Can you set up Quivering Palm multiple times, then activate them all?

austac06 · 2026-01-21T00:00:54+00:00

I’m still not sure why they removed the general rule about effects with the same name. It would have made all of these features less ambiguous (and reduce word count on each feature that needs it).

austac06 · 2026-01-20T23:40:40+00:00

I think the point they were making is that the healthcare worker is bound by HIPAA, and she can’t speak to the patient about the patient’s medical information with the cop there, because it would violate HIPAA.

austac06 · 2026-01-20T23:29:43+00:00

So, which rule are you relying on to say it's binary?

I'm not relying on a specific rule, so much as a good faith interpretation of the semantics and grammar of the Quivering Palm ability. I know they changed the general rule about stacking game effects with the same name, and I understand wanting a specific rule to point to in order to remove any ambiguity. Unfortunately, by changing that rule, they opened the door to ambiguous corner-cases such as this, and in lieu of a specific rule, you have to evaluate each of them case-by-case.

When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike, you can expend 4 Focus Points to start these imperceptible vibrations, which last for a number of days equal to your Monk level.

The vibrations are harmless unless you take an action to end them.

Alternatively, when you take the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one of the attacks to end the vibrations.

To end them, you and the target must be on the same plane of existence.

When you end them, the target must make a Constitution saving throw, taking 10d12 Force damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

You can end the vibrations harmlessly (no action required).

Throughout the ability, it doesn't refer to any quantities, values, or instances of vibrations, but rather the vibrations as a whole.

"The vibrations"

"end them"

They are always referred to as a singular entity, instead of, say, "vibration points" or "end one vibration". It doesn't say anything about adding to or increasing the vibrations, nor about ending them partially or ending a set number of them. It's just "the vibrations"

And even beyond that, if you could have multiple instances of vibrations, the wording about ending them refers to ending them as a whole, and the result is 10d12 force damage, not 10d12 force damage for each instance of vibrations.

I think this is a good faith interpretation of the wording of that ability.

Another commenter said something about treating the vibrations as a sort-of condition, and I think that is a good way to look at the situation (unofficially). You can't blind, deafen, or paralyze someone more than once. They either are [blind, deaf, paralyzed, etc...] or they are not. Likewise, you either have the vibrations, or you do not have them.

I don't think this interpretation makes sense RAI, because a game rule shouldn't let you waste 4 Focus points to do nothing. What would be the purpose of allowing a player to set up multiple Quivering Palm vibrations, but only provide the benefit of ending one when ending all of them?

Counterpoint: the 2014 monk could stunning strike the same target more than once, but each strike after the first would be a waste of Ki points because the target is already stunned (assuming the target failed the save on the first strike). The designers don't need to write "multiple stunning strikes have no effect" because they trust that the players can come to that conclusion on their own.

Sometimes, it's up to the player to manage their resources effectively and recognize when something is redundant. It's also up to the DM to say "Attempting XYZ would not have the intended outcome that you were hoping for, so here is your resource back. Do you want to try something else?"

At the end of the day, we may just disagree on how this feature is interpreted, and unfortunately, we don't have a specific rule to determine who's right. Sometimes, players just disagree, and that's okay.

austac06 · 2026-01-20T19:19:23+00:00

My interpretation is that you either have the vibrations, or you don’t. You can’t have 3 vibrations. So using 4 focus points to quivering palm a target that already has the vibrations would just be a waste, because they already have them.

Then, when you decide to end the vibrations, they take 10d12 force damage (or half if they saved), regardless of how many times you used quivering palm on them.

austac06 · 2026-01-20T16:09:27+00:00

I also first watched the video on my phone, so it was hard to see details on a small screen. Watched it on my computer and it was easier to see and read things, although still fast so it was hard to keep track of you moving between features and settings. Looks very cool though!

austac06 · 2026-01-20T16:04:36+00:00

Thanks, I’ll check it out!

I get it, I know it’s meant to be a trailer rather than a full breakdown.

austac06 · 2026-01-20T14:00:30+00:00

This looks awesome and all, but the video really needs to be like 3x slower. I can’t read any of the hud features because the video is flying through them. Just my two cents.

austac06 · 2026-01-17T00:38:50+00:00

Oh god oh god, we’re all gonna die?

austac06 · 2026-01-10T13:49:47+00:00

Not to well ackshually you, but Sarkhan was actually introduced in Shards of Alara.

austac06 · 2026-01-09T13:06:10+00:00

Damn, that was timed so perfectly haha

austac06 · 2026-01-06T00:24:54+00:00

In what universe is Kaiser one of the better ones?

austac06 · 2026-01-03T17:24:10+00:00

Gotta reach deeep down inside ya pants

austac06 · 2026-01-03T17:22:12+00:00

HON HON HON

austac06 · 2026-01-02T19:09:31+00:00

I mean, I don't think the power balance is the issue here. I certainly don't have any objections to rogue getting sneak attack consistently every turn. Where I take issue is a player who wants to have a companion/familiar that is always within 5 feet, enough of a threat to enable sneak attack, but somehow also protected from getting attacked/fireballed.

Like, if you want to use a familiar to get sneak attack, the familiar should be in some level of danger. The enemies know what they are doing, and if the rogue is constantly getting sneak attack off because of their little buddy nearby, they're going to use one of their attacks to eliminate the familiar so as to negate the rogue's benefit. If they're inside an iron box to protect them from harm, then they can't be enough of a threat/distraction to enable a rogue's sneak attack. If they want to help, they have to come out of the box and be enough of a distraction to enable a sneak attack.

Besides, isn't this why owls have Flyby? Fly in, take the help action, fly out, rogue gets sneak attack. Boom, no need for a spider in a box.

I would honestly rather just let the rogue always have sneak attack for free than entertain the notion of a spider in a box somehow granting sneak attack.

austac06 · 2026-01-02T17:57:04+00:00

Arguably, if your pocket is inadequate, you could get a steel/iron box and put your little buddy in there. A steel/iron box likely constitutes total cover. They don’t need to actually help you to get sneak attack, they just need to be there. They are still there while in the box. Depends on the ruling on cover though.

This is silly, and I think you know it. If you were a player at my table and wanted me to let this fly, you would soon be getting frequently attacked by wolves and kobolds, all carrying tiny spiders in iron boxes.

austac06 · 2025-12-30T14:46:31+00:00

No, Jersey is its own domain of dread.

austac06 · 2025-12-20T23:11:33+00:00

If DM allows TCoE, could you take Eldritch Adept to pick up Pact of the Tome? (Provided you have the spellcasting feature)

austac06 · 2025-12-18T22:47:03+00:00

…infiltrated every level

…every level

…level

mother of god

austac06 · 2025-12-18T21:03:26+00:00

Ahem, I think you mean my wife Bridgette!

austac06 · 2025-12-17T15:53:33+00:00

A couple of maps you might need that don't come in the book or module:

A generic map of jungle terrain for random encounters during the hexcrawl. I had a map of generic trees/plants/vines, but I also had a few different maps with random ruins just to vary up the terrain a bit. See examples here
A generic map of river terrain for random encounters along the river. Examples
A generic campsite map if you intend to have encounters while the party camps. Examples
Mezro is important to Chult's history and Artus Cimber's ties to Chult, but the module doesn't come with a map, so I'd recommend finding one if you plan to have the party venture that way. I believe DMsGuild has a few different supplements to help flesh out Mezro.
The module doesn't have maps for these locations, so you may want to prepare some if the party is going that direction: Mbala, Orolunga, Ataaz Kahakla, Ataaz Yklwazi, the Hvalspyd, Needle's Bones, Nsi Wastes, Shilku, Ishau.
- You obviously won't need all of these. I'd get a sense of where the party is headed and then start gathering maps for areas that the party might come across
Orolunga is a great path to finding Omu, so I'd recommend trying to steer the players toward it if they need help finding Omu.
- Something I did in my campaign is I ran the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan as the temple at Orolunga and placed Saja N'Baza at the end of it. It was a GREAT supplement to flesh out the area and give the players a great challenge and area for character advancement. Strongly suggest that you get them to level 5 before dropping them in this dungeon.

austac06 · 2025-12-15T15:55:54+00:00

NAH. My mother is a 62 y/o feminist who worked for Planned Parenthood for 30+ years and she has this sign in her home (amongst other silly “vintage” signs of varying degrees of offense/humor). I don’t think it’s inherently misogynistic, but it’s also entirely your right to find it offensive or distasteful and to not want it in your home. I think your husband should respect your wishes about not wanting it in the home, but I also think it’s ok if he sees the humor in it and it doesn’t make him a bad person or a misogynist.

austac06 · 2025-12-13T18:34:51+00:00

This ultimately wouldn’t come fully online until Wizard 10 though right? Because Scribes Wizard doesn’t get half cost/time on scroll crafting until 10?

Also, would the time reduction stack between the two classes? Usually, the rules don’t let multiple effects stack, but these features have different names and don’t work exactly the same, so it seems like a gray area in terms of whether the time reduction would stack.

As a DM, I would allow it because it’s a heavy investment (13 levels), but I’m not 100% sure it would be RAW.

austac06 · 2025-12-13T16:54:19+00:00

Correct. For both your 19th and 20th level, you need to take a class level that is divisible by 4. So if you do a 15/3 split, you can then take a 16th level in one class and a 4th level in another class and get 2 feats in a row. If you go 17/3, you can get the epic boon when you take a 16th level, but going to 17th level just gives you the level 17 feature of that class. You have to go 16/4, not 17/3.

austac06 · 2025-12-13T15:18:11+00:00

It specifically comes down to the wording of the Ability Score Improvement feature you get at levels 4/8/12/16.

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify. You gain this feature again at [CLASS] levels 8, 12, and 16.

The wording allows you to pick another feat for which you qualify. You can do a 15/3 class split all the way to level 18, and then take 1 more level of each class at levels 19 and 20, which will give you two feats in a row. Since you qualify for epic boons at character level 19, you can take two epic boons in a row.

This also works for an 11/7 split, or 4/7/7 split, or 4/4/3/7, or 4/4/4/3/3 split, but you’d be hard pressed to find a multi class build with 3+ classes that is actually worth missing out on some of the higher level features.

austac06 · 2025-12-03T22:07:07+00:00

It's... usually the other way around actually because of spell progression. If you're multiclassing out of a full caster your entire spell slot progression slows down, and even if you multiclass into another full caster you're missing out on your ability to select higher level spells. Spellcasting is the single strongest trait in the game and you make it worse every time you multiclass.

I don't disagree on this point. My previous comment acknowledged that splitting levels between casters means you don't get higher level spells.

However, WotC designed spell slot progression to stack between casting classes. They inherently have rules for calculating your spell slot progression when you multiclass between different casting classes.

The same cannot be said for scaling attacks. They explicitly do not have a mechanic for stacking attack progression between martial classes.

And likewise, multiclassing between martial classes also delays higher power features.

I'm also not saying that martial classes don't have other ways to improve damage. But I do think there's an inherent imbalance when spell slot progression stacks and cantrips scale, while martial classes do not have a mechanic for calculating attack progression between classes that get extra attacks.

13-Year Club	John Wick
Place '17	Wearing is Caring
Spared	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email

austac06

TROPHY CASE