/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General

>>52055466
Owlbear racing. Tamed owlbears, hitched up to pull riding coaches. Shit's rad yo.

Reposting, the first three pages of Tales From the Yawning Portal are out. Only crunchy information is the level ranges the dungeons were designed for.

http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/TYP_Intro0227.pdf

>>52055466
Nth for [shitty forced meme]

>>52055466
We made a light joke about how when the DM drew water on the white board for the maps it looked like birds, so he put an actual bird mark down on the under ground lake. Only it wasn't birds it was owl bears, and we were lv 3's

>>52055466
One time our ranger befriended an owlbear and tried to make it into an animal companion by promising to find its kid for it. When the rest of the party saw it we attacked it on sight, ignoring his protests. I then took its cub which we captured earlier while the ranger was away and slam dunked it into the mother's chest cavity which was slashed open. I then cast a healing spell on it to seal it inside where it suffocated.

It was a fun session, but the other players were giving me some looks for being so weird.

>>52055466
the first dnd session i ever DM'd had a shitload of owlbears thrown at them.

they snuck up on a pair of owlbears and a pack of wolves fighting each other. turned out to be a fairly interesting 3-way encounter

Giving a party a one use wand of fireball at level 3 without telling them what it is, yay or nay?

Just going to have an NPC explain to them that it's a magical weapon of some kind and it's generally wiser to point these things away from yourself.

>>52055582
Do it.

Only make it two-use, and the second time they use it, the fireball comes out the reverse side.

What do I really need to know ablut going into playing a Druid? Are they any good / fun to play?

>>52055466
An Awakened Owlbear became an Epic-Level Lich, and now prepares an army of darkness to storm the land and seize ultimate power.

>>52055588
Perfect, the game has been pretty low stakes up to this point so this'll keep them on edge.

>>52055582
Alternatively, its a range[self] wand of fireball, but only an identify reveales that, and you hide it in the item statblock to see if they actually read it.

How can I build an annoyingly difficult to kill character? DM is allowing UA content.

I'm thinking going a dwarf revenant samurai fighter. Go shield+plate and defense fighting style. any suggestions?

>>52055681
Shadow Sorcerer 1, Beararian X. on top of all that.

>>52055681

Yuan-Ti Abjuration Wizard with the Lucky feat and resislience (con) is probably the most versatile.

>>52055695
>>52055720
what about yuan-ti shadow sorcerer 2/abjuration wizard x? metamagic to manipulate spell slots for more uses of shield/absorb elements?

>>52055600
You can pretty much do everything and make the rest of the party redundant at low levels. Your weakness will be damage over range

>>52055756

Look at shadow sorcerer, I don't really think the dip is worth it. If you want to spam shield, that's what arcane recovery is for. And then beg your DM for a ring of spell storing/pearl of power and laugh at your endless abjuration ward. You'd be better off dipping Warlock 2 for the mage armor invocation (saving yourself a spell slot) and short rest spell slots.

>Level 10 Party
>Two Fighters
>Two Casters
the fuck is a fifth wheel

Whoops, posted a thing in an old thread.

>>52054794
As >>52054807 said.
Tell the not-sneaky guys to stay behind and charge in after you're done with your surprise round.
If you're really generous, you might give the guy in heavy armour advantage to cancel out disadvantage as everybody else plays around that guy, giving him pointers before engagement, using him more like a lure and trying to set up a noise so the noise of armour actually sounds like something like a friendly, say by using minor illusion and making it sound like an ally coming along. Or just using pass without trace or making them invisible.
Simply warn them of the risks of taking non-stealthy people into an ambush party beforehand, and non-stealthies can run in after the first round anyway.

>>52053082
>>52053138
That feels completely unfair, though.

>You set up to try shooting the monk
>Okay, he rolled higher. He'll go right after your turn
>What do you do? No, you have to shoot him. No, you can't go AFTER the cleric, even though you've clearly said you want to attack after the cleric buffs you, they have to ready an action which limits their turn.
>Okay, you shoot him, and he catches the projectile and throws it back at you even though he doesn't know you're there. Not that you'd have got assassin's crit because he beat you initiative.
>Now it's his turn.

RAI is 'No backsies' but it's stupid when you can simply say 'Yeah, just don't roll intiative yet, you'll find out what the initiative order is then.'

>>52055815
Skill Monkey, look into Bard or Rogue.

Or Healer if neither of those casters is divine or some retarded broken class like Theurge.

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How should I make pic related?
That also isn't a phoenix sorcerer.

>>52055845
Phoenix sorc, faggot

Very debatably light cleric.

>>52055815
A half-caster
In all seriousness though, what is the party's composition? One that is Warlock/Druid/Fighter/Fighter is a very different animal to one that is Cleric/Bard/Rogue/Barbarian.

>>52055845
Draconic sorcerer
Evocation Wizard
Light Domain Cleric (like 70% of their domain spells are fire-related)

Hard Mode: Way of the Four Elements Monk

>>52055845
Aasimar
Light cleric (or pheonix sorcerer...)

>>52055834
Ready action, saying you want to wait until X makes it a readied action.

>>52055874
You can only ready so much.

There are situations where you might want to have an entire turn instead of just a readied action.

>>52055860
Wizard/Bard/Fighter/Barbarian

>>52055815
Do you have sneaky, healing, ranged, melee, control, and support?

Martial/caster isn't the only, or even most relevant, metric.

>>52055885
You DO have a turn, you still have bonus actions and movement, and if the enemy isn't aware, you should prebuff anyway.

>>52055845
You could also go with Pyromancer Sorcerer from the Plane Shift: Kaladesh PDF they put out a few weeks ago, or some form of Warlock, possibly Undying Light and re-fluffing the divine portion as fire.

But honestly, just go Phoenix Sorcerer.

>>52055834
Unless they have Skulker feat, attacking from stealth reveals your location hit or miss

>>52055887
Hum, that is a pretty well balanced party. What archetypes are the Wizard and Bard?
At the moment, I'd recommend Rogue, Druid or Revised Ranger, focusing on skills and exploration, while still being powerful in fights.

Okay explain to me how the NPC turns are taken.

We just got wiped out at level 1 because the GM put 6 orcs against the 4 of us, and it happened like this:

>5 Orcs move up and bundle up around 1 guy. All 5 gains advantage and 1 shots the first guy.
>3 left, we kill the last orc who kept some of us away from the downed PC.
>5 Orcs move on to the next, and despite trying to bundle up, all 5 can move up and more or less surround 1 guy, and then they all attack with advantage again. 1 more dead PC.

We had 0 chances. All 6 orcs moving at once made it impossible, because they were guaranteed to get advantage, and we just didn't have any tools to deal with it at level 1.

GM kept telling us to "play smarter", but I just don't see how this could have played out differently.

It was a Druid, Fighter, Paladin and Rogue. The Paladin was the first to get killed, followed by the Druid.

What class can I go with that can help us through this kind of encounter?

So with the upcoming release of the Yawning Portal book, it brings forth a question I've been wondering for a while, and have been unwilling to do any actual hard work on until recently:

How would you go about converting the, 'Expedition to Barrier Peaks' adventure module to 5th edition? Some of it's already been done for us (there's futuristic weapons in the DMG that can probably be inserted into the module), but it's such a unique encounter that I'm not entirely sure how to stat it out, or what would need updating - besides the stats of the creatures inside, of course.

>>52055899
The situations are very limited, but they mostly require you to take a bonus action, multiple actions (With haste or action surge or the like), an attack action that makes multiple attacks or.. Something like that.

Say you're a fighter and you go first, and the cleric goes second. You want the cleric's bless before you start firing crossbow rounds at range, but you don't want to get closer because you might blow your cover and the cleric can't fire from there, so the cleric decided he'll buff at the start of combat since you're waiting for whenever combat begins, and blessing might tip the target off to your location.

So combat begins.
If it's a fighter and the fighter goes first, they can't ready their action or they'll lose a load of extra attacks, and they can't action surge. So they have to attack before they're buffed, even though the target hasn't seen them yet and they're waiting for a buff.

It might also be some other buff with a duration shorter than a minute. Not sure how many there are.

>>52055917
But you're not attacking because once your turn comes around on initiative you say 'Uhh, actually, considering this guy suddenly gained a fourth sense and can now take reactions and will go right after my turn making this surprise nothing better than me just rolling high initiative, I'll wait to shoot later.'

>>52055919
To add to the suggestions, Warlock or ranged Valor Bard are both good options too.

>>52055815
It depends on
>How Retarded is your Party?

If they are good, at least half of them can into stealth, the 2 casters make good use of their Concentration, everybody has at least a ranged option, and so on, you could make an Arcane Trickster for a 'jack of all trades'.

If they're retarded, a druid has the most resources to fix the party. It's always going to be a bit clunky, but that's your best bet.

>>52055924

Level one is fucking rough, really. At that level ,goblins with shortswords pose an existential threat to everyone. It is also not unusual for DM's to do all the monster turns at once in order to make organization easier. That said, 6 orcs was way too much for a party of 4 at level one and I'm not really sure why they had advantage. Orcs do not normally have pack tactics.

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>>52055924
Your DM just hates you.

As long as all the orcs have similar initiatives, they can all ready an action to attack at the same time. Though normally they should just attack.

So your DM decides to throw 6 enemies that all team up on one squishy player at a time which can bring them to instant death by overkill / failed death saves immediately, on fairly strong monsters that can actually move even faster than normal to ensure there's little you can do to escape.

>>52055942
Perhaps the optional flanking rules were in effect here, which let the orcs get advantage?

>>52055924
An Orc can, with a decent roll, one shot anything but a high CON barbarian at level one. Your DM is a dick. Of course, maybe some context is here that I'm missing, like you were meant to avoid them, but it sounds like he just fucked you over for no reason. Them gaining advantage is just stupid, and ganging up is just cruel.

>>52055934
Unless casting bless will reveal you, cast it prior to starting. All the one turn buffs are smites or defensive anyway. If your casting reveals you, it makes sense that the fighter starts to go asap, and doesn't sit still and wait as the enemy moves.

That being said, if a player wanted, when i asked for initiative, to tank his roll to 0, i'd let them.

So of everyone except the buffer wanted 0, they could choose their order, but it would always be after NPCs all go, to let them choose to be reactive, instead of active.

>>52055924
Group initiative is a thing, but is usually used for subgroups of a larger encounter. Using one initiative for an entire party of enemies is unwise.

I'm not sure what the exp allowances look like, but 6 orcs seems a bit too much for level one characters. Might want to go over encounter design with him.

As far as what can counter it, maybe some good wizard control would be effective. But casting sleep on the orcs won't be nearly as effective if you don't go first.

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Anyone been able to snag a copy of the Barrowmaze 5E pdf?

For Adventurers League can I play one of the monstrous races like Yuan-ti pureblood?

>>52055964

That'd make sense. Either way Anon's DM is a dick for throwing that at a level 1 party without giving them a way to prepare.

>>52055997

Yes, all Volo's races are AL legal. However refer to the player's guide for Volo's for the faction restrictions as a Volo's race MUST be in a faction, and which factions you can be a part of are determined by race.

>>52055919
Wizard is Diviner
Bard is Lore, I think; pretty sure they have both cutting words and bardic inspiration, they also use shatter a lot

Where can I find information on the ranger revision? All of my material is from initial release

>>52055997
You can legally, as Volo's is an official splat, but also check with the DM and bring a back up character.

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>>52055997

>>52055681

Oath of the Ancients paladin gives half damage from spells, +cha to saves and misty steps.

>>52055967
It was a dungeon, we discussed turning back because it seemed like really shitty odds, but the GM told us to not derail the session.

It also meant very confined spaces. We couldn't get a good drop on them, and none of us had good ranged options (or at least we failed to kill even 1 guy) so it wasn't like we had much in terms of options.

And he said we also got advantage from flanking, so I assume we are using flanking rules. It just seems like a pretty overwhelming advantage for the NPCs to move at once, and then attack afterwards. Can we actually replicate that as PCs? Or does that require us rolling the same initiative?

>>52055934
You can't take a reaction until the end of your first turn if you are surprised

>>52055981
It seems kind of unfair that even though they have the ambush advantage they have to take a less optimal sequence.

Sure, it'll almost never show up, but there could be cases where casting a spell will give them away, so they go

'Alright, we'll ambush by.. The cleric will cast a spell, and then we all charge and get them by surprise'
and maybe they were wrong and nobody noticed the spell, but they've already rolled initiative and intiative said that something wasn't going to work.

And, really, you can fix all of this by simply saying 'Just don't roll initiative'.
Because that feels more sensible than 'Once you roll initiative, you can't go back and HAVE to attack regardless of what happens'. It feels less meta and more fluid.
Because, in the end, you're the ones setting up the ambush, not some dice. The dice just tell you if you succeed or not.

Of course, if even a single enemy is NOT surprised at the start of combat, you couldn't pull out of initiative anyway and everyone should just roll initiative as normal as perhaps the fighter has no time to waste now and has to attack before the cleric because somebody's about to spot them.
But if everybody's surprised? There's no logical reason.

>>52056021
Oh cool. Where is that chart from I can't find it in the Players guide, is it somewhere else?

>>52056008
Of course they picked the strongest core archetypes.
Lore Bard pretty much covers all skill monkeying as well as being the face. Between them and the Wizard, you've got all casting needs covered, I'd say. Go Warlock/Sorcerer if you want to be the secondary face and a good damage dealer. Go Druid/Ranger if you like being a secondary skill monkey and explorer, while being decently tanky and hard hitting.
Revised Ranger is a UA thing, that most DMs should allow cause PHB Ranger is awkwardly weak.

>>52056083
Yes, and if you roll a 30 something on your initiative and everybody else rolls initiative below you then you can take a reaction even though you've just been surprised.
Because this guy is somehow faster to react than you even though he doesn't know what he's even reacting to.
And then the assassin can't get crits on him.

>>52055855
>>52055861
>>52055862
>>52055902
Cheers bros, I may just make a phoenix sorc and instigate the firestorm.

>>52056038
hmm, how does a yuan-ti hexblade 1 or 2/shadow sorcerer 1 or 2/oath of ancients paladin x sound? pump CHA and CON real high, go full plate+shield and use a longsword. half dmg vs spells, advantage vs spells, and CHA to saving throws, use shield for 25 AC vs attacks. grab resilient (con), shield master for more defense. if enemies start ignoring me, i just smite them with the spell slots i would have used to protect myself, no to mention i can more liberally use them since i have 2 short rest spell slots.

Would letting a Dual-Wield Ranger make a bonus action attack with his off-hand when he moves his hunter's mark be too powerful? Only when he moves it though, not after he casts it.

It feels like he has to give up his fighting style to be effective and at this point he might as well have chosen archery.

>>52056101
I like to imagine it as when y'all roll initiative that's when everyone jumps out and says boo

>>52056076
>the GM told us not to derail the session
Yeah, he's a bit shit.

>>52056149
But you kinda roll initiative when the rogue says 'Okay, I shoot' but then other people can then somehow go before the rogue.

The rogue might not want to jump out! They might prefer their cozy camp.

>>52056076

Eh you kind of can through the use of prepared actions but PCs don't really need that. The main issue is that your party is martial heavy so your choices are much more restricted. Best bet is to get the druid to cast Entangle to block off one of the tunnels, and then hang as far back from the orcs as you can while shooting them to death. Especially at low levels, you want to focus your fire and make sure enemies die.

Until your druid hits level 3 and gets Spike Growth (which is borderline broken) you have a real lack of control options. Your DM definitely should have tweaked the encounter knowing your party comp.

>>52056163
I was wondering if anyone else thought Spike Growth was ridiculous. In any tight space it just fucks over everything.

>>52056076
Flanking is shit.
'No, you can't use tactics because it's derailing' is shit.
Seriously bad encounter building is shit.
Starting at level 1 is shit, unless you're new, in which case bullying new players with mechanics-abusive enemies is shit.

Your DM is a shit. Abandon shit.

>>52056087
Unless the cleric is noticed, which would vary on spell, stealth, and perception, casting the spell THEN rolling initiative is exactly what i was saying to do. If the spell or its results reveal you, the enemy isn't surprised, roll initiative, your already casting this round Jake.

>>52056175

I've had several teammates use it to just decimate enemies. If they don't have a way to avoid it, it can kill stuff all on its own. 1d4 damage for every 5 feet of movement in difficult terrain? It's crazy good.

>>52055924

>>At1st level
>>A single Orc is 1/2 CR
>>Fight 6 at once
>>Leering idiot DM tells you to git gud

Call him a fucking asshole for throwing you up against shit that would push 4th level characters punch him in the face if he mouths off and walk

>>52055720
When did playable Yuan-Ti become a thing?

>>52056203
Even worse if your whole party as effective ranged options or flying. It's a nightmare to deal with because the Druid and Ranger can both cast it.

>>52056188
But if you know that it might reveal you, you thus want to cast it as combat starts.

Though, technically, you roll intiative once you start doing such actions, probably, and that means that you have to act the turn you cast the combat-related buff. And RAI you can't pull out.

Regardless, it feels like you're cheating the players by forcing them into an order when there's nothing to even be in disorder with since they're prepared. I kind of wonder if they were just too scared to add an extra line and so they shortened the rules.

>>52056232
Volo's.

>>52056232

With the release of Volo's a couple of months ago. They're strong and fun as shit to play.

>>52055924
Why did they get advantage?
As a DM, I'd have either made two groups of 3 or three groups of 2 orcs for initiative.

Additionally, I wouldn't put 6 CR 1/2 creatures up against 4 level 1s

>>52056091
It's compiled from a pdf found here - http://www.dmsguild.com/product/197432/Volos-Guide-to-Monsters-A-DD-Adventurers-League-Reference-5e

>>52056232
It's from Volo's guide to monsters. They're like half of the new races in Volo's, AKA pretty OP compared to the PHB races.

>>52056265
>AKA pretty OP compared to the PHB races.

Its really just sneks.

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>>52056265
You're not wrong, although to be fair Variant Humans are already OP compared to all the other PHB races anyway due to the way Feats work and how they directly compete with ASIs.

Can you hide somatic components under a cloak or similar?

>>52056360
Sounds like a sleight of hand check to me.

So what's the best way to build a character devoted to Ilmater? I've always had a soft spot for him in D&D. So I was thinking of a Tranquility Monk with a dip in Protection Cleric for some extra healing, warding bond and the ability to give disadvantage on attack rolls against friends.

>>52056426
go dex paladin and smite mummies with the dagger of ilmater

>>52056282
Why was this comic so godamned great?

I really need to find and read it in full again.

>>52055931

Already been done:

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/194633/Classic-Modules-Today-S3-Expedition-to-Barrier-Peaks

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>>52055466
>5e campaign is ending soon
>told the group I'll be running a modern game next
>mfw my group is going to transition directly into the next game after an event like Drakengard's Ending E, using Call of Cthulhu or Shadowrun as a system
>the corpse of the BBEG will shatter into trillions of molecules, afflicting humans with a maddening, form changing disease
>scientists will experiment with the corpse particles to develop modern magics

Do you think they'd be mad if their characters are gunned down by modern special forces or should I do something different with them? Maybe they're detained and transported for testing or something? Then a new group of protagonists would be the focus

>>52056214
>>52055924

Level one is when combat is the deadliest for PCs
DM used an encounter with XP at twice the deadly threshold
Enemies are more numerous that the party meaning the encounter is harder than the CR suggests
Flanking in combination with using the same initiative means they get free advantage on everything
By the sounds of it there was no way around or to ambush them, and when they considered retreating the DM vetoed it.

Literally only 3 explanations:
1. DM hasn't read the 5e DMG and doesn't know how encounters work
2. DM wanted to kill you
3. DM has <50 IQ

>>52056461
Why delete the old characters? You could have the Apocalypse Event warp reality so that the world's history and reality is changed, and their characters start from scratch knowledge-wise but occasionally have to deal with visions from before The Event.

>>52056533
One big reason is to avoid differences between systems and avoiding things that don't translate between the two. Stuff like "wahh my CoC average guy can't hurl boulders or throw meteors" and stuff

Another is having fresh blood in the group. Some are ready to wrap up their character arcs and start something new.

Finally, the characters are going to fight the BBEG, an old one that they wouldn't even be able to comprehend were it not for an artifact from before time. Its tasked with watching over the universe and timelines, so when they down it, they might have some kind of revelation about the universe that changes them. Having this information locked away in their old characters is something I could use in the future if needed, and I really like having plot devices I can utilize in the future if I hit a bump in the road.

>>52056531
Why not start at level 3?

How do you stat seal? My druids turns into one

>>52056609
Stat a dog that can't walk

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During boss fight in last session my Norse-themed Barbarian died and was reincarnated by the party's Druid. Now he became a young and good-looking (14 CHA) Orc girl, similar to picrelated, but even thicker and more muscular - over 2m tall, 160kg of pure muscle and fury. At the beginning of the next session he is going to wake up in his new body. And he'll be pissed off beyond belief.

Tell me about your reincarnation-related shenanigans, /tg/.

>>52056596
Then don't have them killed, have them abducted by [X] Agency/Group and thrown in a hole, then throw away the hole.

Then the new characters can always find them as a plot device to find out more about what happened.

>>52056282
I wouldn't call variant humans OP. They're just so generally damn good since they can apply themselves to anything, which is what humans are supposed to be.

They're less ridiculous once you remove compulsory weapon feats.

>>52056232
'We thought gnomes were stupid so we made a race that one-ups gnomes at everything' - the race.

>>52056668
That's probably what I'll end up doing. At most an accompanying NPC would get gunned down due to him being a retarded murdermachine

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Can someone give me some advice on building and playing a barbarian? I normally only play casters so I have no idea how to make an effective build. I want him to be some sort of monster hunter that wants to focus on the biggest threat in any encounter.


Only use published character options please, my DM doesn't allow UA or homebrew. Multiclassing and using feats are fine though.

>>52056772
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6BbvCC0VI0

High Strength and Con, play as a beefy race(half orc, goliath, etc.), and go at it son

>>52056772
variant human with Mobile or Polearm Master if you don't go zerker

STR CON DEX in that order. Zip around with a greatsword or some shit with Moble, smashing people then running to another target or just running away

alternatively you can't mess up a half orc barb.

>>52056772
What role do you want to do?

There's 'really fucking tanky but can't save their team'
There's 'Grapples shit a lot, also kinda tanky'
and there's
'Damage and support to kill and sentinel enemies before they kill the teammates'

Dex barbarogue,
Strength barbarogue
and
Wolf barbarian
respectively.

Anything else is subpar.

>>52056744
>I wouldn't call variant humans OP.

They're as overpowered as you can get, short of revenant or winged tiefling, dude.

At start, they typically have 2 16s, like everyone else -- but the feat they get is worth +2 to a given stat, so by level 4, they have an 18 and a feat, whereas everyone else has a feat or an 18.

> which is what humans are supposed to be.

Almost unfailingly better than all other races are at their own specialties?

>>52056772
dex barbarian is cool and really tanky. your standard high str and con barbarian with a greatsword also works well for obvious reasons. grapple barbarian with tavern brawler is fun too.

if it's your first time playing barbarian, just go totem barbarian and go bear all the way through. go high STR and CON, get a greatsword or sword and board and just go ham on things.

>>52056811
>>52056772
Well, then again, you can mix and match a bit. You can take wolf barbarian on a barbarogue instead of bear.

The main three paths are:

Rapier+shield+longbow (Dex barbarogue)
Shortswords+daggers (Strength barbarogue)
Halberd + Quarterstaff + Shield (Strength barbarian)


On a metagaming level, anyway.

>>52056820
It's a +3 to one stat, +1 to another stat and a proficiency, if you have an ASI or two.

And stats only go up to 20.

The reason it's overpowered is because of low level play and the fact that feats are practically required on all the martial classes.
Once you remove either the required feats or the low level play they're no longer overpowered.

>>52056820
Balancing feats against ASI was a mistake. Feels like a step backwards, worse than some of the shit in 3.PF even.

>>52056744
>'We thought gnomes were stupid so we made a race that one-ups gnomes at everything' - the race.

Pretty bad stats, though.

>>52056811
>>52056821
>>52056823
Grappling seems fun enough so I guess I'll have to go with a strength based build. What is the recommended barb/rogue ratio at early levels?

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>>52056820
>>52056834

Not banning Variant Humans and then house-ruling that all races get a feat at character creation.

>>52056834
>The reason it's overpowered is because of low level play and the fact that feats are practically required on all the martial classes.

The reason its overpowered is they're a +3 to one stat, +1 to another race, and also gets something genuinely useful (2 bonus skills).

>Once you remove either the required feats or the low level play they're no longer overpowered.

They are still as overpowered as a race can be in that case.

>>52056842
That's true.
Still,
>+1 language
>darkvision
>poison IMMUNITY
>magic resistance on ALL saves
>suggestion once/day
>30ft speed
>+2 charisma, applies to a number of classes, +1 intellect is then practically useless
>Talk with snakes, poison spray

Then, gnome
>+2 int, leaves them as ATs or wizards or shield-using EKs
>darkvision
>25ft speed, small
>magic resistance on pretty much only wisdom saves (or, if you're lucky, charisma saves/int saves.)
>+1 dex OR +1 con, generally useful for a wizard
>Minor illusion OR expertise in technology
>Speak with small animals OR make small mechanical gizmos


Honestly it's really the magic resistance and poison immunity combined that takes the cake, when other races only get poison resistance if they're lucky and gnome's special trait is having good wis saves.

>>52056854
Well, you start barbarian unless you want an extra skill.
Then I'd probably say get a level of rogue, then get up to level 5 barbarian, then put the rest of the levels in rogue.
So for most of the relevant levels you'll be more barbarian than rogue, but later levels is more rogue.
Shortswords are already optimal weapons for a non-variant-human barbarian between levels 1 and 3 (or 4 too if you don't take a feat).
You use shortswords because you can drop a shortsword, grapple and still attack, unlike with rapier+shield.

>>52056858
It's not 2 bonus skills. Just one.
You can get any skill you need from background already.

Compulsory feats shouldn't exist.

Anyone got that Wizard chart with the shit drawings, but hilarious descriptions?

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>>52056856
This, although I also ban half-elves too because under such conditions they're they're even better than variant humans were.

That and half-races are a whole separate shitstorm of issues all on their own, since all the different combinations means there should be like a hundred different breeding combinations. Far easier to just say cross-race procreation doesn't work or take the Elder Scrolls route and say the child generically the same race as the mother in all situations.

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>>52056897

>>52056906
Thanks man.

>>52056906
Is necromancer really worth it or nah?

>>52056884
For some reason the charisma thing escaped me. Yes, I'll buy that having a mere con 14 instead of 16 is worth poison immunity + magic resistance, even in campaigns with rare caster foes.

The thing I find ironic is that the MONSTER yuan ti lack save proficiencies; obviously, magic resistance and poison immunity is more than enough defenses for the monster, just like yugoloths. So the monsters themselves are not remotely OP, its just that PCs get MR+immunities+profs for randomness.

>>52056906
That's amazing.

>>52056918
The one in the picture?

>>52056929
Meant in general. To me it doesn't have much to work with compared to the other spell availability. I hope what I am posting makes sense.

My husband didn't take my maidenhead in our wedding night. Why?

>>52056933
Necromancers are top tier if you like minions and an awful choice if you don't (just be a portenter or abjurer or something)

>>52056906
not Megumin for 5

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>>52056918
Mechanically, yes, it's extremely powerful and kinda fun to keep your own team of undead legendary heroes and stuff. Like reviving Ulfric Stormcloak and a zombie in Skyrim.

In terms of actually PLAYING though... nah, not really. In most settings necromancy is frowned upon, if not blatantly illegal and/or punishable by execution. You end up being that person who can't really play their character any time the party is actually around civilization (unless you're being some shitty That Guy who thinks he's being all clever trying to hide it but in reality you're just pissing everyone off). Furthermore most settings are pretty explicit about Necromancy being an "evil" magic in a existential sense anyway, as in it will fuck up and corrupt you like the Dark Side in Star Wars. Unless you're playing a deliberate evil campaign (in which case, you've already fucked up), it's never really worth it.

>>52056937
Fuck off RR Martin

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>>52056946
Dude, the meme's been around since like 2012. Megumin's been around since like 2016 or some shit.

>>52056946
This image is too old for you, anon.

>>52056918
A wizard abusing animate dead can be crazy powerful in the right situations.
Necromancer just makes it even more crazy powerful by making it faster to build an army (But doesn't expand capacity), making them quite a bit tougher (As much as twice as tough or more eventually) and giving them up to as much as probably double damage as well. Also you can control liches because why the hell not.

I find the level 2 ability kinda boring though, and animate dead can get seriously obnoxious. You're a gimmick wizard. It's a great gimmick, but it's annoying.

>>52056921
Hm. It might balance out if you didn't get your class's starting save proficiencies, but then those saves apply to non-magical things too.

>>52056946
When the hell did you arrive to /tg/?

>>52056972
2008

>>52056993
I am kind of baffled, but no problem.

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>>52056906
My Knigga.

>>52056960

>Hm. It might balance out if you didn't get your class's starting save proficiencies, but then those saves apply to non-magical things too.

Well what I mean is, the monster itself works great. They remind me of aberrations in 3.5, which are genuinely my favorite type overall, which were generally good against mind stuff but very awkward physically, and some of the few creatures a monk could actually flurry of blows. Like aberrations, yuan ti are resistant to cheap shot shit but martial stuff works on them. That's great design.

They're also like early drow -- which lost MR when they became PCs, but were a good race nonetheless. Magic resistance on monsters is dope, but for PCs it just gets combined with proficiencies and maybe even paladin auras.

The only thing I really regret about yuan ti PCs, other than being OP, is that they're so flat and one dimensional that PC yuan tis are almost guaranteed to be giant pains in the ass, and its not even the player's fault.

I don't know what the hell to do with an emotionless yet mean, conniving, backstabbing, insane person "the right way."

Is the Tranquility Monk actually playable? It doesn't get anything really useful in combat except Healing at low levels and I'm just not sure it's enough.

>>52056659
3.5 E
>Was beautiful elf ranger
>Reincarnated as a kobold
I was one level away from being able to ride my animal companion dragon in battle when the party killed me for being an Ehlonna fanatic.
First character ever. Had fun. Still play with the same boys in the same world 4 years later.

Nuclear Druid takes 1 level in Cleric because of the WIS, right? Is there a massive disadvantage for taking 2 levels in Wizard instead, given the only reason for the dip is Magic Missile?

>>52057141
You only need magic missile.

For the love of christ, don't make a broken build and even say 'I'm going to tone it down and only use it in emergencies!'

Only use it if you hate your DM.

>>52057141
Every level you delay Druid progression is another Harvest Scythe die you miss out on. Considering that they are the foundation of the build, you really want as few non-druid levels as possible.

>>52057141

Nuclear Druid?

>>52057160
Ridiculous damage output build utilizing an odd interaction between the Harvest Scythe feature of the UA Circle of Twilight for druids and the way damage is rolled for Magic Missile.

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>>52057160

>>52057155
>Only use it if you hate your DM.
I've already got a character in play, but our DM is getting dumber and dumber and fewer players are willing to put up with their shit. If I do engage the memebuild, it'll be a Halfling Diviner Wizard/Nuclear Druid with Lucky (hence the Wizard levels), and it'll be solely because the DM is throwing the stupidest, most self-serving shit at us.

>>52057157
This is true.

http://www.strawpoll.me/12476406/

What puts the College of Lore so far above the rest?

Any of you guys use the Gritty Realism rule? I'll start a new campaign this weekend and the players said they want a game which is combat/enigma focused while is still realist.

Any advices?

>>52057193
Considering how powerful the missiles are already, two levels of wizard should be fine. However, be aware that nuclear druid scales from 'overpowered' to 'broken' somewhat exponentially, and isn't immediately super broken, simply overpowered at lower levels.

>>52057238
Stealing more spells from other spell lists than other archetypes, meaning more flexibility

>>52057238
It's because of autists valuing their rigidly restricted interests.

>>52057239
Gritty realism rule?

>>52057284
Page 267 of the DMG

>>52055466
So part from mystic and artificer what other classes do you think they'll place into UA this year? I heard mention of Shaman when they first mentioned the artificer class

>>52057238
Cutting words and more skills.

People who say more secrets are either trying to do a wizard/land druid without realizing why those are the more solid caster (lore bard lacks recovery, which is kind of a big deal with the shitty spell slots), on what is already the most flexible spell list in the game..

>>52057300
>I mean Mearls or Crawl mentioned Shaman as another of their ideas.

>>52056282
Where is this from?

I plan on playing an artic druid from a Siberia-like place who is from a semi-nomadic group of people. But I'm not sure what could motivate him to travel (far) south, to the city, where the game will start. I never really played a druid before but I usually seem them as bound to the regio where they live, protecting nature

>>52057320
Maybe a pilgrimage type thing. Learning about more parts of nature than just the arctic

So my party is nearing level 20. So far, the intention is to end it on an epic note, and give the characters a very powerful status. Level 19 right now, and about halfway through the last adventure.

The Cleric is becoming the grand priest of his church, and already has the ability to straight up call upon his God to talk to him.

The Ancients Paladin is becoming a minor God of a large forest on the continent

The Wizard is... well, a fucking wizard. He has created a large demiplane and is currently trying to model it after his ideal world, and he plans to introduce a few people at some point, and basically become the god of his own world.

But the last PC... A fucking street urchin lore bard. She has been super important for the group, is probably the one who has been the most deciding factor in almost all of their adventures, and has the most potent magic items by far... is still just singing songs about her comrades, doing fuck all to gather any kind of power, beside her levels and few magic items.

Almost nobody knows her by name.

People would at MOST recognized her for being with the party. Or singing about them. Always leaving herself out of it, often straight up lying about the events that happens (things she did was just somebody else, of they couldn't have done it, then she just makes shit up about what actually happened, to give credit to one of her friends.)

Literally 1 guy knows who she is, and that is a pretty powerful CR15 Vampire they isolated in a small village. And then there is a Silver Dragon who also knows who she is. That's it.

Should I just elevate the other players to this super high status, and leave her as the sad footnote, or what CAN I do with this? It feels like she has dodged out of ever being a meaningful presence in the public eye. So far the player has just had a "nah it's fine, I find a good tavern and sing songs about my companions" whenever they have the chance to get some favour and recognition.

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>when you plan out the next sessions completely down to each NPC the players will or could encounter
>they go lol fuck that and spend two hours haggling with a blacksmith instead

>>52056274
Bugbears' long limbs is also flat-out bullshit.

>>52057383
Ask the Wizard to get the name or fuck with the Bard.

>>52057383
Are you going to do some sort of epilogue? I actually think having one person be the lone wanderer, sole silent party, etc. is a really nice way to conclude it.

Almost exactly like you've done in your post, even. Start with all the grand parts, then finish on

Like they do in the Dark Souls intro with the Furtive Pygmy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpAqgIe05So

Do you entrust tracking hp to each player or are you trackimg the hp of monsters and the whole party ?

>>52057383
Have her non-renown make her a legend. Conspiracies about her existence persist for generations, her songs sung with no sing, stories told with no author.

The Faceless Bard, hero and patron saint of mistrals and vagabonds.

>>52057383
If you feel the need to give her recognition, go full Kvothe on her and turn her into an unwilling folk hero.

Have groups of peasants talk of the character's modesty and refusal to be recognized, and have random NPCs tell each other tall tales about shit she's done with wild exaggerations. Make up some ludicrous tales of your own, mention non-existent feats she's apparently formed, go to town with it.

When they investigate, have them find out this is part of the Vampires's attempt at vengeance - they've been bullshitting to literally every passer-by, destroying the character's anonymity. if you have time, suggest that he's trying to piss off the party enough to come back for round two.

If you don't want to have her become famous, this anon seems to have it covered >>52057521.

>>52057575
oops, meant to quote >>52057512
not >>52057521

>>52057478
What?

>>52057512
Yeah, the intention is to make a cool epilogue to finish the long campaign.

Could just go with the "and this one just disappeared into the sunset" kinda thing, it just feels lame compared to the rest.

Eh... or maybe I should just make the epilogue for the other players, and then let her decide her own epilogue. It just feels a bit... lazy and unimaginative.

>>52057684
>>52057383

Doesn't need to be "disappeared into the sunset". Could just be:

>The Cleric became head of his church, and led his followers onto greatness in the service of the God who spoke in his ear, louder, day by day.

>The Paladin of the Ancients served faithfully. For his service, he was rewarded - and drew his own followers, in time, those who would protect the forest he called his own.

>The Wizard kept to his own studies, and that was all he needed to craft a world bent to his will. With what he'd learnt in his time with the party, he built a place all his own, outside of space. It followed his needs and desires as they occurred to him, and he would come to be remembered as a distant god.

>And the Urchin... History is written by those who act, and in her memory of the past, she wrote herself out of it. None would remember the woman singing songs of glory, of the adventures, but they would remember the stories she wove. And for her, that was enough.

>>52055681
Long death monk has free temp hp, Don't die for one ki point and a spamming mass fear.

Is there a kind of Teifling where their origin is the Feywild rather than Abyssal/Infernal? Like a Teifling with more Satyr appearance

>>52057304
Combat Inspiration > Cutting Words.

>>52056906
Interesting that they use all the d&d wizard varieties then completely change what an enchanter is.

>>52057918
You could probably get your DM to let you play a reflavored tiefling that's the same mechanically, but has that lore/background.

>>52057975
you'd have to replace some of the infernal/abyssal related race abilities though

>>52056950
Skeletons are most practical when you raise them from fallen foes, set them against other enemies in the area, then trash the lot of them when you're done. No fuss.

>>52057962
Back in the day, enchanting was just binding magical energy to a thing, whether that was fire or mind-altering effects.

>>52057461
And now you know better than to plan.
D&D is improv, bro. You can only draw the broad strokes. Players will ruin anything else you try to do.

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>>52056821
>dex barb
but why? honestly, you don't even get your rage bonus damage

Do you guys allow climbing on larger creatures? I mean I imagine my feisty character who is a Halfling to do just that.

>>52058101
I believe there are already rules to that effect

>>52055541
Mostly because you became That Guy

just realized that Halfling ability to clip through larger creatures synergies with Swashbucklers OA prevention

>>52057461
This is why I plan on running a dungeoncrawlerish thing.

I can intricately plan something that can be reused multiple times where, while the players have their say in where they go, the players still must trudge through it and if they sit there talking with a goblin the whole time they won't be getting any loot, because the loot isn't walking to them.
Overworld? Keep a rough idea and improvise.

>>52056008
In addition to the other response, look at 5etools. The link for it is in the OP. Revised Ranger is pretty cool and 5eTools lists all the shit for every official book + all the official errata

>>52058088
Unarmoured defence.
20 con + 20 dex + shield = 22 base AC, +5 to dex saves, +5 to con saves, +5 hp/level, +5 initiative and +5 stealth. You can even use ranged weapons if you feel like it.

Rage bonus damage isn't massive, even if it's nice, and you can still use reckless attack if you need sneak attack and rage damage will mean you lose no damage and advantage will mean you probably actually have a better to-hit, if only slightly, at the expense of a bit of your tankiness for a bit.

You're sacrificing a bit of damage, efficient reckless attack, big weapons (which are only really worth it with the feats anyway and can't be used by smaller creatures) and good athletics for a bunch of tankiness.

>>52057943
Cutting words is cool but I think the Jester's version of it might actually be more solid. Combat inspiration is undeniably good, though, it's just that it and an extra attack doesn't have the ring of "pick six more spells from other spell lists" to people who are used to believing bard spells are inherently weak.

>>52058190
>you can still use reckless attack if you need sneak attack
No you can't, you have to use strength to use reckless attack.

>>52057943
But no.

>Combat inspiration
>Must pre-emptively use it on the target who needs it
>Increasing AC is exactly the same as decreasing the attack roll
>Increasing damage is pitiful at best

>Cutting words
>Reduce an enemy's initiative, make sure they don't get a turn before you murder them or your assassin buddy gets their crit and an extra turn before they move
>Reduce an enemy's grapple check to get free
>Reduce an enemy's damage (Enemies dealing damage to allies is probably more important than you dealing damage to enemies)
>Reduce a fireball's damage, thus reducing the damage to ALL targets of the fireball
>You do all this as a reaction

>>52058214
Yes, and?
You can sneak attack using strength.

>>52058220
>>52057943
Actually, sorry, I think there's a few exceptions.

For example, barkskin ensures you always have AT LEAST 16 AC. This means that if you increase their AC, it might not increase their AC by however much is on the roll, but less.
If you decrease the attack roll, you're gauranteed to get 100% efficiency.

I can't really think of any case where you'd rather have higher AC than the enemy having a lower attack roll.

What are some adventure ideas revolving around the players either discovering, infiltrating, or stopping a secret society a la Illuminati (who in the end are ultimately the 'good' guys')?

>>52058281
It'd be kind of dickish if the end the entire adventure having simply just fucked over the good guys when they want to be good. It'd have to be 'good' guys rather than 'good guys'. As in, 'the end justifies the means' sort of guys.

The discovering part would best be played as stopping a group of assassins after some major figure by just so happening to be there at the time, even though the assassins thought they wouldn't put up much of a fight, and one of the assassins fails to kill themselves and they're brought for questioning or if the players don't do that they might find part of a cryptic letter to follow or the important guy might tip the players off as to why they might be being targeted and the players can start investigating from there, working their way up through the lesser factions who report to the higher ups who report to the lower members of the secret society who report to the major members of the secret society until they finally come across the council.

>>52058321
It definitely won't be a bait and switch type deal. This group has one goal, and the major ruling power has another goal for the return of a big god; the players are essentially in the middle of it, and will eventually choose a side, or flip the table and do their own thing.

What spells whould I get if I want my Circle of the Coast Druid to focusnon support and utility?

>>52058281
Play the original Deus Ex and steal ideas from it.

>>52058220

Well, there's the bit where cutting words uses your one reaction for the round, where Combat Inspiration doesn't.

But Lore > Valor inspiration wise, because at some point, Lore allows you to inspire yourself

Whips are weak bit have reach. What's the best figter build with a whip? Why arent rogues preficient with whips?

>>52057238

It lets you inspire yourself.

Glamour looks fun as hell, and Whispers shadow steal is pure sex, but Lore lets you inspire yourself.

And that is even if you are willing to sacrifice the chance to grab Counter Spell and Aura of Vitality at level 6

That's just lightning in a bottle right there.

>>52058398
Most of druid's spells are support and utility, really.

Cantrips -
Magic stone is oddly good if you have a non-crossbow-expert rogue and your wisdom is much better than their dexterity as you can give them stones to use in a sling and they can use your modifier instead.
Guidance is a must.

Level 1 - Goodberry can destroy any notion of a survival campaign happening.

Level 2 - Pass without trace to ensure everyone succeeds all the stealth rolls. Enhance ability seems kinda nice I think, since you can get somebody advantage to all checks of a type you choose alongside a minor benefit. If you really need someone to pass a check. Don't forget advantage on dex also applies to initiative.
Spike growth is a good spell for locking down an area and setting traps.

Level 4 - Polymorph, duh. If you don't have polymorph, you've lost every single reason to be a land druid over a moon druid.

>>52058524
Whips aren't really viable weapons on anyone. Not even rogue, because:
Melee rogues can get mobility anyway, can use booming blade (Which requires spell sniper if you want to use it at 10ft) or simply they want two-weapon-fighting.
Ranged rogues are often simpler and more effective and those use hand crossbows.
However, a rogue probably has the best chance of using it, I suppose.

>>52058569
Whip Paladins are cool. DEX smites

>>52058508
You only get one bonus action a round, too. And you can't stack bardic inspiration on the same person multiple times.

And, even a great tactical mind can't predict everything because there's a lot of random chance involved. You might give someone inspiration as a bonus action but then they never actually need to use it to increase their AC, and you've just wasted it. Or you might give it to the wrong person and while person A came out fine who you gave inspiration to, person B was also being attacked and got hit by an attack that you clearly could have negated with your reaction had you had cutting words or had you used your bonus action to grant them the possibility of using their reaction.
Also, if they want to add it to AC rather than damage (Which is probably the better use, as +3.5/4.5/5.5/6.5 damage on monsters, most of which are meatwads, is nowhere near as good as completely stopping an attack) they have to use THEIR reaction, and their reaction likely matters more because they're probably some sort of martial or something. Not to mention, rogues already have uncanny dodge and wizards already have shield.

>>52058544
>Level 1 - Goodberry can destroy any notion of a survival campaign happening.

God, you'd think that'd be obvious right, but my DM, at our high level campaign still feels like he has to take a serious 5 to 10 minute communicato to the whole table to stress the vital importance of the game experience of managing our rations, as it is somehow a supposed significant portion of the challenge

(we're in Ravenloft by the way, not the desert)

>>52058608
Cool, but absolutely not effective at all compared to a polearm paladin who also has reach.

Did one once with spell sniper for shits and giggles.

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Opinions on Glamour Bards? I want to idol it up.

>>52058628
But they get better Dex saves and have higher initiative

>>52058615

Yeah dude, I was just elaborating more on the difference. If you're a valor bard, there's also an opportunity that you're the one on the front line, and the caster is the one that needs to add that to his AC.

Or, I don't have it on me, but add the combat inspiration to his spell damage roll. A magic missle or a fireball now does up to +1d12 to *all* those enemies

>>52058636

See above

>>52058538

Glam bards are great. Take one level in Archfey Warlock and take Freddy Mercury as your patron

>>52058664
Actually, I just checked, and it says "weapon damage roll"
Muh bad.

>>52058657
In return for, what? Dramatically decreased damage, no hopes of half-decent athletics attempts, likely losing a point of AC, having no shillelagh compatibility, lower strength saves (Which aren't as important for sure, but still exist), harder multiclass requirements (requires 13str+13cha, so you can't dump strength as a dex paladin if you plan to multiclass into, say, rogue), and...
In the end, on a metagame level, dex paladin exists for if your DM bans feats or PAM or something or you really don't want to have to pick up a feat at level 4 and you're not a variant human because you want to up your charisma as high as possible because you're a savewhore. And in that case you use two shortswords, probably. Reach doesn't really help you unless you have a reason to move away from the enemy again like PAM. And the dex paladin example I've just given is actually more of a charisma paladin.

>>52058699
>>52058664
Yeah. You can't even enhance a fireball or anything.
Really, cutting words is much more versatile.

>>52058719
>lower AC
You can't use shields with a polearm. You can with a whip.

Question, can one reload a crossbow as a bonus action via Fast Hands?

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>>52055466
Someone in a past thread asked for arcane half-caster. I woke up at about 9 hours ago and started working on one. For shits and giggles.

Now, 9 hours later after working on it pretty much nonstop, I have this shitty beta version on my hands. I know it's plenty awful though. I haven't even made up the last capstone for the Sky knights.

Anyway.

Rip it to shreds. I'll probably try to add some shit art to it later today, but I think 9 hours is aplenty for now.

>>52058747

What's "other knights"? You mean like, Eldritch Knights, Knights, Purple Dragon Knights and Paladins, or just a knightdom title?

>>52055541
There are not many things I would attack another character over. This would be one of them.

>>52058774
That's a good point, and a random ass thing to put into a feature now that I think about it.

Yeah, I think I should clarify it to be about people with a knightly rank, meaning nobles in armor basically, and other chromatic knights, of course. Paladins are included probably.

Will fix at some point.

>>52058742
You don't need to. A crossbow is automatically reloaded as long as you have a spare hand, but you can't do it more than once a turn unless you have Crossbow Expert.

>>52058813
Ah the vaunted errata that turns the hand crossbow into a two handed weapon.

>>52058741
Actually, you can use a shield with a polearm.
It's a quarterstaff.

>>52058852
Doesnt have reach

>>52058813
Should have mentioned this is a context where I'm hoping to have a hand crossbow in one hand and a shortsword in the other. Would you rule if that's you or not?

>>52058851
Huh. Bummer. Well, this is for a one shot so I don't if my DM will bother looking that up.

>>52058851
You can still get 3 shots off if you get extra attack from somewhere, though. One main shot, one extra, and one from Crossbow Expert.

>>52058913
RAW with Errata you can't reload the crossbow if you've got something else in the other hand. I haven't DM'd 5e but there's lots of changes I'd make if I did, and I'd let you.

neved played 4E, can someone describe the core differences very briefly ?

>>52058931
Heh, yeah. Given that Fast Hands implies the ability to do things requiring precision like disarming traps as a bonus action it makes sense.

On another note, the amount of errata for 5e is horrifying because they left a shit ton out in the print run.

>>52057918
No. The closest things are firbolgs and eladrin (the teleporting variant elf from the DMG.) The defining quality of a tiefling is not having horns, it's having the blood of a fiend.

>>52058955
Every classes have At-will power, once per combat power and once per day power.

>>52055582

Its dynamite isnt it

>>52058955
4e is more balanced (because it bulldozed everything that came before it and gave every class the same abilities, slightly refluffed and tuned to one of four MMO-style party roles) but takes longer to play (because most player characters are much more complicated than they are in other editions, more moving parts in general, and monsters built to survive too many rounds of combat.) 4e absolutely requires minis and a battle grid.

>>52057575
I was considering using the vampire somehow, as she technically pulled a Ravenloft on him. The campaign started out as a CoS one-shot, but after a lot of plane travels and other shenanigans, they ended up in the current world. The bard basically made a trap that kept the vampire inside the village, as the party didn't want to slaughter a good 3000 villagers, even if they were all chaotic evil, so they let the Vampire keep them under control (as he had been doing for a good while) and the Bard figured out a way to trap him permanently.

Might be fun to see what would happen if I made him mess with her from his village somehow.

Having villagers as his pawns limits the damage he can do though. Not really capable if doing anything meaningfully to a level 19 Bard...

>>52055681

Halfling: reroll 1s on attack roll
Lucky Feat: You have 3 luck points. Basically give yourself Advantage or an enemy Disadvantage
Diviner: When you finish a long rest, roll two d20s and record the numbers rolled. You can replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls

>>52058903
And?

The only reason you'd need whip's reach is because you spent a feat on spell sniper to get booming balde and booming blade at 10ft, and in that case you're better off getting PAM and using a quarterstaff anyway, not to mention booming blade has anti-synergy with extra attack/Improved Divine Smite

Or, if you need extra speed to reach or targets or want to run away from your targets afterwards for whatever reason, you wouldn't really have sufficient speed without getting the mobile feat.

If you combined it with levels of rogue so that you have cunning action and dash away after an attack and getting sneak attack, then maybe. Though barbarogue is probably better for multiclassing into rogue and something like sorcerer or bard or warlock is probably better out of paladin.

But if you really insist on playing a paladin-rogue that isn't a swashbuckler, I can see it having a bit of use, maybe.

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>>52056444
>>52057310

IDW's 15-issue run of a Dungeons and Dragons comic. It's wonderful, and a shame that it didn't get more love.

https://mega.nz/#!CdlwDaBR!02e3wpSpVmUd-l9Ye0n26SUl6k3qWI9PWYzI99mkRSc

>>52058903
>>52059053
Hm. Thinking about it, paladin2/ATrogueX could be a thing, but then fighter3/rogueX would probably be better considering they can use their action surge to reaction attack/re-try with a failed attack and use either battlemaster's riposte or champion's higher crits for something.
And, eh, at that point you might as well just get booming blade from AT and get mobile instead to run away after attacking with booming blade.


I... Honestly cannot think of any whip builds that do something that some other set-up doesn't do better in, really. It's a shame, because I like whips.

>>52059164
It has a ton of "interesting situation" fights in it. I want to do that myself.

>>52056101
It sounds like you're just salty that some monk Xena'd all over your super leet assassin's crossbow sniping.

Help /tg/

My group lost our GM because work made him move to a different country. I tried to step up to GM in his place, but since we are only 3 people left, they want me to make a DMPC.

I have really bad experiences with DMPCs from our former GM. Constantly rolling really well (behind his screen of course) telling us how awestruck our characters were, and generally derailing it a lot..

So I want to make a character who is just all support. Like, completely defenseless on her own. I intend to make her Str8 Dex8, Con8, make her weak and sickly, and then her remaining stats will be adjusted according to their characters and according to the class I'll give her.

What would be a good option? They have a Fey warlock with the pact bow, and an Eldritch Knight.

I want something that is purely supportive, can help them shine, but won't ever be able to so anything on her own. Any good UA to use for that?

>>52059228
>they want me to make a DMPC
Does not compute

>>52056138
I would change the fighting style. Sloppy writing here, but "When you hit with an attack that qualifies for TWF, you add your other weapon's damage due to that attack's damage." Makes it scale with extra attack and puts the bonus damage on the action instead of the bonus action. Makes Dual Wielder look better too. Try it. Let us know how it goes.

>>52059223
I don't know why I would be, because I don't face monks often enough for it to matter, considering monks are supposed to be player characters usually.

Never actually played an assassin actually, I'm just salty that people think it's okay to say 'Oh, people have some sort of fifth sense that allows them to react to things before they've happened'.

>>52059245
I am not sure why they'd want me to, not after our former GM, but they insisted.

I think they mostly want it because 2 players makes them lack in a lot of areas. They picked the dual types up to cover as much as possible, but they insist on me making a support anyway.

I feel like they just want it to tease me with it, but whatever.

>>52059228
>Any good UA
Why must people resort to UA so readily?

Anyway:
Tranquility Monk
Cleric
Charisma Paladin
Wizard
Druid
Bard
Barbarian/Barbarogue
Artificer

Are all pretty valid choices and can be played fairly heavily supportive/not stealing anyone's wind. I might've said a couple of other classes like warlock can be supportive or some fighters if you didn't already have those.

Basically either casters using support spells or defensive builds.

>>52059164
>all individual images
my eyes

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When will we get the Return to Ravenloft: Tales from the Mists book? I wan't to fight Mummy Lords in the shifting deserts, I want to slay Adam the Flesh Golem, and I want to fight Lord Soth. Why would they detail Death Knights so much if they weren't going to use Lord Soth in something.

>>52059337
>Why must people resort to UA so readily?
Why do people like options?

>>52059341

That's just how I found them. How should they be packaged - PDFs?

>>52059404
It makes it sound like they lack creativity or perception of what's already there.

It makes it sound like 'Oh, I have this character concept, so I'm gonna need a UA for it.'

UA is fine, but it's better to consider what you already have first, because there's plenty enough options inside the PHB itself. If somehow you still can't find the right thing for it or you want more spells or this or that you can probably go onto UA afterwards.

It'd be better to ask 'Is there anything, including UA that would work for this' rather than 'any UA for this?'

>>52059337
>Artificer
Oh right. This sounds like a pretty good idea. It would also let me get them magic items and reasonably allow me to tailor magic items to them as well.

Nice, thanks. Hadn't thought of that. Kept thinking Bard, it is just do overdone at this point.

I am mostly resorting to UA because most of the standard PHB options are mostly geared towards offensive or control options, where I'd much rather go full support. Besides, we've never had an issue with UA, and we enjoy trying it out, tweaking it, and giving feedback on the play testing.

>>52058747
I believe the term is "foci" instead of focuses, Curse/Ignite should say "3rd" rather than "3th".
Is Arcane Leap intended to be spammed that much? There doesn't seem to be a limit on it. Same with Menacing Presence.
Honestly, all-in-all it seems fine to me, but I'm the last person you want to look to for balance.

>>52056101
If you are suprised you roll iniative but cant axt in the suprise round

Should I allow called shots and if so does anybody have some handy lil table for it?

>>52059567
Typos are typos, I worked on it 9 hours straight for no good reason. Didn't even eat.

I was thinking of whether I should limit Arcane Leap, but maybe I should make that spammability Sky-exclusive or something because they're the mobile ones. The important bit about it actually is that it is not part of the movement, and this class is actually quite bonus-action dependent, especially if you go dualwielding.

Menacing Presence is supposed to be spammable. It gets what Protection fighting style gets, except with a longer range, against a save, and you get it at 15th level. It takes a reaction, after all.

>>52059276
You are aware that the turn order is actually an abstraction. You know that arrows don't actually instantly hit their target from the moment you release them without even crossing the intervening space or any time passing. No one's reacting to something that hasn't happened. They're reacting to things as they are happening, and just happen to be fast enough this time to do something.

Where is the UA this week?

>>52059576
>Surprise round
No, you simply cannot take reactions while surprised and skip your first turn. After skipping your first turn, you're a normal combatant, and can take reactions, even if you have no way to tell that combat should even be happening anyway.

>>52059640
But then there's no reason someone couldn't metagame it other than 'don't be a dick', and even then it'll still feel like they're getting cheated.

Just make them roll initiative after the first round. Simple. No need to defend it as an abstraction because it actually makes sense in the first place now.

And, still, there's little to tell you that the arrow is about to hit you. I'm okay with it being someone attacking you from a bush mid-combat and you deflect the arrow, but when you're outside of combat, being able to anticipate a shot is a completely different manner, especially considering 'anticipating a shot' here doesn't even run off of wisdom, but instead dexterity.

And, lastly, I believe your position is only supposed to be revealed after you make the shot anyway, so the guy shouldn't even know they're in combat until after the arrow hits whatever.

>>52056531
>>52056214
>>52055924
http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder

>>52058747

The fluff is the flavor and flavor is everything.

As much as I miss the pwoer ranger, the idea of a knight who is endowed with the power of crayons isn't my thing. Consider mixing that up a little, because it also what is going to draw the most interest, and thus, the most feedback

There's no reason for Arcane Disrpution to specify a Chroma Knight spell slot, over any other multiclassing slot

Magic Resistance isn't a bad skill, but you should look at Eldritch Ward from the Ancients paladin to see how it rightly fits

Improved Magic Resistance is confusing. See Paladin's Circle of Power spell for a better worded version of this

>>52055924
>"play smarter"

Yes.

You were supposed to have runned away. CR calculation adjustments are not only additive, but relative. 6 CR1/2 enemies have to not only add all their cr together, but also adjust to how much they outnumber the party.


By my calculation, what you had there was a CR 5 match, when you should be looking at CR 1~2

>>52059747
There isn't one this week.

>>52059747
It isn't.

>>52059811
>http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder

For 4 level 1 characters, a combat turns class Deadly at 3 Orcs

>>52059784
Thanks for the notes!

I have been in a fuzzy state of mind while doing this all, so the power rangers thing didn't really come into my mind that much.

I need to put the fluff in, because the idea is more about competing orders than a single unifying one, but I digress. I think I got the idea from the "Green Knight" from the legend and Black Knight from Monty Python, to be honest. Black Knights even get false life and can resist falling unconscious!

I will proof and check all this at some point, but I'm really fricking tired, so I'll just save your fixes and fix them to the next iteration, that comes... someday.

>>52059589

No. The game rules already assume that you're aiming for the most advantageous part of the enemy.

The way I usually handle players who insist on making a called shot is to tell them they can, then resolving it exactly like a normal attack. This often satisfies them.

>>52059811
The party already tried to run away, but the DM told them to stop derailing.

>>52059427
The best offering would be a cbr, but a PDF would be a drastic improvement.

>>52059589

Yes. It's called "Taking the Sharpshooter Feat"

>But what about "more options"

Just cobble a homebrew thing together. Look at the attack actions: "Disarm, blah blah, whatever"

If someone takes the sharpshooter feat, let them do one of those things instead of damage

>>52059879

Get the bard to talk your way out of the encounter then.

If that doesn't work, start committing ritualistic suicide because "I'd rather die than let those savages take me", Reavers in Firefly style

>>52059879
>>52055924
Your DM is a bad DM. A good DM might occasionally include a nigh-impossible encounter in a campaign, but it will be intentionally, something you're supposed to run from, hold out for a while against before aid arrives, or take a heroic last stand against because what you're fighting for is worth facing impossible odds. This fight was only nigh-impossible because your DM doesn't understand how CR works. He also seems to be unaware that flanking is no longer a thing in 5e. And I can't see the layout, but I bet he also doesn't know how attacks of opportunity work.

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>>52059879
>but the DM told them to stop derailing.

What kind of things would you find below deck on a frost giant longship?

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>>52059970
>Look, boys, everything in here seems incredibly overpowered. Let's turn back.
>GM: No, you're not allowed to go back because I said so, stay on my railroad.
>O-okay. We go ahead.
>GM: Horde of angry niggers appears. They surround each of you and buttrape you in turn. Game over.
>What the hell are we supposed to do?!
>GM: Git gud scrubs.


>They didn't seem to think he was trolling

>>52059952

My DM allowed flanking after the 3 out of 4 party members who front liners whined to him about it, (well, mostly the Half Orc Champion Fighter did, because to him d&d is about muh creets, and the other two because once he did, he saw the opportunity or free shit), and I didn't care either way because I'm a caster.


But once that shit started to get annoying with the DM always pulling aggro on me even though I barely do shit in combat (by design, its just not what I made my character for) I decided to do what I always do, and used his houserulling shit to break his game

>Cast Animate Objects on 12 tiny objects
>Coins, daggers, silverwear and shit
>Make them swarm
>Attack +12 times in a row with Advantage

>>52060017
>My DM allowed flanking
Dropped. Things that are 1 square large cannot be flanked no ifs, ands or buts.

>>52060034
Won't get any argument from me there.

>>52060017
Well, sounds like those players got some poetic justice. Anything that makes attacks more deadly always favors the monsters over the players, as players receive more attacks than any monster ever will.

I read somewhere once but I don't remember where, and I wanted to make sure if this is the case or not, that you could use the rules for pushing/knocking someone down as a rubric for other combat maneuver type actions such as disarming someone or I suppose overrunning them. Is this the case or did I just make this up?

In addition is it an action or an attack to use a push maneuver? So like if I have 2+ attacks can I push then strike or something similar?

I want to play a character who fights like a bully. I want to knock people into shit, off of ledges, onto the ground, I want to take their weapons and use them against them.

I'll accept any advice towards making this viable. Shield master or tavern brawler seem like a given but they don't seem to work together well.

>>52060034

Honest question, I've never played in a game without flanking rules - how do rogues go about sneak attacking without it? Only on surprise rounds?

>>52060155
Read sneak attack again dude. You can do it as long as someone is standing near the enemy. Even your Owl familiar.

>>52060155

Attacks from hiding which they can do on bonus action, gain advantage

Also, sneak attack is applied when attacking an enemy adjacent to a counscious ally regardless of advantage

>>52059754
Your position is revealed after you attack, regardless of whether you hit or miss, unless you have Skulker.

And I have a different perspective partially because I don't know the enemy's initiative until they do something.

And if the aggressor rolls initiative and doesn't like it for whatever reason and says they want to back off, rather than saying "no backsies" you could also say "Great. Let me know when you do want to go forward. At least we have initiative pre-rolled."

>>52060155
> You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll

Gee I wonder why.

Also
> 2017
> Still think that 5e has surprise rounds
Please go back to 3.pf.

>>52059852
I feel like Dark Sun's Templar is a name that could be used as a one-word title for magic knight.

>>52060146

Shoving is PHB.195-196. It explicitly only replaces a single attack, if you get multiple. So you could shove multiple creatures in a turn.

Considering a shove is already either a 5' push or a trip, I don't see any reason why you couldn't also use it as a framework for other tricks.

>>52060146
>>I read somewhere once but I don't remember where, and I wanted to make sure if this is the case or not, that you could use the rules for pushing/knocking someone down as a rubric for other combat maneuver type actions such as disarming someone or I suppose overrunning them. Is this the case or did I just make this up?

You could, but it'd be a complete houserule but reasonable to do. Fighters and related classes can do disarm attempts for free as part of an attack as a class feature (requires a save). So allowing everyone to do a disarm as an opposed roll that doesn't actually do damage is reasonable.


>> In addition is it an action or an attack to use a push maneuver? So like if I have 2+ attacks can I push then strike or something similar?

Again, house rule but it'd be an attack if you're keeping it in line with the others.

>>52060179
>>52060178

Thank you, I am an idiot.

>>52060146
DMG has rule on disarm and overrun. under "more combat option" I think.

>>52060146
1: Kind of. Check the DMG. And don't expect to get away with it if you're a player and not the DM.

2. It's an attack, and it's called a shove. Look it up in the PHB.

3. Be a rogue or bard with expertise in Athletics. Don't expect grabbing and shoving to be substitutes for attacking; just shove people off cliffs when the opportunity presents itself.

>>52060183
Yes, 'after' you attack. Not while you're attacking. Skulker implies that you can make an attack and the enemy won't even know the direction it came from.

I suppose it'd be different if you didn't know the enemy's initiative, but you still know your own initiative, at least.

And there are still situations where you might decide you just won't bother if you don't get a suitable initiative. Or you come back some other day, or whatever. At least, it sounds like a good argument that could lead to a character retiring because it's foretold they'll never hit their next attack. Or maybe they start a fight on purpose just to reset the initiative. Or wait until the DM forgets. Or something.
Sure, it's incredibly petty and you'd be an absolute faggot for doing all of that, but it's completely possible to instead have it so you don't know the enemy's initiative OR your own until after surprise.

>>52060295
>>52060183
Oh, right, you could at the very least argue that 'pre-rolled' initiative is completely against standard rules conventions, as you can grant yourself advantage on initiative, grant the enemy disadvantage, use bardic inspiration to boost your initiative, cutting words the enemy's initiative lower, use portent to lower it...
If anything it'd be a 'Okay, I'm going go find a bard and boost my initiative, and come back and fuck you.'

>>52060295
But you need to know the all the participant's initiatives so you know whether a surprised enemy can use a reaction or not.

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>>52059882

I had to look those up, but thanks for bringing them (and readers) to my attention. You get .CBZs, because I'm too lazy to mess with winrar

https://mega.nz/#!iF0QFLLL!yBdmIeenM-zZP4zZW2lMsxFnZEPTBS4AdMwCoGi2LMk

>>52060329
And I'm saying that's bullshit in the first place. And, generally, it wouldn't really matter anyway.

I mean, seriously, you can run at a PAM guy who has no idea he's about to be attacked and he will spear you before you even get to attack him.

>>52060408
If you run at him, he will definitely see you.

> In combat, most creatures stay alert for signs of danger all around, if you come out of hiding and approach a creature, it usually sees you

You come out of hiding and try to stab him? He see you.

>>52060423
Yes. He couldn't make the opportunity attack otherwise.

Yet, seconds ago, he was probably dreaming about running home to his wife and kids and then suddenly a man comes screaming out of a bush 15ft from him and he can make a perfectly normal attack as if he was never surprised in the first place, as if instead he had simply engaged in a normal combat and rolled lower initiative.

Okay guys, I made a character and a situation, but I need to flesh out the character and explain the situation.

The character is an Elven army commander who has enchanted over 500 living swords to surround a minor Human fortress and keep anyone from entering or leaving. The situation is a town that blames one specific person for causing the animated sword blight.

What can I do to make this work?

>>52060445
I don't see anything wrong with this. Sometime a reaction is just a natural reflex.

I want to create a lot of 1d100 charts. But I would like to have the ranges to be automated. What software could I feasibly do this on?

>>52060467
They should barely have time to swing the weapon around to meet the attacker, yet alone make a proper attack.

If they want to use a reaction, they just need a buddy who doesn't get surprised who will then naturally yell out that they're under attack, and while PAMguy will still be surprised there'd be no need for any funny no-initiative-combat-round and they can go make their reactions after their first turn.

Really, I think it makes more sense in any case, because essentially the combat only truly starts when somebody jumps out of the bushes or makes an attack or whatever happens first, rather than the surprised guy who rolled initiative somehow realizing they're in combat before anybody else has even done anything.

>>52060535
Someone with PAM isn't a normal average dude, it's a combat expert.

They're a veteran fighter, they should see a guy running at them openly with a weapon.

How's 5e for a sci-fi themed campaign? Is it viable to just repurpose casters as "they use tech shit to shit out firebals" for lore and stuff?

>>52060647
You know there are other systems, right?

Using D&D for everything seems so weird to me.

>>52060674

I suppose but my players are in that point where they don't want to move to another system especially since it took me an Everest to get them to 5e from Pathfinder.

That said, I suppose they wouldn't mind to move to something rules-light so there's that.

>>52060638
Even so, it doesn't put their reflexes as supernaturally good.
Or, to put it another way, the rogue ambushing them could be an absolute master of stealth and ambush, but their only problem is that they have to jump out of a bush 15ft away and enter the guy's 10ft range before they step within 5ft and stab the guy.
And really, the rogue in this case should almost overwhelmingly be faster to attack than trained polearm guy who in combat attacks people as they approach and stops them with sentinel.

To be honest I'm not really sure about the question of 'Do surprised enemies deserve a reaction on the first round after their turn when all enemies of surprised?'.. Because I don't feel it's really important enough, and it'd feel dickish of a DM to have a guy take reactions when the party went to all that effort and succeeded on sneaking up on them, followed by the guy simply taking their turn as normal afterwards since they won initiative.

But the real question is which abstraction is better without being too complicated. And, to be honest, I think no-initiative is both simpler/more intuitive and makes more sense.
>I attack him
>Okay, everybody, roll initiative, and then you can do it when you have your turn
as opposed to
>I attack him
>Okay, attack him.

The only reason it might not be simpler is because you have to use different rules based on whether all enemies are surprised or only some, but I think it works out.

>>52060647
Read up how Spelljammer did it?

Everything was just magic, because let's be honest that's what space opera is anyway

>>52059882
>people needed CBRs when IrfanView exists

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Tips for running Curse of Strahd smoothly?

Can anyone share the latest version of the MPMB’s character record sheet?

>>52060732
>The only reason it might not be simpler is because you have to use different rules based on whether all enemies are surprised or only some
Pretty sure that is the reason

>>52060928

Last updated 3/3/2017

https://mega.nz/#!CZUUQSRB!PWfcSGwVgE2nM8CmmD80pCDWvDB7tur3MOX5o2fpNSg

>>52060381
Hold the fuck up, there was a Dark Sun comic?

>>52060984
But it's not a big deal.
It's just saying 'Do the logical thing, except when only some of the enemies are surprised, in which case resolve combat as normal except surprised creatures cannot take actions or reactions until after their first turn.'

And, by experience and watching others, the logical thing tends to be 'Since none of the enemies are aware, just take a turn each and then we'll start combat.'

>>52061011
Thanks mate

>>52060381
>Obligatory tiefling to meet diversity quota

>>52060880

Don't follow it strictly by the book. Read everything and use foreshadowing. Also expect a lot of backtracking that might lead to what a goal could be done in 2 sessions to 4 sessions cause players don't know where to go. While it's nice to let your players explore, it can only take you so far. At this point, try subtly railroading them with clues to go to the next point.

Also, mix-up the starting hooks. Example, players start in an inn, Arrigal comes in and gives them the letter from Strahd, interrupt this with another NPC getting word of the Vistani outside of the settlement causing a ruckus. Arrigal can accompany along (you can re-purpose him to be a recurring villain or ally NPC throughout) They meet Vistani and let the Dancing Fire scene play out. If you want you can push the players to report back to whoever request to deal with the ruckus and then let them chill for the night and bring in the fog. You can try to make a nice action-packed intro by using the Werewolf hook by letting werewolves attack. Maybe have Arrigal be captured and dragged by the wolves (this is of course a ruse since Arrigal and the wolves are agents of Strahd) so the players will have some motivation to give chase (and possibly having a combat with a lone wolf too) leading to the fog and finding themselves in front of Death House.

It's a very railroady intro but it makes for a nice session #1 to keep shit rolling esp when they reach Barovia's sandbox. Additionally, try to find a coherent way to put the fortune reading of Madam Eva. Having run Curse of Strahd for many groups, one common trend I noticed is that some seem to take a while to get their fortunes read. I tried some options like putting her in the town of Barovia with some Vistani dudes.

Other than that, I say read the book. They are guidelines and just piece ways to get things together as it goes. Have fun, anon.

New player trying to understand my first character here. I'm attempting to make a dragonborn sorcerer, and I'm confused about a couple of things.

A sorcerer with a draconic bloodline gets draconic resilience: "Additionally, parts of your skin are covered by a thin sheen of dragon-like scales. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier". Am I correct in that dragonborn by itself doesn't have the same or any similar trait? Like, do they have scales but they're just as shitty as normal human skin?

I see that an arcane focus can be a staff. Is it possible for a quarterstaff that I use as a weapon to also double as an arcane focus?

What should I be consulting to better understand quality, magical, etc weapons/armor? Or do weapons just never get better than what's described in the weapons table from the phb.

What kind of items would you find in a giant's lair? Like I doubt you'd find regular gold coins unless they were stolen en masse.

>>52061282
>Can a quarterstaff be used as a focus
Generally it can. Overall, it honestly doesn't really matter unless you're using a shield as well, and even then... It doesn't really.
Ask your DM if you want, but it should be perfectly fine.

>Do dragonborn get draconic sorcerers scale feature thing
No. Lizardmen do for whatever reason, however.

>Better equipment
Doesn't exist by standard, the DM puts them in for you to buy or aquire if they feel like it.

>>52061324
I wouldn't expect you to find giant gold coins unless there's a giant society complete with all the things required to mint coins.

But I guess they have little reason to use gold coins, too.

I'd expect attempts of them trying to make clothes for themselves if they're lesser giants, waste (animal carcasses and things), perhaps some trees used to make furniture.

But then the stronger giants get pretty advanced with full giant-sized plate armour and all that, so that implies something a lot more than just a bum of a giant hiding out in a cave.

>>52061282

>A sorcerer with a draconic bloodline gets draconic resilience: "Additionally, parts of your skin are covered by a thin sheen of dragon-like scales. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC equals 13 + your Dexterity modifier". Am I correct in that dragonborn by itself doesn't have the same or any similar trait? Like, do they have scales but they're just as shitty as normal human skin?

Yeah, sorta. Since you're dragonborn, don't worry about the fluff.

>I see that an arcane focus can be a staff. Is it possible for a quarterstaff that I use as a weapon to also double as an arcane focus?

As a DM I'd allow it. I think RAW has it that it's viable too so you're good. Thing is, it's all in one so keep that staff close to you. Lose the staff, lose your weapon and focus.

>What should I be consulting to better understand quality, magical, etc weapons/armor? Or do weapons just never get better than what's described in the weapons table from the phb.

I guess if you want weapons to have "better" quality, that falls under magic items. Like you'll find Quarterstaff +1 which adds +1 to your attack rolls and damage. There are some specialized magic items like "Staff of..." which have their own magic properties and be weapons. As for those being arcane focus (since you mentioned wanting to double your staff as a quarterstaff weapon), magic items already have magic properties (like one staff has a certain number of charges for Shield) so unless the DM is willing, I don't think they'd count as arcane focus.

>>52055931
I mean, Volo's already has stats for froghemoths and vegepygmies

>>52061382
>>52061324
If it's Fire Giants, they'd definitely smith giant sized weapons and armor, some of which would no doubt be magical. You'd also probably find chunks of valuable metals. Like a gold nugget the size of your head is probably decently valuable.

Cloud giants would definitely have magical items. I'm thinking stuff made out of ivory or something fantastical like a cloak woven out of clouds.

Hill giants would have human treasure because they're pretty indiscriminate with what they bring to their hovels.

Stone giants I'd imagine would have magical items carved out of stone. I seem to recall that they're great artisans. It'd also be cool if you found like stone tablets with prophecies on them. You can use it as a way to foreshadow something in the plot.

Storm giants would have stuff like giant pearls and giant shells which have been carved and repurposed for inventive uses. Sunken treasure also seems great. I'd imagine the storm giants would like it aesthetically. Statues covered in seaweed and coral. Treasure chests with starfish on them.

Frost giants are the difficult one. They don't smith things due to their aversion to fire, and they largely get the things they have by raiding, but I wouldn't see them as the treasure-taking type, unless it's particularly large gemstones or dragon-bones or something. I think never-melting ice that's enchanted with various properties would be cool (heh). Like a chunk of ice on a bracelet that gives its owner resistance to fire damage, that can be worn by a humanoid as a necklace or belt. I'd also imagine you'd find treasure chests among the wholesale looted items they have.

>>52061333
>>52061384
Alrights, thanks.

Managed to happen upon descriptions of magical items in the dmg, which explains why I couldn't find anything about them in the phb.

>>52061282
I believe even WOTC considers the quarterstaff to be functional as a focus, as the premade Dragonborn Sorcerer on their site has a quarterstaff that is specified as being his focus as well.

>>52061635
>a gold nugget the size of your head is probably decently valuable
my napkin math shows 177lbs of gold, worth about 9000gp

If i'm making a skaven like ratfolk race should I make them faster than normal speed or naw?

>>52061766
25 ft. tiny race

>>52061814
Goblins get 30 ft as a small race.

>>52061766
as a PC? Let me know what you come up with. I'm also interested in playing something like that.

>>52061766
25ft upright
35ft quadruped

>>52061880
This is actually interesting, dropping prone allows for extra movement instead of lesser for a race. How you would balance this is difficult but seem neato.

>>52060523
What do you mean? Like a program that automatically spreads the ranges of each option so everything on the table is equal?

Has anyone had any experience playing a druid that wasn't gay or furry or a gay furry?

Is there any easy way to do a cone spell on roll20?

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26KB, 690x366px

>>52061766
Here's one of my races.

>>52061967

I had one who played a senile old man druid who played on a one-string lute. He was a fun druid.

>>52061828
Most small races have 25ft.
And anyway, volo's is not exactly perfect quality.

>>52061994
>>52061766
That said, I'd take whatever the typical speed you'd expect is for that size and add 5ft.
So small race, 30ft speed?

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25KB, 665x526px

>>52061992
And the other

>>52061942
Rats should have improved squeezing, and the ability to dislocate their entire skeleton in an instant, thus automatically escaping a grapple, and reloacte on the way down to the ground.

How I would balance these are your rat race can squeeze into areas twice as tight as normal, and once per short rest the creature can choose to succeed an escape check while grappled (specifically) and is considered to have taken the disengage action while moving that round. Once this feature is used it can't be used again until the creature finishes a long rest.

>>52062024
>Once per short rest
Ignore that part

>>52061967
You should reconsider who you play with.

Literally never seen a gay or furry druid. But if by furry you mean "shapeshifting", then you are a special kind if retard, and you're probably the issue.

>>52056076
>It just seems like a pretty overwhelming advantage for the NPCs to move at once, and then attack afterwards.
Uh what the fuck? Why has no one mentioned this, this is total bullshit. It's not uncommon for DMs to do this in order to save time, but they do not actually move then attack as a group. At least half of them should not have gotten flanking (flanking isn't even a normal 5e rule, mind you, and it's better that way).

Combine that with everything else and your DM is hot garbage anon.

>>52062013
>>52061992
I'm not sure what this score system is but I have no idea why a 1d4 natural weapon would be worth as much as +1 to dex/con/wis