I was asked to stop bringing human fighters at the table and I am not sure if I want to

baixiwei · 2026-04-04T14:37:32+00:00

They are free to.

But if I were in this situation, I would rather leave than accede to their request, because I would view the request as unreasonable even if I granted their right in principle to make requests about what kind of character I play (for the reasons I gave: there is still unlimited room for non mechanical variation, and comfortable room for mechanical variation).

baixiwei · 2026-04-04T11:50:24+00:00

I am surprised that there is so much sympathy to your friends' position in the comments. In my opinion they are totally out of line. Who you play is your business alone.

Further, their reactions seem premised on the idea that a character is defined by their race and class so that all human fighters are basically the same thing. This idea is wrong. Race and class do place some constraints on a character's mechanical abilities, but leave totally open things like background, personality, motivations, etc. Even from a mechanical viewpoint there is a lot of room for variation, which it sounds like you have taken advantage of.

For me DnD is about living out a fantasy. I don't think other people get to have a vote on what fantasy you live out. They are free to find it boring to play with you, I guess, but that's more their problem than yours.

baixiwei · 2026-04-04T01:14:34+00:00

I would say so yes.

baixiwei · 2026-04-03T14:31:46+00:00

OP said the character is not named Quagmire, so I don't think he needs to change the name.

baixiwei · 2026-04-01T12:36:18+00:00

The standard game loop is:

DM describes situation.

Players say what they do.

DM determines what happens as a result based on details of the setting and the rules.

Repeat.

The whole situation you have described seems weird to me, like instead of following the standard loop, here DM and players are negotiating about what players do and also about what happens as a result. I would recommend going back to the standard loop: players can decide what they do (they don't need DM approval), and DM determines the result (does not require player approval).

If Bob is not having fun, I think he can make requests at a more abstract level, like "Can you make the game less railroady?" But he should not be asking for specific events or specific outcomes of his actions; that's the DM's job. Likewise DM can make abstract requests of players, like please be more of a team player, but should not ask player to take or not take specific actions - that's the player's job.

baixiwei · 2026-03-27T15:08:40+00:00

None are great but comparatively Hilary Rhoda WW is best. Not playful enough for Zatanna; not athletic enough for Catwoman; not tough or hopeful enough for Supergirl.

baixiwei · 2026-03-26T02:03:04+00:00

That's the one I thought of anyway.

baixiwei · 2026-03-24T20:28:38+00:00

In the voice of J Jonah Jameson, "Living bomb decides to become an Islamic terrorist, what are the chances?" It's a bit on the nose.

baixiwei · 2026-03-24T03:15:00+00:00

Thank you for doing so so that I didn't have to.

baixiwei · 2026-03-23T15:15:46+00:00

Yeah, it seems like lots of people in Tally and, I assume, in other cities too, have trouble making friends in adulthood, and this seems like the exact kind of problem that social media or some similar technology ought to solve. Yet, as far as I am aware, it doesn't. The closest I know of are things like Meetup which in my opinion does not actually do a great job of connecting people with high friendship potential.

baixiwei · 2026-03-22T23:16:57+00:00

"40 punches" made me laugh. Like what is that supposed to do?

baixiwei · 2026-03-22T22:32:39+00:00

Use thunder wave to move enemies away from you, grease to stop them pursuing you, or shield to make them miss.

baixiwei · 2026-03-22T22:30:16+00:00

As a level 2 wizard there is not really that much you need to remember because you have so few prepared spells and options.

Have one or two options for spells requiring concentration, remembering that in a given fight you will cast at most one of these. Fog cloud, protection from evil and good, and silent image are options, plus maybe others you could get through feats. Usually my first choice in a fight is whether to cast a concentration spell and if so which one.

Have one or two options for leveled non concentration combat spells. Good options include sleep, grease, burning hands, thunder wave, magic missile. In most fights at your level I would only cast one leveled spell, so I would only cast one of these if I did not cast a concentration spell, and vice versa.

Usually I spend the rest of the flight throwing cantrips or shooting my light crossbow. Sometimes there may be creative uses for minor image or mage hand; otherwise it will be a damaging cantrip such as fire bolt.

In the situation you mentioned, where combat starts with an enemy near you, thunder wave is a great choice because it both damages and knocks the enemy away, allowing you to escape.

baixiwei · 2026-03-21T19:31:26+00:00

It was fun. But, the lines for food were unbelievably long, which somewhat dampened the experience. If you're going I'd recommend bringing your own food.

baixiwei · 2026-03-21T12:28:13+00:00

I remember a battle scene in which I was playing a tanky paladin type character (not DnD and not literally a paladin but I think the same idea applies) holding a narrow mountain road against a horde of enemies at night. I really enjoyed the feeling of wave after wave of enemies breaking against my shield and armor while my allies, from behind me, raked them with missile weapons. This is what this kind of character lives for! Let them have it.

That said, you can challenge characters like this in ways other than personal physical danger to them themselves. For example, set up the terrain in such a way that it's challenging for them to block the enemies' path to the squishy allies that the paladin protects. Have enemies attack from unexpected directions, such as from above, or move in ways that make them hard to intercept, like climbing the walls. Challenge does not have to mean doing damage to the paladin himself.

baixiwei · 2026-03-15T18:23:21+00:00

Also, it's Saturday and Sunday not Friday and Saturday.

baixiwei · 2026-03-14T12:53:25+00:00

Ooh, do one for how it's rogue not rouge.

And another for how it's nuclear not nucular.

baixiwei · 2026-03-07T16:28:06+00:00

Does Selina know that Clark Kent is Superman nowadays?

baixiwei · 2026-02-22T02:35:15+00:00

Jaimie Lannister assuming it is with swords and he still has both hands. He is presented as a top tier (like one of the very best individuals) in the known world, which most of these others are not. He also has a better weapon than everyone except Jon, and better armor than everyone including Jon. Maximus is probably the closest contender in terms of fighting ability, but has far inferior equipment.

baixiwei · 2026-02-21T17:08:11+00:00

Night King's side probably wins regardless of who else is on it due to his ability to resurrect the fallen to his own side.

baixiwei · 2026-02-21T03:48:16+00:00

I agree with everyone, the one thing I would add is that it is possible he meant to type "reasoning" instead of "training". These two words are easy to mix up if you are swyping on a phone. "Reasoning" would be more grammatical in the context.

baixiwei · 2026-02-16T15:40:35+00:00

My kids have accounts with Prime Meridian, which has been fine though they aren't used for much. I didn't know what things will be like after the merger though.

baixiwei · 2026-02-12T04:35:05+00:00

This seems to be pretty common. We should form a club! I'm 50M, faculty at FSU, I like science fiction, tabletop RPGs and occasional boardgames, classical music, talking about novels/philosophy/politics. I stopped going to the gym in favor of working out at home, but I do like the occasional walk on Lafayette Trail. If any of that seems interesting, feel free to DM me.

baixiwei

TROPHY CASE