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Tough Shit
  • I think it turned into some amount of shit slinging that stopped being relevant to the shit at hand. I'm guessing mods decided to close that sphincter before the verbal diarrhea overflowed the rim of the post ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • Democrats who urged Biden to exit race say Harris is exceeding expectations
  • I'd like to think there is a strategist in her camp who urged Biden to stay in for as long as he did, and only swap out after the first debate, closer to the 3 month runway mark. And that strategist is just waiting until after the election to gloat publicly about the scheme.

    Now that's a conspiracy theory I can get behind.

  • "We've won, but at what cost?"
  • In my utopia, Google would be forced to continue to pay out the current annual contract sum, at a decreasing percentage every year, for some number of years, to all affected companies, giving them the opportunity to divest and pivot.

    The root problem doesn't get fixed if the company with enough money to be a monopolist still has the money when this is "resolved."

  • Fight me.
  • I find that system inconvenient, as it does not inform me of how I should eat any given item. Classification for the purpose of classification is insufficient. However, an alternative that allows me to prepare my ustensils based on the classification is useful, and therefore I propose...

    Soup, salad, and sandwich are the three states of food, and they can go through phase transitions. They are closely accompanied by spoon, fork, and knife, respectively.

    • A soup is any food that requires a spoon, and thus includes soups, drinks, cereal with milk, etc. Tipping a container is merely the use of the container as a large and unwieldy spoon, a straw is similarly a spoon when its topology is combined with suction.

    • A salad then is anything bite sized that can be forked, and one's hands are little more than fleshy forks, the fingers prehensile tines. Popcorn, salads, cut up steak bites, a handful of cheerios, etc.

    • A sandwich is anything that requires it to be cut in order to be consumed, and one's incisors are merely built-in knives. A sandwich is thus the vast majority of the cube rule's content, and only because the cube rule focuses on the physical location of the starch. This is, of course, entirely irrelevant when it comes to the consumption of food.

    • To observe a phase transition, one can cut up a sandwich without consuming it, thereby turning it into a salad; can drown a salad to turn it into a soup; can freeze a soup to turn it into a sandwich, etc.

    Shredded cheese is a salad.

  • How to create pre-written adventures
  • The modules I like have:

    • A DM map with a bunch of numbers on it, and text sections corresponding to the numbers detailing an encounter in a certain area. I personally skim these ahead of time, to know which parts to read out to the players when/if they get there. These should be traps (with exposition hints), puzzles, and combats.
    • A hook, escalation with two options, and resolution, all encompassing a possible plot. TBH, this should be something that a DM can discard and replace with their own plot, if they have the inspiration and energy to do so. But if they don't, then your prewritten plot is there for their use. This is required reading either way, to know what's important (or what to replace).
    • Some NPCs that have basic goals and motivations, for the DM to RP if the players find them (or need a push.} You don't want more than a paragraph or two for each, because all the extra details should be ad-libbed anyway. Motivation is key tho--why are they there, what do they want, and where their lines lie. Two one-liners from a Background table along with an alignment can usually cover most of that, TBH. Limit the required reading to 3-ish named NPCs per session, or less, with fewer introduced in subsequent areas of the module.
  • Katie Britt proposes federal database to collect data on pregnant people
  • Is it bad that my first thought goes to "have you tried a federal database that keeps track of guns, gun owners, and gun ownership applicants?" And yet I know this new idiocy is far more likely to happen than the much more reasonable yet somehow illegal federal gun registry.

  • Top Tier Worldbuilding Advice
  • "Would incest be okay if we could guarantee no reinforcement of bad recessives?"

    "I want space travel, to live forever, and make an AI human for... Reasons."

    "Get off my lawn, big government!"

    That tracks.

  • How would you save D&D if you were the new CEO?
  • Most people hear "<blank> bubble" and think "oof, that's not a good thing."

    Capitalists (the ones with the actual capital) hear the same thing and think "just imagine how rich I'll be if I get out right before it pops! Blow more hot air into it! Quickly!"

  • How would you save D&D if you were the new CEO?
  • Make dndbeyond good/better, invest in 3rd party VTT integrations, and keep selling books through those channels. Keep partnering with 3rd party content creators to get a cut of their profits selling through dndbeyond.

    I'd stop trying to disrupt the industry or chase massive profits, and just be okay with reasonable profits.

    They'd oust me in a week.

  • What do you enjoy in "actual plays" ?
  • I enjoyed watching Harmonquest, the episodes of which have parts video of the table and parts animated story. It's a comedy show, for the most part, which genre appeals to me. Past, that, I enjoy a good actual play podcast, sans video, like BomBARDed or NaDDPod, both of which are also comedic stories.

    Just watching a group play a game can indeed be boring. But if that game is just a format for the genre of entertainment you already enjoy, that's the appeal.

  • Netflix Avatar review: another live-action cartoon misfire
  • Meanwhile, Tristaniopsis is a synonym for Santorum, and I've never been able to credit anyone who goes by that moniker with any amount of respect.

    Do you know how derogatory words work? You're perpetuating the thing you disrespect with your own comment.

  • Pathfinder 2e Character Discussion @pathfinder.social FearfulSalad @ttrpg.network
    [Crosspost] How to make Imaginary Weapon feel good at 6, no free archetype?
    ttrpg.network [pf2e] How to make Imaginary Weapon good, no free archetype? - The TTRPG network

    I’m struggling to build out a Psychic that primarily uses Imaginary Weapon in melee. It is so flavorful, yet at 6 base HP per level and no armor proficiency, it feels really dangerous to get up close and personal. Sure, Warp Space amps it to be at 30ft range, but there are only so many focus points ...

    I’m struggling to build out a Psychic that primarily uses Imaginary Weapon in melee. It is so flavorful, yet at 6 base HP per level and no armor proficiency, it feels really dangerous to get up close and personal. Sure, Warp Space amps it to be at 30ft range, but there are only so many focus points available to spend amping.

    I’m looking to have this be viable at level 6 (so Parallel Breakthrough is an option). Any heritages, feat chains, or items I should look into to make it feel good to use Imaginary Weapon?

    3
    3d6 @ttrpg.network FearfulSalad @ttrpg.network
    [pf2e] How to make Imaginary Weapon good, no free archetype?

    I'm struggling to build out a Psychic that primarily uses Imaginary Weapon in melee. It is so flavorful, yet at 6 base HP per level and no armor proficiency, it feels really dangerous to get up close and personal. Sure, Warp Space amps it to be at 30ft range, but there are only so many focus points available to spend amping.

    I'm looking to have this be viable at level 6 (so Parallel Breakthrough is an option). Any heritages, feat chains, or items I should look into to make it feel good to use Imaginary Weapon?

    4
    3d6 @ttrpg.network FearfulSalad @ttrpg.network
    [5e][Discussion] Booming Blade + Force Ballista Artillerist, worth it?

    I recently theorycrafted a Dex and a Str version of an Artillerist with the Gunner feat popping off a Booming Blade and a Force Ballista each turn.

    Dex variant: Choose a race that gets a weapon proficiency (e.g. Githyanki) to weild a Rapier. Pick up Gunner at 4. Starting stats are somewhere along the lines of 8 15+2 14 15+1 10 8, aiming to max Dex and pick up a Headband of Intellect to cover the otherwise low Int. Rolling can get the starting Int to be more respectable, but otherwise this feels pretty bad early game.

    Str variant: Can start with a feat race for Gunner, point buy stats of 14 13+1 14 14+2 9 8, aiming to max Int, get Resilient Wis, and pick up Gauntlets of Ogre Power to cover the otherwise low Str. Acquiring an All Purpose Tool can provide Shillelagh to not need GoOP.

    Why do this at all? Arcane Firearm, whether you tap your rapier with it as your Artificer-required tool material component, or whether it itself is the staff you go bonking people with Booming Blade, provides an extra 1d8 Thunder damage. Force Ballista's built in knockback has no save. Put those together with Faerie Fire, and you have a pretty reliable chunk of damage every round alongside a semi-reliable BB rider proc.

    Questions:

    • is Shillelagh via APT viable here? Since you can't cast Shillelagh and Faerie Fire on the same turn, setup feels bad.
    • would some other pushback, like Crusher, be more effective?
    • is being ranged overall, with ranged cantrips, just better damage faster (i.e. by dropping Gunner and maxing Int faster)?
    1
    3d6 @ttrpg.network FearfulSalad @ttrpg.network
    [5e] Optimizing the Stonespeaker Crystal

    Much of the time I think of items as addons to a build, and focus on the race, class, and feat progression when planning. However, in both Westmarches and many standard canpaigns, it is not unreasonable to be able to buy, craft, or at least request some specific items, at least going up to Rare rarity. That got me thinking about trying to optimize a build around the item, rather than the other way around.

    Out of the Abyss provides a unique and interesting Rare item, the Stonespeaker Crystal. It has 10 charges, regains ~7 per day, allows spending some charges to cast the three Speak With spells, and, most importantly, allows expending a number of charges equal to a divination spell's level to replace one consumed spell component. The following divination spells have consumed spell compoments:

    • Divination (4) 25gp¹
    • Fortune's Favor (2) 100gp
    • Legend Lore (5) 250gp
    • True Seeing (6) 25gp

    ¹uses two components with combined cost of 25gp, so the crystal can only replace one of them.

    If you play with EGtW, the obvious use case for this is the Graviturgy or Chronurgy Wizard, getting Fortune's Favor (upcastable for more targets, letting you safely cover a party at least once per day with a 1-hour long Lucky d20 each). You also get Legend Lore (cast for free once per day to keep improving your results about the same thing) as well as True Seeing as a Wizard, and since TCoE expanded Wizard spells to include Divination, you don't even need Ritual Caster Cleric to get the full set. It's nice to have the crystal on a Wizard who normally doesn't get Speak with Animals or Speak with Plants too.

    The most broken use of this item that I can think of is, conveniently, with Chronurgy's Arcane Abeyance on Fortune's Favor. Cast Fortune's Favor at 5th level on four members of the party, and then also save a bead with a 4th level casting to re-up three party members' Lucky dice mid-combat, increasing the likelihood they actually use them. Between that, Chronal Shift, Silvery Barbs, and Convergent Future, you might as well be the DM now.

    Even without EGtW, a Divination Wizard can benefit greatly from the Stonespeaker Crystal thanks to Expert Divination, effectively reducing the total burned cost of Legend Lore to one fifth of a spell slot. Again, after enough castings, you at least know as much as the DM does, and with Portent and Silvery Barbs can control the outcome somewhat.

    Did I miss any synergies worth exploring?

    3
    3d6 @ttrpg.network FearfulSalad @ttrpg.network
    [5e][PF2e] How would you build Ciri? (No spoilers)

    (In the absense of a WhatWouldYouBuild type of community, I figure 3d6 is the closest place here for such things, but correct me if I'm wrong.)

    How would you build, in either D&D 5e or Pathfinder 2e, Cirilla of Cintra, based on her powers and abilities exhibited in the beginning of season 3 of The Witcher? She had the battle-prowess of a witcher, but she doesn't use her magic in combat. Her magic is powerful enough to stand against very strong sorcerers, but seems to mostly be reactionary rather than intentional.

    9
    3d6 @ttrpg.network FearfulSalad @ttrpg.network
    [5e] Optimizing around Fear and Sentinel

    5e's Fear has the added mechanic of requiring the target to take the Dash action and run away, unless there is nowhere to run. This can cause some DMs to rule Oath of Conquest's aura as allowing the target to use its action for other things. But with Sentinel's reaction causing movement speed to drop to zero, that wouldn't trigger until after the Dash action had been used--creating an optimizable opportunity.

    My current build idea for this is a Hexblade 1 / Whispers Bard X, choosing to be Custom Lineage to grab Sentinel at level 1. This means that Cha can be maxed by 9 (rather than 13), the build is Cha-SAD, and you can augment your attacks with blade cantrips (yes, BB doesn't synergize with either Fear* or Sentinel, but it is still a nice chunk of scaling damage). Bard also provides Command, Dissonant Whispers, Healing Word, Psychic Blades, and eventually Find Greater Steed (to get another opportunity attack).

    (* If your DM counter-rules that Fear, Command, Dissonant Whispers, etc should proc Booming Blade, definitely opt for a reach weapon. That way BB procs when they move 5ft away, and then you lock them down with Sentinel at 10.)

    The primary drawback is a lack of reliable advantage, so even though Psychic Blades add another layer of damage, missing on an opportunity attack risks them breaking Fear.

    Thoughts on how to optimize around Fear+Sentinel, either by improving this build, or through some other means?

    5
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)FE
    FearfulSalad @ttrpg.network
    Posts 6
    Comments 43