Short Rest: Eldermourne - Ep. 20: Olwen the Sullen

How DARE you??? I'm STILL just a kid & life IS a nightmare. 😭😭😭

hate relistening to this and coming across the FOB slander.......... they still hold up in 2026

Its my least favourite thing when murph says dnd combat its like warhammer, no it dnd combat which came first (i kniw its technically chainmail and other wargames but still)

When my dog passed, my wife realized that she was my soulmate and was okay with that so I feel you there Emily lol and always seemed like a wild choice to start a song with "look at this photograph" like I can't dude, it's a song on the radio lol

Nothing Personal is the name of an All Time Low (also pop punk) album lmaoooo

So late on this but the wording of the 5e flaming sphere is awful. The 3.5 language is much clearer, but they are right it works with a grid and minis way better than theatre of the mind.

I think technically the Sex Pistols were the boy band of punk

I never expected to hear the strokes talked about. Thank you

“stop watching the dunk contest. it doesn’t mean anything anymore”

I feel like Murph is complaining about the late 00s. The early 00s were the prime of the White Stripes and was also the peak of good Indie Folk like your Moldy Peaches and whatnot. (Yes, the commodified indie folk that went mainstream is...questionable.)

Commenting many years late on the off chance that someone can tell me what this book about punk is that Murph was reading

I'm so with Murph and Jake on the pop punk supplanting punk tragedy. I also listened to simple plan (and liked them and bands like them too much) and cringe at the memory of it. Take this to your grave does still undeniably bang.

The jell is ice

flaming sphere is much better in games on a grid imo. "Theater of the mind games" it's much harder to use it optimally, since there's usually fewer specified choke points. Also I dunno what on earth Murph is saying "it doesn't say it does damage" when it says "make a saving throw against the spell's damage"

Pretty sure the 2000s are called the noughties. Also, I vibe with the line "I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare" because I WAS a child and my life WAS a nightmare. I have nightmares about my childhood all the time, but that's on PTSD ;D

Flaming sphere is legit one of the best second level spells in the game. You can ran it into people for 2d6. They can just move away, but if theyre in combat with someone they take an opportunity attack and you can herd people using it. In addition, wizards especially early dont really use their bonus action.

Y'all just didn't understand that you can hit the enemy with it every turn with a bonus action. It also makes great battlefield control, which means nothing in a theater of the mind game. This discussion kills me every time bc it is my favorite spell.

I feel like saying that you make a save against the spell's damage means impact damage based on the movement taken from start to impact. That being said - what an insane way to say that.

emily please, petes hair looked like that because hes half black and straightened/gelled his hair down

I want so much more culture talk. Especially music. This is fantastic. Mixed bag green day v germs? I'm here for it

It does damage when it's rammed into people.

I still listen to pop punk........:p

Waaaay late to the conversation but, I think the biggest thing between the 90’s and the 00’s was that in the 90’s all the good music was from bands formed in the 80’s and in the 00’s all the ska bands from the 90’s were getting used for marketing.

Yeah I agree Fia is definitely more connected to the moon, as appears to Emily’s old character... Moonshine

I'm upset at how much shade they're throwing on Flaming Sphere which I really like. And I agree the wording sucks but it's a good spell and you can consistently get damage every bonus action while casting other spells.

Fucking bombers

Okay when Jake said this is "a case of DnD Court" I definitely heard "quesadilla-nD court"

Like most other things, the answer to where the nothing personal meme started with is Sonic the Hedgehog. Specifically a fan created character on Deviant Art called "Coldsteel the Hedgheg", which, is basically Shadow's edginess taken to 11.

*Teleports behind you* Nothing personnel, kid

Thank you! I was so lost. Lol. I knew it was something about the decade but got so confused. Iol

I feel ridiculous because I am also 35 and listen to all that music and live that exact life and yet I have no idea what an otts is... What is an otts? Lol

Felt properly roasted during Murph’s anti-pop-punk tirade 😂

As a DM I have used flaming sphere to great effect to crowd control and bottle-neck PCs. It's definitely situationally useful, in a ranged fight vs casters it would be silly. Also, you're not the first people to be confused by the wording! https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/08/27/the-dc-on-a-flaming-sphere-ram-is-equal-to-the-damage-is-this-correct/

I actually feel that condition immunities are more annoying than damage--there's lots of kinds of damage, and force or radiant bypasses most monsters with regard to damage, but why can't a ghost be charmed or frightened if it retains compulsions from life? And why is everything and their mother immune to being poisoned?

I understand that this has probably been said but it’s basic sentence structure. If you “roll a save against damage” you are rolling to avoid damage. Therefore a fail would result in damage. Not as confusing if the correct emphasis is placed

Just to add kindle to the Flaming Sphere debate. Mike Mearls answered on twitter that yes, using a bonus action to ram an enemy constitutes a dex save from them. Half damage on a success

Yall are absolutely reading flaming sphere wrong

Flaming Sphere is WACK even in Baldurs Gate 😭😭😭 I feel ur pain

Emily!!! I completely agree with the Cat Soulmate thing. We adopted a brown and white tabby kitten in December named Tiny, and I keep telling my husband that I just KNOW Tiny is my soulmate. He thinks I'm crazy, but when you know, you know. Also, as someone with two Fall Out Boy tattoos... lol, what an episode. Btw: Nothing Personal is the name of an All Time Low album.

Caldwell has Flaming Sphere right, if you use the bonus action to ram it into a creature they have to do a dex save, full damage on success/half damage on fail. Totally a confusing spell, but I think a fun one if you can get past how fuckedly its written.

I love the Pop-Punk and Real Punk stuff cause I was super into both in High School. ...and then got into fights on Tumblr 10 years later because kids got mad at me when I said Fall Out Boy was Punk like Taco Bell is Mexican Food.

The more fallout boy references the better. Let it out all out Jake. Also Its awesome that you guys have as many cats now as me and my roomates, I love watching their little communities form. (Although it's recently gone down to just 6 cats now..lol) anyway, I just wanted to say how absolutely killer this second season has been y'all. I pretty much listen to every episode multiple times now to reheat jokes or pick up on things I didn't hear the first go around. Thanks for all that you do!

I'm also here for the music discussion: When Caldwell was talking about the "minimal" rock of the aughts, he just named a bunch of my favorite garage rock bands, lmao. This was also super relevant for me this week as I found a burned cd of "Random MP3s" by 14-year old me who kicked it off with "Walkie Talkie Man" by Steriogram.

The music talk had me dying!! I need to hear more about Emily’s tastes in music though...

I feel personal attacked! I loved pop punk! 😂 /also now that simple plan song is stuck in my head.

Ok I got a bone to pick with Caldwell, spell card camp, you have unprecedented access to the Axford Academy of Asswhoop and Whompery. We dont need no stinking spell card camp

Jake’s “Hat Crit” comment was soooo good and got no love during the recording. It’s unfortunate that he’s a Spurs fan 😢

hey has anyone hear heard that murph got the freaking body of christian bale the horse whisperer himself? a firecracker of a man to be sure. anyways - thank you for inspiration and joy, my cheeks and eyes are thankful to you. and, tell me how to attach a picture of my cat? his name is pine

I might remember it incorrectly but didn't Lucanus use time stop during the fight against the space pirates to get Hardwon? So I think you can move somebody else 🤔

the music discussion in this particular short rest was.....so painful lol

My kitty that just passed away was my soulmate. I am fully on board with cat soulmates

So, it’s up to me to say Olwentz huh?

It requires a few high level spell slots (and might be a bit hard to pull off), but Time Stop + Delayed Blast Fireball is a pretty cool combination. Also maybe even a Forcecage + Cloudkill for good measure, if there's time

Flaming sphere was crazy good for the DOIP campaign I played. The wizard used it as a bottleneck. It just crushed folks. I think Murph is wrong on the interpretation though. I think moving through it shouldn’t be possible (it is a sphere of fire) and bumping into it is 2d6

Have you all seen the new UA? It’s pretty rad and has new feats and spells https://media.wizards.com/2021/downloads/Unearthed-Arcana-2021-Draconic-Options.pdf

I could listen to murph and Jake talk about pop punk and monk for forever maybe

https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/699390574571364352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E699390574571364352%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sageadvice.eu%2F2016%2F03%2F09%2Fflaming-sphere-to-ram-a-target%2F

Really dunking on my musical tastes this short rest

The echo knight isn’t classified as a creature, it’s an object, so any spells targeting a creature can’t target it. Also, I can’t remember if this has come up in the campaign but the echo doesn’t have normal movement. He can be moved in any direction, including up into the air, and he just hangs there. Since he’s limited to a thirty foot range, you can basically turn him into a Shank balloon.

I need Murph to know that “nothing personal kid” as a meme comes from someone’s edgy (probably satirical) sonic the hedgehog OC, coldsteel

Fun home brew: Critfecta - all party members credit in a single session, DM makes something awesome happened on the last one, or gives inspiration to all characters. Failfecta - same idea as above but the opposite. Sorry Emily but I think Henry Hogfish is the hottest 😂

Murph, that spell is one of the worst worded spell in the entire 5e and was the bane of my existence in the first campaign I dmed. None of us understood it and I basically just bribed the charcter to never use it again. I cannot believe wotc has never fixed the description.

Jeremy crawford has weighed in and clarified this and it is just worded terribly. They take damage with the ram!

I could have my spells completely mixed up here, but didn't you (murph) use flaming sphere as cugrash in the way caldwell described? I don't remember if it was this spell specifically but I do remember it being flavored as a big flaming ball of garbage.

Murph, you city pigeon, Caldwell is definitely right on the Flaming Sphere save

Nothing Personal is literally an all time low album - a pop punk band!!

Yo Emily! The Detroit Red Wings have an octopus as their mascot and he totally ice skates! His name is Al 🐙 Look him up, it's a wild story.. -a Michigander

jake said “case of d and d court” and i heard quesadilla-d court (at 9:58) and i think that’s what they should call it from now on

I gotta say, Murph... I gotta give it to Em and Caldwell on Flaming Sphere. If a spell asks me to make a saving throw against the spell's damage... I'm gonna make a saving throw against the spell's damage... Feels like they just didn't want to write out the whole "make a dex save" spiel again. I cannot imagine what else that line could possibly mean.

If you ram flaming sphere into someone, they have to do a Dex save for 2d6 fire damage or half on a successful save, Caldwell has it right! Heat metal is a better 1 on 1 spell, but with a lot of little critters you can get more of them with flaming sphere :)

I gotta say the little glimpses into Murph and Emily’s relationship we get is so funny and beautiful 😂

Thank you oh great King City Pigeon!