I assure you, I'm asking these questions seriously and not as a joke.
1) Does bardic magic get a bonus from back up dancers? I can certainly see a case for some spells or abilities being stronger if they have backup dancers helping along and certainly making it more epic, but do they actually HELP or are they just using perform for no real reason?
2) Do D&D characters play D&D or something similar? Like, do they have 'Suburbs and Sedans' in which they play 'normal' people trying to get through life? In some of my non-D&D RP games I sometimes have characters play 'Turbines & Trenches' which is basically WWI as Warhammer with a confirmed new edition in the works (WWII). I'm curious as to if there is some canon game people in D&D worlds would play that's similar.
3) If the local lord insults the party and refuses to reward them, the bard gets ticked and uses illusion magic to flip a massive double bird at them, then uses invisibility to escape, is it okay for the GM to just have the guards capture them 'because of sound'? Even with a high stealth check?
4) Does the quality of the insult help vicious mockery?
4a) Especially if the bard calls a generic foe 'an unimportant sidenote, a mere token piece within a much greater game', it works, and kills the piece? Does the piece disappear having realized reality?
5) Harpoons to go whaling for opponents and pull them off of high ledges to their doom. Good idea or bad? Or when on an airship and deciding to go sky whaling and reel in flying opponents.
6) If I drop 1,000 ball bearings and cast heat metal, do I heal ALL the ball bearings or just one?
I assure you, I'm asking these questions seriously and not as a joke.
1) Does bardic magic get a bonus from back up dancers? I can certainly see a case for some spells or abilities being stronger if they have backup dancers helping along and certainly making it more epic, but do they actually HELP or are they just using perform for no real reason?
By rules - no. DM and players can always improvise something if it makes sense, though.
2) Do D&D characters play D&D or something similar? Like, do they have 'Suburbs and Sedans' in which they play 'normal' people trying to get through life? In some of my non-D&D RP games I sometimes have characters play 'Turbines & Trenches' which is basically WWI as Warhammer with a confirmed new edition in the works (WWII). I'm curious as to if there is some canon game people in D&D worlds would play that's similar.
3) If the local lord insults the party and refuses to reward them, the bard gets ticked and uses illusion magic to flip a massive double bird at them, then uses invisibility to escape, is it okay for the GM to just have the guards capture them 'because of sound'? Even with a high stealth check?
Yes, the DM has control of the game world. The players don't get to wrest control of it - the player shouldn't even be rolling a stealth check unless the DM is telling them they're supposed to.
Whether that ruling makes sense depends on more detail than is provided here, but at the end of the day it's the DM's call.
(I'd guess it depends on how many exits from the room there are. If there's just one or two, and a guard at each entrance and a spare guard to tackle the space where the bard is, then going invisible in that room isn't gonna do much - there's no escape anyway, and the bard's gonna have to make noise to dodge the guard chasing them. On the other hand, if there's fewer guards than doors, or if the bard is willing to actually fight and incapacitate guards, then it makes more sense to play things out.)
That whole situation sounds like a bad deal, though. Player doesn't seem to be taking it seriously, DM and players are being antagonistic....
4) Does the quality of the insult help vicious mockery?
4a) Especially if the bard calls a generic foe 'an unimportant sidenote, a mere token piece within a much greater game', it works, and kills the piece? Does the piece disappear having realized reality?
RAW, no, vicious mockery does exactly what it says regardless of whether the player comes up with a cool or lame insult (or none at all.) DM and players can always improvise things, though.
5) Harpoons to go whaling for opponents and pull them off of high ledges to their doom. Good idea or bad? Or when on an airship and deciding to go sky whaling and reel in flying opponents.
Sure, seems cool, if you're often fighting enemies on high ledges or in the air.
6) If I drop 1,000 ball bearings and cast heat metal, do I heal ALL the ball bearings or just one?
DM's call. I'd say RAW is just one but I'd allow all.
Man. This sounds like somebody's bard is being way too spoony for their campaign. And the OP is either the bard looking for backup for his spooniness or the DM trying to figure out if he's justified in bringing the hammer down.
2) Do D&D characters play D&D or something similar? Like, do they have 'Suburbs and Sedans' in which they play 'normal' people trying to get through life? In some of my non-D&D RP games I sometimes have characters play 'Turbines & Trenches' which is basically WWI as Warhammer with a confirmed new edition in the works (WWII). I'm curious as to if there is some canon game people in D&D worlds would play that's similar.
Man. This sounds like somebody's bard is being way too spoony for their campaign. And the OP is either the bard looking for backup for his spooniness or the DM trying to figure out if he's justified in bringing the hammer down.
Spoony bard reference, love it!
As for 2... I've heard tell that dragons play Houses and Humans...
I assure you, I'm asking these questions seriously and not as a joke.
1) Does bardic magic get a bonus from back up dancers? I can certainly see a case for some spells or abilities being stronger if they have backup dancers helping along and certainly making it more epic, but do they actually HELP or are they just using perform for no real reason?
2) Do D&D characters play D&D or something similar? Like, do they have 'Suburbs and Sedans' in which they play 'normal' people trying to get through life? In some of my non-D&D RP games I sometimes have characters play 'Turbines & Trenches' which is basically WWI as Warhammer with a confirmed new edition in the works (WWII). I'm curious as to if there is some canon game people in D&D worlds would play that's similar.
3) If the local lord insults the party and refuses to reward them, the bard gets ticked and uses illusion magic to flip a massive double bird at them, then uses invisibility to escape, is it okay for the GM to just have the guards capture them 'because of sound'? Even with a high stealth check?
4) Does the quality of the insult help vicious mockery?
4a) Especially if the bard calls a generic foe 'an unimportant sidenote, a mere token piece within a much greater game', it works, and kills the piece? Does the piece disappear having realized reality?
5) Harpoons to go whaling for opponents and pull them off of high ledges to their doom. Good idea or bad? Or when on an airship and deciding to go sky whaling and reel in flying opponents.
6) If I drop 1,000 ball bearings and cast heat metal, do I heal ALL the ball bearings or just one?
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Moderator1, 4) Rules as written? No. Rule of fun? Up to the DM
2) Up to the DM. I can't think of any instance in the lore of such a game being played, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen in your campaign.
3) I would rule no, unless one of the guards rolled a perception check higher than the bard's stealth check.
5) Depends on what you're harpooning.
6) The spell targets one object. Each ball bearing is one object.
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By rules - no. DM and players can always improvise something if it makes sense, though.
Not that I know off hand. Games referenced in the books that I can think of - Three Dragon Ante, Dragon Chess, the ones here https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/erftlw/sharn-city-of-towers#SportsandGames .... nothing "meta" like an in-game Suburbs and Sedans that I can think of, though.
Yes, the DM has control of the game world. The players don't get to wrest control of it - the player shouldn't even be rolling a stealth check unless the DM is telling them they're supposed to.
Whether that ruling makes sense depends on more detail than is provided here, but at the end of the day it's the DM's call.
(I'd guess it depends on how many exits from the room there are. If there's just one or two, and a guard at each entrance and a spare guard to tackle the space where the bard is, then going invisible in that room isn't gonna do much - there's no escape anyway, and the bard's gonna have to make noise to dodge the guard chasing them. On the other hand, if there's fewer guards than doors, or if the bard is willing to actually fight and incapacitate guards, then it makes more sense to play things out.)
That whole situation sounds like a bad deal, though. Player doesn't seem to be taking it seriously, DM and players are being antagonistic....
RAW, no, vicious mockery does exactly what it says regardless of whether the player comes up with a cool or lame insult (or none at all.) DM and players can always improvise things, though.
Sure, seems cool, if you're often fighting enemies on high ledges or in the air.
DM's call. I'd say RAW is just one but I'd allow all.
Man. This sounds like somebody's bard is being way too spoony for their campaign. And the OP is either the bard looking for backup for his spooniness or the DM trying to figure out if he's justified in bringing the hammer down.
Please do not contact or message me.
Sounds like someone is a Critter.
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Spoony bard reference, love it!
As for 2... I've heard tell that dragons play Houses and Humans...
Well in the 1st edition DMG way back when was the cartoon of the characters playing "papers and paychecks" which could be an ingame game for them.