/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

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What's a monster from older editions that you'd like to see in the 5th Edition?

Currently brewing a small fix for the Lore Wizard, trying to make it less ridiculous...

Live updates: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Hy-1O7Z8tl

>>51792431
Question for this session: Do you forsee an oversaturation of splat books for 5th edition that we saw for 3.PF? Why or why not?

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WHAT FORM OF POWER/GOVERNMENT RULES YOUR WORLD

And why is a republic the best.

>>51792431
My group has one player who is just so tactically unsound she constantly hurts us as much as helps. Yesterday she almost caused a TPK by alerting a major group of enemies that we were coming (they just got themselves into a suoer defensive position), despite being told a number of times what she was doing was risking that. Her character wasn't even there, as she'd been unable to attend for a few sessions, so she was piloting an NPC, and almost got us TPK'd.

For another example, I remember trying to get her to cast silence on some casters so I didn't need to drop concentration on another spell I had up. After 2 rounds of her doing nothing but attacking I dropped my spell and cast silence. That turn she decided to cast silence, on top of where it already was.
We've been giving her strategy tips after fights and trying to teach her about positioning, but it's just not sinking in.

I have no idea what more to do, and she's a decent person, but it's just so frustrating.

>>51792440
Well, in their defense, if you don't roll out in the open or it doesn't seem like the goblins hould have hit (Say, the goblin rolls a 12 but you don't expect them to have more than a +4 to hit, when it should require +6 to hit) then it's good to check.

Also, if the character throws a rock to distract them, you can't assume the character does it in a stupid way. If the characters takes the logical approach, he would hide out of sight and simply extend a hand down, throw the rock then take his hand back. Asking him to specifically specific all of that is kinda a bit much.
However, if they didn't expect to get spotted while literally still hanging down, that's a bit silly.

Either way, the player doesn't sound all that bad unless this is constant 'remembered to give me armour?' stuff.

I really want to build a caster focused on either Enchantment or Illusion magic but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Obviously Wizard is most likely the best but could Bard, Warlock or Sorcerer provide a decent option?

>>51792455
Can someone give me a quick summary of what's so broken about lore wizard? Most of the other UA stuff seems OK (other than some feats)

>>51792583
warlock is cool for the at will silent image and disguise self at will invocation both of which are hella fun to use

but the wizard is definitely the best by far for the illusion arcane tradition

>>51792594
Nova damage with 15 damage per missile magic missiles
Literal "save now or do nothing for a minute" spell at level 3
Always hits vulnerabilities

>>51792580
I dont roll in the open because my players are prone to stupid decisions and murderhobo.

He does little rule check "reminders", in this instance he rolled 14, which normally hits a goblin. I gave the goblin half cover and it missed, since then he brings it up when he is hit.

>>51792463
No.
There's a lot of UA coming out now, but it'll be refined by release so splat won't be necessary. Likewise, the splat we do get will be naturally less problematic than 3.5 due to the base design of 5e, 5e encouragement of homebrew, and how the UA are being presented. After a few years we'll most likely have a healthy amount of quality content.

>>51792643
As long as you said the goblin would get half cover before the shot.

I don't really see how rolling in the open would encourage players to make any more stupid decisions, really. It's just giving you a license to fudge rolls, is all.

>>51792594
Lore Wizard is the freeform RP of 5e

>>51792679
Yes, which is needed when I get devilish rolls and gets several nat20s.

I don't think players should be punished - because I am lucky. I'm also not an experienced DM, so I don't want some encounters to TPK or cause player deaths because I made a shitty encounter.

>>51792486
>RULES YOUR WORLD
>WORLD
NONE BECAUSE THE NATURALLY CHAOTIC LEANING OF THE WORLD LEANS MORE TOWARDS CONFEDERATIONS OF STATES LOOKING OUT FOR COMMON INTEREST BUT TOO DIFFERENT TO ASSIMILATE
Between that and gods fucking around a lot nobody can really band together for more than long enough to drive back a big threat. That doesn't mean that they're Warhammer style always poised for war with each other but just not in constant contact with one another to distance and such.

>>51792700
I find it's much better to subtley guide an encounter away from disaster than to fudge rolls.

If you don't want everyone to die, just pretend a monster didn't have that overpowered feature it was going to use (It's kinda cheap to throw out new abilities out of the blue when the party's already doing badly, anyway), or just accept that the players might lose if there's a reason that losing won't kill all their characters. Or, maybe the monster back-ups were a bit slower (Though the players knew they were coming) or simply even roll for something like 'roll to see how fast the back-up comes' when you were already going to have the back-up arrice in two rounds or so.

Rollfudge is a DM saftey net and not the optimal way to do things, but as long as you recognize that and say you'll get better at encounter building or whatever in the future I guess that's fine.

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>>51792455
Allright, a new edition is up, but now with a changed 14th level feature.

Basically the lower level features are the same, but the application method of spell variations and changing spell types has been changed.

What do you think about the 14th level feature? Is making your own spells OP? Some shit like Magic Missile makes that possibly broken, but Magic Missile itself is kind of broken so I'd rather not think about it.

>>51792486
>Implying my entire world is one state

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>>51792785
Don't want to reupload the whole pdf, but here, I fixed the goddamn Magic Missile scaling exploit.

>>51792937
Actually, that brings a new, lesser problem. There is no save for the force damage. Well, it's better than having to deal with the MM exploit.

>>51792700
You're punishing yourself if you keep forgoing the 20s you do roll. Knock them out. Put the fear of death into them. They should be able to at least stabilize their downed party members.

>>51792965
>Actually, that brings a new, lesser problem
Is that a new problem? I was just about to ask if the extra force damage can be halved on a successful save, like when it's used on fireball.

>>51793036
Well, I can add a point about it being keyed to the spell's save, but it's not necessary. Although, it would make AoE spells kind of ridiculous because 2d10 force damage without save is pretty bad.

Hmm, it's not like it's hard to put a sentence "If the damage has a saving throw, this force damage is affected as well" or something to that effect in there.

2d10 force damage with no save on AoE, possibly on like a 1st or 2nd level spell can be a little overpowered, to be honest. It's not nuke-magic missile-overpowered, but certainly not something to sneeze at or ignore.

>>51793110
Stop, stop, stop.
The problem is 100% with Magic Missile. Unfuck Magic Missile instead of jumping through wording hoops.
Just add 2d10 damage to the spell, specify that the added damage is Force and 1st turn only, and you're done.

>>51793161
That is an excellent point. There is theoretically nothing wrong with the original wording of the effect, the problem is just that MM seriously needs to be errata'd.

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>>51793193
>>51792937
>>51792785
Eh, don't want to shit the thread that much, but here is a the latest one.

I changed how Spellcraft Mastery works with the damage, and provided an helpful example with it.

Would you make a 10d6 lightning or 8d6 lightning + 2d10 force spell? The answer why you would meld the damage types lies in the archetype itself.

>>51793110
No no, I'm not asking about your modifications. I mean in the original UA version, does this extra damage get treated like normal damage on a lightning bolt and get halved on a successful save or not? It's not clear to me.

>>51793530
Oh? Sorry.

Yes, they do. It increases the damage of the spell, doesn't inflict it on its own, so yes, the force damage is dependent of the saving throw.

I think at least. Hey, y'all who argued with me about Magic Missiles for seven centuries, what's your take on this?

>>51792431
>running Storm King's Thunder
>party is hunting down magic item
>end up in Yartar
>need to find thieve's guild contact for information
>the rogue PC's backgrounds consists of being orphaned and forced to work for a slave master in a tannery, escaping, getting captured and forced to work again, escaping again
>wants revenge on the slave master

How can I set up a way for the rogue to get info on his former master? I'm thinking this would be a good place to set up a quest for him, but I'm not sure how.

>>51793803
Forgot to mention, the player wrote this story as his background during character creation, but he never roleplays and has never make any effort to accomplish this goal, never tried to look for the guy, etc.

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>>51792463
Oversaruration is only a problem for socially inept turnips. A non-assburger DM simply limits what materials can be used in their game.

Best level ratio for a Paladin/Undying Light Warlock?

Just a single level dip into warlock?

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Is there any good place to download Dungeon Masters Guild pdfs?

>>51793570
I don't think it does get a save, the way it's worded
>increases the damage against every target by...
Whether it's a target or not is the deciding factor. Might even be argued that the damage applies even if it misses, because it doesn't say 'when hit'.

BUT it also says
>if you roll damage for the spell when you cast it
Which is pretty much only magic missile, as with other spells you roll to hit when you cast, or the enemy makes a saving throw - damage comes later.

The correct way to word it would be to take note from Empowered Evocation, Wizard 10
>...you can add your intelligence modifier TO THE DAMAGE ROLL of any evocation spell you cast.
This simply improves the damage roll of any spell without interacting with specific timing, targeting, etc.

>>51793803
>>51793830
Usually players won't actively engage in their backstories the DM drops a hook on them somehow. Most people don't want to "force" their own personal goals onto the party, preferring to wait until their own goals align with those of the plot. Considering this, you should probably tie the slave master to the magic item somehow. Maybe the slave master currently owns it, or he sold it to the current owner. Guess that depends on the item, but you should be able to do something like that.

>>51793976
And wait. This wording is otherwise kind of weird.

>every target
Like, I know there was a huge shitstorm about this part in particular in the last session, but... Shouldn't this be "affected creature" or "creature that receives damage" or something, because most spells can't have multiple targets. One of the only damaging spells with multiple targets are like Scorching Ray and Magic Missile.

That's some weird-ass writing right there.

Or do you target all creatures in an AoE?

>>51794042
>Or do you target all creatures in an AoE?
You target all creatures in an AoE.

>>51794042
>>51793976
Actually, I think the point about rolling for damage while casting actually means that if you actually roll for damage (meaning at least one creature takes damage from the spell). The wording is still kind of annoying.

>>51792463
3e's problem was never oversaturation, it was dead on arrival. Splats bridged the power gap rather than diminished it.

>>51794249
I would say that oversaturation and cross-contamination in splats was really bad in 4E though. Just my impression from reading the first two years of books and then skipping two years to the end of the edition. It was a mess.

>>51792594
The first problem is that it gets UNBELIEVABLY more features than any other arcane tradition, making all other kinds of wizards look like total fucking idiots. So there's that.

The second problem is that what it gets is both far broader and far more powerful than everything but the most autistic usage of Portent (and far more than just one). Ignoring of resistances, the ability to reduce a foe's effective saving throw by 5-10 points, access to almost any spell in the game, etc.

Think of 3e's tier system -- the problem with tier 1 vs, say, tier 3 wasn't just better effects, but far more of them and far more flexibility.

Loremasters are simply better.

>>51794321
4e was messy, but late 4e genuinely ran better than early 4e, and the relative power level of different classes didn't change too much (warlock and ranger stayed amazing, paladin fighter and warlord were always great, etc.). I have special warmth for how insano elemental hexblade warlocks were for example.

There were a lot of dead on arrival classes in 4e though.

>>51794366
Yeah, it wasn't power creep so much as the sheer overload of stuff making it impossible to create a character by reading the books like I did at the start.

>>51794426
I'll agree with that.

Is it worth it to dip a level or two into Wizard if you're an Arcane Trickster?

>>51794547
Yes, especially if you pick up Portent (or obviously Loremaster)

>>51794574
When is a good time? I'm level 3 and just hit another level-up, so I could go to 4 or put it into Wizard. Should I dip into Wizard now or wait til after I hit 5 in Rogue?

>>51794618
How bad do you need the ASI?

>>51794618
I'd go now sooner than later so you can force failures or successes on saving throws.

>>51794655
Not sure. I've got 16 Dex and Int, I kind of want to bump my Charisma up but I can wait on it.

>>51794547
Not really.

You lose 2/3 of a spellcasting level, you don't work towards learning higher level spells and you're not progressing your sneak attack.

The most you get is access to more spells you could've picked and ritual casting of those spells you get, but that's best left to somebody else in the party.

>Make first D&D character, ends up being a murder hobo
Sometime later
>Make a new D&D character, basically ripped right out movies or vidya
Sometime later
>Make a new D&D character, try to be original write big fuck ass backstory that doesn't fit into DM's setting
Sometime later
>Make a perfectly well rounded D&D character that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb
Sometime later
>Get bored of regular D&D characters and start diverging into weird edgecase character ideas

This has been my progression of characters in my time as a D&D player.
I don't know if this is what everyone is like, i think alot of people make Murder Hobos as their first character and get sucked into the power fantasy of D&D.

I want to be interested in making regular D&D characters. I don't know if my character's are "Anime" or w/e, but I do think they are outlandish snowflakes.

I don't know if this is just a very personal thing for me, the player of a snowflake character, or if other people fall into this trap.

I think part of it comes down to the fact that i want to play a game as a certain type of character, but there are no games that allow me to do so, and therefore I just try and make them in D&D.

Any recommendations for getting interested in regular non-snowflake D&D characters?
I'll be honest, i can't even figure out what kind of D&D character I want to play anymore.
I am basically having a D&D existential crisis.

I want to give my fighter player the option to pretty much ritual cast Enhance Ability, choosing from the physical stats only. I want this to be more of a utility thing, though, so the temporary HP from Bear's Endurance doesn't fit. What could I add to Bear's Endurance instead of the temp HP?

>>51794797
Eh, the "power fantasy" element of D&D is overrated, its probably more about people would rather succeed on checks than fail and that combat is about the easiest situation to translate into game mechanics with obvious pass/fail conditions, plus accumulation of loot is a very obvious way to add a sense of continuity.

>>51794797
Maybe you should stop worrying about people on /tg/ think about your character, Jesus fucking Christ.

>>51794785
The rest of my party is a monk and three fighters. I thought going a level or two into Wizard could be helpful, plus it would give me access to Identify and Detect Magic.

>>51794797
One thing I do it look at racial bonuses and look at the chart near the front of the PHB where it talks about characteristics and which is good for what class. Then I look at splat books to see what other races have for bonuses and I figure out some cool or less-than-common combos. Firbolg Druid (less common since Volo's just came out), Tiefling Lore Bard, Half-Elf Warlock (with Investigator background and Undying Patron, I play him if Groucho Marx was a detective. Loads of laughs), Aasimar Wild Magic Sorcerer, etc.

Just look for fun combos that you can get into and invest in.

>>51794878
Honestly the best option is to just be a wizard instead, but...

>three fighters, a monk and a rogue
Jesus fuck.

Anyway, benefits and bad bits:

+ pros
You get some low level rituals.
You get more spells you can cast with your spell slots.
If you take a second level of wizard, you can get portent which can be absolutely brilliant (If you're a proper full caster, which you're not) or otherwise just good, and a full spellcasting level.
Booming blade and green flame blade still progress even if you multiclass.
You can keep levelling wizard for more wizard stuff. I supose. And then you're a wizard with a rogue dip for.. I don't know. Reasons.

- cons
You only get a third of a spellcasting level after factoring in multiclassing casters causes you to lose 2/3 caster levels.
You delay your level 5 feature, uncanny dodge, and later rogue features. You also could've just taken your fourth level in AT and gotten a spellcasting level like that, as well as an ASI. But less spells known/rituals, I guess.
You don't progress sneak attack, so you're kinda worse at doing damage. Rogues are already not really the best on the damage scene.
You need 13 int. But I guess you probably have that, but making low int arcane tricksters is perfectly fine anyway.
Would've been better to have just been a full wizard.
You get 1d6 hp instead of 1d8 for every level. Not that that honestly matters much, it's only -1 hp/level.
Your max level of spells known doesn't combine.

>>51794986
>>51794878
Whoops, on the first of the cons, you only get a third of a spellcasting level on the first wizard level and it only matters if you decide to ever level up rogue ever again.

>>51794873
How did you get that from what I said? I am looking for advice, my DM called my characters Snowflakes.

I made another post about it here >>51790393

Then i went to my folks place, and while i was there i was trying to think of a solution and basically came up with the fact that I don't know what i want to play and I feel stuck with only being interested in "edge case" snowflake characters because normal shit seems boring

>>51793944

Is that a serious question?

>>51794986
>Jesus fuck.
Yeah. We initially were a Monk, Rogue, Fighter, and four Bards. Two of the Bards dropped out, the other two died and rerolled as Fighters. It was a mess.

You made some great points, thank you. I'm not really sure what to do.

>>51794959
Thanks, i think this will probably help alot. I appreciate the advice.

The biggest issue i have is i am one of those insufferable creative people, so instead of playing a class in the book, i try and make my own via Multiclassing. Because i have to be creative and "roll my own" instead of using what is in the books.

Trying to get over that.

Part of me was thinking to almost completely randomly generate my next character and just play it and force myself to stick with it and not multiclass at all.

Roll Stats, in order and pick something based on that. Then picking class and race based on that.
or
Randomly select class and race, and then use standard array and put them where they most fit.

Basically remove the aspect of the game that allows me to make my snowflake.
Also to just adhere so strongly to my DM's setting / words in the book and play the Archetypal character of said class and race.

>>51795227
Use your level 4 ASI to get ritual caster, hope you can get more rituals later on too.

>>51795227
Seven player party, with four bards? Yikes with a capital YIKES.

>>51795302
Try this:

http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/

Of course, you don't have to follow it to the letter, but it'll help generate some fun ideas. Also, steal. Steal from movies to make fun/entertaining characters. Like I said, I play my warlock like Groucho Marx was a detective. He blunt, he's quick witted, he asks odd questions but has very good reasons to do so, has weird quirks but nothing that interrupts the flow of the roleplay or keeps the DM from going through exposition. I also act out my scenes a bit.

Example, we're in a lordess's mansion and we were being served a refined dinner. Everyone else at the table wasn't doing anything and were just listening to the DM, I however acted like I was cutting meat, buttering bread, having my wine poured and only talked when my mouth wasn't full and my host wasn't talking. It wasn't distracting because I wasn't being loud, the other players were focus on the DM and not me, but it helped me roleplay my character a bit more.

Also, I should add, playing Groucho Marx in Curse of Strahd is so much fun. The DM has run CoS a lot, so he welcomes the light hearted quips I throw out.

So how does pure stone Sorcerer work exactly? Seems a little bit MAD but I guess CON doesn't need to be to high.

I'm honestly kinda sad it's a Gish instead of just being a Sorcerer with a focus on Geomancy.

>>51795462
>ROMANTIC HUMAN BARBARIAN FROM A SUPER RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING WHO DOESN'T HAVE TIME FOR ALL THIS PROPHECY BULLSHIT
Actually sounds like a fun concept. Could change the class and race to whatever, but I think I'm saving the rest for later use.

>>51795527
You can also keep generating characters by clicking the line below the description. It's fun to just keep clicking to see what the generator comes up with.

>OVEREMOTIONAL HALFLING PALADIN FROM A THEATRE COMPANY WHO HAS SERIOUS BODY IMAGE PROBLEMS

>>51792431
The UA comes out it isn't the Mystic you knowits going to happen.

>>51795527
Well I've been wanting to make a Zealot Barbarian for a while and this gave me my idea.

He's the chosen warrior to save his people and forge a legend but he just wants to be a mercenary and get rich.

>>51795091
I can see how that'd be annoying, yeah.

>>51795317
I might do this, thanks.

>>51795413
Iit was actually pretty awesome. The Bards were a famous band, I was their manager/agent, the Fighter was a bodyguard, and the Monk was a groupie. It was really fun.

I know this was probably discussed already but what do you guys think of the aetherborn? My main gripe is that they don't have construct traits possibly including making healing harder and they didn't build in the empath thing (e.g. having insight instead of having menacing).

Is a Tiefling Dragon Sorcerer a guy with a few too many heritiges?

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>>51796055
Perfect fit for Broken Lords/10

>>51796055
How does their drain life ability work if they unlock it, Is there a roll for it or is it impossible to stop?

>>51796151
I think the construct traits could weaken them specifically by making it so they can't use potions and have reduced magical healing.

>>51796177
I'm pretty sure it's an unarmed attack that they're proficient with. They roll to hit and if they hit drain 1d6.

>>51796055
This is 5e brah. Fun and game balance is more important than "MUH (secretly broken) SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE"

>>51796079
Did you go with Inheritor too?

>>51796293
>5e
>game balance

lol okay kid

>>51796293
I was mostly concerned with how on flavor they were designed.

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>>51795143
Yes

>>51796214
In my setting I actually have an anti-elemental race going on and I was thinking of allowing Aetherborn in but letting them start with Drain Life.

I kinda want to allow it to count as an Unarmed attack that uses DEX so Rogues and Monks use it. I'm going to make it so they can only regain the Health using it once per turn and only the unarmed attack die, so no sneak attack super heals.

>>51795302
Just go full in on randomization.

Use http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/ like >>51795462 said. Roll for stats. Roll for equipment. Roll for background. Make intelligent decisions based on that (I wouldn't make people both roll for stats and for class). At each level up, Roll 1d20. On Nat 20 (or 1 depending on stigma) you multiclass. Let Fate be your guide.

>>51796389
I would say it's a unique attack action similar to casting a spell where no matter how many attacks you get normally you only make one attempt. Also why not allow sneak attack to be used but in the form of pulling extra life out that you can't absorb or slashing at them with their hands (they are described as clawed). Essentially just bonus damage.

>>51796055
Warforged having construct traits was only relevant due to the significance of Type in 3e. Type is largely insignificant in 5e.

>>51796451
Oh whoops, yeah I was going to allow it with sneak attack. Maybe I should just let them use Necromantic damage with unarmed attacks for monks, I'll think about how to word that.

I want to make them mostly assassins and agents for Wizards in fluff, so that's why I'm trying to make the ability work great for those 2 classes.

Alright, someone make up my mind for me. As a hexblade warlock who doesn't want to use cursebringer, would it be better to use the smites from your expanded spell list, or just stack hex with your hexblade curse and lifedrinker and go to town?

I'm playing a Whisper Bard and planning to dip into Rogue eventually for Assassinate but I'm wondering if I should just take it to 3 or go to 4 for an ASI.

Hexblade 2 / Favored Soul X

Is this a good idea? Warlock 2 / Sorcerer X is pretty strong right?

>>51796327
Not every flavor has to be represent mechanically. You are walking into 3.pf trap if you want to do that.

>>51794797
I'm gonna make a big leap and guess that when you make characters, you're looking solely at things they can do. When you say you make characters ripped from movies or whatever, I'm thinking you're going "ok, he's got this sword so I'll take this sword, he did this thing so I'll take this thing" etc. When you say we'll rounded, I'm picturing you going "ok, half-elf gets these skills, bard gets these skills, and with that I've got two-thirds of the skill list" or when you say edge cases it's something like oh, people say if you take this spell and cast it with this and this it does ridiculous damage, I'll do that.
I may be wrong, as I said I made a leap in logic without all the facts. But if I am correct in these assumptions, or close, then you should try to make a CHARACTER. By that I mean somebody who has an identifiable thought process, somebody who would do something and your party members would say "that's such a ____ thing to do" and don't confuse that with pages of backstory nobody will read or care about that only serves to make things easier through fluff (my wizard is part of of a group that teaches wizards and his spellbook automatically updates with new spells on level up)
A lot of this equates to how you act outside of combat, how you talk to people, etc. For my grouo, a lot of times this means doing something even if it's a detriment to the characters well being, and especially even if everybody around the table knows it's gonna hurt (my fighter has never been scared of the dark before, and he's not gonna start in this shitty dungeon- he's gonna walk on ahead while everybody is struggling with torches. Somebody better talk some sense into him) it also means not necessarily relying on rolls, if you can give an argument in-character and it's persuasive enough, the DM is only gonna make you roll to see how hesitant the person is to go along with you, and not to have the sound of dice fill the void of personality.

>>51796477
5e warforged have construct traits keeping them from needing to eat or drink, not being able to breathe, and having trance.

>>51796644
That's true but having menacing instead of empathy and not being at least partially based on an already made construct race is a definite flaw.

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Anyone have any cool stuff like pic related?

if you multiclass sorcerer and warlock, can't you sacrifice warlock spell slots to gain sorcery points and vice versa?

>>51792454
Tasloi
Lung dragons
Living statues
Living steel
Actaeon
Viper tree
Giant squid along with a return to proper gargantuan squid Krakens
Shedu
Greater Medusa (the ones with snake lower bodies)

>>51796675
Doing this means you have to be willing to think about approaching things differently than what meta knowledge may dictate, which sounds like you are otherwise you wouldn't have posted what you did. But what you also need is to be playing in a group that facilitates roleplay, meaning people who will spend a session in town just buying shit, or not argue with you for making a sub-par choice, or who just sit in silence until combat starts. You'll play the way your group plays in order to keep the game going, but if you want to try a new way of playing you may need a new group.

It's also good for a character to have weaknesses, if for no other reason than it lets other characters in the group step forward and have some time in the spotlight. If your fighter is low on wis, or even if you DO have proficiency in medicine checks, but the druid/cleric is higher? Let them step in and stabilize the dying person and your contribution can be a compliment towards them. That's characterization, you can extrapolate on that. It can develop into a thing in the future where your fighter has a deep respect for the healing arts and donates to hospitals or something. That equates to a small character thing you can do that goes arts long way to building an impression the other players have of your character. Another small thing would be describing your actions in fights, or using the environment. Smash things over people's heads, throw them out of windows, whatever- people will think your character is creative and brutal, even if the DM doesn't give you big dice or special effects for your descriptions. Anon's wizard is such such a show off, always makes big grandiose gestures when they cast spells- Anon's fighter is so cool, he smashes faces in fights but gives all his money to the poor. It doesn't matter what damage you rolled, they'll remember the words that went with it.

>>51794366
Early 4e Paladin was pretty fucking bad

It was a 3-stat class in a game based around the idea of everyone being 2-stat classes, and since two of those stats were wisdom and charisma, it also had the problem of weakening it's own NADs

>>51794819
Temporarily negate a level of exhaustion?

>>51796694
You can sacrifice warlock spell slot for sorcery point. That's correct.

Not sure what feature can warlock use sorcerer spell slot for though.

>>51796881
Well you can cast your warlock spells using sorcerer slots. You can't use sorcerer slots for anything that specifically calls out a warlock spell slot, though.

>>51796881
eldritch strike can be quickened

Is there a robot race for 5e (or an earlier edition) aside from the Warforged? I think there is a 5e Warforged, if nothing else. I've got a friend playing a robot and I'm hoping it's not unbalanced homebrew.

is fireball + slow a good combination to pick up as a level 6 lore bard if I want to cc?

Or should I just grab spiritual weapon and something else?

>>51796949
i don't know about 3.x, but pathfinder has some android race. 5e only has warforged in the eberron UA and they're a bit meh. you can easily homebrew something based off it though, they really only have two features and +1 STR and CON.

>>51796966
Don't let people tell you fireball is unoptimal or whatever. You want to be cool don't you?

does burning hex proc hex damage? which would in turn proc the damage from your hexblade's curse?

>If the plate is activated, the circular mosaic pattern that appears as the sun on the floor in area 4 slides back and a 7-foot-diameter sphere made of hundreds of skeletal bodies rises magically from the floor. This bone boulder tilts toward area 6 and rolls down the sloping hallway before crashing against the wall in area 7.
>As it rolls through, the bone boulder crushes and slashes at any creature in the hallway, dealing 18 (4d8) bludgeoning damage and 18 (4d8) slashing damage, or half damage with a successful DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. Any creature that fails this first save is grabbed by skeletal hands and pulled into the sphere, which continues to roll over any other creatures in the hallway.
>A creature trapped in the bone boulder can attempt a DC 17 Strength or Dexterity check to break free before the boulder slams into the wall in area 7. Any creature that fails to escape is inside the boulder when it hits, and is caught in an explosion of bones and stone, taking 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage and 14 (4d6) slashing damage.

And people say Rise of Tiamat is bad... That's one of the coolest traps I've seen.

>>51796987
i wanna be a helpful bard. then cool.

>>51796949
There's aetherborn in plane shift: kaladesh, which I think is a robot race. I believe warforged has only been in UA so far? So aetherborn is about as official as warforged is for 5e if you're not picky about setting, which, why should you be?
Do uou have have a link to whatever robot race your player is using now?

>>51796995
You aren't hitting it with an attack so no.

>>51792569
Talk to your DM or, better yet, talk to her.

>>51796995
>hex
>"You place a curse on a creature that you can see within range. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to the target whenever you hit it with an attack."
burning hex isn't an attack, therefore wouldn't proc hex
>hexblade's curse
>" You gain a bonus to damage rolls against the cursed target."
i'm not so sure about this one. does dealing damage to an enemy count as a "damage roll?" i'm inclined to say yes since a non-monk/tavern brawler's unarmed attacks deal 1+STR and thus don't require any dice to roll. if i was a DM i'd rule yes but i'm rather lenient in terms of rules so

>>51796966
What do you mean by cc?

My personal experience re: bards and fireballs is largely negative, but if you go early in initiative and convince your party members to stay out of the way it's good damage.

I will say hypnotic pattern is super good, though.

>>51797029
>>51797047
then is burning/chilling hex even good? bonus action is already so heavily contested slot for a warlock and that 3-5 bonus damage just doesnt seem very strong

>>51796966
For Magical Secrets? Why not Counterspell and Haste? I guarantee you, counterspelling an enemy fireball is much more helpful than throwing a fireball yourself.

>>51797090
It's ok, bonus action isn't as contested as you think. You'd probably curse, hex, hound, then in future rounds burn or chill. You may never get to that point but it's still not the absolute worst pick even if there are far better ones.

>>51796982
Sounds simple enough.
>>51797024
They're bringing it over later. Definitely not picky about setting.

>>51797090
personally i think the darkness+devil's sight combo is better worth an invocation than a bonus action 2-5 damage. but it's not a bad choice. sometimes it's really useful to get off that extra bit of damage to finish off an enemy, especially if their AC is particularly high.

>>51796675
>>51796836
I can elaborate a bit on my previous post.

The list i provided was sort of the history of what my D&D characters were like.

The first character was a Dragonborn Paladin who essentially because an edgelord murder hobo. My DM just showed me the options and I picked the two which i thought were coolest.

My second character was a Bugbear Warden, I was trying to create Earthshaker from Dota 2.

My third character was in Pathfinder, i made a Half-Ogre Summoner, and while I am not going to go into the details I think he was well-rounded in his concept. Nothing was overtly outlandish or edge-case. He was a bit weird, but nothing out the ordinary for the Archetypal "Big dumb guy" in the party.

And this kind of thing carried on for a bit.

Then i didn't play D&D for about...2 years.

Now whenever I play D&D the ideas for characters I have are things like
>He was a Paladin but his adventuring party was captured by Slaad. Everyone was infected but his Slaad tadpole mutated inside of him and manifested weird abilities.
And that would be like...Dragonborn-Revenant Shadow Monk. Where he breaths Necrotic and his monk abilities are a manifestation of his Slaad mutation. The old Paladin resides in his mind, but the child-like Slaad has control over this body.
And when i write it out like this, I totally see what my DM means by "you put in alot of work outside of the game to make the most special snowflake at the table"

It comes down to 2 things i think. I am an aspiring concept artist, i love drawing monsters, and I want to play games where I can play monsters because i have a weird obsession with the "monster character"
And, i am never satisfied with D&D, my group only plays once a month, so I am trying to scratch that itch as much as possible, which results in lots of character brainstorming away from the table.

>>51797068
crowd control I suppose. I'm actually not fond of fireball but I figured at first glance it helps clean up fights near the end.
>>51797093
yeah magical secrets. I was thinking haste but I only have 1-2 melees in my party and the exhaust at the end is discouraging. I was thinking of grabbing counterspell at level 10.

>>51792463
I doubt it. 5e's 'rounded down' nature makes it hard to break it, even if there's an unbalance between things.
There's been a fair amount of UA, but with them (mostly) being subclasses and the lack of things like feats (although new feats could be cool) it shouldn't be too much of a mess.

The only foreseeable problem is how overwhelming extra options can be to people new to D&D, but in that case I'd just stick to PHB options.

>>51792463
3.5e had like one splatbook out every 2-3 months at most. 5e would have to go on for decades to ever reach that level.

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Man. I want to play a necromancer school wizard and I'm already bracing myself for disappointment. Are they fun in 5e? Effective? I've never seen them done well, in any system or even in video games for that matter, so I expect nothing any more.

>>51797245
>Mr Magoo v. Gashadokuro

>>51797237
>Thinking "Oh well we've gotten a nice amount of stuff through UA..."
>Realize 5e officially came out two and a half years ago
>Even longer for NEXT playtesters
>Only actual mechanical expansion we've had was Volo's

Yeah we'll be more than fine.

>>51796871
Oh, that's nice. I think that'll do, thanks.

>>51797197
What's the rest of your party?

>>51797245
I haven't played on but as far as I'm aware having your little troop of undead is very nice at lower levels, if admittedly slowing down combat a lot so find a way to work them faster.

But beyond that? They quickly fall off the scale and become irrelevant. It's unfortunate, but if you've got a good DM it could be adapted well into higher tiers, but anything can be made better by a good DM, so

>>51797196
Your paladin story sounds a lot like the course of events that would happen over the course of a few levels in a higher level campaign. The multiclassing stuff would potentially be something that happens while playing as a reaction to those events. If the game was starting at level 10, it may be an appropriate amount of story, since your character needs amount reason to be that high a level, but at the same time it's outlandish and epic and the dM may be wondering, why am I telling this part of the characters story when he's had all this shit happen already? You might want to try more of a blank slate character, just some bare minimum stuff- yeah, my paladin is level ten because he's been doing inquisition work for his order for a decade and a half. Then a bare minimum reason for him to be with this party in particular, and the details can be filled in when necessary, and the DM will probably prompt you when it is.

As far as your theory crafting inn your off time, ever considered DMing? Put that effort into a deep world with boss monsters for your players to explore, and they will appreciate your efforts much more than when they're roaming the countryside with tortured alien soul.

>>51797313
It varies but generally it's a party of 6.
There's guaranteed to be a life cleric, wizard, sorcerer, and barbarian. The 6th member is always different.

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>>51797361
The idea with the Paladin is that due to his transformation he can no-longer use his Paladin powers. The Paladin's soul exists, trapped in the mutated body and acts as a sort of...Shoulder Angel for the Mutant Slaad.

The idea was that this happened; the mutant was exiled from the Slaad den, and is now a level 1 monk exploring the world. As it levels up it "evolves" and discovers new powers which are just Monk abilities. Shadow Monk being the best fit for something to naturally become something like the Predator.

As you can see, Snowflake to the Nth degree.


I DM 2 campaigns as well. I think I am just obsessed with D&D.

Though I am a bit doubtful of my abilities. I was talking with my DM, who is a player in one of my campaigns, and i asked him what he wants to do as a player, and it was really involved. He cares a ton about being involved in the world and there being consequences. He doesn't just want some dungeon crawly experience, and went on about D&D as a teenager and how he saw alot of them as failed experiences which he likened to "Fighting in an arena". Admittedly, it put alot of pressure on me, because I basically want to run a fun dungeon crawly experience with weird ass monsters who could potentially be friends of the players.

I try to compensate my newness as a DM by, hopefully, exciting my players with Art of the weird monsters they encounter. Such as this rendition of Zuggmtoy the Demon Queen of Fungus.

How do you feel about earning EXP for winning a fight nonlethally? specifically, someone duels you, and the fight ends with them tapping out? DM told me I get no EXP since my opponent didn't die, I said I should get something, so he had the guy take off his magic ring and gift it to me after the duel.

>>51797540
>DM told me I get no EXP since my opponent didn't die
your dm is shit.

>>51797540
You should get exp for that. If you only get exp for killing your DM is promoting you guys to be murder hobos. Go slaughter a village of peasants and say

>Okay they are all dead, how much exp did I get? :D

>>51797540
You should get XP for just talking them down and winning that way. Winning combat no matter the means even if you simply preempt the fight (e.g. mortar incoming enemies or talking a group into intervening) should get you XP by the rules both as written and intended. Only a shit DM rules otherwise except in special cases.

>>51797540
I even give full XP for talking down or sneaking past enemies, or half if there's a reasonable chance they'll get into a fight with them again soon.

>>51797540

Typically, PCs should be awarded for overcoming the encounter, regardless of how it's done (sneaking past, schmoozing through it, killing, taking another option, etc). As long as they bypass the obstacle, they should get exp for it.

who the fuck uses xp?

i level my players up when its appropriate fuck experience points lol

>>51797024
Aetherborn are more kinda like mana elementals, bunch of magic that made a person cause reasons.

So, I'm thinking about a half-orc rogue/barbarian of some stripe. Any ideas if this is viable? If so, what should I do?

>>51796677
yeah but all of that is flavor text

>>51794797
All D&D characters are murderhobos.

>>51797679
Assassin/wolf totem is pretty strong

Take two levels in fighter for action surge and dueling, then stab everything with a rapier

>>51796949
There is a totally useless 5e warforged race in UA

>>51796966
>wasting one of your precious fucking lore slots on FIREBALL

please no

>>51797719
What is?

>>51794797
Have your character react genuinely to things-

More importantly, have your character have actual, solid, important connections to the world. Meet an NPC that you like? Express genuine excitement. Actual sorrow when someone dies, depressive episodes because of it.

The easiest way to have a fun character is to write them as if they were an actual person, and not a 'character' or a 'build' or a 'concept'

>>51797747
What would you suggest then for a bard playstyle that buffs the party as a whole or debuffs enemies? My mind is set on slow for my 1st lore slot, not sure for the other additional magical secret.

>>51797245
5e necromancers are so powerful that one necromancer can eclipse an entire, fairly large party in terms of damage, and damage absorption. When you get the ability to get an intelligent undead minion, see if you can find a Mummy Lord.

Ignore this guy >>51797359 he is a troll.

>>51797552
>>51797557
>>51797581
>>51797582
>>51797617

Well, I didn't exactly "win" the fight, I guess. here's what happened. I get challenged to a duel by this NPC because I implied he and his friends wouldn't be able to slay this nearby dragon. Now, unbeknown to me, the NPC is level 6 (I'm level 2). Unbeknown to the DM, however, the UA Shadow Sorcerer that I'm playing can cast darkness that he can see through. I start cheesing the fight by using Darkness to make myself nigh unhittable. After getting hit a couple turns, the NPC leaves the darkness and goes into a nearby tent (fight was happening out in the wilderness) Since I already got a few solid hits in and I'm at full HP, I follow him into the tent and try to finish him. In character, I don't realize I've done less than half of his HP in damage. Now that I'm out of the darkness, he swings at me and rolls a nat1. After the nat1, DM has the guy stand down, but as it turns out I was nowhere close to KOing him.

>>51797477
Ok, if he's a first level monk? That's way too much shit. You're not getting back story that equals the amount of power the character has, even if it's like he started as one class then the universe slapped him with with retcon. Going shadow monk to eventually be like the predator? Sure. Going dragonborn because the looks or stats are similar to predator? Sure. Even asking the DM if his breath weapon could be necrotic instead of typical stuff is alright. But the rest, it's hard to justify that kind of person that's been through all that shit, pre-level one, before the game even starts, hanging around with a bunch of dungeon crawling shmucks, even if you've got what you think is a watertight excuse.
If you're still at the point where you're smoothing things over with the DM, try this- the paladin that went through all that shit was the head of your monastic order, one that strives for being predator-like bevause the paladin head is a weird slaad mutant. You're out on pilgrimage. Simple, appropriate for first level, and the story comes from mechanics rather than a novel about a 20th level character that has been compressed down and gone through hoops of justification for being played at first level. Have goals or plans for the character, but let the events of the campaign dictate if those actually happen. Once again, the DM won't see the point in engaging your story if it's already written out actually hundred years before and after you're born.

As for the discretion between the game you're running and your DM player, apparently there was some miscommunication about the intent of the game before it started. Of course it's your game so you do what you want, but what you really want is to give your players a good time. It's not hard to switch things into a world perspective, just when they finish the dungeon they come out and a powerful being contacts the characters, says some bullshit about artifacts and chosen ones.

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>>51797782
I said I hadn't played one, my bad.
I'm not sure how a handful of undead eclipse a party of players, but good to know that my impression of them is wrong.

>>51797679
Use reckless attack and never miss a chance to sneak attack. Put expertise in athletics and become the best at grappling, maybe get a feat that helps with grappling like tavern brawler or grappler. Grappler is good for rogues because that advantage means sneak attacks on anyone you grapple. If you're fighting enemies too large to grapple, ask your DM to implement the "climbing on larger enemies" option from the DMG. Even without a feat you can get advantage on attacks against big fuckers and it works off your boss athletics score.

>>51797663
Yeah, I'm not familiar with the setting so I went back and actually read the statblock instead of going off how people were summarizing it, to see what if any mechanics I could specifically suggest. Turns out they're more like party golems than robots.

>>51797781
May I recommend Aura of Vitality? 2d6 x 10 healing is very useful if your bonus action won't be used on anything else.

Elemental Weapon is a paladin spell (I think) but actually designed for a bard, since you can't use it to its full effect without being able to put it in higher spell slots. Even if you don't personally fight, a fighter in your party will love you.

If your party is ranged and can function without moving much, Magic Circle is great.

>>51797781
Why slow? Ask the sorcerer to take it, since he can twin it. Put Haste on that barbarian and let him go to town on the enemies, unless one of the other casters already does that. On another note, Hunger of Hadar is a pretty great debuff, and Fly is always good to have. And as I said before, Counterspell is good even if you have others than can cast it.

>>51797806
>>51797245

+2, +4 or +6 to damage (proficiency bonus)
+ level to hp

At level 10 you can have 20 or so skeletons that do 9 damage-ish a hit and would have 23 hp each, so collectively would have 460 hp + 180 damage if they all hit a round, this is very very very very good performance for a level 10 char

eclipse may be an exaggeration (though an oathbreaker paladin could be your best friend, they give a damage boost equal to cha to undead within 10', so they could add a ton of damage), high ac foes with resist nonmagic attacks will reduce the damage significantly, but bottom line is a skelemancer is among the highest damage dudes around

>>51797245
When I was in a party with a necromancer he never got to raise any undead because he had to keep being a necromancer a secret from NPCs and the GM was constantly sending NPCs (that had class levels) with us on our quests. The couple times he did get to raise them they missed all of their attacks because their accuracy is shit and didn't absorb any blows because the GM had enemies ignore them.

However, that GM also allowed undead created from the corpses of strong individuals to have heightened stats, and he gave the necromancer spells for making undead out of things besides Humanoids. I can only imagine how useless they would've been if we'd been doing it RAI, where a zombie/skeleton is always only as strong as the basic zombie/skeleton statblock.

>>51797789
The fight ended and your guy was still standing, that's "overcoming an obstacle" in my book. If the DM didn't want it to end that way, he shouldn't have ended it that way. The bad guy could have stood down when you first cast darkness, he could have made you roll intimidation and not come to blows at all if you rolled well, he could have kept on fighting even after he missed. DM chose to have the guy fight you in the first place.

If he decides halfway through that he made a rash decision in letting the fight happen, maybe that was his way of fixing it. Not ideal, but it's hard to get an ideal outcome trying to fix a bad call. If he's trying to make an example of you so everybody doesn't go around intimidating or taunting NPCs into fights for exp, it shouldn't be necessary but what can you do. In the grand scheme, I would have given you exp and I think he should have, but it's likely not going to be making you level up weeks after everybody else by missing out on it, so no big. But you now have reason to look out for future examples of him screwing with you.

>>51797927
>>51797245
On top of the default stats being good there are stats for zombie and skeleton NPCs used as a race, this would be totally up to the DM but zombies and skeletons can indeed have classes, levels, etc and they are not mindless beings (well, zombies are incredibly stupid beings, but they still can have class levels).

>>51797840
I was considering Aura of Vitality but I'm usually beyond the 30ft range to heal the melees of my party. Out of battle though it's great. I'd probably use my bonus action for it often.
I'd love to use elemental weapon except most of us has a +1 magical weapon already.
Magic circle sounds great for our casters by the sound of it.
>>51797906
I figured sorcerer will be busy blasting and slow fills that debuff aspect of bards that I like. Makes it easier to hit enemies too and prevent them from using reactions like shield. I like the description of haste giving AC and an extra attack action but how bad is the lethargy debuff for the barbarian if I lose concentration?
Fly and Counterspell are solid choices but I think it's covered by the wizard. How's hunger of hadar in battle?

>>51797961
If you're too far from your buds (and presumably the fighting) to use the aura, are you still getting hit often enough to make you worry about losing concentration?

Is there anything you'd suggest doing for starting out DMing? Practicing voices or the like? I'm considering running Phandelver.

>>51797924
Assuming they can hit anything and the creature doesn't have resistance to magical weaponry.

>>51797984
Yeah I probably get hit once every two rounds based on past experience in combat. I'm not too worried about losing concentration.
Usually when im where the fight is at, I usually get targeted more often than I wanted so I don't go in as much anymore and try to keep my distance. Far away is safer.

>>51797989
I like doing voices, but not everybody is good at them. I also have a player that uses funny voices as a crutch for making his characters seem interesting when they're not, but when using premade stuff that's not a big deal. Just be straightforward when your party is about to do something that fucks up the campaign (kill an important NPC) but also have a backup plan (the NPC had a note on him detailing the important information the party didn't hear from the NPC because they killed him)(the note is actually in the chest they looked through instead of checking his corpse) etc.
Also, if you and/or the players are new to the system and there's a rules question, just BS a solution until the break and look it up then. It kills the momentum trying to dig throug the phb looking for grapple rules.

>>51798010

Even on a bad day they're still going to deal decent damage, usually very nicely even damage due to weight of attacks. A wizard variety that has constant, usually very heavy damage, is rare indeed.

>>51797989
notes. Have notes before you start the session, keep notes while you're running the session. Voices are hit and miss if you can do em well more power to you but if you can't don't sweat it.
Do a session 0 and know when to put your foot down on rules and the like.
If your players are retarded don't be afraid to step out of character/narration to tell them they're idiots.
Keep a table of their passive perceptions handy so you don't have to ask and set them off.
what >>51798072 said be prepared for players to do what you don't expect.

>>51797961
If your DM is likely to allow Planar Binding, and nobody else will know Magic Circle, it also opens you up for the pure insanity of being a pokemon collector in D&D.

>>51797789
Honestly if I were the DM I wouldn't give you XP (Unless the rest of the party played a part in overcoming the obstacle) for the simple fact I give XP as a collective thing for the whole party and everyone has the same amount. I might give you inspiration or some other reward, though.

>>51798116
sounds amazing, potentially something I look forward if I ever get 5th level spell slots.

>>51798155

well like I said, he had the guy give me his magic ring afterward when brought up EXP

>>51795149
Admittedly, I was rating it based on the standard d20's +1 is 5% scale. If I just scale it based off the new curve, then advantage/disadvantage on your house rules is equivalent to about +/-6, because you've increased the value of each +/- bonus. You've still overshot +/-5, even by your own scale. You can use the "at least" table to quickly compare the shifts.

>>51794797
for me it's been
>make first D&D character, edgy rogue with a scythe because why the fuck not
sometime later
>make characters purely for min/maxxing
sometime later
>start making characters purely for theme and overarching ideas and not worry about the numbers

i feel like i matured over the last 17 years of playing D&D

I hope the next UA isn't the Mystic but instead a huge supplement list of new spells.

Am I the only person disappointed there's no Sorcerer option focused on Enchantment or Illusion magic? It feels like they're only getting more and more blasting options.

>>51798524
Feeling the same way, I'd really like to play a support-ish origin. Closest I can get to is going Favored Soul and picking a Cleric Domain.

>>51797806
>>51798010
They are going to hit stuff due to sheer number of roll, proficiency bonus from wizard and the magic of bound accuracy.

As a DM, if any necromancer can't finish his round in under 30 second, he instantly get reclass.

Everyone says Illusory Reality (make part of your illusion real for 1 minute) is the best thing ever, but I don't see many uses for objects that only last 1 minute. The only purposes I can think of are
>making expensive spell components for free (for spells that can be cast in under a minute)
>making things like brick walls or cages to temporarily trap enemies (wizards already have a billion ways to trap enemies)
>making 15x15 cubes of iron that fall on people (dubious at best, since the illusions "Can't directly harm people")

Is it supposed to be very situational, or are there good universal uses for it?

>>51798544
Didn't think about the Favored Soul. They new one with access to the whole Cleric list is an option. Twincasted healing and some of the buff spells are cool.

>new campaign
>everyone but 1 player is on board with just adventuring, and that's their characters' goals
>that one guy wants to be a businessman and has no reason to be with a party of ragtag adventurers
Why do people do this?

>>51798544
I've been working on a homebrew of a Seventh Son of a Seventh Son sorcerer focused on healing and divination magic.

>>51796079
Long ago, an ancestor slew 100 demons in war. Bathed in their blood, he became demonic himself, as the ancient ritual goes.

Now resistant to fire, and outcast from his home, he traveled the land hunting evil dragons. I'm sure you can see where this is going. No, it's not sex

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>>51798579
A party of adventurers and one businessman? It's time to Recettear that shit up.

>>51798558
just do what everyone does pinky
illusionary neutronium

>>51798558
Also, speaking of spell components, do you need to have the component for the entire casting, or just when the casting begins?

This would determine whether Illusory Reality can be used to fuel spells like Astral Projection, which requires components but takes an hour to fully cast.

>>51798442
I cannot come up with a bigger "FUCK YOU PSIONICS FANS" than that, congratulations anon, Wizards should hire you soon!

>>51798558
you can also:
>create bridges/ladders
>create difficult terrain
>create keys, lock picks, tools
>bars to block monsters but still grant you LoS to shoot/cast spells
>provide physical cover
>trigger traps (that you are aware of)

>>51798608
I mean one or two of the party members could well have reason to just up and leave his ass behind. The character offers absolutely nothing to the story and is just a hindrance for the narrative of the other characters who have no need or desire to have any established tied to anybody really.

Basically tethering characters with no business in wealth to wealth.

>19 STR
>All other stats are an even number
>Can't benefit from GWM or the other usual Feats due to meme archetype
Should I take Athlete? Barbarian 4.

Cloak of Protection on the paladin and Aura of Protection not stacking. Yes or no?

I know they don't say anything like that in the PHB or DMG, but I feel like the cloak of protection I feel like giving the party is just gonna go to him and I don't want my magic items having clear cut "best" picks.

Mechanics and fluff wise they pretty much do the same thing save for AC and are pretty much called the same thing. Could be a paladin transmutation on the cloak anyways.

>>51798845
What the hell kind of barbarian can't benefit from GWM?

Pure barbarian, not barbarian/rogue

>>51798845
+1 to Str, +1 to either Dex or Wis; then at level 8 take Resilient for whichever stat you picked.

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>>51798863
I'm playtesting this retarded homebrew since it's just a one-shot.

>>51798848
Now that you mention this, I feel like I should probably do that as well. There's a 20 Cha paladin in my party and their saves tend to get pretty stupidly high.

>>51798874
It's a meme but tavern brawler may work. Action slam attack, possible knock prone. Bonus action grapple to keep him there.

Like I said, it's a meme, but it works with the Archetype.

>>51798670
Take me, Wizards, I am ready for my career!

>>51798907
In an older campaign my DM said no, which was good, my 19 paladin had to crit fail to not pass some saves, cloak of protection just makes it worse.

>>51798870
That seems like a good idea dood.

Of course being a one-shot it's not gonna happen anytime soon, but we decided we're going to keep these characters for other one-shots in the future.

>>51798912
Yeah I forgot to add- the reason STR is 19 at all is because I took that over 20 STR (Rolled 16, +2 from Goliath) because proficiency with Goblins as weapons seems fun- this is for the next ASI at 8 since there's a good chance if we reuse our one-shot characters it'll have a level jump.

>>51798072
>>51798103
Thus sounds all good to note. I'm just extremely nervous.
>LMoP is like 20 bucks on Roll20
goddammit money is the one thing I don't have.

>>51792569
>That turn she decided to cast silence, on top of where it already was.
Why wouldn't you just tell her to do something else?

>>51798924
I don't even mean only the paladin's saves, because either way her biggest bonus is +13 to Charisma, which barely ever comes up. However it does mean that all the other party members when around her (except the fighter) have +11/+13 to Wisdom saves which means failure just won't happen.

Yeah, I think I'll have to enforce that moving on, though it isn't that much of a change just 1 point of difference. As compensation, I'll add something that I just discovered: both bonuses from Aura and Cloak add to death saving throws.

>>51798939
Alright, here is a short list. I don't agree with athlete cause the bonuses are just not that great, unless it fits your character then it has priority.

Mobile, makes your fast even more fast. Let's you move around the battlefield being where slams are needed. Synergy with your already quick movement.

Skilled, if you have stats other than Str and Con that are 14 or more this would not be a bad choice.

Tough, you really don't feel it until you hit double digit levels. But you run enough encounters with this you will be alive for only that reason.

Basically, go with the character concept and select from there. Quick on their feat, a jack of all trades, or the last guy standing in a fight every time.

>>51798977
That seems pretty fair, I'll keep that little change in mind thanks.

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>>51798558
>Cast Mirror Image
>Make the images real
>Three 1-minute clones of you that can cast spells
>Including Mirror Image

>>51799014
Watching three of yourselves drop dead sounds unpleasant.

If I'm a hexblade with armor of hexes and mirror image active at the same time, which is checked first when I get attacked?

>>51792431
>irl friends don't want to even try DnD
>no nearby groups
I'm acatully considering running an online campaign even though i know that they fall apart with <6 sessions

>>51799055
Mirror image then you m8.

>>51799014
>you can choose one inanimate, nonmagical object that is part of the illusion and make that object real.
As awesome as that would be, Illusory Reality sadly doesn't work with Mirror Image.

>>51798997
Well the biggest part of Athlete is the +1 STR to bump it to 20, the rest of the feat is mainly just icing on it. >>51798870 is also a good idea.

>>51799055
mirror image, armor of hexes doesnt occur until YOU are hit with an attack so it would mean it bypassed one of your images, same goes with armor of agathys

>>51799059
Not all, there are diamonds in the rough.

My year long campaign is coming back together after a hiatus for season 2. I play in multiple games from the old group and it's a lot of fun.

But yes there were many campaigns that fizzled before I found that one.

>>51792486
Which region/land mass are we talking about
I have many

>>51799059
Take heart; the online group I was in did all of Iron Gods over the course of like 2 years. Online groups can work.

>>51799071
>>51799084
Not the answer I hoped for, but at least there's a certain ruling. TFW Blink + Mirror Image + Armor of Hexes + AC 20 + Armor of Agathys means I'm basically invincible.

>>51798874
>Gets unarmed GWM at 10
>but only once per turn
y tho

>>51799059
Anon I'm glad to inform you I've been running an online campaign since November 2015. There were a few bumps along the road, a bunch of players came and went but we managed to keep the thing going. It really comes down to the DM's determination to keep running and find new players if necessary.

>>51799097
Yup it's pretty good. That's why saving throws exist.

>>51799126
>targeting me while I'm on the ethereal plane
But yeah, 50% of the time saves will fuck me over.

>>51799097
>TFW the DM throws a second encounter with no time to short rest and you have no slots left

>>51799105
Because they already get way too much shit as is anyways and letting them GWM at will would take an overpowered homewbrew into REALLY OVERPOWERED HOMEBREW?

>>51799122
>Started with fighter, wizard, cleric, rogue, ranger
>ranger left after the 2st session, bard joined on 3rd
>a few months later rogue and bard left, paladin joined, then later the wizard left
>following session warlock joined, things went to shit in-game, party wiped and was locked up
>next one warlock and paladin left, druid and wizard2 joined
>after a major arch ended, cleric left, ranger2 and paladin2 joined

>Currently with druid, wizard2, ranger2, paladin2 and the fighter who's the only one around from the first session.

Gotta tell you, I did felt like dropping the game at a few points. When people kept leaving it was really disheartening.

>>51799087
>>51799097
>>51799122
Well i'll guess i'll take the next to weeks for some world building and start in March i suppose
I guess it's all practice at the end of the day

Are Abyssal Tieflings and Dwarves the only races with the +1 HP per level ability? I'm making a meme build and trying to get the max HP I possibly can.

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Can you guys help me with writing a backstory for a Barbarian with an entertainer background?

>>51799366
He's a traditional Skald who wants to write stories about fellow adventurers.

>>51799366
He's a wrestler

>>51799366
Wandering Story teller

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What would be some good abilities to bring on a character that were refluffed as (minor) time manipulation?
>Action Surge and Fighter tons of attacks as speeding up or existing twice briefly
>True Strike...pretty much as is
>Haste and Slow
>Ray of Frost as a minor slowing
>Monk stunning strike as a small time stop and many attacks as accelerating
Don't even bother mentioning Time Stop because games (especially mine) never reach above 12th level and it has so little power without a scenario contrived just for it, like the fragile macguffin falling from the villain's hands or some shit. After all, if it's IN his hands you can't touch it, no sir.

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How do you do problem solving in game?

Let's say a character encounters a riddle which he needs to solve to pass on. I wanted to use my character intelligence score to role the answer out because I had no idea and struggled for ten minutes, but the DM insisted I answer myself.

Was he a retard?

>>51799563
Sort of? It's fine to encourage the players to puzzle things out themselves, but if everyone involved is truly stumped an Int check should probably be called for.

>>51799366
Strongman. He squats horses on market day, the public make bets. Or scottish style flips tree trunks, carries huge stones.

>>51799563
>wanting to roll for the answer to a riddle
I'm afraid to say the retard may be you, dear anon. You could roll for a hint, some piece of intuition or a pointer to the right way, but not just "I rolled a natural 20 so tell me the answer", that's just dumb.

>>51799563
>needs to solve to pass on
Don't do that. Make sure there's at least two other -planned- alternative ways to progress. Otherwise you risk frustrating your players if they can't figure it out and then ruining the tension by giving them a 'pass' because the puzzle was too difficult.

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>>51799366

>>51799533
Heals as reversing time around the wounded area.

>>51799366
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull#Wild_West_Show

>>51799563
>>51799610
Just last session my players struggled with a riddle for a while. They had to make a certain pose while opening the doors, or the room's guardians would attack them. They had to figure out which gesture was the right one, which they eventually did. It took some nudging and quite a few hints (that I gave after they rolled successful Religion checks) but they eventually got it.

In my case though, they were always free to just walk through the doors. It would land them in a difficult fight, but after the fight they would be free to go on.

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>>51799578
Yes, but there is always a chance to block on simplest of questions, and sitting there for ten minutes thinking while others get bored is not interesting.

>>51799605
Obviously, but I'm playing a character with a high Int score. Who says he couldn't know the answer right away?

>>51799605
>Riddle in game
>player must be the one to answer
>Feat of strength in game
>It's okay for the character to achieve it

Fuck your double-standards. Go benchpress 300 if you want your character to move the boulder; I don't care that you have 18 strength and rolled a 20.

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what do sorcerers need to make them as good as wizards? without just giving them all the same things wizards have

>>51799776
After having played a sorcerer in a 1-year campaign and reaching level 14, I can safely say that I enjoyed it just as much as I did my wizard. They play differently, and metamagic is fun to play with.

>>51799735
What are you even saying? Riddles are meant to challenge the players, not the characters. As I said, rolling might give you hints, but outright asking the DM for the answer completely defeats the purpose of the riddle.

>>51799676
>Who says he couldn't know the answer right away?
The DM, obviously. All that his high Int gives you are better chances at deciphering stuff and putting the information together... which comes as hints and clues.

>>51795499
your stone form needs to be turned on. just take a one handed fines weapon and you'll be fine for stats

>>51799776
Spellpoint system combined with their sorcery points. Makes them feel like the freeform caster they should be.

>>51799776
What is "as good"?

>>51799798
>Riddles are meant to challenge the players, not the characters

This makes no sense at all though. This basically means that only smart players should have smart PCs, because it doesn't make sense for a smart player with a dumb moronic barbarian PC to be able to solve the riddle.

>So yeah obviously it means the answer is this
>no justification as to how Thogtruk could ever solve this riddle since he can't even do basic math but yeah

>>51799810

Right now, Wizards have more than double the total number of spells known that sorcerers have, plus the ability to copy spells from books and scrolls, while sorcerers have absolutely no way to get more spells than what they learn at level up. Wizards can also ritual cast and sorcerers can't. Wizards can benefit from a short rest, while sorcerers get literally nothing unless they long rest. They also have a wider pool of spells to choose from. So pretty much all that versus.....the two metamagic options sorcerers get.

>>51799366
I did a similar thing, made a Bardbarian, was the Little War Drummer Boy

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>>51799822

I was recently in a game where the DM asked us some super easy riddle and our wizard player was the only one who didn't instantly know the answer

>>51799822
Dude, who cares which character came up with the answer? For all I care, even if the 6 int barbarian player figured it out, ultimately it was the collective reasoning of all party members that discovered the answer. Or maybe Thogtruk had a flash of inspiration, or he connected this riddle to something he saw in his past, who knows, it really doesn't matter.

Solving the riddle comes first, justifying how it was solved comes after.

>>51799308
So, Tough, 20 CON,Hill Dwarf Barbarian? 15 HP per level on average, Gonna need some good rolls for that.

>>51800034
It's no different from a scrawny dude playing a barbarian.

Should this be uncommon or rare?

>This item appears to be a scimitar hilt. While grasping the hilt, you can use a bonus action to expend one of your spell slots of 2nd level or higher and cast flame blade on the hilt, no concentration required. You use your own spellcasting ability (You can choose if you have more than one), and you have a +1 bonus to melee spell attack rolls made with this item. If another creature grasps the hilt, the spell ends.

>When you cast the spell, you can attempt to make a DC 16 ability check using your spellcasting ability. If you succeed, you may change the damage type to acid, cold or lightning for this casting of flame blade. If you fail, the magic backlashes. You take an amount of force damage equal to 16 minus the result of your check, and the spell is cast as normal.

>>51800106
>>51800106
I think uncommon could be enough.
Why +1 to hit?
Why versatile damage type?

>>51800150
Because I wanted it to have something more than just flame blade, and calling the item the same as the spell would be lame. I'm currently calling it "Elemental Hilt", which is not a great name either but I think it's better.

Might drop the +1, though, there isn't really much reason for it except just give a little bump.

>>51800150
>>51800106
Seems decent for a Bladesinger that took Elemental Adept. Since a vanilla +1 is already uncommon, and this does more damage, without concentration, I'd put it at rare.

Making a new character

whats the most fun class

>>51800279
i personally have a fetish for sword and spell but any of the gish classes/subclasses are fun to play if slightly unoptimal. I played a stone sorcerer last session and had a blast between hitting things with my greataxe and casting spells, although i wasn't super great at doing either. i mostly just tanked and did a bit of damage, but it was still fun to see enemies fail to hit me over and over from abuse of the shield spell just to hack them down.

>>51800219
But its not +1 weapon. It casts spell. So no Extra Attack for warriors.

>>51797782
>meet fireball and fireball accessories.
Though it's cool to combo undead with stinking cloud or cloudkill. And hunt green dragons.

Sorcerer should have like 5 more spell known (at the very least) than level 20 wizard with 5 int.

>>51797789
If the guy was an obstacle, and your fight made him not an obstacle, and there was danger involved for you, then that's worth XP. To the party.

If you just pissed the guy off and had a row because you're a dick, then that's worth inspiration for playing in character at mechanical expense, at best.

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>>51795462
>conceited Dwarf Sorcerer from an impure bloodline who can't silence the voices
I like it

>>51800345
Warriors can't use this weapon. Bladesingers are Wizards, first of all. Sure, they get Extra Attack at 6, but that doesn't work with Green-Flame or Booming Blade anyway. As I see it, you can Flame Blade, then Booming Blade, for a total of 3d6+INT+whichever blade you use.

What's the strongest elemental type for Dragon Sorcerers? I assume Fire, Cold and Lightning are the top three by a long shot.

>>51800583
Oh. Nobody has those cantrips in my game so I hadn't even considered them. But with BB and GFB don't you need to make a melee weapon attack? Whereas Flame Blade asks for a melee spell attack? Flame blade doesn't create an actual weapon, and I've labeled this Elemental Hilt as a Wondrous item, so I think I'm safe there.

>>51800583
BTW, does Flame blade spell and Booming blade works together? I can see arguments for both.

I never played it before but I'm trying to learn how to dm. From what I understand a combat encounter takes about an hour.
What I don't understand is why does combat take so long and isn't it incredibly boring? Isn't the whole story/exploring the world/dungeon bit what makes D&D fun? What's fun about fighting some goblins for an hour?

>>51800647
It's either a very big fight or a very big party if it takes an hour. Most fights at low levels I've run last 1-4 rounds at best and people decide what to do quickly.

Might just be my group dismembers everything well and I play enemies fast and hard.

Is a Duergar Rogue possible with stat buy at level 1 onward or will I be a little too gimped?

>>51800647
Something is wrong. Battle are usually over in 4-5 round.

Either someone take too long (shouldn't take more than 1 minute at the maximum for each player).

Too many enemies, too many players, not knowing rule and has to keep looking for it in the book or something like that

>>51800724
>>51800674
To be clear this is from what I read online.

Also read this in a Youtube comment:
>How do you get through five encounters in one evening? The game I'm in (playing, not DMing) gets through one or two encounters in a six hour evening.

>>51800636
It's an utter pain to search for interactions between Green-Flame Blade and Flame Blade, so unless Sage Advice covered it, it's up to the GM. But since a melee spell attack is a melee attack, I don't see why it wouldn't work.

>>51800795
no it doesnt work

retard

>>51800795
Flame Blade is not a weapon.

>>51800751
it could be the ratio of combat to non-combat. i've had session of entirely combat and entirely roleplaying.

if your dm is taking a whole hour to get you through a basic encounter, he's doing something wrong. i'd say a small encounter is easily 15 minutes, a moderate one 30-45 minutes at max, and a hard or especially long encounter pushing a bit past an hour at the most.

>>51800506
Yes, let's give sorcerer as many spells known as a wizard, ritual casting, maybe arcane recovery and remove the using metamagic points to create spells... Then give them the same spell list. Might as well make sorcerers int instead of cha while we're at it, since we need more int casters.

>>51800506
I believe WotC reasoning is Sorcerers have (spells known) x (metamagics known) number of spells, so they really have more.

>>51792569
>That turn she decided to cast silence, on top of where it already was.
This is where you stop the action and say, "X just cast Silence there. Your character can see that. Silence doesn't 'stack'. Knowing that the area is already silenced, why on earth would your character cast it again? It is a complete waste of an action and a spell slot. Are you sure that's what you want to do? Because it's stupid."

>>51793830
I mean, he's on a quest to save the world right now, slightly more important than tracking down his own leads. He's not with this party because they're henchmen trying to help him get revenge. They have a more common goal to pursue. PCs generally won't go off and follow their backstory when it's something that takes them away from the main action like that. It only detracts from the primary focus of the campaign unless the DM does something to work it in. What >>51794017 said is absolutely true.

>>51801336
No.

Sorcerers are far more flexible in their casting, and that is why they should have far fewer spells.

Wizards needs to be prepared, and have a far more limited use of their spell slots.

Sorcerers are still shit, because they have a terrible spell list, and their meta magic is super clunky. But if they hadn't been brain dead when making the sorcerer, they would have been a very valid alternative to a wizard.

Wizards are far less oppressive towards other classes, thankfully. No more instant solving skill issues that other classes used to have.

>>51800594
Fire, because the other elements lack good options for "reasons".

I love Ice, but it just doesn't have enough good spells to make a proper Silver Dragon sorcerer focused on purely on ice.

>>51797002
All magical traps are gay. If you can't get your shit to work with just your understanding of physics and engineering, you're a shit trapmaster.

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>>51801477
This.

While you can have good and bad magical traps, nothing quite compares to a raw mechanical trap.

>>51800101
The physical stats of a player can have no impact on the physical ability of the character. You're not seeing how much damage Bogdar can take by punching Steve until he cries, or seeing if Glynwyff hits the rope with his arrow by telling Dan to chuck his die into a cup on the other side of the room.

A character can't come up with solutions better than the player controlling them unless the DM hands those out. Todd, who is a complete dumbass, isn't going to solve the Lights Out puzzle, so neither is the Wizard Barammu. The DM might call for an Int check and resolve the puzzle / riddle / whatever mechanically, but that is generally not the point of putting such a thing in your game; you want to test the players' knowledge and thinking skills.

How often do you see this shit in your campaigns or official modules?
>You come across a strange text chiseled into ancient stone by the imposing dungeon gates.
can we read it?
>It's in an obscure Elven dialect, but Glynwyf and Barammu know Elven, so they can puzzle it out.
what does it say
>It's a riddle.
what's the riddle
>It's not important. Give me an Int check to figure out what to do.

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>>51801501
>once played a dwarven trapper
>went around to dungeons and criticized the terrible trapping skills of ancient civilizations
>left better traps behind
>killed a large chunk of the BBEG's forces by hiring himself out as trapmaster to the evil castle, engineering a purposefully faulty oil pit + rolling pillar trap, and springing it on all the baddies
>didn't tell the party about the spinning blade trap he put further into the castle because he has fucking professional ethics

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>>51801573
All I have is envy.
And good on the DM for allowing such things.

As a hexblade that uses cursebringer I am guessing I would be using strength with it since it greatswords fall under the two-handed property.

I guess this is so that not every fucking hexblade takes cursebringer.

>>51801621
>summon Cursebringer
>drop weapon
>have Enlarge Person cast on you
>pick up Cursebringer

>>51799776
Sorcerers don't need to be as strong as wizards, sorcerers are fine, wizards just need to be taken down a notch along with lore bards

>>51801643
Why are you dropping the blade before Enlarge/Reduce is cast on you? "The target's weapons also grow to match its new size."

What is Wizard's obsession with Elemental Evil? I played Return to ToEE way back when and it was cool but I don't get why it's something they do in every edition.

>>51801682
To avoid that. The thought is that because Cursebringer is a Greatsword, and therefore doesn't work with the Hexblade Cha-attack/damage with melee weapon thing, that you summon it, drop it, get big, pick it up as a 1-hander.

>>51801643
>>51801953

Doesn't get rid of two-handed property in 5e.

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>>51799805
Ayy!

>>51792583

Bard + Instrument of the Bards gives you saves vs your Charm spells at a disadvantage.

Make of that what you will

>>51792583
Depends on the level.
At low level, it's probably the Bard.
Once the Illusion School features start kicking in, the Wizard is the best and funniest to play, but in the beginning illusions aren't that great yet, and he casts them just as well as everybody else.
If the campaign stops at level 12th, and you want to play an Illusionist, you're better off as a Diviner with a lot of Illusion spells.

>>51797372

Haste only targets one person, and the few martials there are in your party, the more valuable that extra attack action becomes.

Counterspell and Haste are great picks, especially because Jack of All Trades applies to the counterspel Ability Check

Level 10 lets you pick Bigby's Hand, to whom Jack of All Trades also applies, as well as Circle of Power which is non concentration, or Wall of Force. Or Fabricate, if you want to remove basic shopping from play entirely

>>51802269
Ehhh I'm not sure I like being restricted like that. What if I want to learn two different level 6 spells?

>>51802063
Oh I'm aware of that. I was just explaining the thought process. Cursebringer was obviously meant for multiclass IMO. Or a high Strength Warlock I suppose.

Can you build an Enchantment focused bard? What would your magical secrets be?

>>51802571
>Can you build an Enchantment focused bard?

Oh boy, and how

>>51802421

>>51802503
True... Probably need to add some way to influence or change the Mystic Arcanum spells. The spell point system otherwise kind of breaks everything because there's nothing stopping you from casting 3+ wishes in a day. Maybe restrict the Mystic Arcanum to like 8th and 9th level spells, I reckon?

>>51802571

Yes, especially if Glamour Bard is allowed.

You already get all the enchantment spells you'll ever need, but getting some survivability spells that allow you to remain in the field as a dangerous player might be important. Especially the non concentration ones.

Circle of Power, Counterspell, Allow, and so on.

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Thinking of making a dungeoneering game.

I want something like the weight limit rules except with a lot less faff and calculation to keep people from taking in literally everything, but not making it overly complicated. Based it off of some 'inventory slot' ideas I've seen instead of item weights. Would like to get opinions.
This'll take two posts to post.

"
>Inventory limit
You have two slots for each hand. These hold anything you can lift.
You have an armour slot. This is a normal slot, but holds no penalty for carrying armour.
You have three 'free' slots. Everybody gets these.
You have four strength-restricted slots. You only use these with strength 10, 13, 16 and 19 respectively.
You have two bonus-restricted slots. You only use these if you have a feature that doubles your capacity.
Trying to carry more than this can cause various problems, clumsiness and the like, up to DM's discretion.

Possible example of slot layout included.

>>51802864
(Continued)

Don't bother trying to calculate money, that won't be relevant. You simply obtain everything for free once back in civilization.
Level 1-4, you have free access to all but the more expensive mundane items (No half-plate or plate).
Level 5-10, you have all mundane items, and upgrades to weaker ones (Holy water does more damage, bombs do more damage, etc).
Levels 11-16 you naturally get another upgrade and access to very minor magical items (Say, magical lighter or measuring instrument).
Levels 17-20 you get another upgrade, finest-of-the-finest mundane items so they can compete with your normal actions sometimes and access to the sort of magical items you might find in a level 1-4 dungeon, but nothing much beyond the usefulness of +1 items.

Generally, items the size of holy water and grenades have 10 uses per slot if it fills the entire slot.
One slot of food lasts one person a week. One slot of water lasts one person half a week.
Large items such as armour you're not wearing require either carrying by hand or multiple slots if you're strong enough.
Medium items take a slot. Larger medium items (A human-sized towershield) might count as large for small creatures.
Small items take up a slot, but can be bundled with similar items to make it a medium, i.e. wizard's book + wizard's component pouch or all the items in a thieves' kit.
Tiny items only take a slot if you get too many of them, and can be bundled in one slot in such a case.
"

>>51802638
The spell points variant on the DMG says that you can only make one 6th or higher lvl. spell slot per long rest. You can create 19 5th lvl. spell slots at lvl. 20, though.

So, I'm going to DM for high levels for the first time (11- Onwards)

What's a good template for this tier? I feel like things ought to get game of thrones-y but I have 0 experience doing this.

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I'm going to be running Out of the Abyss soon, and I have an idea I'm not entirely sure how to execute.
The book gives the option to have the players run the final confrontation between all the demon princes.
I want to run this battle after the party is initially apprehended. They're supposed tot experience weird nightmares while drugged, and I thought that this could:
A) Give them an idea of what they're up against
B) Realize what it's like to be a strong monster character
What I'm torn on is if I should let them know its the demon princes, or just have like powerful shadow monsters with the princes' stats. Also, would most surface dwellers even know the demon princes?

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How can I be an evil character in a good party?

>>51803043

Not shadow monsters. Never fucking shadow / cloud monsters.

Ever.

Instead, you can go for "self image Monsters", creatures with the demon lords stats, but look like the way they see themselves.

Some might be incredibly beautiful, others a bald man a top a mountain of gold.

Maybe they just have these signifiers, and every adventurer sees the individual as an average member of their own race.

Might add something to the story, as they slowly realize what their flaws have really made them

>>51803043
As cool as this is, you want to run this final confrontation at the beginning of the whole adventure? Feels like the kind of thing that you wait until closer to the end, and until after the party has seen some of the demon lords throughout the adventure. Me personally, I think it would be way cooler if the players knew whose stats they were using, but you can make a point to tell them their characters do not.

>>51803160
I played one before, it's really simple. Evil doesn't mean you're automatically stupid.

Just because you're evil doesn't mean you immediately jump to the action of killing someone you don't like, or doing something like setting a tavern on fire because the barkeep made fun of you. Those are thoughts that may cross your mind, but doesn't mean you should act on them. Instead, a truly evil person would bide their time and wait, waiting for a chance to get even. When it comes to the party, evil people have friends too, and if you don't consider them your friends then at the very least they are people you travel with. When you go to a restaurant, do you insult the person making your food? Then why would you try and make the people who watch your back, help you live longer, and other equally important things angry or hostile toward you?

That's how I play my evil characters, regardless of party alignment.

>>51803160
Evil characters can have friends.
Evil characters can be useful.
Evil characters aren't necessarily wanting to dick of the party, they're just dicks.

For all you know your friends or family or even your dog might count as evil for typical 5e standards - the character simply has to put their own wellbeing first and foremost in most circumstances. An evil character, left alone with a precious ruby belonging to someone else that nobody would know if he took it and there'd be no consequences, might decide to take it, whereas a good person would not decide to take it and a neutral person might take it if he has a use for it. Of course, you might get exceptions where a good character takes it or evil character doesn't, but generally they'd follow those conventions.

>>51803160

"Evil" in dungeons and dragons means "self prioritizing"

Evil loves, evil cares, evil has goals, evil sometimes even has friends and a code.

Evil does everything good does. How do you play evil in a good party?

The same way every one else does. The only difference is what are you playing towards?

Do warlocks get a familiar at level 3 or from the beginning? I've heard different answers from different places

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>>51803432
They get READ THE FUCKING BOOK and refuse to believe idiots

>>51803432
Chainlocks at 3, Tomelocks can use Find Familiar at 3, Bladelocks no chance

>>51803432
Not automatically, you have to go through Pact of the Chain, or Pact of the Tome and get the Book of Ancient Secrets Invocation that allows you to get a two first level rituals from any class and cast it as a ritual.

>>51803324
Well I was hoping that when that final encounter comes around they have a collective realization that they played through it all. I was planning on end the dream sequence with an image of the party and a scream of the demogorgon, but that also presents the issue that most the party will probably die or be radically by then.

>>51802642
>>51802571
Is there anything particularly OP about Glamour Bard?

>>51798558
It's really really great for being a petty dick and cheat in ways that shouldn't satisfy a mature player.

>giving away 1-minute gold coins to informants in towns you'll never visit again, despite the fact that at 14th level you're probably drowning in money

>approach tough-looking farm kid with dreams of something bigger
>"Take this sword, friend, and keep it with you always."
>"Dark times are to come, and your destiny is to fight the encroaching darkness. You and yours shall be safe as long as you keep this by your side."
>vanish with the wind

Alternatively, it's great for pulling the old lickaroo on your enemies.

>make illusionary wall with obviously painted-on image of a path through it
>after you and your allies pass through it you make the wall real
>literal roadrunner and coyote shenanigans

There's tons of more practical shit you can do but if you're looking to be a jackass wizard barely tolerated by your peers, it's pretty great.

>>51801715
Caves of Chaos, Temple of Elemental Evil, and Strahd's Party House are probably the main dungeons/scenarios for D&D, and you will notice that ToEE and Ravenloft basically have entire planes/power sources/books in 4e (Elemental Chaos, with the Abyss and Shard of Evil at its core, and Shadow power/Shadowfell).

>>51803508

No, just extra charm options, some of which don't even let a victim know if they failed a saving throw

New thread >>51803605

>>51800484
if you're that worried about fireball, save a slot for globe of invuln

>>51803559
That second idea is fucking great, holy shit. Reminds me of when the druid tried to teach a kid how to use wild shape and then cast Polymorph on the kid.

>>51800751
>>51800956
>>51800674
Many DMs ignore the listed encounter guidelines, as in 4e and 3e, resulting in fewer, bigger fights.