u/WumpusFails

I'm just reading through the 5.5e core rulebooks. I came across passive perception in the Monster Manual, and looked it up in the Player's Handbook.

Is it basically "take 10," but automatic?

Also, are there other skills that get the same treatment? Like, for instance, History? "You glance at the painting and it sparks a memory" type of stuff?

I've been watching a lot of comedy sketches ("group at the table playing D&D, here's 3 minutes where something funny happened"). I'm seeing a lot of nat 1 and nat 20 references. I thought that those only mattered during attack rolls? Do they apply to saving throws and skill checks, too?

I'm level 40 (finally...). But my gear generally runs about 10+ item-levels behind my level. This is mostly because the gear I get in drops doesn't fit the gems I'm using.

I JUST figured out that, with the links, anything on the chain can be supported (if possible) by the support gems. I've been running around with more skill gems than I could use. I'm now (more or less) focusing each piece of gear on one skill, and upgrading with as many available support gems as possible.

But that means I need the chromatic orbs, the fusing orbs, jeweller's orb, armor/weapon upgrades, and so on. And I don't know where to get them, other than random drops. :-(

Is there any way to get my gear up there? I JUST switched from an iLvl 11 sword to an iLvl 29 axe, so that was around 25 levels with an underpowered weapon.

I'm trying to install a larger inventory (16x16, versus vanilla 4x10) for offline play. (Within D2RMM, I also tried installing a mod to make the potion bottles more distinct based on their potency, and another mod to increase the stacking of tomes, ammo, and runes.)

I'm using Steam's version of D2R, so maybe that (longer file path names?) is interfering with the operation of the mod manager?

When I use Vortex, using non-D2RMM (allegedly...) files, I can use the "run D2R" button (from within Vortex) to launch the game, but the mod doesn't seem to work.

When I use the D2RMM, it can install 2 out of the 3 mods (it doesn't seem to like the inventory mod). But when I launch the game from within D2RMM -- even without any mods attached -- it immediately crashes to desktop.

I was using a walk-in clinic near the Walmart, but the supervising doctor retired at the end of the year. And my prescriptions are running out...

I know there's an Urgent Care, but the last time I checked, they weren't doing prescription renewals. (Emergency short duration prescriptions to tide over until you can see a provider, yes. Ninety day supplies with multiple renewals, no.)

Any help would be appreciated. I can feel my symptoms popping up again!

This is about baseline HOMM 5, not either of the expansions.

I wanted to try playing Academy, and their time to shine in the campaign comes MUCH later. I'd only just reached the start of the Inferno (second chapter of the campaign), so didn't want to wait.

Anyway, there's about ten or so scenarios and I wanted to play the Academy. Plenty of them had the Academy as one of the teams, but were being played by the computer. I found in the Orc (second) expansion that I could just flip through the player flags as the human player to get the team I wanted, but that doesn't seem to be available in the original.

I found the next to last scenario had the Academy as the human player, so I at least got to play. But still want to experience the few scenarios as whichever team I wanted to play.

A little help, please?

I've tried installing it a half-dozen times now, but no luck. The installation ticker never gets beyond 0%.

What do I do now?