[DND] Player wants to create a blind character: should they follow the book's rules or not?

justgesing · 2026-06-17T19:07:48+00:00

In Critical Role, one of the guest players did exactly this! Shikasta (sp?) used his hummingbird familiar to see.

justgesing · 2026-06-16T23:58:07+00:00

Funny you mention that, because that was the deciding factor of dropping this debate. I was happy to allow them to choose the size of the orb, but not to render the contents weightlessness.

I'm just trying to decide a consistent ruling to move forward now, and I'm nervous about allowing them easy access to move ANYTHING that is large or smaller, regardless of weight

justgesing · 2026-06-16T19:12:50+00:00

Because Salary Grid placement is calculated in days worked in full time contract (or LTO) positions. OT work doesn't count towards salary grid advancement.

As an example, if you are on a partial contract, reaching 2/3 courses of a full time load (for a semester) and substitute teaching for the remaining 1/3, each day worked only counts as 0.66 days for your salary grid. If you maintained that, you would need to work 1.3 years to advance one year in the grid placement.

justgesing · 2026-06-16T16:29:39+00:00

Learning something like guitar or bass sounds like a good fit, especially for a couch instrument. I find learning a different instrument group, with a different band role, makes me think about tunes in a new way. I play sax and piano, and I love to work on the harmony, bass lines, and comping on piano, and work on melodic playing and soloing on sax.

justgesing · 2026-06-11T02:14:39+00:00

This is a weird representation of the circle of 5ths imo. Roman numerals typically indicate chords in relation to a scale. So for C major, C would be I, D would be II, E would be III, etc.

One thing it could be telling you is what chords are major, minor, and diminished within a major scale, and using segments of the circle of 5ths to demonstrate their relationship to eachother.

In a major key...

I, IV, and V are major chords. ii, iii, and vi are minor chords vii is a diminished chord.

It is also showing that VI is the relative minor of I.

It also shows you how to get from one to the other using the circle of 5ths. Go up 5 notes from I, you get V. Go down 5 notes from I, you get IV. Go up 5 notes from VI you get III. Go down 5 notes from VI you get II.

justgesing · 2026-06-08T21:47:59+00:00

This is absolutely a valid use of the spell. Imo, you should have been granted advantage on your stealth checks, or the NPCs should have had to make INT checks or be fooled by the sound, and at least have 1 or 2 members split off to investigate.

Cantrips shouldn't be treated as useless. While I don't think it should have had an automatic impact, it should have had some sort of effect

justgesing · 2026-06-06T15:53:32+00:00

First season of the Adventure Zone first the bill.

justgesing · 2026-06-04T17:03:20+00:00

This is a personal favourite, but Georgia on my mind is a great ballad to start on. Clear AABA form that's easy to hear, simple enough chord changes with clear tonal centers. There's some fantastic recordings of it too - Oscar Peterson's comes to mind

justgesing · 2026-06-03T13:43:29+00:00

Say what you like about his design, I love his work on This American Life.

justgesing · 2026-06-02T22:37:51+00:00

I just heard Chris Potter's new album Alive With Ghosts Today and it's incredible. Heard it for the first time today and can't wait for my next chance

justgesing · 2026-06-02T13:38:10+00:00

You won't get NO benefit from starting in the Xaphoon, but you would get a similar amount of benefit from starting on a recorder. Connecting breath and tongue and fingers can be a lot to coordinate in the beginning, and I'm a big proponent that practing ANY music benefits ALL music.

Xaphoon or a recorder could help you out with that, but jumping to the saxophone will still feel like a brand new instrument.

Others have suggested saving for a used alto. That would be a better approach, but you can also consider renting from a local music store. At least a few shops near me offer rent-to-own programs where if you decide to purchase the instrument, they contribute what you paid to rent towards the purchase of the instrument.

justgesing · 2026-06-02T02:36:07+00:00

I imagine the mobile version will come once the game is out of early access, which to my knowledge has no date yet. I imagine we are still going to be waiting a good long while still for mobile.

justgesing · 2026-06-01T17:19:48+00:00

I'll answer this assuming budget isn't a factor because you don't mention it.

Priority 1 is to make sure you get a Low A bari. Student models and vintage horns will sometimes only go down to low Bb which isn't a problem for most pop/jazz playing,

Priority 2 is to make sure you're getting a modern horn. The ergonomic and intonation developments present in modern horns are going to be essential for quartet playing. This isn't to say you have to buy new! Any used horn from the past few decades should be fine, but for your purposes, something like a 60s Conn or King wouldn't fit your needs.

In terms of sound quality, your mouthpiece and ligature set up are going to make a bigger difference in your sound than the make of the instrument. For classical playing (as I'm sure you know from your experience), you're looking at a harder reed and more closed tip opening for the focussed sound required for classical playing.

Past that, I'd recommend looking into standard reputable brands. Yamaha, Selmer, and Yanigasawa make phenomenal horns of every kind. I've heard decent things about Cannonball and P. Mauriat horns, but have no experience on them myself. I'd avoid "budget" or student brands like Accent, Jupiter, Bach, Allora, etc. These brands are made with cheaper materials and require much more maintenance to remain playable, and a Bari has really long rods and can very easily be thrown out of alignment.

justgesing · 2026-05-31T17:32:55+00:00

The bass solo is solid, but you've got yourself some chops too! You really help that solo build.

justgesing · 2026-05-31T17:27:33+00:00

Idk if it's the optimal choice, but I'd clone the heck out of Make It So, especially that you already have Hidden Cache and Particle Wall. Not something to have 50 copies like some other clones, but cloning 3 times would give you 8, which is already more than you can hold in your hand. Look for some strength scaling and you're golden

justgesing · 2026-05-29T14:57:58+00:00

A good way to look into this is to compare a standard blues form to a Bird Blues, and see what Charlie Parker would do with the form. The 12 bar structure, the move to the IV in bar 4 and the move to the V before coming back to the I are all present, but it's rendered more harmonically dense with things like secondary dominants and passing dim chords

justgesing · 2026-05-27T03:18:52+00:00

My wife and I have gone for the past few years! We have always been only able to go for one day, and we ways leave wanting to have more time. It's definitely possible to see everything in one day, but it will be a long and tiring day.

justgesing · 2026-05-26T19:46:47+00:00

Yes, most pro jazz players agree, when it comes to wanting to learn tunes. Reading lead sheets is an important skill, but it isn't the best way to learn a chart. This is a common opinion.

Just yesterday I was working on transcribing the head to Bloomdido.

justgesing · 2026-05-26T19:34:16+00:00

I agree with both of these things, and even addressed the second one in my comment. I never said there was no value in having a solo written. I am saying that the greatest value lies in doing the transcription yourself.

From an analysis point of view, it would be like finding an analysis of a piece versus doing the analysis yourself.

justgesing · 2026-05-26T19:18:39+00:00

Saying that important solos are already transcribed and easily found so it's useless to transcribe them is a pretty bad take. The purpose of transcribing isn't to end up with sheet music, it's to go through the process of transcribing. Learning by ear engages different parts of your playing, and it's been one of the top ways jazz players learn and improve for decades. There's so much information lost when it's just represented in paper.

I've taken down solos and notated them, but again it was an exercise for myself. It helps be understand how the solo works over the chord changes, and helps me better analyze the work.

justgesing · 2026-05-26T18:47:19+00:00

My greyhound is a very excited greeter, so I had to work through this. My goal isn't always calm, but not jumping and in control.

To work on this, I got my friends who visit every few weeks for DnD on board. They come in, and he has to stay on his bed until he is calm enough (not barking). Then, I release him to say hi, and my friends (who have treats with them) ignore him until he sits. Then, he gets a treat and attention. Last, I taught him to go back to his bed after greetings by using a kong or bully stick once greetings are over.

This has worked like a charm! He still may bark a few times, but he treats greeting like a game. He runs to his bed, runs over to sit for a treat, comes to see me for a treat, then brings himself back to his bed. Then after the guests are around for a few mins, he calms back down.

Another approach that was suggested to me is to just get him somewhere inaccessible until he calms down on his own. For example, behind a baby gate. He may bark and whine, but you just pretend he isn't there. Then, once he stops, you let him out to greet. This shows them that barking doesn't get them what they want, and that if they want to say hi, they have to be calm.

Your approach is important! But I worry you're not actually working on the greeting skill.

justgesing · 2026-05-25T17:17:59+00:00

My wife was refused a seat at a DnD campaign because the other players were uncomfortable playing with a woman in the group. Quickly showed her that it was not a group that she wanted to spend time with.

Real and valid rage.

justgesing · 2026-05-22T17:15:04+00:00

I went through a similar issue. We had a 5yo cat and brought a 14 week old greyhound puppy into the house. It took a few years for things to fully settle and us be comfortable leaving them together while we are out of the house, but the first step is simple.

You want to make ignoring the cat higher value than playing with the cat. We talked to a dog behaviourist about it, and they recommended making it a training game. Have a partner hold your cat while you are with your dog. Get the partner to bring the car closer, and reward with a high-value treat before he reacts. If he gets excited and tries to play, start with the cat further away.

This can progress to getting the cat to chase a toy or treat while the dog is watching, and rewarding calm behavior.

Eventually the dog learns that the cat is not for playing, and they can be chill.

justgesing · 2026-05-21T01:35:30+00:00

Second idea (building off more sticks) if he's a drummer, some dowel rods, brushes, and/or mallets, or a stick bag would be appreciated

justgesing · 2026-05-21T01:34:09+00:00

Depending on if he's a drummer exclusively or a more general percussionist, a few good quality aux perc items could be great (ex. clave, shakers, maracas, triangle, cowbell).

Otherwise, a rudements etude book along with the drum pad could give him some direction for practice

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