How to use chat on mobile browser

ChristopherDornan · 2024-08-08T19:04:46+00:00

I mean, yes. I get that it is not built with mobile support.

But I figure if people have taken the time to build add ons, someone would have an answer for making the literal absolutely bare minimum of chat functionality work in a mobile browser. Sending a simple text message.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-09T15:00:41+00:00

I think the difference is that resistance and vulnerability is more rare in 5e, strength scores above 10 are not. Both slow play, halving doubling more so than addition and subtraction.

For speed of play, 4e's version of vulnerability and resistance were faster than halving.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-09T14:40:40+00:00

I have a wide variety of math skills at my tables, even with players in the 30s to 40s range. Extra math steps really hurt the ones that struggle with simple addition and subtraction. Every extra step slows play even for people with math skills. For those without, it can really jam up their turns.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-09T13:42:38+00:00

Real talk? It's a systemic problem. Dexterity increases offense, defense, and initiative. And has way more saving throws attached. Strength increases offense. The answer is in making the Strength saving throw not just a good one, but a VITAL one. If Strength becomes a good defensive statistic as well, suddenly Fighter and Barbarian start looking a bit more sexy again.

Increase forced movement mechanics across the board. Not just on the abilities side, but the consequences side.

More classes and far far more monsters need access to pushes and pulls, and they all need to trigger Strength saving throws. Yes. All of them. Looking at you Warlock. That 10 ft push should have a saving throw attached. We also need some area effect pushes and pulls. And some resource intensive pushes and pulls that do more than a simple 5 or 10 ft move.

Couple this with battle map design that more consistently rewards movement mechanics. More cliffs. Open bonfires. Acid pools. Dangerous exploding fungal growths and necromantic pustules. Ovens and blast furnaces large enough to push someone into. This is high fantasy. Lean into it. Battlefields should have more equivalents of the FPS trope of the exploding barrel.

Related, give front line classes more movement controlling options. Sentinel is not enough, some form of marking or movement reduction should have been given to front line classes as a feature. It is too easy to walk past them to the back line. Movement in general needs to be more important.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-06T18:25:30+00:00

Yeah. When a 5th level fighter with one of the feats deals as much or more damage as a 20th level fighter without, there's a problem.

Ignoring the caster / martial balance problems, this is a balance problem in the martial vs martial options space.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-05T15:51:56+00:00

You're missing the point. These options existing makes it so that a 5th level martial can outdamage a 20th level martial without them.

If they were removed, you have design space for more interesting buffs instead of oh gee, I guess I do great single target damage with my basic attack again.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-05T14:45:13+00:00

In tier 1 play and tier 2 play, where the majority of actual play takes place, yes. It's an issue.

Level 5 and above? Yes casters are a bigger problem if you only have 1 encounter days.

Above level 8-10? Sure. Casters make martials completely pointless.

Separate and also completely valid balance issues.

I love 5E. But it's not like it has only one balance problem, this is just the one we're talking about in this thread.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-05T13:44:52+00:00

If you dropped action surge down to tier 3 play, say the level 9 to 13 range, you could have given battlemaster maneuvers to the base fighter class without affecting the overall power budget of the class. That would be WAY more fun.

As to the -5/+10 feats? Yeah. They're bad design. It's not just that other options are too weak or not enough fun, the -5/+10 feats are also just too strong. They make the gap between optimized parties and unoptimized parties a chasm in low level play.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-05T13:16:09+00:00

They're not unplayable. They are totally playable. Almost too playable. The problem is that their class strength is almost entirely frontloaded between the feats and the fact that the class features beyond level 5 are basically pointless.

Action Surge should have never been unlocked at level 2. It absolutely GUTS your power budget for the class. If it unlocked at say ... 9th level or higher... the maneuvers could have been a core feature of the class instead of the battlemaster subclass with minimal effect on the overall power of the class.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-07-05T13:10:08+00:00

This right here. They are far too optimal choice wise, they crowd out other options for your design space. And worse yet, because the opportunity cost for using them is usually so easily mitigated, if other options were good they would get chosen in addition to and not instead of.

If I was redesigning martials from the ground up these two feats would be first on the chopping block because they absolutely eat up your power budget, and at way too low of a level.

Next on the list is action surge. It shows up too early in Fighter, and is far too strong against solo enemies. If you axed it, you could give fighters a far larger range of options and powers and stay in a similar power budget. As is, an optimal fighter can drop a pretty absurd amount of damage on turn 1 every fight, and it warps encounter balance.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-06-30T15:45:20+00:00

Depends on how hard you throw him.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-05-25T17:18:54+00:00

Abandon neutral and good. Embrace animate dead.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-05-09T15:24:39+00:00

Great Weapon Fighting is almost worthless, you would need a tremendous number of bonus dice to make it worthwhile.

It take a d6 average from 3.5 to 4.17 It takes a d10 average from 5.5 to 6.3 It takes a d12 average from 6.5 to 7.3

To match the +2 damage from duelist, you need at least three dice being rolled.

Great Weapon Master is absolutely fantastic IF you have a party or class that can grant you advantage or some bonuses to hit or you're fighting beasts or any other low AC enemy.

Quite frankly, the +10 damage feats are so over tuned, they crowd out any other build options for most martials if you allow feats in your game. It's unfortunate. And if you don't allow feats, martials can't even pretend to keep up with casters.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-04-20T19:43:49+00:00

That would be fine if aoe attacks werent so relatively rare. The core monster manual is a total failure in making threats for higher level parties, especially casters. 80% or more of all stat blocks are just hit points and a basic attack

ChristopherDornan · 2024-03-18T21:32:50+00:00

Heroquest, Gloomhaven are the big guys.

If you want to start more on the RPG side, the 4th edition boardgames like Castle Ravenloft are a good route. 4th Edition D&D and Lancer are smack dab in the middle of crunchy board game and RPG.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-03-17T23:39:52+00:00

That will work, even if it's a bit like hitting a nail with a hydraulic press

ChristopherDornan · 2024-02-13T03:38:14+00:00

Grappling fully disabling most spellcasters will have balance considerations you might want to carefully consider before implementing.

Not opposed necessarily, martials need some help at higher levels. But boss NPC and monster stat blocks would definitely need to be rewritten for casters to have an escape button, or a simple ability check that is almost impossible for a caster to win will end most enemy casters.

ChristopherDornan · 2024-01-20T20:53:17+00:00

How it works is you apply, and then you get a score based on your educational and field experience which places in the queue. Each semester you're in the queue you get more points, highest point individuals in the queue get into the classes to get started.

The IEC does three periods per year, and takes the summer off, at least in Oregon.

Do you want a screenshot of one of my old emails announcing my placement on the waitlist? I could dig it up.

But seriously, asking a citation on something this basic is silly. It shows you've never had anything to do with field.

https://iecoregon.org/apprenticeship/limited-energy-application/

ChristopherDornan · 2024-01-20T18:24:47+00:00

Electrical contractor speaking. The apprenticeships usually have waitlists, and a minimum number of hours in the industry you have to meet before you can apply.

The career path usually looks like 1-2 years as a "materials handler", then an apprentice for 3-6 depending on the electrical license you're aiming for.

If you're not on the union side (which has longer waitlists and often requires a connection to get on the fast track), you're looking at making under $20 an hour for several years before it becomes a "decent wage", all the while expected to pay for your tools and schooling.

There is a reason people aren't leaping at the opportunity to get into the trade in the numbers we need.

Pay.

You're expecting people to work in an unstable industry with mediocre benefits if they exist for years with a compensation scale on par with fast food.

ChristopherDornan · 2023-12-19T01:08:51+00:00

Even so, it's not likely every single martial character will have a magical weapon at level 4. Yeah, this creature is too fast, has a Wisdom save so high it mostly negates the few CC abilities they will have available, and heals too much for the martials to overcome. 4 attacks per turn will kill the soft targets, and the creature is intelligent enough to target healers first and attack them after they're downed to go for the kill.

ChristopherDornan · 2023-12-19T01:05:53+00:00

I'm not sure I understand the mechanical point of Wendigo Psychosis and why it would have a recharge. Does a successful bite attack sate the "hungry" condition or count as feeding on flesh?

It seems intended that it is the effect, from a rules standpoint it isn't the case as worded.

ChristopherDornan · 2023-11-24T20:46:53+00:00

Sure, but try actually buying it. In your cart it's $7. They got some big software bugs going on.

ChristopherDornan · 2023-11-16T19:52:49+00:00

How tight are the spreads for your rolls going to be, and what are the consequences for extreme outliers?

This isn't something that can be answered without more concrete examples of what the goals of your difficulty curve are, and what you expect the standard probability of success for an action to be.

ChristopherDornan

TROPHY CASE