TRPG General Chat

BESW

12:40 AM

Typeface: Dicier by Speak the Sky. an advanced and accessible analog games typeface

Speak the Sky wrote a twitter thread about Dicier.

JohnP

> I want a way to make this a disadvantage and basically render him useless for a battle or two for fun

Does that sound like a really bad idea to anyone else?

Someone_Evil

Ok, good. I'm not the only one who picked up on that

BESW

1:02 AM

Wow. That's... I really hope it was the player's idea. I've gamed with some people who would enjoy that character beat.

But removing agency from a character like that should usually be an expression of the player's agency, not the GM's.

JohnP

@BESW It might be, but it doesn't sound like it. It sounds like "One of my players came up with a concept, so I wanna see if I can mess with him" and not in a good way.

Hot RPG Questions

2:30 AM

1

Q: Mote of Potential and Magic Inspiration

I wanted to know whether Magical inspiration used for damage triggers Mote of Potential's Attack: Magical Inspiration: If a creature has a Bardic Inspiration die from you and casts a spell that restores hit points or deals damage, the creature can roll that die and choose a target affected by th...

Thomas Markov

Several poor answers on this question: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/72277/62294

Should pop up in queue, I flagged several NAA.

@NautArch that’s odd since downvoting is a rep gated privilege and OP was a new user.

Bardic Wizard

5:33 AM

Heya, I’m around for a brief minute (6 more, by screen time limits, if you want to be exact), and I have a strange question that won’t work on rpg.se and might be weird to ask on law.se

Basically, does wotc have legal protections against using a name that follows the “thing-ampersand-alliterative-creature” naming pattern?

If I wanted to name a blog, that I might eventually make money off of, say “Lace and Lemures” could WOTC sue me or hit me with copyright or trademark infringement?

And is this a question I should ask over at law.se?

MikeQ

No, WOTC does not have a trademark for all possible English combinations of "<noun>s & <noun>s".

Bardic Wizard

I’m just checking cause it seemed like something that WOTC would be likely to be angry about

@MikeQ thanks

Adeptus

6:13 AM

@BardicWizard Not even for naming RPGs (ref. Tunnels & Trolls, Castles & Crusades, Mutants & Masterminds, etc...)

BESW

8:04 AM

Domino Jam Hosted by Matthew Gravelyn. This jam is all about creating games that utilize dominos in new and interesting ways.

kviiri

8:37 AM

@Adeptus Standard & Poor's

Hot RPG Questions

9:22 AM

5

Q: Does a clay golem's haste action actually give it more attacks?

A clay golem has an action called Haste that is thematically similar to the spell of the same name but mechanically rather different: Haste (Recharge 5–6). Until the end of its next turn, the golem magically gains a +2 bonus to its AC, has advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and can use its sl...

dnd-5e monsters action-economy

Ben

11:40 AM

Evening all

doppelgreener

1:05 PM

o/

Thomas Markov

@doppelgreener \o

KorvinStarmast

1:25 PM

@Upper_Case I was making a little joke, sorry that one didn't land. Shoulda used a smiley

AncientSwordRage

1:37 PM

@doppelgreener \oo//

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch Let me propose a hypothesis - the asker doesn't like them, or, someone who dislikes the norms this 'community' has developed as regards players who aggrivate their fellow players decided to strike a blow for the MyGuys.

Thomas Markov

@KorvinStarmast The asker didnt have the rep to downvote.

doppelgreener

they did get 22 as many as upvotes before deleting their account, that would've given them as much as 220 rep to work with

Thomas Markov

@doppelgreener oh that's true.

hmmmmmmm

I mean, yeah, I totally know how this site works.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov Does it strike anyone that we shouldn't answer/should delete answers on these sorts of posts?

Thomas Markov

1:46 PM

@AncientSwordRage Sort of. Closure isnt going to instigate a change of behvior if we keep answering them before closing them.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I think you finished off my reasoning

and then @Medix2 gets a shiny badge out of it too

Thomas Markov

I dont think Medix is getting a badge for that one.

AncientSwordRage

is Peer Pressure not a thing?

Thomas Markov

Peer PRessure: " Delete own post with score of -3 or lower"

AncientSwordRage

I'm thinking of Disciplined

Thomas Markov

1:53 PM

ooooh a shiny bronze badge

AncientSwordRage

it's a fairly exclusive bronze badge

hmm, maybe not as exclusive as I thought

Thomas Markov

lol you can get it by deleting a +3 post, which you can promptly undelete yourself.

AncientSwordRage

doesn't that unbadge you?

KorvinStarmast

@doppelgreener hadn't realized they'd deleted their account

NautArch

Gaming the gamification

doppelgreener

1:56 PM

@KorvinStarmast me neither until just now

AncientSwordRage

It's at 216 awardees, vs. Great Answer at 215

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage I dont think users can do anything to lose badges. Our stack overlords must do that manually.

Someone_Evil

IIRC only tag badges can be lost (outside intervention)

AncientSwordRage

ah ok

Thomas Markov

2:11 PM

This looks like a dupe, see the potential target in my comment.

Let me know what yall think

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov That bounty message has ended me

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I think so?

May the whoever is without hammer cast the first close vote

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage I think the confusion from OP thinking it's not a dupe is that the target uses the word "attacks" when the question is about "spells and other effects requiring sight", not "attacks" in the game term sense.

AncientSwordRage

attacks/targets ends up being the same

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov We have a question on Familiars as wrll

AncientSwordRage

2:14 PM

the reason I asked is that it became different opinions on IF it would work, my question is taking the premise that it works and working backward for possible effects — Ayden s 1 min ago

Thomas Markov

Here we go, Medix is about to compile an exhaustive list of potential dupes

:P

Medix2

About to? I already have!

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Did someone say "list"?

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Okay, that's different, but now the question is "what are all the spells that just require sight"

Who is NautArch's least favorite classical composer? Franz Liszt

Medix2

Assuming they only want spells, of course

Thomas Markov

2:16 PM

Burnin the midnight oil @Ben?

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov Burning the midnight oil at both ends

RevenantBacon

@ThomasMarkov Time to go "earn" some badges I guess XD

Thomas Markov

Yall ever wonder of DNDBeyond knows their search tool is trash?

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov My guess is no

I would wager that they have equated 'Effort required to make' with 'quality'

it's a trap I fall into often, if I'm not careful

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov Well... sometimes it is not the fault of the tool but of the searchable database

Thomas Markov

2:22 PM

But how hard would it be to show more than 35 results

Medix2

I always wonder why that's a thing...

It's also concerning that I can probably piece together entire statblocks from purchase only material through their search function

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov the DB probably looks like a dogs dinner and/or they realised people never looked beyond the first 35 results because they had contrived examples

RevenantBacon

@ThomasMarkov Or more importantly, why can't I filter by range?

AncientSwordRage

@RevenantBacon because it's not a basic DB field

it shouldn't sort numerically or alphabetically, nor as a datetime object

^ guesswork

Thomas Markov

@RevenantBacon Spells with range of sight are on the last page if you sort by range.

RevenantBacon

2:26 PM

Sure it is, they just don't want to implement it. I can certainly sort by range, it's right there on the list

but I can't filter by it

AncientSwordRage

@RevenantBacon OH RIGHT

RevenantBacon

You also can't filter by duration

They apparently are even going to implement the ability to filter by subclass, which I take to mean that you can filter what spells are added to the spell list for Fiend Warlocks

AncientSwordRage

@RevenantBacon I'd like the ability to exclude classes

so, warlock spells NOT given to wizards

or wizard spells NOT given to anyone else

RevenantBacon

I was about to say, you can turn off classes

but yeah, you can't exclude spells available to x class

The only spells I ever remember being exclusive is Hunger of Hadar, Simulacrum, and Wish, and I always forget what other ones are exclusive. Being able to look that up would be helpful

AncientSwordRage

2:42 PM

@ThomasMarkov another edit to the 'assume scrying preserves line of sight' spell.

@RevenantBacon also to find what spells a ranger say gets at level 17, that a wizard gets at 6 (or however it works out)

RevenantBacon

3:09 PM

@AncientSwordRage Or if there even are any to begin with.

AncientSwordRage

yup

RevenantBacon

Ya know what, I'm flagging that Spell Sniper question.

NautArch

Are there any secondary mechanics that proc on frightened creatures?

not class mechanics

Someone_Evil

Like, outside the effects of the conditions and class or monster features which care about it?

NautArch

@Someone_Evil Yeah, I just picked up the rod of lordly might and seeing if there is anything i can do wtih a whole bunch of frightened enemies.

Someone_Evil

3:24 PM

Not be attacked by them? AoO as they're running away? Some wall or barrier spell to split them off?

GcL

@NautArch Do you have a cart and a holocaust cloak?

NautArch

@Someone_Evil I guess I was htining about more damage or something. But I probably don't need to do that.

I'm already stepping on our paladin's toe's quite a bit.

RevenantBacon

@GcL I'm sorry, a what?

GcL

@RevenantBacon If that's not listed as part of your assets you're going to have a difficult time being the dread pirate roberts.

AncientSwordRage

@RevenantBacon I had to look it up, it's a The Princess Bride reference, which is inconceivable.

RevenantBacon

3:27 PM

But why is it called a holocaust cloak?

GcL

I wondered the same thing reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/1v7rmw/…

RevenantBacon

Ah, makes sense to me

GcL

While you're at it, you probably should know about R.O.U.S's. They're one of the secrets of the fire swamp, and if you want to live comfortable there for quite some time, you're going to have to know about them.

RevenantBacon

I don't believe they exist

AncientSwordRage

@GcL alas, work has blocked reddit, because it was taking up too much bandwidth

RevenantBacon

3:30 PM

@AncientSwordRage LMAOOOOOOOOOO

GcL

@RevenantBacon That's how you end up with a nasty bite.... you know... from something completely different I've heard that moose bites are nasty.

AncientSwordRage

@RevenantBacon Apparently it was only until some infrastructure thing in January, but it's still blocked

NautArch

3:54 PM

anyone here play around with the Philips Hue stuff?

AncientSwordRage

4:21 PM

@NautArch not familiar with it

NautArch

@AncientSwordRage Crazy expensive, not sure it's worth it yet

but Wyze has some cheaper bulbs that i want to try for our outdoor fixtures.

AncientSwordRage

oh the lightbulbs

NautArch

Be neat to autmoate those and make 'em pretty

oh, ha!

AncientSwordRage

@NautArch apropos of nothing I assumed that was the name of an RPG designer/developer

NautArch

@AncientSwordRage That would actually be relephant to this room. We don't do that here!

AncientSwordRage

4:24 PM

@NautArch hah

Thomas Markov

The delete and undelete vote queues are pretty full, if any of you 20k+ folks want to do some garbage collecting rpg.stackexchange.com/tools

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov Needs me another cool 8k before I get access

Xirema

5:02 PM

@ThomasMarkov TBH, for most of those, they seem like spurious votes I'd rather just let expire.

Especially in the cases of the "Bad" answers in the queue that were voted for deleting: I'd rather bad answers stay, instead of being deleted, unless there's something actively abusive about the post (spam, harassment, etc.) that merits deletion.

NautArch

@Xirema wrong answers should stay. Unsupported answers should go.

Carcer

@NautArch not personally but I have a friend who has his house rigged up with them

NautArch

@Carcer are they happy with it?

Other than spending an obscene amount?

Carcer

he seems to like having them

NautArch

I wanted to try some out, but I'm thinking of just starting with Wyze bulbs for the two outdoor lights and see I how I like the general idea.

but the whole Hue system is pretty cool.

and I like that they have physical switches, too.

Carcer

5:11 PM

does stuff like have the lights in the living room sync colour with the TV display, the lights in his bedroom/office are set to change colour at various times of day as a sort of low-key alarm/time reminder

Medix2

@NautArch I'm not sure if I should include the abilities or not tbh... It would feel... like a lot of unneeded text being added

Carcer

(he is a software engineer so I don't know how much of this is stuff that you can just do with hue already and how much is stuff he wrote to tiffle their API)

NautArch

@Medix2 i' not sure we should have started an answer, either :)

Medix2

@NautArch I'm spiteful with list-seeking questions XD

GcL

@Carcer I've always had issues with long lived IoT devices. They've been difficult, if possible, to update. It was specifically a problem for a bunch of lights and cameras installed on the exterior of our building. Vendor "solution" was to turn off wifi and put them on an internet inaccessible private network.

Carcer

5:20 PM

@GcL yeah... my guy pre-emptively puts all of that stuff on an unrouted private network

GcL

Which is fine for people that have the skills to do that, if a bit of a pain in the butt. For most consumers, they don't even know they've got vulnerable equipment happily chirping out it's presence.

Thomas Markov

5:35 PM

Why was this closed?

It was originally vtc'd because there was no system, but it looks like that got carried through the queue even after the system was added.

@NautArch here's a good answer for you to delete

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov Wait, how are you able to cast a delete vote on that?

Thomas Markov

idk but i did

the button was there

Medix2

11

Q: 20k users can vote to delete negatively voted accepted answers

20k users can vote to delete answers with a score of -1 or lower (at any time, I believe), but the voting lacks a check to see if the answer is an accepted answer. IIRC, accepted answers have to be unaccepted before being deleted, even by mods, so such a delete vote should be disallowed completel...

bug status-bydesign answers vote-to-delete trusted-user

Thomas Markov

flexin

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov and lo, it was deleted

@GcL This is actually what i'm most concerned about

my network is, i think, fairly locked down.

but if i open doors, then those doors are open

GcL

5:53 PM

@NautArch The first thing to see if you can do is find instructions on how to update the software or firmware of the devices. If you can find that, that's a good sign for the near future. The second issue is betting that the device will be supported by the vendor for the lifetime you expect to operate it.

NautArch

@GcL The Hue stuff seems to have had the update issue on v1 (they announced they will no longer be updating and turned off internet access to the hub.) But they have said the V2 is 'future-proof.

Grain of salt, of course.

Also looking at the Wyze stuff to play around. THat's MUCH cheaper.

GcL

Anyone that says life is fair .... or future proof... is selling something.

NautArch

yep

that's why I'm leaning more to just playing around with the Wyze stuff. I don't get everything i want, but it's a much cheaper entry and I won't be upset if it stops working.

GcL

The novelty of it will likely wear off before that happens.

NautArch

yeah. And for the big thing, it really is outdoor lighting and maybe a couple of indoor lights.

A switch to control them would be mighty nice but I think only Hue has those.

GcL

5:56 PM

A timer and motion sensor for outdoor lights will probably get you 95% of what you need.

Motion sensor for lighting not street facing, and timers for street facing lights was the advice I was given.

NautArch

We're fairly rural, so it's less about motion sensing an dmore just about a schedule - which is a timer thing.

The color control is just fun, though!

GcL

Color controls are fun... type type typing on a RGB keyboard.

Thomas Markov

6:25 PM

Is my question okay as a single post even though its technically two questions?

Medix2

They feel related enough I'm just... confused by it XD

RevenantBacon

It seems fine to me, although I suspect that the answer is "He was transformed by a Whish, which doesn't have to follow the same rules as, say Polymorph"

Medix2

I also don't know if "he was polymorphed" implies the actual polymorph spells were used...

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 Right, which an examination of the actual circumstances, if they have ever been recorded in the lore should tell us.

Medix2

Also TIL morphology is is a Bio term as well as a Linguistics term

RevenantBacon

6:30 PM

All we really know is that the end result is that he's an otter because of the Wish spell, which basically tosses the rules on the floor, lights them on fire, and dances on them.

Medix2

Eh, he's not an otter because of wish; he remained an otter because of it

Thomas Markov

The tidbits of lore in Avernus tell us that wish was used to make the existing effect permanent, not that wish made him an otter.

Medix2

Well, wish was used at least to make the effect permanent. I honestly have no idea whether he had the Archmage statblock while he was an Otter but before the wish spell was used

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 why would he wish to be permanent if he thought he wouldnt be able to cast spells? Or did he do a two-for-one on the wish?

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov The twofer was my implication

Thomas Markov

6:33 PM

But wait, what if he's the one that cast the wish?

Medix2

Do we know that he was?

Thomas Markov

IDK thats my point

its a wildly interesting character back story.

Medix2

Watch this character have just never been mentioned before, ever

Hmmm: forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Traxigor

Thomas Markov

wowwwwwwwwwww

So nothing

Medix2

Not sure how accurate that Wiki is, but seemingly, yeah

Looking through the adventure, I didn't find anything either

RevenantBacon

6:39 PM

The likely scenario is this: He polymorphed into an otter by some means. The polymorph wore off. He then decided that he enjoyed being an otter so much that he wanted to be one permanently. Since any normal sources of polymorphing don't allow spellcasting, he Wished to be transformed into an otter while retaining his ability to cast spells.

Thomas Markov

I feel like Chris Perkins probably said to an intern passing in the hallway, "hey make an interesting background for an archmage and email it to me in 5 minutes" and then didnt flesh it out past that.

RevenantBacon

@ThomasMarkov This theoretical intern was certainly successful

Medix2

He also can't cast wish :(

RevenantBacon

@Medix2 Maybe he used to be able to, and can't anymore because he cast Wish

NautArch

Wow. Going through old drawers and found a pocket knife I got from Adobe Go Live.

Thomas Markov

6:52 PM

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, Ravenloft campaign setting announced

GcL

7:08 PM

@ThomasMarkov Wish is the dues ex magica of D&D. It does whatever the DM, author, or plot line wants it to do.

Medix2

The answer still doesn't explain how he cast wish. I feel like it should mention that...

GcL

@Medix2 scroll? ring? genie? someone else wished that he could cast wish once....

Medix2

Yes, and the answer never mentions that, I left a comment

GcL

As soon as I read "wish" in the description of some plot device in D&D, I just read it as "this is how it is because magic"

Can't any caster use a scroll if the spell is on their class list?

Medix2

Yes, and the answer, as I said, never mentions that. But I'm not sure how that works for monsters honestly

Thomas Markov

7:13 PM

My issue with the answer is that it speculates about the wish beyond what the cited material states.

GcL

I think the DMG has a bit about that. I might be misremembering from previous editions.

@ThomasMarkov You can't over speculate about wish. It's reality bending/breaking/putting back to gether/and playing basketball with.

RevenantBacon

@Medix2 Do you mean "How did he cast it since it's not on the Archmage spell list"? because i can answer you that right now

GcL

It's a little know piece of trivia that Space Jam was a the result of a wish spell.

Medix2

@RevenantBacon Oh?

RevenantBacon

he first thing to remember is that Archmages are Wizards

Which means they have spellbooks

and prepare spells

Medix2

7:15 PM

If you gave them class levels and everything, sure

But they have a statblock. I'm unsure what the MM and other books say about NPCs changing out their prepared spells (if anything) though...

RevenantBacon

Remember that the books specifically call out that a DM (or author in this case) is allowed to change spells on their lists for other spells of equivalent levels

GcL

@ThomasMarkov Found it. DMG p92 goes on about "... for many generic NPCs that you can customize as you see fit"

Medix2

And the adventure also explicitly details the one change to his statblock

RevenantBacon

Since we know he prepares spells off of the Wizard list

GcL

The DM found it fitting to customize the NPC as on otter that had cast wish at some point in the past.

RevenantBacon

7:17 PM

> The archmage can cast Disguise Self and Invisibility at will and has the following Wizard Spells prepared:

Thomas Markov

@GcL Right, I was wondering if there was an universe explnation.

Medix2

And no part of the statblock says he can prepare different Wizard spells or anything of the sort

GcL

@ThomasMarkov I don't understand how wish is not an explanation for how something came to be?

RevenantBacon

@ThomasMarkov Pretty sure the in universe explanation is "He's a wizard who cast Wish on himself to be an otter forever because he liked being an otter"

Medix2

Regardless, the adventure does say how his statblock differs from a typical Archmage statblock, and adding wish is not one of the changes listed

Thomas Markov

7:19 PM

@GcL Because the material Ive read says what he used wish for.

RevenantBacon

@Medix2 Maybe it's because he can't cast it anymore (33% chance, after all) so he no longer bothers to prepare it?

Medix2

I wonder if we have a question "Can Archmages prepare other spells?"

GcL

@ThomasMarkov What you cite doesn't even say he cast it.

RevenantBacon

@Medix2 I think that's covered by a question we have on if you can swap spells out on NPCs

Thomas Markov

Yeah, what I cite doesnt say much at all, so the whole point of the question is to find details form other sources.

RevenantBacon

7:20 PM

Covered by default, I mean

Medix2

Ah, we do

GcL

@RevenantBacon or the DMG under "customize as you see fit" so... anything you want

Medix2

I don't think the "customize as you see fit" makes sense when we actually are told what customizational changes were made...

RevenantBacon

@Medix2 Sure it does, it's just the author who did the customization, rather than the DM

Medix2

Maybe I'm not making sense... oh well

The author tells us what makes Traxigor different from a typical Archmage. It lists all of the differences between his statblock and a regular Archmage statblock. wish is not mentioned. That's my point, but I think I'm just kinda done now

RevenantBacon

7:23 PM

no, I get you. Wish isn't listed

There are plenty of reasons why that could be though

Maybe it's just a balance thing, the author didn't want the players to have access to an ally that could cast Wish before they could do so themselves

Maybe they forgot

Maybe they decided that the otter couldn't cast Wish anymore because he got the 33% roll, but didn't flesh it out.

Unfortunately, we can only speculate on why it's not part of his stat block

Medix2

And I think the question is asking for answers to mention those options and address the fact that there are no other sources/citations to pull from which... I don't think the current answer does

Thomas Markov

@RevenantBacon unless there is lore that explains it that we havent found yet.

RevenantBacon

But we do know that Wish was used to facilitate him being an otter mage, and since he's effectively a Wizard, it makes sense to attribute the casting to him.

@ThomasMarkov fair, but odds are there isn't since this is the first mention of him that we know of.

Thomas Markov

Speculating on how the wish was used does not answer the question.

So yall see the new Ravenloft campaign setting announcement?

RevenantBacon

As a side note, does the book make any mention of him having a spellbook?

Medix2

7:32 PM

Not that I found

Thomas Markov

256 pages

I really just wish they would make a SCAG 2

RevenantBacon

@Medix2 Well, not overly surprising, I don't think a single NPC has had a spellbook listed in their gear in 5e, except for maybe one of the ones from one of those old module remakes.

@ThomasMarkov Electric Boogaloo

Thomas Markov

Their campaign settings have gotten a lot better since SCAG, the Sword Coast needs a fresh treatment

@RevenantBacon dndbeyond.com/search?q=spellbook&f=monsters&c=monsters

There are several 5e statblocks with spellbooks.

Someone_Evil

Not strictly stat block, and 7 mentions where at least two are negative (=saying they don't have spellbooks)

RevenantBacon

That's not many mentions considering how long 5e's been around, although I'm sure that search doesn't cover everything

And it seems that at least 4 of the 7 are from Rime of the Frost maiden, which indicates to me that they only recently realized they hadn't been including them, or perhaps they had different authors for that book who still think of spellbooks as relevant loot

Which, BTW, is kind of a big oversight IMO. It kinda sucks to be a wizard who's hole thing is having a spellbook with a big selection of spells that they can change daily and never get the opportunity to actually capitalize on the feature.

Thomas Markov

7:53 PM

@RevenantBacon Id blame DMs before blaming Wizards for this one.

When considering playing a wizard, I'd say something like, "Hey DM, I'm thinking of playing a wizard, but it sure would suck if I never got to take advantage of the feature that let's me copy spells into my spellbook. So tell me now if you;re going to be stingy".

Someone_Evil

Are we talking about PC wizards or NPC wizards?

Thomas Markov

Yes

RevenantBacon

The thing is, Wizards should already be including spellbooks in loot tables. How many pre-con adventures are there? And spellbooks are, as far as we can tell, only mentioned 7 times total, and over half are in the same adventure.

2

Wizards has absolutely dropped the ball on this one.

I'd especially blame Wizards because 5e brought lots and lots of new players to the game, which means it also brought lots and lots of new DM's to the game, many of who it probably wouldn't have occurred to these new DM's that spellbooks were loot.

I know that spellbooks are important loot for a wizard to expand their spell list, but I've been playing D&D for almost 2 decades. Some of these new DM's have only been playing for a few years

And without a precedent to show them that spellbooks should be included as loot, odds are good that they won't think of it on their own

Someone_Evil

8:08 PM

Of note, that 7 comes from DDB including it in their monster entry, which isn't super consistent data for their inclusion in adventures

Though wizards getting (non-spellscroll) spells as item rewards is a bit between the lines/pages of the material, I'll grant you

Mark Wells

@RevenantBacon it's because they expect everyone to be playing a warlock or bard by now

Thomas Markov

@MarkWells 19 Bard with a 1 level hexblade dip

Mark Wells

@ThomasMarkov and if you want any other spells, you just Magical Secrets them!

Thomas Markov

@MarkWells Obviously to take wish at 18 and have every 8th and under spell.

Mark Wells

at times like this, our policy about offensive language really chafes

Thomas Markov

8:17 PM

y tho

Mark Wells

Never mind. I'm going to let it go and talk about my Feng Shui one-shot. So I had semi-planned the final big action sequence to be storming JPL in Pasadena (where the bad guys had built a magical portal to the moon in Jack Parsons' old office) so that we can have an epic kung fu battle on the moon. As it worked out, none of that happened.

KorvinStarmast

@Medix2 you are correct, see also the rules text on Wild Shape

@RevenantBacon an excellent answer

RevenantBacon

@KorvinStarmast To quote myself "If it can't be explained by normal application of logic and physics, a wizard did it."

KorvinStarmast

@GcL that's a feature, not a bug. This isn't a computer game and physics doesn't apply. 😎

Mark Wells

But when they discovered that the bad guys were trying to get to the moon, one of the players said "We should just go to JPL and steal a rocket" and I busted up laughing at the accidental foreshadowing.

KorvinStarmast

8:25 PM

@Medix2 elsewhere in the MM, it says exactly that. change the spells as needed (guidance to DM)

RevenantBacon

@MarkWells Ha, nice

Mark Wells

In hindsight I should have nudged them to try it. It would have flipped the timetable in an interesting way.

RevenantBacon

They get to the moon first and set a trap

KorvinStarmast

@RevenantBacon This also

Hot RPG Questions

9:28 PM

5

Q: What effect does learning a spell have for a sorcerer?

I've read and reread Learn a Spell several times, and I just don't understand it. For a wizard, it makes sense - the wizard adds the spell to their spellbook. But for both of the other options, I don't understand what effect it has. From the feat: If you have a spellbook, Learning a Spell lets y...

spells pathfinder-2e

Ben

10:24 PM

@ThomasMarkov I was, yeah.

Had a meeting with some folks from Pasadena

They were nice enough to get out of bed at 6.30 to meet up with me, so that was greatly appreciated 😅

On a separate topic, I might be late to the party on this, but I just realized that with the win + . option to add emojis, that makes things of r🐘s much easier to point out

Yuuki

10:56 PM

@KorvinStarmast physics barely apply in computer games as it is

Ben

@Yuuki Soulsborne is a perfect example. "See that ogre that's twice your size vertically and 4 times you size horizontally? Once he's dead, you'll be able to kick him a round like a pool toy"

trogdor

Lol

Ben

So my Forge Cleric Warforged character in my new game is a hit. He's Lawful Neutral, so he follows the rules to a T... but that depends on how you explain the rules.

I caused more problems for the party than a chaotic evil rogue in our last game. Everyone loved it XD

Rule 1: We don't look at other people in this bar, it attracts unwanted attention
Me: [Looks at the floor when confronting the Dragonborn KnightGuard and telling him to leave us alone]

Yuuki

11:13 PM

that's programming for you, GIGO

Ben

Rule 2: we do not draw our weapons here. The rule of "first drawn" means you're looking for a fight.
Me: [Yells out "FIRST DRAWN" when the head of the assassin's guild moves to protect their mark when clearly approached by another party member]

TheDragonOfFlame

@kviiri lol we tried. There where more enemies at the dungeon entrance

Ben

Rule 3: Rule 2 does not apply to them
Me: [When another member of the assassins guild emerges when weapons fully drawn - internal conflicts arise]

Yuuki

TheDragonOfFlame

Aragorns is better

Ben

11:17 PM

The point is that they did it together, it's a group activity

Heyo @linksassin, been a while!

linksassin

@Ben G'day how you going?

I've been around, just not in chat so much as I've been busy with actual work.

Ben

Been busy as heck. The only reason I'm having an actual conversation rather than doing my usual drop in/say hey/drop out is because I'm out of town, with nothing to do except wait for a meeting. Lol

linksassin

@Ben Work trip or holiday?

Ben

Half and half? Lol

linksassin

Holiday on company money then? That's always good.

Ben

11:25 PM

It is a work trip, but I'm just waiting on them, so I have nothing to do until they're ready. Accommodation fully paid for, food and fuel covered, I get to sit around until they're ready to meet with me.

@linksassin Pretty much haha

They even booked out the master suite for little old me

linksassin

There are worse ways to spend your time.

Hot RPG Questions

11:54 PM

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Q: Can you know the damage before teleporting with Cleric Peace Domain Lvl6 Protective Bond?

At level 6 when you get the ability to teleport to other bonded creatures to take their incoming damage do you get to know the damage value before you teleport? For instance Player 1 is bonded to Player 2. If Player 2 is attacked by a goblin wielding a shortbow and the goblin rolls a successful ...

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