TRPG General Chat

8:00 PM

@Ryan Depends on what's allowed. Find Familiar, Animate Dead, and creature conjuration spells are all fun options (until the GM gets frustrated with your small army).

SPavel

If you have a bunch of spare cranberries, mash 'em up and chuck 'em into a bottle of vodka

Then in a day or two, strain them out and drink the vodka

You can do the same thing with two teabags of black or green tea instead of cranberries, also excellent

NautArch

@Ryan I picked fireball, counterspell, bigby's hand, destructive wave

but there are some new spells in xanathar's that are really cool. and there are more options out there besides those, too.

more spell options is huge for being a bard

and you can get things (like destructive wave) that just aren't available until higher levels for the class they're made for (unless you're a storm cleric...stealing bard thunder on stealing destructive wave)

Adam

I imagine a lot of it depends on what your group already has. Magical Secrets sounds like it works best to fill in gaps in the group: shoring up weaknesses and reinforcing strengths

SPavel

Who needs to shore up weaknesses when the entire group can just focus on one thing and just avoid situations where they may have to do something else

Mike Q

@SPavel Because players can't always avoid situations that they are not prepared for

Ryan

8:11 PM

the group is overfull so varies a little based on who RSVPs the fastest but usually its 2 Paladins, one Warrior, a Sorcerer, an Illusionist (Wizard), and myself the Bard. Then there's either a Cleric, another Paladin, or another Sorcerer depending on the signups for that week.

SPavel

@MikeQ I was being facetious; in my experience, players tend to forget that not everything is in their control, and over-build for damage, then die immediately in combat because they did not invest in defenses

Ryan

oh and a Druid is one of the regulars. So usual regulars is Bard, Druid, 2x Paladin, Warrior, and then not sure I guess the Cleric is next most consistent. But he's a Tempest Cleric

Adam

@SPavel Their investment in defense is killing things before they have to worry about being hurt themselves :p

SPavel

@Adam Well that's their plan, but it doesn't work because they also have no scouting capability

So they just walk in the direction of the plot, wander into a fight unprepared, and then complain all the way up until the enemy is dead

Adam

I don't need scouting when I can blow up the tri-county area with a single spell!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

ahem...right...sorry, lost my cool there for a second

SPavel

8:14 PM

"This guy is way too OP, dude, why did you make him so strong, look how we are dying" --PCs while the monster literally has single digit hit points left

The Oracle

1

Q: Why does the chat link on the right-hand sidebar only show up sometimes?

I currently have https://rpg.stackexchange.com/ open in three different tabs. In one of them, the right-hand sidebar has links to two rpg.se-relevant chat rooms: In the other two, there's just ads (example 1, example 2) How is this determined? Is it randomized each time I load the page? ...

Adam

Since going behind the screen, it's amazing to me how often the players will leave an encounter thinking "that was close" and I'll be thinking "I was never worried at all, you guys smoked em like salmon"

Ryan

@NautArch Only thing that stands out to me would be Toll the Dead - kinda like Eldritch Blast really

NautArch

Is this for the 3rd level secrets?

Having fireball as an on demand AOE that you can upcast later is huuuuuge

Ryan

@NautArch Magical Secrets is 6th level

Toll the Dead is new cleric cantrip from Xanathar's

Mantle of Inspiration just seems like the most powerful use of the Bardic Inspiration Die. The extra HP alone is nice but even more than that is giving them all more movement

NautArch

8:23 PM

It's a cool use of the die, but cutting words is also great

Very useful

I don't think I'd use secrets on a cantrip

Ryan

Seems like to balance things Cutting Words should use one die but now affect the number of creatures up to your Charisma modifier

Mantle of Inspiration at level 4 I can give 4 party members +5 HP and let them move their full speed immediately. And that's only 1 Bardic Inspiration

NautArch

For me, it's still the secrets. Take any 3rd level or lower spell available is big.

That's not a huge amount of hp

I'm a believer that the best defense is a good offense

Ryan

no the HP isn't the point its that movement

Warrior couldn't close the distance in time or Rogue just finished off one of the enemies... Inspire! And now they can both move immediately

NautArch

Preventing a hit or an ability check or reducing damage could be bigger

Does your party find themselves nit able to close distance?

Ryan

we don't fight terribly often so far. more RPG in this group doing Curse of Strahd

haven't gone into the castle yet

NautArch

8:29 PM

Hmm, if more rpg glamour could be really good

Mike Q

@NautArch Cutting Words is also really useful if an enemy succeeds a saving throw against a spell, and bards have a variety of powerful "save-or-die" spells.

NautArch

Don't think you can use it against saving throws

Mike Q

When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an Attack roll, an ability check, or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s roll.

NautArch

Yup, no savijg throws

Mike Q

Ability checks don't include saving throws?

Adam

8:31 PM

Nope, they are different things

Mike Q

Oh. Well, apparently my GM doesn't know that.... I should probably tell them.

NautArch

But for secrets, there may be some good spells in other classes

@MikeQ Jiminy, allowing that is an enormous boon

I'd suggest letting him know

Ryan

hmm maybe I'm roleplaying too much. I don't see how a spell like Fireball fits the Bard thematically

Adam

The easiest way to keep it straight is that Ability checks are typically something you choose to attempt to succeed on a task. Saving Throws are usually something that you are forced to do to resist something happening to you.

Ryan

great spell for sure but doesn't seem like something my bard would know as a silver tongued charlatan

Adam

8:33 PM

Speak softly and carry a ~~big~~ explosive stick

NautArch

@Ryan power chord

Adam

Everybody needs an insurance policy after all.

Mike Q

@Ryan Well sure, and that's the whole idea behind the lore bard. They've studied a wide breadth of magical knowledge outside the realm of "charm wenches and get money".

Ryan

mine is supposed to be a story teller with card and knife tricks. sleight of hand type stuff, knife throwing, etc

guess I could go Gambit and make Fireball my Ace of Spades lol

Mike Q

But why rely on card tricks when you can summon a demon army instead?

Ryan

8:36 PM

@MikeQ because not everyone is trying to optimize?

SPavel

@Ryan Fireball is one of the most rock-and-roll spells

Mike Q

I'm not suggesting the 3.5 route of "optimize and get the most powerful spells in order to win the game"

What I am suggesting is "gain really powerful options so you have more ways of doing fun and crazy stuff"

And there are plenty of non-bard spells that would fit the whole "knife-twirling trickster" idea you're going for

KorvinStarmast

@Adam I sometimes ask a player to roll a d20. I don't say "make a save" and sometimes it's for something influencing another character. RNG doesn't care who rolls.

Ryan

hmm reading on to higher levels I like College of Whispers too. The Psychic Blade part doesn't interest me much but the rest all sound awesome

KorvinStarmast

d20

Dice Service

8:43 PM

17

KorvinStarmast

Hey, I made my save versus spousal objection. I wonder if she has a feat that will overwrite that.

Ryan

yeah think College of Whispers is the winner the more I read about it

Frightened is a lot more powerful than I realized, "A frightened creature has disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack rolls while the source of its fear is within line of sight."

Mike Q

@Ryan Is the campaign heavy on roleplay and intrigue aspects?

Ryan

@MikeQ intrigue aspects?

Mike Q

As in, a good amount of focus interacting with NPCs, as opposed to just raw combat and dungeon crawling. Social stuff.

Ryan

8:49 PM

oh yeah its very big on that!

Mike Q

Ah. Then yes, the college of Whispers can be a very fun path.

Venomous Blades doesn't scale well at higher levels, but it's compensated by the potential shenanigans you can accomplish with Mantle of Whispers.

Ryan

hmm I hadn't gone proficient in Intimidation. For College of Whispers I wonder if that'll become a problem. I did Persuasion and Deception

trying to decide on Expertise now. Thinking Deception and either Persuasion or Sleight of Hand (I like to pickpocket things)

Mike Q

I know that deception is a must-have, but I don't believe that the intimidation skill is explicitly needed

Ryan

wish Perception wasn't so overused in 5e. I spent one of my skills to be proficient in it

Adam

@Ryan I wish it wasn't quite so necessary too. I also wish dexterity wasn't so powerful

Ryan

9:03 PM

yeah its weird that Dex is so much more powerful than Str.

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