Short Rest Mixed Bag: D&D Court

Hearing Murph say conjure animals "isn't overly powerful" when it's widely accepted to be the strongest 3rd level spell in the game and ALSO after Emily whomped him so hard with the pixies from conjure woodland beings near the end of campaign 1 is so funny in retrospect

Blue Bee

I'm a lawyer, the way I laughed when Jake said "it depends" when ruling on banishment. So relatable.

Jonathan Lester

I will say, my group eats dinner at the beginning of the session while we all catch up and goof off. So maybe that player can try to eat the entire chicken at the very beginning of the session.

Aaron Walsh

I don't even know why they answer things that are covered by JC on sage advice. I mean not that I expect them to look up what every single designer has to say about every issue but it takes about 1 minute to clear that stuff up, it doesn't really make for an interesting ruling

Summer Tribe

I liked Jake's initial apprehension to the ruling. Space could be considered your location on the battle map. The easy way I would settle it if I were DM would be that if I wasn't making the player use their movement to keep up with the boat when they were flying then the same would apply to the banish spell.

JigMink

The way it is worded it seems you summon a specific number of fey spirits and the spirits would choose their form, but it says that the obey any verbal commands the summoner gives them so, if I were GM and the player didn't have a specific beast prepared, I would ask them what they wanted the animals to do and choose something close. If they had a specific beast in mind when they cast the spell I would defer to it if it were allowed by the wording of the spell as I would consider this a command to the fey spirit(s) that were summoned.

JigMink

How can you makes a ruling on conjure animals without reading it? If you read it it does say the gm has the stats for the conjured animals but I don't think that means they pick what animals.

Tyler Weikel

I totally agree that aarocakra are the most annoying PC's. I was DMing a campaign and it was like a two hour long first session where I had the characters level up to 20 just for spell slots and stuff, so no ability scores or anything, and by the end of the first session I fucking used reincarnate as an attack (I rolled with disadvantage because it's written to be on a dead creature).

Sawyer Erstad

As an attorney, I was thoroughly entertained by this! Thanks as usual for awesome entertainment guys!

Hol up a minute, judges. If you interpret Banish in that way, then you have to account for the movement of planet they're all on. Planets move crazy fast. The un-banish into outer space, where they're shitty, 25 AC-having Arakocra suffocates. You can't fly if there's no air!

Jess Little

Please please please do another one of this later!

Eric Grochowski

It sound alike they have bracers of defense, maybe a fighting style to bump up the AC some more, really good stats, and just magic items:D

Amazing! Thank you for sharing ❤️

It doesn’t not say that explicitly that the player gets to chose the animal but what combination of CR for the animals nor does it say the Dm gets to chose (it says the DM has the stats for the creatures) so I agree that rolling is a good compromise but I think the wording in the book does imply that the player can chose specifically because the it is not specified to be random either.

Debra Wasson

I loved listening to this! Very helpful as a 1st time DM!

Conerning the Aarakocra, space and time are relative and the phrase "same space 1min later" don't makes sense physically if the reference frame is not specify. Therefore both solutions are acceptable and the blame is on WotC. That being said the player could be right if the world doesn't follow the laws of physics, but if it does the DM might be right because, even if the wording of the spell is wrong, the DM's solution is the only one that makes sense physically since the spell was casted in the reference frame of the ship.

For the aarakocra/teleportation thing... I've never run into this situation in 5e, but I played Pathfinder's "Skull & Shackles" adventure path. There are a lot of spells in PF that are different when you're at sea. One of them is Teleport. You can't teleport to a ship unless you scry first to determine where the ship is. This is like a basic assumption of how it works. So we can say, in that case, that Teleport accepts the frame of reference of the world even if the world is moving through space, but doesn't accept the frame of reference of the moving ship. But of course that's all Pathfinder. Is there anything in 5e that suggests the existence of this, or the opposite, principle? If there isn't, then it's a GM call.

Matthew Elmslie

I'm with Jake on the Aarakocra ruling. Per Murph's example, nightcrawler still stays within the Earth's reference frame when he teleports. The Earth moves through space at ridiculous speeds, but NC doesn't accidentally wind up in space. I see the Aarakocra on the pirate ship as no different. Locally, he's on the ship's reference frame. If he returns back off the ship, why not in space too?

Sammo Cando

DnD Court should/could legitimately be spun off as an entire podcast, or at least be a regular standing Patreon bonus, this was so good! Endless amount of possible content and hilarity!

Britt Murphy

I don't think this is the case w all dice-fudgers, but based off the tweet Murph mentioned- if you really think the dice-fudging is due to a high pressure campaign, maybe you could work to have failure be more clearly an opportunity for growth? Like if a non-fudging player does v poorly in a fight or other encounter, turning the focus on them for a bit & giving them some character development bc of it? Also, while as a dice goblin I'm sad to not use physical dice, I've been playing in Foundry in a few campaigns, & they have customizable online dice to roll to get sort of that feel!

tacticalgrandma

I love the comments about aarakocra (and the players) 😂😂 I play as an aarakocra monk and we nerfed his flight abilities immediately, as it was just too much bullshit for a level 1 character who's never left his monastery before to have. Instead we've turned it into a character growth, where as he gets more and more powerful and experienced his ability to fly increases (so right now I can fly a maximum of 20 feet up but by the time he reaches level 10 it would be more appropriately heightened to the true aarakocra stats) 👌

Mouse

I disagree with the banishment decision, if we are saying that the player comes back to their exact absolute spot in space, then they would be in outerspace since the planet has moved as well.

Amy Irving

I was thinking the same thing

Totally agree but her and the dm should have talked about what stuff she would have as dm.i had dm give me space ship and before I even got to use it blew up

How the hell do you get 25 ac as a monk! They can’t wear armor or hold a shield... and unarmored defense doesn’t stack.

Good Guy Josh

I find myself wondering if the momentum the aarakocra had on the boat is maintained during the banishment? In much the same way that, when jumping inside a train carriage you land in the same place, the space you were banished from keeps moving along with whatever surface that space was on? (Admittedly, banishment lasts much longer than any of us can jump in the air, physics don't necessarily need to be adhered to in a world with magic and dragons, and even if some of them do, you could still narratively explain away the kind of planetary momentum that would mean that every returning banish-ee would, by this interpretation, be somewhere in what we on earth think of as "outer space".)

Sara

Sorry to the honorable judges, but I think they miss interpreted the RAW on conjure animals. I think the list of available animals the DM can have is to prevent players from being like "I conjure a swarm of raptors" in a game that has no dinosaurs, or conjuring ocean fish when they've never been to the ocean. When I was a druid, I had a similar situation with my DM and my wild shape where I had to either have canonically encountered the animal I wanted to shape I to, or make a case for how my character would have logically encountered it in her backstory without some sort of shenanigans like "oh she took a vacation across the world and saw a direwolf" when that isn't possible in the world.

Monzi

You guys need to find a new service for this because patron is going to go away they lost a court case that makes them very vulnerable

Sidratul Chowdhury

“An entire rotisserie chicken” made me choke on my coffee that’s so fucking funny

Marisa

The situation with the rich kid having access to a boat just makes me think of Jen's prince boyfriend putting them up in lavish hotels 😂

Lizzy French

So with the chicken I get why it can be annoying. We play on discord and you have to push to talk. With my other game we do play over hangouts so it's harder to eat, but we take a break or go on mute

Brenda Gibbner

Any chance of this becoming a second monthly podcast at the 10 dollar sub level or something similar? I would absolutely up my sub to get this pod more often. Hilarious content!!!

K so, ya'll put it out there. Gotta deliver. Rotisserie chicken livestream stretch goal 🍗👀

Brandalf The Bae

As someone with pretty crazy dietary needs I was 1000% percent triggered by the unjustified attack on rotisery chicken and I will defend him to the death. If I was not able to take a meal during sessions I would not be able to ever play dnd. I dont care if its popcorn or crawdads food is a right! #smackthatgreasychicken

James Scott

I'm happy the judges ruled in my favour and I will ensure that my friend is confined Monica-style to the chicken for 8 years.

Calum Gillies

How does the Monk have 25 AC? Even with +5 in both dex and wisdom, the cap should be 20, as the AC calculation is 10 + Wis mod + Dex mod, WHILE WEARING NO ARMOR NOR SHIELD. If he has an armor, he should not add wisdom. Even if you're using the UA Barrier tattoos, they can only use one calculation (either from the barrier or from the Unarmored Defense feature) Also if he multiclassed as a barbarian, it still would be either WIS or CON to be added to the 10+Dex for the same "one calculation method only" Does he have a lot of magic items? Is he using a subclass that I don't know of which would have 5 more AC? I'm really intrigued by that!! :p

Roll fudging is a case by case situation. I feel like you can just keep the roll needed to yourself (as DM) and adjust it accordingly to plot. Currently in a campaign that has had several key plot moments where I notoriously roll trash.

Nye-Low

I'm just here to give Murph a tiny bit of joy and tell him I have a player that's an aarakocra ranger who is deathly afraid of heights

Emmie

In response to the athletics/acrobatics question, I think you guys don’t play critical failures the way a lot of dms play them. In my campaign nat 1’s will have some kind of consequence on ability checks/attack rolls. So the dm has ruled a consequence to critical failure. They are a new dm so they should’ve definitely asked the player what they were doing to escape the wheel afterwards

Ganonbort

I submitted the Aarocakra case and it was the first time I submitted anything to the boobs 😃 I am so happy they talked about it!

Alexander Vaa

This was so much fun, and I’m so glad you’re doing more!

Gabi H

In the first case, I’m sure Kaylee can choose whatever animals based on the challenge rating set by the spell Conjure Animals

Will Benitez

Wholeheartedly agree. If that is the defense someone wants to use for the banishment spell then all banishments end with the player in the icy void of space and die.

Re: the spider - spiders, based on the shape of their body and how their legs work, *cannot* fall to their death due to the fact that their legs slow their fall. Thusly, spiders should not be able to fear heights specifically *although, I do agree with the final decision to side with the DM

Mixxuie

Spider ballooning is both very crazy and very real! 100% right

Certainly Not Brent

That was what I was thinking. Even if he had argued athletics, it’s still a nat 1

Peter Mundell

This was my thought also. If they'd end up in the ocean, then they should actually be in space. Picking the earth(/world) as the anchor point rather than space is arbitrary, so they should be on the ship to preserve the spirit of the spell.

Aejir

The Nightcrawler Defense is amazing!

Thomas Friedlander

Re: fudging the dice - had a party member who was very obviously lying about his rolls, and it helped the party, but sucked. The dead giveaway? He rolled three nat 20s in a row (spaced out over about 15 minutes) and did not treat it like it was a big deal at all. smh.

Joseph Goldstein

We had a player that would hide his dice so he could lie about his rolls. He never "rolled" under a 17. He was caught by other plays a few times so certian players would sit by him and call out his rolls like they were reacting to the numbers so we oculd keep him clean. I'm a firm beliver in "the Dice Decide"

Nikki Lynn

Spiders I think are too small to actually fall to death and I don’t think can suffer altitude sickness because they don’t have enclosed respiratory systems? It’s been a while since I read up on that but I mean, several species use webs to fly.

Walter Lajara

Also, for that noble background... The DM is totally right about preventing outright advantages, but a noble could easily have a connection that would allow for a ship. Saying no outright closes the door for a lot of fun stuff!

You shouldn't fudge rolls as a player, though I'd argue that sometimes the dice will pick the worst option with their roll. This is why mechanics like force points from Star Wars Edge of the Empire are good, where it allows you to exert a little more influence on the story. But players* that serially fudge dice rolls are bad. *Sometimes it's okay to fudge as a DM, though only to help the party (i.e. stopping a low level tpk)

honestly for the dwarf one he rolled a natural 1 so

Carolinethedragon

For the Aarakocra, Jake was initially correct in my view. The idea they reappear in the same space is relative to the movement of the planet, why does that not transfer to the movement of the ship? By the ruling's logic they should reappear in space since the planet has moved in that time as well. Thus, the spell should be based on the relative location of the initial banishment which is the spot on the ship.

JD

In regards to the aarakocra case. if they were reappearing in the absolute same position, they'd be in the middle of deep space when they come back, and likely die very quickly and painfully. The planet would have moved a significant distance away, possibly the whole system would have.

Torvall

i'm going to sound like a real smartass, but normal spiders don't have lungs to collapse, their mass is also to small to take damage from falling AND if a spider is small enough it can shoot a string of web in to the air and slowly float (like a parachute, spiders actually do that to travel in real live)

Shrewd!

Jeffrey Steck, Lord of the Fjord

Insects don't take falling damage

Benjamin Stalnaker

Getting me through the workday,, bless you boobs! 💕💕💕

Ben Steen

YES! Been waiting all day for this.

David