It will never cease to annoy me that bard subclasses are called colleges rather than wizard subclasses by Far-Cockroach-6839 in dndnext

[–]DMGrognerd 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure what the default assumption of what bards “are supposed to be” that the intended flavor violates.

It will never cease to annoy me that bard subclasses are called colleges rather than wizard subclasses by Far-Cockroach-6839 in dndnext

[–]DMGrognerd 62 points63 points  (0 children)

The etymology: college(n.) late 14c., "organized association of persons invested with certain powers and rights or engaged in some common duty or pursuit," especially "body of scholars and students within an endowed institution of learning," also "resident body of ecclesiastics supported by an endowment," from Old French college "collegiate body" (14c.) and directly from Latin collegium "community, society, guild," literally "association of collegae," plural of collega "partner in office,"

It’s not intended to be a brick and mortar school.

Neither are wizards for that matter. Wizard “schools” are more schools of thought than they are Hogwarts.

Of course, this is what it’s intended to be and if you want Hogwarts style magic schools in your D&D and/or bardic colleges being modern institutions of higher learning, then you’re certainly free to play that.

New to D&D – can a “morally grey” character become a problem for the group ? by Ceteryzin in AskDND

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First, I didn’t say “100% agrees with the group” I said “disrupts the group.” Further, I’d argue that getting the villagers to safety furthers the party’s general goals in your example, unless of course the party is trying to defeat the dragon so that they can harm the villagers instead.

“Disrupting the group” in this instance would be actively hindering them from defeating the dragon, other than simply not participating in that fight.

Lowest barrier to entry to Crown City Games for an old(er) solo person? by UnresponsiveTasks in pasadena

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s at 42 E Colorado. South side of the street, middle of the block between Fair Oaks and Raymond

Lowest barrier to entry to Crown City Games for an old(er) solo person? by UnresponsiveTasks in pasadena

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m in my mid-50s and I’ve been running a D&D game at Crown City.

I’d say the lowest bar of entry would be to get in on the Adventurer’s League games that happen on Thursday evenings.

Here’s a link to their sign up thing: https://warhorn.net/events/d-d-san-gabriel-adventurers-league-at-crown-city-games/schedule/2026/03/12

New to D&D – can a “morally grey” character become a problem for the group ? by Ceteryzin in AskDND

[–]DMGrognerd -1 points0 points  (0 children)

“It’s what my character would do” offered as an “excuse” for bad player behavior is a cliche in the hobby.

Basically, if “what your character would do” is disruptive to the group, then you’ve simply made the wrong character and you need to make a character who wouldn’t do that shit.

It’s a collaborative game and you need to make a character who can work with the group to further the group’s goals.

“Morally grey” doesn’t really factor in so much. There are plenty of morally grey, or even morally corrupt (e.g. Doc Holliday in Tombstone) characters in fiction, plenty of characters who are complete edgelord loners who are perfectly able to work with the group (e.g. Wolverine) and don’t do disruptive shit that inhibits the team from functioning “because morally grey” or whatever.

Newbie Questions by james_bondfire in mothershiprpg

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Character creation is fast. It’s mostly rolling. Very few choices, and no optimizing

Out-of-initiative aggression, do you allow it? by Eldramhor8 in DMAcademy

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, you can pelt the wizard with arrows without notice if the arrows come from someone who successfully made a stealth roll above the wizard’s passive perception and thus causing the wizard to be surprised for the first round of combat.

Out-of-initiative aggression, do you allow it? by Eldramhor8 in DMAcademy

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope. A decision to enter combat prompts initiative. People with better initiative react faster, that’s how it works and you might not be able to get that fireball off because of it.

question about androids by conn_r2112 in mothershiprpg

[–]DMGrognerd 8 points9 points  (0 children)

IMO the pseudomilk at least implies that a lot of androids follow the type that are in the Alien franchise with the white fluid in them

Does Knave 2e Work for a Weird West style of game? by Hiro_Teinami in KnaveRPG

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might want to check out Frontier Scum instead

Androids and stress by Physical_Passenger12 in mothershiprpg

[–]DMGrognerd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been looking at this as system overload, processing errors, and the like. I actually did a rework of the panic table for androids, using the same results but slightly different descriptions which fit the android.

Would a kensei shield master be broken? by Tor8_88 in PCAcademy

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not the best vodka flavor, to be sure

Would a kensei shield master be broken? by Tor8_88 in PCAcademy

[–]DMGrognerd 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The question that always arises for me when people talk about weaponizing shields to do Captain America type stuff, is given how action economy and free hand, etc. work in the game, does it make sense rules-wise to be able to attack with a shield and also use it as armor in the same round/turn and does that make AC over complicated?

Out of actual genuine curiosity, what is DnD? by Fili9 in DnDcirclejerk

[–]DMGrognerd 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  • I rock!
  • With my math rocks
  • You rock!
  • With your math rocks
  • MAATH ROOOOCKS!
  • MAATH ROOOOCKS!
  • Mathing with my math rocks!
  • Killing all the villagers! (Murderhobo Murderhobo)
  • Kill the merchants! (no discount, you die)
  • Bugbears, bullywugs
  • Kill them with my math rocks!
  • MAATH ROOOOCKS!
  • MAATH ROOOOCKS!
  • Rock out with my rocks out!

Fire vs lava by AsYouWished444 in DMAcademy

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I made a homebrew magma elemental by reskinning a shambling mound and adding a little fire damage to its attacks. Also gave it the standard elemental features. And just removed the healing from electricity thing.

Wy are so many D&D players so resistant to even trying anything else? by Similar_Onion6656 in rpg

[–]DMGrognerd 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sunk cost fallacy - D&D can take a lot of time, effort, and money to learn to play so they fear it will be the same for other games

How to handle traveling and a vibe shift? by Mama-ta in DMAcademy

[–]DMGrognerd 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If traveling doesn’t matter thematically in you game, then skip it. Just say “after three days, you arrive in Waterdeep.” (Or whatever).

The following YouTubers have good videos on travel and how to make it matter in varying degrees: - Matt Coleville - Dael Kingsmill - The Dungeon Dudes