It's not clear whom you are responding to, but The 'To what end?' question was useful. What do you expect the tickling to accomplish? There is no specific tickling mechanic, but it is a thing that can be done. It's not going to have a consistent effect like Tasha's Hideous Laughter, in all likelihood. It's not akin to grappling or shoving which have specific RAW mechanics.
Maybe if I were running some sort of cutesy, muppet-esque campaign, I'd implement a tickling mechanic, but outside of that, it's just going to be like any other general action not covered by RAW. You can almost always try, but what it accomplishes would be variable, though most of the time, it wouldn't do much of anything at all except maybe make someone laugh, feel violated, or possibly hit you.
They pop up at the top of the sub-forum. Anyone who is browsing at the time will see it near instantly. There are almost always at least a few people on.
I mean my original question still stands, you've not clarified exactly what you're expecting tickling to do. Not so surprisingly there aren't any RAW around tickling because its such an out there thing to be doing in game, outside of combat it would just be something a DM would play as the situation goes unlikely to need any specific rules and within combat its so implausible and impractical they'd not bother including it as where would the line be drawn in ridiculous combat actions you could take. If you wish for this to work in combat like Makures stated keep in mind each combatant in combat is generally aware of the others, trained in some form of combat generally (or a giant creature unlikely to be tickled by a little person or let that happen) not to mention likely wearing some sort of armour.
'RAW', there is absolutely nothing regarding tickling in the game. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Negatory. There are precisely zero words written on it, which means that the RAW answer is 'whatever your DM decides.'
People are reticent to answer because the question is bloody weird and leans into an angle of D&D people are usually hesitant to deal with. If you're asking what tickling could accomplish on the battlefield? With my DM Hat, I would rule "nothing at all. Any attempt to tickle an enemy you are actively fighting fails and wastes your action."
If you're asking what tickling could accomplish in town, such as attempting to tickle a shopkeep into lowered prices? I would rule that any attempt to do so would piss off the shopkeeper and very probably be construed as harassment. A guard would have a stern word with the tickler and they'd likely pay a premium in that shop, if they were allowed back in at all.
If you're asking what tickling coupld accomplish in the bedroom, or some other boudoir nonsense? The answer is "nothing I'm going to narrate for you." If for whatever reason it's actually pertinent to the game and not just a player being a total creeper, that's a fade to black and a 'have fun in your imagination palace, buddy.' If it's not pertinent to the game and the player is actively being a total creeper, I'm going to ask them - once - to stop. The second time I have to ask, it's not gonna be asking-to-stop, it's going to be "Please leave my table, you're not welcome in my game if you're going to be a sex creep when nobody else is comfortable with it."
If you have some other reason you want firm, RAW mechanics for tickling, you're going to need to provide some C.O.N.T.E.X.T. Which, given how strenuously you've been resisting doing so, I doubt I want to hear, but have at it. I may well be surprised.
RAW='Rules as written'. (Meaning there is nothing in the the Basic Rules, Dungeon Master's Guide, Player's Handbook, or any other source materials that defines tickling mechanics).
Because there aren't written rules on it, the DM has to make up how it works and what effect it has on the spot. And what that looks like will probably change depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to cheer up a grumpy gus of a friendly NPC? Are you trying to knock an enemy prone with a laughing fit? Are you trying to be a creep to agitate people? Are you teasing a kitten? What you are trying to do changes if I will ask you to make any dice rolls for it, what dice rolls I will ask for, and the likelihood of tickling achieving the effect you desire.
Each DM will probably adjudicate 'tickling' differently. When you ask if it works, what does it mean for it to work? It's a thing you can do or at least attempt, so in that sense it will work. It just may not have the impact you want and may not have any impact at all.
Literally no one else I have ever seen has asked for a mechanical breakdown of how tickling works in D&D.
Tickling is an action a character can take. "How tickling works" is highly dependent on why that action is being taken, against which target, and to what hoped-for purpose. If you can't give specifics, we can't give answers.
if everyone thinks i'm crazy for asking this, I just asked because everyone does.
Paint me a written picture of a situation in D&D where you would want to tickle a target, and what sort of effect or response you would expect to occur with that target. If you can do that, I can explain how to adjudicate that action.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
if everyone thinks i'm crazy for asking this, I just asked because everyone does.
Paint me a written picture of a situation in D&D where you would want to tickle a target, and what sort of effect or response you would expect to occur with that target. If you can do that, I can explain how to adjudicate that action.
Bad experiences, Choir. And a question of the sort I've never had asked me for any reason I was okay with.
But sure.
You want to tickle somebody? Roll a Dex check versus their Constitution save. There - simply, easy adjudication for handling tickling in a situation where tickling, somehow, needs dice adjudication. I'm still hard-pressed to think of a situation where randomly tickling strangers to the point where you need a dice check to figure it out is kosher, and if you're tickling party members I'd argue the other player gets to decide the result, but there. Adjudication solved.
There's such a weirdly hostile tone in this thread, damn. I feel like OP's game must be a little sillier than y'all's, is all.
But yeah, question's been answered. There's no rule. See what your DM thinks.
It's a combination of the weirdness of the question and the OP's refusal to provide any context, leading to assumptions of it being for...weird unwanted sort stuff.
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maybe? yes or no, and tell me why
To what end?
"Questions your DM hopes they never have to answer for 200, Bob."
That said? Ask your DM. And try your best not to make it weird.
Please do not contact or message me.
what exactly do you mean?
how do people find new threads so fast?
It's not clear whom you are responding to, but The 'To what end?' question was useful. What do you expect the tickling to accomplish? There is no specific tickling mechanic, but it is a thing that can be done. It's not going to have a consistent effect like Tasha's Hideous Laughter, in all likelihood. It's not akin to grappling or shoving which have specific RAW mechanics.
Maybe if I were running some sort of cutesy, muppet-esque campaign, I'd implement a tickling mechanic, but outside of that, it's just going to be like any other general action not covered by RAW. You can almost always try, but what it accomplishes would be variable, though most of the time, it wouldn't do much of anything at all except maybe make someone laugh, feel violated, or possibly hit you.
They pop up at the top of the sub-forum. Anyone who is browsing at the time will see it near instantly. There are almost always at least a few people on.
Maybe to break concentration in a non-hostile way?
Wasting an action to force a concentration save with disadvantage, perhaps?
Not very strong normally, but situallitonaly quite useful
My homebrew content: Monsters, subclasses, Magic items, Feats, spells, races, backgrounds
RAW?
I mean my original question still stands, you've not clarified exactly what you're expecting tickling to do. Not so surprisingly there aren't any RAW around tickling because its such an out there thing to be doing in game, outside of combat it would just be something a DM would play as the situation goes unlikely to need any specific rules and within combat its so implausible and impractical they'd not bother including it as where would the line be drawn in ridiculous combat actions you could take. If you wish for this to work in combat like Makures stated keep in mind each combatant in combat is generally aware of the others, trained in some form of combat generally (or a giant creature unlikely to be tickled by a little person or let that happen) not to mention likely wearing some sort of armour.
'RAW', there is absolutely nothing regarding tickling in the game. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Negatory. There are precisely zero words written on it, which means that the RAW answer is 'whatever your DM decides.'
People are reticent to answer because the question is bloody weird and leans into an angle of D&D people are usually hesitant to deal with. If you're asking what tickling could accomplish on the battlefield? With my DM Hat, I would rule "nothing at all. Any attempt to tickle an enemy you are actively fighting fails and wastes your action."
If you're asking what tickling could accomplish in town, such as attempting to tickle a shopkeep into lowered prices? I would rule that any attempt to do so would piss off the shopkeeper and very probably be construed as harassment. A guard would have a stern word with the tickler and they'd likely pay a premium in that shop, if they were allowed back in at all.
If you're asking what tickling coupld accomplish in the bedroom, or some other boudoir nonsense? The answer is "nothing I'm going to narrate for you." If for whatever reason it's actually pertinent to the game and not just a player being a total creeper, that's a fade to black and a 'have fun in your imagination palace, buddy.' If it's not pertinent to the game and the player is actively being a total creeper, I'm going to ask them - once - to stop. The second time I have to ask, it's not gonna be asking-to-stop, it's going to be "Please leave my table, you're not welcome in my game if you're going to be a sex creep when nobody else is comfortable with it."
If you have some other reason you want firm, RAW mechanics for tickling, you're going to need to provide some C.O.N.T.E.X.T. Which, given how strenuously you've been resisting doing so, I doubt I want to hear, but have at it. I may well be surprised.
Please do not contact or message me.
RAW='Rules as written'.
(Meaning there is nothing in the the Basic Rules, Dungeon Master's Guide, Player's Handbook, or any other source materials that defines tickling mechanics).
Because there aren't written rules on it, the DM has to make up how it works and what effect it has on the spot. And what that looks like will probably change depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to cheer up a grumpy gus of a friendly NPC? Are you trying to knock an enemy prone with a laughing fit? Are you trying to be a creep to agitate people? Are you teasing a kitten? What you are trying to do changes if I will ask you to make any dice rolls for it, what dice rolls I will ask for, and the likelihood of tickling achieving the effect you desire.
Each DM will probably adjudicate 'tickling' differently. When you ask if it works, what does it mean for it to work? It's a thing you can do or at least attempt, so in that sense it will work. It just may not have the impact you want and may not have any impact at all.
if everyone thinks i'm crazy for asking this, I just asked because everyone does.
I was asking about the to what end
Literally no one else I have ever seen has asked for a mechanical breakdown of how tickling works in D&D.
Tickling is an action a character can take. "How tickling works" is highly dependent on why that action is being taken, against which target, and to what hoped-for purpose. If you can't give specifics, we can't give answers.
Please do not contact or message me.
Paint me a written picture of a situation in D&D where you would want to tickle a target, and what sort of effect or response you would expect to occur with that target. If you can do that, I can explain how to adjudicate that action.
Ask your DM. Or at the very least:
Give us this info.
There's such a weirdly hostile tone in this thread, damn. I feel like OP's game must be a little sillier than y'all's, is all.
But yeah, question's been answered. There's no rule. See what your DM thinks.
Bad experiences, Choir. And a question of the sort I've never had asked me for any reason I was okay with.
But sure.
You want to tickle somebody? Roll a Dex check versus their Constitution save. There - simply, easy adjudication for handling tickling in a situation where tickling, somehow, needs dice adjudication. I'm still hard-pressed to think of a situation where randomly tickling strangers to the point where you need a dice check to figure it out is kosher, and if you're tickling party members I'd argue the other player gets to decide the result, but there. Adjudication solved.
Please do not contact or message me.
It's a combination of the weirdness of the question and the OP's refusal to provide any context, leading to assumptions of it being for...weird unwanted sort stuff.