Surely "grab tile and eat it" is a standard action, right? Letting that be a free action seems like a weird call by the DM...
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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Meh, if it's a one off and not an important fight? Doing it for the sake of a gag I've got no problem with. Just don't want it to be a consistent thing.
What if that’s the core fault of my character? Can only eat tiles so eats it whenever it’s available
That character must make some exquisite mosaic poos.
Eh, +2 on the next hit after you miss, if you do enough damage to only some kinds of floor and if you pass an intimidation check is almost nothing. The problem I have is that it'd get old, so the player has to come up with new material.
Thought: A barbarian subclass that has a version of cutting words, but instead of insults it's shit like this
Path of the Weird Flex.
Just don't want it to be a consistent thing.
Easy, make the player deal with the consequences of eating a handful of gravel.
For the next 12 hours, every hour roll a constitution check against 1d4 of gastrointestinal damage.
If they had two attacks, I'd probably allow eating dirt as a substitute for a second attack.
Aww. It's such a quirky and funny thought, imagine eating the rubble as an intimidation attempt, like, the guy just missed but is trying to turn it into a "that was intentional, I wanted you to know what I'm going to do to your BRAIN after I cave in your skull!"
This is the kind of stuff that makes a game memorable IMO. As a DM, even if you don't want to allow it for some reason, just go along with it. Fake a roll and have the opponent yell back "Bahahah I haven't even hit you yet and you're already getting ready to start shitting bricks?!"
Loosely, you get a "use object interaction" every turn that isn't given a lot of emphasis but is in the rules as "other activity on your turn" (pg 190, PHB 2014). It includes something like talking, opening an unlocked door during your movement, picking up something within reach from a table, or unsheathing your sword as part of your attack action. It says it should require an action only if it needs special care or presents an unusual obstacle. I'd agree that grabbing a handful of dust and putting it in your mouth could be a free action.
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Reminder that by RAW in 5e (2014 at least) skill checks are a standard action.
This is handwaved 90% of the time (except for Maze in my experience) but still.
Eating dirt could be an object interaction, which I recall is similar to sheathing or unsheathing a weapon and you get one of those free per round.
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If that second opponent was a pirate and uses the eye patch for what it was meant for, it would not make any difference.
'I have you now Blackbeard, I've ruined your night vision! YOUR NIGHT VISION!!!'
Everyone remembers the part in Mythbusters where they proved this is possible. Nobody remembers the part where they found no evidence of it ever happening.
Also, the eye patch trope was originally for sailors in general. Which would make sense if this is what it was used for, since all sailors would need night vision, but that just means it's even crazier that nobody would bother to write it down.
They used deck prisms to see below decks. That would give you plenty of light during the day, and during the night your eyes are already adjusted to the dark.
Sure but we have also lost things that you'd think someone would write down properly if only for the purpose of manifests or similar things. Like Roman concrete where all the recipes we had failed to note that you needed to use salt water specifically or how I believe it was British naval vessels had three standardized condiments which we know the first two I think it was mayo and ketchup but we don't know what the third was we think it was probably vinegar due to its common use in recipes at the time but we aren't certain. It's often times the most mundane things that are lost, reminds me how in 40k it's all but stated that the control runes for more ancient tech are probably just our symbols for power on/off or whatnot they just lost the cultural context.
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You fool, you gave him darkvision
If the room was bright... yes, it would! Even if only momentarily.
Phantasmal Force is great. Used it on a Mini-Boss fighting alongside the Big Bad and then described "a giant goose comes crashing through the skylight, with it's head low it charges you with a furious 'HONK!'"
The DM played along a little by rolling to randomize what he swung at each round. Everytime he'd swing at the goose to "keep the illusion" I'd describe that he successfully hacked off a head, but now two more sprouted in its place and the honking intensifies.
The best part was the last sliver of damage he took was from the Phantasmal Force. So in his mind he was slain by a hydra goose.
A DM once attacked our party with wargs in an arctic tundra in the dead of night.
I discovered an offensive use of Create Water.
When you think about it, the body of any living creature is an open container made of animal skin.
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I'm glad these people are having fun, but I always feel a bit put off when some random group's homebrew and table rulings are pitched as being typical d&d.
So adjusting the game slightly to suit what the group feels would enhance their experience makes it... not counting as the game somehow?
So my Rimworld isn't Rimworld anymore because i added some Mods?
I think this is gatekeeping, tbh.
I don't think that's what's happening, here.
This is more as if there are mods for a game engine, and loads of people think the mods are made for one game specifically even though they work on any game using that engine. That would grind my gears as well, to be honest.
There's a spectrum of play that runs from strict rules-as-written to complete calvinball. Calvinball can be fun, but it's not really a transferrable game. It's very particular to that moment and that group.
Sometimes people post wacky calvinball moments (eg: rolling damage against the floor, a free action to eat tiles, a +2 bonus to hit) as if that's baseline RAW DND. It is not. Many tables would be like "wtf, that's not how this game works". So it can be kind of weird when it's presented as obvious, as if it's raw, when it's just make pretend.
Imagine if the post was "we were playing basketball and I missed the shot, so I got in my car and drove up close so I could jump off the roof and dunk". Like, wacky story but not how you're supposed to play the game.
Furthermore, DND specifically is kind of bad at creativity. It's very precariously balanced, with specific rules in odd places and no rules in others. Compare with, for example, Fate, which has "this thing in the scene works to my advantage" rules built in. DND is almost entirely in the hands of the DM.
Furthermore, DND specifically is kind of bad at creativity. It's very precariously balanced, with specific rules in odd places and no rules in others. Compare with, for example, Fate, which has "this thing in the scene works to my advantage" rules built in. DND is almost entirely in the hands of the DM.
It was never intended to be a complete, all-encompassing ruleset. It's a framework that you build on. It's intentionally open-ended because that allows greater freedom for both the DM and the players. If the rules are too strict then the gameplay is just mechanics with little room for roleplay.
But dnd's paradox is it is both open ended and rigid. My problem is it's too open ended in many ways (eg: social conflict), almost completely missing rules in other parts (eg: meta game mechanics, conceding conflicts), and too rigid in others (eg: Eldritch blast targeting rules, unarmed smite and sneak attack). That's not even going into the bigger problems like the adventuring day or how coarse class+level makes many concepts impractical at best.
On top of that, it is so mega popular many players have no other reference points and don't realize its assumptions are not universally true. It's like people who have only ever watched the Lord of the rings movies, and they're like "of course movies are four hours long and have horses. That's just how movies are."
The main things DND 5e does well are popular support, and the very small decision space for players makes it hard to make a character that's mechanically very weak or very strong. It brings nothing special to the table for roleplaying.
Compare with my go-to example of Fate, which has simple systems to encourage it. CofD, my second favorite, also does.
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That's not what he said at all. He pointed out that recommending a game and then listing examples that aren't actually part of the game's core rules is a bit weird. It sets an expectation that may lead to disappointment or argument.
"I love Rimworld, it's got so many Big Naturals in it" would be, I presume, misleading *
* I've never played Rimworld but I assume it has Big Naturals mods like everything else
I have also never played Rimworld but curiosity got the better of me and against my better judgment I checked to see if you were correct.
You were.
No. These people are welcome to play however they want. They're having a good time and that's great for them.
Pitching this as "d&d is great" when the entire story hinges on multiple table specific rulings makes this both less relatable for players of d&d used to a different tone of play and can set unrealistic expectations for new players who might join a game that plays very differently.
I'm not saying they shouldn't play like this, or that this isn't d&d. It's just a very specific scenario that is quite likely to be non-representative of many games.
I'd say this is more of a "RPGs are great" moment than anything else. Any table could have stories like this with any system. It's only a d&d story in particular because that's the most popular system. Any system can be house-ruled to do whatever, and that's the joy of pen and paper games as opposed to board games or video games, where the rules are more difficult to change.
Yes, completely agreed.
There are also systems much better at this than D&D, which makes calling it out as being the "great" thing here even more out of place.
If you want crunchier rules that have these kind of flavourful interactions you could play PF2e, which literally lets you roll intimidate to debuff your opponent and you have to actions available to do so after swinging your weapon. If you want something looser and more freeform that encourages improvisation maybe take a look at Legend in the Mist or something.
That's kind of my point though. It's still d&d, even with house rules. So it's perfectly fine (imho) to say d&d is great.
If it's less relatable to you because of that then... don't relate to it. I enjoy reading about other peoples fun sometimes and couldn't give two fucks about the ruleset they use. But hey, different strokes and all that.
Expectations for new players will most likely be "oh, this sounds like fun" more than "i want to do this super specific thing too and will be heartbroken if i find out it was all a big lie".
About representation i must say that most tables o played at had some house rules.
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Every table uses some form of house rule though. The description won't be your exact D&D experience but it IS a typical one.
I wouldn't call those homebrew. They don't have new rules that are consistently followed. It's more just allowing Rule of Cool. I really hope typical D&D allows the occasional shenanigan.
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I had my familiar transform into a bird to shit in an assassins mouth to interrupt a spell without causing a diplomatic incident at a wedding.
Once, I played at a table where we did an x-mas themed one-off.
Fast-forward to the climax of the session where we face off against an evil santa. As a bard, I had to get very creative.
Me: Describe him for us. Is he wearing the full santa claus getup?
DM: Of course!
Me: Including the red hat and the big 'ol belt-buckle around his big 'ol belly?
DM: Who do you take me for? He's the spitting image of St. Nick.
Me: Great! I cast heat metal on the belt buckle.
DM: ...
DM:
Whenever the DM gives me enough money at character creation, I buy two immovable rods so that I can fly by way of magical monkey bars.
Now that is a high stakes strength check.
Another metbod uses Boots of Levitation and a single Immovable Rod so you basically have an invisible pump rail cart.
Ah... the ol' switch'over'to'cover'roo
I miss Reddit switcharoo rabbit holes.
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