also then you can get a Doctor Who reference in

NautArch

13:29

@KorvinStarmast We could potentiallly do one in the backroom?

Hot RPG Questions

6

Q: Game was fun for a year but suddenly is not?

So this may be a long story but my group and I have been playing “The Curse of Strahd” for a little over a year. It has been a really amazing and wonderful time. Everyone got a long so well and the characters had a good dynamic. Then something happened. I am not sure what is was but a couple of m...

dnd-5e problem-players roleplaying social player-characters

doppelgreener

13:51

1

Q: In One D&D, what are are all the ways to gain inspiration without relying on the DM?

One D&D's UA 2022: Character Origins has introduced a concept of gaining inspiration without the DM awarding it. What are all the ways to get inspiration besides having the DM award it?

inspiration one-dnd-playtest

Is this just a "read the pdf back to me" question?

Like, not much of a question: here is a PDF, tell me what it says

(this would be an issue because zero-effort question seeding is an issue)

Thomas Markov

@doppelgreener Sort of, I've taken to calling them "trivia documentation" questions.

doppelgreener

Early dnd next & 5e came with a lot of seeding for zero effort questions nobody would ask because nobody would have that as a problem anyone would bring to the site

People got fed up with it and it got significant pushback out of frustration after a while

NautArch

@doppelgreener How do we handle that? It seems that we as a community/moderators need to do something.

Rather than just let it happen.

doppelgreener

Proactively close question seeding and don't allow it to become a massive issue through the incentive rewards to do it repeatedly working. Basically what we did before, but earlier and sooner before it was a widespread practice.

2

NautArch

@doppelgreener Community has gone to a place where closing is quite difficult - do you think that mod support would help here or just try and do it within community members?

Heck, the question on d20 test is at 3 reopens right now.

doppelgreener

14:00

The active community probably needs to be broadly on board or else there will be inevitable pushback

But we've been here before and the community should definitely look to learn from its mistakes

NautArch

@doppelgreener Ha, that's a bit different. And hedging your bets? :P

doppelgreener

I mean the community might insist on making the same mistakes again but it would be best if we learn from our past lol

NautArch

@doppelgreener Cynical me is prepared for not doing things differently (especially since most of those active users aren't anymore and we have new active users), and would LOVE if we had a plan in place.

But I guess our plan is if the community doesn't, then we don't?

AncientSwordRage

14:18

@doppelgreener what we're the old ones closed as?

Thomas Markov

@NautArch lol my answer to that question got flagged NAA.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov I considered a rollback because it did change the question.

But i didn't want to interact with it anymore and just want it go away.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch I dont think it changed the question.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Kinda/sorta, but your answer of "anything not those three" doesn't totally fit anymore.

It's purely asking for the list.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch My first section is "showing my work" so to speak, even if that "work" is entirely trivial.

NautArch

14:23

I mean, I kept my upvote, but I can see why someone thinks it doesn't fit.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch What? Because I explained the thought process behind the list that was asked for?

doppelgreener

@AncientSwordRage unclear ("what's the problem here") or off topic

16

Q: Why Are Our 5e Questions Terrible?

I have to say, I am not a fan of most of our 5e questions that are basically along the lines of "sum up the rules for me." Many don't appear to even be real questions, just information seeding. I understand we want 5e to be a success for the site but should we really encourage questions like: H...

discussion dnd-5e

Thomas Markov

I do provide a valuable heuristic that the question does not assume: "An important defining feature of a d20 test is that it always has a target DC determining success or failure. A d20 roll which lacks a defined DC is probably a sufficient condition for not being a d20 test."

@doppelgreener I thought about doing something similar for homebrew review questions. (but that's another topic).

doppelgreener

Essentially the goal is to recognise that we wouldn't accept a question from some rando that's asking a question trivially and directly answered by the rules right in front of them — "how does the warlock's shadow step work?" (End of question) is closed with "have you read it? What's your problem?" — and to ensure we don't waive that requirement over question seeding

AncientSwordRage

14:42

@doppelgreener that sounds reasonable, I just know there's a fine line between "Read the rules to me" and, I can't phrase it well, but like "I've read the rules but not understood, please read them to me again"

I didn't like the 'trivial' or 'general knowledge' close reason when it existed

doppelgreener

Right, the issue is to explain where they're stuck or what they're having trouble with

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener yes, that's true

but also, there's the argument for documenting some stuff I suppose

doppelgreener

In some cases the rules are hard to find, but in the issue I raised the user was fully aware of the rules and had no problem finding or understanding them. It's just copied and pasted. No actual problem to solve beyond "has not yet read the text."

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Sure, but "ctrl + f 'inspiration' in this pdf for me" is not "Ive read the rules but not understood".

@AncientSwordRage Yeah, this is where things get more gray for me.

Because we have lots of good Q&As that are just documenting stuff.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov oh yeah! no arguments there in this case

but I know there's danger in people think they're following the community, but not understanding and being overzealous

Thomas Markov

14:49

@AncientSwordRage I feel seen by this comment.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I was more thinking you, DG (and similar) trying to set a good example but instead start a sort of 'Cargo Cult of site policy'

@ThomasMarkov this is not really 'good' but it's very useful to me:

8

Q: What are all of the abilities like 'Reliable Talent'?

In D&D 5E, the Rogue has the eponymous Reliable Talent (any roll of 9 or lower counts as 10 for skill checks you're proficient in), the Eloquence Bard has 'Silver Tongue' (similar but only for Persuasion and Deception checks using charisma). I don't think any feats grant this, but I'd consider it...

dnd-5e feats class-feature

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage I was referring to my frequent injudicious use of our "citation expectations" meta a while back.

@AncientSwordRage See, I think that one does something helpful. Finding those features is not as straightforward as searching for one word in a pdf. It requires system expertise, or at least some research skills and experience working with the source material to find all those features.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov yeah the answer is very useful

but it's still a plain list

@ThomasMarkov I must be out of the loop, therefor consider yourself absolved of any seenness

Thomas Markov

My off label wish question is my go-to reference for a good "trivia documentation" question.

But I don't know why it's a good question. The answer is complete and properly documented, but I don't know what makes it a good question over and above other similar questions.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Possibly because you went in with a reason for asking the question. You had a clear goal, which makes providing a good answer easier.

It wasn't just "i'm interested in X"

Thomas Markov

15:04

@NautArch No, it totally was. I was reading geas and noticed the totally useless mention of wish and thought "hmmm that's interesting, I'll find the rest of them."

NautArch

Well, never mind then. :P

doppelgreener

@AncientSwordRage I try to always go back to first principles to explain why a position or course of action is appropriate, so that readers can assess my position regardless of my involvement presenting it

AncientSwordRage

15:44

@doppelgreener good rule of thumb

Hot RPG Questions

16:34

3

Q: Under extreme/idyllic conditions, could Cult of the Dragon necrofy Tiamat?

I'm trying to assess the plausibility of whether the Cult of the Dragon could have grown strong enough to turn Tiamat into a Dracolich. Note I'm referring to the legacy cult under Sammaster, not the reboot that is bent on liberating Tiamat. As this excellent answer points out, I'm wanting to have...

dnd-5e lore

Trish

19:23

@ThomasMarkov the problem with that question is the same that I had with LBGTQ-Bete - a good answer is long - mine broke the length limit...

Transcript for