dnd-discussion

[gaunt roost]

I guess greatwyrms still have more range than that though. God why do they always need to bully the tarrasque

[glad barn]

Also, a tarrasque who didnt burrow when dragons were flying was kind of a dumb one >_>

[gaunt roost]

yeah tarrasque needs to burrow away which is sad

[glad barn]

They can take down mountains. Theyre fine lol.

They can't die anymore either, apparently.

[gaunt roost]

I miss the 3.5 tarrasque feature of. JUMP. tarrasque moves like 600 feet and then does a multiattack with grapple. Nom.

[glad barn]

4e Tarrasque was the scariest, stat wise.

Something like 1200 HP and 51 AC iirc. Just dumb 4e things.

Its what happens when you add level into multiplier calculations >_>

[gaunt roost]

they used to be quite immortal beforehand, too. Well sorta, you needed a wish spell with a really lucky roll after to keep it dead (for a time)

[glad barn]

Yeah, it's just default tarrasque behavior now. Go back to respawn.

[gaunt roost]

4e had a HP Inflation problem. "How do we scale higher level monsters right" "Just give them more HP lol" "But wont that mean they need to wail on them for 15 turns" "Yeah so they know its a hard fight"

[snow agate]

i feel like tarrasques were always the kind of thing you do in a oneshot but never actually have in a campaign

[gaunt roost]

Tarrasques are a great threat for a campaign, but their behaviour is, well, godzilla like

[lean wigeon]

mm3 fixes this

[glad barn]

Its a Tier 4 thing when youre kind of running out of track

[gaunt roost]

sleeping for years at a time and then waking up to eat your house within 3 days, then going back to hiding underground

[glad barn]

Its a good way to be like "Hey, Icewind Dale is about to disappear if you dont do something"

Just a set piece battle, really. Half the fun of fighting a tarrasque is that its knocking over hills and towers and junk

Usually while demolishing 5-10 commoners that are 'helping' the adventurers each round

[gaunt roost]

Remember, if your tarrasque is staying up beyond 5 days in one rampagne, something has agitated it. Try to find the source of the agitation, as staying up after 3 days is bad for their health and will lead to their carapace losing their sheen, as well as other health concerns. A rested tarrasque is a happy tarrasque.

[sleek cloud]

Don’t feed the tarrasque after midnight

[vale sage]

Have you heard of ziz? Lol

[lavish flame]

did anyone hear about the D&D video game that just released? Dungeons and Dragons: Battlemarked just released, but I heard nothing about it leading up til now

[gaunt roost]

its one of the main reasons why you can have entire siege battles based around fending off a tarrasque without actually killing/seriously wounding it in any way. If you are too much of a nuisance or it can get its food otherwise, and it retreats, its unlikely to come back for another ten years or so

[gaunt roost]

its... a deckbuilder boardgame coop game?

[jovial badger]

imma check it out

[gaunt roost]

no idea, didnt hear anything about it, but it looks like they stole gloomhavens concept?

[jovial badger]

its on steam?

[lavish flame]

yup its on steam

[jovial badger]

aw im too poor for that

[vale sage]

Also I like the Welsh name

[lavish flame]

while indeed it is White in Welsh, I got this name from the Dark Souls series lmao

[gaunt roost]

well 29 bucks for a new released game isnt too bad I guess

[jovial badger]

anyone got a master tier membership (share purchased content with ppl in your campaign) that has purchased Eberron: Rising from the Last War

[jovial badger]

im poooooooooooooor

[vale sage]

My name is also Welsh too, it means drunk (I love dark souls and I am also Welsh)

[gaunt roost]

but only 41 ratings rn, 40% of which are bad, did they do no marketing at all=

[gaunt roost]

is the new one already out?

[lavish flame]

no Forge of the Artificer comes out Dec 9

[gaunt roost]

Well you are a kobold, just steal some of your masters hoard. Either they dont notice and you are good, or they do notice and then you are also no longer poor

[jovial badger]

master dont got eberron

[gaunt roost]

I will not pretend that Artorias the Abysswalker has not greatly influenced by taste in sword and board fighters ever since I did my first dark souls playthrough based on him

[vale sage]

Manus has influenced my mage, wizard and magic tastes permanently

[snow agate]

elden ring influenced my taste in clerics because i played a zweihander faith build and it made the game too easy

[vale sage]

I found my favorite souls spell ever in a non from soft game

[lean wigeon]

faith builds are just so good in souls games in general

[gaunt roost]

it was a great first dark souls experience. I got the shield first, my brother gave me his sifs soul so I got the holy sword to hit ghosts and the best greatshield in the game

then I of course tried to get all of the three possible artorias greatswords in the game by any means possible

[snow agate]

its just extra good in elden ring, because the zweihander has extreme reach and stagger which helps often, and then for annoying enemies you have lightning and fire, sacred blade crushes unholy enemies, and health regen is good against literally every boss

great time

[gaunt roost]

and his armor set. I also dabbled in some int builds because the swords scaled better with int than str. Go figure. Was a fun time blasting at all distances

[vale sage]

In elden ring my favorite build was just pure strength and endurance

Using the giant crusher

[snow agate]

what sold me on faith was getting to lightning spear every single enemy i found annoying

[lilac olive]

we haven't gotten a new main class since the bard

[high mesa]

oh my god faith builds are so sick

[gaunt roost]

uh. The warlock and artificer only exist since 3.5? Bard was a thing since 1e if Im not wrong?

[vale sage]

I used to like faith in elden ring but then I tried faith in lords of the fallen. I summon a blood tornado

[snow agate]

look

[high mesa]

i still remember grinding for darkmoon blade in ds3

[lilac olive]

i have a idea oh im stupid

[snow agate]

i had enough of the sword birds in that one castle

[vale sage]

Controversial, I didn't enjoy ds3

[gaunt roost]

Even more controversial, I really enjoyed ds2

[vale sage]

I enjoyed ds2

[lean wigeon]

bard was the first prestige class iirc

[vale sage]

Bloodborne was my favorite souls game

[high mesa]

^

[vale sage]

Arcane and bloodtinge were awesome

[gaunt roost]

I had a lot of fun with a dark magic build in ds2. I know people complained about shields not blocking 100% of everything anymore, but that meant magic builds were more viable in general pvp without using things like dark bead

[gaunt roost]

cries in no PS3

[vale sage]

Bro you can get it PS4/ps5

PS3 thing is demon souls

[gaunt roost]

I dont have either of those, I switched from console to PC...

[vale sage]

No same don't worry

It's just bloodborne is literally elden ring levels of peak

[snow agate]

how long do you guys take to deliberate on a character for dnd

[woven flint]

True chads do Strength Builds in the Soulsborne games

[gaunt roost]

at this point i have seen so many spoilers of bloodborne that I basically know all about it without having ever played it or watching a lets play

[snow agate]

true chads pick gear based on if it looks cool

[high mesa]

i'm a dex/skill abuser i can't lie

[vale sage]

Depends on the game tbh, in ds3 the real chads do luck builds lmao

[gaunt roost]

deliberate? Like, consider all my options?

[snow agate]

yes like how much time to finalize it

[sour needle]

Hi guys does Anyone have a newbie group I can join really want to try dnd

[vale sage]

Bloodtinge and arcane are peak

[snow agate]

no we dont you go to #looking-for-players

[sour needle]

Ohhh

[snow agate]

is ok

[sour needle]

Thanks

[woven flint]

It depends, I was pretty set on my Tortle Knowledge Cleric for Dragon Heist/Dungeon of the Mad Mage

But now that my Noble Genies Paladin is dead in another Campaign, I'm struggling to figure out what the hell to replace him with lol

I was like
Right away with the Tortle Cleric, and I've been pondering for two days now with the other guys replacement

[high mesa]

sometimes a long time, sometimes not long at all depending on how soon i know about a campaign before i start playing in it

[snow agate]

yeah i get it because i usually have like 2-3 main ideas i wanna do, then take like 3 days to figure that out, then take like another 3 days deciding between options for backstory

[gaunt roost]

About two weeks. If I need to rush a character, I can do that in 30 minutes. But if I invest in it, then yeah, I consider my options wayyyyy to long and go over possible ways to go.

[snow agate]

im glad its not just me 🤣

[torn ledge]

How would I home brew a bear Druid, it’s a bear that is a Druid that can wild shape into different races

[vale sage]

Yk after playing all of the souls games I don't judge people for their builds. I only reserve that for pvp

[lilac olive]

slow down please id like to say something please

[high mesa]

cause i learned about a campaign i was going to be in, and i've swapped through like 7 different character ideas before finally settling on one just a few days ago

[snow agate]

nobody is stopping you from saying something

[lilac olive]

what if there was a new main class called the worker a class built around doing more tasks then combat and helping others in doing a task like giving another player a bonus action or speeding up building something or constructing something like that could shake up the playing field in a way the other classes haven't done before

[torn ledge]

Good idea bad idea?

[gaunt roost]

Sir Bearington, I see. Just build a goliath, say its a bear and communicate in roars and paw gestures

[vale sage]

I want a class that specifically sucks at everything

[high mesa]

yeah tbh would be cool to have a purely support based class, but most people don't like doing pure support unofrtunately

[snow agate]

im not your dm you should ask your dm if you can play a bear

[torn ledge]

You sir know ball

[torn ledge]

I did and they said it was ok

[gaunt roost]

2014 ranger then? Joking aside, multiclass as many classes as you can, so that none can actually do stuff

[snow agate]

ok ask em to help you stat it out since theyre your dm and a bear is an animal

[woven flint]

I want a Strength Unarmed class!

Slowly looks over at the Third Party Pugilist vlass

My beloved...

[lilac olive]

the dunce class

[woven flint]

Just play a Ranger /joking

[vale sage]

Also tbh most DND classes don't appeal to me other than the barbarian

[snow agate]

yeah im getting peer pressured because this group finished their ideas in like a day and im like bro 😭

theyre not mean about it i just think i should hurry up

[high mesa]

i mean just keep thinking about it, and when you sit down with your character sheet you'll come to your decision

[snow agate]

ive already sat down with it wdym

[lean wigeon]

this would be good in any other ttrpg that isn't focused on combat like D&D is

[high mesa]

until i became super solid on an idea i was just gonna roll 1d6 for my ideas and pick whichever it landed on lol

[tawdry sentinel]

I haven't even looked at what tavern brawler does for 2024 but I assume there's no way of sticking that on a barb and not just massively be shooting yourself in the foot?

[gaunt roost]

you do know that classes are only on paper, its what you make of the character that defines them, right? If you dont care about "optimal" builds you can care even less. Build a fighter that just punches with his plate gauntlets for 1d4. Barbarian with cestus or brass knuckles. Monk with attitude problem

[woven flint]

D&D but it's literally just Fallout: New Vegas

I'd like to do a Fallout-esk campaign set in Eberron but post-apocalyptic 🧐

[high mesa]

if you talk with your dm with a specific goal in mind, if you have an underpowered strategy you want to make work for your character fantasy, they might homebrew a magic item to make it more palatable

[vale sage]

I just like bonk

[snow agate]

the light and dark path of playing a serious character or a gremlin

[lilac olive]

oh wise follower of bonk

[woven flint]

All of my characters have a minute bit of gremlin in them

[gaunt roost]

Go monk. Get the stats right, and you dont need to worry about a) weapons, every part (yes, every part) of your body is your weapon dealing set damage, b) you dont need to worry about armor, your bonk stat can be helpful for armor, c) you get in bonk distance faster, d) you can spend your one ressource to bonk more often

[woven flint]

My Noble Genies Paladin was a treasure fiend, but he wouldn't go as far to steal from mosoleums or anything like that for example

[sleek cloud]

A mausoleum,even

[gaunt roost]

I have never seen someone write mausoleum like that

[snow agate]

if i was an adventurer i would absolutely screw around and be a gremlin

[woven flint]

I dunno how to spell the damn word!
Leave me alone >:[

[lilac olive]

its ok

[woven flint]

Alas, most of my parties are people that screw around so I've gotta be the structured one 💀

[snow agate]

most of my parties say they wanna be serious so i gotta be serious too 😔

[sleek cloud]

I’m in that boat. I’m the relatively straight shooter nice guy in a party of absolute heathens

[woven flint]

Me, lord of silly, having to be the serious one!

[gaunt roost]

You. Titled LORD OF SILLY. Need to be the structured one. Also, take it from me, you dont want to be the straight man constantly, its a role that needs to be passed around or you will feel bad

[woven flint]

I like playing serious characters tbh
I like being silly outside of games

[snow agate]

like let me drink random potions and ragebait enemies and make deals i really shouldnt

[lean wigeon]

it would be nice if going for an unarmed knight build didn't handicap your mechanical ability in combat

[gaunt roost]

because at some point you will feel like you need to say no to everything because they expect you to and then its less funny because you cannot also come up with insane plans

[high mesa]

i also think it's very much a spectrum, you don't have to be 100% serious and you don't have to be 100% gremlin, you can be both

[snow agate]

i agree completely its tiring

because then what happens is the gremlins will specifically target you to get a rise out of you

[woven flint]

I don't mind it, really

I don't mind being the serious one
It makes people more liable to take my characters ideas into mind occasionally :p

[gaunt roost]

Yeah. From "Hm we could try a distraction" it goes to "WHAT IF WE SET THE ORPHANAGE ON FIRE, I ALREADY PLACED THE BOMBS" because they know you will shoot it down because its your job to prevent mass casulties

[snow agate]

ive had to start playing more gremlin because tbh im tired of players acting like im their dad, or like im preventing them from doing stuff, or pushing the envelope exactly like you said. i have to outfreak them so they knock it off

[timid current]

That sounds like a session zero failure

[snow agate]

i would call it a rogue/wizard/warlock/bard existing failure

[lilac olive]

i got a question do you got a spot open in any campaigns cause id like to join one ive been trying all day and i cant post in looking for a dm for 6 days so im kinda limited on options

[woven flint]

My Warforged, Vanguard was very much No nonsense, but the moments he did crack jokes or be sassy was more impactful because of the fact, methinks

[sleek cloud]

Think about it this way.
Tokii, lord of silly, being the one to play the serious structured,serious one, is in fact, a silly thing in and of itself, because of the irony of it all

Therefore he’s just making an advanced effort to live up to his own lordliness by surpassing the normal expectations of silliness

[snow agate]

i like playing characters with serious occupations who are silly :p

[woven flint]

I mean, in one party I'm in, my Dragonborn Fighter is in a Relationship with another PC's Kobold Monk and my fella has to be the wise and/or smart one because his boyfriend isn't that bright and has almost gotten killed a few times

[snow agate]

yeah thats tiring 😔 id let him die

[gaunt roost]

See, you cannot have drama with shenanigans. You need silly shenanigans to also have impactful drama. So you need character that take things seriously occasionally going "flip it, we ball" and ride a carriage full of alchemist fire into the castles banquet hall, and you need the bards philandering their way into the queens chambers to take a somber moment when he hears her sad backstory about being married off as a political hostage. Otherwise neither character and player can get the full experience

[woven flint]

He even gave his name to a FEY for Christsake.

[snow agate]

i did that too because it was funny

[woven flint]

Orizontas wouldn't let Vakbo die, they're lovers lmao

[snow agate]

all the fey did was change one letter

[neat kelp]

Best dynamic

[lean wigeon]

gay dragons

[woven flint]

He even surrendered a Valuable Magic item once because he didn't want his party to die in a fight against Bandits

Orizontas is byfar one of my more selfless characters, good Copper Dragonborn boyo

[snow agate]

i like playing holy men or soldiers or monster hunters or (other serious things) because when you have a serious profession, it gives you so much room to screw around, and you screwing around ends up sort of pushing the miscreants in the party to start behaving, because they fear what you're capable of doing if left alone

this is also known as being a troll dad

[gaunt roost]

My players were once shocked when they were accidentally teleported into a cave with not one, but two ancient dragons at level 6. Shortly after the dragons started bickering among themselves, one of the players went "wait... are they just an old lesbian couple? They act like they have been married for decades" and yes, that was the entire plot of that particular cave, gay grandma dragons being happy to have visitors

[meager fractal]

The giant octopus is pretty beastly against low level parties.

[snow agate]

i appreciate selfless chars

selfish characters can end up being really obnoxious in a co-op game :p

[gaunt roost]

Selfish is in tries to be overly self-reliant? Good. Can learn and grow out of that. Selfish as in throws others under the rolling purply wurm? Bad, dont endanger others unnecessarily, dont start big fights you cannot win and expect the party to become criminals for you

[woven flint]

At least TWO of my characters have given their lives for the sake of others

K'ura, My Aarakocra Warlock
And
Jabal, My Earth Gebasi Paladin

[snow agate]

last time my party got arrested for being criminals i told the jailers to keep them there another couple days just to spook em xD

[gaunt roost]

Brick, my earth genasi monk, was eaten by a second T-Rex, while the party escaped, after he knocked the first T-rex the heck out

[woven flint]

My Birdy and Stony Chads...

[gaunt roost]

he died as he lived, trying to pet the animals

also protecting his party or whatever

[snow agate]

i feel pretty proud of my death ratio

i think ive only ever had a pc die like twice

[woven flint]

I've had three character deaths.

Jabal, K'ura and, Maloche, my Changeling Spirits Bard, but he was actually revived by the "antagonist" in that campaign to make a deal

[high mesa]

i've had one character death, and that's mostly because i rolled a 1 a 1 and a 2 for my hp bonuses on a wizard so i had 10 max hp at level 4

[terse rapids]

When a fey know your name they own you. So my character was raised by sea Fey so they named me. is this a loop hole or a bigger screw over?

[snow agate]

ask ur dm

[woven flint]

All of my characters that have died were relatively high level

[gaunt roost]

its not "knowing" your name, its "having" your name. A fey can read about you, can get your name from someone else, but unless you accidentally or willingly hand it over, they dont get any power over you

[woven flint]

Jabal was level 11

K'ura was Level 20!
He's the reason for his own death, but he killed the BBEG too lol.

[snow agate]

i run into the Serie situation where every time i take a risk it works out

[gaunt roost]

a fae that named you quite literally GAVE you a name, it would be against hospitality rules to take it back

[snow agate]

so i usually only die if like its overwhelming odds or holding the line or something dramatic

[gaunt roost]

taking back a gift freely given would put them ins o much trouble

[snow agate]

also remember if a fey is toxic and uses your politeness against you, you can just kill them @terse rapidsand they deserve it

[still plover]

Not died, but my fighter Alexis got retired after he searched a dead assassin and discovered a broken vial of contact poison. Level... 8 or so?

[terse rapids]

So im good? Like my characters parents traded baby me for passage out of the feywild. I wasn't named yet

[woven flint]

Maloche literally spat in the Antagonists face, he still took the deal though

Maloche was an absolute chad

[still plover]

It's probably believable. Lots of variation in matters of the fae, asking them to have one set of rules that they unfailingly stick to in spirit and letter is asking the moon to tell you a joke. Ask your DM for verification.

[snow agate]

tbh im usually never rude to npcs as a PC, it feels bad if they're not bad guys, and if they're bad guys then being mean is kind of petty and pointless

[woven flint]

He spat in his face, the guy grew furious and he just said

"And what are you going to do about it? Kill me? Clearly you need me to carry out your plan, it'd be foolish to lay a hand on me."

[gaunt roost]

They legaly own you if they bought you, and you are their pet, but they dont own your name if they gave it to you (though it might have been someone elses name beforehand), and they dont technically need to be in control of you. A cat wanders and comes home while having an owner

[snow agate]

only the fey could buy a person and treat it like a joke

[woven flint]

None of my characters are typically rude.

But you gotta consider with my Maloche fella, The BBEG's henchman was the reason he was killed and they had the Audacity to bring him back to life to plea a deal with him lol

[gaunt roost]

while I agree with the sentiment, I have had the BBEG in a similiar situation pull a "Yes, quite right, I need you. But for my purposes, I suppose you could do with an eye and an ear less, wouldnt you say?" And get a dagger ready

[lavish flame]

New Artificer blogpost has me feeling excited for the class. This is a strange feeling.

[snow agate]

nah im entirely serious, i dont even take intimidation as a skill anymore cuz i dont really use it 😭

[gaunt roost]

(no I didnt do anything beyond that but it drove the message home not to disrespect evil people that currently have power over you)

[woven flint]

The guy wasn't THAT evil, surprisingly, he was pretty reasonable

[snow agate]

i like to be blatantly cordial because if an npc betrays you being sincere and generous with them, well at that point they're asking for it

[woven flint]

The only reason Maloche was revived though is because him..

Like the big bad evil guy and the rest of his cronies were born from
The sins absorbed by the Fog.

Or whatever lmao
Changelings in that homebrew setting were weird

I.. want more character deaths tbh
I feel like they give interesting stories to tell lmao

I may be morbid, but it's interesting to hear how or what a Hero was doing before they met their end

[slow swift]

Are you still looking for an artist?

[umbral girder]

Saw a song made for “Mighty Nein vs Tav’s party” (Critical Role vs Baldur’s Gate 3)

Very neat video.
Mighty Nein is so screwed

[pearl mirage]

Hey
How are you doing ?

[raw ocean]

If you had to say what's the drippiest/fashionable item you can pair with cape of billowing

DM gave us the choice of one common to legendary magical item, and I went with the cape

[umbral girder]

Hat of Vermin

Or the Glamor armor that can look like any clothes

[gaunt roost]

Glammerweave, uncommon variant, you get a cloak of billowing and clothes that can be wrapped in thunder and lightning. You are the storm that is arising

[raw ocean]

Im currently a pixie so would the hat of vermin summon mini-frogs?

[umbral girder]

Glamoured Studded Leather! That's the name.

[raw ocean]

And we have decided that I am 3 inches tall

[umbral girder]

Sounds like a pixie yeah

[raw ocean]

I may be a pixie

[gaunt roost]

glammerweave, uncommon has so much potential for aura farming. Be angry, set yourself on fire! Be sad, have a raincloud accompany you. Be Happy, literally have the sun shining out of your butt. Anything your illusory heart can demand, it offers in a very close range around you

[raw ocean]

You have shown me a great item oh wise capybara.

[snow agate]

Hat of disguise

[timber turtle]

is heart of terrasque a magic item?

[raw ocean]

I consider it an ingredient for crafting

So, soon to be magic item

[gaunt roost]

Which one? One of the three main hearts or one of the 7 side hearts?

[timber turtle]

idk

I just know its an item in dota 2

[raw ocean]

Just be a chad and just eat the heart

[gaunt roost]

"The tarrasque swallows you" "Well I just drank my potion of invulnerability, and I do have a burrow speed..."

[raw ocean]

"The tarrasqu swallows you" "Counter argument, I have 2 bags of holding and a teleport spell set to go off when they collide"

[gaunt roost]

the bag of holding trick doesnt do you any friends, as the tarrasque arrives unharmed and will likely be booted out of the astral plane quickly

I cannot imagine that it has never eaten multiple bags of holding when chowing down on magic item stores, so it likely is used to taking the readily available portals home anyways

[raw ocean]

Hmmmmm

[gaunt roost]

I know a lot of content creators try to sell you the double bag of holding trick as an insta-win button but it doesnt hurt anyone and the astral plane is really not a bad place to be in general, you get to float around and there is plenty of exits

[raw ocean]

My character is immune to acid damage so he starts a new life inside of the tarrasque at the top of it's stomach with thrown together houses

[gaunt roost]

see, now you are talking, thats the spirit

[raw ocean]

[Insert that one piece guy who lives inside of the giant whale]

And I begin a succesful business by setting up a gate to a town, and reselling anything I find [like two level 20 adventurers gear sets per day]

[atomic kayak]

not seen the video but I would think the opposite

[stoic obsidian]

Wait a sec are you talking about crocus?

[raw ocean]

Yep

[gaunt roost]

reminds me of the niche monster that is an ever hungry giant that sprouts more mouths if you wound it that has a portal to an unknown demiplane in its stomach. The guys job is it to eat the flesh mountain that is ever growing in the abyss, and hes the only reason that mountain isnt growing out of control

Dalmosh of the infinite maws, that was that guys name

[raw ocean]

Why not just send the mountain to the elemental plane of fire

Eternal fuel to the flame

[gaunt roost]

supposedly its easier to just jump into his stomach portal when he swallows you whole than to try and get out, but eh

did you miss the part of it being from the abyss? its a fireproof flesh mountain

[stoic obsidian]

What you guys think of Aasimar wild heart barbarian?

[meager fractal]

A bulwark of steel to protect against the harbingers of sin

[glad barn]

The angriest wing flutters.

[stoic obsidian]

Rage doesn’t always mean angry for a barbarian

[gaunt roost]

Aasimar is very fun, barbarians work their role well, sounds good to me

[glad barn]

It does for angry birdbarian

[raw ocean]

Why not just get another mountain that is constantly destroying flesh

so the giant can take a break

[snow agate]

mountain of cockroaches

[stoic obsidian]

A flying barbarian is scary

[raw ocean]

Mountain of waffle house enjoyers

[glad barn]

Waffle House should be a Monk path

[knotty basin]

Flying monks are scarier

[snow agate]

goku

[gaunt roost]

That would work but I dint think that one is canon yet. Old books did have the summoning conditions for hungry giant guy though, basically you need to produce 2 tons of food which he will consume in 12 seconds during which you best get out of dodge because the summon lasts 12 hours and HE IS HUNGRY

[knotty basin]

I mean… yeah.

[meager fractal]

I wonder what types of characters the mods (or others tbh) are playing in games this week

[stoic obsidian]

Or Yamcha, tho he cratering

[snow agate]

"yeah so anyway i grapple the enemy and fly"

[sleek cloud]

Turning this Waffle House into a Waffle Home

[knotty basin]

That trick stops real fast once you have fight anywhere with a ceiling

[gaunt roost]

the mountain appearently eats vermin. Hence no insects being able to thrive there. But its a very little "fleshed" out flesh mountain, so I dunno

[raw ocean]

Im playing 1 fairy rogue, 1 pixie cleric, 1 human bard, and 1 DM

[snow agate]

oh no, how terrible, i guess ill just have to cope with the enemies being in melee range due to being indoors

[raw ocean]

My character ate one apple fritter and he instantly beat every god and ascended to become the one above all

[glad barn]

Im a DM. No PCs, only world :(

I have to settle for 3-4 dozen NPCs instead.

[gaunt roost]

Ceilings? You mean skill issues for things that are slow and weak, just fly harder

[stoic obsidian]

Yeah flight is over rated tbh

[snow agate]

its fun but ive never needed it yuh

[stoic obsidian]

Exactly

[raw ocean]

Yall ever just get a bad vibe when you join campaigns sometimes?

[stoic obsidian]

It fun, but not needed

[snow agate]

yep

[raw ocean]

Like sometimes just how the DM and players talk just give a sense of "This is gonna last for 2 weeks"

[gaunt roost]

its overrated at mid-high level, but its pretty busted at low level. We encountered a shambling mound at like level 3. Owlin of the party solo'd it with cantrips because yeah

[stoic obsidian]

That call a red flag

[meager fractal]

Yeah

[raw ocean]

Like a DM instantly cutting people off and "Remembering" stuff no one mentioned

[snow agate]

hey so i know its session one but anyway let me introduce you to the demigods that are in the setting

[stoic obsidian]

Guess so, but then again why didn’t your dm include a range answer for that on the mound

[gaunt roost]

cutting people off is rude at best, and controlling behaviour at worst. Best be avoided, as the cut off party will get frustrated with that very quickly

[meager fractal]

I think I'm going to give out a bag of tricks in the first session

[raw ocean]

Ive grown to try to speak 2 seconds after everyone goes quiet and people get so angered when I "cut them off" after we spoke at the same time

[gaunt roost]

because random encounter shambling mounts in swampy areas usually dont go around attacking things outside their blindsight range?

[raw ocean]

Then they throw a hissy fit when I don't instantly respond when it gets to my turn in turn order

[snow agate]

ngl its a massive pet peeve when people take 2 minutes to get to the point that couldve been reached in 10 seconds

[stoic obsidian]

Fair, but still gotta admit, why didn’t the dm thought about it?

[raw ocean]

Personal pet peeve is seeing an easy solution and someone just HAS to try their complicated idea that has a 50% chance of working

[stoic obsidian]

They knew the owlin had flight so why didn’t they prepare for it?

[snow agate]

"hey what if we just confront the guy"
"no no no i need to - "

[raw ocean]

"Well actually my ability let's me intercept the attack giving me another tur- WE ARE 1 TURN AWAY FROM KILLING HIM ANYWAYS"

[gaunt roost]

Think about what? Official adventure and it had random encounters? Think about how you need to now give every single enemy in the game 150 foot range attacks? Thats not how the game is supposed to work, thats counterplaying and antagonizing a player, not hte character, for having the option to fly

[raw ocean]

Only thing I can accept cutting into someone else's turn is if you can add a roll onto theirs or stop them from getting damaged

[snow agate]

yeah i think the pet peeve in general is just wasted time. im perfectly fine if you're actually doing stuff, or if you need a moment to think, but if you're slow just due to not having a sense of timeliness its annoying

[stoic obsidian]

It keeping it balance by making a combat challenging for all player so no one can solo it

[raw ocean]

At most a turn should be 2 minutes

[snow agate]

ive played a necromancer in pathfinder with like a dozen minions and my turn was still less than 2 minutes tbh

[raw ocean]

unless it's a boss and they actually need to use every thing they can use

Only reason I take a bit is because I actually search my spell lists for what would be the best

[gaunt roost]

You cant just go "No you cannot use your flight in an open area with range spells" and expect someone else to fly into melee because you would prefer your players not to? There are plenty of winged races that can do that, is the dm supposed to take all non-flying enemies that dont have a roof on their head out of the official book?

[snow agate]

yeah tho you can do that between turns

[raw ocean]

I like too until we have like a 67 turn order and I scroll on my phone

[snow agate]

if your turn order is that bloated the dm needs to condense and abstract

[stoic obsidian]

Or just have something that would challenge the flying the character without antagonizing, or what you rather have a combat were they can solo?

[snow agate]

most creatures have enough of a brain to use cover

[gaunt roost]

I mean I am glad they reworked werewolves so they no longer need to be handled by only hte magic users of the party, and I agree that one player shouldnt always hog the spotlight in fights, but if you tell me that our encounter is a thing that cant see beyond 60 feet and you can fly above it with 90 feet range spells, thats ok? Thats smart play not powergaming, hence why its useful and powerful low level. Mid-level, most things can shoot, fly or breath fire and suddenly you dont want to be the only target in the air

[snow agate]

yeah flight is truly OP only really with melee-only monsters. such as wild animals and maybe some other random things like oozes. but if the party cheeses those, thats not really a big deal

[sleek cloud]

Oh to be a fairy warlock flying around spamming eldritch blast after casting greater invisibility

[stoic obsidian]

And yet you have a problem with me suggesting to include something in a low level encounter to make flying not so overpowered

[gaunt roost]

you kind of missed the part of it being a random encounter in an official campaign though. Should the dm just write all of those out if they dont challenge a specific PC?

[rough basalt]

Also there's the matter of a PC that's high in the clouds potentially can't help their downed ally that's currently being devoured by a shambling mound

[gaunt roost]

I have a problem with you suggesting the dm would need to rebalance EVERY fight to challenge that player

[sleek cloud]

I got devoured by one of those recently

[snow agate]

honestly id be really happy if my party member was flying and killed the shambling mound solo without me

[gaunt roost]

exactly, I was glad we didnt need to fight that thing at level 3

[rough basalt]

I'd make my new PC have hold person then cast it on the flier /hj

[stoic obsidian]

You mean it was a module

Oh okay

[gaunt roost]

that /j came just in time, I was very confused

[rough basalt]

That's the best part about flying PCs
Anything that can paralyze them or knock them prone

[stoic obsidian]

Not really, just a option to deal with it, not like I saying scarp the whole encounter

[sleek cloud]

Barbarians be like,” I cast hold person!” And then go and bear hug their buddy

[rough basalt]

So they plummet for massive damage

[snow agate]

the only time i actually criticize "powergaming" is if its from some weird interpretation of the rules or cheese that deliberately wasnt intended. which doesnt exist much in 5e thankfully, but in systems like pf1e for example its definitely possible

most of the OP combos i see in 5e are just from people not actually reading their abilities and thinking they're stronger than reality

[raw ocean]

I like super long campaigns but they feel rare to find

Just learned a new campaign that im joining is only going to be 8 sessions

[rough basalt]

Not too rare to find, extremely rare for them to last long enough

[gaunt roost]

oh yeah. I think flying should be allowed to feel good and powerful against certain enemies. As others have pointed out, smart enemies go into cover/closed doors /have ranged options. Dumb enemies like oozes and shambling mounds however are there to be outsmarted and kited to death anyways, you dont want to fight those head on if you can avoid it

[raw ocean]

Ive been in one that's been going on for 7 months now I think

[rough basalt]

That's a pretty lucky thing

[raw ocean]

It's not the best but it has the passion

[stoic obsidian]

Yeah that sounds fair

[rough basalt]

There's a thing I like to call the 3 session rule

And it's that most campaigns fall apart within 0-3 sessions

[snow agate]

i like the contrast of humanoid enemies being the hardest to cheese but the easiest to scare, whilst monster enemies are meant to be cheesed but often have to be fought straight up

[rough basalt]

And after the 3rd session the chances of it dying out get less and less

Course you can run into other issues with long campaigns that can harm them that appear as time goes on

[snow agate]

i find the greatest issue with longterm campaigns tends to come from not having a good session zero so you have character misalignment which leads to player misalignment

[rough basalt]

Kinda

There's a good amount of people who just sign up for games

They don't really have any intention to actually play

[snow agate]

for those i blame the dm

[stoic obsidian]

Really?

[rough basalt]

Yeah, not everyone who signs up for games actually wants to commit to play them.
They just kinda want to at the moment then by the time the game comes around they either don't show up or drop last minute.

Then there's the matter of conflicting game styles which is the biggest contributor

[snow agate]

(dms be upfront with your game style)

[rough basalt]

If a player thinks that their PC dying is the DM being an evil monster then they're not gonna work well with a DM who has no qualms critting that level 1 Wizard for 16 damage instakilling them

In contrast if a player likes death being on the table and the DM saves the party with DMPCs or the monster acting out of character, that player isn't gonna wanna play with that dm

[stoic obsidian]

(And don’t be vague about it be precise on what your game style is, because everyone wanna be on the same page)

[snow agate]

honestly its also way better than asking what the player wants out of it. i never got the point of that. just tell them what you're gonna do and then ask if they're cool with it

[rough basalt]

It's just better on your game health that way

Cause if you don't enjoy what you're running, you're gonna get burnt out probably

[minor cargo]

No reply needed but I've been thinking about this off-and-on for a few days now. Just wanted to share maybe one additional thought.

CC for visibility for @knotty pasture @marble lion @fossil hollow @atomic kayak @patent sleet @shut kayak @glass granite @lofty thunder (phew! sorry for noise!)

So I had conversations with others and watched some other videos and... I think I came at this wrong. I think what I was actually describing was propoganda. That is, I think D&D can be used as propoganda. It can be used to evoke emotions, break down emotional barriers, and make people more accepting of certain ideas the DM/designer wants to highlight. I would wager most of us have good memories of this, where we used D&D to tell stories about how "good will defeats racism" or "community defeats tyranny" or whatever. But in my original post, I obviously was concerned about people who use D&D as propoganda for ideas like "Some people are born greater than others" and "Genocide can be justified".

Again, no response needed but wanted to share my musings. <3

[stoic obsidian]

I would hate that dm

[rough basalt]

And if you gather people who like your style then you're gonna have a steady group if yall vibe.

[snow agate]

yeah say something like "i want an adventure romp that has room for silliness but we're sincere and commit to the characters we're playing and their motivations, are you cool with that"

just be direct and it skips all the guesswork

[sleek cloud]

Steve has earned heroic inspiration

[stoic obsidian]

Tbh I find a campaign that roleplay heavy is fine as long their combat that can end in your death

[glass granite]

Tis was my point: dnd is a medium that helps us influence others. Some of these influences can be positive, some can be quite negative. The conversation was quite insightful tho!

[marble lion]

What about the other side though? Propaganda goes both ways. Some people who are simply moderately conservative feel the same way about the opposite end of the spectrum.

[glad barn]

I do think the framing of "We're just playing a game" can sometimes soften the gravity of "I want you to accept this just long enough for the pretend" when it comes to issues that are not at all middle of the road or close to it.

[marble lion]

Using it as propaganda, I would agree, is not the point of the game. Not all "political flairs" of a table are propaganda though. Some are just how the people earnestly feel.

[glad barn]

And that becomes obvious to those that would use any means necessary to plant the seeds of a message, good or ill.

I think that racists honestly feel that way, too, though.

[snow agate]

pretty much all stories can push messages via themes, i think as long as the story is logical with the setting and the characters and isnt contrived, then its alright

[shut kayak]

ok first off I just wanna say thank you for the ping because otherwise I probably would've never found this.
second, I totally get what you're saying, and I agree.
and finally, third, I think your research definitely helped to clarify what you were saying

[marble lion]

Well, it can still be bad. It's just still DnD.

A table of completely earnest racists is still playing DnD, without any propaganda involved. It can still be bad to me though.

[glad barn]

D&D isn't just a book though. It's an interactive story. You've created a link between the person and the decision around a world you set the parameters for

[snow agate]

im playing final fantasy tactics rn for example and it has a great story, but its very much "literally medieval england" so the entire plot is about nobles and war and obligations

and thats perfectly ok

[glad barn]

Gameplay has a psychological effect beyond just exposure. We see it in video game gambling as much as anything.

[stoic obsidian]

War of the lions, I just gotten today

[snow agate]

have fun

[glad barn]

FFT is the best FF game full stop.

[stoic obsidian]

I had fft2 but never finished it

[minor cargo]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here. Can you say more? I jumped to a conclusion but I want to double check before I share in case it sets us down a non-constructive path.

[marble lion]

If people set up a DnD game with the intention to be propaganda, I'd agree they are playing it wrong.

I wanted to point out that this goes both ways though.

[snow agate]

though ill also be fair, idk anyone who would go through that effort to make propaganda for only like 4 people

[glad barn]

FFTA? The GBA one with the judges?

[snow agate]

atp make a youtube video

[marble lion]

No idea

[turbid vessel]

probably people who are desperate to have their views validated without outwardly talking about them

[marble lion]

I think that's most people and they still don't go to that trouble.

[glad barn]

Most webcomic artists like >_>

[snow agate]

i think thats more coincidentally related instead of the objective

like people who worldbuild a setting for 3 years and so it has their mindset baked into it, even though its not the point of playing the game

[stoic obsidian]

I think that fft2 not the first one

[marble lion]

Making a DnD game is art and play, both always include expression of yourself. I suppose all DnD games you make express your beliefs. I wouldn't call that propaganda though.

[stoic obsidian]

Second one had a kid open a book and you know the rest

[marble lion]

For example, me including a homosexual marriage in my DnD world probably does signal my acceptance of homosexual love, but it's not like I put it in there to make a point.

[snow agate]

yeah i would definitely say games tend to have the beliefs coded into them of the dm, ive seen it frequently and its never been an issue unless they start making plot holes or stupid things happen to push the narrative

[glad barn]

Propaganda is just a way to use art as a mask for pushing a point of view of the way the world should be.

[snow agate]

but thats more of a skill issue id say :p

[glad barn]

In other words, this is more about what your DM might set up in the world as the 'evil'. Not necessarily the nature of the things included.

[marble lion]

There are two problems with that.
One is the DM hamfisting it and it's just not very immersive and feels forced.
The other is the DM having views that contradict your own enough to make you unhappy.

[glad barn]

For example, if you had homosexual love in your game but every single one of those relationships was portrayed as failing.

That informs the narrative without anyone drawing hard lines.

Presumably thats not the case anywhere, but the world builder certainly shaped the world a certain kind of way

[snow agate]

ive played games where the bad guys were corporations, commoners, evil tyrants, ancient liches, destructive demons, knightly orders, anarchist druids, cultists, manipulators, cowards, fools, bullies, etc

ill say they generally made sense anyway

[glad barn]

We decide the weather, the time of day, the year, the plane, the monsters, the items, the potions and what color the bugs are. Its weird to say that one step further is ham-fisting it but other than that we're just letting the world write for us

[shut kayak]

I feel like the main way someone would use D&D as propaganda is if they're trying to forcefully convert someone to their own political view, I.E: the DM and their friend, who is a player, have different political views and the DM wants the friend to agree with them and believe the same things they do, so they try to use their world to portray things a certain way

[marble lion]

There is definitely unelegant forceful and story-deminishing hamfisting.

[snow agate]

tbh what i see more often is players picking fights with npcs that have worldviews they view as wrong, even if the npc hasnt actually done anything harmful to them or those around them

[glad barn]

Sure, and that's also in the eye of the beholder. Calling Darth Vader Mean Father was a bit on the nose

[snow agate]

that happens a lot more commonly than the dm inverse

[glad barn]

But it seems to have worked out alright 🤷

[marble lion]

I don't even wanna name examples to be honest because they feel so unsuitable for this place.

[timid current]

I think it's a false equivalence. Showing something in a positive accepting light is not the same as hate propaganda

[glad barn]

No, but purposefully introducing a concept to bathe it in a negative light is

[snow agate]

yea

[glad barn]

There's nuance there.

[minor cargo]

If this helps, I find breaking propoganda up into two forms can be helpful. We're kind of already doing this but to be explicit (in the hopes that it helps us discuss more efficiently):

Type 1: Propoganda for people who already believe. This is the cringe, ham fisted stuff. This is easy to spot.
Type 2: Propoganda for people who do not believe. This usually just looks like "normal" media, but at the last minute, says something specific and frames the entire text as propoganda. Think of a thing where the protag is like an atheist... but in the very last act, converts to religion because of all of the things that happened in the movie.

[glad barn]

But I think it'd be naive to say that no one at White Wolf and Chaosium and Wizards of the Coast and TSR ever would dream of using their platforms to push some weird shit.

[marble lion]

It's definitely not the same.

One will make me slightly eye-rolley because I get it and I don't need a DM to tell me 10 times in one session that we should love our neighbour.
The other will make me leave the table and block the DM.

[snow agate]

i think it can be

[timid current]

I think that fear of propaganda can hobble perfectly normal stories. And labeling normal things like gender or sexuality as "politics" or "propaganda" is taking a stance on it.

[snow agate]

like the easiest example is the alignment discussion regarding supernatural creatures or certain spell uses

because that discussion is almost always the same as objective morality vs subjective morality, which while you might believe one way or the other, is still contradictory to the oppositions worldview

[timid current]

Having a queen couple in your story isn't "hey everyone had to accept this"

It's "in the setting this is okay because we are building a collective fantasy and we don't have to pepper it with dumb stuff like bigotry

[glad barn]

To be fair half the recent Twitter debacle was because WOTC decide to say that gay people exist in Faerun

[snow agate]

i was more offended they made orcs mexican >_>

i am not an orc, i dont take kindly to it

[timid current]

If someone decides that gender or identity is political, that is a personal failing of their personality

[marble lion]

First time I hear that

[glad barn]

Every Mexican and Chicano I know that plays D&D was -way- into it lol

[timid current]

They can happily find a different table for their stunted worldview lol

[glad barn]

It made me want to South America code all of FR >_>

I loved the gaucho orc.

[sleek cloud]

I’d like to prop a Ganda at the new eberron book coming out next month

[snow agate]

you can look it up on google fairly easily if you wanna see it

[shut kayak]

wait did they really?!

[turbid vessel]

was it more that they coded orcs as a whole as mexican, or did that art potray one example of a nomadic orc community, and the text remains culturally agnostic?

[snow agate]

they are literally wearing sombreros

[marble lion]

Yeah but does it say all Orcs do that now?

[shut kayak]

honestly I'm gonna wait until 6e exists to buy new books

[glad barn]

They didn't make the orcs "mexican" as much a they added a lot of gaucho / pueblo aesthetics, which probably read New Mexico to North Americans and Argentina to South Americans

[timid current]

Mexican is the only point of reference muckrakers have for arid region nomadic peoples

[snow agate]

wotc doesnt say all (X) does anything anymore, theyve gone away from that sort of language

[glad barn]

But its worth mentioning that the vaquero was Spanish first, Spain spread from end to end along the west coast >_>

[timid current]

Lots of similarities with steppes attire from other regions of the world too

[marble lion]

I think I moreso meant that maybe the specific portrayed group of orcs may just be mexico coded. Is that possibly?

[glad barn]

Wasnt that just the "5e Orcs" art?

[turbid vessel]

they are wearing wide-brimmed hats, i dare say that mexico doesn't have an exclusive hold over that concept

[snow agate]

i just think its odd that there was the whole "orcs arent black" thing and then they made them extremely latino coded

just eugh

[timid current]

And it is a great single piece of art that shows orcs doing things that aren't leaping to battle slobbering

[glad barn]

I don't know what 'orcs arn't black thing' is.

[marble lion]

An old controversy

[glad barn]

In context of D&D?

[timid current]

What it shows is orcs in a community travelling

[marble lion]

Unless all art of 5e orc communities is now hispanic, this may just refer to one specific group of them.

[glad barn]

Well, no, it also shows a bunch of eagles and ranchero boots and its not any desert its hard coded to sonora

[turbid vessel]

"orcs aren't black" came from a long history of representing eurocentric cultural oppression through orcs in both lore text and art. there is not nearly a similar phenomenon going on with current dnd orcs and latin american culture

[snow agate]

🙄 this logic really doesnt work if you apply it to other cases

[timid current]

It is as far as I've seen the only orc art that has steppes attire that could be seen as "mexican" coded

[atomic kayak]

I think this particular response to sinanis actually kinda demonstrates their point

[marble lion]

It does seem like a strange choice to use those for the main art of the new main setting?

[timid current]

It has nothing to do with a setting

The phb is explicity setting neutral

[marble lion]

I haven't read the book yet.

[umbral girder]

Yes actually. Notable moments in the novels had some I know

[marble lion]

I meant using it as the main art in the new main book for this edition for orcs.

[minor cargo]

Oh, when and where art is show informs what the "defaults" of a setting should be? Hmm. I wonder if that's ever been discussed before? (/jk /lh)

[timid current]

Then the "I'm just asking questions" act is going to just lead people around in circles

[atomic kayak]

Orcs as a whole werent coded as Mexican. They had a portrayal of a group that was inspired by various cultures in and around Mexico

[timid current]

Take a look and read the book before asking questions based on assumptions, is my suggestion

[marble lion]

The mexican person in the chat says they are uncomfortable with this portrayal. I think I am within reason to ask this.

[atomic kayak]

Notably, there is other orc art in the books as well with different aesthetics...

[glad barn]

"One Latino complained so now we can all be angry" is an odd take.

[snow agate]

i mean there isnt much else to say it just is what it is

[marble lion]

That is not at all what I am saying there.

[glad barn]

But maybe that's just my perspective. We have vaqueros with hats here in Bolivia too >_>

[marble lion]

I am saying I think it's fair to say this.

[glad barn]

And they wear sarapes. We dont have eagles though. We're more condor land.

[atomic kayak]

But yea the specific art being discussed right now has some inspiration from more than one culture from the regions around mexico

[marble lion]

Since we are discussing this, I proposed that if it is the big artwork for "orcs" in the new main book, that may explain why it was strange to someone reading it.

I do agree that grouping it all as mexican was weird though. There are more latin american countries.

[sleek cloud]

How bout that glamour bard goth elf art

[marble lion]

I might just not know the detailled clues so I could be wrong there.

[timid current]

Does it have a big moustache like Alaric

[glad barn]

Theyre just things to think about. Like why are most angels coded to look like theyre Dutch lol

[snow agate]

arent angels half the time made of metal

[minor cargo]

IMO I think if someone from a minority group expresses that art/text makes them uncomfortable, I think it's worthwhile to give space to explore that.

... I mean, here, it's kind of hard. That's this server. But like... I definitely think it's worth deconstructing those feelings. I think thats a good, net-positive exercise.

[sleek cloud]

Negative Dave, it’s just pretty cool though

[atomic kayak]

but also again

When the art was first revealed ofc (since it was some of the first art we saw from the new books) people overreacted and said. well. A lot of nasty things and did a lot of mole-hilling. But saying that "orcs are mexican now" now, after we have had the book for a year (oh wow its been a year) with it having other art seems, at least to me, a bit disingenuous

[timid current]

Its one single piece of (awesome) art

[snow agate]

it was brought up in reference to another thing, i didnt pull it up out of the dust, thanks for calling me disingenuous

[limpid plaza]

Since when were the orcs mexican? What did I miss???

[atomic kayak]

Oh certainly. I'm not saying "you can't express if it makes you uncomfortable" - just that making a claim like was above "they made orcs mexican" is deliberately stripping context and all of the other representations from the situation to make a claim that simply isn't true

[limpid plaza]

Im mildly confused

[timid current]

I mean you could literally read what the discussion is about

[glad barn]

I mean, at some point the discussion can be "When will people realize FR is literally just earth"

[snow agate]

truth nuke

[atomic kayak]

Its pulling it out of the dust because they simply didn't "make orcs mexicans" - thats what I was getting at about how your reply to sinanis proved the point they were making. How it wasn't coding of all orcs but of a singular group of orcs.

[limpid plaza]

Also yes it is I the Chaotic Neutral Wizard, I have returned from my small trip to the Feywild

[glad barn]

That drawing is pretty Mexico coded though.

[snow agate]

nevermind

[timid current]

If you scroll up a bit the discussion is all about what it's about

[atomic kayak]

The clothing they are wearing is definitely pulling from (and thus coded to) cultures from the region yes, nobody ever said that wasn't the case

[glad barn]

I mean the flora and fauna.

Eagles dont spread south of Mexico. There also arent cactus in the entirety of North America.

That color clay and sand, those cactus, those eagles, altogether.

That's not "Anywhere there are cowboys"

[marble lion]

I agree with the point that it doesn't portray the majority of orcs. I think it's valid to wish for the "main style" of the shown thing to be shown in the big artwork though, if that is indeed what it is. I have not read the book and I don't think this hypothetical statement is therefore pointless.

[atomic kayak]

Its definitely pan-"southern north america/northern central america"

[timid current]

What "main style" though

[glad barn]

They definitely shifted Orcs from being tribal to being farmers.

[turbid vessel]

it's mainly this sentence that i wanted to dissect if at all possible. From what i gather from it, you are Mexican or of Mexican heritage, and believe that Orcs across the board post 2024 are being coded as mexican, and this is upsetting to you. am i getting that right?

[timid current]

Are eberron orcs Main style? One of the variety of orc cultures in faerun?

[limpid plaza]

The way I see it, orcs are orcs, Elves are elves, dwarves are dwarves, etc. etc.

[glad barn]

But I dont see that inherently negatively either. I think its good for Orcs to just be another species. The fact that theyre clearly just outside of Tijuana notwithstanding

[timid current]

And people are people, and all of them can have a variety of cultures

[marble lion]

If you dressed elves in Lederhosen in the next phb, on their big main page, I would certainly be confused.

[limpid plaza]

exactly

[glad barn]

No one complains if they see a bard in a poet shirt with a rapier and a cape with a fleur de lys, though, and thats what makes this awkward.

[serene sphinx]

is there a way to add the d4 from guidance onto a skill yet?

[timid current]

I mean d&d elves are mostly tolkien inspired... and his elves are Germanic sooo

[marble lion]

I think going for a more neutral style is smarter if you don't specifically want to show "hey they can be different" on the main page.

[slow island]

i would be confused by it but not offended

[glad barn]

If they're only Tolkien inspired. It's been 51 years man

[marble lion]

That kind of builds onto previous exposure of the reader though.

[timid current]

Lederhosen would be fine even looking at "authenticity" (whatever that means for made up cultures)

I'm not saying they have to be germanic. I'm saying it wouldn't be bad if one piece of art existed of it

[marble lion]

I don't really think it's that awkward. Having a standard isn't anything bad.

[glad barn]

It wouldnt be bad if that's how they wanted to code elves either, but WOTC is trying to take 0 stances in an environment that demands hard stances.

[limpid plaza]

Wait so if the orcs are mexican and the elves are germanic, what are tieflings???

[minor cargo]

I think to Dave's point above, what is "neutral"?

That's not meant to be a "gotcha" and I'll try my best to show my cards: I think D&D actually has a problem at showing certain people and cultures as "normal" (or "neutral") and others as, well, "others".

[slow island]

lederhosen arent a thing in like 90% of germany either

[glad barn]

Why would France be the 'standard'?

[minor cargo]

gay.

[marble lion]

It's not just Bavaria if you thought that.

[sleek cloud]

Also lemme just say that that scion of the three rogue art is also nice.

[marble lion]

It's definitely not that promiment outside the south though.

[glad barn]

The problem is that eventually you just get a conflation that means 'vaguely european'

[crimson gulch]

Yeah, roll the d4 and add it

[timid current]

None of them are as you say. There is one piece of art with mexico/surrounding culture vibes, and someone missed the mark with a gotcha about lederhosen on elves

The phb is setting agnostic.

[atomic kayak]

see: many dnd settings immediately treating any culture (in setting) that has a non-eurocentric aesthetic as "exotic"

[glad barn]

And usually primal / tribal / naturalistic / animsitic

Rome conquered, Aztecs sacrificed.

[atomic kayak]

The portrayal of tribal societies in a lot of dnd settings get my goat a lot too

[turbid vessel]

this is both a humorous jab and an actual truth to the history of tiefling potrayal in dnd.

[atomic kayak]

For a variety of reasons

(also steve clown pensive was a perfectly reasonable reaction there ngl)

[minor cargo]

(I removed it myself. I think a sea of "this" but slightly different was more poetic.)

(Pensive clown will make a return.)

[turbid vessel]

tieflings have been strongly coded as representations of the queer community as as a whole, whether that comes from a stance of finding identity, or attempting to potray the community in a certain light.

[limpid plaza]

It doesn't matter if you're a human, orc, elf, or even an undead or a construct, ALL ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO FIREBALL

[stoic obsidian]

I think I found a good fit of a dnd class for hero killer (from mha) stain and it is oath of vengeance paladin

[glad barn]

Fire Genasi like :<

[sleek cloud]

I mean, some tieflings have fire resistance

[slow island]

yeah but also they have horns. looks cool

[limpid plaza]

Resistance, not immunity.

[atomic kayak]

Yea Tiefling get queer coded a lot because a lot of their historic portrayal in dnd aligns with a lot of queer experiences (and experiences that on average queer people are more likely to experience than cishet people)

[sleek cloud]

I’ve tanked two back to back fireballs with passing saves and took like 12 damage on a warlock

[glad barn]

Oddly enough in World of Darkness, which lets you play actual Demons, I find most of my LGBTQ+ players gravitated more towards Changeling.

[limpid plaza]

If that's the case then, lightning bolt.

[slow island]

tbh i disliked how a former dm treated my tiefling character with his npcs. i dont want this all the time in the fantasy game

[glad barn]

And for some reason most Aasimar PCs they've made are asexual.

I'm not sure what the association is or isn't there, but it's consistent lol

[sleek cloud]

Now we’re talkin

[knotty pasture]

I wonder what makes Aasimars then if Tieflings are representative of queers

[turbid vessel]

and there's yet ANOTHER rabbit hole to investigate about the potrayal of gender fluidity through the veil of illusionary tricksters

[glad barn]

Yeh.

[marble lion]

Angels being above carnality maybe

[limpid plaza]

"The duality of man"

[stoic obsidian]

I see all species in dnd to be any kind of people, so honestly people can gravitate to any really

[atomic kayak]

both for positive and negative reasons

[glad barn]

Yeah, theyre generally really good about making the person before picking the race, so to speak, but for some reason Aasimars just be like that to them

[snow agate]

it wasnt meant to be a serious issue, it was just in response to the twitter debacle statement, i dont really care what wotc writes, their modules are rarely good anyway and many dms do homebrew lore, the amount of annoyance is like a 2/10

[marble lion]

I'll dip out here. Goodnight all you nice people.

[sleek cloud]

See you tomorrow haise

[limpid plaza]

Farewell Haise

[sleek cloud]

anyways, how bout those monks these days

[slow island]

they are ripped

[sleek cloud]

Sure do a lot of punching and kicking, but better..

[meager fractal]

someone is rolling up a monk in my new campaign and I'm excited to see it

[turbid vessel]

so it was a light jab at it rather than any serious discomfort? got it, just wanted to clarify. I think that's what caused some of the dissonance in the chat over the topic

[sleek cloud]

So far my characters I’ve played have been either full casters or gishes, it’s time to play a martial

[snow agate]

yeah basically

[atomic kayak]

completely unrelated but somehow I didn't register this before

The 2024 DMG has art of a dwarf shooting a troll with a shotgun with entirely inappropriate handling of the gun I didn't know existed

[slow island]

i will play a martial soon

[sleek cloud]

Whatcha picking

[slow island]

if i remember correctly it says something about wrong handling?

[atomic kayak]

Yea

[slow island]

people saw the artwork before the book came out and we had ai accusation agaaaaain

[crimson gulch]

Yep, top teir art, the dwarf clearly has enough strength to mishandle the gun that badly

[atomic kayak]

i'm still not familiar enough with all the art in the new books to recognize it at a glance lol - fun new surprises all the time

[slow island]

oh you should. its one of my little highlights in every release

[atomic kayak]

I've looked through it all ofc I just don't remember it all the way I did with the older books

[slow island]

also i discover artists, google them and see other familiar art

[atomic kayak]

(I was looking through because I knew I recalled other orc art in the books but couldn't remember what or where)

[slow island]

do you know there is a Dracolich on the DMG Cover. in the background?

[atomic kayak]

yea

[glad barn]

Did you know that if you take the DMG and let the party Cleric borrow it they'll leave a coffee stain on the monster chart?

[atomic kayak]

sounds fake, bet it was the bard

[glad barn]

Could be, though generally speaking the bard is pretty much allergic to reading.

She made an amazing PC and under Place of Birth it said "Somewhere in the Forboding Realms"

[atomic kayak]

exactly why they put the coffee on the book!

better to put coffe on than to read

[glad barn]

I didn't mind. Baby DMs need encouragement.

Cleric ran his first game like a month after that. 8 years later, I still remind him of that damn stain.

[timber holly]

Foreboding realms?

[glad barn]

If only it was spelled right.

[pallid sedge]

hellooo

[feral dock]

Would anyone like to have a conversation about rpgs on vc. I'm looking to record stuff to put up on YouTube. Lemme know

[timber holly]

Hahaha

[ornate aurora]

Hi could someone please shed some light on this question and yes I have tried to research it. in the current new rules is the spell Divine Smite a signature class feature of the Paladin? Or has it become a spell you use, from my understanding people would use Divine smite then follow up with shining smite causing a crap load of damage

[atomic kayak]

Divine Smite is a spell and a class feature in 2024

[high mesa]

it uses a bonus action and a spell slot, so you can only do it once per round now

[atomic kayak]

As in, its a class feature that gives you the spell

[umbral girder]

Also the class features lets you use it without a slot once per day

Also magic items can now have Divine smite inside of them

[ornate aurora]

how would that work please?

and would that be a one of use?

[high mesa]

i mean it would be homebrew

[umbral girder]

Enspelled items, scrolls, spell storing items, that one rod that stores slots

[high mesa]

oh that yeah

[umbral girder]

Spell tattoos as well

[ornate aurora]

forgive the noob question but who would store that spell into the item?

[umbral girder]

The Paladin

Or whoever bought the item

[ornate aurora]

Could anyone else use that item then?

[umbral girder]

If it’s a ring of spell storing you could probably just dump your remaining slots into it

[umbral girder]

Depends on the item but yes

Enspelled weapons are fun because they recharge on their own too

[ornate aurora]

SO say if you have a barbarin you could effectively store the spell in their battle axe for when they crit and they could smite the enemy ?

[umbral girder]

Honestly turning it into a spell actually gives it a surprising amount of benefits

[umbral girder]

So long as they aren’t raging, yes.

[ornate aurora]

K ty, has been some years since I played D&D back in 3E now things have certainly changed/progressed

Im just spit balling here witha question Say I use Shining smite which blinds the enemy for 1 minute which is 10 round? Would they be disadvantaged to hit ?

[rough basalt]

Shining Smite doesn't blind

Blinding Smite does

And yeah being blind gives you disadvantage on attack rolls

[somber mesa]

Enspelled Items are basically magic item versions of Artificer's Spell Storing Item

[meager fractal]

enspelled armor with the shield spell is a fun magic item to craft

only do it if you want the DM to hate you tho

[umbral girder]

Eh it eats a reaction to do, I'm fine with it.

Besides it is very easy to drain (at most) 6 charges.

[raw ocean]

Anyone knows any items that can turn people into things, like turn to stone?

[past blaze]

Blade of the Medusa

[full blaze]

i know forge of the artificer comes out digitally on decemeber 9th but will physical preordered copies take longer to arrive? (usa)

[raw ocean]

You think a wish spell could get me one?

[valid geyser]

earlygame tough feat is really addictive. a rogue at level 5 with 54 HP is something to drool over

[umbral girder]

Tough is soooooo good

I played a barbarian, I didn't need Tough. But that HP tho

[valid geyser]

also I do keep rolling really high on my hp rolls, but tough does play a big factor

i only really grabbed tough once before, and it was on a tier 3 barbarian, so the difference between like 160 and 180 HP wasn't as jaw dropping

[umbral girder]

Tier 3, only got 20 hp. Hmm.....

[valid geyser]

i just kinda made an eyeball estimation when i got it, It was during the level 12 ASI so it'd probably have been like a 24 HP bump

just relatively less impressive considering that the bard and druid only have like 25-35 HP and there's no d10/d12 hit die classes in the party

also my DM gave me two items (more aptly i took them from some yuan-ti I slayed) one being a pretty ludacrous 2d6 slashing plus 1d4 poison damage scimitar, and the other being a set of bracers that just gave me a +1 AC.

[umbral girder]

Neat

[valid geyser]

I'm just a little scared my DM who has been on the record as being wary of rogues isn't gonna like that the items he gave me makes me do a lot of damage

[covert root]

Well there's no one else to blame.

It's not like you crafted it.

[valid geyser]

also I enjoy being really reckless/brave. I felt really cool when I escaped being bound via my belt, and then trying to run to fight a group of yuan-ti completely unarmed and in the dark. I was mostly doing it to buy time so the others could escape the bindings (and for the bards who were seperated from the party to find us), but they escaped theirs at the same time-ish

it has been a while since I've been this rambly about campaign stories, just getting to enjoy playing a martial this much again is a blast

[cinder timber]

can wizard change all their spells on a long rest?

[marble lion]

I dont think so

[umbral girder]

They can change their prepared spells to what is in their spellbook!

[marble lion]

I think they can prepare spells from their known spells and book spells

[past blaze]

Changing Your Prepared Spells. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can change your list of prepared spells, replacing any of the spells there with spells from your spellbook.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/2190886-wizard

[hasty basalt]

Hello there..

[cinder timber]

Oh, I need to read up on what spells they have

[umbral girder]

Basically you start with 6 spells at level 1 and get two per level up

[cinder timber]

oh, it has nothing to do with intelligence?

[umbral girder]

You can use money and time to add more from spell scrolls and other spellbooks

[cinder timber]

so, I only know 12 spells at level 4, correct?

[umbral girder]

In 2024 nope.

In 2014 it did influence the amount you can prepare but not how much is in the book.

[umbral girder]

Yep! At least 12 from your class

[cinder timber]

oh, I need to go rethink this. Thanks for clarifying!

[umbral girder]

Actually in 2024 you’d have 14

[cinder timber]

you said 6 + 2(lvl up)?

[umbral girder]

Because the 2024 subclass gives you more spells as you level up

So an Abjuration Wizard would get a bonus level 1 and level 2 spell added to their spell book at level 4

They’d have to be Abjuration spells

[umbral girder]

Yes for the Base class

[hasty basalt]

Hello there, fellow players.
I am new here, in this D&D server. (not new to D&D.. just the new in the server)

[past blaze]

Well, at level 4, a wizard, following the 2024 version, can prepare 7 spells.
As for spells in their spellbook for free granted by "becoming a wizard and taking levels in wizard", they start with 6 in their book at level 1, and gain two more every other level (so another 6 for those 3 extra levels, total of 12 in the book, can prepare 7 of those) (this is assuming no found spells added to the book via copying spells into your book for 2 hours and 50gp per level of the spell)

[umbral girder]

Yeah but he asked about spells he knows not spells prepared

[past blaze]

"Knows" is also a tricky term

[umbral girder]

Also he was told all that already

[glass granite]

Hello new here, I’m Nugget. Glad to have ya here.

[hasty basalt]

Might I borrow.. hehe.. a nugget of your time?

[glass granite]

You want to borrow my cousin?

Sure, he can’t do much, but he’s got spirit

[hasty basalt]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.... not touching that question.. lol

[umbral girder]

Contemplating my next Ranger. Might do the new Winter Walker

[glass granite]

Anyway, you mana-ot.

[hasty basalt]

I was wondering where I would go to ask for help, in regards to setting up a Side Quest for my campaign.

[glass granite]

Probably #dm-discussion then

[umbral girder]

#dm-discussion most likely

[hasty basalt]

Very well.. I will now teleport to that channel.

/tp Mana #dm-discussion

[cinder timber]

How?

[umbral girder]

It’s an old term from 2014

[cinder timber]

oh ok, I see

[umbral girder]

Where some classes were “Known” casters and others were “Prepared casters”

[past blaze]

spells known was used in 2014, yeah. But wizard also had a weird interaction with that and prepared, due to their unique method of having spells

in 2014, there was known, and prepared... and wizard. Like, Sorcerer had spells known, cleric had spells prepared. And wizard had spells prepared from their book.

in 2024, having your spells, whether it's the same way sorcerer had them or cleric had them, it's all referred to via the Prepared term, and so other game features can reference it easily and be more compatible.

So, in the end, saying "knowing spells" is always going to scrape against the 2014 term for certain classes having their list of spells they can cast, which ironically Wizard kind of... eludes.

[atomic kayak]

wizard was simply known and prepared

[hybrid granite]

I’m not gonna lie, I thought they’re gonna backtrack with the Magic Item Savant changes, considering Thief can still have their stuff going on, and I expressed that in the UA survey, half-expecting they’d at least put it to Level 18. Now that it’s happening and is going to be fully removed, I’m bummed again.

[undone fable]

hi there. hows dnd

[glass granite]

It’s dnd’ing

[covert root]

Huh?

[knotty pasture]

Does Adventure with Muk count as homebrew? There's a Goblin subrace there that's different from the usual 5e Goblin we know

[hybrid granite]

Artificer announcement. Magic Item Savant doesn’t give Artificers attunement to literally everything anymore.

[woven flint]

WOTC HATES FUN RAGHH

[next bobcat]

can't have the artificer upstage the favorite child, wizards

[covert root]

In another world, Artificers of the Coast would never.

[next bobcat]

and honestly, removing infusions?? really?

[past blaze]

Oh? So what did they do to Artificer if they removed infusions

Since, to be honest, being "half caster, half infuser" just felt like it was half of a total class. So I'm interested in seeing what they made the class actually be

[high mesa]

where are you guys reading this?

[next bobcat]

new dndbeyond article

[umbral girder]

Their level two is now “make magic items” and their infusions have become magic items

[next bobcat]

infusions got replaced with replicate magic item and they lost tool expertise

[umbral girder]

They can now recharge their magic item’s charges they make with slots or convert their magic items into slots

[past blaze]

Huh.

[umbral girder]

Also their level 1 can make equipment in form the PHB

[past blaze]

are they at least a full caster?

[umbral girder]

Still half caster.

[next bobcat]

also why don't artificers have some form of expertise? they're actual experts, for crying out loud

[umbral girder]

Their level 2 magic items they make can now be recharged with slots (if they need charges) or they can break them down for a boost

[next bobcat]

but Wizards apparently get expertise, for some reason

[past blaze]

And... still missing half of an anything else.

[umbral girder]

Oh yeah and Flash of Genius recharges on a short rest

Also spell storing item can now store 3rd level spells

Their capstone is bad tbh

[next bobcat]

with the restriction on spells with material components, so no revivify storing

[ivory cloud]

What’s a good weapon to flavor as a scythe?

[atomic kayak]

half caster just means level of spells they can access

[ivory cloud]

I was kinda thinking a halberd or maybe a great axe

[past blaze]

IMO, Glaive.

Or Halberd, yeah, given the Clave property.

[umbral girder]

Glaive or Sickle mainly

[past blaze]

I like the reach of the reach weapons tho

[ivory cloud]

Sickles a bit too small, but I get both

[umbral girder]

Tbh artificer feels about just as mid as the 2014 one to me so I’m fine with it.

[humble cairn]

Since infusions got folded into Replicate Magical Item, I hope some of the more in demand infusions got made into regular magical items, like Returning Weapon.

[karmic mason]

Guandao

[humble cairn]

Halberd perhaps. One of the polearms.

[knotty pasture]

Glaives

[ivory cloud]

Nice, this is for a druid but 2024 druid can use halberds

[karmic mason]

as per my best explanation

A Guandao is a Chinese weapon created to be used as both a staff, a spear, and a sword at the same time.

Similar in appearance to a glaive, albeit with a more sharp point.

[humble cairn]

They meant what regular weapon can be used as the mechanics to represent a scythe, since scythes aren't one of the listed weapon types.

[karmic mason]

Oh

Halberd then.

though a guandao would be a sick weapon for a villain character and i don't know why.

[ivory cloud]

Yeah

[next bobcat]

would be nice if infusions were buffed rather than removed, like letting them stack or evolve

[knotty pasture]

I would still say its a glaive but halberd is a close second

[narrow moss]

woulda thought a scythe would be on there

[ivory cloud]

Im sure there’s a homebrew out there

[narrow moss]

probably something with slash and reach but idk for sure. if we're talking the bigguns

[knotty pasture]

"A glaive, sometimes spelled as glave, is a type of pole weapon, with a single-edged blade on the end, known for its distinctive design and versatile combat applications. There are many similar polearms such as the war scythe, the Japanese naginata, the Chinese guandao (yanyuedao), the Korean woldo, and the Russian sovnya."

Irl a guandao falls under the glaive family

[next bobcat]

also give artificers unique artificer-only magic items

[ivory cloud]

Topple as well, since you go for the legs

Maybe 1d6 damage, it’s a simple weapon too since it’s a farming tool

[narrow moss]

maybe improvised weapon then? idk let's not get too complicated

[umbral girder]

Sounds like the reinvention of the sickle

[karmic mason]

Oh sick

Guandao looks and sounds cooler though

but glaives are cool aswell.

screw Bloons tower defense for making me think glaives were chakrams though

[fossil hollow]

hoeh

On another topic, my waterdeep game ended up being called Waterdeep Menaces instead of Waterdeep Legends. I'll leave it all to you to think how that happened

[past blaze]

something set on fire and/or someone killed

[narrow moss]

i'd say that but the plural versions, bare minimum.

[past blaze]

grand arson and mass manslaughter

[narrow moss]

yeah that

[fossil hollow]

actually, no fire, just lots of intimidation, drinking, and calling NPCs unsavory names lmao

[knotty pasture]

Does it involve a certain Gale Dekairos

[narrow moss]

them's fightin words

[fossil hollow]

Waterdeep is slowly turning into New York

[umbral girder]

It wasn’t already?

[fossil hollow]

fair nough

but yeah, i got a lot of new yorker vibes from this game lmao

[umbral girder]

It even has the secretly living statues ready to fight you like New York

[past blaze]

Old York

[fossil hollow]

Next session, the players ask me for the last 75 XP to level up to 2

[digital ferry]

Hi can someone help is there someone I can talk regarding copyright and using DND magic system in a book?

[umbral girder]

Probably have to ask WOTC about that

[digital ferry]

Where can I read about there copyright policies is there someone I can talk to about that? It's really important

[umbral girder]

I don’t know if a discord server would have that?

Maaaybe the SRD?

[narrow moss]

i have no idea

[umbral girder]

But that’s more for game mechanics. You’d have to contact WOTC themselves

[neon sinew]

How do subclasses work

[digital ferry]

Ok thanks

[umbral girder]

You reach level 3 in your class and now you have a subclass

It gives you features as you get more levels in that class.

[past blaze]

At level 3 in a class, you get a Subclass for that class.
You immediately get a few features for it, but otherwise you have picked that subclass. At certain other levels in that class, you gain the features of that subclass for that level.

Think of it like a subset of features sprinkled throughout the progression, and you choose which set you want to get throughout your progression.

[neon sinew]

Thanks

[past blaze]

Yeah, like the "Draconic and Elemental pack" of features for Sorcerer, with Draconic Bloodline, or the "Psychic and Aberration pack" of features also for Sorcerer, with Aberrant Sorcery.

[pallid sedge]

Has anyone done a campaign with only you and one other person? Is it difficult?

[flat monolith]

i've played sessions with just one other person it works ok, for all of them it was essentaly their first time playing and we played oneish sessions using a premade module. I used the companion or whatever its called from tashas to give them some help but overal its probably harder from a roleplay perspective as your bouncing off one person. It would inherntly feel diffrent to play a long game with just one other person.

[past blaze]

sidekicks

[flat monolith]

thank you

[crisp lake]

its very much possible

i have done it too

this site might help: https://dndduet.com/

[pallid sedge]

Yeah I was thinking since my roommate was interested in dnd I could do a small campaign with him cause we live together so scheduling wouldn't be as hard lol

And he likes worldbuilding

[pallid sedge]

Ooo thanks!

[crisp lake]

oh wait so he would be the dm? then i reccomend not looking at the site

[past blaze]

heh

[pallid sedge]

No I would be DM but we would kinda work on it together

[past blaze]

Then do look

[pallid sedge]

Hehe

[covert cape]

anyone know how i might make a character based around blindsight and fogcloud that doesnt just become useless after someone moves 10 ft away

[knotty pasture]

Have spells that stop people from moving 10 ft away easily

[covert cape]

smart

[glass granite]

Find a way to expand your blindsight, or grapple/restraib them.
Or play a shadow monk

[covert cape]

smart

thx!

[humble cairn]

Rangers get a bigger area of blindsight than that.

And also have access to Fog Cloud.

Either way, this strategy is still going to mess with your allies.

Darkness is more easily controlled, since you can cast it on a small object and cover it to turn it off.

I suggest casting it on a small, enclosable object like a stone inside a locket. A coin held between the teeth will do, in a pinch. Close your lips and the darkness goes away, smile … and the Darkness leaks out to cover you.

[covert cape]

yup im playing a ranger rn but im not sure how to get bigger blindsight cause the fighting style one is 10 ft. (true about the ally thing atp im just making that character to satisfy myself) ur right about the darkness thing thats smart cause nearly my entire party also has some sort of darkvision

[glass granite]

Darkvision can’t see through the magical darkness from the Darkness spell

[humble cairn]

Getting 30ft blindsight on a Ranger is simple, though not easy. Simply be a level 18 2024 Ranger.

[covert cape]

hrm ill find a way to physically dark out everything

[glass granite]

Then enemies with dark vision won’t be affected

[covert cape]

yea ill probably pick something more practical to gimmick around with ;-;

[glass granite]

There’s devil sight builds with darkness

Shadow monk as I mentioned earlier works

Fog cloud blindsight works, but you need a way to limit their movement

[covert cape]

thanks! i appreciate the help!

[timber holly]

Hi

Is it possible to break a magical staff to get its effects without carrying the whole staff?

I thought it would be a cool idea to kind of gather things from every magical enemy to get their effects as the campaign goes on

[lavish flame]

nah u need the staff for its magic

[quaint laurel]

Is it possible to make a nuke(A lot of Damage) build for Cleric?

[lavish flame]

in some instances, breaking a magical staff releases ít magic violently, damaging everyone in a radius

[lavish flame]

yeah, pretty easily too. Tempest Cleric gets a Channel Divinity that makes ur Lightning spells insane

[quaint laurel]

Thanks

[timber holly]

Can I use it as a grande then?

Like throw it at someone and break with a spell or cantrip to make it explode

[knotty pasture]

Sure why not

[lavish flame]

Yeah, but keep in mind that throwing a weapon and casting a spell both usually take actions to do

so like tossing your Staff of the Magi at an enemy is likely to end with them tossing it back or moving away before u can detonate it

[knotty pasture]

This is why Sorcerers are cool

Throw the wand into a Quickened Spell boosted Fire Bolt

[marble kayak]

🙂

[high mesa]

is there a website somewhere with aoe visualiers for spells?

[still plover]

Are you looking to use them on a VTT?

[high mesa]

no, it's just hard for me to understand sometimes how different spells occupy spaces on a grid

would be nice if there was a website or something that just showed all of them

[still plover]

There's definitely a guide somewhere, I just don't have a moment to search for it right away.

[hot gate]

If you search for "dnd spell grid templates" you'll probably find what you're looking for.

[pearl hedge]

@lavish flame @knotty pasture in character me and some of my group just had their first toast in a tavern 🥹

[lavish flame]

dub

[high mesa]

didn't find exactly what i wanted, but some visualisation for a few spell aoe types

[lavish flame]

they are all real 3d shapes, what do you mean "visualization"?

[high mesa]

like how they look on a square grid

[lavish flame]

a cone is a triangle. a cylinder, sphere, and emanation are all circles. a cube is a square. a line is a line.

once you've got that down, just keep in mind that an AoE only affects a space if it hits at least 50% of the corners of that space. that keeps the shapes in line

[high mesa]

i mean i got that

[hot gate]

It may also be worth noting that the rules don't assume a grid by default. So you'll have to interpret these shapes onto a grid.

[pearl hedge]

what

[hot gate]

The general rule there is: if it covers at least half a square, it affects that square.
(ah Gwyn already said that, mb)

[lavish flame]

Win
W
Double You
Double
Dub

[hot gate]

as a non native english speaker: what

[high mesa]

like cloud of daggers i wasn't sure if it took up multiple spaces or just one square

[hot gate]

it's a 5 foot cube, so one square

[pearl hedge]

oh yeah

[eager marsh]

You can legally effect 2 adjacent squares with it

[lavish flame]

Just another way to say "nice job" i guess. Its a portmanteau of the word "win". In sports slang, people refer to victories as "W's". You can cut out half the syllables when pronouncing "W" by just saying "Dub" while still getting the idea across.

[eager marsh]

By having the cube centered in the line between two squares on a grid it covers 50% of both and legally effects both per the aoe rules

[hot gate]

I get the idea behind it, the "what" was mostly tongue-in-cheek commentary of how you managed to smush together a whole concept

[lavish flame]

its kinda funny to think that playing on a hexgrid vs a square grid can make some spells more or less effective

[high mesa]

yeah from what i was reading online it should affect two squares

[hot gate]

"Should" isn't really the word I'd use. It certainly "can".

[pearl hedge]

could also be WARIOS

[pearl hedge]

isn't hexes used for traveling only

[eager marsh]

Lightning bolt also is 2 squares ‘wide’ due to the 50% square rule because it has to original from a corner not a side of your own space. Confirmed as intended by one of the developers

[hot gate]

They're valid for combat too, but people rarely use it.

[high mesa]

yeah i've never heard of anyone using hex grids for combat

[pearl hedge]

me either

[lavish flame]

nah

[pearl hedge]

moving one hex is like 1hr isn't it

[lavish flame]

hexgrids fix the "diagonals make you go faster" thing iirc

[pearl hedge]

30 minutes or so?

[high mesa]

i guess i'm just used to pathfinder where effects are centered on squares and not lines

[lavish flame]

when I played LANCER, all our combats were on a hexgrid, but thay might be a LANCER rule.

[hot gate]

Depends on the scale.-

[eager marsh]

Diagonals don’t make you faster. It’s only a rule for movement and it’s generally a non-issue imo for movement

[hot gate]

Some maps have hexes at 1 mile, 6 miles, 24 miles, or even more.

[lavish flame]

yeah same, its a mole hill that people have made mountains out of

[high mesa]

actually yeah can you just move freely on diagonals in dnd?

[hot gate]

By default, yeah.

[high mesa]

oh hm, i'm so used to first diagonal free, then each diagonal costing 10 ft of movement

[hot gate]

There are some optional rules that aim at making Pythagoras less mad though.

Like every second diagonal costing double-

[pearl hedge]

mechs, right?

[lavish flame]

Well, its not free to move diagonally. Its just cheaper than moving orthogonally twice (its moving Up+Right vs moving right then up)

[eager marsh]

It effects all parties equally anyways and I can’t think of any cases where it negatively impacts the game

[lavish flame]

yeah mechs doing battles was my main takeaway

the mechs were sick

[high mesa]

can you move diagonally past doorways?

[hot gate]

You can't move diagonally across corners, no.

[high mesa]

that makes sense i suppose

[pearl hedge]

it's a rectangular door usually

[lavish flame]

if there's something blocking a diagonal movement, like a wall's corner, you can't pass through that

you have to detour the 1 space for it

[pearl hedge]

you can if you're a ghOOOOST! OOOOHHH

[lavish flame]

yeah, if you can incorporeally move then you're fine. monsters usually do this

[pearl hedge]

could you theoretically misty step around a corner or is it only to a place you can physically see

[lavish flame]

gotta be able to see it

[eager marsh]

You need to see the point

[pearl hedge]

ok yeah

fair enough

[eager marsh]

Stated in the spell itself. Now you can dimension door past it

[pearl hedge]

i like theorycrafting

[lavish flame]

you can misty step through stuff you could not walk through, like jail bars or a window. you just gotta be able to see it

[high mesa]

also bonus points if you share sight with a familiar or something

[pearl hedge]

honestly your DM might give you inspo for that creativeness using misty step

[lavish flame]

oh yo i hadnt even considered using a familiar to move your eyesight to allow you to misty step around corners. thats fun.

[eager marsh]

Yes 2024 familiar vision no longer blinds yourself so you can use it to abuse ‘point you can see’ rules

However this doesn’t work with misty step

Both require a bonus action and you have to dedicate a bonus action every turn to see

[harsh hollow]

Oh interesting, it looks like the Suggested ™ species from First Light actually were added to the character creator. In a weird way they're basically the 2024 modernization for a handful of races that haven't been re-released yet.

[lavish flame]

you'd still be limited by distance, but being able to send an animal under a door crack or through a vent to set up a Misty Step angle is really cool.

[eager marsh]

Still not legal as I just said

Use bonus action to see with familiar until the start of your next turn

[pearl hedge]

quickened spell?

[eager marsh]

No? You already used your bonus action

[high mesa]

yeah you'd need to teleport with your main action

[eager marsh]

Thunder Step works because that’s an action to cast and is still a point you can see

[lavish flame]

I kinda don't care about its legality tbh, its cool

[eager marsh]

Illegal. Banned forever

[pearl hedge]

your DM might let you do it anyways just on rule of cool alone

[lavish flame]

Using your familiar to set up small scale teleports is cooler than NOT doing that

[eager marsh]

Time to use that trick to sneak into and out of gold vaults

[lavish flame]

yerp

now as for getting out...

[timber holly]

Got it
Thank you

Also it's fine to ping me when you respond
Otherwise I probably won't see it

[pearl hedge]

who doesn't like filling their pockets with gold

[tawny ether]

hallo

[eager marsh]

Exact same method. Familiars can be popped into a space you can’t see already

[high mesa]

shame this also doesn't work with shadow monk since it's ba as well

assuming you got a familiar with magic initiate wizard or something

[long bloom]

This time I'm gonna do a character with multiple personalities, I'm gonna do 4 multiclasses

with lots of personality disorders

[eager marsh]

You can also take the Strixhaven special familiar fear which has a built in position swap 1/day that you can also do by expending a lv2 spell slot

It’s a free way to get across most barriers or locked doors

[high mesa]

echo knight's sight through echo is an action, so you can do effects from the echo as a bonus action

[eager marsh]

The echo must be spawned in a point you can see first

[high mesa]

ah

[eager marsh]

And it can’t ignore solid walls it’s not incorporeal

[knotty pasture]

4 multiclasses sounds like pure pain tbh, good luck

Off the back of my head, Rogue/Paladin/Bard/Warlock?

[lavish flame]

yeah the same method works either way. I'm always worried about the second half of heists tho. Using a familiar as a getaway vehicle is next level

[eager marsh]

The echo is still a free misty step without a use limit that can go as far as 60 feet away

[high mesa]

i mean mizzium mage builds typically go at least 3 classes, you could do 4 pretty easily i think

yeah echo knight is a wild subclass

[knotty pasture]

You're more likely to run into MAD with 4 classes

[tawny ether]

indeed

[lavish flame]

u can see through your Echo? neat

[knotty pasture]

So your only options that won't cripple you are limited

[eager marsh]

Lv7 feature yea

[lavish flame]

i havent looked at the mechanics for it since release, thats pretty sweet

[knotty pasture]

Maybe Fighter Rogue Wizard Artificer

[eager marsh]

It can travel up to 1000 ft away iirc. It’s not stated you can’t swap during that ‘mode’ but Matt said it’s intentional you can’t

[tawny ether]

mizzmage is...as someone who fully optimized it, is genuinely the most disgusting thing ive seen in a minute

[lavish flame]

Thats a nice Exploration feature for Fighters. Thats pretty cool.

[tawny ether]

oh ye, im new, thanks for the tag lol

[eager marsh]

Mizzmage is also an item that’s exclusive to ravnica no? Ie you can’t actually have access to it know this magic item exists at all in 99% of games

[pearl hedge]

4 multiclasses only makes sense if you're minmaxing

[knotty pasture]

I'd like to see how one justifies 4 multiclasses