dnd-discussion

[hushed mason]

So use "mage" or "wizardress"

[hollow estuary]

Holy crap, what about cowering behind your fighter and barbarian is any bit masculine

[paper portal]

if you know how to you can break the game as soon as you get 5th level slots which is why i like tier 2 best

[flat monolith]

wizards are heavly assosictaed with bearded men

[hollow estuary]

naw naw, you ever heard of 2nd level spells?

[fresh laurel]

thats pretty chill tbh

[umbral girder]

The masculine urge of being a glass cannon hiding behind people in better gear /jk

[barren badger]

Tasha was a wizard. She is definitely NOT male

[paper portal]

if you mean nystuls and pwt then yes i have

[hushed mason]

TBF, Yennifer of Vengerberg gets called a witch a fair amount of the time. In the show, at least.

[fossil hollow]

she gets called a lot worse in the books

[lusty tendon]

i mean i made a character called Irith the Witch, whos main goal was to meet her idol, tasha

[umbral girder]

Amusingly her original appearance in books was male. It was changed afterwards.

[hollow estuary]

Suggestion 😂

" Walk in circles for 8 hours straight without fail, if anyone gets in your path you are to cut them down and continue circling. "

[fossil hollow]

she went by he/him pronouns at some point

[umbral girder]

I just accept Tasha as a Trans icon

[barren badger]

Good for her

[timber turtle]

Usually in every piece of media wizards are strictly male

[barren badger]

||but not dnd||

[hollow estuary]

okay now this is just getting stupid,

[umbral girder]

Just hands wave “it’s happened somewhere else”

[hollow estuary]

then she got knocked up by a demon lord. Win some lose some.

[timid ember]

what is the difference between a wizard and a sorcerer?

[hollow estuary]

she had it coming though

[hot marlin]

Actually that is a common misconception! Wizard etymologically just means "wise person", with no concept of gender. It only gained the association with magic in the sixteenth century, then the association with males through Tolkien

[barren badger]

If you're uncomfortable with your character being described as wizard, feel free to speak with your DM and ask if you can simply use mage

[fossil hollow]

grazzt isnt the only one that got something out of their dealings

[twilit sail]

DnD doesnt use traditional mage terminology

[barren badger]

Someone who tried hard and someone who inherited their power

[paper portal]

theyre two different classes, the main difference is that sorcerers get metamagic while wizards have access to more spells

[timid ember]

nepotism and hardwork then

[twilit sail]

Wizard learns more spells
Sorcerers have metamagic

[hollow estuary]

Iuz's whole thing is hes so unbelievably fatherless that he somehow magically aged into a old man from the stress of misguided childhood and now wants to conquer the flanaess and vent to the entire world at once 😭

[fossil hollow]

good for him

[hot marlin]

One is a prepared spellcaster who studies their spells and writes them down in a spellbook and uses intelligence to cast, the other is a spontaneous caster with a magical nature rather than study who uses charisma to cast

[umbral girder]

Sorcerers got magic part of their very being.

A wizard gets theirs through study and practice.

[timber turtle]

The word wicca turned into wizard

the word wicce turned into witch

[umbral girder]

And? Not that relevant

[hot marlin]

What?

[timber turtle]

That's what the word means

[hollow estuary]

Literal definition of "gifted power vs pure effort"

[twilit sail]

dnd doesnt use traditional mage terminology

[lusty tendon]

ranni eldenring, almost all wizards from eldenring

[umbral girder]

Anyway in more mechanically sense Sorcerers get more rigid spells prepared and can change the mechanics of a few spells

Wizards get a spell book that can theoretically have every Wizard spell and swap them out on a long rest.

[timid ember]

got it

[umbral girder]

Sorcerers get to be specialist in the spells they have

Wizards have just a lot more spells.

[barren badger]

and can learn more!

[twilit sail]

There is no female word for wizard in dnd

[hollow estuary]

.. OH MY GOD

[hot marlin]

No. Wicca comes from the proto-germanic wikko, further etymology is uncertain but we usually translate that proto-germanic word as "sorcerer" or "necromancer" in most texts where it appears

[hollow estuary]

😭

[umbral girder]

Wizard is the job title after all

[timber turtle]

In her first dialogue she uses the word witch

[umbral girder]

Like scientist

[lusty tendon]

witch and wizard are 2 of the same word, specifically in dnd,

[hard thistle]

There's no female word for librarian either. 🙂

[barren badger]

It really depends on the setting.

[lusty tendon]

RAW dnd (rules as written)

[empty thicket]

yes

[barren badger]

Is witch defined RAW?

[fossil hollow]

there is no raw dnd when it comes to lore and in world terms

[empty thicket]

Unless you count the witch like another option for Warlock

It really depend

[hushed mason]

Actually, there's a 'witch' class in previous editions.

[lusty tendon]

i mean tasha

[hollow estuary]

Also Tasha was in fact a witch, she summoned and trafficked demons out of the abyss, brewed potions, and sapped their power for more strength.

[fossil hollow]

shes also a wizard

[paper portal]

that's previous editions though

[timber turtle]

Librarianess duh 🙄

[twilit sail]

Tasha DnD is evil
She created custom lineage

[lusty tendon]

huh weird i thought she was just an archmage wizard who was classified as a witch as she was just named that

[paper portal]

tasha dnd is my GOAT

[fossil hollow]

shes the queen of witches and also a wizard and an archfey, amongst other things

[hard thistle]

I reject your reality and substitute my own.

[hot marlin]

And the word "wicca" is absolutely not the etymology of wizard! Wizard comes from wis and ard. Wis as in wisdom, ard, like in drunkard. It means wise person. Witch on the other hand does come from the old english wicca, and if we go further up the etymological tree we find "wiccian" meaning "practicing magic". Again, the word witch has had no specific associations with womanhood until recently. In England, males were accused of being witches. Not as often as women, but, you know. Misogyny

[barren badger]

A gender? In this economy?

[fossil hollow]

theyre not mutually exclusive

[hollow estuary]

Crucify this guy

[paper portal]

see i would never

[umbral girder]

Tasha doesn’t go by that anymore /jk

[twilit sail]

He means me

[hard thistle]

"Ranger, shoot that guy."

[barren badger]

why are we so hung up on gendering the word "Wizard"?

[twilit sail]

And I will change my pronouns on a whim just so I can tell him he used my pronouns wrong

[umbral girder]

No clue Ellienoora insists Wizard is a male only term

[paper portal]

mods, set him on fire

[woven flint]

Wizard is Gender Neutral

And so is Witch :p

Men could be witches too, its just less common that men were persecuted as such during those times

[barren badger]

wait, fire or ice?

[twilit sail]

My pronouns are whatever is the least convenient for others

[paper portal]

im a man and a witch :3

[hollow estuary]

men are warlocks btw

[hard thistle]

Por que no los dos?

[woven flint]

"Gendering"
Witch and Wizard is redundant as both are neutral terms

[paper portal]

you heard it here folks every man is a warlock

[barren badger]

ALL men?!!?

[hollow estuary]

YES

ALL MEN ARE WARLOCKS!!!!!!

Their patron is andrew tate or smth idk

[paper portal]

hey ill take it

[paper portal]

nvm i wont take it

[twilit sail]

😭

[lavish flame]

We're reinventing Basic D&D from first principles

[barren badger]

*shakes my head* give PEACElocks a chance.

[hot marlin]

Insert Brooklyn 99 captain Holt's rant about nobody caring about etymology anymore

[hard thistle]

ABSOLUTELY NOT. That man is a child pretending to be an adult.

[umbral girder]

We rather do Skirmishlocks

[empty thicket]

and female warlocks are warlacks?

[timid ember]

is every warlock a male or is every male a warlock

[paper portal]

well technically a warlock/peace cleric multiclass could be shortened to peacelock

[timid ember]

the good ol chicken and egg

[fossil hollow]

as a guy, i am definitely a warlock

[hollow estuary]

Yeah thats the point, hes a changeling and therefore a fiend patron 🤑

[barren badger]

i dont care

[paper portal]

every male is a warlock, there are women too but every man is a warlock

[twilit sail]

My patron is margaret thatcher

[fossil hollow]

...

[hard thistle]

Screw it, my patron is me.

:)

[empty thicket]

Every Warlock is male, not every male contact with such thing like a patron

[paper portal]

margaret thatcher is dead
-# ding dong

[timid ember]

you godfathered yourself?

[twilit sail]

Look i wanted to cast fireball

[lavish flame]

I see we've brought witches back into the conversation

[fossil hollow]

so is sazz tamms, your point?

[hollow estuary]

or actually their patron is king leonidas of sparta.

[barren badger]

please do not insult witches

[hot marlin]

Yeah uh... Let's avoid mentioning relevant political figures, no matter how much we hate them.

[hard thistle]

Heck yeah!

[hot marlin]

You know, rules of the server.

[barren badger]

Lets insult FICTIONAL political figures.

Which dnd politician do you dislike

[hard thistle]

I would take Leonidas as my patron. He'd drive me to be more fit.

[barren badger]

I'm going to start, the mayor of phandalin

[hollow estuary]

One cannot stand dagult neverember! forge is far more qualified for the throne!

[twilit sail]

Dnd has politiciana?

[umbral girder]

Szass Tam. Absolute loser.

[hard thistle]

Ooh, ooh!

Zeus.

[twilit sail]

Ig i played an odnd game where the main antagonist was rockefelller

Is he a politician tho?

[umbral girder]

Szass Tam writing checks he could cash. Too many in fact.

[hard thistle]

Nah, he was into oil. And he liked trains.

[hollow estuary]

Szass damn bro, dont need to slime him like that.

[barren badger]

idk probably. I think waterdeep does

[hot marlin]

You know people rule some countries in D&D, right?

[twilit sail]

Zeus is my chars dad. And most hated enemy

[empty thicket]

I hate king midas, he think he can print money all he want without consequences

[hard thistle]

. . . Kratos?

[twilit sail]

Athena

Who is also Kratos

[empty thicket]

He print too much of goldpieces but there is no platinum or silver to balance them

[hollow estuary]

Kratos?

[fossil hollow]

*stares at the ncity nations of the Sword Coast, the dragonmark houses of eberron, to name a * few

[hard thistle]

Beat ya to it lol.

[timid ember]

guys i might have gotten into my first campaign from this discord sv

[hot marlin]

Fun fact: Kratos is an actual greek god mentioned in particular in Prometheus Bound, where he is a deity of brutal strength and stupidity, and Zeus' most devoted servant

[timid ember]

wish me luck

[twilit sail]

That sounds like ares

[barren badger]

i wish you bad luck

[timid ember]

wha-

[fossil hollow]

those traits are not exclusive to one son of zeus

[hard thistle]

Take this with you 🧀

[timid ember]

why would u do that

[barren badger]

you never specified!

[woven flint]

Prayer of Healing + Last minute Beacon of Hope is crazy awesome
We all just went from near dead to full hp after a fight

[hot marlin]

Fun fact: In actual Greek Myth, Ares is... Well I just can't think of a single myth where he does anything bad

[hollow estuary]

dnd politicians: 99% ruthless death tyrants.
Real life politicians: just ruthless tyrants.

[twilit sail]

Hes just a wimp

[empty thicket]

Ares is who challenge the gods and force them to dont involve in human things directly anymore

[umbral girder]

Ares just gets his butt kicked a lot

[hard thistle]

Actually, myth accurate Ares is all about the bloody part of war. He's there for the soldier, the trainee. He also loves women and children.

[hot marlin]

That is nonsense

[fossil hollow]

hes quite the lady's man

also stood up for his daughter when she was... assaulted. by a guy

[empty thicket]

isnt like that the myth?

[hot marlin]

Nope

[empty thicket]

and why the gods didnt involved anymore with the humans

[hushed mason]

When Aphrodite fell in love with the handsome youth Adonis, the god grew jealous, transformed himself into a boar, and gorged the boy to death as he was out hunting.

[umbral girder]

Never heard of that before

[fossil hollow]

that is definitely not ares

[hard thistle]

K, goodnight, nerds (affectionate).

[empty thicket]

Damn was giga disinformed then

[umbral girder]

Ares is a Himbo is what I’m learning

[hollow estuary]

Ares is without a doubt the single most wholesome entity on Mount Olympus, a literal ray of sunshine who constantly puts the needs of others before his own.

While people misunderstand his vibes, he is actually the God of Warm Hugs; he once paused an entire epic war just to help a lost kitten find its way home, and legend has it he personally knitted matching sweaters for every soldier in the Greek army so they wouldn't catch a cold.

He spends his weekends using his shield to protect baby deer from the rain and famously bakes the most delicious snickerdoodles for the local villages. He is simply the kindest, most gentle soul to ever wield a spear.

[woven flint]

Absolutely

[twilit sail]

My athena is transmasc

The prophecy surrounding athenas mom is that her son is destined to overthrow the father

So zeus smote him to mortalhood

[hot marlin]

Oh? The version I'm familiar with is that the boar was sent by Artemis to punish him for killing a favored follower of her

[lusty tendon]

i cast sleep (melatonin gummy)

[fossil hollow]

ok

[umbral girder]

Ares feels like it was the Athens way to make fun of Spartans but forgot to actually make stories where Ares does bad things.

[fossil hollow]

at most he has his wimp and haha he got beaten moments

[hushed mason]

I can quote the original greek text (in translation... Theoi.com is awesome like that).

[fossil hollow]

insert jar against the giants

oh god, they put ares in the jar

[hot marlin]

Yeah found it. Apparently it seems that just about every city blamed a different god for killing Adonis

[umbral girder]

Reminds me of that Ubisoft game with the Greek gods showing off how awful of a dad Zeus was. And how Ares was surprisingly very chill and fun to be around

[hollow estuary]

Again, Ares is actually the God of Warm Hugs; he once paused an entire epic war just to help a lost kitten find its way home.

[hushed mason]

I populate my Sims 4 game with Greek deities according to Theogony. I've actually just finished the fourth generation.

[fossil hollow]

what part of the family wreath

[umbral girder]

D&D Hades being Lawful evil and Zeus being Lawful Good is wild to me.

I feel like Hades is more Lawful neutral

[hot marlin]

Greek gods having an alignment at all is wild to me

[lusty tendon]

thats wrong, on so many levels

[umbral girder]

Zeus is not anywhere near the Lawful alignments

[hot marlin]

In fact, gods having an alignment is a bad move I think

[lusty tendon]

zeus is chaotic neutral at best

[twilit sail]

Zeus is good???? In what universe???

[hushed mason]

Ares is CE. Zeus represents LG as the god of kingship, law, and authority.

[severe rampart]

I'll be damned if Zeus is "good"

[fossil hollow]

which he abuses to high hell

[hot marlin]

Actual greek religion: Good is defined by the gods. Gods cannot be evil, by definition.

[hushed mason]

If you based their alignments on their actions rather than what they represent, the only good deity you'd have is Hestia.

[fossil hollow]

what if the other gods or the god hemself is called evil

[umbral girder]

Hades’ main bad thing was kidnapping Persephone and that was him being actively mind controlled by Aphrodite and a misunderstanding with Zeus.

[hot marlin]

And Zeus-Alastor was worshipped as god of justice and revenge.

[lavish flame]

Remember that Good adventurers often do terrible things that we would object to and even call evil. Murdering is common in D&D and objectionable irl

[hushed mason]

Except, Zeus granted his permission for the abduction of his daughter.

So it wasn't even a 'bad' thing.

[umbral girder]

Hades being the god of “getting dragged into other people’s problems”

[hot marlin]

Actual main version of the myth: Persephone was already promised to him as his wife, so it cannot be kidnapping.

[umbral girder]

Just no one told Persephone or her mother

[rough basalt]

My monday campaign now has a 2nd not gonna sugarcoat it meme

But with Hellhounds

[hushed mason]

"Also he came to the bed of all-nourishing Demeter, and she bare white-armed Persephone whom Aidoneus carried off from her mother; but wise Zeus gave her to him."

[rough basalt]

They kept recharging fire breath

[hot marlin]

Ancient greek culture. Women kinda are the property of father, then husband. So yeah, by greek standards, he was just claiming his bride, as was proper.

[hollow estuary]

Fun fact: the Domain of truth in faerun is unclaimed!

Pretty cool.

[hushed mason]

Domain or portfolio?

[rotund thunder]

Oh yeah, there is a god of lies (Cyric) but I don't know of a god of truth?

[hollow estuary]

portfolio sorry.

[umbral girder]

Isn’t Savras the deity in charge of Truth?

[hollow estuary]

the portfolio/domain of truth is unclaimed

no he just governs divination magic

[barren badger]

is knowledge truth?

[hot marlin]

Actually according to Faiths and Pantheons, he's the god of divination, fate and truth

[hollow estuary]

torm dosent have the domain either

[umbral girder]

God of “Wizards, Divination, Fate, and Truth”

[rough basalt]

I dread the day i run a multiple Death Knight combat.

[hollow estuary]

right mb

[rough basalt]

With how much I roll recharges.

[twilit sail]

Bruh

[umbral girder]

: )

[hollow estuary]

also Time isent claimed

but I assume thats a overgod domain

[rough basalt]

I don't believe in rolling failed recharges

Rolling 5s and 6s is the reason this heart beats

[twilit sail]

The dice god?

[umbral girder]

looks at Null

[hollow estuary]

right thats just draconic diety

[hot marlin]

Labelas Enoreth.

[hollow estuary]

is vengeance unclaimed?

that would be a strong domain.

[hot marlin]

Elven god of the passage of time that hunts down those who would time travel and change history, oversees the chronicles of the elven people and takes the aging of elves into himself

[hot marlin]

Hoar. Shevarash.

[umbral girder]

Hoar, I had a cleric in a game with him

[hollow estuary]

riiight. Looking for divine job postings here

anyone claim Sleep, Or dreams?

[umbral girder]

Over 200 gods

[hollow estuary]

Competitive industry huh.

[umbral girder]

Untamo for both

[hot marlin]

Sehanine. Diirinka. Untamo

[hushed mason]

Sseth

Sseth IS asleep, so that should count for something.

[hollow estuary]

Maybe yeah you are right

[hot marlin]

Just because a god is asleep that doesn't make them the god of sleep. A god that scratches their itchy butt does not suddenly become the god of itching, of scratching or of butts

[umbral girder]

I like the Dragon gods. Mainly because in The Book of Dragons (2025) they put which setting dragons have domain over. Like Eberron, Faerun, etc.

For the dragon gods it just says “All”

[hollow estuary]

Will, the domain of will

Like as in free will or willpower

[hot marlin]

Ilmater. Mielikki. Sehanine. Eilistraee.

[umbral girder]

Illmater and Tyr mostly maybe others

[fossil hollow]

its funny to me that illmater, dnd big j, is part of a group of gods called the triad

[umbral girder]

Broad ideas are almost guaranteed to have a god, you gotta get more granular

[hollow estuary]

Right...

Patterns.

Thats pretty strong domain yeah?

[tame estuary]

That's kinda funny

[hot marlin]

Domains are not strong or weak, that's not how divinity works

[hollow estuary]

what I mean by that is like justice, the domain of justice is powerful because its a common concept that happends all the time, and you can draw power from it.

[umbral girder]

Depending on what you mean by Patterns because Savras can take that. If it’s the art style then Gond or any other, if you mean having order in design then that’s Azuth.

[twilit sail]

If ymean mechanically some domains are better than others

[hot marlin]

What does it even look like to draw power from justice? Drawing power from fire, I get. You throw fireball, you absorb flames to overcharge yourself. Drawing power from the weave, I get. You throw spells, you use the energies. But justice?

[fossil hollow]

bahamut might know

[hollow estuary]

Everytime someone believes justice has ben done, you get a little bit stronger.

thats how tyr reached divine rank 20 with only one domain.

[umbral girder]

Does Bahamut still got a piece of cloth covering his eyes in your setting?

[hot marlin]

Not only is the concept of divine ranks functionally extinct, Tyr was divine rank 18 in faiths and pantheons. Basically nobody is divine rank 20

[umbral girder]

And if so, how many buildings did he accidentally knock over.

[hollow estuary]

right okay second sundering I keep forgetting

[umbral girder]

Last I checked those divine ranks got destroyed by AO in the Second Sundering?

[hot marlin]

I do not think there is an in-universe explanation for the disapperance of the concept of numbered divine ranks

[fossil hollow]

always does, i take inspiration from final fantasy bahamut for him

[umbral girder]

Yeah AO after getting his tablets back after the Time of Troubles (and I think after the Spellplague too) took those tablets that made the Divine ranks and just broke them

Now it’s just the vague lesser and greater god concept

[hot marlin]

That does not seem logical. The tablets were broken between 2e and 3e, yet the concept of numbered divine ranks was still present in 3e.

In fact, Faiths & Pantheons, the book that introduces the concept in its more well known form, is a 3e book

Remember that the time of troubles was written during the 2e to 3e transition, both as a way to present an epic story, a way to explain the changes to the rules, and a way to shake up the setting

[tame estuary]

What do you think happens?

Regardless it happens

[lavish flame]

I figure WOTC has just sorta fallen out of love with numerically ascribing "power levels" to gods

[umbral girder]

Either way the Second Sundering basically threw out Divine Ranks

[twilit sail]

Everything changed when the fire natiom attacked

[lusty tendon]

ngl i wished wizards would make the eldritch knight and the arcane trickster's spell leveling equal to other half casters rather than being 1/3 casters

[umbral girder]

Nah

[hot marlin]

Now, do we need an in-universe explanation for the disappearance of that concept? Hell no.

[umbral girder]

They are already wildly strong with 1/3 casting

Wizard spell list + their tool kit is crazy

[lavish flame]

The in-universe explanation only exists within our universe, not theirs.

[lusty tendon]

nah, trust the process

[rough basalt]

ye reason theyre third casters is cause they're strong core classes

[umbral girder]

Except I am, you are actively doing not the process

[rough basalt]

Fighter and Rogue fall under the "Subclass is a supplement" classes rather than "Subclass is the core"

[lusty tendon]

hmm this is a valid statement, however Nuh Uhh

[tame estuary]

This goes against everything you believe in

[hot marlin]

How so?

[empty thicket]

yeah, they are kinda basic and work in that "core" of the class

[lusty tendon]

anyways realisically eldritch knight is my favorite subclass for fighter, which i do agree fighter with spells is pretty good and if you have a decet dm who would allow for ring of spell storing with a caster on your team you basically are pretty good on the battle field, i just wish i could use spells higher than lv4

[lavish flame]

I would prefer the Third-Casters and the Half-Martials as their own class tbh

[severe rampart]

Hmm... I don't know

[tame estuary]

I never thought of it this way, all subclasses feel core to me

[lusty tendon]

spell blades just sound like fighter/rogue subclasses tho

[severe rampart]

I mean, is EK different enough to be a whole new class?

[umbral girder]

Or spell scrolls which are wildly cheap

[rough basalt]

Basically, some classes, subclasses just add onto what they already do in some way

[lusty tendon]

how ever much i love them, they just sound attached too much to the fighters

[rough basalt]

Other classes, the subclass decides how that class plays

[lusty tendon]

ngl i forgot about scrolls

[umbral girder]

Especially with the stupid good Wizard spell list

Shoutout to 5.5e making it much easier for fighter to use scrolls

[rough basalt]

Like I play a Scion Rogue and all I do is kill crap very efficiently cause Scion helps you kill crap better

[umbral girder]

Since they can now use 2nd wind to succeed on the scroll skill check if they fail

[lavish flame]

yeah but Eldeitch Knight and Arcane Trickster run very close to Bladesinger, College of Swords, Hexblade, and the like. They could just be subclasses to a Half-Arcane Caster class instead and have a whole class toolkit to bounce off of.

[empty thicket]

i would like their features be a bit more... "varied"
Like making one of your attacks into force damage would had been nice

[empty thicket]

nope, EK work around casting spells and throwing attacks and that it is

Its good for subclass, not enoguh to be a whole concept of class

[rough basalt]

Ah cant wait for the rest of my games this week

[lavish flame]

Yeah. A warrior who uses magic to help their warring? Thats absolutely enough to make an entire class about, given thats both the Paladin and Ranger classes.

[lusty tendon]

i mean my build for it has it spam hunters mark on a single target to kill it like crazy (with 5.5 rules i can roll realistically like 4 extra d6 force damage)

[severe rampart]

Exactly, we already have Paladins and Rangers, why would we need a whole new class for EK?

[lusty tendon]

(before you ask fey touched feat is added to my eldritch knight, best feat ever)

[empty thicket]

yeah and that is okey because you can literally spam attacks on a creature. The problem would be for me the conc saves but meh, resilient or warcaster fit him perfectly

[lusty tendon]

exactly war caster is the feat im getting at lv 6

[tame estuary]

You have to remember if they make new classes, they'll have to figure out what subclasses gets in them too

[lavish flame]

this is a point in favor of an Arcane Martial Half-Caster. We already have 2 other Martial Half-Casters, one is Primal and the other Divine. Rounding out the power sources seems reasonable (not to mention the new design space that'd be opened for subclasses)

[empty thicket]

and one thing i like or i think is like that, in EK and AT both use wizard spell list and int because they are like a wizard, they are using their intelligence and learn spells.
Dont get it from a deity, not using their wisdom to perceive the nature and use it

[tame estuary]

Is EK good enough to warrant 5 variants of EK?

[lavish flame]

there is already 5 variants of EK

[tame estuary]

Dang

[lusty tendon]

i mean, hot take: paladin

[umbral girder]

The main issue is Wizard spell list is stupid good

[lavish flame]

Bladesinger, Hexblade, College of Swords, Arcane Tricksters, and Eldritch Knights all have very similar theming. They're a kind of warrior who uses Arcane magic to enhance their capabilities. Assuming they added an Arcane Half-Caster class, those subclasses could just become subclasses for the new class.

A lot of them share features already, like Hextra Attack or replacing which stat u use for weapon attacks

[empty thicket]

some get upgades to their defenses

like warlock and bladesinger

EK and AT get access to mage armor and even if fighter wont need it at all rogue can use it like a giga upgrade to their light armor

And again EK and AT get access to anti magic defenses, such like absorb elements or counterspell

that are the best defenses against casters

obviously if they dont kill them first

[lavish flame]

True also! I figure such a class would innately have Medium Armor proficiency, so this would just be yet another shared feature that could just be part of a class.

[serene jolt]

Speaking of EK. I was considering now that I have my War Cleric (5e) at level 5, should I start taking 5 levels into EK fighter or just full send the Cleric? I'm one of our two front liners.

[empty thicket]

go full cleric

[twilit sail]

go full cleric

[serene jolt]

Loud and clear yall 🫡

[twilit sail]

i convinced my dm to let me play hatsune miku

[empty thicket]

Still all the "hybrids" are... weird

Paladin, ranger and artificer (?) are weird sometimes

idk if count warlock like hybrid perce

without adding the hexblade i mean

[lusty tendon]

Also what is your guy’s opinion on allowing for your magical familiar to constantly give you advantage

[empty thicket]

They can get pact of the blade, mage armor and other stuff that make them giga hybrid and goated

[twilit sail]

i think that getting advantage every turn is smthn no dm would ever permit

[lusty tendon]

I mean vex exists

[empty thicket]

i wont make my pseudodragon risk to get attacked.

[lusty tendon]

The only correct option

[empty thicket]

My beautiful lil cutie string of scales wont be risked for "advantage".
I can take the enemies down by MYSELF!!

[hot marlin]

Familiars die all the time, that's why they can be resummoned.

[empty thicket]

Mine no.

I will even put him a beautiful collar or smt he like and treat him nicely.

[lusty tendon]

Are you sure you want to have that trauma of watching them ‘die’ in pain just for them to relive it later

[hot marlin]

Just don't get traumatized.

[flint ledge]

Why are you treating spirits like that...

[empty thicket]

Why i wont?

[lusty tendon]

“His name is puff and he is my pet”

This is my non-humanoid child now

[empty thicket]

na, pseudodragons are kinda special and cant call him pet. But you get my point

[woven flint]

When Pseudodragons have the intelligence of an average person, its kinda weird to call it your "pet"

[empty thicket]

Yep, its why i treat it like a lil friend

[woven flint]

They can't talk, but they're intelligent enough to understand common and draconic

[lusty tendon]

Ah didnt know they are up to that level of intelligence, either way it is (not my) my child

I forgot what subclass allows for you to pick pseudodragons as familiars

[woven flint]

I'm hesitant to call anything that can, at minimum understand a language a pet tbh
Thats too smart.
Though, dogs have a rudimentery understanding of language enough to follow commands and understand names

[woven flint]

None, its just something you choose as a warlock if you're a warlock\

[empty thicket]

warlock pact of the chain only

and if you are lucky can tame one like an ally

[lusty tendon]

: ( damn

[empty thicket]

but they are giga rare to find so...

[woven flint]

I'm sure a dm could give you accsess to a Pseudo-Dragon as a familiar if they wanted to

[lusty tendon]

Im listening, as i now have my characters new profound goal, to have as many little buddies as possible

[empty thicket]

Oh and if im not wrong they are poisonous too

[lusty tendon]

Probably as they arent too different from other familiars stat wise (my boss for my dnd group has a pseudo dragon as an enslaved weapon)

[lusty tendon]

I think only green pseudo-dragons are but i could be wrong

[tame estuary]

Anything could be a familiar if you're not gonna bring it to battle smh

The barbarian and his rock familiar

[lusty tendon]

Heres my troll familiar (8ft of pure muscle) his name is gogle

He gets grumpy when he doesnt get his creatine

[lusty tendon]

But jokes aside i do like this idea

[empty thicket]

but rocky love to slam the enemies, ram them like a goat

more when his cousin BOULDER came with him to do adventures

they are a great duo

[lusty tendon]

Rocky’s favorite activity is to be launched into enemies, castles, and ships and long walks on the beach

[tame estuary]

Familiars get less fun when they have a token on the field at all times and also have a statblock

Literally put it on your pocket

[empty thicket]

i will justify it like "he is wrapped around me or on my shoulders all the time, he is clingy"

[woven flint]

All of them have poison stingers

Also, Pseudo-Dragons aren't poisonous, they're venomous

[tame estuary]

I will end you

[empty thicket]

toki... 500 baboons or 50 gorilas.

[woven flint]

Either way, they're not doing shit, I cast invisibility

[severe rampart]

Assuming the gorillas use the "Ape" statblock, 50 gorillas, just Spirit Guardians and pray

[empty thicket]

they are all around you, throw for athletics and dont get spotted.

If failed they are going to uncover you

[fossil hollow]

you mean stealth

[empty thicket]

kinda, both are for dont touch one and get spotted

[woven flint]

Natural 5000.

[fossil hollow]

part of stealth

and acrobatics would be more in line to not touch any of em

[empty thicket]

acrobatics is STR, i doubt he have Str not dumped

[severe rampart]

Acrobatics is Dex

[empty thicket]

and im not that cruel

[fossil hollow]

so?

[woven flint]

Acrobatics is Dex lol

[empty thicket]

wait then athletic was str?

[fossil hollow]

and yeah, athletics is str

[woven flint]

Yes

[empty thicket]

Damn, got them mixed

[fossil hollow]

not beating the cant read allegations anytime soon , any of us are

[empty thicket]

great, you passed and even stole from each one of them

[fossil hollow]

banana

[empty thicket]

got them mixed, knew it was one of them

[woven flint]

Winton

[limber trail]

Wiptom

[flint ledge]

Anyone know who Lord Soth from the announcement of Ravenloft book is? Is this some lore I'm not caught up with?

[woven flint]

Lord Soth is from Dragonlance
He's a Death Knight with an army of Dragons

[fossil hollow]

hes one of the most prominent death knights from dragonlance

[woven flint]

He's the Master Aurafarmer but he also cheated on his wife and killed her and his kid iirc

[flint ledge]

Oh so he's BBEG 101

[woven flint]

He's probably one of the ge most interesting BBEGS because he's known to get straight to buisness and not yap.
Brothers already lost everything, he doesn't have to explain anything

I appreciate a BBEG that's all business and no yap

[fossil hollow]

he yapped in life, got his heart broken. so in death he cleaves hearts

[flint ledge]

Tokii sat through a few monologues I feel like

[woven flint]

He's a Death Knight too, even if you kill him, he'll come back
He's gotta seek redemption/be redeemed to really be killed

[hot marlin]

Or find a way to destroy his soul!

[woven flint]

That too

[fossil hollow]

he is a dark lord. theyre not gonna die if the dark powers can do anything about it

[woven flint]

Actually, IIRC, Lord Soth is one of few Dark Lords to have escaped their dead domain.
And apparently he did it Doomslayer style

[fossil hollow]

hes both in it and out of it

[woven flint]

He's just DIFFERENT then

[flint ledge]

He also now seems to be a horror within ravenloft, so we'll see what the man is up to now

[ornate copper]

He’s a pretty famous old D&D villain from Dragonlance. Basically a fallen knight turned undead death lord. Ravenloft loves pulling in tragic villains like that lol

[fossil hollow]

shadow of the dragon queen makes it a bit murky

[woven flint]

Lord Soth kicking Strahds ass would be hype

[fossil hollow]

i dont think they can really damage each other

oh wait, they both have fire

[woven flint]

Soth also can do slashing damage

Imagine Soth storming Barovia with his dragons

[flint ledge]

I mean strahd can do piercing right?

[fossil hollow]

iirc, they both are either immune or resistant to nonmagical bps

[woven flint]

I think they're both resistant typically but 2024 will probably take that away

Idk tho

[fossil hollow]

most likely just give them increased hit points compared to their 5e stats

[tame estuary]

I can't see the name Soth without thinking about fire emblem

[lusty tendon]

“What if we both bite each other and none of us die”

[woven flint]

"You're idiots, then!"

[flint ledge]

I mean yeah 2024 has taken away all non magical /silvered resistances

[empty thicket]

The dhampir and lycan in my party be like:

[flint ledge]

Would be really odd if they suddenly changed that

[lusty tendon]

Also does anyone have advice on running a murder mystery for a party of 3

[empty thicket]

put a pattern in the kills of the assassin, make some "hints" such like times, areas, victims and finally see if the party manage to make some connections

[fossil hollow]

probably not running it with dnd

[empty thicket]

can put another assassinate in the middle of the investigation to make it more tricky, but it dont follow any of the patterns but that might be too much

[umbral girder]

Mysteries in DnD is rough

System isn’t built for it so you’d be on your own working on it

[tame estuary]

you can literally pull out a different boardgame alltogether

[lusty tendon]

Its for lore reasons not to go into depth but this family has been keeping up a constant ritual to hold up a magical barrier to protect the world from a calamity, so an agent who wants to slaughter them is among the guests to kill the family members

[tame estuary]

play mafia smh

[twilit sail]

warlock casts hypnotic pattern
entire mystery is moot

[empty thicket]

Oh oh and for dont making Zone of Truth work, make the assassin have a dual personality

[umbral girder]

Divination magic solving it easy

[empty thicket]

so one is the innocent commoner and another is the assassin bloodthristy who want to idk

Revenge against those that scammed him or stuff liek that

[tame estuary]

ironically, the system isn't built around puzzles too

it's very hard to do something where the players and the characters have different skillsets

[lusty tendon]

Thankfully i have a bard, arcane trickster, and a druid, heh yeah im screwed

[hot marlin]

There are easier ways to cheat a zone of truth

[tame estuary]

the best way I can think of to do this is just add it in as a 10 minute gag

[lusty tendon]

Thankfully no one knows zone of truth

[flint ledge]

Ehhh not sure if I'd go into multiple personality things or similar that kind of stuff can get iffy

[tame estuary]

"oh no, a murder who could it be" line up like 4 suspects and one of them is obviously the murderer

[twilit sail]

eloooquence bard baby

[hot marlin]

Here's the list:

1. Telepathic accomplice. Have the telepathic accomplice ask you questions, answer those questions out loud, tricking the audience into thinking you've answered their question
2. Magic mouth on your close. "Yes" on your left shoe, "No" on your right shoe, "I am completely innocent" on your pants, with your voice, activated when you move a toe or something.

[lusty tendon]

John, Steve, Sir’ Artorias De’Gasterwood, joe

[tame estuary]

if the players want to they can gather alibis around the suspects

but only if they want to, if they don't the murderer gets away and you chase them

"damn foiled again by divination magic"

[twilit sail]

what if you cast charm person on all the suspects

[barren badger]

I think you can include mysteries in dnd, just don’t use any dnd mechanics

[tame estuary]

KISS, keep it simple stupid, my DMing style is more of the sperradic humor, what would be the funniest thing to say in the moment, and how do I not drag on a scene

[twilit sail]

or used suggestion to be like "confess everything you know bout the crime"

[tame estuary]

the appeal of a murder mystery doesn't work unless everyone on the table is on board on doing that for the day

[little stream]

This is non DnD talks but take Zak Ooyama, dude could flip this and still be coherent to the campaign

[flint ledge]

Charm Person doesn’t force you to do anything though? You're friendly with the caster but that's about it

[twilit sail]

alr

[limber trail]

I mean that wouldn’t work. It’s not directly mind control - it makes them a little more amenable to helping you but they still can do what they want and they won’t do something that they’d never do

[twilit sail]

would suggestion work then

[tame estuary]

I don't kno why we're jumping on to mind control

[twilit sail]

detect thoughts?

[barren badger]

Detect thoughts might be better

[twilit sail]

speak with dead?

[barren badger]

(Wrong reply, sorry!)

[empty thicket]

they will want to make you happy and get your attention so they all will say yes because is what you want

[tame estuary]

like, if someone is killing, we can assume the other suspects would be the next targets, they would likely be honest

[barren badger]

The dead person might not know the person who killed them

[empty thicket]

"i couldnt see the killer, he stuck his knife on my neck from behind"
Detect thoughts can be tricky

[twilit sail]

speak with plants? speak with animals?

locate object?

[tame estuary]

speak with the DM at that point

[empty thicket]

one can be like "thanks god this X person is dead, it was so annoying" and might make you think. Hey its the killer but everyone is thinking like htat

[barren badger]

From my experience, players generally don’t even like solving mysteries in dnd.

Maybe a few things they have to figure out, but generally they just want to kill the baddies and flirt and/or bully witnesses

[empty thicket]

or one of them would be "this own me money" and again, make you think is the killer but the proof of the other things wont fit

[tame estuary]

yeah if I were to do murder mystery I would just make alibis for 4 npcs and they'll tell very fun stories

the real mystery is how the hell any of it is coherent to each other

[empty thicket]

Yeah, i would die for some mystery stuff ngl

[flint ledge]

This is sadly true

[barren badger]

I think margomods actually published a murder mystery one shot. Let me see if I can find it

[tame estuary]

I love puzzles, but they're too non diagetic most of the time

[flint ledge]

One of my players recently immediately tried romancing a random maid

[fair plinth]

Are there any published settings that take inspiration from the age of the roman empire? I might run a game in that kind of greco-roman setting but idk what to start with

[tame estuary]

Theros

[barren badger]

Odyssey of the dragon lords

[empty thicket]

"sorry im married" and finally another "oh, how the first didnt worked out you came to me? na, Adios."

[little stream]

Well, I would be too. Have you seen maids?!

[barren badger]

@finite root runs a LOT of Greek inspired content

May be she can offer advice?

(Sorry for the ping alex)

[rough basalt]

T2 XP leveling is hilariously slow compared to t1 and t3+

[paper portal]

maybe thats intentional cus t2 is kinda the most "normal"

[rough basalt]

Prob

[fossil hollow]

and in t3 and 4, youre throwing so many high cr monsters

[rough basalt]

Yeah t2 you're throwing a mix of t1 and t2 monsters with a t3 here and there.

Like my encounters this session were
1 CR 5, 4 CR3s, and 8 CR 1/2s.
Then 1 CR 8(?) 1 CR 6(?), 2 CR 4s, and 8 CR 1/2s.

Total XP rewards were a little over 3k

[empty thicket]

or a big number of them too

[twilit sail]

Does CR work

[rough basalt]

In 5.5e it does

In 5e it's iffy at best.

[empty thicket]

at T3 and 4 encounters can have Strong units, medium and small units

small units easy to kill by any attacks
Medium not so much and 1 or 2 strong per combat

[rough basalt]

I'm putting my Monday group through the ringer with what's going on

[empty thicket]

knowing what some groups are capable of

[rough basalt]

Their next encounter is gonna be brutal too

[obtuse aurora]

you absolutely should, the pfp already has protagonist energy🔥

[rough basalt]

A ||CR 9, 2 CR 2s and 8 CR 1/2s||

[paper portal]

id say its table dependent cus it does give you a lot of information but as an optimizer it tends to be everything except what you need to worry about

[rough basalt]

The Bronze Dragonborns lightning resistance is about to start being very helpful.

[jolly canyon]

Even for regular tables CR isn't the best. But it's a good starting point I think. Could be wrong and it good be flawless for all I know

Excluding optimization of course.

[paper portal]

personally id rather fight an aboleth than a goblin even though its 40 times the cr

[rough basalt]

CR in 5e was just not good. It expected the DM to know how to run the monster and to always run them 100% optimally

CR in 5.5e is much more reasonable

Tho CR can't account for the players themselves.

No monster is a greater threat to players than players themselves.

[twilit sail]

Is running the monster optimally bad?

[rough basalt]

No it's just DMs wouldn't run them optimally

[twilit shell]

The amount of encounters I have run with player's features in mind that they ultimately just chose not to use (or forgot they had) which led to disaster...

[flint ledge]

As in if every attack beats player's faces in you'll always be optimal!

[fossil hollow]

no

[jolly canyon]

I use the budget as simply a guide line as "ok what monsters can I use here" then after I max out my xp budget for an encounter I then go ok now how to make this fight actually hard. Cover, terrain, action economy(part of the monster selection), hazards.

[rough basalt]

Yep a lot of TPKs I'd argue come from players forgetting what's on their sheet.

[twilit sail]

As a numbers nerd
I garner dopamine from taking as many cool strong abilities as possible

[jolly canyon]

Nothing wrong with that

[sinful crater]

Hey chats good morning

[rough basalt]

Tho my TPKs happen cause they call me 0020
0 bad rolls
0 mid rolls
20 recharge max damage rolls.

[flint ledge]

Good morning!

[rough basalt]

The Wizard this session got downed like idk 4 or 5 times

[twilit shell]

I am a big fan of running a handful of strong abilities in a very straightforward manner. The fullback of DnD. Why yes, I will play another GWM greatsword paladin with the mounted combatant feat

[barren badger]

I’ve come to realize that there are some players who just do not think about the game as much as other players.

They show up at session time, are reliable, and engage well in roleplay. But they don’t optimize their character and don’t even know what all of their abilities do

[rough basalt]

Cause they initially flew up above the crowd then the Captain of the first attack squad shot them out of the air with a crit and another hit of their Musket.

[flint ledge]

Reminds me of the time I almost killed both my groups with lizardfolk geomancers

[paper portal]

ngl thats probably the most unintuitive part of optimization that big numbers are generally a bad thing

[barren badger]

Meanwhile, you have other players who spend weeks planning every detail of their character

[rough basalt]

Then they just kept getting roasted by hellhounds

Cause I kept recharging fire breath.

[twilit sail]

I feel like optimzing in dnd is pretty easy

[twilit shell]

You can optimize a char, you can't optimize a player LOL

[twilit sail]

Its pretty intuitive to anyone who has played an rpg?

At least without multiclassing

[rough basalt]

Not really.

[paper portal]

depends how far you wanna optimize

[barren badger]

The cleric of my group has a 10 constitution. Her charisma is higher than her wisdom.

I explained to her about the downsides of doing this, but she didn’t care.

[rough basalt]

A lot of people don't even know what's on their sheet

[barren badger]

Some people just don’t care about making optimal choices during character creation

[rough basalt]

Or even what class they're playing.

[twilit sail]

This isnt jusy suboptimal this is just ignoring all of the games mechanics

[rough basalt]

Most people just think dnd is show up, roll a d20 and 20 is the best thing it autowins

[tame estuary]

People will maximize the fun out of their character, but that doesn't necesaarily mean by the mechanics the game intends you to do it

[barren badger]

That’s how a lot of people play the game. And she has a BLAST.

[twilit shell]

A lot of people do just truly bumble through DnD

[rough basalt]

I've pretty much made a strong stance against those characters at my table.

You gotta be able to do what you're meant to do.

[twilit shell]

Which like, fair enough. Its a roleplaying game before its a rollplaying game, but damn it hurts me sometimes to see how unoptimized people can be

[twilit sail]

It seems like you are a pretty tough dm

[flint ledge]

Sora runs more deadly type of games

[twilit sail]

Good for her i suppose

[rough basalt]

There's nothing I hate more than balancing for a party of 4 but it's actually more like a party of 2 cause 2 people are dead weight but because they still exist, you can't encounter build for 2.

[twilit shell]

if the combat is less than at least deadly, ideally 2x deadly, I do not WANT IT!

[tame estuary]

There is a difference between actually trying to make bad chadacters and making a character to have fun with it

[twilit sail]

Yeah

[twilit shell]

Gods I know 💀

I have said it before, but the hardest thing to balance as a DM is an unbalanced group of players more than characters

[barren badger]

Her character is a cleric and she doesn’t make bad decisions during actual gameplay. So it mostly works.

She’s not like, attempting to melee all the time.

Thankfully the optimizers at the table kind of make up for her shortcoming

[rough basalt]

Like one one shot I had, there was a Sorcerer with 8 Charisma, and 8 con

[twilit sail]

Idk i feel like there are better tabletops if you just want to rp

[tame estuary]

Yeah sora runs games where he focuses on encounter balance

[twilit shell]

There are, but DnD is the nfl of TTRPGs. You play it because your friends play it

[tame estuary]

Truly hate that I was in that

[barren badger]

She normally drops spirit guardians and bops around and she does damage.

I also gave her the book that raises constitution and that’s helped her a bit too

[twilit sail]

There was one campaign i was in where the highest stat my party member rolled was a 12

His stats were like 10 10 11 12 11

[rough basalt]

I mean rolled is rolled

[jolly canyon]

I wouldn't want to play dnd if it was all rp and I wouldn't want to play if it was all combat. I like my mix

[rough basalt]

This guy chose those stats with Point Buy

[twilit sail]

The dm gave him grace rolls.and he proceeded to roll.three 1s

[tame estuary]

He insists that losing is fun fir the entire group

[paper portal]

im mostly here for the combat but i like doing roleplay too

[rough basalt]

That reminds me, I rolled 4 6s when rolling stats for my 3.5e wizard

[twilit shell]

I am a big believer in 40-40-20 split of combat rp exploration, some sessions will be all one or the other ofc but ideally balancing out to about that

[barren badger]

I will never see the appeal of rolling stats in 5(.5)e

[rough basalt]

It's rare that I run a session without combat in it.

[twilit sail]

GAMBLING BABY

[tame estuary]

Gambling of course

[rough basalt]

It's fun for hardcore games but I like Point Buy

[barren badger]

Yeah, but everyone adds stupid rules so you never get below point buy

Or they just let you roll or use point buy

[twilit shell]

Yeah, at which point why are we ROLLING!

[rough basalt]

If I do rolled stats, it's you roll what you roll.

[flint ledge]

I've rolled 4 1s for a player before (I did NOT end up making him play that character)

[paper portal]

generally ill roll if its a oneshot and point buy if its a campaign, its fun to gamble a bit if you know theres no chance of getting stuck with bad stats

[twilit shell]

My stat distribution system is definitely far from optimal, I just let people allocate a total of 72 attribute scores max of 16 min of 6 as you see fit, no point buy

[rough basalt]

But also it's usually one shots and I just let people pick from the three generations but if you choose to roll, you get what you get.

[paper portal]

if all else fails you make a druid

[wispy canopy]

3d6 down the line, no rerolls.

[flint ledge]

Mostly cause his entire character was negative modifiers

[barren badger]

A lot of groups I’ve been in that allow rolled stats allow players to roll their stats on their own.

[wispy canopy]

Go big or go home

[twilit shell]

6 d20 in order coward

[barren badger]

Which I hate

[rough basalt]

3d6 in line is fun

[paper portal]

ive said before that i will do this at some point ngl

[barren badger]

Before choosing character class, right?

[twilit shell]

I have a 1shot planned for it at some point

[flint ledge]

The dreaded roll for con

[rough basalt]

Roll everything

Roll class/subclass, species, background.

[barren badger]

I actually like rolling for class and race

Optimizers hate this one trick

[jolly canyon]

I ain't mad at you for it. Everyone can play what they like. As long as table is having fun and what not

[rough basalt]

I'd love to do a hardcore run of a module as a player.

Like Icewind Dale or Curse of Strahd.

[wispy canopy]

Warhammer Fantasy RP does a fun trick.

[paper portal]

for sure :3 although people who do just roleplay will always be weird to me cus why play dnd at that point

[barren badger]

I’ve seen gameplay from world of IO and it looks fun

[wispy canopy]

It's roll for race and class, but you can choose not to take what you roll.

[rough basalt]

Yeah World of Io makes me wanna play a hardcore campaign

[wispy canopy]

But it's bonus starting XP if you do

[twilit sail]

Me making all of my chars variant human bc theyre all based off my human ocs

[barren badger]

That one player has lost so many characters in icewind dale

[twilit shell]

Warhammer you also ought to anticipate a lot of character deaths so its fine to be less attached

[jolly canyon]

Couldn't tell ya. I like my deadly combat to make the moments of levity more impactful

[barren badger]

It’s def not the free feat, right?

[jolly canyon]

And vice versa

[rough basalt]

I believe in every combat being deadly, and for no room to breathe.

[flint ledge]

People who want to play variant human always make me careful...

[wispy canopy]

Yep. I ain't crying myself to sleep if I lose my ratcatcher in the first combat

[twilit sail]

That too

[twilit sail]

I love feat chat

[paper portal]

cl/vuman is kinda the default best race but i am glad its not the only optimal one at least

[twilit sail]

Tru

[paper portal]

its sad when theres one definitive best and no reason to take anything else

[twilit sail]

Mountain dwarf and yuan ti pureblood

[barren badger]

Custom lineage was so boring

I really disliked it

[twilit sail]

Or some flying race

[rough basalt]

CL was added just so you could be Vhuman with darkvision.

[twilit sail]

Tru

[twilit shell]

It always felt bad being the only non darkvision char in a party lol

[barren badger]

We need less dark vision in dnd

[twilit sail]

This is why u take light

[rough basalt]

It's fun in foundry when people don't have darkvision

And they can't see crap.

[twilit shell]

Good luck sneaking up in a cave when you are the only one that needs light 😛

[tame estuary]

I don't think I'll ever play in a hardcore game, I see the appeal but there will be a point where I'm assuming thr players just break the game

[flint ledge]

Wotc giving everyone under the freaking sun darkvision:

[barren badger]

If I was a DM and got rid of it, what would I give as a replacement? Prof in something?

[fossil hollow]

perception

[barren badger]

That feels like a strong buff

[flint ledge]

A lot of species straight up don't even need a replacement imo

[rough basalt]

I should try and find a Shadowdark game as a player so I can desensitize myself to character death.

[tame estuary]

Even with darkvision it isn't fun, limited vision like that makes me so claustrophobic

[flint ledge]

Like look at the quadrillion elf variants and tell me that they also needed darkvision

[wispy canopy]

What do we mean in this context when referring to a "hardcore" game?

[fossil hollow]

something akin to tomb of annihilation

[rough basalt]

3d6 in line, all resources tracked, PHB only, rolled species, ect.

[barren badger]

My tortle Druid cast perpetual flame on an amulet to avoid this

[fossil hollow]

i mean, theyre all elf

[barren badger]

Roll for class and race too

[wispy canopy]

Righto

[barren badger]

roll for HP?

[rough basalt]

Oh yeah

[flint ledge]

Same, legitimately had someone go "It's literally pitch black I can't see anything" after they switched to a species without darkvision

[wispy canopy]

My version of hardcore game is the DM rolling your death saves for you in secret

[barren badger]

Lolll

The torch module is very solid

[barren badger]

I do this. Blind death saving rolls

[rough basalt]

Ima need the torch module.

[wispy canopy]

It's fun!

[barren badger]

I think it’s literally called torch. Loll

[wispy canopy]

Two turns in you could already be dead! Yay!

[rough basalt]

If I ran a hardcore campaign, it'd have to be a module

[barren badger]

It also supports the lantern with narrow light

[rough basalt]

I'm already so damn swamped with games I gotta handmake.

[twilit shell]

God, one of my absolute favorite little moments that came out of that was someone casting cure wounds on a party member who JUST failed their last death save. "As you go to cast the spell, you feel the magic is expended but unfortunately the spell fails." "Why does it fail?" "You cannot cast cure wounds on a corpse."

[flint ledge]

Yeah and they all get trance, innate spellcasting, Perception proficiency and advantage against charmed and some type of other effect

[rough basalt]

As for what module

I think theres only one real answer as to where a hardcore campaign should be run

[barren badger]

I’m currently rewriting curse of Strahd to be an island hopping, nautical adventure. Where each settlement is a little island

[hot marlin]

Yes. That is the basic all elves get. What is your point?

[barren badger]

And the vistani is a traveling fleet

[rough basalt]

grabs strixhaven

[barren badger]

Wood elves don’t get spellcasting, do they?

[flint ledge]

My point is just why do they get darkvision on top of everything?

[tame estuary]

have you actually run that strixhaven-ish setting?

[flint ledge]

Sure dark elves/Drow I get

[rough basalt]

I ran the country it's in for a time.

I lost my luster for it though.

[tame estuary]

aw

[fossil hollow]

ask corellon

[tame estuary]

I kinda wanna do magic schoool rn

[wispy canopy]

I've always kinda wanted to run something set in the Strixhaven magic school, but I've never been able to talk anyone into it. Too much Harry Potter cringe.

[rough basalt]

I'm still a bit lost on how ima run the other games that are currently on my back.

[twilit sail]

Silvery barbs
Choose smthn else now

[fossil hollow]

if they ever release hexhaven, i might run that

[hot marlin]

I don't really understand the question. Are you saying that they should only get darkvision? Are you asking for the diegetic reason elves can see in the dark? The game reason elves can see in the dark? Or the meta context about why elves are portrayed as having superior vision?

[rough basalt]

Hexhaven?

[tame estuary]

I'm talking to my friend, friend

[wispy canopy]

I keep telling people that Harry Potter didn't invent the magic school, but I can understand the reluctance.

[fossil hollow]

off color strixhaven in an upcoming set. alternate time line strixhaven

[twilit sail]

Harry potter popularized the genre

[tame estuary]

magic set?

[rough basalt]

Tbf Strixhaven is just hogwarts but without the stereotypical names for students who aren't English

[fossil hollow]

doesnt help its mtg wotc's harry potter cash grab set

[twilit sail]

Its like the most popular modern book series ever

[wispy canopy]

Ursula K Le Guin did it first. And better!

[twilit sail]

Its hard to not see its influence in it

[rough basalt]

Hogwarts without the Irish Student who constantly blows himself up.

[fossil hollow]

yee, reality fracture apparently has an alternate timeline strixhaven. so potentially new elder dragons too

[hot marlin]

Like... The game reason is mostly legacy. In the old days, there was low-light vision and dark vision, drows had darkvision, other elves had low-light vision that just about everyone but humans and halflings got. Both got smashed together to simplify at the beginning of 5e. The diegetic reason is...Well honestly it's simply that elves are superior to humans and better in touch with nature. The meta context is, as always, Tolkien. In his books, elves are technically older than the sun and the moon and first came into being in the most lightless regions of the world.

[twilit sail]

Is there a bald snake man who tries to destroy the school

[barren badger]

Please please let them republish silvery barbs and make it horrible

[rough basalt]

There are people who try to destroy the school pretty sure.

[tame estuary]

you have to understand the form factor dnd is meant to be played with, it's not supposed to be with a vtt that automatically blinds you, it's drawings on a paper. blindvision makes more sense when only the characters can't see anything

[fossil hollow]

no, just multiple tyranid like creatures called mage hunters

[wispy canopy]

I would love that

[twilit sail]

Maybe they just dont want to relive high school

[rough basalt]

Nothing better than actually blinding people when you hit them with blindness deafness in foundry. /hj

[twilit sail]

🙂

[hot marlin]

And, frankly... Darkvision is really not that strong.

[twilit shell]

Man I would love to relive specifically the spring season of highschool and try not to get the flu every track season this time ;P

[rough basalt]

It really ain't.

[barren badger]

I will say that there were stories set in schools that taught kids magic before Harry Potter

[tame estuary]

remove the edit

[rough basalt]

Strixhaven is also a college not a high school

[empty thicket]

Blindsight or Devil’s Sight is better mostly

[twilit sail]

Become frat bros

[empty thicket]

But darkvision is just kinda useful

[wispy canopy]

"Before seeing the result of the roll, but after hearing everyone's groans at the roll, you may choose to cast Silvery Barbs as a reaction, which allows someone else to reroll the check for you, but you have to close your eyes and guess what the roll is"

[hot marlin]

In fact it's borderline forgettable. If you don't have it, you get an uncommon magic item that doesn't require attunement and forget about it. And that's really only if you need because truth is, you don't really need it.

[wispy canopy]

There. I fixed it.

[barren badger]

I think vision is a lot like carrying capacity. No one tracks it unless you’re in a VTT

[twilit sail]

Do wizards have to pass their SATs

[fossil hollow]

keep SB as is. make your players waste all their spell slots trying to make the monster with high saves reroll another success

[tame estuary]

a lot of the archaic character options I reall think are just meant to be forgotten, it's more like a bonus

[rough basalt]

Pretty much.

VTT handles all the tracking for me

[barren badger]

They don’t use spell slots. They take it either magic initiate

[twilit shell]

My fix for silvery barbs is I just don't allow it get outta here power creep

[fossil hollow]

one time free use, ok

[rough basalt]

That's just one free one.

[tame estuary]

it's like how tieflings can have tails? any mechanics for using tails? no but it's a bonus, use it for something

[fossil hollow]

wait, they have something for archaics in strixhaven

[hot marlin]

And truth is, even creatures with darkvision use light. Can't see colour in the dark, even with darkvision. Can't see far. Can't read. Can't search correctly, can't even fight correctly. Even with darkvision, the darkness is still not something you want to dwell in.

[flint ledge]

I kinda derailed on my original opinion of saying way too many species get darkvision. But I'm more asking on a mechanical level because it seems that compared to other species Elves are a lot stronger

[fossil hollow]

theyre not.

they get more fluff features

[hot marlin]

Eh. Some species get flight. Some species get magic resistance.

[twilit sail]

Some get feats

[hot marlin]

Elves get a lot of stuff, sure, but it's quantity over quality with them

[vernal owl]

Halflings are the best species frfr

[fossil hollow]

trance? ok. decent downtime and resting thing

fey ancestry? ok. nice anti charm. anti sleep is almost never going to show up

[rough basalt]

There's no real "bad" species mechanically in 5.5e so far imo.

[fossil hollow]

locatha

[rough basalt]

?

[fossil hollow]

feesh

[tame estuary]

but theyr'e supposed to be fluff, not core mechanics to build builds around

[woven flint]

Me, Watching you literally shoot our Sorcerer down a few hours ago:

(normally I'd feel bad, but it was Horizon /silly)

[rough basalt]

Wheres that from?

[fossil hollow]

exactly, theyre fluff

[hot marlin]

Trance is cool, sure. If you can make use of it. You've got to show initiative to capitalize on that. Fey ancestry is just a defensive feature that only comes into play in specific times

[fossil hollow]

extra life i think

[rough basalt]

Ah

[tame estuary]

you make offhand remarks once or twice about it, you don't actually use it to maximize crafting time or something

[barren badger]

We can all agree. The worst design decision in 5.5 is tying ability scores to specific backgrounds

[hot marlin]

I do not think we can all agree on that, no.

[fossil hollow]

its the fish species that need water every 4 hours

[hot marlin]

I am of two minds on that.

[twilit sail]

The worst decision they made was nerfing human

How could they

[rough basalt]

The firearm sound effect in foundry is terrifying

The whip sound effect is hilarious

[twilit shell]

introduce shadow horrors and teach them the value of light

[barren badger]

Do you use PSFX?

[fossil hollow]

since its not vhuman youre saying, its actually a buff

[rough basalt]

Yep

[paper portal]

funnily enough human is even better in 5.5 just because of the lack of opportunity cost

[fossil hollow]

2024 human is a buff compared to 2014 base human

[rough basalt]

Mass Cure Wounds nuked Tokiis laptop

[barren badger]

I think 2024 human will get even better as we get more origin feats

[woven flint]

The worst design decision was simplifying lore and details in '24 for monsters so you'd have to look back at '14 or other editions

[tame estuary]

I like the ability scored being tied to background... if there's more background

eventually there will be more

[paper portal]

base human was so bad in 5e lol

[tame estuary]

but it's been what like 3 years?

[paper portal]

maybe just the worst race even

[rough basalt]

VHuman was made just to make humans good lol

[woven flint]

I was in the literal whiteroom zone!

I think I saw a few optimizers there

[barren badger]

I don’t love that certain backgrounds are unplayable for some classes

[fossil hollow]

wait, why is this your complaint? not saying its wrong but why are you complaining

[paper portal]

to be fair you dont really want human to be the worst race

[rough basalt]

Nah they were gloomstalkers so they were in the dark and invisible

[woven flint]

Because I hate WOTC /silly

[fossil hollow]

imma hit you with a serious punch if you dont get it first

[rough basalt]

I don't really care too much about the lack of lore in the MM since I just use my own.

[vernal owl]

Omg you know molerat?

[woven flint]

I partially know everyone :]

[barren badger]

Like if you’re a wizard, you will generally never choose the sailor background.

Or if a player does, it’s just very bad for their player.

[fossil hollow]

what i crave is 4e level information giving, gimme how they fight, what their usual tactics are, and more loot tables

[vernal vale]

What would be the bardic equivalent of white girl music? 😭

[fossil hollow]

faerie music

[rough basalt]

Like Gnolls in my world are as savage as hyenas but lack the intelligence and have little to no self preservation.

[tame estuary]

tailor and carpenter idunno

[barren badger]

I think lore belongs in setting specific sourcebooks

[vernal owl]

Interesting

[wispy canopy]

Take a look at Symbaroum's monster manual sometime

I reckon that's how you do a proper monster book. It's great.

[fossil hollow]

who the what (will research this tomorrow)

[woven flint]

You're next.
I will know you now!

[fossil hollow]

gimme monster roles and i am satisfied

[twilit shell]

Wheezer but on a lute. Ooeeeooo I look just like Drizzt Do’Urden

[barren badger]

“Flee, mortals” my beloved

[fossil hollow]

... i hate this. i can imagine volo singing it

[rough basalt]

When the Bard starts playing Lady gaga while you fight Tiamat

[vernal owl]

Nuh uh i have an ac of 30

[fossil hollow]

4e seems to be truly ahead of its time

[woven flint]

AC doesn't matter, I autohit like a Marut.

[rough basalt]

Yet another 4e fixes this moment

[tame estuary]

I don't think you guys understand white girl music

[fossil hollow]

tokii-rasque with a +19

[barren badger]

Imagine getting weezered in a dnd session

[fossil hollow]

i have the wheezer riff in my soundboard

[tame estuary]

he monopoilizes the soundboard, how evil

[rough basalt]

I know my white girl music, and I listen to it everyday

[woven flint]

And it makes me want to STRANGLE goblins each time you play it.

I HATE Weezer!

[twilit shell]

I need to add that back onto mine, I replaced it with the Taco Bell gong

[fossil hollow]

you wont stop it

[vernal vale]

Lmao I was thinking more in the vein of Sabrina Carpenter and Katy Perry, but that's my new bards 'theme' fr 😭

[fossil hollow]

its my unofficial "get back on topic" sound

[woven flint]

One day you're gonna play it and like a sleeper agent I'm gonna kill the party

[twilit shell]

Exactly the same way I use the Taco Bell gong lol

[rough basalt]

Sovis is gonna need to summon Mahoraga on Lolth tomorrow

[barren badger]

Please describe different monstrous races by what music they would listen to.

What bands would goblins listen to? Kobolds? Faeries?

[fossil hollow]

im going to make that as part of your fish person now

[woven flint]

Everyone likes Torturing my characters in particular 😔

[twilit shell]

Kobolds listen to Brazilian phonk

[fossil hollow]

... jaaaaackpoooot

[wispy canopy]

Obviously Necrogoblikon

[vernal owl]

No they listen to tung tung sahur tucking you in for sleep asmr

[fossil hollow]

ensue tuca donka while the kobolds have 4 rounds and 11 turns of tuckers kobold shenanigans

[vernal vale]

Because I talking go a friend, and we thought about what kinda music my character would listen to (Sharran Cleric turned God-Hating Warlock) and we both instantly said white girl music

[twilit shell]

Drow listen to mitski and front bottoms

[hollow estuary]

wtf 😭

[woven flint]

Orizontas with the crushing guilt of not being able to save his party ...

Sovis when he has to face Lolth and potentially kill more of his own people for peace..

[barren badger]

I think goblins would listen to crust punk

[hollow estuary]

I apologize what did I get back too

[rough basalt]

My rogue would probably listen to white girl music.

[vernal vale]

They would also listen to like MCR

[vernal vale]

Twin 😛

[barren badger]

Halflings…. Hmm

[vernal owl]

Its your destiny.. accept the calling of triple t sahur

[rough basalt]

Need more traumatized PCs

[twilit shell]

I firmly believe that locathah exclusively listen to modern shanty rock

[hollow estuary]

Keep in mind these are mostly mature adults.

Also that isent very tung tung tung sacool

[barren badger]

Who listens to country? Wood elves? Orcs?

[vernal owl]

So real

[woven flint]

My Tabaxi Cleric (pfp)
Had proficency with a Yarting (Fey Guitar) and he'd play sea shanties despite never having been on the seas lol

[fossil hollow]

firbolgs

[vernal vale]

[rough basalt]

I'm starting to get tempted to just cut my extra games and be a player mainly awhile.

[tame estuary]

join me

[woven flint]

Feylost was one hell of a background

[hollow estuary]

how the hell does he have no roles 😭

[fossil hollow]

you havent said join you where

[rough basalt]

She

[hollow estuary]

dawg her pronouns are human/fighter.

[tame estuary]

not anymore 🙂

[barren badger]

I think it would make you a better dm

[fossil hollow]

oop

congrats?

[hollow estuary]

how am I ment to tell its a she 😭

god dammit I need truesight irl

[fossil hollow]

because jane fighter is a thing /j

[vernal owl]

They were just letting you know brotorcycle

[barren badger]

No one is mad at you or anything. I think they were just letting you know

[vernal vale]

Brotorcycle is a new one 😭

[fossil hollow]

john doe this, john fighter that, john dungeon there, where are my janes

[rough basalt]

I just can't seem to get my heart in it for my two games I'm trying to get started.

[bronze wave]

Brotorcycle…

[tame estuary]

in hell

[barren badger]

A motorcycle for you and your bro

[hollow estuary]

what layer

[fossil hollow]

ill pass

[woven flint]

Gender is a myth
A fallacy I refuse to entertain 🧐

I'm

Tokii

[tame estuary]

first

we venture off to avernus

[hollow estuary]

aight guys meeting rae in avernus ig

[fossil hollow]

tokii is already in hell. hes having fun in elturel

[bronze wave]

Idk…

[barren badger]

A gender? In this economy?

[fossil hollow]

this wednesday i might get to kill horizon or incubus

[woven flint]

No gender

[fossil hollow]

i dont have the heart to kill boogey

[hollow estuary]

Frikin.. changelings.. and their minor illusions.. you never know these days man 👴

[vernal owl]

So real diva

[barren badger]

I had to pawn my gender :[

[woven flint]

Why?
Also, it's Bogey >:V

[fossil hollow]

too cool

[hollow estuary]

I sold my pronouns to mephistopheles for 30 gold.

[fossil hollow]

too cool for the material plane

[rough basalt]

I feel bad that I wanna just cut my current game ideas. Especially after I put in a lot of work and money for them already

[barren badger]

That’s a bad deal

[fossil hollow]

nay, we boogeying

[rough basalt]

Not to mention the other people's work and time.

[woven flint]

Why is he too cool?

Is it because he has a Beautiful Wood Elf Wife and is a Bugbear that actually showers?

[fossil hollow]

sure

[fossil hollow]

but its mostly because thats the temperature of his corpse

[hollow estuary]

A mind flayer abberant sorcerer sounds badass.

[vernal vale]

Ha! I sold nine for 69 silver

[hollow estuary]

No way!

[fossil hollow]

too expensive, dock 2 gold

[woven flint]

You gotta have Devils torture him mentally first

Have them (Devils) tell him about his unborn kids that his wife is currently pregnant with

[hollow estuary]

like essentially imagine like a mind flayer using the intellect of the brains it devourered to power its spells.

it regains sorcery points when It devours a person

[tame estuary]

I mean you have way more fun planning for a game than running one imo

it's not a waste when it's time well spent

[fossil hollow]

why gotta assume i wouldn't

[stoic haven]

Oh gosh

[vernal vale]

Then I'd be paying Mephisto-
Not gonna question it

[woven flint]

When the unsuspecting father is on a different plane of existence than his wife and future children 😔

[rough basalt]

Eh. It depends. When I'm not hyperfixating like I am not hyperfixating rn, I don't get excited for prep, I just groan and get depressed.

[tame estuary]

than running a game...?

[woven flint]

Zilch

[barren badger]

Sometimes I start planning a new campaign as a way for my ADHD brain to escape the work I need to do for my existing campaigns.

[rough basalt]

Rn neither sounds fun to me tbh

[woven flint]

You know what?
No wonder my characters are so fun to torture, they're USUALLY happy people

[tame estuary]

they are

[rough basalt]

My Monday game being the exception.

[tame estuary]

you have no mean bone in your body

[vernal vale]

Twin 😔

[rough basalt]

I hate having adhd

[barren badger]

New campaign idea: everyone is happy and no characters experience trauma

[woven flint]

I've got plenty of evil characters I want to play
Don't let my sweetheart facade fool ya, smh.

[rough basalt]

I wish I could just sit down and get all the prep I need done done.

[vernal vale]

Lowk been getting harrassed by the gods every session the past couple weeks

[rough basalt]

And then be able to just run every campaign to completion without issues

[woven flint]

New campaign idea:
I play an evil character and do bad things

[fossil hollow]

whats your backup for bg

[woven flint]

Well, I dunno

But Bogey isn't a good guy
Nor is he really evil lol

He kills people for a living

[rough basalt]

I wonder a lot of the time how overpowered I'd be without adhd.

[barren badger]

This is actually a question I ask perspective players during interviews.

“If you had to play an evil character, what would it be like? What would their motivations be?”

It helps me learn about them as a person

[tame estuary]

you'd be an average person I guess

[woven flint]

I actually had a Chaotic Evil character with decent motivation

[rough basalt]

Yeah overpowered for the colossal undertaking known as being a multiple game dm.

[tame estuary]

if you think about it no regular person can do what you do with all that setup in foundry

[vernal owl]

What was the motivation