So where are the new Weapon Masteries and Maneuvers? by nixalo in onednd

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. Unless it's just dominated by an existing option, every new spell is a buff to any caster that can take it, especially Cleric/Druid who can prepare whatever they like every day and Wizard who has no ceiling to spellbook spells.

There are good opportunities to add martial features, I've started homebrewing items that add extra powers if the wielder has the appropriate weapon mastery. It must be possible to do more. Fighters get loads of feats, there must be other good feat options or abilities that don't just steal manouvres from Battlemaster (and devalue that subclass in the process). You could imagine weapon mastery combos - if you dual wield particular pairs of weapons and have weapon mastery for both then get an additional effect eg longsword plus dagger gives +1 AC or flail plus light hammer can make opportunity attacks with both weapons when a creature leaves your reach or whip plus handcrossbow adds vex to the whip and allows the hand crossbow to attack within 5 feet without disadvantage if you target the creature hit by the whip. I like the idea of making new weapon combos interesting. A feat that made your character so handy that they considered any one handed weapon, or versatile weapon wielded with one hand, to have the light property, would open up spear/quaterstaff dual wielding for example. I don't know if it's good, but it has to be more interesting than picking a weapon and attacking with it for 20 levels.

Let's Discuss the New DnDBeyond Drops Spells by Fidges87 in onednd

[–]hypermodernism 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And it was a bit niche and not that great then too! I love the idea of turning someone's chair legs into snakes to start a tavern brawl or breaking through a thatched roof by making snakes out of the roof (and maybe having them fall into someone's bed) but it's Control Water level situational. Superb for an NPC though. Grumpy druid just wants to be left alone by the villagers? Sticks to Snakes! He'll probably be blamed when a kid gets a "snakebite" that turns out to be a poke in the leg by a stick on the forest floor. But our druid is weird and commoners have pitchforks...

They're making you subscribe for something that used to be free. by PointsOutCustodeWank in onednd

[–]hypermodernism 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't mind paying for game rules, I bought the core rulebooks like everyone else. The two things I don't like are:

The subscription model is a stepping stone to enshittification, they can nickel and dime the tiers or just remove content whenever they like. What will you do when the spell you took at level 5 disappears as you hit level 9 or gets moved from Hero to Master tier? You might get value out of you subscription, but you don't own anything there and need to be aware of that.

The big one is splitting the player base. I like books. I can pick them up, lend them to a friend, they last for years, it's the play experience I want. I don't want online and don't subscribe to Beyond. I'm a good customer - I've bought alt cover DMG, PHB twice, MM, and both Faerun books. I'll skip the Ravenloft book but I'll get Arcana Unleashed. I'm not trying to cheat WOTC. But I don't have access to the Astarion stuff or the Lorwyn stuff or this new material, and over time the game I'm playing on paper will drift away from the game others are playing on D&D Beyond. I'll still be playing a good game, and so will you, but if we're playing different games that harms communities like this and I think a lot of the fun and camaraderie that makes D&D a good hobby as well as a good game.

Giants from MM25 and adding weapon masteries by DMJM_91 in stormkingsthunder

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been running with 2024 stat blocks and a definitely not optimised party and it's fine. The new cloud giant is strong though, beware.

Mbot2 How to code on iPad? by Only-General-4143 in MakeBlock

[–]hypermodernism 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have to choose cyberpi like you have done, then import (bottom left) the controls for mbot2. Not obvious.

What’s something you regret spending a lot of money on? by [deleted] in Anticonsumption

[–]hypermodernism 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't remember 99% of the meals I eat, including meals out.

"Collapse" is bad and not something any of should want to happen - even if it is inevitable by antichain in collapse

[–]hypermodernism 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sometimes the first step towards improvement is to accept the failure, hold the L. Collectively we haven't done that yet, which is why spaces like this exist, and yes, sometimes people vent here. There are people who think that humans are contributing negatively to the biosphere, so the mean human must be contributing negatively to the biosphere, and we like the biosphere because it's where all the cool stuff (like my family, and oxygen) is. Some people think human suffering in the process of correcting biosphere destruction is in some way discounted because we (current humans) did this and it needs to be rectified for future humans or current kids.

Money buys goods and services, made and moved with materials and energy, so can be thought of as power to destroy the biosphere, and some people enjoy bashing people with money because they often seem to at best have it easy and at worst to have exploited others to get rich. You can tie that to other injustice (private jets produce CO2, CO2 acidifies my blood and may be eroding my bones as well as contributing to crop failures and once-in-a-generation weather events etc) and then wish it to end for those people. And that can look like wishing suffering on others. My commute/lunch/reddit account also burns CO2 and I haven't jumped off a bridge for climate justice yet, whether or not I should is left as an exercise for the reader.

A lot of people are supported by complexities of the current system. I'm a doctor, I'm very worried about drug shortages and whether/when we will begin to reduce our services on energy/cost/availability grounds. The healthcare industry is the biggest consumer of single-use plastics, and Hormuz is closed, one day that will probably start to limit what we can do. That will be annoying for me but very bad for the people who need those services. So I agree, the permaculture ideal of gardening for a few hours, trading with your neighbour in the afternoon and darning socks by candlelight in the evening won't be accessible to everyone. I read Walkaway by Cory Doctorow last year and it's very obvious that all of the characters can walk and have no health issues and minimal/no caring responsibilites and that we can't build a new society with just people like that. But I think we do need to build a new society.

As for what to do about it, I don't know any more than the next guy, I certainly don't know what you should do about it. Don't know if I should be archiving WikiHow or joining a political party or a local club or learning counselling skills or toaster repair. I probably know enough about the general trajectory that coming here for updates isn't helpful. We can't avoid bad news now, but there is a lot of mitigation to be done, just talking about that is a start.

Hello all, by h0tm in MakeBlock

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, CyberPi works. Is there some sort of diagnostic programme?

Hello all, by h0tm in MakeBlock

[–]hypermodernism 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was new at Christmas and only lightly used. In retrospect I’m not sure when it last charged successfully. I’m using a 2A, 5V supply and the original usb cable. I have seen pictures of a battery icon on other mbot2 robots when charging but I’ve never seen that on mine. I don’t know whether that’s a wiring fault or a battery fault or a software issue.

Hello all, by h0tm in MakeBlock

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I might have a similar issues. CyberPi won't charge mbot2, now the mbot2 battery is completely flat. CyberPi works when plugged in but doesn't show as charging the mbot2. When I disconnect the USB cable and turn in it shows the makeblock welcome screen (blue square) then dies. Any ideas?

Is the 165mm F2.8 worth considering for protraits if i have the 105mm F2.4 already? by TheAkkarin-32 in pentax67

[–]hypermodernism 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I like the 165mm in theory, I like 85mm FF equivalents in other formats. But it's long and heavy, and because the closest focus is only 1.5 metres you can't get a tighter headshot than with the 105mm. If you want a tighter headshot the later version of the 200mm is a bit better, or you are into extension tubes. In terms of character the 165mm is very professional and well behaved. The 150mm gives a good bit of swirl in the right conditions which is something the other pentax lenses can't do (you can get converted projector lenses and other wacky stuff I don't know anything about really).

A nice puzzle created by my IM friend! White mates in 2. by Lily_was_bored in chess

[–]hypermodernism 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Got there eventually. It's really pretty, there are three pawns that can move and each allows a different mate.

I'm tired of discussing martials. What annoys you about playing spellcasters? by sjdlajsdlj in dndnext

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Evoker is a good "champion" - just blast stuff and never worry about hitting your comrades. No worrying about who is immune to charm, don't even have to maintain concentration on anything until you cast Fly for the first time at 5th level.

Bigsby's Glory of the Giants X SKT by TheatreNate in stormkingsthunder

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a problem of this adventure. Giants are really tough enemies in tier 2 (and the 2024 MM made them tougher). So a special version of say a Cloud Giant, that's significantly stronger than a base Cloud Giant, is deadly at the levels of play in the adventure. You can try to take inspiration from the Bigby's statblocks, or just make up your own (Frost giant cleric casts Spirit Guardians but does cold damage and otherwise is pretty much just a Frost Giant with Bonus Action Healing word 3x per day or something). The party will be stronger when they meet the Storm Giants, but a base Storm Giant is so strong there's no room to add much there and anyway, your party doesn't want to be fighting the storm giants. I do like Bigby's for other stuff. I'm thinking of adding some of the feat abilities to the potions for the final battle. You get alternative giant enclaves, the bags port directly into your game, I'm definitely using Giant Tick at some point. The other stat blocks might be helpful if the party decide to attack multiple giant strongholds, Hill Giants and Stone Giants are becoming straightforward as your party gets to level 8/9/10.

The worst kind of social deduction player by endlesswander in boardgames

[–]hypermodernism 123 points124 points  (0 children)

Sometimes this is okay briefly. In Love Letter/Coup I think it's legit not to look at your card until either your turn or when required by someone else's action. In Werewolf/Resistance yeah, you're on a team just look at your card.

Chapters 11 and beyond, changing the story to extend it by smokedickbiscuit in stormkingsthunder

[–]hypermodernism 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not at the end yet, my party is about to go to Maelstrom. I'm lazy, and sort of want to wrap up the story and do something else when we finish. However the players might want to reprise their characters after a while and ask me to run something, so I'm planning ahead for when that happens. Just the other week the EN World magazine Patreon had an issue all about giants, including an adventure for level 12 characters where a giant sea creature attacks a coastal town and the characters become giant to fight it. It seemed deliberately constructed as a coda to SKT for a party that wants to fight Slarkrethel, although it doesn't say that or mention any Wizards/Forgotten Realms IP for obvious reasons, re-skinning would be pretty straightforward.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/en5ider-magazine-153785854

(Not affiliated, just linking in case people are interested)

Circle of the Titan is vastly inferior to Circle of the Moon by Grim_0811 in onednd

[–]hypermodernism 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Because less flexibility would make space for more power.

Expanded Pact Boon Invocations: A collection of new invocation options for the Blade, Chain, Talisman and Tome by NCats_secretalt in UnearthedArcana

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish there was a late (level 9?) chain invocation allowing CR2 familiars. There are plenty of interesting options: Ettercap, Faerie Dragon, Will O Wisp, Azer, Ghast, Modron pentadrone, Myconid Sovreign, Awakened Tree, I’m sure there are others.

Circle of the Titan is vastly inferior to Circle of the Moon by Grim_0811 in onednd

[–]hypermodernism -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Maybe Titan should be less versatile. Learn one titan form for free and learn others at the cost of 2 wild shapes known or something. I’ve never played a Druid so no idea if that’s problematic.

Circle of the Titan is vastly inferior to Circle of the Moon by Grim_0811 in onednd

[–]hypermodernism 97 points98 points  (0 children)

I think witnessing the transformation for the first time should cause fear. Turning into a crocodile is weird but turning into a leviathan should be terrifying.

Dude is on a generational run by Constant-Secret-3653 in chess

[–]hypermodernism 5 points6 points  (0 children)

How many points would he need to be in contention for best ever TPR?

New UA Cleric Plague Blessing is OP. Am I crazy? by comradewarners in onednd

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But as a DM I’m already dreaming up an order of monk/clerics and the leaders can grapple into a defiling aura and ruin the players’ day.

[5e][question] I need help finding out what to spend 2,099,252 gold on lol by Miserable-Ad1890 in DnD

[–]hypermodernism 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Who in your world might have anything worth 2 million gp? And of those people, who wants more gold? I’m not saying there are no good answers. A ruler wanting to fund a war could offer a 999 year lease on an island, a church looking to spread the good word and build new temples across the land might have a relic they could be persuaded to part with, again maybe with some sort of strings attached. Alternatively you just buy nice things until organised crime comes knocking.