How Silvery Barbs Ruined My DnD Campaign | Narrated D&D Story
2023 ж. 26 Мау.
13 795 Рет қаралды
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Story Source: / silvery_barbs_ruined_m...
Video Editor: Shawn Kadian
Editors: Lonny Foran (written4reddit@gmail.com)
Narration: MyLo (Twitter/VoMylo)
Thumbnail Art & Channel Artwork: NalaFontaine (Twitter/@nala_fontaine)
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Silvery barbs didn't ruin op's game. Their misunderstanding of the spell and having bad players ruined op's game.
Still don’t understand how the second OP could have ever thought that the DM’s wife’s anger was in character when her whole motivation for it was metagaming
Some people just like to give others the benefit of the doubt
It's not silvery barbs fault. You have a party of spell casters that spam a single spell effect until it works like nukeing the crap out of a creature. Your players turning on each other is also not the spells fault. You can also try helmed horror's on your players as they gain immunities to specific spells.
Well said, sir
I think the issue here is that the party sabotaged each other. There was also the fact that no one limited themselves either. In their casting. This could be most easier fixed by the dm by simply having the party whittle down their spell slots before being confronted by the bosses they set up so they have to really consider if they want to use silvery barbs too. It may be a first level spell slot but sometimes you don’t want to waste those slots if you are starting to run low and need something else. But that’s me. I play with a feywanderer ranger with the fey touched feat and so they have silvery barbs themselves. Also some arcane trickster. I try to keep it limited on how or when I use them and I discuss with the dm ahead of time how I intend to use the spell, namely when a crit is rolled by a powerful enemy. I treat this spell as a limited resource basically.
It's kinda funny that the dm blamed the spell for the actual player being a dick for no reason. DM: Everyone pass the DC so you all take . . Sorcerer: yeah no fuck my teammate. How dare they be useful and protect me.
Thats because silvery barbs is a bs spell for its spell level. It ruins a shit ton of campaigns and when it came out my group (a west march server) banned the spell before it had the chance. Also you do realize if the DM never allowed the spell, his bandit leader wouldnt have died nor would the Sorcerer been able to screw over the monk.)
@@kingwildcat6192000the DM had no idea how the spell works. It does not do damage, nor could it be used in the way described. I play with it, it's fine, and in general it is only worth using on a low odds roll or casting it is just a wasted slot that could have been better spent on shield. If the save is 50/50 then maybe cast it. If your buddy takes a crit and you are safe, then it's probably a good idea to cast Silvery Barbs. But if the save DC is 14, the monster has a +6 wisdom. Nah, odds are it's a wasted spell. Sure, someone can get advantage on their next roll, but that's very meh for a 1st level slot most of the time. As a DM, yeah, it can be a bit silly if the party spams it. But that's just them burning slots to make me reroll, which is just me eating their resources. This gut reaction that it's oh so bad is, in my experience, silly hivemind nonsense from people who haven't played with it and/or don't understand how the spell works.
@kingwildcat6192000 Everything else could have also been avoided if the players weren't assholes. Also, the Bandit leader was supposed to die regardless. Despite how you feel about the spell, none of the story was because of the spell, but because of the players. Next, you'll ban all magic weapons because your players keep stabbing each other.
@@kingwildcat6192000 lol just say u can't handle it
Absorb Elements would've been a far better use of those casters' reactions.
While I do think Silvery barbs is really powerful for a 1st level spell, the DM might have misunderstood the spell as I'm pretty sure it doesn't deal damage. The party sabotaging themselves were pretty much their fault though lol.
It does emotional damage.
Silvery Barbs 1st-level Enchantment Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw Range: 60 feet Components: V Duration: Instantaneous You magically distract the triggering creature and turn its momentary uncertainty into encouragement for another creature. The triggering creature must reroll the d20 and use the lower roll. You can then choose a different creature you can see within range (you can choose yourself). The chosen creature has advantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes within 1 minute. A creature can be empowered by only one use of this spell at a time. Here is what silvery barbs actually does, you’re welcome DM.
Ok I was very confused at the description of the spell in the story thought that maybe it was from a different setting or edition
Not the first time I've seen someone misunderstand Silvery Barbs. The best way to envision the spell is you capture a bit of good luck and fate from your victim to shunt to someone else.
Fixed title: Salty dm can’t handle silvery barbs. Also whole party doesn’t understand silvery barbs
I think, that he kind of handled it… If they made a one trick pony team, they should pay for it. Bearing in mind, that DM shouldn't present a challenge too high for an average party and they did not specialise for the purposes of the plot. Which, IIRC he didn't and they didn't. The artificer seemed to be cool in the eyes of the DM, so I don't know if the whole party was handled well, but those "barbers" got what was coming for them.
@@the_multus I will say, I think this suffers from an especially bad case of unreliable narrator. The “barbers” were practically portrayed as evil mustache twirling villains. Iirc one got described as having “a mischievous smile” when in all likelihood that person was just smiling cuz they were having fun at the time
Mmm yeah no the title is correct. The party killed themselves using it on themselves
@@the_multus Also, if the entire party hadn't turned on each other the instant they ran into an attack their little trick didn't work with (Fireball is hardly exotic) they might have not TPK'd. could have been titled "Party Learns This One Simple Trick DM's Hate, But Then It Doesn't Work And They Lose Their Goddamn Minds"
Including the DM. Silvery Barbs doesn't DO damage.
ah the old "we found a win button" shuffle. My view on win buttons: they should work great ...for exactly one session. Lean into it. let then get go ham. next session, open with encounters that use the button on them. Non lethal, ideally silly in tone, but humbling. In this case the enemy hires teams of bards. Perhaps a folk band of elderly ladies who all happen to be named barbera. The Silverhaired Barbs. they have prepped an area ahead of time and have escape contingencies and they can all cast the shit out of silvery barbs and counterspell
Wait, did I miss something? Why does the OP of the first story hate the strixhaven setting as a whole? All the stuff that they mentioned in the story could've happened in any other setting...
They don’t necessarily say or imply that the setting was responsible for everything that happened, they probably just hate it irrelevant of silvery barbs
@@TheZMageListen again, they say 'they learned a valuable lesson from this experience. That they hate the setting and the spell.'
@@TheMightyBattleSquid that depends on whether you think “this experience” encompasses solely the one story they told or if it’s the whole experience of the game. Since, as you said, this story doesn’t really include anything specific to the Strixhaven setting it stands to reason that he was referring to the whole experience and not just the parts of the narrative that were read here
Not gonna lie, if you cant handle SIlv Barbs how do you handle Div wizard, luck points, etc. Seems like you need to incorporate legendary resistances.
Simple: divination wizard is dedicated to that sort of thing, and the perks aren’t accessible from any class taking a feat. I’m not exactly sure what a luck point is, but if you mean inspiration, that doesn’t apply to giving monsters disadvantage, so it’s pretty easy to handle if you’re not trying to murder your party. I just hate silvery barbs with a passion and blindly slapping on legendary resistances just seems like a bandaid solution when the dm can go right to the source and simply not include that spell in their game.
@@J0eMega They mean the lucky feat.
@@WitD2013 oh, I actually have yet to play at a table where that feat isn’t banned lol. I’ve seen that banned since early 5e.
@@J0eMega Source: Player's Handbook You have inexplicable luck that seems to kick in at just the right moment. You have 3 luck points. Whenever you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can spend one luck point to roll an additional d20. You can choose to spend one of your luck points after you roll the die, but before the outcome is determined. You choose which of the d20s is used for the attack roll, ability check, or saving throw. You can also spend one luck point when an attack roll is made against you. Roll a d20 and then choose whether the attack uses the attacker's roll or yours. If more than one creature spends a luck point to influence the outcome of a roll, the points cancel each other out; no additional dice are rolled. You regain your expended luck points when you finish a long rest.
@@C00kyCorey yeah the other guy already let me know lol.
The DM in the first one sounds like they wanted to teach the party a lesson. They didn’t need to cast the silvery barbs on the paladin. How sad.
This is like blaming a kitchen knife for stabbing someone. The person holding the knife is guilty, not the knife.
The DM is a bottom IRL and the wife is entitled IRL lol
1:47 silvery barbs causes ...DAMAGE??!?
No, no it does not. OP is lying or wrong.
@@Jinarra ikr "I was familiar with the spell..." lmao
Silvery Barbs just makes the target of it reroll not put in damages
I remember my Silvery Barbs, Shield, Absorb Elements Goblin Wizard (Diviner subclass for Portent) so fondly. Bro literally soloed some of the bigger baddies in a boss encounter while the rest of the party was either hiding or fighting other stuff. Silvery is definitely overpowered.
the last one apparently the DM's wife must be named "Scheduling" since that's what supposedly ended the last campaign. (it was probably her)
it's a good spell, but i've never heard of it ruining a campaign. Wife in the second story was a bitch, if you're running a pay to play game don't include the shrieking banshee, and if you do and a player quits or is kicked to satisfy the banshee's wail, be prepared to offer a full refund.
Reminds me when a player was a divination wizard halfling (you know the build) and got a bit salty. Cast silvery barbs on a crit roll I made and turned it into a miss and on my target's turn I was downed instead and had to be saved by another member. He lasted about 2 more sessions after pulling that move
Story 2... I'm suddenly remembering a story where a woman joined a party where the DM's wife's PC came in on a ship, alone, and casually mentioned she had "killed another crew," and was generally unbearable with main character syndrome. I can't help but wonder if it's the same woman, and maybe even playing the same character, 🤔 Maybe she'd decided she'd killed the PCs of her husband's friends as part of her updated backstory.
I dunno is SB is THAT super broken? Yes, you do get advantage-but that means folks can easily burn through their slots. Also, give it to your enemy. Imagine the necromancer using it on the party.
Also just use more enemies. So instead of stacking SB on 1 enemy they have to do it on all which is more costly and less effective
I know people complain about Silvery Barbs, and Inagree as a 1st level spell it is a bit much… But then you have Lucky where… you can replace a dice roll without it affecting action economy. No reaction used to replace the dice roll. Same with the Portent ability for Divination wizards. The wizard can replace a roll at any time and still have the ability to use a counterspell for that round. Meanwhile Silvery Barb require the player using their reaction (so no counterspelling or attack of opportunity), costs a spell slot, and has no guarantee of an absolute success (the enemy can still roll another nat 20 or a roll that hits, while the creature with advantage can still fail). Besides making SB a higher level spell, it’s not really THAT broken guys. i have used this spell and… I have had just as many blunders than good happening. Not to mention for low level play, it’s not as easily abusable because of the lack of spell slots.
BRO ACTUALLY PUT THE STORY FIRST. (before the ads) AUTO LIKE. edit: maybe it cause there were just no ads this time...
This is why if I have any couples in a game I nip this in the bud session 0. I've had too many times where they're attached at the hip and if one doesn't show the other doesn't (like if one has to work.) Or times where a break up causes character bleed and I have to put my foot down.
Honestly, why did the DM who got annoyed by Silvery Barbs not think to give silence spells to the party’s enemies? Just roll up an evil cleric of a trickster god or something.
Did the second story get uploaded twice? I swear I've heard it before..either way both stories were pretty amusing lol
Silvery Barbs is maybe the most broken spell ever printed in relation to its level (should be a lv. 2), but it does not do any damage.
New title: DM doesn't know how to read Silvery Barbs and problems resulted.
That second campaign had way too many red flags.
"It was the 5th sessuon i realized i had made a mistake. We had 6 players..." my sibling in Christ, your mistake was running a 6 person game, those are so extremely difficult to balance for
bonus point for Boyan reference
Is spell resistance a thing in 5th edition?
Like,, when they're TPKed, cut to black, then have the party wake up in cells. A TPK isn't the end unless you want it to be.
Or have it be a dream
The dm’s wife in the second story clearly killed everyone in the grove when bg3 came out
I’ve played with someone who meta gamed and constantly tried to get my character killed, but when I had a character with passive true sight I wasn’t allowed to do the same to his demon in costume.
This isn't even how silvery barbs works
Players: *Backflips* Jacob: Silvery Barbs is a second level spell now. Players: 😮
Second story... I'd have told the dm it's embarrassing that he'd try to have a paid game with an entitled pos like his wife, then leave.
Whoever wrote this really didn't get what Silvery Barbs does. It doesn't do damage and takes your reaction to affect ONE roll. Multiattack and focused targeting gets around Barbs easily. It burns through spell slots like crazy. Also this is ENTIRELY on the Sorcerer being a dick to the Monk. Silvery Barbs isn't unbalanced. It's good and no more overpowered than the Shield or Bless spells
My previous table settled on making it 2nd level. It felt perfectly fair at that level.
The attack roll use is fine. The saving throw use of essentially double casting a failed control spell is really obnoxious
@@robertallen789 at second level it should definitely last a whole round on the target. Otherwise it is gods awful for a second level spell
O.o silvery barbs i.. dont think that's the spell I thought u were talking about confused
I swear whenever players share any flashy spell or ability, there comes a point where they'll both use it at the same time to see who can describe it or apply it better! then it also comes the issue of compiling them too YIRBEL LIVES!
I don't think you guys were using Silvery Barbs correctly. 1. You mentioned having a saving throw against it in the first instance, much like Counterspell on a third level or lower spell (higher if it's upcast), it doesn't require a saving throw... it just happens. 2. There's the second part of Silvery Barbs, where you give an ally within range advantage. So, who got advantage, and what did they use it for? 3. Not quite misusing the spell, but you're blaming a spell for someone using it to be a dick? That's like banning Fireball because one of your players decided to use it against an enemy that's surrounded by their allies, or banning a Wizard and a Druid marrying for the infinite money hack... if you don't know, you get a wizard to gain Fabricate, and a Druid with Plant Growth. Every day, you plant flax, use an hour to make it grow to adulthood, plant half, and turn the other half into sheets of linen. Then you corner the market on linen, forcing out any competition, since you're making a literal ton a day. Here's a better idea, instead of banning a spell, that, when used responsibly, is one that comes in clutch frequently, ban PVP... especially for no/out of game reasons.
The best laid plans of mice & GMs
Thumbs up for saying artificer correctly.
For a minute I thought the silvery barbs story was going to be about MY game that got ruined by that spell. But it was the DM with a bunch of enemies using it multiple times a round on us that did it. I quit after that session because of his attitude about it and just wanting to show off how OP the spell could be and didn't care about player fun.
(2nd story) OMG!!! What a child!!!
YIRBEL LIVES!
I may be off here, but... I don't think that's how Silvery Barbs is supposed to work? You can't react to the effects of another reaction on the same turn, can you? The Bandit leader rerolling his attack isn't a new action, it's the same roll, just redone. *Checks Google* ... Well, damn. Apparently it DOES work that way. That's... INTENSELY broken.
It’s just awkward, narratively, to me as it can be a reaction to somebody ELSE making a successful roll. An archer successfully hitting a player means that they succeeded on their attack roll. Silvery barbs requires a reaction upon seeing said hit to potentially undo it, but if you already saw the ally get hit then what exactly is this spell doing…? It’s hard to describe and envision what it happening during combat without somebody straight up rewinding time with a 1st level spell lol. It’s just a bad spell imo.
The prerequisites for the spell to trigger are: 1. The creature rolls an attack roll, ability check or saving throw and 2. That roll should be a success The spell's duration is instantaneous. So yeah as long as the bandit succeeds in the attack roll, it is possible for multiple spellcasters to chain their reactions to cast silvery barbs until it fails that roll
How to fix Silvery Barbs: Level 1 version: only grant a single disadvantage. Level 2 version: works as written. Also, you can’t stack Silvery Barbs unless you cast it at a higher level than the prior one. (As in, to stack a third silvery barbs, after a first and third level casting, you need a fourth level minimum).
You can't stack the same spell on a target in 5E. So yes, you can keep casting Silvery Barbs on the same creature but if they reroll once from Silvery Barbs and another player casts Silvery Barbs it will just replace the simultaneous Silvery Barbs effect, but that roll is already done so the spells first part does nothing because multiple castings of a spell does not stack. That means the only effect is giving another creature advantage, unless you pick the same creature as the first caster. Then literally nothing happens, because they already have the advantage from the first casting and can't benefit from another. This is true for Counterspell as well. If two players counterspell the same creature's spell on the same turn, it gets counterspelled once. The spells both happen at the same time, so only one spell takes effect on the target. 😂 Edit: Rules as written, anyhow. You run your game however you want just as I do with mine. 😉
That DM is in for a painful divorce....
The main thing about the story about silvery Barbs. Why wasn’t there an explanation given for why the Spellcaster’s decided to turn on each other? It makes no sense.
My takeaway from this video is to choose your D&D group carefully. Yeesh.
Silvery Barbs didn't ruin your campaign, petty and self-destructive players did.
DMs salty about SB. Skill issue. You know they have it, you know they abuse it.
Does anybody know a channel like this that deals with good stories and fun tales? Large portion of what this channel makes is hate bate, not into it.
First Story: That sounds like players who didn't want to play in a game where they didn't have an upperhand. I don't think I would want to play with those players after that. Second Story: While I do believe that people should be paid for their work, I think that the GM's wife is a jerk.
The person doesn’t like Strixhaven?
I'm not seeing the issue with the silvery barbs story. 🤷♂🤷♂
This story sounds like it was written by ChatGPT
Even though it’s not how barbs works, I get it. I banned it before it was even realized. Does too much for too little too early on.
If you think giving disadvantage to a single roll using your reaction and a spell slot is too powerfull then you must hate players having any skill, just write your awful book where all the heroes die.
Anyone else wince every time the narrator says "ar-TIFF-uh-ser"?
Nah, it’s the correct pronunciation
Nah, it and art-if-icer are both alright ways to say it
@@mrbowlingalley379 How can a word whose root is "artifice" be correctly pronounced with the accSENT upon the wrong sylLABble?
@@masonwheeler6536 this is too hard to explain over text
ART - IF - ICER
5:10. Silvery Barbs didn't ruin the campaign, terrible players did. Objectively I would say Silvery Barbs is broken as a 1st level spell. It essentially lets you recast a higher level save or suck spell. Imagine casting Banishment and the target succeeds on the save. Well Silvery Barbs to the rescue! You can make them reroll the save, potentially making them fail and getting banished for probably the rest of the combat. That's some incredible value for a 1st level spell, putting aside the added effect of giving yourself or someone else advantage on their next d20 roll. It should just be banned in my opinion.
I allow it but i tell my players enemies can have it too.
@@SoraPierce Your game your rules. But that's never a good solution to things like this. The problem with "enemies can have it too" is the goal of the game is for you and your players to have fun. If it becomes a pissing contest of you and your players throwing Silvery Barbs at each other then that's not very fun and interactive gameplay. Plus it never feels good to be forced to reroll a successful roll, whether it's an attack on the enemy, or a successful saving throw on their spells.
@@xleonhardt4416 oh yeah if it turned out like this story I'd ban it but everyone at the table likes making a character. We even have the most aggravating character of a Divination Halfling with Bountiful Luck, but pretty sure he ain't running Barbs and if he is, well, there's gonna be more combat and less long rests then our usual DM does.
I think it should be allowed, but it should force disadvantage and the second half of the text should be removed
No other spell has more negative stories attached to it than Silvery barbs. I refuse to take it as a player and forbid my players from using it.
Question since the wizard cast a spell not a centrip with his action I thought he couldn't cast silvery barbes?
"I wanted my party to think strategically" um 9 back to back reactions is strategic. This dm just sounds salty they got outsmarted
His first mistake was not really considering the implications of the spell. Personally I do about silvery bards. But I don't begrudge the DM that takes a look at it and says no this is too powerful.
Can you do more necromancer store please 😊
It's amazing how many people use dnd to live out their racist fantasies...
The first story is why you ask who is using reactions before they are resolved and don't let people dog pile failed checks, rolls. I guarantee there would have only been 1 silvery barbs cast on that crit if they had to choose only before the reaction was resolved and that silvery barbs chain wouldn't have happened.
Lol, silvery barbs is such bad design
'Promosm' 😕
This is why you participate in character creation and go over spell casters’ lists, ban spells or offer house rules to stop them from breaking your game like, say, goodberry and create food and water and leomund hut for survival-focused games, and Silvery Barbs at all times.
Solution , don’t tell players what your monsters rolled, just say it’s a hit and declare it’s time to say it’s time to Cast their reactions and these who don’t cast now miss their chance
Easy fix to this Silvery Barbs problem folks keep having. If you don't have the book as the DM don't allow it or don't allow campaign specific items/spells it isn't that hard. Second story is definitely a big reason never to pay to play. What a waste of time snd money.
That's what he gets for not banning Silvery Barbs. It just lets full-caster parties clown on enemies.
Just ban silvery barbs, you bozo Literally that easy.
This is by far the worst upload on this entire channel
Dude I've missed your shows wtf is youtube algorithm up to. Jesus....
Sounds like DM ruined the campaign not silvery barbs