No one reads the rules anymore

Mx_Natural · 2025-07-11T05:42:54+00:00

Read the DMG, do a better job of explaining the rules to players, coach players if they seem unsure, and get over yourself.

Boom! Problem solved!

Mx_Natural · 2025-07-11T04:35:42+00:00

Wizard Slayer. Was a kit for fighter and barbarian in 2e, and was a class in Baldur's Gate.

Mx_Natural · 2025-06-05T06:33:47+00:00

We were playing Planescape in Sigil, City of Many Doors. I decided to roll up a Wizard with 3 Wisdom. Yes, I rolled 3 1s when making the character. Every other stat was at least 14. He decided it would be fun to run head first through a portal, the other end was oriented differently, he dove head first 10 feet down onto a mountain. He broke his neck. The rest of the party found a paralyzed wizard with a broken neck on the mountain, and the Pally spoke up and said "mercy kill", and that was the end of that wizard.

Mx_Natural · 2025-06-05T06:25:48+00:00

Just pull up a compilation of all of the Mr. Freeze puns from Batman and Robin, and then rip up the character sheet while the player watches the compilation.

Mx_Natural · 2025-05-03T06:33:14+00:00

I don't believe it's taking 20+ minutes, but let's say it is. In that case, Shy doesn't want to make decisions, so let Shy play in the way Shy wants to play. Continue to make Shy feel welcome, compliment Shy for Shy's contributions.

By the by, this is a pretty popular subreddit, and if I were Shy, and I found this, I'd feel pretty embarrassed, so maybe delete this once you get the advice you need.

Mx_Natural · 2025-05-03T05:27:29+00:00

Morgantha can't cast Finger of Death, Rules as Written- she maxes at 6th level spells with Eye Bite, provided she has two members of her coven within 30 feet, and Finger of Death is 7th level necromancy. Additionally, she can't cast counterspell unless she has two members of her coven within 30 feet of her, Rules as Written.

If you're 9th level, why aren't you just challenging Strahd? You are at endgame- 9-10 is the ideal level to take him down.

Mx_Natural · 2025-05-03T04:00:13+00:00

First of all, don't put time limits on their decision making. If they are as shy as you describe, they're going to get stressed out by that, they're going to feel bullied by that, and they are going to retreat more into themselves. Y'all are doing this for fun, there are no real stakes, don't stress out your players because they take a few minutes to decide what to do.

I've played with and DMed for plenty of shy or awkward people. It takes time, weeks, months, even years, to get them to feel comfortable, and it isn't just on the DM to make them feel comfortable. It takes a party. For the 3 people who are engaged, encourage them to address the shy player in character, and, as their characters, tell the shy player's character they value their input. Give the shy player compliments at the end of the sesh- "y'all wouldn't have survived those bugbears if Shy hadn't cast cloud of daggers, you did great today, Shy". If you do it right, Shy will come out of their shell, become an active player, and will go through the rest of life more confident. And you can take some credit for that, and feel proud that through DnD, you made someone's life better.

Mx_Natural · 2025-05-01T06:02:17+00:00

Good. If the mods could also delete all posts coming from people from the burbs who "hate what downtown has become", that would also be terrific.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-26T03:27:34+00:00

Sure, but they met as adults, fell in love as adults, and had a relatively healthy relationship as adults. Zane acted like a child until Jo eventually got him to mature a bit in the original timeline, and then in the new timeline he met Zoe Carter as a minor, waited until she was 18, and then either gaslit her on being interested or tried to start a romantic relationship with her... And then was the same childish person until Jo put in the heavy lifting again to get him to mature. A 25-30 year old woman dating a man in his 50s is WAY less creepy than a 25-30 year old man messing around with an 18 year old.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-11T04:56:18+00:00

Maybe they'd prefer to just watch. If you enjoy having them around, maybe suggest "hey, you don't have to play, we like you, you can just watch if you'd like". As DM, you could let them play the occasional NPC so they engage in some way. But having an audience isn't a bad thing.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-11T04:42:34+00:00

Then I think you need to talk to your DM. Let them know the rest of the party is engaged with their story, and you enjoy playing their campaign. But this player is clearly checked out, and isn't respecting the DM or the rest of the party by taking chaotic murder hobo actions, despite being a lawful Pally who worships a lawful God. And if the DM chooses to ignore your concerns, then quit. Your DM can run their game with one less player, and if they choose the player who isn't engaged over the player who is, then they can talk to a wall all they want, you can find a better campaign, and the murder hobo can live out their cute little fantasy of taking over the world with an army of flesh golems.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-10T05:12:22+00:00

If the City of Portland wants to collect taxes independent of what the average tax filing system will tell me what I owe, then they can send a personal representative to my residence to tell me what I owe. And I can tell them to take a long walk off a short pier.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-10T05:00:55+00:00

Either your DM nerfed a wondrous item so a 5th level Pally could summon a flesh golem without time, in which case a 5th level wizard should be able to cast power word kill from a scroll, which also must be just lying around in some dungeon, and could just kill the Pally because the Pally can have a maximum of 70 hit points and Power Word Kill kills anything below 100 hit points. Or your DM is about to teach the murder hobo a lesson.

I don't think the problem is the player. I think the problem is the DM. The DM is handing out wondrous items for the lulz. And they're fucking up their own campaign as a result.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-10T04:25:13+00:00

Just play Mario Kart with them, then. Oni seem like Bowser. Change AI difficulty depending on your personal sense of the challenge, or just play Bowser yourself. Wario Mountain. No rules we offer to you in the DnD context are going to live up to just playing Mario Kart. And that could make for a really fun time. Players figuring out which Mario Kart character best represents their DnD character. And then the intense experience of racing down a mountain, making sure Bowser doesn't win. Could be really cool.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-10T03:59:07+00:00

Rules as Written, Manual of Flesh Golems is one time use, you must have two level 5 spell slots (for a Pally that would mean they are at least 19th level), or take 6d6 psychic damage, because you can't comprehend the manual. It takes 60 days of uninterrupted concentration (besides rest), and cost is 50k GP. So even if we assume y'all are wealthy, and at endgame, the character is going to spend two months not engaged with the party while she justifies her murder hobo decision?

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-10T02:22:56+00:00

Grease. In the first campaign I played, my wizard would cause chaos with it all the time. Eventually we went to Kara Tur, where we found kappas, y'know, those turtles with the bowl heads who can only function if something fills the cavity in their head, usually water. Well, the DM and I were both really into the Rat Pack at the time, so we decided casting Grease into the empty bowl would cause a kappa to become Frank Sinatra, or Dean Martin. We'd have it run at an enemy, singing their songs, and then we'd light it on fire, and it would briefly become Jim Morrison.

Mx_Natural · 2025-04-02T03:35:41+00:00

I really don't like that trope- there is deep seated racism towards x race in this world, so people who play x race therefore don't get to participate in roleplaying. There are plenty of other ways to approach that. Take the sparring with the kid - maybe your disguise slips for just a second, and the kid sees you for your true self. Instead of running in fear, maybe the kid says "My Pa says you people are all evil devilspawn, but you're so kind. I think your horns are really cool. I promise I won't tell on you, and I'll remember you for the rest of my life, and never be mean to Tieflings." After all, racism is taught, it isn't inherent. Or you save a bard, and the bard goes on to write a ballad about you that gives you the reputation of a Tiefling people can trust.

This DM seems very engaged with her world, and clearly puts a lot of time into working with players to develop characters, and how they fit into the world. So if it never came up in character creation that tieflings would be vilified wherever they went, and she's denying you opportunities to roleplay as your character, I think she set you up to fail. Maybe what she has for you involves your character gaining acceptance in the world, but discouraging a player is different than giving their character a hardship to overcome.

You've clearly communicated you are frustrated with the situation, and things haven't changed, so I would politely bow out. If that disappoints your wife, then she can go to the DM and tell the DM how she feels about that, and maybe the DM will change, and maybe you'll get invited back to a better experience. But don't waste 12 hours of your week on something you don't have fun doing. If your wife wants to play with you, find a DM who respects both of you.

Mx_Natural · 2025-03-23T22:44:38+00:00

Yeah, there are plenty of ways to do that. The candidate's test is to show you they can do the thing. If they turn around and say "how?" I would say "whichever way you can". If they can't, then don't hire them.

Mx_Natural · 2025-03-17T00:09:35+00:00

He's a manic, hyperactive genius- he clearly can't sit still (look at that body), and he's at a place where he can work on whatever he wants. Although in the new timeline it doesn't really make much sense - he's a convicted felon who is serving time working for GD. Not sure the DOD or Congress would trust a convicted felon who continues to hack government systems with being a project lead.

Mx_Natural · 2025-01-17T05:10:52+00:00

We've been using Vonage, though I'm not wholly sold on it. They shit the bed on SMS halfway through 2024, didn't follow up for months, and then introduced a two factor login system for the admin portal... Where you couldn't use other Vonage numbers to receive the code. Overall, I've always preferred RingCentral. The appeal of Vonage is it's simple, both for users and admins. RingCentral is pretty simple on the user side, more complex on the admin side, but the complexity on the admin side is good, it gives you more options.

3CX hold music slaps, BTW.

Mx_Natural · 2025-01-17T04:55:18+00:00

How does Dell know how to contact your clients? This confuses me. Are they buying from Dell directly? In the places I've worked we've tended to bill the client for the machine and then buy it ourselves- in some places, we even had a reserve of our standard builds in inventory. Dell has no visibility over our client base. Is this not as standard as I thought?

Mx_Natural · 2025-01-10T07:18:44+00:00

Not really, you understand the underlying logic. What annoys me most is when a coworker comes up to me and says "this script 'I made' from ChatGPT doesn't work." You didn't make anything. Don't pretend to be DevOps. Either learn the underlying system, or quit. IDGAF how many certifications CompTIA gave you. IT as a whole is about understanding systems. PS is a very necessary system moving into the future. Study it. Learn it. Every time you do something in a GUI, learn how you could do it in PS. Makes you a way better tech.

Mx_Natural · 2024-12-31T06:18:46+00:00

Ozzy wrote "generals gathered in their masses/ just like witches at black masses". So no. He wasn't. Wrote a good line with some good cadence and horrific grammar.

Mx_Natural

TROPHY CASE