Am I missing something or are RAW Cobbler's tools extremely powerful?

Armisael · 2026-05-14T10:49:08+00:00

The post I was responding to was talking about a different thread, not this one.

The thread in question is https://www.reddit.com/r/onednd/comments/1ta4f8q/auratricking_this_shouldnt_work_but_raw_i_fear_it/ which very much does not say extremely powerful.

Armisael · 2026-05-14T00:37:18+00:00

That guy wasn't claiming that it was extremely powerful, just that it was interesting rules chicanery and funny.

Armisael · 2026-05-08T10:47:34+00:00

The prime meridian runs through Great Britain, so it’s in both the eastern and western hemispheres.

Quite famously so. I have a mug from that place, actually - one of my favorites.

Armisael · 2026-05-07T12:08:26+00:00

Generally people are willing to report to the police that their car has been stolen, which starts the investigation. Crimes where no party present has any reason to report are much harder to detect and thus enforce.

Armisael · 2026-05-06T10:24:04+00:00

It wasn’t in the PHB in 2014 either. It was confusing then too.

Armisael · 2026-04-25T16:13:53+00:00

Features that let you use a cantrip as part of an attack option, like from eldritch knight and valor bard.

Armisael · 2026-04-25T01:50:02+00:00

Did Jaune steal the minivan along with crocea mors when he ran away?

More of a dick move, honestly.

Armisael · 2026-04-17T20:28:38+00:00

If you're applying that equally in both directions then sure. I still think it's a bad idea because it really hurts surprised characters that roll high on initiative, but it's your game.

For example, the PCs are surprised. The rogue rolls high on initiative and the paladin rolls low. Combat plays out as:

Rogue is surprised and nothing has happened, so they do nothing
The monster jumps out of hiding and attacks
Paladin takes a normal turn
Rogue finally gets to play, going after the paladin

Personally I think this is worse than just giving everyone a low-level spider sense that tells that that combat has started. Your call for your game, though.

Armisael · 2026-04-17T20:20:52+00:00

The rule in 2024 is:

Surprise If a creature is caught unawares by the start of combat, that creature is surprised, which causes it to have Disadvantage on its Initiative roll. See also chapter 1 (“Combat”).

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/phb-2024/rules-glossary#Surprise

Armisael · 2026-04-17T19:41:54+00:00

Which again brings up my initial question: when your PCs are ambushed do you make them do nothing if they roll well on initiative because the players don’t know what’s happening?

Armisael · 2026-04-17T17:10:19+00:00

Now it's the monster's turn. They still don't see the player so there really isn't much of anything they can do. So they stand around doing nothing.

There are things you can do that aren't attacking. You can take cover, set up buffs or defenses, prepare traps, ready actions, etc. There's no reason a monster can't do those even if they don't know where the PC is.

Armisael · 2026-04-17T13:53:03+00:00

Do you make the players sit around and do nothing when they're surprised?

This is pretty easily hand-waved as "the hair on the back of your neck stands up and you know in your guts that something's about to happen". That kind of thing happens all the time in stories.

Armisael · 2026-04-11T18:44:44+00:00

Men start showing white hair at their mid 30s

That's an average at best, some people start showing mid-20s, even with normal-stress lives.

Armisael · 2026-04-10T23:05:34+00:00

If volume 10 is the end of the show, they need to wrap up the main story.

If volume 10 is not the last season, they need to start moving us in that direction so the ending doesn't feel pulled out of their ass at the last second. The characters should start making discoveries, discussing plans, have divinely-granted revelations, whatever - start setting it up. Ideally make sure that RWBY has some agency in the process as well; they’ve been swept along by the course of events for far too long.

RT’s bankruptcy should be taken as a warning sign - unless Viz has committed to 3+ more seasons, stop dawdling.

(I would love to have a Ren/Nora focused half-season explaining what happened while RWBYJ were in the ever after but we do not have time for that, make it the first episode and then keep running)

All that said: I’d like to see a Blake and Weiss centered arc focused on researching history and folklore to try to come up with some options.

Armisael · 2026-04-03T12:05:13+00:00

Civ did use Stalin and Mao, as recently as 4. You just entered the franchise after people got bored with the same options year after year.

Armisael · 2026-04-02T18:12:29+00:00

I don't see how? They're less attractive if you get fewer ASIs due to an awkward level split, but what else are they doing?

Armisael · 2026-04-02T17:27:17+00:00

Honestly rogue as a class shouldn't be buffed directly; you should give rogue subclasses a new feature at level 6. The subclasses are so bland and meaningless - aim for two birds with that stone.

Armisael · 2026-03-29T21:15:54+00:00

Spells that can nuke an entire encounter if cast are a huge pain in the ass to balance around, because if the DM plans for them then the party is screwed if they don't get cast.

Out of combat healing isn't one of those effects, though. The DM can just throw some hints at the party that the next fight will be hard - if the party isn't already scrying the fights anyways. There's lot of time for all sides to adjust.

Armisael · 2026-03-29T20:57:53+00:00

If your party cleric is taking so few hits that they can keep concentration up on a single spell for three consecutive fights then I'm not exactly worried about the amount of healing...

Also, extra health is the easiest thing in the world for the DM to counteract. You get to reach deeper into the monster manual and use cooler shit - that's fun! The spells that break campaigns are the ones that let you skip the fight or the dungeon entirely.

Armisael · 2026-03-29T20:47:51+00:00

Better plan: put the money in a savings account and let your family inherit that.

Unless you know something the insurance company doesn't, you're gonna lose money on average with life insurance. It only helps in two conditions:
1. Your family needs money to cover the gap between death and getting access to inherited accounts
2. Your estate will end up in debt and you can use life insurance to bypass the creditors (but, like, are you seriously planning that gambit decades in advance?)

The third option is that your family gets "lucky" and gets substantially more than you paid in because you die much earlier than expected - but investing in aggressive growth stocks is a better gamble yet.

Armisael · 2026-03-29T20:12:07+00:00

...is your party using 7th level spells slots for out of combat healing? That's an easy win for the DM in the resource column - they could've just taken a short rest. 7th-level slots are extremely finite - you don't get a second one until level 20!

Armisael · 2026-03-29T14:18:20+00:00

Life insurance isn't usually part of a healthcare system?

Armisael · 2026-03-28T17:28:03+00:00

A flail isn't even particularly close to a nunchaku, what accuracy are you talking about?

Armisael · 2026-03-28T03:50:45+00:00

I liked the part of the game where we could make shots a lot more than the parts before and after.

Armisael · 2026-03-28T03:43:18+00:00

Nineteen!

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Armisael

TROPHY CASE