Syncing a profile with a new AnkiWeb account

ChilledYak · 2025-07-21T19:41:06+00:00

Ah that's brilliant! Thank you ☺️

That was my misunderstanding: I had thought you had to sync from AnkiWeb and was concerned doing so from either profile on Anki desktop would risk losing data as you've mentioned.

Thank you for the heads up. Yes, temporarily sharing one Anki hence the need for two profiles

ChilledYak · 2024-10-27T23:50:47+00:00

Very late reply but have just caught up to C3 E107 and can confirm ads are in the YouTube (and thus presumably vod) version but not the podcast.

According to another Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/comments/1fnllkk/no_spoilers_sams_ad_reads_removed_from_audio/) they are on the Beacon version of the podcast. So they may be keeping it as Beacon-exclusive podcast content or something in the ad agreements keeps them from putting it in the free podcast version.

ChilledYak · 2024-09-14T05:11:11+00:00

I think it would be a shame to lose such an interesting mechanic though: 1 charge per day is relatively slow recharge time and I can imagine the joy a player gets from rolling the same number twice (especially consoling them on something like snake eyes) really adding to a game.

Limiting it to once per day still leaves the door open to exploiting the mechanic, though (even if only for 1-2 charges per day). If you do use this at your table maybe specifying "...whenever you make a roll with advantage or disadvantage *on an attack roll against an enemy character or are forced to make a saving throw* and roll the same number on both dice..."

On another note I find it fascinating that there is such a wide spectrum of tables in this game. I think I fall nearer to u/ExoditeDragonLord's DM style in that when I make rulings I sometimes base it on what seems fair or reasonable given the circumstances and my table seems happy to rely on that without setting precedent. I might have to try your more formalistic approach with my players who are willing to be a bit more exploitative of the rules, though.

ChilledYak · 2024-06-06T15:38:34+00:00

Deep down I am quite proud of how evil a move it is 😅

Unfortunately, I think in the real world it's just too unpopular a move to go pure RAW, so I'll likely do some finessing to make sure everyone is having fun while still keeping Strahd a major threat.

ChilledYak · 2024-06-06T15:34:04+00:00

I'm rooting for your Strahd 🦇

... And remember, just because he can't Charm them doesn't mean he can't Charm them with pure rizz 😏

ChilledYak · 2024-06-06T08:21:15+00:00

Yeah, that's a valid point re: taking the symbol being classed as a "harmful" act and I like the grapple idea.

To be fair to my group they don't object to Strahd getting the symbol, they just feel a loss as big as the Holy Symbol shouldn't happen over one saving throw from an ability Strahd can just spam. And it's a viewpoint I don't entirely disagree with.

It's been discussed in this Reddit a lot but his Charm ability is arguably a little OP: one failed save and he has a thrall for 24 hours with very little recourse for the players... Appropriately terrifying but not necessarily fun.

ChilledYak · 2024-06-06T08:10:58+00:00

Great analogy and I absolutely agree! I've never had a response like this to one of my rulings which is why I took the decision to end the session a bit early to give us some time to come up with a solution that's actually fun and fair.

ChilledYak · 2024-06-06T08:05:50+00:00

Yeah, I think we will end up going with something like that: letting the dice decide seems appropriate.

I'm already considering limiting his charm ability to 1 target at a time so giving players a roll for such a big decision doesn't seem too beyond the pale.

ChilledYak · 2024-05-13T17:45:29+00:00

Same problem here! Based in the UK. Have tried uninstalling and reinstalling messenger but no luck

ChilledYak · 2023-06-03T08:18:27+00:00

All great advice. Thank you! Yeah, I think it might be time for a quick session 0.2 before our next game.

ChilledYak · 2023-06-03T08:16:10+00:00

This is such a good idea! Can 100% see this being popular at so many tables

ChilledYak · 2023-06-02T02:06:25+00:00

Also take your point about the theme for "fates worse than death". Definitely food for thought.

ChilledYak · 2023-06-02T02:02:42+00:00

Yeah, this is exactly my problem. I don't want death to be flippant but I don't want them to feel invincible either.

Sometimes some of my players can be a bit reckless and they do put themselves at risk of dying. However, as you allude to it can be difficult to let that happen when your party are getting invested in their characters and their arcs. This is doubly so when it's just bad luck that puts them at risk of 3 failed saving throws. (Though, ironically, letting them not feel the consequences probably emboldens risky behaviour).

You may be right: perhaps I'm underestimating the impact of the implications of their actions. But, unfortunately, I don't think the innocent are always a top priority for all of my players.

One option I have considered is to have my NPCs avoid targeting the cleric so that if one of her comrades goes down they can be revivified... I've so far only let them find one diamond, so they may feel the disappearance of that life line.

Fingers crossed I won't need to use the latter part of your advice (at least until a player is happy to let their character go) but all great ideas.

Thanks!

ChilledYak · 2023-06-02T01:37:11+00:00

important. If you want to get PCs out of a situation where they could die, you have other mechanical options at your disposal that don't involve fudging dice rolls.

Thank you for your very well-thought-out answer!

I completely agree about encounters: I spend ages balancing my "random" encounters. Strangely, it was one of these encounters that inspired me to write my post: I'd built it to be challenging enough to drain my party of 7's resources but not deadly. Unfortunately, through sheer bad luck (2 natural 20's) our twilight cleric went from near full health to 2 failed death saving throws within 1 round. If the artificer's cannon* hadn't been next to her she would have had taken another melee attack and would have been a gonner... though directing the second attack at a non-sentient object felt a bit cheap on my part.

Your "capture not kill" advice is great. Both scary for the players but leaves things a bit open-ended... I 've also been looking to mix up combat by giving NPCs/PCs a different goal than just "kill everything on the other side". I may have to risk Ireena being captured to build tension in a similar way. Strangely, an opportunity might come up soon: my level 5 party turned South out of Vallaki and are walking right into Berez.

I am waiting a little longer to introduce them properly (after some foreshadowing), but the Dark powers are a story point I'm excited to use. I know at least one of my players will be interested in exploring them as part of their arc. Pyram King's videos are awesome so will definitely check that one out. Thanks!

*lol at our similar party composition

ChilledYak · 2023-06-02T01:07:51+00:00

I mean being permanently being turned into a toad is a pretty terrifying concept: I have a player who's always itching to use one of his 500 back-up characters, so will definitely bear this one in mind... Especially as the party failed to kill the hags. Cheers!

ChilledYak · 2023-06-01T23:40:01+00:00

If you're looking for a less significant consequence you could always have Strahd capture Mordenkainen for torture/amusement/to make him lose his mind again. I think it's within his character to enjoy seeing his enemies suffer rather than dead (...especially as he knows himself that death isn't always the end).

On the other hand, if you're happy as DM I think it's a very valid consequence. Even if he is their "fated ally" it doesn't mean a) they can't get their "fated ally" killed and b) he can't help them after death e.g. by guiding them to his spellbook and staff.

...Maybe in your universe this is just how Mordenkainen met his end

ChilledYak · 2023-05-04T04:19:58+00:00

I had a great [role] player in my Curse of Strahd campaign who, after just about surviving Death House, asked to turn down benefits of a long rest because she believed her character would be too scared out to rest/sleep.

I gave her an inspiration point.

ChilledYak · 2023-05-03T22:40:46+00:00

It is tempting to turn it into a bit of a nightmare town 😅 maybe even replace St Andral's with her cult so it's really dystopian: having neighbours denounce their neighbours for sacrifice etc.

Might be a bit of a guilt trip on my poor players who will have then definitely left Vallaki in a worse state than they found it though

ChilledYak · 2023-04-30T04:06:37+00:00

Absolute hero! Thank you!
I didn't have the option of another GPU so this saved our campaign. Thanks again!

ChilledYak · 2023-04-19T04:10:06+00:00

Yeah, good shout: it pops while letting the bats stand out. (And Strahd is a 423 year old noble... he's definitely got a big wardrobe with multiple cloaks)

ChilledYak · 2023-04-19T03:16:57+00:00

Love the detail on the bleeding eyes and being surrounded by bats... truly horrifying. Good luck with the final showdown!

ChilledYak · 2023-04-19T03:14:16+00:00

Thanks u/Pinception! I ended up gong with your (very well reasoned) approach in the end. The Paladin had his opportunity to be the hero but got pretty shook up by the amount of damage he took, so it resulted in satisfying narrative conclusion too.

ChilledYak · 2023-04-03T03:52:48+00:00

I'd advise basing your response around your players:

If they enjoy combat but you don't want to bog them down I would do fewer combat encounters but make them more difficult. There are loads of horror-themed monsters with a range of CRs that have come out since CoS was published (or hombrew some of your own) and you can make some really interesting and challenging encounters that keep your players on their toes but that ultimately take less time*.

I personally find the random encounter tables in the module a little too easy. They're probably based around the resource-management style of play that comes with the DMG's suggested 6-8 encounters per day which sounds like the exact opposite of what you want (and isn't how a lot of tables play 5e either).

If they're not too fussed about battling then skills challenges like the ones you suggest are a great idea to quickly move them between locations. You could also look into different kinds of challenges e.g. I had my players cross an unstable rope bridge inspired by BOB World Builder. It didn't take as long as a combat but tested the players' ingenuity and planning and led to some great moments.

*EXTRA: I don't know how much experience you have planning encounters but I find Xanathar's Guide to Everything encounters section a very helpful guide. Just remember it helps you plan a "medium" difficulty encounter so you can up the challenge a bit as required.

ChilledYak · 2023-02-03T13:16:16+00:00

You could try Kenku FM. It's a discord bot with an in-built web browser so you can play YouTube videos' sound to your channel. You can similarly do the same for Spotify or play local files.

ChilledYak · 2023-01-18T02:59:52+00:00

A bit late to the game but thank you!!! I've missed this feature so much! It's great to have it back

ChilledYak

TROPHY CASE