D&D (2024) Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?

[Faolyn]

pretty long odds but here's the rub: could he have make that encounter happen on demand, in every town he visited? no i think not, that's the point people are making.

And it's not going to happen in every town he visited because players use these features very rarely.

 

[Faolyn]

It explicitly states that you're calling in a favor. If you're paying your way some other way that's been negotiated, you don't need the background feature.

Literally part of the feature's description says that you're paying your way via your services.

 

[soviet]

That's clearly not what it means. It further clarifies that you are calling in a favor. How do you do that with someone you've never met?

You have met them. You're meeting them right now! 'Hello fellow sailor, please can I have a lift to the next port? No, I understand, as you're doing me a favour I don't mind if we don't head off til tomorrow. Of course I'll help out on the way.'

 

[CreamCloud0]

And it's not going to happen in every town he visited because players use these features very rarely.

that's not a defense for the feature being written in a way that allows them to successfully do it every time if they did attempt to

 

[mamba]

So, you mean, in basically any D&D world, right?

that would be required for the feature to work reliably

Because most of the currently-official D&D worlds and what I would imagine to be a huge chunk of homebrew worlds have a lot of magic and magitech in them

no idea what homebrew worlds look like, I'd wager there are quite a few that are not 'high magic'. To me this sounds like Eberron level tech everywhere, take e.g. Dragonlance or Ravenloft and tell me how your criminal gets messages to their contact

I googled "D&D long-range communication" and found interesting concepts such as "magic mouth telephone" (no idea how that would work, but the idea sounds cool), "magically enhanced pigeons," and regular messenger services like runners or a pony express, and a homebrew background. Not to mention using all sorts of spells.

other than the magic mouth, I do not see any of them being helpful across worlds, and for that one we are requiring planar travel to be sufficiently common that 'everyone' has them

I am fine with a homebrew background, but guess what that background will not have... and 'over miles' is still quite a bit off from what you need

OK, so maybe you have a low-magic world. Cool. I like those. You still have messenger guilds and normal homing pigeons

we are talking about planar travel here, also, you still do not know the messengers. I am not saying it is impossible for people to communicate by pigeon, I am saying your criminal background does not give you access to pigeons everywhere, let alone a way to communicate across worlds

I have given you dozens of options over the last hundred pages. You choose to ignore them because you can only focus on the worst-case scenario

we are discussing worst case scenarios, if you claim 'I can do this anywhere' then such cases are very much covered...

I agree there are options, they are all highly unlikely, and ultimately I do not need them because the criminal knows a local thieves guild, no more than that...

Do you go by this strict an interpretation of RAW for any other aspect of the game?

I go with what makes sense, whether that agrees with RAW or not

 

[Lanefan]

My Dad gave a radio interview. A few years later, he met a kid in another country, who barely spoke English, who recognized him by his voice alone. What are the odds of that?

Real life is filled with all sorts of weird coincidences, and as the GM, you control the odds. You're not actually expected to roll a d1,000,000,000 and have the event only happen on a 1.

Fair, but even 1 in 1000 - still long odds - makes these occurrences very unlikely.

Plus, in a D&D world, there will likely be far fewer active ports and far fewer sailors. I

Well, maybe not. If one is even vaguely modelling medieval/renaissance times, mid-to-long-distance sea (and river, and lake) trade is far more important than mid-to-long-distance land trade except, of course, in areas where there aren't any seas-rivers-lakes. That, and little fishing villages have existed along every coast everywhere since forever.

If anything, it's land-based trade that gets over-emphasized in fantasy works and D&D modelling.

 

[Lanefan]

It's an either-or statement. One of the two options, a ship you served on or another ship you have good relations with. You can't call in a favor from someone you've never met.

​

Feature: Ship’s Passage​

When you need to, you can secure free passage on a sailing ship for yourself and your adventuring companions. You might sail on the ship you served on, or another ship you have good relations with (perhaps one captained by a former crewmate). Because you’re calling in a favor, you can’t be certain of a schedule or route that will meet your every need. Your Dungeon Master will determine how long it takes to get where you need to go. In return for your free passage, you and your companions are expected to assist the crew during the voyage.​

It may take months to get home in the scenario I proposed, or at the very least get you closer to home. If it's the latter, surprise surprise the sailor meets yet someone else that owes them a favor.

You know, I just noticed something else a bit odd about that feature write-up: by the letter, it denies the feature if a ship is propelled by oars, or a motor, or magic...it's specifically limited to "sailing" ships.

Nitpicky perhaps, but why put the word "sailing" in there? Unless, maybe, they're taking the word "sailor" as literally meaning someone who has worked in sailing ships, as opposed to the more conventional meaning where "sailor" covers any type of mariner including those familiar with non-sail vessels. Curious.

And - again taken literally - this could in fact impact worldbuilding, in that at some periods in history (e.g. Greek-Roman-era Mediterranean) oar-powered ships were pretty much all they used; yet this feature expects sailing ships to be the norm.

 

[Lanefan]

And again, you insist on sticking to RAW while also saying that sticking to RAW is bad.

Easy: you offer your services in exchange for them offering you a ride.

And with this, I'm fine. Working one's passage instead of paying for it is a well-known thing, and it's something that could very likely be done by a sailor pretty much anywhere provided language barriers etc. don't get in the way.

It's the "calling in a favour" piece that doesn't always fit, in that it very strongly (as in hammer-upside-the-head level) implies previous-to-adventuring contact between the PC and this specific ship and-or some people sailing on her; and while that works fine in some situations it's nonsensical in others.

 

[tetrasodium]

that would be required for the feature to work reliably


no idea what homebrew worlds look like, I'd wager there are quite a few that are not 'high magic'. To me this sounds like Eberron level tech everywhere, take e.g. Dragonlance or Ravenloft and tell me how your criminal gets messages to their contact


other than the magic mouth, I do not see any of them being helpful across worlds, and for that one we are requiring planar travel to be sufficiently common that 'everyone' has them

I am fine with a homebrew background, but guess what that background will not have... and 'over miles' is still quite a bit off from what you need


we are talking about planar travel here, also, you still do not know the messengers. I am not saying it is impossible for people to communicate by pigeon, I am saying your criminal background does not give you access to pigeons everywhere, let alone a way to communicate across worlds


we are discussing worst case scenarios, if you claim 'I can do this anywhere' then such cases are very much covered...

I agree there are options, they are all highly unlikely, and ultimately I do not need them because the criminal knows a local thieves guild, no more than that...


I go with what makes sense, whether that agrees with RAW or not

Not even eberron is that accessible.A house sivvis enclave could send messages through a sending station & there are probably other houses who migght be willowing to deliver a letter (ie orien). Those things are going to be like a telegram & sending as letter with a reliable merchant caravan not the kind of global/multiversal network satphone with local operatives everywhere that od being put forward. More importantly is the fact that the PC would basically be dealing with a megacorp who expects payment for services provided & has the muscle to enforce the terms no matter the party's level

 

[Oofta]

And with this, I'm fine. Working one's passage instead of paying for it is a well-known thing, and it's something that could very likely be done by a sailor pretty much anywhere provided language barriers etc. don't get in the way.

It's the "calling in a favour" piece that doesn't always fit, in that it very strongly (as in hammer-upside-the-head level) implies previous-to-adventuring contact between the PC and this specific ship and-or some people sailing on her; and while that works fine in some situations it's nonsensical in others.

In my campaign it would also take a bit of legwork, some discussion and have a chance of failure even if you're willing to help out. So it's not guaranteed and it doesn't require a background feature. A sailor may have a better idea of what to look for, how to ask around on what captains are reputable and have a better chance of securing passage on a ship actually going in the direction the PCs want.