Want to play Dungeons and Dragons 5E?

[Troy]

And btw Troy, can I start rolling Investigative instead of Perception when we walk into an area? I get 0 Perception bonus, but I'm a +5 on Investigative. Are they really that different? Koban's class, skills, and alignment all point to him being into mysteries and whatnot, but he can't walk into a room and see anything? Is he Mr. Magoo?

We can have major leeway with it. The guidelines I always heard was that Perception is noticing something that you haven't seen yet, like something that is hidden or picking up on someone who is lying. Investigation is taking the thing you've seen and then figuring out what it means. With investigation you usually have to have at least an idea or a clue, to be doing it.

It's not too late for you guys to change your skills if you want, too.

[Cakedaddy]

My take on Perception and Investigation: Perception is passive and broad. You just notice stuff. Investigation is active, your focus is much more. . . focused. You aren't going to walk into a room and notice the body in the corner was stabbed in the back seven times, has been dead for about 3 days, has $7 and pictures of his kids in his wallet, looks to be about 37, and was clutching a ring in his pocket. But your perception would allow you to see the body that was quickly hidden in the corner under a pile of dirty laundry.

So to me, you would perceive something, and then investigate it.

My take on Chaotic Good - Roz Al Ghoul (or however you spell Christian Bale's Batman's nemesis). He wants to fix society and all of its wrongs. And goes batshit crazy doing it. The ends (a repaired society) justify the means (destroying a city to make a point). So, maybe you do kill someone in the party (me) because I became evil and you are good. BD would probably join you.

Necro and good and evil. The handbook says something like "non-evil wizards don't use it very much", or "Only the evilest of wizards make regular use of it". I'm having trouble finding a Lawful/Evil example though.

As you said, I CAN use the dark arts without going bad! Just like I could handle using the ring in LotR without going Smeagle. IF using necro started turning me evil, the DM would have to enforce it somehow. . . without me knowing? My mind is being corrupt, etc. Not sure how this is done. I can only come up with Troy is telling me, and I have to RP that I don't know. I guess maybe by manipulating rolls by giving me +1 when doing bad things, but -1 when doing good? Somehow hurting those I care about forcing me to decide to keep doing the stuff (because it's also killing the monsters) or not hurting you guys any more? You guys keep ragging on me cause I'm desecrating graves or you cheer me on because I'm getting shit done? If you guys cheer me on, and you being sucked into evil too? This will be tricky and Troy will have to figure something out. Do we declare our specialties as well? Do I let people know I'm going Necro? I'm guessing not. . . can be implied in our backstory or something. Because I can take the Necro spell without going Necro wizard, I just get some undead bonuses.

But over all, I'm a good guy. I just see the power of the dark side. And we'll have to RP the intervention and possible removal of a party member. If I go Sith Lord and you guys won't stand for it, then Alex will curse you all and make sure you know "You'll see!". And then I reroll another character, do some artificial leveling, we meet at the bar, and we carry on. Because, just between you and me, I do plan to go full necro, because I believe I can keep the powers in check.

[Leisher]

It's not too late for you guys to change your skills if you want, too.

When is the next session?

So to me, you would perceive something, and then investigate it.

That sounds logical.

My take on Chaotic Good - Roz Al Ghoul (or however you spell Christian Bale's Batman's nemesis).

Did you read my post? There's a link in there to fictional characters based on alignment. Batman is Chaotic Good, not Ra's Al Ghul. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Ra's would be Lawful Evil like Lex Luthor.

IF using necro started turning me evil, the DM would have to enforce it somehow. . . without me knowing? My mind is being corrupt, etc. Not sure how this is done. I can only come up with Troy is telling me, and I have to RP that I don't know. I guess maybe by manipulating rolls by giving me +1 when doing bad things, but -1 when doing good?

Yeah, I assume Troy would start having you make saving throws without telling you why. Remember, Ra's, Lex Luthor, etc. don't think they're the evil ones...

Do we declare our specialties as well?

Good question. I don't think you HAVE to, but you need to tell the party some of your skills. So with my Rogue, I could actually specialize in pickpocket and not tell any of you that. Then later, if the party found something amazing, I could whisper to the DM and he could privately roll a pickpocketing attempt by me. (I'm NOT going to do that, but that's an example.)

So I guess your back story to the party needs to be as truthful as you want it to be, but the back story to the DM has to be 100% factual.

But over all, I'm a good guy. I just see the power of the dark side. And we'll have to RP the intervention and possible removal of a party member. If I go Sith Lord and you guys won't stand for it, then Alex will curse you all and make sure you know "You'll see!". And then I reroll another character, do some artificial leveling, we meet at the bar, and we carry on. Because, just between you and me, I do plan to go full necro, because I believe I can keep the powers in check.

I am honestly thrilled to watch this play out. Will you turn? If so, will we know? When will we know? Will we know before you do?

[Cakedaddy]

To DM: Can a wizard bank spell choices for later? In many RPG games I play, when I level, I don't spend all of my points waiting for higher level/better stuff to show up later. Then I know I have a bunch of points saved up to spend on better stuff.

Each time you gain a wizard level, you can add two wizard spells of your choice to your spell book. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table

Since it says "you can" instead of "you must", can I bank those choices? When I hit level 7 and I have access to level 4 spells, I would have banked points allowing me to pick a bunch of 4th level spells at that time, instead of the 2 that I would normally have. On one hand, it could lead to an OP wizard having access to more 4th level spells than he should. But on the other hand, I've been gimped for a really long time thus justifying some OPness?

I did google this, and didn't see any matching questions to get a good answer.

[Troy]

You can do it each time you gain a wizard level. Either do it or don't.

No magical bank of Wells Fargo.

[Troy]

When is the next session?

I have it set for Friday, 3/2 at 9PM EST right now. Let me know how that works for people.

[Stranger]

really good article i read earlier today on social interations in D&D, read it.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/143-cha ... actions-in

[Stranger]

Troy wrote:
Source of the post It's not too late for you guys to change your skills if you want, too.


When is the next session?

we can't just pick our skill can we? i mean we have certain skill we are good at because of our class and the others are from the background you choose and from your proficiency bonuses, am i right on that?

[Cakedaddy]

My characters says:

Skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, and Religion

Speaking of which, Troy, when you setup my character sheet, you picked 4 skills. I didn't see anything about a modifier that gave me two more. Did I miss something? The above is the only thing I've seen about picking skills. Is there a general, overall rule that is mentioned somewhere else that gave me two more?

[Cakedaddy]

And for the fighter:

Skills: Choose two skills from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, insight, intimidation, Perception, and Survival

[Troy]

PCs get skills from your Class and from your Background. I've preseleceted most of yours with the class default.

[Troy]

Troy wrote:
Source of the post It's not too late for you guys to change your skills if you want, too.


When is the next session?

we can't just pick our skill can we? i mean we have certain skill we are good at because of our class and the others are from the background you choose and from your proficiency bonuses, am i right on that?

E: re-reading this. Yeah, you usually have to take a specific set. You can usually find a background that has a combination of strange skills, if that's what you want.

[TheCatt]

You can do it each time you gain a wizard level. Either do it or don't.

No magical bank of Wells Fargo.

I think you mean Spells Fargo, amirite?

[Troy]

Yes, excellent.

Zelda has a +4 to perception without picking it as a skill.

[Stranger]

I watched this round table discussion last night and they talked about something that we never discussed as a group and i think it needs to be addressed.

What happens when we die???

Really, core D&D rules means that's it, your done, gone from the game. You've gotta roll a new character and start from there. They bring up the fact that death brings a certain levity to the game and really makes your choices mean something. But also, it could mean that you could've just gotten really unlucky dice rolls and nothing you could've done would've made a difference.

Obviously, we're more of a casual group and really first timers to D&D, but i think we all like the thought of real danger and consequences. So maybe a death means you lose one permanent constitution point or you only have so many deaths across the life of your character before being done for good.

You can probably fast forward the first 10-15 mins of the video before they really get into the subject and they talk about it for a good 45 mins, its really worth the watch.

[Leisher]

I like the idea of removing Constitution points. It's punishment for dying, but allows for a streak of bad luck with saving throws.

I actually think it is a worse punishment than actually killing the character. I mean, if your character dies, you just re-roll a new one, and if we're in a campaign they get re-rolled to the appropriate level. Something Cake alluded to earlier.

What is "dying" though? HP reaching zero or -10? Once you reach -10, what needs to happen to resurrect you? Do we have the spells or items necessary? Would our characters have to leave the campaign to find a church/healer? Does that give monsters a chance to respawn?

[TheCatt]

You've gotta roll a new character and start from there. They bring up the fact that death brings a certain levity to the game and really makes your choices mean something. But also, it could mean that you could've just gotten really unlucky dice rolls and nothing you could've done would've made a difference.

I think you mean gravity, not levity.

[Troy]

What is "dying" though? HP reaching zero or -10? Once you reach -10, what needs to happen to resurrect you? Do we have the spells or items necessary? Would our characters have to leave the campaign to find a church/healer? Does that give monsters a chance to respawn?

Incapacitate (0HP)
I think everyone gets this now. We've all now experienced what it feels like when members of the party are incapacitated (0 hp), and then have to make death savings throw while ya'll run around to Benny Hill Music.

DYING

Two ways of dying I know:

1) Receiving damage in the negative equal to your HP. Insta gibbed for tons of damage. Be careful who you fight. Powerful monsters usually have some kind of warning signs.

2) Three failed saving throws while incapacitated in a fight (initiative order).

Normal rules up to this point.

What if death happens? Well, the campaign setting has specific rules on death. I'll try to implement them if and when it happens. I think the party will not be high enough level to cast Resurrection themselves for a while. Luckily in most D&D worlds there are various NPCs who could help, if they can be convinced to. You have to find them, and figure out what they would want in exchange.

[Troy]

Oh and you could always roll a new guy. If you feel your death was stylish, and memorable. Close the narrative. Just be sure the party does Last Rights on the body. And buries it deep.

[Leisher]

I went into this with a curious mind figuring it might be alright. Now I'm legit bummed we're not playing this weekend.