dnd-discussion

[knotty basin]

Visually, but don’t change the mechanics

[tame estuary]

I don't recommend it as a beginner, best to do that after you know what you're doing

[lavish flame]

The key is "if it doesn't mess with the function of the ability, alterations are okay"

[tame estuary]

you might have expectations the game really doesn't support that well

[snow agate]

if its your first time i highly recommend just picking a stock trope and developing it into a PC

like a forest witch or a shining knight or a spunky goblin or a fiery priest

[lavish flame]

It doesn't really matter if your Fireball spell is a small orange ball that floats to its destination or instead a magical stick of dynamite. What does matter is that it causes a Dexterity Saving Throw vs 8d6 Fire damage

[lavish flame]

This as well. D&D is a game engine designed for Classic Fantasy Adventuring. If your inspiration is like Ghost in the Shell or Zootopia, you're gonna have a bad time in D&D.

[undone fable]

is there a way to reflavor spells?

[lavish flame]

You don't play Call of Duty for a rock band experience in much the same way you don't play D&D for a mecha experience

[lavish flame]

Yeah, you just describe it differently

[lyric idol]

I just prefer original content campaigns to copy + pasting video and games tbh

[loud tendon]

Reflavor how? Changing elements is not usually possible.. but what do you mean?

[undone fable]

like... instead of the tiefling being red, my tiefling is a tall purple girl with horns

but for spells

[loud tendon]

Those are not the same thing, really

If you want your fire bolt to be purple fire instead of red fire. Probably fine. But it still deals fire damage.

[undone fable]

More like ... delayed fireball looking more like the bomb from subspace emissary

[lavish flame]

Yeah that's reflavoring

[lyric idol]

I mean as long as you have a way to delay a spell I dont see the issue.

[lavish flame]

Delayed Blast Fireball is pretty goated

[lyric idol]

Like chrono wizard for instance.

[west sail]

If anyone wants to use my ideas please let me know

[undone fable]

what ideas

[west sail]

D&d winter/christmas adventure ideas

[undone fable]

What are your ideas?

[west sail]

And before you ask I can't use them

[undone fable]

why not? /gen

[west sail]

Well one was a idea where the land is in winter and a party comes across a village being terrorized by gryla or krampus or the party passes through the territory or the winter warlock

[west sail]

I'm alone no friends around

[undone fable]

i wanna use them

[spiral swift]

Is this the place to ask for help making a backstory?

[cinder timber]

Try #character-discussion

[spiral swift]

Thx i will

[undone fable]

You can dm those dnd thing

[west sail]

@undone fable ok cool

[stoic obsidian]

Solo dnd exist

[meager fractal]

It's fun but nothing compares to a good campaign

[hazy egret]

Someone let me join their table as a divine sorc please

I CRAVE

[stuck shuttle]

If you want to find a group using this server check the instructions in #find-a-game

[hazy egret]

I know

[civic notch]

What even is solo D&D?
-# please don't tell me it's barking D&D stuff at chatgpt 😭

[hazy egret]

Pretty much

[weak current]

my new brain child if anyone wants the orb of confusion for DND 5e

I have an info page

it won't let me post pictures on here tho

[storm quest]

what would be considered a good bit but not fight ending aoe damage to a party of 5 people
level 3 btw

[glass granite]

2d8?

[stuck shuttle]

If you have homebrew you can send a link to it (with context) in #homebrew

[storm quest]

thanks cro

[glass granite]

It stings a fair bit, but it ain’t one shotting anyone

Well, except maybe wizards or sorcerers that dumped con

[eternal summit]

Im free of a 3 day mute

[civic notch]

And coming out swinging, apparently, lol.
Welcome back.

[eternal summit]

Only muted me for emojis useless rule imo

[civic notch]

I've seen some wild stuff from the emoji's in this server. It's there for a reason

[glass granite]

Well, complaining about it or not following them ain’t gonna do many favours. Also glad to have ya back

[eternal summit]

Which is totally understandable but at the same time mine weren't bad there should be a limit or a tipping point to it if your catching my drift

At then end of the day its just discord

[civic notch]

So, what are some of everyone's favorite monster categories?
I'm a big fan of mind flayers.

MIND BULLETS

[lavish flame]

Mine might be either Goblinoids or Gnolls

[civic notch]

Yeah gerblins!

[lavish flame]

Of the two, prolly Gnolls. I don't really like Bugbears and they're goblinoids

[lyric idol]

Magic item monsters. Flying swords, floating carpets that choke you out, etc.

Mimics especially.

[fossil hollow]

im basic, giants and dragons

[storm quest]

anywhere i can send images without using google docs

i don’t wanna share my account name and stuff

[surreal marsh]

hi guise, im looking for playtesters with dnd experience (doesnt matter what edition) to help playtest my homebrew, what channel should i advertise in

[fossil hollow]

#homebrew

oh for playtesting #find-a-game

[pallid peak]

Guys what if acid-induced hallucinations were real and your being under the influence INFLUENCED the world? A new magic system!

[junior socket]

Damn it’s strict over here

[loud tendon]

Imgr??

[lavish flame]

How would this interact with the D&D magic system? If it doesn't, then how does it interact with the D&D game engine?

[pallid peak]

IDK. Another wizard subclass? Constitution as the spellcasting stat?

[bleak lotus]

Mine are goblins and kobolds

[pallid peak]

Material components always required?

And only if the DM says you can snort them

[old sluice]

So just a wizard on drugs casting illusions spells to imitate their hallucinations?

[pallid peak]

Except the hallucinations are REAL

[loud tendon]

Let's exercise a little caution around drug references. This is a family friendly server after all.

[pallid peak]

Oh okay. My alternative to this hippie mage idea was to just do healing crystals

And a subclass of druid.

[old sluice]

Considering that those hallucinations are rarely, if ever, more elaborate than colours, distortions of existing objects and silhouettes, is this not kind of useless?

[pallid peak]

Or bard. I'm not sure about a druid with a ukelele

[pallid peak]

Yeah that does put a kink in it.

[civic notch]

Yeah the classics. I don't vibe with kobolds as much as goblins, but both are good

[old sluice]

And that's for the visuals. Smells and sounded can all be imitated by prestidigitation

[empty thicket]

Golems, the idea of them and how you can make a golem out of lots of things.
A dragons hoard treasure can be a golem
A whole mountain can be a golem resting
A volcano being another golem
a flesh golem made out of sorcerers dead bodies giving him the capacity of throw magic
A Golem of rock with some gems on it
Etc. Etc.

A cheese golem would be funny too

[pallid peak]

Sugar golem

[empty thicket]

a cake golem

[pallid peak]

Trash Golem

[empty thicket]

You were invited to the marriage of someone important and there was an attempt to kill the couple because they were kings, the cake rise up and start attacking everybody

[lavish flame]

This was my main thought as well. You don't really hallucinate entirely new objects and creatures. Mostly just alterations to existing stuff around you.

I suppose altering clothing's color and texture could make for a decent job, but thats not really Adventuring.

[old sluice]

I use the distraction to kill whoever it is I was planning on killing.

The only way I ever go to a wedding is if I was planning on killing a guest.

[whole parcel]

Hi, i have a question how would you make a Black silence build ( From library of ruina)?

[pallid peak]

GENIUS

[empty thicket]

Free food, talk with important npcs, maybe steal something, connections, etc. There is more than just killing in the business

[pallid peak]

Chef's kiss.

Oh wait accidental pun

[empty thicket]

Thanks, but yeah, you have options on the golems and each one of them is good in his own way for me

[pallid peak]

Wait can your golem be a gas

Or is that just an Air elemental

[empty thicket]

They in theory need a core, so you would need matter that hold that core

[pallid peak]

Make a helium baloon the core and make a fart golem

[empty thicket]

Okey buddy, like 40% of spells are around fire, you sure about it?

[pallid peak]

Makes it even more fragile. BALLOON CORE

It's already gonna pop from a twig in the ground if it falls prone

It would just be even funnier if it exploded.

[empty thicket]

Unless you want to do an specific mechanic in an area, that if in an scenario that there is a big explosion everything go poop. Welp

[stray atlas]

been wondering

do we know any stat blocks for any gods?

[pallid peak]

Wait, coffee golem. Without a good enough constitution you die of a caffeine induced heart attack

[empty thicket]

a crystal cave and every time one explosion happen some crystals fall from above dealing damage

[pallid peak]

Hmm

[empty thicket]

Yes and no, in theory you cant kill a god, just like an "avatar" of them.

[stray atlas]

then how do gods die in lore?

[lavish flame]

In previous editions of D&D (notably AD&D2e and 3e) they printed out stats for a number of Gods. This made them killable. 5e has mostly strayed away from this, choosing only a handful of gods. Mostly you fight "Avatars" and "Aspects" of Gods in 5e.

To my knowledge, Tiamat (God of Evil Dragons) and Auril (God of Winter) both have Straight Up God statblocks in 5e. Everything else is an Aspect or an Avatar.

[empty thicket]

there i cant help you, i guess some are forgotten. Others killed by others gods, etc. etc.

[pallid peak]

Special magic items, losing worshippers, Vecna going vulnerable to become a supergod in that one premade campaign, etc.,

other gods under specific conditions...

[stray atlas]

shame

so I'm assuming there isn't a campaign that lets you kill Shar?

[lavish flame]

The lore finds a way to justify killing them.

[pallid peak]

Plot sword

[old sluice]

Then I use the distraction to steal the stuff. And the food.

[empty thicket]

Like, send a party through a crystal cave system to retrieve a special item and make them found out that if any explosion happen in that cave they get giga punished. You are giving a chance to martial to shine and any caster//artificer to hold back.

[lavish flame]

No 5e pre-written adventure involves the killing of Shar

[stray atlas]

oh wait

[lavish flame]

killing Shar would be a fairly monumental task on account of her being one of the more important and powerful gods

[empty thicket]

Steal their little sweets and caviar. You would be lucky if there is any meals with gold on them.

[stray atlas]

I remember what I came here to ask, is the whole netheril fall eradicating magic for a bit thing just bg3 writing or an actual event?

[thick lagoon]

Heyo dnd discussion

[old sluice]

There isn't any campaign in 5e that lets you perma-kill any god

[stray atlas]

shame

[lavish flame]

The Spellplague messed with magic, but I don't think that had a whole lot to do with Netheril's Fall. I think there's like a few thousand years of time between Netheril falling and the Spellplague

[old sluice]

It's literally the most referenced and important event in the setting history

And I am just about certain it's one of the oldest bits of lore in terms of publication history

[stray atlas]

I swear they're said to be related in bg3

might be my tiredness messing with me though

[old sluice]

The only things older than it are "Elminster is a wizard from Faerûn" and "Mystra is a goddess of magic"

Also what does any of this have to do with the Spellplague?

[lavish flame]

Bro asked a question and I answered with the best knowledge I have

[empty thicket]

Yeah, like, even if oyu manage to kill a god there would be lots of consequences. Even some special enemies would start chasing you until you are dead.
I like to think that killing a god is just something temporal. There will be the same god reincarnate or smt like that.
IF you need to kill one would be for a specific reason, like. Idea:

Kill the Death god for the party being able to fight against X creature without instant dying and when the Death god reincarnate use that moment to bring down the enemy because you were able to Wear down it.

[stray atlas]

gimme a minute to look into this

[old sluice]

Yeah fine but why did you bring up the spellplague?

[lavish flame]

"eradicating magic" ? The Best Knowledge I Have?

[old sluice]

Oh I see the confusion. The Fall of Netheril was caused by the fact that Karsus' Folly technically eradicated magic.

Spellplague has nothing to do with it.

[stray atlas]

dear god why is there no archive of gale's dialogue

[old sluice]

Although if we wanted to be technical the Spellplague would not have happened without the Fall of Netheril. Because the Spellplague was caused by Mystra's death, and Mystra would not have been a thing if Mystryl had not been killed. But that is like saying that I would not have broken my leg if my parents did not meet during a concert, so that means Kurt Cobain broke my leg

[stray atlas]

I'm just gonna assume I was mixing things up

[empty thicket]

A big counterspell that fit a whole country or continent. Would be a nice chapter//campaign that

mostly chapter so you can still give content to casters

[stray atlas]

I'm not making a new bg3 save to check 1 line of dialogue that I can't remember exactly where it is

[granite smelt]

What is goody my gang

[old sluice]

Do you remember what this line was about?

[stray atlas]

I'm not sure if I'm even remembering 1 line or mixing up two

[gray granite]

what would be a good 5e college of swords bard build

im thinking of diping in fighter for shield prof

[stray atlas]

I remember netheril, magic vanishing, and either mystra or mystryl being mentioned

[empty thicket]

2024?

[gray granite]

no, 2014

[old sluice]

Yes that seems to be the standard story of Karsus' folly

What was your question?

[stray atlas]

I was wanting to know if that was a thing in normal dnd or not

[empty thicket]

would do it in the other way, be fighter and then dip into bard, you will have more access to stats up with that and adapt better, getting all fighter benefits and then the bard ones

But that is just mixmaxing, fitting your fantasy is better too

[gray granite]

I want to play a college of swords bard, i was just thinking that a sheild would be good

[old sluice]

Yes.

It's Faerûn lore.

[empty thicket]

It can and you could go dueling. You can go two weapon fighting and be more lethal. There is no better defense than killing your enemy before they kill you

[gray granite]

the character is a fencer, so rapier

[empty thicket]

Rapier and dagger (this another sword or weapon that is mostly used in dual wielding, idk the name)

[granite smelt]

Yall like cyberpunk?

[empty thicket]

The idea seems funny, remind me to the tale "The Three Musketeers"

[empty thicket]

In general, yes, for DND i doubt

Like, i guess tehre must be some DND adapted to cyberpunk. I think would be something like Samurai Jack were magic and tech exist and coexist

[granite smelt]

100%

[thorn sinew]

You know. It took me like half a year to discover. Bbeg meant big bag evil guy

[stray atlas]

there's an official cyberpunk dnd game iirc

[old sluice]

That is called Shadowrun. A very good very popular TTRPG that requires a very different system from D&D

[stray atlas]

cyberpunk 2020 I think it's called

[minor cargo]

Unironically, Shadowrun probably does Samurai Jack really well. It’s a mix of magic and cyberpunk.

[old sluice]

Story is that magic came back in 2012. By 2054 a dragon was running for president of the United Canadian and American States

[empty thicket]

yeah, expected honestly. Like, would be easier to find what wasnt adapted into a DnD or around it than what wasnt adapted

[humble cairn]

That's not D&D. That would be a different Table Top Role Playing Game (TTRPG).

[vague bison]

Ok quick question guys can strahd die

[old sluice]

Yes. The question is whether or not he can stay dead

[fossil hollow]

he has a statblock. yes

[vague bison]

Exactly because I'm thinking of running cos into veor and wondering how I'm gonna solve the two strahds issue

[fossil hollow]

the two what issue? the incel multiplied?

[vague bison]

Because vecna eve of ruin has strahd in it as a battle

[lavish flame]

Strahdtosis

[west timber]

Man I just had my first session as a Wildfire Druid and it was really nice

[fossil hollow]

vampires in general have near functional immortality unless you kill hem in a specific way

[lavish flame]

yeah if you stab him enough he'll stop moving

[fossil hollow]

and the dark powers wont keep him down too long

[empty thicket]

Silver, sun, stab the heart, any new way to kill them?

[fossil hollow]

wish

[empty thicket]

oh, Blender too

[lavish flame]

he's got safeguards, he isn't totally free to kill, but he's definitely killable

[empty thicket]

Few things survive the blender

[fossil hollow]

nah, blender turns them into mist, they still live

[vague bison]

So the dark powers are in control of I'd strahd stays dead

[fossil hollow]

unless its silver blender

[empty thicket]

damn.... Blender dont work this time....

[old sluice]

Any damage type in sufficient amount.

[west timber]

Having my Wildfire Spirit Teleport me and some of the other squishies a safe distance from my Target, hitting stuff with a Scorching Ray, using the spirit for doms damage and getting in ugh that was good

[fossil hollow]

you can just replace him

file off the strahd name, make it one of the spawn

[minor cargo]

Power of friendship.

Not tested. But I have high confidence.

[fossil hollow]

i dont think anything beats magical girl friendship powers. except depression

but even then madoka was fine

[lavish flame]

Yeah more or less. The Dark Powers don't like it when a Demiplane of Dread has no Dark Lord. Sometimes they promote someone else to the job, sometimes they resurrect the fallen Dark Lord.

[empty thicket]

So jumping him between 4 characters, silence it, prone him and kick him in the ground until stop moving, Noted.

[vague bison]

Do yous reckon vecna could work with strahd

Or is vecna too much of a knob

[fossil hollow]

strahd doesnt even stand a chance against Kas

[old sluice]

To do what?

[crisp lake]

sleepover

[lavish flame]

There was a period of time where Vecna was trouncing about in Ravenloft, but Strahd isn't super capable of helping Vecna

[tame estuary]

I hope I'm not seeing casual spoilers

[vague bison]

Could give an explanation to why he is back literal weeks after he gets killed (assuming the players kill him ofc)

[lavish flame]

Strahd's lower on the food chain in basically every capacity

[old sluice]

No need.

[fossil hollow]

the Dark Powers

[old sluice]

The standard explanation is "Dark Powers". The CoS explanation is "Vampyr".

[fossil hollow]

|| Still hate thats how CoS ends though||

[meager fractal]

I wonder what it would be like to run a hexgrid only campaign

[lavish flame]

I usually do my own spin on the ending before informing the players of what happens by the book. They usually groan at the book's ending

[vague bison]

Real I am myself a square enjoyer

[lavish flame]

houses get real weird

[fossil hollow]

if i ever run cos, im ripping that page out

[vague bison]

What happens?

[old sluice]

I usually allow players who do their homework to develop a plan to summon and kill Vampyr or bind it back in its amber sarcophagus, completely ending the curse, Strahd's resurrection and sending Barovia back to the world it came from

[vague bison]

I have my book with me but it's very rainy rn

[tame estuary]

note, walls don't necessarily need to fill the entire grid

[fossil hollow]

|| Curse of Strahd literally says hes back within a few weeks||

[tame estuary]

a grid is just something a creature occupies

[lavish flame]

#1029833015423143957

[old sluice]

Which is stupid because any smart PC could anticipate that the problem can only be solved by finishing the Amber Temple's work

[tame estuary]

sometimes the plan is to go there, kill him, destroy him, and then kill him

[fossil hollow]

imagine a party who regularly farms strahd

[tame estuary]

the vampire powered piston engine

[hoary mango]

hi

[lavish flame]

This is WOW dungeons but as a D&D game

[west timber]

I am enjoying playing a Druid who is more religous and in tune with the Sun God of my DM's world. Almost Clericy but still derives his power from nature and sees the sun as a big part of that

[hoary mango]

lawful evil paladins sound like fun

[humble cairn]

Crown, Conquest, Glory .. all very easily can play evil.

[red steppe]

How do players leave Ravenloft

[lavish flame]

Vengeance even

[marble lion]

Bright powers

[fossil hollow]

the dark powers let you

[red steppe]

We beat em up so we could leave?

[hoary mango]

Just found out how overpowered artificers are 🤣

[fossil hollow]

have you tried beating up the lady of pain?

[humble cairn]

Overpowered how?

[old sluice]

By walking off the front gate. Or jumping down the tower. Or taking the back entrance. Or flying away.

[hoary mango]

They just are amazing lol

[lavish flame]

usually you don't. the best way is to butcher the local Dark Lord and quickly run for the walls of mist

[fossil hollow]

i can say that about any class, thats not an answer

[woven flint]

I can't wait for Psion so we have more than 2 INT classes

[marble lion]

But we only have 2 strength classes

3ish maybe dex classes

Oh monk makes 4ish

Its weird

[fossil hollow]

3 strength. fighter, paladin, barb

[marble lion]

Fighter and paladin are .5 str

Therefore a total of 2

[fossil hollow]

cant argue with that

[marble lion]

Ish

[old sluice]

It's a castle. Leaving a castle is not difficult. They're meant to keep people from going in

[fossil hollow]

math checks out

[marble lion]

Point is give me another str class right now

[woven flint]

I'd argue the most fun fighters and paladins are strength
(ME love big bonk.)

[fossil hollow]

STRangers

[marble lion]

Struids

[woven flint]

I plan on playing one..
Eventually..
When I feel like it

[fossil hollow]

that sounds like a...

[marble lion]

Or the forbidden Strogue i played last

[fossil hollow]

.... that name is even worse than str druid

[marble lion]

I love these

[fossil hollow]

elemental calls

[marble lion]

Strorcerer?

[woven flint]

Streic

Strizard.

[marble lion]

Stralalaladin

[fossil hollow]

strarlock

[woven flint]

Srtlock.

[fossil hollow]

strlock

[woven flint]

Just make everything a strength build

Strizard casts GAINS

[hoary mango]

where can I go to find a campaign lol

[marble lion]

Quadlock and Latsificer and Pecsadin

[halcyon forum]

I just noticed that gargantuan in 2024 rules is no longer 20 ft by 20 ft (or larger). Its just 20x20. Or did I miss something?

[marble lion]

My flucaused 1.5 month gym hiatus is starting to give me pent up frustration i think....

[fossil hollow]

always been the minimum, i thought

[marble lion]

Does it maybe specify when it starts

[halcyon forum]

no I mean its now the maximum too

[red steppe]

Strizard, casts spells by punching hard enough

[marble lion]

I doubt this

That would also mean all medium humanoids are now exactly 5ft

[fossil hollow]

wheremst category

[marble lion]

Or you mean squares, then i guess that could work but would be bad

[halcyon forum]

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024/playing-the-game#CreatureSizeandSpace

compare with this

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014/combat#CreatureSize

such a strange change

[marble lion]

I wonder if this is expanded upon in the actual book

[halcyon forum]

I havent found anything else

[marble lion]

But definitely something worth ignoring

[halcyon forum]

for sure. A tarrasque should control more than 4x4 squares lol

[fossil hollow]

the freaking art depicts it as larger than a fortress

[red steppe]

Gargantuans should deal triple damage to buildings

[halcyon forum]

I mean a lot of them have the Siege monster trait already

[high ledge]

would the medieval equivalent of "hit like a truck" be "hit like a stampede" or "hit like a carriage"?

🤔

[red steppe]

Hit like a ram

[fossil hollow]

tarrasques already deal double damage. and huge creatres already tend to deal bigger and more die on their attacks

[humble cairn]

Struck with the force of a thhunderbolt from the heavens

[fossil hollow]

"you've been... thunderstruck"

[lavish flame]

its probably something about being bulldozed by a carriage

or like an ox or something

[fossil hollow]

.... wait, how old is the term bulldoze

[lavish flame]

probably pretty new, given bulldozers

[high ledge]

"struck me with the force of a thunderbolt", "bulldozed me like a carriage", "trampled me like an ox"

I like these, ngl

[fossil hollow]

but one can argue they got the name from bull + doze (which i think can stand for destruction?)

[lavish flame]

post-industrial. Wikipedia has them as an early 1900s invention

[high ledge]

true

[lavish flame]

and like I cannot find any usages of "dozer" in any other context besides "bulldozer"

[fossil hollow]

or dozin off

[lavish flame]

Dozer has a disambiguation page, but its just proper nouns relevant to Dozer (people and places mostly)

[fossil hollow]

quick, to the when was a word used most often!

[high ledge]

1950s apparently

50 on the dot for bulldozer and 58 for dozer

shout out to the period of 1582~1586 for having a higher use of the word "rizz" than all of the 2000s

[marble lion]

Comes from bull-dosage

A term referring to large pistols who fired such a big payload hence the bull-dosage

Enough to put down a bull
It became synonymous with tackling an obstacle with extreme force

The vehicle was then called this because thats what it does

Dozing off however omis much older and comes from scandinavian word for sleeping lightly

"Dösen" is a german word i know as well so that makes sense

To bring this all back into dnd context, i guess both applications could make sense in forgotten realms since bulls exist, dosage exists and nordic cultures exist

[stiff jewel]

How did they make the Banneret so bad... AGAIN...

2014 PDK, with 5.5 Fighter was actually somewhat okay, but then it became this, somehow better, but also worse.

[humble cairn]

What is the issue with it?

[rough basalt]

I like it when pairing it with the PDK feats.

[humble cairn]

Polyglot is actually kind of cool.

[stiff jewel]

Polyglot is the only good update

[stiff jewel]

your level 3 ability is once per rest... yawn

and almost everything you get in the class is packed into that once per rest ability

[humble cairn]

Which is the same as it was before.

[stiff jewel]

PDK with 5.5 fighter was second wind based, so more than once per rest.

[humble cairn]

I think they spoke about this, specifically. They tested it and it turned out it worked out better mathematically if it was limited to once per rest.

[stiff jewel]

Better for whom? The entire subclass is awful

[humble cairn]

What is awful about it?

[halcyon forum]

that only have a subclass in combat once per short rest (and its just a burst of healing) until level 10

[stiff jewel]

Tested? No they didn't, they gave us a completely different subclass in testing, then removed that because it was thematically terrible.

[stiff jewel]

this

[halcyon forum]

like, if the math is off, just reduce the healing a bit and give more uses.

(but also this is a perfect example that math alone is a terrible way to balance a game)

[stiff jewel]

it's not even off though, you have less healing than ANY other healing capable classes, and it uses EVERYTHING you have to do it.

[red steppe]

What makes PDK really bad?

[stiff jewel]

A monk with ONE hand of Healing outheals a Banneret's once per short rest ability

[humble cairn]

Ahh hmm ... that does seem a bit underwhelming. I mean I would be using Knightly Envoy a lot, but that's Utility rather than a combat feature.

[halcyon forum]

-subclass abilities are very limited in use
-subclass abilities are tied to fighter resources, creating a conflict of interest
-subclass abilities feel underwhelming
-nothing passive that is always on

[halcyon forum]

yeah the ribbon isnt the problem, though its kinda weird in the implications?

[humble cairn]

How so?

[red steppe]

Damn

[halcyon forum]

like, the way it interacts with languages kinda breaks verisimilitude for me

[stiff jewel]

Your level 7 ability is just adding stuff to the bad level 3 ability, if the level 7 ability was at level 3, then soemthing else at level 7, (like more uses) it would be good

Polyglot is just weird, you get to ritual cast comprehend languages to speak all languaghes, and polyglot then you learn 1 language that you forget after a long rest, it';s just dumb

It's like they thought of Polyglot, then decided to give them comprehend langhuages instead, then forgot to remove polyglot

[halcyon forum]

my main problem is this:

• a fighter wants to use second wind to heal themself when they are low
• the banneret now needs to consider a second scenario to use it at level 3, and a third totally different scenario at level 7, all of those scenarios are unlikely to line up.
• so now you didnt get a new resource, you are stretching an existing resource that was already useful in most combats for more use cases that conflict in timing

[humble cairn]

No, I like this.

[stiff jewel]

What's likable about it?

[cobalt owl]

Ig in 2024 just getting more languages because half are locked behind "rare"

[humble cairn]

You can stretch to magically understand everyone, but you also have a more mundane ability to study and pick things up. "What's likable about it?" is somewhat aggressive, ngl. Sometimes people just like things?

[solid echo]

Is me wanting to flavor my hp as my character defending himself to much to ask? Like me parrying a blow but still taking full damage

[stiff jewel]

I was asking what you found likable about it, it's not an attack

[lavish flame]

Its basically a way to get a language after Comprehend Languages-ing it. If you're in a Giant place, now you don't need to sit for 10 minutes every time, you can just know Giant

[halcyon forum]

HP are not meat points so sure, that is barely a reflavor

[lavish flame]

Thats part of the assumed fiction surrounding hit points

[halcyon forum]

losing HP can mean a lot of things, spending luck, plot armor, getting winded, getting scratches etc

[solid echo]

Yea alright I’m not crazy and a tables dm just sees things differently. Thanks for the input 😄

[halcyon forum]

like, i think it would be good RP to make clear there is a difference between blocking a miss and blocking a hit

[stiff jewel]

I was really excited about the new revised version of PDK only to have all my excitement flushed down the toilet.

[halcyon forum]

for example the block of a hit takes something out of you, while block of a miss is effortless

[solid echo]

Yea like apparently me parrying a blow as flavor to taking 10 damage was to much tonight like I was getting beat up let me feel cool

[rough basalt]

That's weird

[solid echo]

I agree

[hot gate]

Well sometime I go overboard with flavor as a DM, making it unclear for my players what happened meachanically. So I usually end up quickly stating what mechanically happens at the end.

"The ogre doesn't even seem to feel your strike"
("it still took full damage, it just has a lot of hp")

[marsh spade]

I think I found my new fav subclass in bg3/dnd

Blade singing wizard

Melee spellcaster just feels awesome to play

[hot gate]

It's certainly a cool fantasy

I enjoy pact of the blade warlock for the same reason.

[lyric idol]

If you like that and want another one Bard has College of Swords and Warlock was made for melee and spell casting in general

[glass granite]

I just like paladin

Or spore Druid, I think that’s underrated (at least I don’t see many of them)

[hot gate]

I wouldn't say it was made for it, but it can certainly specialize into it. Which is the great thing about warlock.

[hot gate]

Good shout. I've got a spore druid in one of my games and she usually wades into melee.

[glass granite]

Spore Druids are the best melee non-wildshape Druids imo

Largely due to lack of competition

[knotty pasture]

Spore Druid does feel like it deviates slightly from the stereotypical Druid

[lyric idol]

I gotta try the new Dreadnought armor for artificer. The definition of melee magic caster with the benefit of bashing people in with a wrecking ball.

And being able to cast spells.

[marsh spade]

True, but, I like the idea of having to learn the magic vs being granted magic by a patron or even being born with it like a sorcerer.

[lyric idol]

Hey. You played that music good enough to impress that deity, you deserve that magic.

Not every musician is a bard, but every Bard is a musician.

[tidal bough]

Not necessarily

[lyric idol]

or a comedian

[tidal bough]

It can be any form of art or creative expression

Sculptors, painters, etc

[knotty pasture]

Something something flavoring

[tidal bough]

Music tends to be the easiest thing to use as the class is generally built around it

[knotty pasture]

Also bc you get proficiency in a musical instrument by default

Its rare to flavor a lute as an oversized paintbrush

[lyric idol]

Ah yes, I choose clay as my musical instrument of choice.

[tidal bough]

Just because you know how to play an instrument doesnt mean youre a musician

I.e I know how to play guitar but I certainly would consider myself a musician

[knotty pasture]

Where do you draw the line

Do you have to officially perform somewhere to count

[tidal bough]

Depends really, its the old thing of you cook a meal but dont become a chef instantly, you kill a person and you become a murder forever

[knotty pasture]

I'm not really buying it but flavoring is also free so go wild on that front

[tidal bough]

But I suppose if it were a job youd definitely be able to say you were

[lyric idol]

Direcly from the PHB (Albeit the 2024 one) "Invoking magic through music, dance, and verse, "

[tidal bough]

So bards are either musicians, dancers or speakers RaW

[lyric idol]

Yes.

[knotty pasture]

Something something flavoring, you don't need to follow RAW there since its so minor

[brisk kite]

Tell me your favorite character from anime/movie/show as who u really want to play dnd, but u cant because his abilities are impossible because of dnd mechanics

[tidal bough]

Thats also true, im js RaW thats how it is

[stiff jewel]

When you activate the Graze Mastery by missing, which of the following apply:

"When you hit an enemy".
"When you damage a creature".
"Immediately after you use the attack action".

Because as far as I know, 2, and 3 should work, but 1 no...

[lyric idol]

I mean a comedian can still play music too as part of their act. So a Bard can be a comedian. One who made a deity laugh.

[tidal bough]

I prefer to stick away from already made characters, every person ive played eith that tries to do it seems extremely cringe

We had one guy try playing deku from mha and ended up just doing a really bad job and made thise weird evil version that was a mess

[lyric idol]

I do too, but I want to try making a bard that uses puppets like Jeff Dunham at least once.

[tidal bough]

I believe graze specifies that the damage dealt from this cannot be increased in anyway to avoid these cases

I might be wrong tho

[knotty pasture]

My take is that by default Bards use sound based phenomenon to affect allies and enemies, but anyone is free to flavor that into any way they want

[tidal bough]

Bards are just bats in disguise

[marsh spade]

Very true, I’ve never played a bard. Idk why, I’ve just never felt the urge or vibes with the class

[knotty pasture]

Thunderwave for example could just be a Bard drawing large strokes with their paintbrush, sending off magical waves at people to damage them like swinging a sword really hard from a distance

[lyric idol]

It fell under my radar until I gave it a chance once. Its actually a really fun class. More support, but it does have rogue's expertise.

[glass granite]

Bards are my second favourite class after monks

[supple skiff]

are there choking/strangling rules

[glass granite]

There are suffocation rules

[supple skiff]

i guess merge that with grappling rules

[marsh spade]

I’m only in one in person campaign rn and I’m playing a draconic ancestry tiefling sorcerer. First bg3 character was the same character in my actual campaign. second one was paladin(lvl 6)/hexblade(lvl 1)/shadow sorc(level 5). Third was arcane archer/gloom stalker build. Doing a 4th run in bg3 rn as a bladesong wizard

Gonna go 7 lvls wizard (bladesong) and 5 lvls into fighter (eldritch knight)

[lyric idol]

Having at least 1 bard in your party is worth it. I played bard in my BG3 game and only failed persuasion once my entire playthrough (I had to shove shar off the edge because I couldn't persuade her to save the valkryie)

[knotty pasture]

I hope you meant Shart

Cuz that would have the most amazing kill ever

[marsh spade]

I’ve never failed a persuasion check to save the Valkyrie. If I did, I prolly just reloaded a previous save

[knotty pasture]

||Throwing Spear of Night off in Shadowfell before reaching Aylin causes the check to auto pass||

[lyric idol]

Shadowheart yeah

[lyric idol]

Me? Take the easy way out? Risk not having Karlach throw her off the edge with a successful strength check? Yeah no.

[knotty pasture]

Tbf I get that

Shart was getting on my nerves during mid/late act 2 too

[lyric idol]

I still have the video somewhere too it was so hilarious.

[knotty pasture]

Like bringing a ticking emotional time bomb

And it auto detonates if you just bench her

[lyric idol]

Yes I found it lmao!

I have the video of the fight yall wanna see it.

[rapid cape]

Aye sooo is there a channel to write an introduction? I would like to post an intro since I really wanna start DnD again

[glass granite]

Like an intro to a campaign? Probably #dm-discussion

If it’s an intro for a PC maybe #character-discussion

[rapid cape]

Cheers mate thanks

[idle oar]

Please avoid posting single character posts (including of reacts, emojis, or stickers) as it's disruptive to chat and can be particularly confusing and an accessibility challenge to our screenreader/text to speech users

Thanks!

[craggy cairn]

Fair enough. Just thought to say hello with one of these newfangled emojis you’ve got here.
In that same vein;

[idle oar]

Welcome!

[craggy cairn]

Big fan of whatever your profile is

[old sluice]

New idea for a magical tree: The Breathing Tree. The air around it is rich. Very rich. So rich that insects and arachnids get bigger all around. Flames burn brighter and stronger. The air is strange to breathe.

Giant praying mantises? Giant butterflies? As the tree spreads its seeds, the air will get richer and richer all around.

[idle oar]

Dungeons of Drakkenheim delerium dreg (think corrupted zombie) with a little festive hat

And thank you!

[craggy cairn]

From what I’m getting, is this meant to be an extra oxygen tree? (Insect Megafauna were characteristic of depending on the higher amounts of oxygen in the atmosphere to handle the way they breathed with that size, for example.)

More like magical oxygen, maybe. Get that weave-tainted air in ya

[old sluice]

That is the idea.

[craggy cairn]

I like it.

The fact that I was able to parse the inspiration from some slightly esoteric paleontology just makes it that more effective

[old sluice]

Now how many players will say "Wait, that's not a magical curse that grows insects and burns things! It's just excessive oxygen."?

I've been thinking of ideas for plant and animals and fey themed monsters.

For now my lightning tree and my dragon-scorched treants are my best ideas. Bit shameful

[craggy cairn]

Alt idea for the scorched treants; they’re still burning due to the proximity to the fancy magic tree

[old sluice]

Yeah the idea is that a tree that survives a dragon's breath gains some magical property. A treant that does becomes weird and infused with the energy of that breath.

[inner silo]

My sorcerer is at 15 hp and is the closes out of our party to the enemies who are two hell hounds, a demon and a balrog. How screwed am i?

[craggy cairn]

How is there a balrog? How did this happen?

[old sluice]

So I'm trying to think of a different flair for every kind of dragon scorched treant

[old sluice]

Not very screwed. How many spell slots do you have left?

[inner silo]

There was a portal which was guarded by 8 demons and held up by two undead guys. Our dm allowed us to use circle magic for that session so we made a 45ft cloud of daggers and destroyed all the enemies, but before we could destroy the portal it climbed out of it

[craggy cairn]

Hm. Yeah, that makes sense

[inner silo]

I have 1 lvl 1 and 1 lvl 2 spell slot, our fighter still has action surge, our two paladins have 1 spell slot eich or so but one of them is downed and our warlock has 1 spell slot i think. We're level 4 btw

[craggy cairn]

Just want to check, is this a Balrog (as in the LOTR monster) or a Balor

[inner silo]

I'm not sure, but it's a very big hell guy

[craggy cairn]

Gonna guess a Balor. (They used to share a name in earlier editions)

[inner silo]

I see

Hopefully my wild magic saves us

[craggy cairn]

It’s CR 19.

You are probably going to need to retreat.

[inner silo]

We have a fiend warlock on our party. What are the odds that that's their boss?

[craggy cairn]

Abysmally (pun intended) low. Balors are demons, not fiends

[inner silo]

Oh, i see

[craggy cairn]

Demons tend to be chaotic, so they never make pacts. They just do evil stuff

[inner silo]

I thought fiends were both demons and devils

[hot gate]

Well, they are. Devils and demons are both fiends. Fiends is the overarching category.

[old sluice]

Ok just... Just misty step out of there and run

[inner silo]

I don't have misty step

[craggy cairn]

True, but also; demons tend to be chaotic, so why would they make pacts when they can just nab more power directly?

[hot gate]

Sure, the two behave very differently.

[craggy cairn]

Very.

[burnt valley]

Sounds doable

[craggy cairn]

There’s also origins to consider; Devils come from the Hells, Demons come from the Abyss.

[hot gate]

Both are categorically in the lower planes. They're both evil, just different sides of the evil coin, if you will.

Chaotic vs. lawful evil

[craggy cairn]

Indeed. Anyway, back to the main discussion

[craggy cairn]

Run. Fast. As fast as you can.

[old sluice]

Why do people sell you stuff rather than just take your wallet?

[craggy cairn]

I’ve heard of a ridiculous number of adventuring parties who act like this. It becomes a source of pride when your own gaggle of idiots actually tries to be civil and exchange currency for goods and services.

[inner silo]

Oki, I'll try... though trying a ranger does seem fun, and this isn't really what my character would do

[old sluice]

If all depends on the situation. Some demons might make a deal. An informal one though

Some demons might not see a point in killing you.

[craggy cairn]

If your character is any way versed in knowledge of fiends, I feel like they would know just how crazy on the scale a Balor is.

[inner silo]

Yay

[hot gate]

Trade offer: I get your soul, you get to live for 5 more years.

[old sluice]

Then maybe you can talk your way out of death. Fighting is futile.

[inner silo]

They've been sheltered their entire life so likely no

[old sluice]

Some people are sheltered next to a library. That library may have had a book about the author's journeys through the lower planes

[inner silo]

Tbh considering 5 of our party members are charisma casters this seems like a good idea

[inner silo]

Perhaps. I'll ask my dm next session

[craggy cairn]

All that time at home and absolutely 0 books on devils and demons? Crazy.

[hot gate]

How many more party members do you have? 👀

[inner silo]

Are there actually supposed to be that many of them?

[inner silo]

Overall 6, one didn't visit the last session and one is downed but about to be brought back up

[craggy cairn]

The concepts, at least, are known by those who have access to materials about them. There’s a lot that is understood in the world, at least when it comes to the canon setting(s?).

[inner silo]

I see

[craggy cairn]

But, yeah, either try and convince the Balor to not immediately kill you, or just take off running

[inner silo]

Oki, I'll ask my dm

[inner silo]

"i cast firebolt"

No but yeah I'll be running

@craggy cairn thanks for the help!

[craggy cairn]

No problem

Btw I just wanted to say it’s crazy that you guys have the Bear cutscene as an emoji here

[old sluice]

In a world where fiends exist, I expect that a lot of literature actually mentions them

Even non-academic literature. A romance poem where a devil tries to trick two lovers in selling their soul might actually be based on an actual factual event. And the devil in the poem might be currently living pit fiend or something

[inner silo]

I'm just not sure I'd know what a balor is. I could tell it's a big and probably dangerous demon but not that like "this is that one exact type of demon"

[craggy cairn]

It’s a big deal. You can tell that much just from looking at it

[old sluice]

Oh no, probably not.

But it's big and angry. The only information you really need is "that thing can kill us all. The last one to die will be dead before the first one's corpse hits the ground"

Which is pretty obvious

[inner silo]

I mean, we've faced a dragon and survived already. Well my character didn't survive but they reincarnated via a wild magic surge. How dangerous can that thing be?

But i get your point

[craggy cairn]

Holy moly

[old sluice]

Molly is indeed holy to the ancient greeks. It's used by Odysseus to protect himself against Circe

[glass granite]

Hermes’ gave it to him if i recall

[old sluice]

Exactly

[burnt valley]

How close are the hell hounds, the demon and the balrog are together?

[old sluice]

It's been a while. At this point I expect Craker's character is either running away, dead, enslaved or negociating

Or being eaten

[craggy cairn]

Unrelated, but; Pretty sure I’ve managed to collect at least 5 canid-based cloaks in Curse of Strahd so far. I’ve got one for every kind we’ve encountered, including an entire werewolf pelt my comically short Dragonborn has decided to make their main style. The rest will be going to the wider party

I got that Monster Hunter energy

[old sluice]

I tried too but it turns out that werewolves turn back into their true form when they die so we can't skin them

[craggy cairn]

Apparently my DM skipped over that

Regardless, I like how the pelt collection has been a thing for my character. It allows him to be unhinged in a productive way

Although I am pretty sure he has done this to at least one humanoid, either in the campaign or his background. He’s strange.

[burnt valley]

I was going to say cast Web or Fog Cloud at least if they're still alive

[muted path]

When you have the pact of the blade as a warlock can you summon stuff like flaming swords or only normal metal ones?

I was wondering since you can deal different types of damage with a weapon like poison, radiant etc...

[pliant sapphire]

You can only summon mundane melee weapons. They can't be magical

[muted path]

Ty

[raw sonnet]

so I've had this group of players who became extremely overpowered

and out of game they asked for a dungeon with Licz for them to fight. I refused and said "I know that you're 100% will end up enslaving him"

[hollow stone]

i mean you can, it just won't be a wolf pelt

that's also a deranged thing to be doing in either scenario, provided the fact that a werewolf is basically a person

playing on minimal evil but maximum derangement is a very funny basis for a campaign tho icl

[buoyant oar]

The Tomb of Horrors was created for this exact reason.

[eager marsh]

No the dungeon was made because players bragged things weren't hard enough. Gygax created Tomb of Horroes, hosted it at a con weekend and said 'bring any character sheet from home and if you die I keep it'. Man left that event with a giant stack from all the parties he killed

[buoyant oar]

Well that is one of the reasons. The other was to test his own personal expert players Rob Kuntz and his son Ernie, as well as to produce a hard module for Tournament play at Origins

[halcyon zephyr]

Helloooooo

[cold pewter]

Do you think Elves get heartbroken when they see things like "___ was here"? Where they see the human need to be remembered?

[burnt valley]

Was there ever a Tomb of Horrors equivalent in 5.5e?

[ionic lake]

Probably yeah

I'm responding to fool slayer btw

[limber oriole]

I mean yeah they have emotions 😂

[ivory shale]

hi

do you guys think its the DM job to know all the class abilities?

[limber oriole]

I would say so, maybe not by heart but keeping a track of what your players can do

[lyric viper]

Nope. DMs can be expected to remember some of the rules, mostly on combat and general play, but it's on the players to know their own classes.

[ivory shale]

duality of man

[limber oriole]

I think it’d be worth keeping a page of notes on it, stops the issue of having to double check books/wiki tk double check a PC can do something

[lyric viper]

DMs can't be expected to remember every single spell and ability. Perfectly fine for a player to remind them of a rule, or for the whole group to learn together.

[ivory shale]

but if you're the first time reading the phb ( as a dm ) for example 5e, would you read all of it or just 'playing the game? "

[lyric viper]

Noting page references is a big help. (Learning how to look things up quickly to me is more important than trying to memorise all the rules).

[ivory shale]

but i've heard some tables doesn't allow books at their table? is this common?

[lyric viper]

Even as a DM of 5e for over 10 years, I do not know how all the spells and classes work by heart. Not even the PHB classes/spells.

[snow agate]

DMs don’t want players looking up monster stat blocks

[limber oriole]

I mean it helps to have players you can trust 😂

[ivory shale]

pbh have monster stats?

[snow agate]

Hot take if you can’t trust your players just get new ones

[lyric viper]

I know how to look them up and I trust my players to tell me accurately how their PCs work. if we're in doubt, we can look them up later (or while doing something else).

[snow agate]

No it doesn’t lmao it’s the players handbook not the DMG or the bestiary

[ivory shale]

yea, some tables also doesnt allow that with the reasoning that its distrups play

[limber oriole]

Oh absolutely, but this person seemed new and so i presumed the players would be new, new players can have a tendency to see it as DM vs us

[snow agate]

Are these tables in the room with us right now or are you talking about your table

[ivory shale]

no ive just heard some stories

[lyric viper]

If I was trying to introduce brand new players entirely, I might try and learn their PCs as best as possible in orer to help them play. But that's with intro games.

[limber oriole]

So may be wanting to try and pull one over the DM

[ivory shale]

i allow books

[buoyant oar]

Not for 5.5 but for 5e. There is the original tomb of horrors in Yawning portal and a full campaign called Tomb of Annihilation

[lyric viper]

I really like that the new starter set helps make the DM and players more equal and doesn't treat it as only one person will ever be the DM and has all the responsibility.

[buoyant oar]

Best habit a DM can have.

Player: "I cast a spell!"

DM: "Read out the spell for me in it's entirety."

[snow agate]

The dnd stories you hear about in YouTube videos are extreme instances that are cherry picked for content because it’s more interesting than a game that actually works fine

[lyric viper]

In person games- have a flash card for your spell, be ready to hand it over to the DM for it to be checked.

Digital games- usually have a 'show description' option.

[knotty pasture]

Bestiaries are meant to be banned huh

[eager marsh]

Not really. In fact Volo’s Guide to Monsters exists in Fearun as a real book that players can physically buy during one of the official hardcover adventures

Bestiaries would and should exist in most reasonably established fantasy settings

[ivory shale]

not really from youtube but a reddit comment

[lyric viper]

Honestly, it's not a huge issue if your players know some of the stat blocks. Play long enough, they'll know them. If they're also DMs, they'll know them.

[knotty pasture]

Cuz its like I usually can't make use of them or tell people how to fight

[lyric viper]

Stat blocks aren't secret knowledge. You can also change and edit them. Players can try to avoid metagaming if something really is meant to be rare to know in character.

But it won't break the game if your players know a stat block.

[eager marsh]

Reddit is a cesspool and often made up also for engagement

[snow agate]

Also some statblocks are common enough sense that it really doesn’t matter

[buoyant oar]

Yeah. Just change the blocks up. If a player complains. Say this monster is different

If they complain a lot and it's not broken well then you have another issue

[eager marsh]

Also certain things are common sense. Nobody with a brain will think fire damage spells work on fire elementals for example

[limber oriole]

Unless you are in my party and use ice spells on a massive dragon breathing ice at people

[eager marsh]

I did say with a brain

[ivory shale]

tfw you add 1 more hp to a monster

[knotty pasture]

Bg3 allows you to metagame and that rarely ever affected how I went about things

[lyric viper]

One advice my dad gave me was treating the MM as an actual in universe lore book, but can you really trust it? This person says red dragons are like this- how did they find that out? Have they met every red dragon? Have they gained this knowledge from talking to adventurers who survived to tell the tale?

Treat it as an unreliable narrator and that you don't have to worry if Players know some of that information too.

[knotty pasture]

I imagine its the same in dnd

[limber oriole]

I mean it’s written by Volo right? The most unreliable of all narrators

[uncut zenith]

Agreed. The issue isn’t players knowing a statblock, it’s players exploiting their knowledge of a statblock to purposefully break the game.

[eager marsh]

There’s also the case where a specific character per their background or speciality logically should know a stat block for free

[snow agate]

I don’t really think you can break a game by knowing a monster statblock

[lyric viper]

Which is a different problem and sadly a more party breaking one. 🙁

[knotty pasture]

Volo is a Bard that has 14 int 8 cha instead of the other way around

[dark lance]

so for spells like Spike Growth, it's camoflaged and creatures can use a wisdom (perception/survival) to check if its hazardous. What if i place the trap right under the enemy? Will they know its already hazardous?? will it not be camoflaged anymore?

[eager marsh]

I’d expect a necromancy wizard to know the gist of most undead stat blocks by right of their studies. Or a moon Druid to just know the gist of any beast

[limber oriole]

I mean knowing a monster does 2d20 fire damage doesn’t make you any better at stopping it

[snow agate]

If you get hurt by something you know it hurts so no it’s not hidden

[eager marsh]

He’s actually literally a lv1 (?) wizard pretending he’s a bard

[limber oriole]

Yeah Volo is canonically a wizard i’m pretty sure

[dark lance]

it wont take damage until it moves right (into or out)??

[limber oriole]

He’s just not a very good one

[eager marsh]

He’s just bad at it and he’s also besties with Eliminster who saves him a lot

[snow agate]

?????????? Yesssss???? It won’t???? So you should be fine!!! It will step once and then be like oof owie!!

[lyric viper]

I feel it's more the mentality behind 'I'm going to look up this module/stat block in order to plan out how to 'win'' that is a red flag of greater issues including an adversarial mindset and needing to win.

[uncut zenith]

Exactly

[limber oriole]

Oh a need to win is definitely something i’m working on

[knotty pasture]

Tbh even if you plan out how to win, rarely could a single PC win a fight that way

[lyric viper]

Kinda just spoils it for themselves. It won't break the encounter, but it's going to be a mentality that can ruin the fun of the game.

[ivory shale]

so guys i have this interaction when I joined some game on r/lfg idk if its weird or not

[uncut zenith]

In my experience, it also generates a lot of distrust

[knotty pasture]

I think the main issue is when this PC communicates with everyone else to trivalize an encounter

[limber oriole]

My first play through of BG3 before i was into D&D was spent reloading failed rolls

[lyric viper]

I mean... I will straight up just cheat in video games

[knotty pasture]

That's when the PC is being disruptive

[knotty pasture]

The ultimate level 9 spell, rewind time

[lyric viper]

But not in D&D. Cheating in single player video games is my choice to enjoy the game that way.
Cheating in a group game is going to ruin that game.

[eager marsh]

Mystra getting the steel chair ready as we speak

[uncut zenith]

I once had a player who I found out had looked up and read through a module I was running for them and in the back of my mind, all I could think was, “Does this person not trust me enough to run a fun campaign for them?”

[snow agate]

Yeah I’m playing a wizard who grew up in a dungeon so I know a variety of dungeon monsters but I don’t know forest creatures xdd

[knotty pasture]

Not even Mystra has a counter for this

[eager marsh]

That’s when she calls her boss Ao

[knotty pasture]

Can you imagine a level 9 spell that costs no spell slots and only costs you a minute or two tops

[limber oriole]

Silvery barbs*

[eager marsh]

A spell? That works from the weave? Sorry she revoked your magic buddy

[snow agate]

That’s when you just smack them with a stick and carry on

[limber oriole]

I silvery barbs her revoke attempt

Silvery barbs conquers all

The big nuh uh

[buoyant oar]

This is why I love Volo's guide to monsters

[snow agate]

You now are facing two enemies and one attacks you after you’ve already used your reaction

[buoyant oar]

I have fixed the silvery barbs problem by just banning the spell because it's a Magic the gathering setting spell

[uncut zenith]

Well what really hurt the most about the situation was that the person is a close friend and not just a stranger I recruited to join my campaign. So it’s not as easy as “just smack them with a stick and carry on”.

[buoyant oar]

Strixhaven can't hurt me

[eager marsh]

It’s not even a broken spell and also Strixhaven is legally a D&D setting. Square and rectangle

[snow agate]

That makes it even easier to smack them with a stick because you have rapport

[buoyant oar]

Yeah, but if I'm playing within the Forgotten realm setting and I only allow options from the Forgotten Realms, then I don't have to allow anything that's beyond the core rulebooks and the setting

[eager marsh]

You don’t but that doesn’t change the spell doesn’t need a fix either

[buoyant oar]

I don't think the spell needs to fix either, I just don't like it personally. It is not a logical vendetta

[eager marsh]

As long as you’re aware at least

[limber oriole]

I use it but i’m on the fence about it

[buoyant oar]

It's the same thing with changelings. On paper. I have no problem with the mechanically but you won't catch me dead with one of my games because too many weird people have made it weird

[dark nimbus]

Are one free to help me build a homebrew class I would love someone to talk ideas too

[eager marsh]

I almost exclusively use it to cancel critical hits against myself or my barbarian ally so he can keep meat shielding for me

[snow agate]

I will be fair and say that silvery barbs is an anti-fun spell because since it is a leveled spell and a reaction, but all it does is provide disadvantage, it basically is a spell that prevents you from doing anything interesting next turn besides use a cantrip, and attempts to prevent the enemy from doing anything interesting by failing, so it turns the combat round into a nothingburger, hold the happening

[knotty pasture]

Understandable, I personally would ban Half Elves and Half Orcs if I could

[eager marsh]

Next turn isn’t effected by silvery barbs

Otherwise Shield and Absorb Elements would so the same and they don’t

[uncut zenith]

Silvery Barbs is only as anti-fun to me as Counterspell is. Meaning it’s not anti-fun enough to ban point blank.

[snow agate]

You can’t use a leveled spell the round after you’ve used a reaction spell

[eager marsh]

That is not true

[snow agate]

Check it

[buoyant oar]

I am not a big fan of spell just does thing. Give me a saving throw

[eager marsh]

Show me the rule because the only rule is that you may only use a leveled spell with a spell slot once per turn

[uncut zenith]

I do ban it for the same reason as Lord Kas. It’s a Strixhaven spell, and I typically don’t allow content from settings we’re not playing in. So it feels unfair to me to ban Wither and Bloom and the other college spells without banning Silvery Barbs.

[eager marsh]

As of 2024*

[snow agate]

I don’t like using counterspell either but I treat it as a necessary evil of party guardianship

[ivory shale]

hey guys can i tell a bit of long story?

[eager marsh]

Counterspell is also strictly better player side in 2024 as well since monsters dont use spell slots to keep so players can tick down enemy casts and player casts don’t go away

[snow agate]

Idk why you’re asking permission

[ivory shale]

some people might find it annoying

[buoyant oar]

One of the reasons I love circle Magic is because it feels like it's truly one of the first big DM tools when it comes to combating players who have been getting more and more powerful ever since the release of tashas. And not combating them as an adversarial DM but as in challenging them.

[ivory shale]

a bit of a long story lol.

the post in the lfg mentioned timezone. I asked to join and they let me on the discord server ( i didnt mention my timezone )

a week later when we wanted to start the game, the dm was nowhere to be seen ( ditched ). Guy that made the lgs post raged about how the dm sucks and stuff.

so I mentioned in there " i waited till 1am for nothing "

and then the guy went pissy and said to me " Do people even read the f post anymore? I said we're looking players from europe ( he never mentioned this lol ). "

Which I answered with " Doesn't the whole point of mentioning timezones is so that people can adjust "

"no" he said.

then I left

[limber oriole]

It does grant advantage no?

[snow agate]

Sigh

[eager marsh]

That’s a cherry after the main effect

[limber oriole]

I like cherries

[eager marsh]

They’re incorrectly calling the d20 reroll disadvantage for simplicity

It’s not ‘actually’ disadvantage as it bypasses both advantage and disadvantage interactions

[snow agate]

Yeah I don’t understand the point of needing people from certain countries for an online game minus the language/accent barrier reason, just seems kinda dumb

[noble basin]

i guess for off the game interactions it can be easier if everyone is awake at the same time? shrug

[ivory shale]

i might think the DM ditched them because theyre ass tbh

[snow agate]

That does happen >_>

[buoyant oar]

You know I'm kind of actually surprised at the number of people that when you tell them that you are restricting options for your game that are linked to a specific setting. A lot of people like get up in arms about that.

I got told that I was a terrible DM because I was ruining and limiting creativity because I limited people to the Forgotten realm setting, and for every official book that I banned, I added a third-party supplement from The Guild

[limber oriole]

I mean it’s easy for people to commit to weird times but it’s different in practice so i Get them saying Europeans only

It’s dumb

But i get it

[uncut zenith]

Agreed. I also love it because it feels like the first 5E DM tool to epitomize the quintessential “big nasty ritual that must be stopped at all costs” trope

[snow agate]

(I just did those anyway and ignored the rules)

[ivory shale]

then say that on the post

[snow agate]

You’re expecting dnd players, a group known for being socially dysfunctional nerds, to communicate well

[sterile wadi]

hello guys, so I'm new to dnd but I'm already trying to be a DM because it turns out my classmates are into it but doesn't know how to be a dm, now I'm stuck trying to be a DM without ever playing a campaign, although we're playing a really scuffed version of d&d, is there any resources that's easy for a beginner DM? thank you in advance

[ivory shale]

my advice for really new players would be using a rules lite system

[ivory shale]

but people might not agree

[uncut zenith]

The new PHB and DMG are pretty good resources for familiarizing yourself with the game rules and learning to DM

[ivory shale]

by scuffed how scuffed do you mean?

[uncut zenith]

The new DMG actually teaches you to DM

That said, in my experience, what really helps a DM become comfortable with running campaigns is experience

[sterile wadi]

I just made it up as it went, i mean we're all basically newbies to the game I'm just more knowledgeable about the mechanics, so i basically just give them a scenario, and ask them what they wanna do, i respond by improvising and just making them roll a dice, it's so scuffed because I don't have a D20 rn so i just gave them 3 d6's it's not even gonna total to 20

[uncut zenith]

It’s one of those things you just have to try with plenty of patience

[ivory shale]

do they have classes and stuff?

[ivory shale]

lol i remember the time that i dont have poly dice.

I just crumpled tiny bits of paper and shake them up on a jar.

[sterile wadi]

But when it comes to the combat, i just made up the monsters too, and how many hp they have and such, my players abilities are also made up, i just told them to describe to me what they want their skills to be, and depending on how much damage and how difficult the ability to pull off i put like an amount of number they have to roll to be successful, for example, a "dark slash" needs a 14+ roll to be successful and it does -10 hp

[ivory shale]

I know a game where you can use d6s

[sterile wadi]

yes, and race as well, it was actually pretty fun to dm, although i first wanted to get into dnd by playing as a character, i think i enjoy being a dm now, but I'm still lost when it comes to combat mechanics and how the monsters hp should be, because i just keep on assigning random hp to them, like an orc general with 40 hp etc

[ivory shale]

@sterile wadi try searching up the 5e quickstart rules?

[hollow stone]

couldn't you use that bingo sphere machine and enough spheres with enough numbers to recreate any die in the game? just get 100 spheres counting from 1-100 and then add or remove spheres for every die you roll

[ivory shale]

this was in dorm type shit😂

and my dorm is like prison ong

[hollow stone]

they didn't let you have the bingo sphere machine?

[sterile wadi]

i have to read all 180 pages 😭😭😭

[ivory shale]

idk this is my first time hearing about that

[ivory shale]

lol than just try out the game i gave you

[sterile wadi]

i will, it looks simple enough

[ivory shale]

but i did 'hack' the game to fit the setting

the dorm is so strict that they made me cut my mtg cards

[hollow stone]

it's a metal cage in the shape of a wheel, it has a grip on the side that turns the wheel with legs that keep the wheel from leaving its physical location, with two openings, one a door that locks for operation and two a little hole that only one sphere can pass through, and you turn it until a sphere passes through the hole and down a ramp that delivers it to a spot for retrieval, and using numbered spheres you can determine the roll

[ivory shale]

yea i checked the photo

isnt it like the one on Better call saul?

[hollow stone]

idk i didn't watch better call saul, but i know you can use the device to simulate dice and now i want to

[ivory shale]

probably will get confiscated if i brought that to my dorm

[stark arch]

if i bind 2 ladders with rope to make a longer ladder. does the ladder need to make a str sheck to see if the rope breaks? if so what are the stats of that lader?

[tame estuary]

surely you're not that heavy

ropes are pretty strong

[hollow stone]

that's not how ladders work

[glad arch]

If you want a check id say a check on how well youre able to combine your ladders

[stark arch]

prety common thing in some places to bind 2 ladders to make it longer lol

[tame estuary]

make that a tools check I guess, carpentry?

I'd say water vehicle proficiency can also be applied

[ivory shale]

i dont think you should roll for that

[hollow stone]

you would need to make a high tension knot that spans a very small distance to make the ladders behave as if on the same legs, but that's a knot-check, which would be Survival or something else

[ivory shale]

i will just consider it just as any adventure knows how to do

dead chat XD

[fair plinth]

I cast raise undead
Undead chat now

[ivory shale]

i use Turn Undead

[stark arch]

getting the next session a phantom steed 😄

speed 100 feet 😄

[stuck shuttle]

Agreed, something like a Survival check. If it were in my game and the player in question had Carpenter's Tools proficiency I'd have them autopass

[silent lynx]

I love dnd 💗

[ivory shale]

i love dragons

[stark arch]

i love items

[burnt valley]

i like op things

Does other moon-sized creatures exist in DnD?

[stark arch]

moon sized?

1 km across? or more like luna size? earths moon

[glad arch]

Thats a big creature

[stark arch]

i do know some fungie can get very large in square meters

[stuck shuttle]

There's all the Elder Evils of which some infest and inhabit stars in Realmspace

[minor cargo]

Ah, Elder Evils, my beloved. What a great book.

[ivory shale]

I was trying to join a dnd server. mate what?

they asked a photo of my ID to verify. F that

[marble lion]

Yeah some servers verify that people arent minors

[shy stirrup]

I am not a minor, but ain't no way I'm giving some rando Discord mods my ID

[noble basin]

Yeah exactly

[limber oriole]

Why not?

[marble lion]

I never liked it either. Just saying there is usually a very not-nefarious reason behind it

[limber oriole]

May have to excuse my ignorance but even with a picture of your ID, what can they realistically do?

[marble lion]

Depending on who you listen to, quite a lot actually

But thats not even my issue with it

I just dont like private people expecting me to show them my irl identity

[ivory shale]

mate, I dont show my face online and you want my ID? lol nope

[ivory shale]

like they can use your ID to scam people

[stark arch]

privecy law

[burnt valley]

This is why I get into my main account using a VPN cuz I couldn't log into my account without having to do that

[stark arch]

any way asking for a ID trough the internet that ist a part of some goverment website is a HUGE imbreanchment and security risk on some ones privecy

[uncut zenith]

Not to sound like a jerk, but if a server is asking for ID to verify your age, they can do that. Nobody’s required to join their server, so if you don’t like the rule they’ve imposed, that’s that.

I definitely wouldn’t join a server that asks for a copy of my ID to verify my age, but the onus is on the person who wants to join.

[marble lion]

Yeah i think thats how it works

And i actually think its even reasonable if a person gives you reason to believe theyre a minor

To ensure you arent accidentally exposing them to inappropriate environment

But ofc thats from the view of the place, who know their own motives
You cant know them as user

[crimson gulch]

i had a player join one of my games that was under age when it was an 18+ game, that was awkward to deal with thats for sure

[uncut zenith]

Yeah, I usually run games for people 18+, but I won’t go so far as to ask for them to verify age with an ID

[bold sphinx]

I jsut made my character but Idk if it's any 'good'

[uncut zenith]

I typically just try and trust the player. If I found out they lied, they get booted

[crimson gulch]

starting with trust is a good thing yes

[hidden rivet]

Me too

[still plover]

Feel free to share what you've got in #character-discussion .

[lusty tendon]

guys what race should i go for my rogue/sorcerer multiclass (swashbuckler/wildmagic)

im thinking either goblin, human, or halfling

ehh not really feeling orc tbh

[uncut zenith]

Whichever one you’d like

[knotty pasture]

Tiefling

[buoyant oar]

Human

[knotty basin]

Seems like an odd multiclass, but if 2014 I’d say human

Or halfing for charisma and dexterity bonus

[knotty pasture]

Swash does stack cha so it isn't the strangest on paper, but I've never seen it play out either

[hearty bay]

I just figured that artificer can achieve the legendary gargantuan gnome

[buoyant oar]

I once had a player join my 18+ space. Lied about his age, brought in his dad. Tried to adult things. Got found out they lied, got booted and Dad went on a soapbox about how it was fine because he as the father allowed it.

That isn't now group consent works bucko

[hollow stone]

did you know it was his dad at the time??

[crimson gulch]

oh thats wild

[buoyant oar]

I did know it was his dad.

He claimed it was fine because while he joined underaged he turned 18 while there.

That's not how that works.

Last I heard he was still going on about how hurt he was. It's been a year and he was there for like 4 months.

[lusty tendon]

varient stats so it doesnt matter racially what the +1 and the +2 go into

[knotty basin]

Maybe wood elf for extra speed?

[lusty tendon]

but the build is mainly just a rogue i like for fighting with magical options (booming blade and wildmagic surge table)

[lusty tendon]

not meta gaming, it just for funsies

[hollow stone]

oh wait so he turned 18 within those 4 months? how long was he 17 for throughout the time??

[supple skiff]

hi question

so i know paladins start with either longsword+shield and all that, or 150gp

is there a way to take the second option but like

with a weapon of my choice

[hollow stone]

wait are you looking for a mechanical advantage or just some sort of species that would wind up in the situation you've put them in?

[lusty tendon]

yes and yes

more like good for the siduation it is in but has racial feats that are relevent but not absurd

[humble cairn]

The money option is meant for you to customize your own inventory.

[knotty basin]

Ask your DM if you can buy items out of session

[limber oriole]

Good questions for you DMs

[supple skiff]

okay cool

[crimson gulch]

gotta ignore the haters

[limber oriole]

How do you handle people playing obscure races. Drow/Tortles/Tabaxi/Goblins?

[hollow stone]

i mean, realistically, any species can wind up in any situation with enough migration. you can be a wood elf raised under the circumstances of a pirate

[knotty basin]

What do you mean handle?

[rapid sparrow]

Guys i bought a starter kit, any tips to learn the rules?

[crimson gulch]

most of my games have the Monsters of the Multiverse book greenlit so its no problem

[knotty basin]

Which starter kit?

[lusty tendon]

like any other race, just play them normally or if you want have them be their own little group with their own values

[crimson gulch]

grab some freinds and start playing with the kit

[limber oriole]

If i was to DM i would probably have it be an absolute nightmare wherever they went. “Gods above i’ve never seen a turtle man before” “Is that a Cat?” “Please don’t kidnap me”

[hollow stone]

drow are basegame, like PHB, tortles are in a book, tabaxi are in a book, and goblins are in a book, idk what the problem is? generally they just happen and are there now

[rapid sparrow]

Dragons of stormweck isle

[crimson gulch]

yeah, dont do that, these are fantasy worlds filled with fantasy creatures

[buoyant oar]

Near the end of his time there. But it is irrelevant. Being an 18+ was rule one of the space and being truthful and respectful to the GMs of the spaces was rule 2. So boot.

[knotty basin]

Nice, it’s a good introduction

[crimson gulch]

if you want players to stick to races from the players handbook, just say that

[humble cairn]

I mean I guess? That's one way to do it, but also I hope you would have the conversation with the player if they wanted to have that kind of experience.

[knotty basin]

Drow are from the PHB, though

[limber oriole]

It’s not that, i just think it’s an interesting dynamic.

[humble cairn]

As long as the player was also interested in that.

[limber oriole]

They are, but most people who have knowledge of them are of the Lolth-sworn raider types

[buoyant oar]

Tbh. A person from the rural town of Longsaddle probably never has seen a tortle which are primarily found in the Snout of Omgar.

[crimson gulch]

nah what you portrayed is a very adversarial thing to do that can ruin the fun at the table

a realistic reaction is not what is needed in a fantasy world

[humble cairn]

Yeah agreed. Realism isn't something to strive for in a fantasy.

[crimson gulch]

i mean, the Harpells live there, so that town has SEEN some stuff happen allright

[buoyant oar]

Not needed. But can be fun if the whole group agrees to it. Just don't surprise your players with that dynamic.

[limber oriole]

I mean if you say so dude

[buoyant oar]

Harkle Harpell the best wizard

[humble cairn]

I would agree with Urizt, from experience. Also Urizt runs a lot of games, so also has a lot of experience.

[hollow stone]

yea, this!! being judged by circumstances like your species (or as 14 called it and also makes the analogy more accurate, race) is really awkward and generally provokes a negative feeling and creates a negative experience

[crimson gulch]

yes, i have lived through that exact experience, it was a DM that could have very easily just said stick to the Players handbook but instead made things difficult for us, for using options he specificly said were fine to use.

[humble cairn]

I like to play D&D to escape from reality, not to have to be exposed to more racism like in real life.

[limber oriole]

Why would it be racism? You’re implying that the reaction would be negative

[hollow stone]

this is to say it is literally just racism, and is a really really bad idea for any kind of welcoming space

[knotty basin]

Our DM does this, but he made it very clear that’s the kind of game he’s running.

[minor cargo]

This comes every so often, and yeah, I can understand a player wanting to be (without mincing words) the victim of racism. And then having to deal with that.

For me and my groups, though, I kind of don't think this particular storyline is that compelling? Like someone calls you a slur. Now what? For folks like me (and many of my friends) that's just something that happens. It sucks and you move on. There's no adventure there.

If we want to talk about racism, typically I'm going to craft a storyline and design a world where racism is a complex, and ingrained system that the players need to specifically survive and try to thrive in. That's significantly harder to do (and usually more fulfilling) than just dealing with name calling.

[humble cairn]

Everything you described was extremely othering, so yeah ... negative.

[buoyant oar]

If your depth with racial bias is slurs and general othering as it often is. Then your story is as shallow as a puddle.

It can be done. But requires a much defter hand than most are capable of. I say that as a 25 year veteran of the game who is not deft enough.

[limber oriole]

It’s just interesting that you think that identifying a difference and being curious about it would be racist, i think if you had a Githyanki in town i don’t think people’s reaction would inherent be to vilify that person for it.

[hollow stone]

i, as a player, usually deploy a "rule" (do this or i'll have a negative experience and probably leave) of "please don't be or make us be evil on purpose" (i.e. sexism, racism, really any sort of -ist or -phobic that is obviously a social nono)

[tame estuary]

they're just a minority, like a walking talking metal golem isn't reallt the strangest thing you ever see in your life if that's a thing that could happen in the setting

[humble cairn]

Was this you?
"If i was to DM i would probably have it be an absolute nightmare wherever they went. “Gods above i’ve never seen a turtle man before” “Is that a Cat?” “Please don’t kidnap me”"

[limber oriole]

When i said nightmare i more meant annoying as opposed to racism

[crimson gulch]

If i was to DM i would probably have it be an absolute nightmare wherever they went. “Gods above i’ve never seen a turtle man before” “Is that a Cat?” “Please don’t kidnap me”

this is what you said, Replace cat and Turtle with "specific human ethnicity of your choice" and think about how that sounds.

[limber oriole]

Like please not this conversation again, maybe i could have chosen my words better.

[humble cairn]

What do you think racism is? Because you just gave an example of it.

[minor cargo]

All good. I know this chat can move fast but feel free to take your time and try to clarify what you meant. ✌️

[hollow stone]

it is important to note that to us a walking metal man would be a strange and questionable event, but in a fantasy world, the statistical average of what a person looks like is a much wider range, to the point so that only really someone's actual behavioral pattern is the weird thing, and what they look like is just something that's happened and not something that's necessarily worth noticing

[limber oriole]

Being Prejudice against someone for the colour of their skin or racial stereotypes? Which wouldn’t be the reaction i was going for?

[tame estuary]

sometimes it's really needed

[buoyant oar]

For Verisimilitude I understand making people in rural areas less cosmopolitan than grand metropolitan areas.

[crimson gulch]

all these small towns, have for sure had groups of adventerers pass through in the past, likely strange folks from all over the wold that bring lots of coin

[limber oriole]

It’d be more a conversation of curiosity that i imagine would be annoying once you’ve passed through quaint little village #125

[marble lion]

"please dont kidnap us" was definitely a different one though

[humble cairn]

It may not be what you meant, but you certainly gave an example of prejudice against someone because of who they were born. So yeah, that was racism. It wasn't even like ... subtly racist, it was outright?

[limber oriole]

Yeah for sure, mainly referring to the Drow. I felt i listed one for each. The reputation of Drow for people who are aware of them is widely negative right?

[humble cairn]

Snide little comments made at your expense because of who you are is definitely racism, though? Like, speaking as someone who has experienced it?

[buoyant oar]

If I was an Udadrow I would def use the trusting nature of villagers as an in.

[loud tendon]

Racism is annoying.
Being fascinated by someone you've never seen before is one thing as long as its not objectifying them.. there is even a background "Far traveller" that kind of plays in to that concept. But it spins it to more positive aspects like people's curiosity can help get you access to places you otherwise might not be permitted and people want to hear stories from where you are from.

[limber oriole]

Because most drow live in a horribly oppressive society dictated by a literal goddess of evilness.

[hollow stone]

i mean the forty seven quintillionth quaint little village would probably be more concerned with the number of sharp objects carried per person being so incredibly high above the statistical median of 0

[crimson gulch]

Depending on the campaign setting, there are also loads of Drow who dont follow Lolth

whole civilizations of them and stories of legenday drow heros that arose from the underdark to save the world

[buoyant oar]

It also depends on the species. A villager might have different reaction to a goblin than a orc than a plasmoid.

[limber oriole]

Assuming forgotten realms, and aren’t non-Lolth drow like quite a sizeable minority

[buoyant oar]

That is not true

[limber oriole]

Like 85% of Drow are Lolth-sworn?

[crimson gulch]

your assumptions about that speicifc setting are also quite wrong

[buoyant oar]

The Aevendrow, the Lorendrow, the Cintri and more

[crimson gulch]

the stories and lore of Drow that follow Lolth are some of the oldest in DND history, certianly, but there have been so many more since then

[humble cairn]

I mean "canon" doesn't matter so much as the safety of your players. Don't surprise players with this, talk to them about it before playing.

[buoyant oar]

The Udadrow (lolth sworn) are the majority in the Sword Coast and North. On Faerûn as a whole there are between 55-70%

[humble cairn]

And for goodness sake, if your players seem uncomfortable, don't do it!

[limber oriole]

I would say 55% to 70% is a large majority

[buoyant oar]

Drizzt isn't even the exception in his own story.

[crimson gulch]

racial monoliths are lazy assumptions to make in a fantasy world, look at humans, how many evil human empires have risen through the ages, but we dont universaly villify them.

[buoyant oar]

And lolth is not even the only member of the Drow Pantheon.

[marble lion]

dont forget the metaphysical element that dnd writing at least used to have

[hollow stone]

i mean it's anywhere so that the alternative circumstance is 3 in 10 or 9 in 20

[marble lion]

you cant compare dnd species to human ethnicities

[humble cairn]

I mean, you can and the comparison is inevitable given we as humans don't have examples of non-human people to compare the only other real life experience we have of "also people, but not like us."

[limber oriole]

I mean historically Neanderthals is probably the only close example?

[humble cairn]

And for the purposes of the discussion about experiencing discrimination through the lens of the game and how harmful it is, the subtext is acknowledged, even by the rules of this server. #1133103676718854254 message

[buoyant oar]

Like if you want someone to be distrustful of Drow. Give them a reason.

"A Drow raiding party from Ched Nasad destroyed our farm and killed my mom."

That is different than "I dislike Drow because I heard they are bad."

[hollow stone]

yea!!! pretty much every region on the planet has been occupied by some weird and terrifying death cult, but we look at the people from those regions the same as everybody else regardless until they prove they're actually in the weird and terrifying death cult because the death cult is the qualifier for being regarded as the weird and terrifying, not the fact they're from there

[tame estuary]

my character is like this but the characters say I'm racist 😭

[minor cargo]

I don't think I have much else to add that hasn't already been said. So I'll instead mention that I think the most valuable part of this conversation is just the process of examinging why we make certain decisions in our games - and the impact it can possibly have.

[limber oriole]

I think it’d be different if the weird and terrifying death cult was still very much active and the majority of people

[buoyant oar]

And if your players dig this. Then there is nothing to worry about.

[tame estuary]

well to be fair I was also telling the talking tree that I don't see trees as people and don't want to help, not really helping my case

[buoyant oar]

Get up to whatever you want at a table where all adults have agreed above the table on tone.

[crimson gulch]

and so long as adults arent trying to force their kids into an adult space. phew as a parent that blows my mind

[rough basalt]

Yeah I couldn't have kids at my table nor want them

Even tho I do keep things PG13 ingame to the best of my abilities, I don't plan on keeping it that way, nor is above table anywhere near said pg13.

[strange salmon]

Hey, all! I heard that DND has meteor hammers now. What character is best for them and why?

[crimson gulch]

fighter i would guess, they are the best with weapons in general

[meager fractal]

I can't find anything official for them

[rough basalt]

What's a meteor hammer

[crimson gulch]

i dont think i have seen those printed anywhere though

[buoyant oar]

Yeah. That story with that kid and his dad is still giving me whiplash. I went to go lend my help to another WM server found out he was there and had spread so much false info that I was banned within minutes.

[crimson gulch]

ahh yeah, everything i hear about big west march servers just makes me stay away

i run my games and the buck stops here.

[strange salmon]

A metal weight attached to a chain or rope. You swing it around and whack things with the weight.

[knotty basin]

There’s flails in the game

[old sluice]

Notable for being a difficult weapon to master btw.

[knotty basin]

I think that’s what you’re talking about

[old sluice]

Never really historically used in a miilitary context

[tame estuary]

ah we're talking about the armorer artificer weapon for juggernaut

[strange salmon]

@rough basalt Think Mk scorpion rope spear, but a blunt end instead of a stabby end.

[tame estuary]

I think what you're referring to is a subclass exclusive weapon

[crimson ocean]

Yo anyone got a discord server i can use vc in

[marble lion]

i think id use a monk for that kind of weapon

[marble lion]

make your own server

[old sluice]

Technically Neanderthals were humans. A human is a member of the Homo genus, which includes Homo Neanderthalis, Homo Sapiens and multiple others. It's just that it's a very poor genus. All the species but one are extinct

[buoyant oar]

My WM has stayed between 30-50 people and that is perfect imo. No desire to grow to a 1000+ community.

[strange salmon]

Am I able to post a picture here?

[loud tendon]

This is not the channel to ask. If you want a d&d community look in #looking-for-community
If you just want a discord server with a vc try in #non-dnd-topics or just search the discord servers

[crimson ocean]

Ok thanks mb

[loud tendon]

No. You can post a link to an image sharing site like imgr, but no images are allowed in this channel

[strange salmon]

In that case, ill post this.

https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Meteor_Hammer_(5e_Equipment)

[hollow stone]

oh i thought humans were specifically the species "Homosapiens Sapiens"?

[strange salmon]

@tame estuary look at the link

[atomic kayak]

Always so odd to me when people. Actively talk about specific people who aren't on a server in said server by name (especially since its usually negative).

This person isn't here and you don't have to think about them here. Why are you choosing to do so.

Sucks that happened tho (and went back and read the dad story you referenced and man thats wild)

[tame estuary]

dandwiki is not official content

[strange salmon]

Oh. Alright then.

[loud tendon]

Notably this is in their "Homebrew" section which means it is not an official item in d&d and rather is made by a community member.

[buoyant oar]

Oh straight up. For a while there was a "hate" server. I was like

"I have made it. People have made me their number one op now."

[tame estuary]

but yes if you want to play that, it's included in the armorer subclass of artificer, part of the juggernaut armor

[atomic kayak]

I discovered a similar thing about myself a little while ago and its truly hilarious

[buoyant oar]

Speaking of West Marches. It is going to be interesting to see how CR changes what that term means for Campaign 4.

[old sluice]

Nope! Technically in hard sciences the term preferred is "modern humans" to mean homo sapiens while "human" includes the entire genus

[ivory shale]

i mean ofc but that doesn't disallow me to say things about that decision

[atomic kayak]

have they specifically described it as west marches? I thought they had only described it as "west marches-like"?

[old sluice]

Of course in day to day language, nobody will say "human" when they mean neanderthal but it's a neat detail I just enjoy

[uncut zenith]

Brennan explicitly said it’s a “West Marches” campaign

[ivory shale]

hard science is basically scifi that uses real life science right?

[atomic kayak]

i c i c

[old sluice]

No.

[buoyant oar]

Which what they are doing from what I have seen is 100% not what a West marches is.

[crimson gulch]

my general community server is about 40 people but all the games are seperate, and then i have several other private servers just for those games, silos are good

[ivory shale]

oops thats hard scifi

[hollow stone]

hard science is like, actual science, like actual things people actually do, like archeology

[uncut zenith]

Which isn’t to say it won’t be a little different given the nature of CR and how busy they are

[ivory shale]

yea just checked it up

consufed some terms

[strange salmon]

Ahhh! I see. Thanks.

[buoyant oar]

I prefer the term Living Campaign or Shared World for large player count games that still have a traditional Narrative. Whicha West marches typically doesn't have.

[atomic kayak]

yea its definitely not the standard "full" definition, but I've also seen a lot of things described as west marches that fall under a bit more of a broad definition of "world with multiple parties at the same time" so I wouldn't blame them considering how common it is used

[tame estuary]

how many DMs will that have? like just BLM?

[uncut zenith]

Just Brennan

[buoyant oar]

West Marches is certainly the one of the most misunderstood concepts in DnD.

[hollow stone]

i saw one such community games and i really couldn't get into it, they didn't really have like, a narrative for what i could tell at all, i get its like a build your own narrative and such is cool, but DND isn't really the thing i do for narratives i have to invent unless it's like me DMing

[tame estuary]

it's going to be more minsunderstood now

[hollow stone]

they called it space marches and the plot was it was like west marches but in space and more akin to Warhammer 40k in terms of "you have 5 factions to choose from and all of them are really sucky people"

[ivory shale]

yeah that is more fun