dnd-discussion

[reef tundra]

Oh hi Xanathar

[grizzled lance]

Hello

[marble lion]

I love modrons

[fossil hollow]

I'm a basic guy, Giants and Dragons are my top creature types

[feral fulcrum]

Fleshy, horrible abominations they call Constructs.

[sharp belfry]

We are brothers now

[reef tundra]

I’m going to be brutally honest, as someone with OCD and slight germaphobia I hate all oozes :(

[fair summit]

Oozes are great
Super simple, but able to be made funky or tricky to fight~
Also a lot of fun to draw 😌

[fossil hollow]

I hate how puffy their lips are

[grizzled lance]

I like giants

[feral fulcrum]

I hate Modrons. Hideous little Lawful Good Lunatics they are.

[reef tundra]

Giants are pretty goated too

[marble lion]

I want to make an ooze encounter again

[grizzled lance]

Indeed

[fossil hollow]

*Lawful Neutral

[reef tundra]

I wish I could love them but I really really personally dislike their designs

[feral fulcrum]

It's a shame that it took like ten years to FINALLY get a Giant Book.

[marble lion]

Lawful Good in this house

[reef tundra]

The only cool lawful is lawful evil /lhj

[rugged hawk]

As a long-time cultist of Ghaunadaur, I'm gonna need you to walk through the . If you survive, you get to live. If not, another sacrifice for the primordial ooze!

[fossil hollow]

Modrons are LN

[sharp belfry]

If I had to say my favorite creature type, I would have to go with undead/fiends. Simple because their is one for about every level

[empty thicket]

there is such thing like living books?

[reef tundra]

NOOOO 😭

[reef tundra]

Had to kill a library full of them once in game

[feral fulcrum]

There's living weapons, I don't see why there can't be living books.

[fossil hollow]

Mimics can be books

[reef tundra]

Resorted to just burning the place down

[woven flint]

My favorite monster types are Aberrations, Constructs and Monstrosities

[tawdry sentinel]

Sneaking is a bit iffy because you're typically tethered to the party.

Like, it is not difficult to get a mid level rogue and a guaranteed 20+ stealth roll and within reason you should be able to tell everyone to wait outside twenty minutes and you'll map out the area like a poor man's spider familiar.

In reality you often just get the "you hear snoring round the corner" oh I'll take a peak stealth roll, job done it's a sleeping ogre. Cool beans. We have to go this way and the paladin is going to wake it up the second he breathes.

[reef tundra]

It’s always the paladin

[empty thicket]

Now, hear me out
A Giant living book that is from a Giant Caster. That it came to live and use his last owner body like a hide of him acting like a crazy megalomaniac.

[reef tundra]

Idk how barbs got the reputation of being the least sneaky. We all know it’s paladins /lh

[rugged hawk]

That's good, though. If the paladin dies, you can make a much more useful skeleton warrior out of his corpse.

[reef tundra]

Noooo my pally babies

[rugged hawk]

And it'll be less whiny about your morals, to boot!

[reef tundra]

At least paladins make up for it by being the goat

-# Highest (constant) AC, second best hit dice, best weapons, spells, healing, charisma, wisdom, the goat 😎

-# (This is all my subjective opinion, what is the “best class” is up to your personal taste)

[empty thicket]

Yeah... stealth is problematic, you can too go with your party but hidden and be some sort of contra measurement for any problem or counter any ambush.

[rugged hawk]

All I'm hearing is 'Oath broken, Oath broken, Oath broken, Oath broken'

[reef tundra]

I love oathbreaker too much idk why

[feral fulcrum]

"More Useful" Incorrect, No amount of Skeletons truly beat the utility of their Aura.

[reef tundra]

Doesn’t even make sense as a paladin subclass but damn it’s so edgy I love it

[empty thicket]

But in either way, The Dm will split his attention between the rogue and the party.
Weird banana class

[feral fulcrum]

It's really not that easy to break your Oath.

[reef tundra]

I like bananas

[reef tundra]

Outside of BG3 I agree

[rugged hawk]

Completely untrue, no amount of skeletons will ever complain about you picking someone's pocket, murder hoboing, pillaging, tomb raiding, etc.

[empty thicket]

Its a good fruit, sadly that sometimes cutting a tree of them can have some of the most biggest and lethal spiders in fruit plants

[feral fulcrum]

If you're easily breaking your Oath all the time, the problem lies much more with you then with Paladin Oaths.

[reef tundra]

-# Why did they implement it that way 😢

And sometimes the DM when they absurdly decide they want to control your character and forces you to change subclass
-# Yes, I had a bad experience with a terrible DM

[empty thicket]

I said to a guy one time, if the palain break his oath, make his features weaker, Weaker divine smite and weaker healing hands until the point it doesnt work anymore

[feral fulcrum]

I don't think you've actually played with Paladins, this sounds like you're going purely off of repeated click bait misconceptions from Reddit TBH.

[reef tundra]

Please never do that

[rugged hawk]

Unfortunately, as a cultist, I've been on the receiving end of far too many zealots of all religious types.

[feral fulcrum]

Tilts head

[reef tundra]

If a DM shows up to a session with the explicit intention of weakening or completely stopping a class feature for longer than a one session gimmick or not having the player’s permission… that is bad

[reef tundra]

I apologise for my paladin sisters. I told them they should stop being so lawful and trying to stop cults.

[rugged hawk]

Paladins tend to disagree too often with my cultist choices. Like necromancy, sacrificing bandits to the Great Ooze, or generally opposing the forces of Law.

[empty thicket]

Hey, if he chose to break his oath, there must be consequences.
They chose a class with rules, im not the one that make them.

[reef tundra]

Sigh I bet they’re oath of devotion.

[empty thicket]

Oh wait, i am....anyway, 300 baboons

it always work

[reef tundra]

They chose a class because they wanted to play a class. Because they like the class abilities (most likely). To just stop them from playing a class how they like is… not good

[rugged hawk]

What really makes it awkward is when they try to smite me, only to realize I'm Neutral/Chaotic Neutral, not EVIL.

[feral fulcrum]

If someone's playing a Lawful Paladid (of presumably the Good Variety), while you're Openly Captain Evil Pants, that's, rather obviously, a Player Problem, not, a Paladin Problem. :V

[reef tundra]

As someone who once played a paladin who had a horrible time at the table because of a DM taking my character into their own hands and controlling me, I heavily advise against it

It’s just a horrible feeling and you really shouldn’t do it unless the player gives you explicit permission

If a paladin player wants a storyline of grappling with their morality and their oath, then go ahead. But if someone just wants to play a paladin, for god’s sake let them

[rugged hawk]

No no, that's clearly a paladin trying to get an easy W by teamkilling

That's okay though, he can still be useful as an undead minion

[reef tundra]

The power of smite is indisciminatory
(Unless you’re a fiend or undead)

-# Yup… indiscriminatory

[rugged hawk]

No no, this was back in the days of Holy Word / Smite Evil in 2E/3E

[empty thicket]

Yep, its understandable until some point.
But then what is the idea of choosing a subclass with its own stuff and features if the player wont respect them??
Im not cutting his legs completely, weakening a little bit only. A little Swing In the knee with a golf club only

[reef tundra]

Ohhhh Oki

[jovial shadow]

I remember Holy Word. Wow

[vast saddle]

Recent campaigns I've done with my non-IRL party, idk why I slowly turn into D-16

[feral fulcrum]

I do rather expect someone to follow the Rules and Fluff of their class, and not outright ignore it because they don't feel like Roleplaying it. It'd be like someone wanting to be an Atheist Cleric, or saying their Warlock has a Purely Sorcerous Origin.

[reef tundra]

That’s not your choice to make. You don’t decide that for them.

They shouldn’t conform to your idea of what their subclass should be like

[empty thicket]

That is the thing, its not MY idea. Its what they chose.

[reef tundra]

There’s a balance, I say

[empty thicket]

its, like you can say, like alignment. "Yeah my character is a lawful good" Proceed to cut fingers for info

[reef tundra]

I still think it’s a jerk move, unless they gave you permission

[somber mesa]

Honestly, there's no right or wrong answer here. This is purely a table-to-table thing.

[reef tundra]

That’s something you address above table. You don’t purposefully make their time playing miserable

[empty thicket]

obviously, will be asked and seen.
If they follow really good the oath there will rewards too. Stick and carrot

[reef tundra]

I wish I could agree but as someone who has had an awful time at the table just because my paladin didn’t conform to the DM’s idea of what they should be like and got punished for it, I am heavily, heavily against it

[empty thicket]

That is what i would love, making them doing decisions against their beliefs.
Save the people or get revenge against who marked them in the backstory
CHOSE SPIDEY!!

Same would do with Warlock class tho

[tall forge]

Whose getting beaten?

[empty thicket]

Sthard

[tall forge]

Oh paladin removal of oath discussion?

[somber mesa]

That's what I mean by it being a table-to-table thing. It entirely depends on what the DM and the rest of the group decide for the rules of the table, and most groups give most decision making power to the DM in this regard.

[empty thicket]

We are jumping him in the alley, 6 persons, force cage, 3 spirit guardians.
2 actions surges

[reef tundra]

Along those lines

[tall forge]

I’m not a big fan as a dm

[reef tundra]

That’s what I’ve been saying about player permission. I am a-okay with it as long as the player gives permission

[somber mesa]

I'm personally very lenient as a DM, but I know DMs who aren't.

[empty thicket]

We throwing him a barrel of purple worm poison too

[tall forge]

Usually i talk about it with my player

[jolly sable]

hey so just wanted to ask a question here, I'm a wizard and my dm let me somehow succeed in using animate dead on a dragon skeleton, but it got distressed and flew off. Any advice on how I should approach this situation and bring the dragon back into the fold?

[tall forge]

Uh

[reef tundra]

Exactly! That’s what I’m talking about! It’s fine if a player gives permission

[tall forge]

Well, it’s gonna murder people in 24 hours

[somber mesa]

I would allow a Psi Warrior Fighter to flavor themselves as a Wind Mage if they wanted to

[jolly agate]

Cast fireball

[jolly sable]

I don't know where it went

[jolly agate]

trust

[reef tundra]

If my dungeon master suddenly stopped me from using my own class’s abilities without discussing it with me first or if it’s not a one-session gimmick, I’d say that’s a jerk move and I’d leave the table

[jolly sable]

we're in prismere if that helps

[somber mesa]

yeah, the table needs to come to an agreement on how they want to handle these kinds of situations.

[feral fulcrum]

Given that it's a Homebrewed situation, doesn't really help. 😛 And consider the Dragon a lost Cause.

[jolly agate]

If you revived it with your own magic, you can try to roll to trace your Magic on the animal.

[reef tundra]

I think your DM just doesn’t want you to do it

[jolly agate]

like, idk how to explain ya. Technically, if it's your magic, you could sense it from afar if you concentrate.

[tall forge]

It’s a homebrew situation, you figure it out

[jolly sable]

I didn't mean to animate it as a whole thing I kinda thought he'd just let me use it to kinda create a regular skeleton fragmenting off of the dragon's grame ngl

[jolly agate]

cmon mate basic cool wizard stuff

[empty thicket]

Would be talked if its seen the Player isnt following his stuff
"hey look, i was detecting you arent like, going through your Oath stuff so, i have a preposition to do you"
yeah?
"Would you marry Ejem, i would like to add a system for you, either reward you for following your oath perfectly and punish you for dont doing it."
Explaining about it
The player say yes? Cant blame me
Say no? nothing change

[jolly sable]

I think I'll try psychically communing with it over the next session or two while researching how to give it back its senses as it seemed distressed at the loss of them

[reef tundra]

In that case, that is sorted. The player has given permission, I have no objections to it

[marble lion]

i have a suspicion the DM wants this skeleton dragon to be a side quest maybe

[reef tundra]

If players are having fun, then I can’t object

[empty thicket]

but i do, roll initiative, i had sent 300 baboons at your place.
Im rolling each baboon initative.

[jolly sable]

yeah its the witchlight module and he seems to like wacky shenanigans so I definitely would like to figure this out

[reef tundra]

I am cooked

[tall forge]

This is why all necromancers put a self destruct command

It’s basic decency really

[jolly sable]

not to mention it kinda fits in with my character's personal goals where he's kinda trying to pioneer a new form of necromancy that creates a symbiotic relationship with life

[empty thicket]

or save one little bone to always be linked and know where the creature went

[feral fulcrum]

I'm suddenly reminded of Diablo

[empty thicket]

Proceed to create *" The Thing" * from the movie or Carrion creature from the game with the same name

[jolly sable]

ngl that's actually the point kinda

the idea is more akin to the jarfolk in elden ring but not just people

[reef tundra]

Elden ring mentioned

[opaque tusk]

Carrion mentioned

[reef tundra]

Foul tarnished, in search of the Elden ring

[empty thicket]

PROCEED TO MAKE HORRORS BEYOND THE COMMON COMPREHENSION
Half of the party: I dont get it
The wizard : I do

[jolly sable]

I love my sweet eldritch horrors they are just such blessings

[tall forge]

Here are the average common rules to neceomancin

1. Reduce reuse recycle!

[feral fulcrum]

I'm curious to see what Arcana Unleashed will bring to the Table. The vague mention of Battle Familiar intrigues me.

[jolly agate]

Aye, is there something cool in High ice i should def know?

Cuz ma next session is like rn

[tall forge]

Always use less body parts, reuse old body parts, and just stick things into flesh to make point stick bodies!

[empty thicket]

Its what im trying but the shopkeeper dont let me reuse my vials for healing potions or reduce the price of it for bringing the vials back.
Im getting a waterskin of healing potion and that it is, glass or clay break easy and getting pinched by a vial made of metal feel awful

[tall forge]

Rule 2. Self destruct timer!

Its a hassle to remember to recast animate dead, so have your undead self destruct after 23 hours

Rule 3. Delegate! A good necromancer is a good manager

Realistically, you dont need to have control over all your undead, use some undead to herd others!

Rule 4. Support local businesses

Bag of holding makers are great for your economy

(Action economy, your zombies dont need to breathe in there)

[reef tundra]

My husband always puts a self destruct in everyone he reanimated

[tall forge]

Now thats a responsible necromancer!

[jolly agate]

ya husband knows what's he doin

[reef tundra]

Wait he’s resurrected me before…

[reef tundra]

Yup, he’s the best necromancer

[jolly sable]

quick question, how do you automate the self-destruct

[tall forge]

“Yo skelle bob. Explode when the sun rises”

[empty thicket]

Even on you!?

[jolly sable]

pft that's actually a great idea

[reef tundra]

Actually most necromancy spells already have it where the animated undead die after a set time

[fossil hollow]

After 24 hours, the undead explodes

[reef tundra]

Well I fear that now. I gotta check myself

[empty thicket]

he placed it in the only spot you will never see, Dont ask him, he will deny it.

(This is how being a patron or paranoia work?)

[reef tundra]

I’ll ask my wife to cast detect magic

I’d ask her to cast detect evil and good too but then I’d just light up bc I am a fey

[gray isle]

does anyone know what enemy has a javelin as a weapon?

[fossil hollow]

Hobgoblin Warlord

[reef tundra]

Hobgoblin

[gray isle]

thank you

[reef tundra]

My man 🤝

[empty thicket]

And your whole body is magic so wont detect it too. So it doesnt work

[reef tundra]

Oh yeah that too

[tall forge]

Rule 5. Get to know your employees, die a little!

[reef tundra]

Time to cast “detect necromantic bomb” or whatever

[empty thicket]

Damn, i should put some paranoia in the campaign im going to make

[empty thicket]

yeah, isnt the same to reanimate a giant to reanimate 10 commoners. Each have different values

[tall forge]

Mhm also become a lich

[empty thicket]

In fact, they have Body Value.

[tall forge]

You can make flesh gollems essentially!

[empty thicket]

Im already working on that, using undeads for construction work.

[feral fulcrum]

There's nothing stopping you from just giving them mundane weapons.

[tall forge]

My personal favorite is the head on a single arm and hand!

[wraith drift]

Heya

[tall forge]

Knee nibblers, is what my necromancer called em

Seargent skulls, general meats, knee nibblers

[rugged hawk]

See, the trick is to practice Moderate Cultistry, not LOL EVUL levels of it. If you're kidnapping local children, enchanting the menfolk, digging up the village graveyard, poisoning the well, and generally being awful, of course heroes and do-gooders are gonna come smite you.

But if you stick to keeping the roads safe by sacrificing bandits to the primordial ooze, hunting monsters that are troubling the locals and eating them, ethically sourcing your skeletons (from the bodies of sacrificed bandits), and the like, you're much more likely to live a largely peaceful cult existence.

You can totally co-exist in relative peace for the most part.... right up until paladins get involved. Because those mobile tin cans only understand HIT THINGS THAT DON'T FIT IN.

[maiden solstice]

Soup bro

[rugged hawk]

Sir, this isn't a Wendy's.

[maiden solstice]

lol

[rugged hawk]

You're laughing. People are suffering from the lack of D&D conversation here, and you're laughing. Evil points for you.

[deft anchor]

me and my friends dnd characters just got married! huzzah huzzah!!

[rugged hawk]

Congrats. We're confiscating your KaC books.

There will be only wholesomeness and platonic friendships in this Lathander-loving server

[reef tundra]

Boooo down with Lathander

How could you beat me like this, Echo. I thought we were bonding

[rugged hawk]

As an oft-cultist, I can get behind this. Lathander needs to mind his own business, leave us graverobbers and necromancers alone.

That said, his crusaders are good for keeping rival cults down, sooo...

[prime pewter]

Should I give my green skinned tiefling warlock multicolored rainbow hair? To add to the Chaos? (2024 rules using Abbysal)

Rn his hair is pink

[rugged hawk]

It should clearly be normal human brown, to really throw off the impression. That'd be even more chaotic than rainbows or pink.

[prime pewter]

Idk if he's subtle enough for that tho tbh

[rugged hawk]

See, what you really wanna do isn't look WILDLY out of place. You wanna aim for that 'Uncanny Valley' feeling, where you look nearly normal but there's things that make it instantly obvious you're something pretending to be normal.

You know, like those high-tech Japanese robots who look nearly like people

Except that they give off that super creepy vibe of being actually inhuman due to certain characteristics and lack of microexpressions

If you need an organic example, just look at Zuckerberg.

[toxic bronze]

poor lizard person zuckerberg, he ain't do noin wrong💔

[gleaming swan]

hey we're loosing players, anyone have any idea why?

[rugged hawk]

How are we supposed to deduce from a complete lack of context?

[blissful ibex]

from your table or from the game in general?

[rugged hawk]

Unless maybe that lack of context itself is why

[gleaming swan]

Like they were just yanked from all contacts and stuff they were in. its happened twice, one guy was very enthusiastic

Like they didnt exsist anymore

anyone can contact @fathom burrow ?

[blissful ibex]

Are you the DM or another player? Because if you're aplyer your DM might be filtering people out

[gleaming swan]

DM, but I didnt filter anythin

[rugged hawk]

Humans are funnily entropic like that

[gleaming swan]

one person I can understand. 2 i cant

[blissful ibex]

They might have just not vibed with the table and left; it's kinda shitty if they don't at least say somethign first but peopel are like that

generally you're going to go through a few players before you get a good group of like 4~6 to play with
it's a common thing

[gleaming swan]

No, this is twice man, and it happened all at once

[fair summit]

Two people just changed their mind, or determined the table / game wasn't for them for whatever reason and left
Happens, and best to just move on and find new players rather than dwell on it, unless it keeps happening

[gleaming swan]

he's not even here

[blissful ibex]

I've been at a table where we had like 1 seat cycle through like 4 people before we got someone who stuck
it happens; especially in online games

[gleaming swan]

No we litterally just comfirmed his guy. Nobody could contact him. With Discords age restriction thing, I think it knocked him away

[blissful ibex]

That would require the server you're on being marked as an 18+ server

[gleaming swan]

we didnt say anything, just, poof. I suspect AI gone bad, but I need to make sure. anyone ele see this?

[fair summit]

Also depends on how you pick your players
If you just pick random players at a first come first serve fashion, you're lot more likely to get pretty much random players and this is one of the possible results

[gleaming swan]

its not though. all family friendly

[blissful ibex]

yes, people ghost DMs/Tables, it happens

[blissful ibex]

then that's not what happened

[fair summit]

Luckily there's no shortage of players to fill the spots 😌

[blissful ibex]

just post a LFP via the instructions in #find-a-game and you'll have your pick of like 8 people to fill the seat within half an hour

[pearl hedge]

thank god we got 5 people in the campaign i'm in.. two people dropped out between session 0-1..

[gleaming swan]

well I came here to double check. good to know he just up and left and its my fault

[blissful ibex]

yep, that's normal for online games
you'll also go through a few people filling those seats as well

[feral fulcrum]

There's a surpising amount of flakes out there.

[gleaming swan]

2 back to back in like 12hrs... it felt targeted

[pearl hedge]

though there's another person who's doing a swashbuckler paladin multiclass.. i kinda feel like they're stealing my thunder a bit since i'm a swashbuckler but i don't know how to say it to them

[feral fulcrum]

"Yeah I'm tottaly interested in playing!" Immediately ghosts everyone

[woven flint]

Hello, friends

[blissful ibex]

not really? the player left because the player wanted to leave; there's any number of reasons why and you woun't know because they didn't tell you; just find someone whos's a better fit for the table and don't dwell on it

some people are just shitty

[gleaming swan]

I take it hard still. Anxiety does that to a guy

[pearl hedge]

yeah those are the worst.. but the one that dropped out that really broke my heart was the player that i made my backstory with, he totally ghosted us and cut off all contact

[gleaming swan]

that little purple guy is so cute

[gleaming swan]

is it like a tiktok challange or smthn?

[woven flint]

I hate the purple creature, it must be DESTROYED

[pearl hedge]

no its not they had a work schedule that conflicted with the game time.. they were in new zealand btw

[feral fulcrum]

Faster, Purple Worm!

[blissful ibex]

Talk to your DM, it's your DM's job to handle this sort of thing

[pearl hedge]

okay i definitely will

[gleaming swan]

he expressly said he'd play from midnight to 3am for the game. I asked him if it was alright. I feel like he would atleast tell me that it wasnt

[blissful ibex]

people don't owe you an explanation for leaving; you just have to accept that they left and find someone for the seat
there's not closure to be had here and this isn't something we can help with
the only person who has the asnwers is the person who left and they're pointedly not saying anything

[gleaming swan]

you right... just still hurts. first campaign and it happens twice. Imma shut my mouth here and fix things up.

[blissful ibex]

again, it's an incredibly common occurance for online tables

[gleaming swan]

really? damn

[blissful ibex]

every game I've been in that wasn't a pre-existing party has gone through like 2~4 players before soldifying

[gleaming swan]

we still have 4 people, and got a back-up

[blissful ibex]

4 is a perfectly fine party size, generally you want something like 4~6

[ivory cloud]

Anyone else find if fun to think about what DnD class certain fictional characters would be?

Like link being a devotion paladin

[gleaming swan]

npc

[blissful ibex]

I know of several people who like to build characters from other IPs using dnd rules just for fun

[ivory cloud]

What did you call me?…

[gleaming swan]

thats my class

[blissful ibex]

the DM is a player too

[gleaming swan]

I am ALL the NPC's!

[ivory cloud]

Hmm.. ok

[ivory cloud]

That’s neat, they here?

[grizzled lance]

Everyone dies

[blissful ibex]

probably a few of them

[burnt dune]

[ivory cloud]

Well I’d love to have this discussion lol

[blissful ibex]

the one I know who does it the most is not on this server apparently

[ivory cloud]

Huh, shame

[blissful ibex]

most of the others I just see in passing

[ivory cloud]

Was gonna discuss Mickey Mouse being a creation bard

[blissful ibex]

that's a good class/sub-class for him

[ivory cloud]

Maybe? These aren’t my characters they’re more like fun concepts

[scenic zinc]

He's very much a school of illusion wizard.

[pearl hedge]

hey i messaged my dm and he said i should talk to the player directly and the DM knows that the player wouldn't mind taking a different direction if he is set on swashbuckler paladin multiclass

[pearl hedge]

i can see that with all the fantasia stuff

[ivory cloud]

Actually wouldn’t he technically be a sorcerer?

Let’s go to character discussion

[blissful ibex]

so reach out to them and let them know how you're feeling and that you'd prefer that they not also take swashbuckler or perhaps go another route; maybe they could do one of the bard subclasses instead

[jovial shadow]

IMO there's nothing to talk to your DM about. If a melee class is doing swashbuckling things, then that's inline with their class. I don't feel there is any reason to talk to anyone about anything. This will only cause a rift between you and that player, and maybe others.

[woven flint]

I might be playing a Fairy Wild Magic Sorcerer one day soon 🧐

[pearl hedge]

ok it seems like he's not actually doing swashbuckler 100% he's only getting swashbuckler for the sneak attack damage, i'm fine with that

[woven flint]

Tryna think of a name for the Lil guy

Have any of you folks played Fairies? :0

[sleek cloud]

Clover

Have a sibling named Crimson

[exotic sinew]

Don’t you get sneak attack at level 1 for rogues and only the subclass at level 3?? What does swashbuckler do to sneak attack

[umbral girder]

It lets you Sneak attack without advantage if no one else is near you or your enemy

[pearl hedge]

he said he was looking for evasion if the campaign goes to level 20

[umbral girder]

Also you don't get OA attacks from the guys you attack

[exotic sinew]

Interesting interesting 🤔

[exotic sinew]

Bro…….what campaign ever makes it to level 20

[pearl hedge]

our dm said we were going to stop at 10 or 12

[crimson gulch]

i have done it 7 times so far

[scenic zinc]

I have 4 campaigns right now I'm running that are on track to do so

[south prawn]

Nice! Maybe someday. I’m the guy with 2 years experience who wishes he had 20

[scenic zinc]

Each of those has been running close to 2 years.

[crimson gulch]

i have only been running games for 4 years

[exotic sinew]

I just feel like after level 15 the combats are way to complex. One combat can last the entire session time

[south prawn]

Oh haha, well then I need to speed things up and add some games to my week

[blissful ibex]

see, communication resolves problems XD

[crimson gulch]

that can be an issue allright, i make sure to do things faster than that and will usualy keep doing 2 to 4 combats a session right to max level

[blissful ibex]

I've played with faeries, my sibling also ran one, havn' tmyself though

[scenic zinc]

Sure. But narratively at that level you're plausibly starting to go against world ending threats

[sleek cloud]

Evasion is at level 7 btw

[crimson gulch]

im writing a book on the subject "Urizt's Guide to Asskicking, how to make sure your players have fun getting beat in the worlds greatest role playing game"

[blissful ibex]

where do you find these tables because I need this XD

[sleek cloud]

I’d buy it

[scenic zinc]

The dude is a full time paid dm lol

[blissful ibex]

fair

[scenic zinc]

It's quite literally uritz' job

[sleek cloud]

That just means the credentials are there to validate buying it

[blissful ibex]

tbf, I play a lot of AL and can basically get to level 20 as quick as I want to

just better to hold off from doing that XD

[exotic sinew]

I exclusively play AL purely because of bad experiences at public tables

[scenic zinc]

It's been many years since I've had the pleasure of playing in person

[blissful ibex]

I do a mix of both

[crimson gulch]

its my full time job, i do this for a living

my home, Start playing games and My local shop, great tables all round

[fickle heart]

This is always the hardest part, ye, especially if the game is meant to be a bit more narratively driven.

[exotic sinew]

I wouldn’t mind doing a private table again but I think I would have to meet them at a public table like at a game store or convention or something

[scenic zinc]

The situations where the combat is expected to last the entire session always includes rp as part of combat in my games, so it seems to work out for my games

[crimson gulch]

Rp does not stop for combat and combat does not stop for RP, it all flows togeather in my games

[fickle heart]

My main reluctance on level 1-20 campaigns relates to the possibility of the "DBZ phenomenon" moreso than the time spent as part of pacing. I'm a fan of very story-heavy games with relatively slow pacing.

[scenic zinc]

Generally combat involves rp every time, but it's intentionally built into those kind of encounters by me

[exotic sinew]

That’s true but idk I just could not imagine what a level 20 combat looks like. I have experienced level 15 max and it blew my mind

[scenic zinc]

Players should have their turns decided before it's their turn

[rough basalt]

Level 20 combat is one of two things.
Complete slog, or epic

[fickle heart]

Then again, I'm 2e-pilled, so a lot follows from that.

[blissful ibex]

meanwhile I'm an old-school dungeon crawl Exploration/Combat enjoyer

[crimson gulch]

oh, was 2e naturaly a slower paced game? honest question

[rough basalt]

Yeah since any confrontation could kill you

[exotic sinew]

Even if I have it prepared before my turn. If 4 other people throw a wrench into that plan with their turn I have to rethink my whole turn 4 times

[blissful ibex]

THAC0 tuesday

[crimson gulch]

thats how i run 5e

20 dead PC's so far in 2026

[scenic zinc]

Unlikely to happen in my experience.

[rough basalt]

Well in 2e it'd probably be like 3000 PCs killed by now if they played it like 5e players usually do.

[scenic zinc]

It's possible, sure. But doesn't happen all that often.

[blissful ibex]

the trick is to play 5e like it's 2e :3

[crimson gulch]

im about to run some 1e adnd, so thats gonna be fun

[fickle heart]

Narratively, it's significantly slower, yeah. You have PCs having to visit cities to pay tributes and tithes, needing to seek out specific people in the world to even be able to reach certain levels in some classes, and requiring a lot of prepwork and slow dungeon crawling.

[scenic zinc]

To be fair, players attachment to their characters was significantly different then.

[rough basalt]

All my PC kills for this year came from Shadowdark which is giving me the vibes of old dnd I wanted.

[scenic zinc]

There's almost a kind of... parasocial? bond with PCs that players have now

[crimson gulch]

nice, im trying that too

[rough basalt]

It's very easy to run as a 5e dm

[blissful ibex]

can get those numbers exponentially higher if you start off running gauntlet

[rough basalt]

Gauntlets are hilarious

Level 0 Commoners with 1 + con mod hp

No class, no skills, just some basic equipment

[fickle heart]

It's definitely very very different, yeah. I wasn't actually alive when 2e was actively being played as the most recent edition, but that's what I first got as a sourcebook as a gift when I was younger.

[blissful ibex]

whoever makes it out is your character XD

[fickle heart]

Well, I suppose 2e did have two waves.

[scenic zinc]

What are you talking about? 3rd edition came out in 2000

[rough basalt]

Shadowdark is a good equal ground to experience 1st editions vibes but with 5es simplicity

[scenic zinc]

You were certainly alive.

[rough basalt]

And it's IRL light timer mechanic lends itself well to the horror aspect of dungeon crawling as weak people

[fickle heart]

I always forget that 3e was so recent lol

[scenic zinc]

It's almost younger than shrek

[fickle heart]

I always assume 3.5e wasn't literally 3 years after 3e (it was.)

[rough basalt]

Kinda wish I had dnd as a kid.

[blissful ibex]

my brother did in highschool at least; he'd come home and tell me about the homebrew table he was playing at

[scenic zinc]

I played 2e as a kid. Probably shouldn't have lol

I died a lot

[blissful ibex]

also interacted with stuff like unforgotten realms and OOTS

[fickle heart]

2e do be like that.

[rough basalt]

My first stepfather had the Icewind Dale Trilogy which was my only connection to anything dnd related but I never actually touched it

[fickle heart]

"Did you play smart?"
"No."
"Ohhh, you're dead, then."

[scenic zinc]

My older brother was the dm. That had much more to do with it than it being 2e.

[fickle heart]

Sometimes it's even:
"Did you play smart?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's unfortunate; you're still dead."

[rough basalt]

The lethality is hilarious

[fickle heart]

I honestly think that the majority of 5e players could benefit from some of the values held by 2e.

[rough basalt]

I had 7 PCs killed in a 4 session adventure of SD.

[blissful ibex]

You can do everything right and still die; that's dnd

[jolly agate]

Do yall think while you play?

[rough basalt]

Not really

[jolly agate]

i just, go all silly. like, Where's the fun in thinking?

[rough basalt]

I mostly just handle my sheet

[blissful ibex]

ooh! also the old dungeon crawlers like Eye of the Beholder

[rough basalt]

I'm realizing I prefer dming

[blissful ibex]

I like doing both
there's time for stretegic play and there's time for chaos gremlin

[rough basalt]

Keeps me engaged whereas as a player I find my sort of phasing out mentally

[pearl hedge]

yes 😅

[fickle heart]

There's just so much neat stuff in 2e that combats the mentality of "the DM should let me do stuff, thoughhhh."

[rough basalt]

Yeah there's some 5e mentalities I really dislike.

[rugged hawk]

I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time hearing your theory over the sound of your chat program being named DISCORD

[scenic zinc]

I agree. But modern day dnd culture is very steeped in the idea that a PCs character is inherently special.

[rough basalt]

Yeah, if you state you kill PCs, the mob comes for you

[scenic zinc]

And I'm not sure that's going anywhere anytime soon.

[small heath]

Chat: my druid is planning on starting a herbalism business for this local village. I need a good name for it.

[scenic zinc]

I once killed a PC with that players former PC

[rough basalt]

Like I made a reddit post talking about how the Deck appearing in session 1 has made my Monday game fun, and it got downvoted presumably cause I let a level 1 PC get donjon'd

[blissful ibex]

Recently had a session where two players were supposed to be bringing a petrified PC to the temple to get Greater Restored. They decided to stop by the tavern and get shitfaced so me and our paladin decided to just quietly sneak away with the wagon without telling them and bring senior statue to the temple while they panicked over who stole the party bard XD

[rough basalt]

A lot of loud people in the community treat killing a PC like you should be given life in prison for doing so

[blissful ibex]

Modern dnd is more power fantasy while older editions you were just 'some guy™'

[fickle heart]

The specific reason why I'm reluctant about 1-20 campaigns is the exact idea that PCs being special heavily influences the "DBZ phenomenon" where the PCs keep going to places and fighting what appears to be the "next big thing" and progressively doing so while having little to no context within the world about their realistic skill level (or being treated as themselves the big thing.)

[scenic zinc]

-# please dear Ao let this habit of addressing people as "chat" end

[scenic zinc]

Which is why oblivion will always be better than skyrim, to me.

[rough basalt]

Something that really ticks me off is when people get angry when you give players consequences for their actions

[blissful ibex]

they got the guards involved and the very ornery dragonborn fighter almost strangled the bard player's Wizard standin character on finding us

[fickle heart]

Like, 5e can't reasonably give statblocks to broad deities because 5e is too much of a power fantasy that it's only a matter of time before people want their PC to slay a pantheon.

[blissful ibex]

that on top of them stripping all the RPG parts of the game with every iteration

[rough basalt]

And it's not rare we get questions here like "how do I kill gods, how do I make a PC a god"

[blissful ibex]

yeah, no; if you decide to mess around, you get to actually deal with the concequences

[rough basalt]

I like Morrowind cause you can kill important npcs

[scenic zinc]

That's why in games where I want that to be a thing I state whether that's even possible very early on.

[blissful ibex]

that's when you let them become gods so they're subsumed by the primary deity associated with the domain and now it's time to roll up a new character c:

[scenic zinc]

And I have told them that if they do successfully become a god, they don't get to play as a god.

[fickle heart]

I'll also admit that 5e has a very very weird methodology when it comes to the power of PCs, because they really aren't that capable of destruction.

[rough basalt]

Now all of Reddit is coming for you

[scenic zinc]

That's as much "character death" as that character dying

[blissful ibex]

it's basically retiring a character with extra steps

[rough basalt]

I've seen people RQ cause their PC died fairly which is ridiculous.

[blissful ibex]

and the methods that allow you do be really destructive have built in safeguards (ie the lady of pain not being a huge fan of certain abuses of the wish spell)

[scenic zinc]

(I will then definitely use that new god to kill their characters)

[rugged hawk]

Okay, but hear me out a moment: player of replacement god takes over as 'god' and DM becomes 'Ao'.

[scenic zinc]

That's just silly

[eager marsh]

Meteor Swarm's scale is small if you put that in real world measurements and compare to just...modern buidings and such when you realize 'this is the pinacle of magic and on par with reality warping spells'

[fickle heart]

Hilariously, I was just typing a reference to Meteor Swarm.

[eager marsh]

Great minds think alike

[fickle heart]

"For example: Meteor Swarm, a spell of the absolute highest level magic usable by mortals...summons four fireballs that have a diameter of 80 feet."

[blissful ibex]

either have a contingency worked out with the party to be revived or have a spare character sheet ready
regardless, if you don't want to die, you need to play defensively

can't go full Leroy Jenkins and be upset when you're inevitablly ground into pulp

[livid slate]

What classes do y'all like multi classing with blade singer? (No dips >:[)

[rough basalt]

Yeah I had a dude get attacked 3 times by a Necromancer and I rolled 20,20,19 (natural rolls) and max damage so he got wiped clean and he left on the spot.

[lofty rune]

Hey first time player here looking for a party to play dnd with

[scenic zinc]

Which is why when people start talking about anime stuff and dnd I kinda press X to doubt

[fickle heart]

Meteor Swarm can destroy a normal-sized house, definitely.

[scenic zinc]

Because anime power scales way higher than dnd

[eager marsh]

even the spell Tsunami is like...a water park wave pool iirc

[blissful ibex]

the seige spells like Earthquake and Tsunami can do a decent amount of work, but even those aren't really regional scale

[crimson gulch]

The new circle cast spells are wmds

[blissful ibex]

Warlock, Warlock is the best second class for (almost) everything, MAD stat distrubutions be damned c:

[scenic zinc]

Casting rautholams (sp?) Psychic Lance on someone a mile away is crazy

[fickle heart]

I'm doing a full-scale rewrite of 5e's magic and I'm definitely pumping the damage scale of spells like Whirlwind and Tsunami, but with a lot of narrative restrictions and having those types of spells restricted to Druids.

[livid slate]

Elaborate?

(Would you use int or charisma?)

[eager marsh]

Circle Casting Vortex Warp to skip dealing with airports

[rough basalt]

I use "DM nonsense" for certain magic to make it more destructive.

[scenic zinc]

You mean... narrative?

Gasp. How dare.

[rough basalt]

I know. And guess what? I don't let the PCs get ahold of it either!

[fickle heart]

Considering that a spell of such a scale as an actual Tsunami would be insanely destructive to nature, nature itself dictates when the energy can even be unleashed.

[blissful ibex]

eeh, 300x300x300 ft cube which gets 50 ft shorter in 50 ft increments
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2619206-tsunami

[fickle heart]

Same thing with high level divine magic for Clerics; you aren't just casting it, you're directly beseeching your deity for the ability to cast it.

[rough basalt]

Players when the evil wizard they're after sends an EF5 Tornado at them.

[blissful ibex]

max range boosting Animal Shapes is really funny

[fickle heart]

And Arcane classes? Alas, Arcane classes can't cause as much destruction because actively trying to control that much power is just not possible for a mortal.

[rough basalt]

Me and the boys circle casting Whirlwind to create the fantasy equivalent to El Reno and send it towards a goblin camp

[somber mesa]

Random question: How do you determine how much damage a creature would take from an object like a big rock falling on them, and how do you determine the DC for avoiding it?

[blissful ibex]

if you can swing having your DM let Warlock use int 100% use int XD
but otherwise it'd be on cha >.>

[rough basalt]

I think there's a falling rock trap you could use the damage of

[livid slate]

I mean mechanicaly how that would work

[rough basalt]

Speaking of Wizard, I need to flesh out my wizard tower boss fight

[blissful ibex]

You'd Take like a 8,12,13,16,10,16 stat distribution or something; it's MAD so it's going to be a stretch regardless but warlock is a nice secondary class even if your CHA never goes over 16

it's interesting at least

and you can tick your Con up to 14 that way taking Resiliant

[rough basalt]

Gonna domain expansion the Fighter for his jokes out of game

[blissful ibex]

I play a druid 5 / warlock 5 or (15/5 in a level 20 game) and she's a ton of fun
to be fair Druid is much happier being MCed than wizard is, but it's workable

having 2 3rd level spell slots that come, back on a SR and 5 invocations to work with on top of your subclass features is rather nice c:

less useful though, due to wizard and warlock both being arcane casters; might be better off with something like cleric; 5.5e knowledge cleric could be a fun combo and 3~5 levels there isn't too bad, especially for Spirit Guardians, Aura of Vitality, and the really nice knowledge cleric features

[blissful ibex]

if you take it to level 6 (assuming you started wizad) you can even use it to get Dex or Con save proficiencies

[slim pasture]

Hey is this a good place to ask a question?

[feral fulcrum]

Depends on the question

[slim pasture]

I made a monster but I can't decide on what name sounds cooler

[feral fulcrum]

Flip a coin, that's what I generally do when undecided

[jolly agate]

I help ya whit that

slide the names and the type of monster

[slim pasture]

so in short I homebrewed my own kind of giant spider monster for my friends and I made it so its evolved to hunt and eat paladins cause it has a magical weapon for a lure on its head but the real decisicion is do I name it "Hero's Bane Spider" or "Hero's Bane Tarantula" only real reason I thought hard about is cuz my gf owns tarantulas so depending on the name the monster might look different cause tarantulas are fluffy and spiders aren't

[jolly agate]

Also, is a wyvern as good as a dragon or a less powerfull dragon?, Does anyone knows?

[jolly agate]

Hero's bane spider

Tarantula sounds less cooler for some reason

[marble lion]

Tarantula and bait dont feel right

[slim pasture]

I think tarantulas sound cute so good idea to not name it that

thanks buddy

[jolly agate]

dw brav

[jolly venture]

Im planning to run Death House from Curse of Strahd for three level 3 players as a one or two shot for friends including 1 new player. Do you think level 3 is too high even for 3 players with a newbie?

[rough basalt]

It's a level 1-3 dungeon so at level 3 they'd be fine.

[jolly venture]

Im just hoping it wont be too easy. If its too hard I can manage

[rough basalt]

With a new player it'll probably offset the level advantage a little bit

[jolly venture]

And with 3 players instead of the usual 4 I think it'll weigh in as well. Thank you! Kind of deciding to start it at level 3 just so the new player gets more options since he is brand new to dnd and he wants to play an oathbreaker

[remote wadi]

I played it at level 2

[jolly venture]

what was your party like?

[remote wadi]

As long as they are careful about positioning and they have good healing, they'll be fine

[remote wadi]

Illusionist Wizard, Paladin (except for the escape), Fighter, and Ranger

I would say bard, but he also left super early (also DM was gracious because he otherwise would have been instantly killed by ||the banshee||)

[jolly venture]

oops. rip paladin lol. Thats kind of similar to my party. They want to play ranger and paladin so far. The third player I dont know yet

[potent mountain]

Question for chat;
DND player's thoughts on stranger things? (Specifically hpe they portray DND, usage of naming characters after DND characters)

[rough basalt]

Don't really care too much personally.

[jolly venture]

I think its cool and fun. If you play dnd you know the demogorgon is a totally different monster strenght wise and none of the designs are similar, but its fun. Doesnt make me mad but im also not jumping with excitement about it

well if you play dnd you might not know that about the demogorgon, I kind of meant that those who know, know

[cerulean monolith]

Though it was really frustrating when someone very pointedly tried to “correct” me when I was running an Abyssal Cult campaign that it was the Demogorgon and not Demogorgon. Mostly because that’s also wrong without the context of the show

[jolly venture]

I thought it was cool tho like oh they are using the Vecna name. But also its semi annoying that now when people hear vecna they think about that flesh costume from the show lol

[potent mountain]

Demogorgon is completely different then the demogorgon in the show, granted it was only named after the demogorgon because in the show, DND is almost prophetic. (Demogorgon gets will in game, will gets captured). They were just linking it.

Vecna atleast is close-Eddie described in his campaign that vecna has a mutated arm, and vecna has a mutated arm.

Atleast the mindflayer is mechanically similar.

[severe rampart]

A bit ticked off about how they played off a lot of the creatures as weaker beings that can be killed by children

[limber trail]

....Ehhh, no strong feelings. I'm aware it's not very accurate, I just don't really consider think about it a lot at all.

[potent mountain]

Iiiiiii wouldn't agree with that, actually

[cerulean monolith]

I’m 90% sure Vecna: Eve of Ruin was made purely to counteract Stranger Things appropriating the Vecna name

[rough basalt]

Most of its just "kids name monster after the monster they're using in dnd"

[severe rampart]

||a Demogorgon was killed by a kid alone with a shotgun|| so I don't know what you mean by that

[potent mountain]

Theres only like one instance where a creature dies (Demogorgon), and that took multiple soldiers, a flamethrower, disrupting the hivemind AND a fatal blow to the head.

[rough basalt]

My opinions on the show aren't really related to the dnd aspect

[jolly venture]

Thats why I was thinking there was going to be a Kas thing in the final season. But I was wrong

[severe rampart]

Really? I must be remembering the show wrong then

[cerulean monolith]

So? It’s the show’s own monster. It’s unrelated to Demogorgon.

[rugged hawk]

Goblina McGoblinson the Third

[potent mountain]

... do you mean Nancy in season 1? Because it didn't even come close to dying, it was injured, but it ran away and survived and went on to massacre a platoon of soldiers.

[severe rampart]

Yes, I'm aware of that, still made out demogorgons to be a lot weaker than they were

[jolly venture]

I think it was mainly made to kind of "end" 5th edition dnd. Cause I think at the end of every edition of dnd its because of a Vecna adventure where he becomes god and changes the multiverse and then BOOM new edition. And it happened now, we have 5.5e

something like that. dont quote me

[cerulean monolith]

Oooh I think every sentence there was wrong

Well, I guess the last one is correct, but it will always be wrong in my heart 😔

[rugged hawk]

Reminder that Demagorgon was so stupid strong it took HELM HIMSELF to send an avatar to help deal with the situation.

[limber trail]

Demorgon is one of the strongest beings around in 5e (Although there are a number that are stronger)

[severe rampart]

Am I remembering the show wrong? I could've sworn the kid with the hair killed one of the demogorgons, it has been a few years

[cerulean monolith]

…what? Why are we emphasizing Helm as if he’s some super strong deity. He’s notable for like, two things: killing Mystra and colonizing the Americas Maztica

[potent mountain]

There is not an instance where a demogorgon was killed by a shotgun, no. Mildly injured only.

Infact; quite the opposite, rhe demogorgons are shown to tank entire firing squads of soldiers

[jolly venture]

Orcus was a literal god at some point but Demogorgon is still somehow stronger. Even tho his stat block is worst

[rugged hawk]

It's more the fact Demagorgon was powerful enough to need direct deity intervention. Not even once, but twice.

[cerulean monolith]

Not to say Demogorgon isn’t a powerful being; he is. But there are other ways to demonstrate that. Namely, that Orcus is a hairsbreadth away from deification, and yet Demogorgon can (and it seems routinely does) beat Orcus’s ass in 1v1 combat.

[rough basalt]

I still wonder how they thought that was a good idea (the 2nd part)

[limber trail]

I just don't really associate stranger things with dnd though. I do at least appreciate BG3 for blowing up and giving a bit of rep to a more accurate depiction of mind flayers. Now I hope that LoVM at least depicts Vecna somewhat more accurately.

[woven flint]

Demogorgon is such a badass tbh

[cerulean monolith]

Ignoring the flustered duck that was Maztica, why would you choose the protection deity to be the colonizer??? That’s obviously a bad choice even for when it was written

[rough basalt]

Well CRs vecna is his own in world self, but he's closer to DnD Vecna.

[rugged hawk]

Maybe Orcus's powers just don't compare well against Demogorgon's in straight battle? Could just be a bad matchup against him, maybe.

[limber trail]

He 100% is but he's a step closer and at least shares some of the big ideas

[potent mountain]

Its not really that related, the kids jist played DND in their free time, DND became a bit of a prophetic game / guide to tge supernatural, and they named the monsters after DND characters.

Some of the characters also use their DND characters as their "alter ego" to give them bravery, this also works prophetically.

[limber trail]

I at least think it's much closer than the current character people associate with vecna

[jolly venture]

I think its kind of implied that Orcus is lazy and could beat him. He's kind of like sitting on his lair of Thanatos in his city of undead army and is just chillin there. Teleports his wand which arguably the most powerful magic item in all dnd to mortals in the material plane just for fun. He also was a god in the past and was killed by another demon lord because he was lazy. He went all the way down to a dretch back up to a Balor where he was known as Tenebrous and wielded an artifact sword known as Orcusword and killed Primus. Became a demon lord again and killed the demon lord who originally killed him and removed his godhood

[cerulean monolith]

As we generally understand it, Demogorgon beats Orcus in every scenario, except for in Orcus’s home plane. The tricky thing is, the fight only has consequences if it’s on the loser’s home plane. As it stands, Demogorgon presumably does it just to reaffirm his position as ruler of the demons.

[potent mountain]

Also, cool thing, they depict the satanic panic of dnd,

Eddie, a DM, is blamed for supernatural murders and the townspeople are convinced he is a worker of el Diablo using DND to start a cult.

[jolly venture]

yeah that was pretty good

[cerulean monolith]

This assertion is directly contradicted by the events of Out of the Abyss

[jolly venture]

which part

[potent mountain]

RIP edeie, amazing character

[cerulean monolith]

The ending, iirc. I can’t gives specific claims for spoilers sake.

[jolly venture]

||you can do this||

[severe rampart]

you can put two "||" in your sentences

||Like this||

[blissful ibex]

generally it's because Mystra dies

[jolly venture]

but from what my research and knowledge on orcus is, he really was a god or demi god in the past. and killed primus, who is like the god

[severe rampart]

Does... that happen often?

[blissful ibex]

like two or three times so far

[jolly venture]

yes

Cyric the goat

[severe rampart]

isn't Mystra like... magic? like the whole magic system?

[woven flint]

Yeah, because, frankly, a LOT of people are out for Mystras position too

[jolly venture]

yep. and she still dies. It brings absolute chaos when she dies

[severe rampart]

How can magic itself die?

[cerulean monolith]

Yes im aware of how spoilers worked, mods still don’t like discussions adventure spoilers outside of that channel.

You can find the answer in the first descriptive text in the “Against Demogorgon” section of Chapter 17.

[jolly venture]

alr I'll grab me book

[rugged hawk]

Not the concept of magic, just its Karen manager, during which it goes completely wild / mostly deadish.

[severe rampart]

Ah, sort of like a Magic Auditor

[blissful ibex]

she's not exactly the deity of 'magic' , she's the deity of 'The Weave' which is kind of like an interface people use to be able to use magic IIRC

[rugged hawk]

Mystra just provides an API to wield magic. Shar has an alternate one, the Shadow Weave.

[cerulean monolith]

Mystra has died:

• Once as Mystryl; self-sacrifice to prevent Karsus’s Folly
• Once slain by Cyric; assassination to steal he domains
• Once slain by Helm; she disobeyed Ao.

I feel like im forgetting one, actually

[severe rampart]

The shadow weave? what does it do aside sounding edgy? /j

[rugged hawk]

Basically everything the Weave does, but with shadows and inevitable corruption

[blissful ibex]

They had to kill 10th+ level spells so you don't have every archmage and their mom out here trying to cast Karsus's Avatar and start another spellplague /j

[cerulean monolith]

It is a weaker alternative to the Weave. Its power runs through Shar instead of Mystra. It is weaker and opens up the user to control by Shar.

[jolly venture]

oh you dont seem to have understood what I wrote. I know demogorgon is stronger than orcus. Im just saying that its my belief that he may be lazy and if he really wanted to, he might have a better chance. Just because there is precedent for Orcus being a god but letting his guard down because of laziness and dying because of it. He is a little pudgy for a reason, its not just for fun lol. Thats what I meant

[woven flint]

I knew Helm was based

[severe rampart]

so... Mystra's is google, Shar's is Linux?

[rugged hawk]

From what I know, Mystra had really good reason to return to the divine realms, though, and Helm stopped her even though she knew the answer to Ao's questions about the Tablets.

[cerulean monolith]

More like Shar’s is Google but with a black butterfly flying across the screen and 10000ms latency

[blissful ibex]

Mystra is Linux
Shar is microsoft with their injecting spyware and AI crap into your system and taking screenshots of everythiung you're doing\

[woven flint]

Anyone who has killed Mystra is pretty neat

[severe rampart]

oh yeah, Mystra all the way (or is she also super duper evil)

[jolly venture]

she is neutral

[rugged hawk]

Shar's Shadow Weave is basically just her using your brain to crypto farm.

[jolly venture]

everyone can have access to magic, no exceptions. even if you're evil

[blissful ibex]

She's morally gray at best / has done some rather effed up stuff

[woven flint]

Mystra is a neutral Deity, but has indeed done shady shit

[umbral girder]

It’s mainly that Demogorgon has control over every demon and, even as a god, Orcus is in fact a demon still.

Basically he gots Demon Prince hacks on Orcus.

[jolly venture]

makes sense

[woven flint]

Kelemvor is the best neutral Deity in my opinion 🧐

[rugged hawk]

You take that back. Jergal or bust!

[tough loom]

Hi

[severe rampart]

I have never heard of these deities

Kelemvor? Jergal?

[blissful ibex]

Kelemvor is one of the gods of the dead

[severe rampart]

I know Bahamut, Paladine, and Baphomet, and that's it

[rugged hawk]

Paladine is Bahamut, pretty sure

[woven flint]

I had a Tabaxi Grave Cleric of Kelemvor (pfp)
Who lived on an island where undead were rampant
He didn't slaughter undead, but instead, comforted them and quietly put them to rest with Divine magics, as Kelemvor would've wanted 🔥

[severe rampart]

... no this can't be...

[rugged hawk]

according to Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (5e)Paladine and Bahamut are generally considered the same deity or, at minimum, aspects/reflections of the same entity

[cerulean monolith]

That’s also pretty contradicted. Even in the Tenebrous storyline, it was mostly chance that Orcus was able to do that. He exploited a once in a millennia event, subsisted off of the power of Devils, and was only able to accomplish what he did because Mechanus has really weird rules.

Also, in the case of OotA, the Demon Lords are… pretty desperate, and the whole situation has caused a breakdown in hierarchy, meaning this is prime opportunity for Orcus to seize power, which we know is his ultimate goal. Tbh, it’s nonsensical to imagine that he wouldn’t be fighting is best.

[woven flint]

His saddest encounter with an Undead was a Shade of his childhood best friend, mostly because he knew his friends soul was more than doomed 😔

[severe rampart]

I looked it up... I think I'm gonna be sick, I can't believe my patron is Bahamut and... Bahamut

[blissful ibex]

even took down the Wall of the Faithless, put it back up, and possibly took it down again XD

[jolly venture]

Mystra is letting Daurgothoth (a black greatwyrm dracolich archmage) experiment to create living dracoliches who would be born with any kind of breath weapon. And even letting daurgothoth do more experiments like creating a breath weapon that removes any magic from any magic weapons forever. Goodbye holy avenger. She is actively preventing her chosen (elminster) from interfering. Daurgothoth is evil, and she is letting him do all these evil things on purpose because she thinks he is a genius and she wants advancements of magic

[uncut zenith]

That’s been true prior to 5E as well. Paladine, Bahamut, and Fizban are the same deity in three different forms

[woven flint]

Mystra may be the Deity of Magic..
But she sure isn't the smartest or wisest.

[umbral girder]

Jergal is the god of scribes, former god of Death.

Kelemvor judges souls and sends them to the proper Outer planes for their after lives.

[blissful ibex]

IIRC, He's also one of the few beings in existance that still has 10+ level spell slots; though he can only use them to upcast

[woven flint]

Kelemvor was the first Deity of death to actually reassure people that death wasn't painful and their souls weren't damned for eternity

[cerulean monolith]

I think we should maybe start with the mass murder Daurgothoth did to become a lich, rather than the fact that he’s breaking magic items. The former is terrible, the latter isn’t evil

[severe rampart]

ah so rulers/auditors of the dead/souls who are just doing their jobs, hence, neutral

[uncut zenith]

Kelemvor is FR’s version of Hades. Jergal is effectively his accountant

[umbral girder]

Yep!

[rough basalt]

Jergal was just kinda like "you're dead. Now get the hell to the next life already, I'm busy."

[jolly venture]

I ran a 4 session one shot about Daurgothoth. It was a party of 5 level 20 characters with a bunch of magic items and they went through Daurgothoth's lair and eventually confronted him. It was really fun. My stat block for him is way too big

[umbral girder]

Kelemvor sees if a god or patron has claim to your soul, if not he goes by your alignment to see which is most fitting for you.

[woven flint]

Kelemvor is Hades but he was more passionate and easy going on judging mortals

He realized that he had to be fair, but stern eventually

[blissful ibex]

Though he was very wishy-washy with how to treat those who don't follow any deities, went back and forth twice on if the wall should be a thing or not from what we know of lore

[woven flint]

I like how he's conflicted about how to treat the dead

[jolly venture]

alright I can copy paste his wiki if you want to be a stickler about it lol. Im not gonna describe his whole biography

[umbral girder]

Notably as well multiple planes share alignment as well so you aren’t stuck to 1 specifically too

[blissful ibex]

issue is the wall is one of the single worst things that can happen to you after death; and it's the default afterlife if you don't petition your deity to take you into their own domain

[woven flint]

Indeed

[cerulean monolith]

I’m not saying he’s not evil, I’m saying that destroying magic items is pretty far down his list of evils

[jolly venture]

I wasnt saying that it was the most evil thing he's done. Im just saying that it is the thing he is working on right now. And that he's evil. I didnt think I needed to enumerate the reasons why he is evil in a passing comment about mystra

and that a black greatwyrm dracolich archmage doing all of that, is probably not to solve world hunger

[rough basalt]

Gotta pick the right deity too

[cerulean monolith]

I’m… sensing we have different levels of engagement in this topic and that it would be unhealthy to continue discussion in jt

[rough basalt]

Cause some deities would probably leave you anyways cause you forgot to pray one time

[jolly venture]

I think we are just not understanding each other

[cerulean monolith]

Onto real important conversations: which deity would make the best designated driver?

[jolly venture]

but we both agree it seems

[severe rampart]

whoever the DnD equivalent of Hermes is

[cerulean monolith]

That would be… Hermes

[severe rampart]

... you don't say... then Hermes

[blissful ibex]

we've got the greek, norse, and egyptian pantheons kicking around somewhere
also most of the cuthulu mythos

[woven flint]

I think Helm would be the best designated driver

[cerulean monolith]

As long as all the passengers are white /j

[woven flint]

.. Sam?

[severe rampart]

Whoa

[jolly venture]

huh

[blissful ibex]

so what you're saying is that you want him... at the helm c:

[woven flint]

Wink Wink, Nudge Nugde

Lmaooo

[severe rampart]

Beat me to it, Meabhy really is funnier than me 😔

[cerulean monolith]

Yknow, I ran a spelljammer campaign and the party’s Spelljammer (person who pilots the ship) was a Cleric of Helm… how did I never make this joke?!?!? It’s literally called a Spelljammer HELM and I never connected the dots? How dare past me not be funny

[woven flint]

Unfunny man alert

[jolly agate]

Aye

So, if i found a wyvern egg, but it's like frozen, very bloody frozen. is there a chance that the egg still alive or nah?

honestly

[blissful ibex]

ask your DM

[jolly agate]

Cuz idk how strong is a wyvern egg, i mean. A dragon egg would def survive but a wyvern egg?

[jolly agate]

He aint wanna tell me nothin mate

😔

[blissful ibex]

He should have you make a nature/arcana check if you want to know something like that

[jolly agate]

Well we ended up in Rashmen so it might unfreeze in the next session

[jolly agate]

Damn, I didn't think of that.

[blissful ibex]

knowledge checks exist for a reason XD

[cerulean monolith]

DMs generally aren’t supposed to prompt for stuff like that. The player says what they want to do, and the DM calls for a check if the outcome is variable and there’s meaningful consequences for failure

[blissful ibex]

ye, was implying that Latrell should have asked their DM if the egg was still viable and then the DM should have requested one of the two aforementioned checks

[jolly agate]

so i might become a mom or i might have to give the egg to the Ogrillion on the party so he dosent eat me

[vast saddle]

Is it a good idea to have an epic sacrifice if I wanna call up my character for good?

[meager fractal]

allosaurus should be cr 5 or 6 not CR 2 or 3 if T-Rex is CR 8 ngl

[blissful ibex]

can either do that or retire them; up to you how they tap out of a campaign

[vast saddle]

Here, I got suggested to call up my character for good due to disturbing criminal background. That's why I've been thinking on permanently delete my character's sheet or get himself killed in the campaign

[jolly agate]

Ye i def should have done dat

[blissful ibex]

well if the animated broom in ||CoS|| can be cr 1/4; the tarrasque can be a cr 5 for all I care XD

[blissful ibex]

that thing is terrifying

[blissful ibex]

eeh, can still keep it around if you find a better table; just find a narritively consistant way to have them retire/move on to better prospects

alternitively; if it makes sense for the character to go out in a blaze of glory, that's an option too

[vast saddle]

No, I got the sources of the character deleted here which means...it has to be permanently called up

You cannot used killed character in any table, can you?

[jolly agate]

Anyway

[blissful ibex]

eeh, you can reuse a character concept as many times as you like

[jolly agate]

Is a wyvern as good as a dragon or nah?, it might be a ice wyvern

[vast saddle]

Not with this one, I need to be lawful good to secure participations in any campaign

[blissful ibex]

, depends I guess; but in one of the campaigns I'm playing I have an adoprable White Dragon Wyrmling my druid is raising <3

[meager mist]

Is there any good programs that would be a dm for you ?

[woven flint]

My Harengon Wizard has a Spirit Dragon Wyrmling daughter by drawing from the deck of many things

[blissful ibex]

the hell? I play some flavor of neutral in almost everything; you explicitly do not need to only play LG to be in a game?

[blissful ibex]

yes, it's called #looking-for-players

[knotty pasture]

Does your DM only want a table of LG players

[woven flint]

Most of my characters are Neutral lol

[knotty pasture]

Cuz you can even play Chaotic Evil and be just fine lol

As long as you aren't griefing your team ofc

[meager mist]

Lol thats other people. I was looking for like just me solo playing something

[blissful ibex]

sec, I have links to some free, solo CYOA booklets somewhere

[blissful ibex]

#dnd-discussion message there

rather liked the first one, second one has the potential to loop if you fail one specific check and succeed in another one

either use one of the pre prepared character sheets or make a character of level 1~3

[knotty pasture]

Right so I guess I can make an analogy here, so imagine a multiplayer video game with many servers, just because you're playing on one server and your character died there, doesn't mean you're banned from picking that character ever again for the rest of your life

[limber trail]

Some DMs have that as an expectation for their game. It's not entirely unheard of. I think it's a little restrictive but I fully understand putting some restrictions on alignments. Banning evil PCs is very reasonable and I've even heard some stories about Chaotic players that make me at least understand why DMs might not be the keenest on them.

[knotty pasture]

Dnd's even more flexible in that regard cuz you can practically clone your dead character (just change the name or something lol)

[blissful ibex]

I'm literally playing one character in AL and 3 seperate campaigns currently (and a 4th on deep hiatus)

[limber trail]

different tables will or won't be accepting of that stuff

plenty of groups I play with are fine with reusing characters

[meager mist]

My irl game im in we are near the end after 2 years

[limber trail]

I personally don't like my players reusing characters, beyond maybe a character they played in a one shot

[blissful ibex]

her backstory and associated elements are written in such a way as to fit in most settings and outside of the setup and a few guidelines the execution is left up to the DM. Ends up being fairly different each time and there's enough there to allow for some really fun and creative tie ins to the main plot <3

[knotty pasture]

I think it comes down to clever wording sometimes doesn't it

Is John Baldur the Human Champion Fighter really the exact same character if their personality is 80% similar, except they're now an Elf Eldritch Knight Fighter?

Give it a name change and you get some plausible deniability

[south prawn]

I’d be ok with a player using the same build. Character needs to be different though

[cursive ledge]

where do you put minis after taking them out?

[limber trail]

What do you mean by that?

[blissful ibex]

if you're retiring the character, just put it on a shelf or something?

[cursive ledge]

like I just bought a few minis, but after I take them out of their package for a session, where would I put the mini after the session

[blissful ibex]

oh

get like a box for them with felt or foam lining or put them on a shelf as stated

[limber trail]

a box or something

[cursive ledge]

I don’t think I have a box that’d be good for that atm

[cerulean monolith]

…shelf? plastic bag? cardboard box? tupperware? what, are you expecting us to reveal the magic box-for-containing-pieces-of-plastic-with-horns?

[cursive ledge]

mayyyyybe

I did not consider Tupperware though, that could work

would a plastic bag be safe for transport?

[tulip lava]

Fun Fact: There's no limit on the amount of dice you can roll on dnd beyond maps 🤣 I just rolled 333 die, and my screen got swamped

[limber trail]

probably

[void nova]

hi

[cursive ledge]

o ok

I will bring thingies ty

[jolly agate]

Hi

@void nova are wyverns that bad???

I mean it might be a cool ice wyvern tho

[void nova]

oh true true.

[void nova]

I've actually never seen one so idk.

[feral dock]

I built a class for 5e it's compatible, does anyone want to see or critique it?

[fossil hollow]

#homebrew

[blissful ibex]

#homebrew

[glossy otter]

I just realized something with ravenloft getting a book. What are the odds we'll see a Duskmourn mini supplement with it

[fossil hollow]

i am hoping we at least get a reference. also some scarecrow statblocks

im sad we didnt get scarecrow king in lorwyn

[peak laurel]

Hi hi!

[void nova]

yo!

[buoyant oar]

I wonder if some of those digital expansions are going to be part of the revamped Organized play.

[weak cove]

What’s up guys brand new DnD player here looking to learn the ropes, hmu for games I got plenty of time and willing to go all day add me

[vestal drum]

What's an interesting common magic item that you would want to pick up? It does not have to be optimal. I just want to see opinions from community because it's a long list and I can't focus long enough to read them all.

Edit: that does not require attunement

[fossil hollow]

Cloak of Billowing

[vestal drum]

One that catches my attention is the "Bottle of Boundless Coffee".

[fossil hollow]

a must have for Office workers

[vestal drum]

I dont even drink coffee but I really like the appeal.

[void nova]

same, tastes like bitter sugary dirt to me

[fossil hollow]

i dont drink coffee or alchohol, no like bitter things. Peace Tea is king

[vestal drum]

I'm a fan of soft drinks.

Other than the magic items mentioned already. 2 more catch my eyes are the "Cloak of Many Fashions" and "Cleaning Cube"

[fossil hollow]

Also a fan of Horn of Silent Alarm now after the monk used it to rage bait a draconian to get molly whopped by the party

[vestal drum]

I only know of that item from a YouTube group playing through CoS

[fossil hollow]

#dnd-newcomers might be a bit better

[upper rapids]

OK, Thank you

[limber trail]

These are more situational but a player recently grabbed a Feather Token which is a useful tool for high altitude combat like airships - it slows your descent to 60ft/round

[proven nova]

I’m still having trouble making a fun character.

[knotty pasture]

Weren't you working on str Ranger the other day

You should keep at it, the concept's not bad

[smoky karma]

Saw this video, a guy ran a play by post campaign with sessions that had the villains and heroes played by players; sounds like a cool way to do what Birthright wanted to do: https://www.youtube.com/live/LT-2XQPq44Q?si=-S3779L3Q957H1Bo

[proven nova]

Yeah, but I don’t really know what I wanna do with the character.

[knotty pasture]

What race did you pick in the end

[proven nova]

Eladrin?

[proven nova]

For some reason it didn’t feel “right”

Per se. Idk how to describe it……….

[knotty pasture]

Too tropey? Eladrin are basically Elves

[tough sandal]

The Eladrin abilities are fun. :>

[vestal drum]

Just do what you would enjoy. For example, your pfp is Phainon from HSR. You can make him.

[proven nova]

How?

[feral fulcrum]

Basically? Definitely, they're Explicitly Elves of the Feywild.

Much like Shadar-Kai are Explicitly Elves of the Shadowfel.

[vestal drum]

Paladin or Fighter. (Or Barbarian)
Human or Aasimar.

[knotty pasture]

Oh right that's the lore, I know they were split into their own independent race in MPMM but otherwise having most of an Elf's racial traits

[proven nova]

You can make a fighter Aasimar?

[knotty pasture]

You can make anything Aasimar, they aren't class-bound

Like how Eladrin aren't class bound either if that's what's making you feel queasy

[vestal drum]

Species aren't class restricted

And vice versa

[feral fulcrum]

They were only split off because otherwise Elves would have seventy subraces acros twenty books, which is a freakin mess.

[fossil hollow]

scourge aasimar, vengeance or genie paladin

[knotty pasture]

At most some races have racial traits that don't actually do anything to help you play as said class

[feral fulcrum]

Same reason Astral Elves were split into their their own block.

[fossil hollow]

my phainon was just a warforged though. since hes a simulated being

[knotty pasture]

Waiter, more Elf subraces please!!

[fossil hollow]

where are my dwarf subs

[feral fulcrum]

What's a Dwarf, does it have pointy ears?

[knotty pasture]

And here I was thinking of making Half Elves an Elf subrace too cuz they're basically an Elf subrace mechanically

[proven nova]

How would I make Evernight? Great Old One Warlock?

[vestal drum]

I'm a basic human stan. Feels bad.

[fossil hollow]

shes def a GOO

[vestal drum]

Evernight could be druid

[fossil hollow]

although me think she works as reborn

[proven nova]

Unsure. She could also be a Fathomless.

[vestal drum]

She does summon jellyfish

[feral fulcrum]

Fathomless is jsut Diet GOO

[fossil hollow]

fathomless for lil explody jelly does work

whats the memosprites name again?

[knotty pasture]

I thought its the other way around

[vestal drum]

Evey

[knotty pasture]

GOO is diet Fathomless mechanically at least

[fossil hollow]

they have entirely different kits

[proven nova]

Evey?

[fossil hollow]

seeing the recent trailers makes me wanna make a char based off Sparkle/Sparxie. maybe a trickery cleric

[proven nova]

Idk tbh though

No class really fits a summoning mechanic that much.

[vestal drum]

Warlock gets pact of the chain

[fossil hollow]

druid, warlock, cleric, wizard

those 4 have so many of the summon spells

[proven nova]

Cleric?

[vestal drum]

There's the Find Familiar spell

[fossil hollow]

summon celestial, planar ally

[vestal drum]

Do remember flavor is free

[fossil hollow]

summon stellaron /j

[vestal drum]

Fireball

[fossil hollow]

celenova, please dont mess with the express

[proven nova]

I believe it is because I just don’t know what to do with my character

I need a test, I think.

[fossil hollow]

thats where collaborating with the dm works

[vestal drum]

It really depends on your DM

[proven nova]

Not even they could really solve it: I have too many ideas.

[knotty pasture]

Shepherd Druid is all about buffing summons

[vestal drum]

Just remember your character isn't super experienced

[knotty pasture]

Spores Druid lets you make a zoo too

[fossil hollow]

thats where you gotta narrow down

[knotty pasture]

Make several characters, ez

[fossil hollow]

hmmm what was my last hoyo-inspired char.... ah, Caesar

[proven nova]

I just do not know really how to build

I am having analysis paralysis. Which is why I need a test.

[knotty pasture]

Flavoring is free so like, have a backstory and see what kinda playstyle you want, then go for it

Anyone can be anything with v few exceptions as long as you aren't changing stuff mechanically

[proven nova]

Well, I dunno what I would want out of a character then……….

[vestal drum]

Questions to ask if you need help deciding.
Caster or Martial or Hybrid.
Melee or Range.
Tanky or not (health and AC)

[humble cairn]

Im currently playing a very pet heavy Ranger.

[knotty pasture]

Funnily enough I was wrapping up my 6th character concept too, kind of getting there

[vestal drum]

In the end it's what makes you, the player, comfortable. If you are new, just play what is suitable to your character idea.

[fossil hollow]

i think my next char for CoS is just Phainon... again

[proven nova]

I dunno what would be a fun story though.

[fossil hollow]

maybe i should do flame reaver

[vestal drum]

Phainon doesn't have any spells. He is just a skilled fighter.

But if you to play him as the HSR playable version, go Paladin.

[humble cairn]

There's nothing like actual play for gaining that experience. Why not just try a character out and see if your DM would let you experiment with different builds for a few sessions?

[vestal drum]

Just depends on the cycle. One cycle he might have just accidentally dipped into a fog.

[fossil hollow]

do keep in mind that theres still the main story your dm presents, and that the other players are also part of the story

hmm on another topic... maybe i should do flame reaver this time

[knotty pasture]

Since its not a video game your backstory is just there to justify why your character joined this adventure

You don't necessarily need a whole character arc just for your character pre-written, improv on the fly instead

By the end of a campaign you would have a stronger understanding of your character, in which you can refine it further or try someone new

[vestal drum]

Yeah. One of the most difficult things in character building from another game is knowing the power scale.

Phainon can summon meteors during game play. But in lore, he doesn't get that until the height of his journey.

So, you will have to acknowledge that your character based on phainon will be an earlier version.

[knotty pasture]

Take the personality only and go from there

[fossil hollow]

not sure if i would call it the height

[vestal drum]

It's complicated xD

[fossil hollow]

-# imo, the height of his journey is being free of the cycles and slashing nanook

agh, one day ill finish amphoreus

[vestal drum]

That was when he became capable of summoning meteors

[fossil hollow]

... fair nough

forgot kevin meteor was same time lmao

his voice lines are too depressing in khaslana form lmao

[vestal drum]

Basically when he took in all the coreflames

[fossil hollow]

wait, he had that form in previous cycles

[vestal drum]

No he didn't

Did he?

[fossil hollow]

is that not him using it against one of the more recent chrysos heir fights?

[vestal drum]

Oh wait he did

[fossil hollow]

so yeah, height of his journey is after he gets to summon meteors

[vestal drum]

That doesn't sound right.....was it a gameplay issue?

😭

[fossil hollow]

im fairly sure him fighting nikador mydei and netherwing castorice was in khaslana form

[vestal drum]

He did have that form during those fights. Just not sure if it was a 1 to 1 scale.

[fossil hollow]

ive always assumed it was... then again, they did just reuse broken netherwing... i dont think castorice was unborn netherwing in that cycle

[indigo delta]

I have a question:
If you spend days writing a backstory for your character, is it moral or ethical for your DM to check said backstory with an AI detector with no warning or prior questioning?

[fossil hollow]

i understand it, but also, owch

well, could always say they trained the AI off you

[vestal drum]

What is the reason for the AI detector usage?

[indigo delta]

I train ai for work tbf lmao

[vestal drum]

Are they going to ban you from using the character?

[fossil hollow]

... that might explain why

[indigo delta]

I have no idea, he just said that I it looks like ai

[knotty pasture]

Personally I feel like its one of those things that the DM could practice some tact and not openly admit it

Receive a backstory > Check discreetly > If nothing wrong, stay silent

[indigo delta]

I will be pissed if they do, I’ve worked so hard on it

[knotty pasture]

Otherwise if something's off they can speak up if they want

[vestal drum]

I wouldnt say it is morally nor ethically wrong. But it would still hurt.

[fossil hollow]

i dont think its something dms should never use, but gotta be... anong ulit the term? yeah, ig discreet and polite

[knotty pasture]

Kind of like how salespeople wouldn't run up to a client and admit that they're only following them around cuz the client might be a thief lol

[vestal drum]

It's like srtist spending time drawing and some dude goes "looks ai. Bad art"

[knotty pasture]

Even if its protocol to at least keep an eye out

[indigo delta]

Well the thing is that I genuinely write like an ai, my writing has been getting flagged since ai was introduced

[knotty pasture]

Umm

Yeah might need to work on that lol

[feral fulcrum]

It's probably less that you write like an AI, and more that the detectors are crap.

[fossil hollow]

i mean, it would have probably been working off your writing (among others), sooo

you did say you trained ai for work, aye?

[vestal drum]

Idk how AI writing tools work. So, I can't really say much.

[indigo delta]

Yeah

[vestal drum]

Do you have lots of details in your backstory?

[feral fulcrum]

The main thing to know about AI, and AI Detecors, they're generally wrong more often then right, and you should never 100% trust them as correct.

[indigo delta]

Yeah for the most part

[fossil hollow]

-# especially with just how much they scrape nowadays

could be staring source material in the face, and probably get flagged because gpt used it once

[rain fox]

ye whats ironic is Ai dectectors is basically AI being a little snitch on itself

it doesnt work

[vestal drum]

That may be the reasoning for your writing to be detected as AI. At least for non professional topics.

[rain fox]

accurate right?

[indigo delta]

That could be true

[rain fox]

heck when i write i got called up several times because they thought it;s ai when i typed it with my bare hands

[indigo delta]

Exactly

[tough sandal]

In the way plagiarism detectors find similar ideas in original college essays, AI Detectors will likely do the same.

[vestal drum]

Don't have too much details. Don't name your 8 siblings in the backstory or tell each of their lives

My current character on hold is from maplestory and I have the backstory to 1 paragraph. (6 sentences)

[tough sandal]

Two to three pages is the most any reasonable GM can muster. 🤣

[vestal drum]

I did add another small list/paragraph as notes to include into the backstory.

[indigo delta]

Mine is like 4

[vestal drum]

Oooooof

[indigo delta]

I’m a law student 😭 I’m used to writing super detailed papers

[burnt dune]

it's just not necessary

[indigo delta]

It doesn’t matter that it’s not necessary, it’s more that it just happens

[burnt dune]

the text adds labor to another person if you think about its use

[tough sandal]

Pushing it, but not unreasonable. Still two sheets when printed double-sided.
However, it's best to condense the information down. Keep it open-ended, let the GM fill in details in ways you wouldn't expect.

[vestal drum]

I'm a crim student. I wrote lots of papers too. I know that feel. But in here, it's mostly just a discussion with the DM

Though, a 4 page backstory might be alright for a level 15 character

[indigo delta]

We’re starting at level 1 :/

[vestal drum]

You might wanna look at some guides to make backstories.

[rough basalt]

My backstories are usually a couple lines to a paragraph.

[burnt dune]

i write daily, i can easily produce a few thousands words, so I'm not judging. it's just that i think about the reason a piece exists. why does a char bg exist?

[indigo delta]

To give background on everything about the character

[rough basalt]

Some dms like a backstory to weave into campaigns

[limber trail]

More useful than any length to a backstory is actually just talking with your DM about your ideas. A backstory shouldn’t be a short story, it’s a set of ideas that can be woven into the campaign.

[rough basalt]

Personally I don't care too much for long ones.

[vestal drum]

A tldr of the ones I saw are.

1. Who are they? Name and Basic life (farmer, merchant, etc)
2. Family and Relationships? Alive or Dead. Good standing.
3. Why they became an adventurer.

[rough basalt]

One player gave me one about being a servant to a noble family that wants to maintain the current government in my upcoming campaign and that gave me a potential patron/villain

[burnt dune]

i am in agreement with this and what most others said.

[tough sandal]

The best way to think about it is to keep backstory details down to an outline.
Simplify your backstory to the big ideas. The folks up above already gave great examples.

[lyric viper]

If I have the time, I love writing detailed backgrounds. I'll write pages- but they're for me to help figure out the character, what they know, experiences, so on.

The DM will get bullet points on some of the more important details and can read the rest if they want but have no obligation to do so

[vestal drum]

Answer these 3 with the minimal amount of information is good enough

[burnt dune]

more important is where you want your character to go/grow

[indigo delta]

I explained how dragons took my character and trained him to harness fire for power and accuracy, I wrote a lot but it’s all important

[burnt dune]

not where she was

[rough basalt]

Like one of my characters, a dragonborn monk left his monastery to become a husband and father but a lightning strike left his wife terribly injured so he wants to adventure to pay for a cleric to heal her.

[vestal drum]

Now, what you are trying to do is insert your world into the DMs world.

[burnt dune]

poor husband

[tough sandal]

Nooooo. :<

[vestal drum]

Try to refrain from doing that too much. Like the culture shouldn't be too drastic. Especially how dragons could act and behave differently

[indigo delta]

It was two ancient dragons who chose me as their protégé

[burnt dune]

you're going to be part of a group play, yes?

[indigo delta]

Yeah

[vestal drum]

Then just say that. Don't need more details

[burnt dune]

so you gotta keep in mind that in the group everyone's stuff is that "important "

[indigo delta]

I homebrewed an origin to go along with the backstory 🫩 it all fits together

[limber trail]

The most effective backstory I ever recieved was about eight paragraphs long, but it wasn't a short story. It was just describing different moments throughout that character's life. At age three, they lived here with their family. This happened and they had to leave. It was a lot of loose & vague moments in history, and what it really did was establish characters and things that were important to the player. Compare that with other backstories which do similar things but are just novelizations of one event a character went through, which was essentially about as much information as one paragraph in the first backstory - it's a mile wide and an inch deep.

One of these made for a much more engaging character than the other, and one of these has been much easier to apply into my campaign's plans than the other.

[vestal drum]

It's up to the DM in the end.

[burnt dune]

you might not be intending to, but it sounds like you're focusing on your character a biiiiiit too much

[indigo delta]

Mine was the whole adolescence of his life tho 🫠 🥀

[vestal drum]

I'm going to post my backstory. Those in my campaign, please refrain from reading.

[indigo delta]

I thought that was the point of making a character :(

[burnt dune]

which, i write 1x1 stories, I'm not judging — but it's just not the way to go for groups

[limber trail]

This backstory covers 23 years of history that is I imagine at least as dense as your character. It's just really efficient with it and describes the useful info.

[rough basalt]

Yeah if someone gives me like a whole novel I'm just gonna ignore it personally

[vestal drum]

||Lepus is the eldest son of the Angler Merchant Company. He has 3 younger siblings. Despite being taught to be vicious and merciless in the trade business, he was honest with his manner in matters of trade and business. However, he is still a selfish and prideful man. He is not be above getting his hands dirty to get what he wanted or rectify any slight against him. He would enroll in to Strixhaven Academy to attract potential business partners for his father. ||

[burnt dune]

if your character is young, like young adult, it's my personal opinion that you shouldn't make them all that special either — speaking in general

[inner silo]

You could also write a whole novel of a backstory for yourself and give your dm a shorter version with only everything important that you'll refer to in the campaign

[burnt dune]

maybe if they're 25+ they can start being special etc, but, harry potter kinda heroes seem unrealistic to me

[vestal drum]

Other notes:

• ||His relationship with his siblings are respectful and loving. Despite being rivals.||
• ||His father is a merciless merchant and would discard anything that is no longer a use to him.||
  Dark Secret: ||Lepus and his 3 siblings (Laha, Nikki, and Senya) are all adopted but underwent surgery to look similar by their adoptive father (Xander). No one knows this but themselves.||

[burnt dune]

that's interesting

[limber trail]

So my take i've come more around on is that a novel backstory isn't always great. as a DM I want a backstory with some questions open and some room to change things. I want to be able to insert characters into a backstory, change fates, alter details and not run into all too much trouble. Not that I want to rewrite a backstory entirely of course, but super concrete details can cause some trouble there because players have one super specific vision in their head.

[vestal drum]

Take it.

I don't mind others using it. It's a character from Maplestory with the same names.

[burnt dune]

nooo

[vestal drum]

It's not exclusively mine

[burnt dune]

i have like 50+ characters

[vestal drum]

Ooooof

[burnt dune]

i started rping in 2010, and I've only been adding to the roster as years passed

[burnt dune]

it was a compliment

[inner silo]

I see, that's actually quite interesting, never thought about it. But i do agree with you, dms additions to a backstory to help implement it into the main story can be very great and also there may be some parts of the backstory you may want to add onto later yourself but be unable to because you've written everything down so concretely

[burnt dune]

yeah i agree with this point too

[fluid orchid]

Where can I see the hexblade warlock in ravenloft?

[rough basalt]

Personally I'll take
"My names John Dungeon, I'm from a farm, but I wanted to see the world" over a backstory the size of Drizzt's (3 novels)

[vestal drum]

Hexblade is in Xanathar's ..... right?

[rough basalt]

Ye

[limber trail]

It's a take I've only really started to come around to after starting DMing myself and having worked with 10 or so backstories in the past. The easier ones to integrate are 100% the vague ones, and a lot of players seem to have the opposite conclusion.

[fossil hollow]

preorders arent out til the 19th of april for the new ravenloft book...

[burnt dune]

sora have you read the drizzt novels?

[rough basalt]

I read the dark elf trilogy.

[fluid orchid]

I just wanna see the new abilities for hexblade warlock

[vestal drum]

Anyways farewell. The comfy warm bed is calling.

[fluid orchid]

Not in a pdf or smth?

[tough sandal]

You also need to be mindful that other players who will write backstories as much as yourself! 😄
Your enthusiasm is excellent, but content needs to be open-ended for GMs to better cater the experience to players. It has to be piecemeal, starting with basic details. Everything else can be in the backburner to cook as the campaign develops. 🫕
When I started out my Phandelver campaign, I'm pretty sure I had like 8-10 pages collectively from all my players. 📃
All that of that on top of prepping notes for the main campaign content, which was another packet in itself. The GM has a lot of work to get a campaign off the ground for a party! 📝

[rough basalt]

I mean to read Icewind Dale but brainrotted adhd makes it hard to commit to reading.

[burnt dune]

is that the same? sorry i don't recall

[fossil hollow]

its... not out yet. you can look at the arcane ua for the most recent update

[limber trail]

They haven't been revealed yet. The best we have is the unearthed arcana that was released a few months ago but it's not 100% accurate

[rough basalt]

Ye Dark Elf Trilogy was Drizzts backstory novels

After the first trilogy (Icewind Dale)

[burnt dune]

alright thanks, sooo, what did you think about those?

[fossil hollow]

the announcement of the new book was literally just today

[inner silo]

I thought so too until i had to "rush" a character into my most recent campaign which allowed my dm to add characters related to mine to the main plot that i didn't even write about and it still made sense

[fluid orchid]

Anddd any new eldritch invocations are released or getting released?

[rough basalt]

Where Drizzt said "nah I'm the MC now" and took the MC spot from the original planned MC

[fossil hollow]

no idea. again. announcement was like, today

[rough basalt]

They're good

[fossil hollow]

actually, yesterday, since its 12:21 where i am

[limber trail]

We don't know the specific contents of the book. We can theorize on things but right now we have a vague description and that's it

[burnt dune]

what do you think about what the author did with the story of drizzt escaping the underdark?

[fossil hollow]

whats this? Language Arts?

[tough sandal]

The curtains are blue, your honor. :3