TRPG General Chat

3:17 PM

@G.Moylan During a the busy season, taking time out to go give a quote was detracting from time spent on established paying clients. Also, it's rarely anyone's favorite thing to do, and when you're already booked for the season it's even less of a priority.

@G.Moylan Still, it's poor customer service to stand you up like that. Sorry you experienced that.

Rubiksmoose

So, for some reason I got really curious about links in comments and when they add to the "Linked" sidebar. I thought that any link on the page got added (including any in the comments), but I noticed today that that wasn't true.

So, I just probably annoyed the beejesus out of the poor poster of this question but I did some experiments. It looks to me like links in the comments only get added if they are bare links which seems very strange to me.

Actually it occurs to me that it might be a result of the exact way my comment link auto formatter formats the links.

Carcer

bare links?

i.e. not [text](link)?

G. Moylan

verified 18+ and not clothed

Carcer

Hot Links in Your Area

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer I think so? Further testing has maybe shown that not to be true. I'm very confused.

Carcer

3:28 PM

yeah

G. Moylan

@GcL yeah I get it. It's just incredibly frustrating. We spoke to the owner once and he was super apologetic about the issue and said he'd personally come out and give us a quote. Still a no-show. Oh well, on to the next company

Carcer

see rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/148645/…

Rubiksmoose

I think my testing might also be messed up a bit because it may only check the comment for links for the link bar on the initial posting?

Carcer

I could see it being the case that edits confuse the system

G. Moylan

yeah given how fast some edits happen, not even counting reverts, I could understand if it only checked on post

Rubiksmoose

3:30 PM

8

Q: Do I include animal companions when calculating difficulty of an encounter?

I have a player who is playing a beast master ranger and I was wondering: do I calculate the level of the animal companion when making encounters?

12

Q: How certain is a caster of when their spell will end?

In D&D 5e, many spells have a fixed duration measured in common units of time - minutes, hours, days and so on. Does the caster of a spell have any special insight as to when a spell they cast will end, and if so, is this knowledge vague ("about half", "very nearly gone") or precise ("in five, fo...

dnd-5e spells magic duration

Check out those for examples of links not being added though.

G. Moylan

the first one might be because you have two links. It might on ly grab the fist. Not sure about the second question though

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan Yeah that was my first thought as well.

Carcer

okay

I am noticing something

Rubiksmoose

It could be 1) text in comment with link 2) multiple links in one comment ~~3) non-bare link~~ 4) other?

Carcer

rpg.stackexchange.com/q/79900/28402 vs rpg.stackexchange.com/q/79900

your links are formatted as the latter but the share links are longer and reference, specifically, the question or an answer on the question

and maybe it needs to be complete enough in that form for the parser to pick it up as a link

KorvinStarmast

3:35 PM

@Helwar I am now, what can I do for you? Do you want to sub in for me tomorrow night?

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer maybe, but I've gotten a bare link version of the shortened URL to be linked as well

Carcer

(I suspect that rpg.stackexchange.com/q/79900/absolutely-any-text might also work since question titles may change)

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP You must play at our table some day. Love it

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer Yeah the text after shouldn't matter as far as linked to the post, I'm not sure it matters for the parser either, but I'm not sure.

I need a post that I can use to test this that won't result in someone being bothered.

(BTW I did try to search on Meta.SO for this and found nothing)

Carcer

I'd suggest meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3122/formatting-sandbox if it weren't already so saturated with links that it's kind of a pain to try and verify

I, personally, don't think it'd be a tremendous crime if you made a post on meta.rpg specifically just for figuring out what's going on with the link parser and then deleted it. But I can't guarantee everyone would feel that way

Rubiksmoose

3:42 PM

@Carcer Yeah I checked there too and realised it was far too noisy to make it easy for me.

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: Can Green-Flame Blade be cast twice with the Hunter ranger's Horde Breaker ability?

I am currently working on a multiclassed Ranger/Sorcerer character, and I have decided to take the Hunter ranger archetype. The Horde Breaker option for the Hunter's Prey feature seems to allow me to use the green-flame blade spell twice in one round. Horde Breaker reads: Once on each of you...

dnd-5e spells class-feature multi-classing ranger

KorvinStarmast

@Shalvenay If you want to see why the train heist is the better idea, watch breaking bad, seasons 4 or 5: train robbery for all the right reasons.

Carcer

how can you tell again whether or not a question has been HNQ'd

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer You can check the edit history. It will have a note there.

Carcer

I'm sure people have suggested it's visible somewhere (besides checking the chat history) but I don't see it

ah, edit history

thanks

that could do with being more intuitive

Rubiksmoose

3:45 PM

You can also check the timeline: rpg.stackexchange.com/posts/149048/timeline

G. Moylan

idk why it doesn't just show at the top "Hot Network Question"

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan Not sure there would be a lot of advantage to doing that honestly.

G. Moylan

there isn't really, I suppose

Rubiksmoose

Though if you use the SOX userscript it does put a little flame next to the title.

And I have found that a bit useful. But I'm not sure the devs would consider it worth it to implement as a feature.

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose I am so glad guildsbounty got his chance. As I suspected, quality material.

Rubiksmoose

3:47 PM

@KorvinStarmast Absolutely! We've gotten very quality answers after the latest closure. I just wish it would have started with those!

But so it goes eh?

KorvinStarmast

@Rubiksmoose Yeah. IF this was easy, anybody could do it.

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer So I think the issue might only be with how the userscript collapses the link

see here

Carcer

ahahah

rubiks

it's the slash

rpg.stackexchange.com/q/79900 will link

rpg.stackexchange.com/q/79900 will not

mouseover to see the difference - rendering strips the trailing slash from display, but it needs to be there in the raw for the parser to pick up on it

I assume there's a regex in there which only matches when the question number part of the URL is actually terminated by a /

I think that's consistent with all your testing so far

Rubiksmoose

4:04 PM

oooo!

oh wait, maybe not the last one?

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast That might be doable, if you run a remote style game. I'm currently between groups, my last two groups have imploded because of pie and DM apathy.

Carcer

oh

wait but you edited that comment

nope my theory was wrong

foiled by science

Rubiksmoose

curse you science!

I think it might be the https:// part

Carcer

uhm

did the list of links just get shorter

there were ten links a moment ago, had to click to see more

now there's only eight

and we only added new comments

Someone_Evil

Is there a cap on number of linked posts?

Carcer

4:09 PM

[X-files theme plays]

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer yeah I removed some up top that were redundant so I didn't have to click to see more.

Carcer

oh, okay

Rubiksmoose

I think it must be the html://

I'm not sure how the //rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/q/9082 magic works as a real link, but the parser clearly doesn't pick it up.

Carcer

but you had both https:// and non-https:// links that were parsing

oh

oh I see

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer hmmm did I? Or did it just look that way. Because whenever I use the script it shortens it to //rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/q/9082 this in the body of the comment, but when you hover it just looks normal.

Carcer

4:16 PM

ah-hmmm

yeah you're right

the linked question detector absolutely needs the linked question's raw URL to be in the rpg.[meta.]stackexchange.com/question/whatever format

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer weird, now I'm not getting any to link

Carcer

rubiks: "www.rpg.meta"?

it doesn't like www.rpg.meta.etc

it shouldn't because that's wrong

where's your www coming from

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer it came from my incorrect brain XD

I fixed it.

Though I'm still not seeing anything added to the Links?

Carcer

yeah it looks to me very much like the parser will only pick up on urls that match the pattern site.stackexchange.com/q[uestion]

it doesn't look fixed to me

Rubiksmoose

Clearly I meant fixed in the metaphorical sense.

huzzah!

I think we got it. And script has been fixed.

Carcer

4:26 PM

your script was using Protocol-relative URLs, where the browser assumes the scheme of the URL matches the current page

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer ahhhh gotcha.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP not sure what your life looks like schedule wise, but I am unable to join in on the Chatizen ToA game and it looks like everyone else can make it. (nitsua60 Dming). I'd love for Hal (my character) to be in play and will ask in the back room if you can sub in. But it's Saturday Night, 9 MP Easter Time. That is often a tough ask ...

Rubiksmoose

@Carcer well. that felt good and productive.

thanks for your help!

G. Moylan

@Rubiksmoose so what was the determination?

Carcer

no worries. Wouldn't have been out of place in my actual day job

I'll call this exercise "self-learning" if any managers ask what I did on friday afternoon

Someone_Evil

4:29 PM

@Rubiksmoose Is there a tool/link to get to such timelines, or is it a rep. thing?

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan So it looks like just about any combination of links worked (bare or not, in series or not, with other text or not) as long as it is in the format: https://site.stackexchange.com/questionid

G. Moylan

a so it has to include the http leader

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan yup!

G. Moylan

neat. now we know!

Rubiksmoose

@Someone_Evil So, SOX puts a link below the question to the timeline. Otherwise you have to get to it manually by going to https://rpg.stackexchange.com/posts/[postID]/timeline I think

I'm not seeing it being rep-locked anywhere, or at least it is not listed in the privileges, but I'm not sure.

G. Moylan

4:36 PM

you can always click on the "edited by" link and it will take you to the edit timeline as well

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast This weekend it is. I am part of the team that runs our martial arts tournaments, and we have our District Championships today and tomorrow. I will probably be still packing up and/or finishing my competition at that time.

Carcer

hometime

bbl

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan Yeah that's the revision history and is slightly different (though contains some, if not a lot, of the same information)

G. Moylan

4:55 PM

@Rubiksmoose ah gotcha. so what is this SOX magic you've mentioned?

Rubiksmoose

91

Q: Stack Overflow Extras (SOX)

SOX v2.4.0 Stack Overflow Extras (SOX) is a project that stemmed from the Stack Overflow Optional Features (SOOF) project. The SOX userscript adds a bunch of optional features to all sites in the Stack Exchange network. These can be toggled on or off from an easy to use control panel (see s...

script tampermonkey

It is a userscript that you can run in your browser that tweaks the way the sites works a bit. It has lots of handy functions.

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP Best wishes on that tourney. The every other Monday group I play with may have an opening in July, I'll get back in touch with you then. Roll 20. (Various people out of town in the next feew weeks, so "settling down" expected then).

Rubiksmoose

65

Q: SE Comment Link Helper

About This userscript automatically converts raw Stack Exchange question URLs into the form [title](link) before submitting comments by grabbing their titles from the API. This is similar to conversion done natively on posts, and is in response to this Meta request. The script also tries to ...

script comments

^that's the comment script that was causing issues. It is extremely helpful too. If you do use it I can tell you what change to make.

G. Moylan

sweet, I'll take a look after lunch. Thanks!

Rubiksmoose

No problem!

V2Blast

5:34 PM

@Rubiksmoose I didn't even know this was a thing!

@JohnP good luck/have fun!

Rubiksmoose

@V2Blast I honestly don't know how I do. It is very well hidden.

nitsua60

Apparently it was rolled out as an experiment 9 years ago. Seven years ago it was asked that it be made a link, rather than people having to cobble together the link manually. That status is, today, still deferred:

92

Q: Add a link to the timeline of a post

Since a year I am quite active on SO and a bit on meta, but I have never heard of the timeline of a post, till today in a comment on meta. There has been an announcement by Jeff Atwood 2 years ago of this feature as "experimental". (Timeline for that question). This feature has been requested b...

feature-request status-deferred timeline

(TIL that non-mods can even see the timeline on a post!)

Q: What are the hidden features of Stack Exchange?

What features of Stack Exchange sites do you consider "hidden"?

discussion hidden-features

JohnP

@V2Blast Thanks! I'm already qualified for Worlds in everything, but everything I can win here means one less competitor at Worlds :p

nitsua60

5:50 PM

@JohnP Livestream? So we can cheer you on?

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 Man, there are some nice things in there! I'm pretty sure I've even read this before and I'm still learning this stuff.

JohnP

Ah, nothing like answering a 2.5 year old question with a Word Of God answer :p

@nitsua60 Uh...I don't know. I've never actually livestreamed anything.

user15026

@JohnP That's pretty cool.

JohnP

@Ash I thought you knew, I announced in the lounge when I won Worlds last year. Last year was a great year, 8 events, 6 medals, 1 title. Also got 2nd in sparring, which is almost (almost!) better than the title, because I'm just not fast enough to be really good at our sparring style.

But thanks! :)

user15026

@JohnP I probably did! But....since my concussion a month ago I've realized my recall for details is absolutely scrambled. My apologies!

JohnP

5:56 PM

@Ash Oh, I didn't know. I haven't been in there much in a while, I was traveling for work and training in a new role, so I was pretty limited to staying up on my sites.

Sorry to hear about it, hope it wasn't a really serious thing.

user15026

I fell and hit my head on a metal support thing for a chair, it wasn't even a good story. Just enough to rattle my brain a good bunch. :P

JohnP

@Ash ugh...that is not fun at all. :(

Rubiksmoose

@Ash oh no!

user15026

I'm recovering, and things have gotten a lot better in the month it's been since it happened, but I still gotta be patient with myself :P

user15026

(This is not my strong suit.)

Rubiksmoose

6:02 PM

Well please do! Bad things happen when you overexert an already taxed brain :(

user15026

nods For sure. So I just do what I can as I can, and make the best of it. :)

V2Blast

<3

goodguy5

6:16 PM

Concussions are hard, because the only thing that you have to examine your brain with .... is your brain.

user15026

laughs so true

JohnP

@goodguy5 And they are all completely different in effect, and every person reacts differently.

that's one of the reasons that sports struggles with concussion protocols so much, is what lays one athlete out would barely faze another athlete. And no way to predict how long the symptoms will linger.

user15026

@JohnP This is what is frustrating me, how much I am still noticing as not being right. :(

goodguy5

I feel like I'm finally starting to recover from newborn-brain (goodbaby5 is 3 months old)

JohnP

@Ash I understand somewhat. I've been concussed a few times, but rarely had any effects longer than a week (Even with a knockout connected to it).

@goodguy5 Can you teach me how you did that? Mine are 4.5 and 3 now, and I still have baby brain

user15026

6:21 PM

@goodguy5 I thought that was just permanent ;)

goodguy5

I think there's a permanent level, but the brand newborn brain is rough going

JohnP

@goodguy5 Agreed. But that's mostly sleep deprivation :p

goodguy5

yes

V2Blast

@goodguy5 it still makes me laugh every time you call the baby "goodbaby5" :D

JohnP

Hrm. Just judging by the spell, they retain enough discretion to not flee into fire, so I would think they would flee towards allies. But nothing definitive in the descriptiion

@Rubiksmoose - Or possible CHA?

Although it's a wisdom save so...

Rubiksmoose

6:30 PM

@JohnP also possible. 16 would be a good value in either.

And neither would be particularly relevant.

G. Moylan

so @Rubiksmoose to setup SOX, the post mentions I can use Greasemonkey on FF, but the revision history says Greasemonkey is no longer supported. sooo....

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan I think you can use tampermonkey? Or is that only a Chrome thing?

I don't use FF so I'm not sure.

G. Moylan

it looks like Tamper may be a FF thing now

Rubiksmoose

That should work then

G. Moylan

wow that's got SO many features

jeez

goodguy5

6:38 PM

@V2Blast you have moose to think for that:

Jan 29 at 14:16, by Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 when is goodbaby5 due?

JohnP

@goodguy5 One of the CM's called her preborn "1st childs name 2.0"

goodguy5

can't figure out "CM"

JohnP

And if rubik had been thinking, he'd have said goodbaby6. :p

CM = Community Manager. Stack employee.

goodguy5

ah

I get soooo tired this time of day, especially when I wfh

Helwar

7:10 PM

Guys, can I ask you to make a choice for me? :P

goodguy5

yes

the second one

Carcer

no

the first one

Helwar

Aaaaaa...

V2Blast

@Helwar maybe

Helwar

i'll ask, then you decide what or if you want to answer :P

I'm playing a Tomb of Annihilation campaign. One of my companions died and came back as a freaking Cat Monk that does everything my rogue does, but better. Except sneak attacking...

So I decided to swap characters too, since we have no support since his cleric died, and make myself a Bard

Thing is, I'm between 3 choices, V.human starting with something like Lucky or Inspiring Leader. Half Elf (this is the one that I'm more inclined to follow), for all the extra skills and a nice +2cha, and also later I can grab Elven Accuracy, or Drow, for Elven Accuracy, extra spells (faerie fire!) and more extra spells with their feat...

This is what I rolled so stat-wise I think I'll be fine whatever 13-16-15-14-16-11

GcL

7:22 PM

@Helwar I've seen faerie fire used to great effect especially against tanky opponents.

Helwar

yeah that's why having it as an extra spell looks cool

nitsua60

@JohnP For me it started to recede when my youngest hit kindergarten. With them all going the same direction each morning, wiping their own wipe-areas, and having pretty good nights I finally started getting to bed before midnight again, got back to regular exercise, dropped 15 lbs....

V2Blast

7:47 PM

@GcL it's great for giving the whole party advantage (as long as you maintain concentration) against potentially multiple targets in a fight, which is especially nice if you have a rogue party member

goodguy5

8:01 PM

@Helwar seems like you want to play the halfelf.

V2Blast

The D&D Core Rules Gift Set (latest printing of PHB/DMG/MM) are currently 50% off on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786966629/
Currently $84.71, instead of their MSRP of $169.95. (They've been roughly this cheap on Amazon on occasion in the past: https://camelcamelcamel.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Rulebooks-Slipcase-Handbook/product/0786966629?context=search)

Dewi Morgan

...looks like I took the perfect time to join this chat! Thank you V2Blast! runs to Amazon

GcL

@V2Blast it's even better... no concentration

It's just a straight up dex save when cast. Potential for friendly faerie fire, but careful aiming can help with that a bit.

G. Moylan

wow th reviews on that are all over the place

the listing and description says "foil covers" but the photo shpws the stanard covers

and the reviews are a mix

Dewi Morgan

8:23 PM

What is it with WotC and their binding process? Not just in this collection, but the first printings just fell apart on most of my friends, and looking at the reviews of even the individual books, stuff hasn't got much better.
At least they're apparently pretty good at giving replacements.

GcL

@DewiMorgan That was my experience. I wish there was an option to buy digital license and hardcopy at the same time.

G. Moylan

8:36 PM

There was a big post on reddit for a while where someone purchased the special edition set and their PHB was bound upside-down. So they sent it in for a replacement and the new copy they got was ALSO bound upside-down.

they got a good copy the next go-round and a box of apology goodies from WotC

---
and then there are the folks that chase stuff like that. I think collectively one of the D&D subs had managed to post photos of the entire collection bound upside-down at one point

Stackstuck

rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/149086/… meanwhile, I almost feel like I should be asking this on Physics SE

GcL

@G.Moylan I'd just settle for a set I don't have to unbind, digitize, ocr, and rebind.... or staple

G. Moylan

@GcL I haven't had any that outright come apart yet, but I did have to slice part of my MM where there was an extra bit that stuck out and had been folded back over into the binding, making a small batch of pages inaccessible

GcL

@G.Moylan My phb came apart. It was sad. Now it's been rebuilt... stronger and better than before.

Xirema

@Stackstuck I can't answer that question specifically (unfamiliar with the system) but having a "negative weight" is perfectly well-defined in physics; it just means the object weighs less than the ambient environment, i.e. the atmospheric air and the weight exerted by its pressure.

Helwar

8:45 PM

@goodguy5 I'm kinda leaning on that because the group is not very RP heavy and the other characters are a little more nuanced :P But... yeah, It seems that I had already made a decision! huh

Stackstuck

@Xirema I'm pretty sure this spell uses weight to mean mass given that a counterpart spell uses kg.

G. Moylan

is it not a "reduced by UP TO X"

?

just implicit? I don't know the system so I'm just guessing

Stackstuck

@G.Moylan nope! it is not a "reduced by UP TO X"

Or at least, that's certainly not stated!

G. Moylan

is there anything else that you might be able to compare it to?

Stackstuck

There's a spell that does the opposite thing (except that spell uses kilograms instead of lbs for some reason that could be shoddy translation)

G. Moylan

8:52 PM

is the game foreign?

Stackstuck

Yup.

Originally in Spanish.

But even the stuff that's language-invariant (math) doesn't seem well-thought-out...

G. Moylan

then I would chalk it up to "up to" being implicit and missed in translation. If they're inconsistent about units of weight/mass it doesn't seem like a far cry to think there might be other errors

Stackstuck

shrug I don't think that you'd miss an entire phrase like that.

(also, lbs is defined in terms of kg these days anyway under the hood, IIRC)

G. Moylan

it seems odd that a game system would force an item to become "negative weight" but not include rules for how to handle that. I'd think there are several items that weight much less than 60lbs that could be affected in such a way

Stackstuck

Believe me, they left out a whole bunch of other things, so I'm not surprised.

G. Moylan

8:57 PM

do you have access to the spanish text?

Stackstuck

Not on me right now.

G. Moylan

ah. I'd look up that spell and feed it through a translator. see if it attempts to give you an "up to"

Stackstuck

I don't think it's worth bothering looking up, because I am 90% sure it won't be in there either.

G. Moylan

so you think it's deliberate?

that the item is supposed to be weight/mass-less

?

Stackstuck

I think they're just that oblivious to what they wrote.

G. Moylan

9:01 PM

HA well that works too

Stackstuck

They've made so many other broken things and failed to handle edge cases all over the map

G. Moylan

was this an indie project? it sounds like one from someone's garage. or a baby publisher

Stackstuck

heck if I know

Hot RPG Questions

10

Q: Do I include animal companions when calculating difficulty of an encounter?

I have a player who is playing a beast master ranger and I was wondering: do I calculate the level of the animal companion when making encounters?

dnd-5e encounter-design ranger animal-companions

GcL

Negative mass gives a lot different result than negative weight. You can make a perpetual motion machine with negative mass.

And accelerate indefinitely. so... probably not negative mass.

G. Moylan

9:04 PM

based on what I've heard it just sounds like an oversight

Stackstuck

@GcL tell me more

GcL

@Stackstuck uhhh.... lemme dig up a good link for that.

How do you feel about physics ?

Stackstuck

@G.Moylan honestly I think the problem is that most of the project budget went into the art.

@GcL eeeeh, I'm not good with anything over a certain critical density of equations, but I can follow words fine.

GcL

@Stackstuck Australian words?

G. Moylan

a massless item won't generate friction, so there's no loss of energy to heat

Stackstuck

9:07 PM

...*less* so than American words.

But like if it's not full on dialect, I can probably follow it.

GcL

Okay. Here's one of my favorite astrophysicists: youtube.com/watch?v=10AP7tio408&vl=en

It's 15 minutes of your live that you won't get back, but that's up to you.

G. Moylan

9:23 PM

interesting video

GcL

I like PBS Spacetime.

Hot RPG Questions

11:43 PM

6

Q: Is there any rule preventing me from starting multiple bardic performances in a single round?

Bardic Performance reads as follows: Starting a bardic performance is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a bardic performance from one effect to another requires the bard to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard ac...

pathfinder bard move-action

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