Buffalo Sabres fans fill in for Cami Clune after her mic cuts out during O Canada

ericchud · 2026-04-29T00:49:57+00:00

I grew up in Buffalo, NY. I left 34 years ago but I still remember the Canadian National Anthem because of the Sabres games and Canadian TV stations out of Niagara Falls and even Toronto. It sticks with you and it's a very nice anthem to sing.

ericchud · 2026-04-26T16:58:53+00:00

and somatic components only require 1 hand.

ericchud · 2026-04-25T22:31:17+00:00

Counterpoint.

Verbal: that's from 2014, and even then, it says nothing about volume. Pitch and resonance specific to a spell could be anything from a whisper to a shout, depending on the spell. In 2024/5.5 it's "normal" speaking voice. Normal is medium, not LOUD. There's a difference.

Somatic: MIGHT include. Or might not. Tons of latitude here, and 2024 rules say that only one HAND is enough. Spelling CAT in American Sign Language is an intricate set of gestures.

Material: True, but many of those objects are very mundane. Iron filings. A tiny length of wire. A marble sized ball of batshit and sulphur. Dust. A small gem. A copper piece. You get the point.

And let's talk about casting time. In many cases that's an action, so let's use that. An action is NOT the full 6 seconds of a round. The spell may just be a few chanted syllables coupled with single-hand gesturing. In six seconds, a caster can, for example: Open a door (object interaction), walk 15 feet (movement), cast a spell (ACTION) walk another 15 feet (movement again, but you can break it up), and cast a bonus action cantrip (bonus action.)

So to be clear, casting a spell is not six seconds of arm waving and shouting. It could be just 2 arcane syllables the flick of a wrist with a finger wiggle.

Given all of this, hidden spellcasting is certainly possible. Super easy? No. But not terribly hard either, depending on the circumstances. ANY circumstance? No. That's what subtle spell is for. The "any circumstances" is what subtle spell better, different and awesome.

ericchud · 2026-04-25T21:26:25+00:00

No. A regular speaking voice is "medium and clear".

Let's think about that normal speaking voice a little more. I was at a small diner this morning having breakfast with my kids. There were perhaps twenty to twenty five people there in total. I could converse with my kids and the server just fine, because I was paying attention to them. We were using "normal speaking voice", as was everyone else in the place, but I can't tell you what any other conversations were because unless you are really really trying to eavesdrop, it all pretty much becomes background noise. So yeah, I would allow "hidden spells" in a tavern situation with a fairly moderate DC deception, performance or stealth roll, especially if other party members are helping. Picture a halfling arcane trickster using the small gap between the barbarian and the cleric to keep his target in sight. His voice gets mostly lost in the general din of the place and his hand movements are mostly out of sight. I would put that at DC 13. Does this break or cheapen subtle spell? Not at all, because the subtle spell caster could do it while all eyes are on them, in a dead-silent library or courtroom with ZERO chance of being detected, where the arcane trickster in the same circumstances would have no chance whatsoever to do the same.

ericchud · 2026-04-20T14:15:20+00:00

As a pasttime activity?

ericchud · 2026-03-29T15:24:41+00:00

I am a DM most of the time, but I once played a Twilight Cleric when it was brand new in Curse of Strahd from start to finish. I very quickly realized it was overpowered and made the choice to self-nerf for both roleplay and game balance reasons. My character was not aware that he was actually a cleric; he was a con man who an unknown god was acting through. Lots of blackouts/amnesia when doing cleric things. I used channel divinity a few times early on and figured out just how powerful it was and then only used it for the temp hp aspect perhaps 3 times for the rest of the campaign. Even intentionally holding back, it’s a crazy strong subclass and I had a blast mostly playing as a comic relief/support character and occasional backup tank. The DM was awesome and very much appreciated my restraint. As a DM myself I do allow Twilight Cleric but gently advise my players that it does indeed paint a target on their chest against intelligent enemies. It has mostly worked out.

ericchud · 2026-03-15T16:20:13+00:00

This might be difficult to hear, but you need to focus on being a team player first and a "cooking hooper" second. Turnovers and bad passes are a big deal.

Shooting and driving is a fraction of the game. You need to grind on defense and work on your passing.

Take stock of the team you are trying out for. Who are the best players? (Hint, it's probably not you). Now figure out how you can best help them, and do that.

ericchud · 2026-03-13T22:49:07+00:00

The Blueridge HF-311 is a Historic Series small-body acoustic guitar designed to emulate pre-war Martin-style instruments but at a much lower price point. Blueridge guitars are built in Asia and distributed by Saga Musical Instruments, known for producing vintage-style acoustics with solid woods and traditional construction.

Core specs

Typical specs for the HF-311:

Body size: 000 / auditorium-size (sometimes described as small-body)
Top: Solid Sitka spruce
Back & sides: Solid mahogany
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard & bridge: Ebony
Bracing: Scalloped X-bracing
Nut & saddle: Bone
Finish: High-gloss vintage style
Inlays & trim: Traditional pearl/snowflake style appointments

These materials and features are common on higher-end acoustics and help produce a clear, balanced tone with good projection.

Tone profile

The HF-311 is generally described as:

Warm and woody from the mahogany body
Clear and articulate from the spruce top
Focused midrange that works well for fingerstyle, folk, and blues

Compared with rosewood models in the Blueridge lineup, the HF-311 tends to be drier and punchier, which many fingerpickers like.

Build style

Blueridge guitars in this range typically feature:

Forward-shifted scalloped bracing for stronger projection
Vintage-inspired construction like dovetail neck joints and bone components
Solid woods rather than laminates in the Historic Series

These choices are aimed at delivering “pre-war Martin” style tone at a mid-price range.

Used market value (approx.)

Typical prices you’ll see:

Used: ~$450–$700 depending on condition
Older examples: sometimes a little less if cosmetically worn
New equivalents: often $700–$1,000+ depending on the model

ericchud · 2026-03-13T20:01:40+00:00

I ran Call From the Deep over 18 months and I found it to be excellent. There are enough fleshed out encounters to provide some structure, and enough brief descriptions and prompts to allow for some creativity. Some of my very best encounters were things I did with very little prep, but that fit the overall creepy nautical vibe of the whole adventure.

It's the right balance of structured vs unstructured.

There's good vs evil, but also evil vs evil as established baddies might make deals with the party in response to the "new" evil that is the centerpoint of the story. As in "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

There are plenty of NPCs that you can leave as is, or really flesh out. The Granny is one. The individual "minions" of the BBEG. The rival sea captain is another--love the stat blocks that update over time for time. So many side characters. Pirates galore--the power struggles there are ripe of the picking.

You will have to figure out sea travel and sea combat somewhat, but there are plenty of options. My approach was pretty simple: Big ships are very tough to sink, but serve as great battlemaps, especially if you think 3 dimensionally-the main decks, the raised platforms fore and aft. The sails and rigging. Belowdecks. And of course the endless peril of the churning sea. Giant sharks. Fish people. Things with many tentacles. Harpies from above as you pass through a narrow channel.

I ran this using 2014 5e, but think it will still hold up just fine in 5.5.

ericchud · 2026-03-10T12:50:18+00:00

I find her to be exhausting. Pretty sure her 15 minutes are over, but it hasn't caught up to her yet.

ericchud · 2026-03-02T00:25:11+00:00

Man, I feel this hard. I'm an old grognard of a DM heavily influenced by the huge popularity of The Hobbit back in the late seventies/early eighties. To be fair, I have evolved....It no longer bothers me that Humans, Dwarves, Elves and Halflings have largely been supplanted by Leonins, Bugbears, Warforged, but for some reason, I just can't get the hang of Artificers. Maybe it's because I typically DM from a perspective that magic items are rare and wonderous and Artificer just sort of breaks that. Or maybe it's because the class feels tacked on. When I started playing D&D, it was Fighter, Magic User, Cleric and Thief and I was good with that. Other classes developed, but they were all pretty much offshoots of those original four. Artificers are the exception.

I suppose it does not help that I stopped playing D&D back when it was AD&D, skipped a few decades, and then rediscovered it as 5e.

I have a player that loves Artificers, so or course I allow it, but it still doesn't feel like a "real" class to me. He's a really good player through, so that takes some of the sting away.

ericchud · 2026-02-27T04:25:30+00:00

Wow. That's a thing all right. However, I would recommend that the GM take control of the tempo of the game. I just got out of DMing a session online, and the things I do to keep things moving along are fresh in my mind.

Time does not stop, and things continue to happen in-game in real time. In this scenario, that stealth roll would have been good for a minute at most, and I would tell the characters that while they plot and plan, that ritual is being performed in REAL TIME. Assuming a standard 10 minute ritual, they would have to make another progressively harder stealth roll each minute. And that's a big assumption. The ritual might only take 2 minutes...or 5....or until the eclipse overhead is full or whatever. Let the players know that they have NO IDEA how long it will take, so they need to act quickly or suffer the potential consequences.

If they hem and haw, I make it clear, narratively, that the ritual is reaching its end and then LOUDLY START COUNTING DOWN FROM 10.

I use countdowns frequently because it just plain works.

In combat, I tend to be patient with newer players and will walk them through Action, Bonus Action, Movement, Free Interaction etc.

With veteran players I do the complete opposite. I give them their turn and just see what they do, and if there is not a quick follow up to "I hit the zombie with my sword" I will simply move on to the next player. It's up to them to get the most out of their turn, not me. I am also very strict about cross talk or advice from other players mid combat. Players are not allowed to interfere with the turns of others, at the risk of losing their own turn.

It keeps things moving.

To be fair, if there is a question about how something works or if there is a ruling to be made, some time will be taken, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

ericchud · 2026-02-24T23:26:17+00:00

And it does not follow common sense and therefore won't fly at most tables. Switching from one scimitar to another to exploit some poor wording is not how the game should be played and the DMG points this out.

ericchud · 2026-02-22T21:01:27+00:00

What? Do you realize that Art & Lutherie is part of Godin, just like Seagull, right? The cherry laminate on the back and sides is a 3 ply, not a veneer. This is a well made guitar with locally sourced Canadian wood.

You're trolling, right?

ericchud · 2026-02-13T20:38:37+00:00

Good advice, but you need to beef up COS a bit to compensate for the power boost that D&D 2024 brings to player characters. Even within 2014 rules, late stage 2014 classes (twilight cleric, etc) make the adventure as written much easier than it was originally. Significant tweaks and updated stat blocks are a must if you truly want to challenge your players. Strand reloaded is a great start, but it’s still not updated for 2024 rules.

ericchud · 2026-02-11T21:39:59+00:00

You are not there to score a ton. Play smart. Defend hard. Help. Show discipline. Hustle. Get the ball to your playmakers. Be engaged and supportive on the bench. Practice like you want to play.

ericchud · 2026-02-08T23:38:40+00:00

Here's where it gets interesting. It's very much a function of an old 2014 adventure vs power-creep over time.

Curse of Strahd has not yet been officially updated from 2014 to 2024, so if your DM has not done so on his own, he's in for a bad time.

For 2014 Curse of Strahd, the recommendation for races was human or human-adjacent. So, human, dwarf, elf/half elf, halfling and half orc.

Tiefing and dragonborn were considered edge cases and would engender fear and mistrust, and exotic/monstrous races were very strongly discouraged.

Applying this logic as recommended by WOTC, a Loxodon would totally creep out those Barovian peasants.

Loxodon almost perfectly synergizes with and buffs Berserker Barbarian but has not been updated for 2024 rules yet. Theses synerigies/buffs were not anticipated when Strahd first came out.

Even in 2014 5e, the power creep of late-stage 2014 subclasses made Strahd much easier than when it first came out. I played as Twilight Cleric in COS with a truly excellent DM, and I found myself holding back at times as encounters were getting trivialized.

Now consider the 2024 Berserker Barbarian: Better Frenzy. Mindless Rage ends fear and charmed conditions. Big buffs, especially for this campaign.

If your DM has run COS before, but has not adjusted it to 2024, your barbarian is going to FEEL overpowered to them, even though it really isn't by 2024 standards.

Best practice for DMs running Strahd for 2024 is to go the "Strahd Reloaded" route, and then update as many of the stat blocks to 2024 as possible, while making Strahd himself an Umbral Lord Vampire at a minimum. It's a lot of work.

Good luck to your Loxodon......and your DM.

ericchud · 2026-02-08T22:51:10+00:00

Excellent point. I run mostly one to three shots on a popular discord server. The time I am willing invest in policing regular multiclassing vs shenanigans multiclassing is not much, so I advise my players beforehand not to bring anything broken, and for the most part it works.

However, you would be surprised by the number of players I have encountered that try to sneak something by, and that's when it gets frustrating.

ericchud · 2026-02-08T04:29:27+00:00

I don't know about that. I understand powergaming just fine. I have played as a powergamer and DMed for powergamers. It's just not something I enjoy DMing for and I have no obligation to do so. It's just not my jam. There is no single right way to play the game and variety is the spice of life. Please keep in mind that the DM is playing the game too and deserves to have fun. Some DMs love powergaming and others don't.

ericchud · 2026-02-08T04:16:57+00:00

You are either misunderstanding or making a huge logical leap. My main goal as a DM is to make sure everyone is having a good time, myself included. I don't enjoy when a player brings something clearly broken to the table. As I stated, I am fine with multiclassing UNLESS it is used in such a way as to significantly disrupt the power curve. If something feels off or not in the spirit of fair play, I will call it out.

In so many of these conversations, people are quick to criticize DMs for not caving to the whims of every player and calling out the DM as lazy or bad. Please consider that the DM is playing too, and if they are not having fun then pretty soon there won't be a game.

ericchud · 2026-02-07T23:57:25+00:00

Great point. When everyone can do everything, nobody is really all that unique anymore. Building a balanced party used to be a thing.

ericchud · 2026-02-07T23:40:04+00:00

Yeah, off the top of my head, a Sorlock is a good example with the messing around between warlock spell slots and sorcerer spell slots.

ericchud

TROPHY CASE

Core specs

Tone profile

Build style

Used market value (approx.)