D&D 5E Tasha’s cauldron character thread

[Paul Farquhar]

Being that they live in that world, they can tell the difference.

Counsel, who was feeling perfectly well this morning and had summarised articulately only moments before, finds herself stumbling over her words, her tongue cleaving to the roof of her mouth... or whatever.

But there are plenty of perfectly natural, non-magical reasons something like this can happen. If you always come to the conclusion that you have been hexed, even in a magical world 99% of the time you would be wrong.

This is what leads to perfectly innocent people being burned as witches. You world would be a very scary one.

 

[clearstream]

But there are plenty of perfectly natural, non-magical reasons something like this can happen. If you always come to the conclusion that you have been hexed, even in a magical world 99% of the time you would be wrong.

This is what leads to perfectly innocent people being burned as witches. You world would be a very scary one.

I just stated that they do not make that error: they can tell the difference.

They do not "always come the conclusion that you have been hexed". In the case to hand, expert counsel at the crucial juncture - when her case is at stake - suddenly and mysteriously can't find the words to eloquently frame her key argument. She knows spells can do that, she knows that others have a stake in the case worth taking the risk, and she is conscious of her current robust wellness and earlier rhetorical perfection.

You seem to want to put yourself in the position of denying that I can author my fantasy fiction according to my choices. In my world, creatures are conscious of magic, and they take it into consideration when things go awry. I find this well justified, not least because that is part of our real world inspiration for magic. The spell hex places a curse. In our world, even given that I firmly believe there are and were no such thing as curses, people have attributed bad luck to them. It seems absolutely plausible to me that in a world where such things do in fact obtain, inhabitants would be even more conscious of and watchful for them.

You might equally well find ways to justify your world, and once again I put it to you that it is hard for either of us to claim the RP high ground!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I just stated that they do not make that error: they can tell the difference.

How? There is nothing in the rules that would allow someone to do that at the moment it happens.

If they suspected something they might try Detect Magic or some such spell afterwards, but by then it is probably too late - the negative effect has already happened. And if the hexer is smart they will have lifted the hex, leaving nothing to detect, and hence no proof.

You seem to want to put yourself in the position of denying that I can author my fantasy fiction according to my choices.

It sounds to me like you are just trying to justify stymying your players because they did something you don't like.

In a world where hexing judges was a common occurrence, you might expect courts to be permanently protected by people permanently running Detect Magic and other assorted divinations. But that would only be reasonable (and indeed possible) in a world where magic is very common.

 

[clearstream]

How? There is nothing in the rules that would allow someone to do that at the moment it happens.

If they suspected something they might try Detect Magic or some such spell afterwards, but by then it is probably too late - the negative effect has already happened. And if the hexer is smart they will have lifted the hex, leaving nothing to detect, and hence no proof.

It sounds to me like you are just trying to justify stymying your players because they did something you don't like.

In a world where hexing judges was a common occurrence, you might expect courts to be permanently protected by people permanently running Detect Magic and other assorted divinations. But that would only be reasonable (and indeed possible) in a world where magic is very common.

I work from a principle that game mechanics represent in-world effects. Counsel suffered an effect - disadvantage Charisma - and seeing as that came on suddenly, at a crucial juncture with something at stake, they took into consideration that it might have been caused by a spell.

Or do you rule that a character rolling at disadvantage is not aware of it, such as you as DM rolling the additional die in secret?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I work from a principle that game mechanics represent in-world effects. Counsel suffered an effect - disadvantage Charisma - and seeing as that came on suddenly, at a crucial juncture with something at stake, they took into consideration that it might have been caused by a spell.

Fair enough. I would judge the same. But suspecting it is one thing, proving it is quite another. And the moment has passed. The hexer has achieved what they wanted.

 

[clearstream]

Fair enough. I would judge the same. But suspecting it is one thing, proving it is quite another. And the moment has passed. The hexer has achieved what they wanted.

Not at all. Counsel draws it to the attention of the judge, who has the matter investigated and in the meantime extends time for peroration.

 

[clearstream]

Fair enough. I would judge the same. But suspecting it is one thing, proving it is quite another. And the moment has passed. The hexer has achieved what they wanted.

Notwithstanding my above, of course it could go the way you would narrate it. I'm not saying that it could not. Rather I'm suggesting that people (in my world at least) would take such suspicions seriously... especially when there is something riding on it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not at all. Counsel draws it to the attention of the judge, who has the matter investigated and in the meantime extends time for peroration.

The counsel has to persuade the judge to stop the trial, and the counsel has disadvantage on all their charisma checks...

 

[BookTenTiger]

I finally got the book!

My first idea:

Variant Human Monk Way of Mercy with Sage background and Shadow Touched (Wisdom) feat. A Doctor who was part of a shadowy cabal and went through a ritual to give them access to controlling life and death!

 

[Lord Twig]

I had a Psychic Warrior from the 3.x days, so the Psi Warrior lets me remake him. Not exactly the same, but with the same flavor.

Variant Human, +1 Dex, +1 Con, Feat: Telekinetic (+1 Int), Skill: Acrobatics
Other skills: Athletics, History, Insight, Perception
Fighting Style: Blind Fighting
Gear is scimitar and shield, longbow and studded leather armor.
Put ability score increases in Dex and Int and grab the Mobility feat.

The build really doubles down on the Telekinesis aspect and allows him to do all kinds of move things with your mind tricks. He also has tons of options to move himself, his allies and (to a limited extent) his enemies around the battlefield. So he won't just be standing there and slugging away with foes, although he could do that too if needed.