Possibilities are endless
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Surely “grab tile and eat it” is a standard action, right? Letting that be a free action seems like a weird call by the DM…
Loosely, you get a “use object interaction” every turn that isn’t given a lot of emphasis but is in the rules as “other activity on your turn” (pg 190, PHB 2014). It includes something like talking, opening an unlocked door during your movement, picking up something within reach from a table, or unsheathing your sword as part of your attack action. It says it should require an action only if it needs special care or presents an unusual obstacle. I’d agree that grabbing a handful of dust and putting it in your mouth could be a free action.
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Phantasmal Force is great. Used it on a Mini-Boss fighting alongside the Big Bad and then described “a giant goose comes crashing through the skylight, with it’s head low it charges you with a furious ‘HONK!’”
The DM played along a little by rolling to randomize what he swung at each round. Everytime he’d swing at the goose to “keep the illusion” I’d describe that he successfully hacked off a head, but now two more sprouted in its place and the honking intensifies.
The best part was the last sliver of damage he took was from the Phantasmal Force. So in his mind he was slain by a hydra goose.
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If that second opponent was a pirate and uses the eye patch for what it was meant for, it would not make any difference.
If the room was bright… yes, it would! Even if only momentarily.
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Phantasmal Force is great. Used it on a Mini-Boss fighting alongside the Big Bad and then described “a giant goose comes crashing through the skylight, with it’s head low it charges you with a furious ‘HONK!’”
The DM played along a little by rolling to randomize what he swung at each round. Everytime he’d swing at the goose to “keep the illusion” I’d describe that he successfully hacked off a head, but now two more sprouted in its place and the honking intensifies.
The best part was the last sliver of damage he took was from the Phantasmal Force. So in his mind he was slain by a hydra goose.
A DM once attacked our party with wargs in an arctic tundra in the dead of night.
I discovered an offensive use of Create Water.
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I had my familiar transform into a bird to shit in an assassins mouth to interrupt a spell without causing a diplomatic incident at a wedding.
I didn’t know familiars had laser sight on their cloaca
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A DM once attacked our party with wargs in an arctic tundra in the dead of night.
I discovered an offensive use of Create Water.
When you think about it, the body of any living creature is an open container made of animal skin.
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There’s a spectrum of play that runs from strict rules-as-written to complete calvinball. Calvinball can be fun, but it’s not really a transferrable game. It’s very particular to that moment and that group.
Sometimes people post wacky calvinball moments (eg: rolling damage against the floor, a free action to eat tiles, a +2 bonus to hit) as if that’s baseline RAW DND. It is not. Many tables would be like “wtf, that’s not how this game works”. So it can be kind of weird when it’s presented as obvious, as if it’s raw, when it’s just make pretend.
Imagine if the post was “we were playing basketball and I missed the shot, so I got in my car and drove up close so I could jump off the roof and dunk”. Like, wacky story but not how you’re supposed to play the game.
Furthermore, DND specifically is kind of bad at creativity. It’s very precariously balanced, with specific rules in odd places and no rules in others. Compare with, for example, Fate, which has “this thing in the scene works to my advantage” rules built in. DND is almost entirely in the hands of the DM.
Furthermore, DND specifically is kind of bad at creativity. It’s very precariously balanced, with specific rules in odd places and no rules in others. Compare with, for example, Fate, which has “this thing in the scene works to my advantage” rules built in. DND is almost entirely in the hands of the DM.
It was never intended to be a complete, all-encompassing ruleset. It’s a framework that you build on. It’s intentionally open-ended because that allows greater freedom for both the DM and the players. If the rules are too strict then the gameplay is just mechanics with little room for roleplay.
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No. These people are welcome to play however they want. They’re having a good time and that’s great for them.
Pitching this as “d&d is great” when the entire story hinges on multiple table specific rulings makes this both less relatable for players of d&d used to a different tone of play and can set unrealistic expectations for new players who might join a game that plays very differently.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t play like this, or that this isn’t d&d. It’s just a very specific scenario that is quite likely to be non-representative of many games.
D&D is great because it allows for creative freedom and doesn’t require that everything be explicitly permitted in the written rules. It is always the DM’s prerogative to set a DC for any action and make the player roll for it, then roleplay the outcome, which is a lot more fun than just saying “no, you can’t do that because it’s not described in the rule book”.
This isn’t “homebrew”, it’s the right way to play.
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I’d say this is more of a “RPGs are great” moment than anything else. Any table could have stories like this with any system. It’s only a d&d story in particular because that’s the most popular system. Any system can be house-ruled to do whatever, and that’s the joy of pen and paper games as opposed to board games or video games, where the rules are more difficult to change.
Yes, completely agreed.
There are also systems much better at this than D&D, which makes calling it out as being the “great” thing here even more out of place.
If you want crunchier rules that have these kind of flavourful interactions you could play PF2e, which literally lets you roll intimidate to debuff your opponent and you have the actions available to do so after swinging your weapon. If you want something looser and more freeform that encourages improvisation maybe take a look at Legend in the Mist or something.
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Meh, if it’s a one off and not an important fight? Doing it for the sake of a gag I’ve got no problem with. Just don’t want it to be a consistent thing.
Just don’t want it to be a consistent thing.
Easy, make the player deal with the consequences of eating a handful of gravel.
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Crits on anything that are not attacks are what bither me most. “Natural 20!” “Ok what’s the total?”
I always see rolling a 20 or a 1 as an opportunity for rediculousness to ensue and the modifiers help decide what kind of rediculousness. Skilled swordsman rolls a 1? They have a hilarious fumble meanwhile someone who’s never picked up a sword might be stabbing themselves with disadvantage (because the goal isn’t to kill the player but to let the dice add flavor. Also accidentally stabbing yourself would probably do less damage than intentionally stabbing someone)
Person who’s never picked up a sword rolls a 20? Guess they’re now demonstrating awe-inspiring sword skill that they will never be able to match
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I didn’t know familiars had laser sight on their cloaca
Only with the proper feats
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D&D is great because it allows for creative freedom and doesn’t require that everything be explicitly permitted in the written rules. It is always the DM’s prerogative to set a DC for any action and make the player roll for it, then roleplay the outcome, which is a lot more fun than just saying “no, you can’t do that because it’s not described in the rule book”.
This isn’t “homebrew”, it’s the right way to play.
I’d go so far as to say it’s not just the DM’s prerogative to set DCs for actions the players want to take but literally part of their job as specifically outlined in the core rules on ability checks.
The fact that the DM presumably set a DC for the intimidate check is also not the part here that’s in question.
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I’d go so far as to say it’s not just the DM’s prerogative to set DCs for actions the players want to take but literally part of their job as specifically outlined in the core rules on ability checks.
The fact that the DM presumably set a DC for the intimidate check is also not the part here that’s in question.
The fact that the DM presumably set a DC for the intimidate check is also not the part here that’s in question.
OK, which part is?
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I didn’t know familiars had laser sight on their cloaca
I don’t think oblex spawns normally are traditionally given guns either, but that didn’t stop me. Wish we could finish that campaign.
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There’s a spectrum of play that runs from strict rules-as-written to complete calvinball. Calvinball can be fun, but it’s not really a transferrable game. It’s very particular to that moment and that group.
Sometimes people post wacky calvinball moments (eg: rolling damage against the floor, a free action to eat tiles, a +2 bonus to hit) as if that’s baseline RAW DND. It is not. Many tables would be like “wtf, that’s not how this game works”. So it can be kind of weird when it’s presented as obvious, as if it’s raw, when it’s just make pretend.
Imagine if the post was “we were playing basketball and I missed the shot, so I got in my car and drove up close so I could jump off the roof and dunk”. Like, wacky story but not how you’re supposed to play the game.
Furthermore, DND specifically is kind of bad at creativity. It’s very precariously balanced, with specific rules in odd places and no rules in others. Compare with, for example, Fate, which has “this thing in the scene works to my advantage” rules built in. DND is almost entirely in the hands of the DM.
Basketball is a competitive team sport. Not really a valid comparison.
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Eh, +2 on the next hit after you miss, if you do enough damage to only some kinds of floor and if you pass an intimidation check is almost nothing. The problem I have is that it’d get old, so the player has to come up with new material.
Thought: A barbarian subclass that has a version of cutting words, but instead of insults it’s shit like this
Path of the Weird Flex.
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The fact that the DM presumably set a DC for the intimidate check is also not the part here that’s in question.
OK, which part is?
Since you asked:
- Rolling damage against the floor on a miss
- The intimidate check granting a +2 to hit as a free action
- Using Mage Hand to manipulate items that are worn/held by a creature
The damage against the floor is a minor thing, and smashing up the place as a consequence of fighting there is a reasonable bit of extra flavour. I’m not against it.
A free action that grants a skill check to get +2 to hit on your next attack as a reward for missing is wildly disproportionate. There are feats worse than that. If this is a thing people can do why would literally everyone playing not be constantly chewing up the floor in every encounter?
Broadly speaking objects that are worn or held are exempted from automatic manipulation by spells and effects, though this is usually called out in the description of the effect. Telekinesis, which is much stronger than Mage Hand, is one such spell which grants the wearer a save. Then you have things like Catapult, Daylight, or Fireball’s ignition effect, from which held or carried items are flatly immune. Personally I’d consider that grounds to extend that same restriction to Mage Hand.
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When you think about it, the body of any living creature is an open container made of animal skin.
Creative. Could you create water inside of someone? Fill their bladder up?
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I’m glad these people are having fun, but I always feel a bit put off when some random group’s homebrew and table rulings are pitched as being typical d&d.
Much of the creativity that becomes canonized was someone’s house rules first. Zines and meet ups allowed for players and dm’s to exchange stories and rules that made their game fun to play. The game co-evolved with active community engagement and feedback.
It was an important time for its development.
