/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

>>54434468
No edition? No topic starter?

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Here's a topic starter for you: Eberron????

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Do you guys like the Adventure Zone?

>>54434529
always, forever.

>>54434537
I've heard it's pretty entertaining and funny, but I'm not one for watching or listening to other people play D&D despite streaming D&D games myself.

yo I need point buy or standard array distribution for a tiefling paladin and what oath?
thx in advance bby

>>54434546
15, 8, 15, 8, 8, 15.
Oathbreaker.

>>54434546

8, 14, 14, 10, 12, 16, abyssal variant tiefling

dex paladin with a buckler and rapier, oath of the crown

you're an initiate to some paladin order that serves as private guards when the "king" (pope or some other high religious figure) travels on pilgrimages

but you're also kind of a sleazy womanizing pretty-boy so your order tends to send you off to find more menial things to do until you buck up and mature a bit

obviously none of this works if your DM is a stick in the mud and treats tieflings as horrible monsters that society shuns at every opportunity

>>54434468

Here's a topic. I'm a ForeverDM who just got one of his players to start playing. My campaign was super lax, with lots of items and healing, since it was everybody's first campaign, myself included. NewDM ran SKT, which I gave him. He wanted to run it brutal and smart, which I thought would be cool.

Session 1 we nearly get TPKed by the Orcs. In session 2, while trying to rescue the villagers from the Dripping Caves, we are forced to retreat and take a long rest. On coming back all thirty villagers are dead (he was rolling a d20 to see how many died each hour), which was disappointing, since I set up a bunch of sweet illusions that had the goblins and ogres cowering. Over the course of this session my Wizard and the party Rogue get killed. This wasn't a problem with me at the time (I was bummed, but I knew I'd be fine), but some other players thought he was running the game too harshly.

A few days later I'm chatting with a friend of mine who's in the group, and he's arguing with me about the game being too ruthless. I argue that we deserved our deaths (the Rogue goofed, and my Illusion Wizard wasn't properly built for heavy combat.) On the subject of the villagers, though, my friend won't give up. After a lengthy debate, I recalled the DM said offhandedly that I could read the module after he ran parts, so I glanced in the pdf to see just how many villagers were supposed to die. Turns out my friend was kinda right, there probably should have been some villagers left, given the way it was written.

Next day, hang out with NewDM all afternoon, chilling, talkin DnD, and I tell him about the argument I had with the other player, and how I looked up the pdf and thought the gripe about the villagers being all dead was a legit complaint. I did point out that I did so because I thought he told me I could, and that I was trying to defend his choice, at least at first. (1/2)

>>54434655
>obviously none of this works if your DM is a stick in the mud and treats tieflings as horrible monsters that society shuns at every opportunity
I hate it when a DM constantly brings up your race in a demeaning way but I'm a firm believer in tieflings having to wear cloaks everywhere they go.

>>54434686

The rest of the day chillin with NewDM is fine. Seems like we're gonna play DnD the next day. Sunday comes, and he texts us in the morning saying he's not playing because friend and I read ahead (which we didn't). Monday he texts me he's quitting DMing all together. I write him a college essay back trying to talk him out of it. No reply yet.

I know I fucked up by looking at the pdf with another player (especially one who likes to complain), and undermining his control of things, but as the old DM I wanted to act as a mediator during the transition.

I'm not sure I can fix things at this point, but has anybody had similar problems transitioning to new DM's, or taking one's hand off the wheel themselves? *Is there* anything I can do? NewDM is a good friend, and a could be a much better DM than I, so it'd be a waste if he quit now.

>>54434742

Nah, he's not gonna make it and he knows it. He fucked up, he had a group that would have kept going with him, and he pussed out. Cut your losses and take the reins back over.

That said, if you let him in the next game your a better person than I am. I might let him back in game after that, though.

>>54434655
Maybe don't make a special snowflake child of demons if you want your DM to treat yoir character normal

>>54434742
Did y'all start at lvl 1?

>>54434655
>treats tieflings as horrible monsters that society shuns at every opportunity
Yeah, medieval peasants are known to be very trusting and accepting of all people and demonic magics.

>>54435010

Yeah, at my suggestion, so that he could get used to everything. That wasn't the problem though. We didn't play smart. Like at all. It was kinda embarrassing. Kinda made me realize how much I had coddled them that first campaign, even when I was trying to make shit challenging.

>>54434655
>an entire race of people who literally spew hellfire everywhere if they trip and fall
>not being shunned

>>54434952
>>54435019
>>54435076
so do you disallow tieflings at your table or do you warn your players what the public reaction will be like? surely you don't give your friend the go-ahead to roll a tiefling only to turn around and completely shit on the socially all campaign

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>>54434537
Yeah, it's pretty great if you like something not cliche.

Are tieflings even good for anything other than sorcerer

>>54435108
When I shit on tieflings, it's in the setting doc both under the place(s) that discriminate and under the description of the tiefling race. If they read neither the parts of the setting doc that relate to the place the campaign starts nor the ones on their chosen race, not my problem.

>>54435134
They're good for anything that uses CHA

>>54435108
Everyone I play with knows the reaction to tieflings in FR, so if we were playing in that setting they'd be allowed and everyone would know what to expect. Still, I don't think anyone at my table would play one. We haven't any in our previous FR games.

My current game is in a custom setting that only has Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Gnomes, and Halflings.

>>54434742
If he's gonna be a vagina about players looking at the module after he fucked up and even okay'ed it, as if he's completely incapable of changing up some shit in it then fuck em.

I don't know if RPG Maker anon is here but there is a script you can get that will screenshot your whole map with like f8 or something. I used to use it for parallax mapping.

>>54434742
You could volunteer to sit out a session while you guys catch up to where you read. Kinda sucks but if he's going to go nuclear on you might be a good option. Or just play 100% in character and you couldn't help in any ooc discussions.

Or the most likely thing is you will have to DM again. Which is what I always end up doing because the only player that will DM in my group everyone hates and always does stupid shit.

>>54435274
>You could volunteer to sit out a session while you guys catch up to where you read.
He (claims to have) only read the parts the party already finished. Proposing that would be seen as an admission of guilt.

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>>54435257
That would've been nice to have considering I just made a map that was taller than my screen and I had to stitch it in Paint. I'll check it out, thanks.

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>"Stop being such a fucking special snowflake," said Robert, as he statted up his variant human Lucky Diviner wizard.

>"Yeah, man, we're getting pretty tired of it," agreed Malcom, putting the finishing touches on his variant human tunnel fighter/PAM/sentinel Fighter.

>"Can't you be creative without using those weirdo races?" asked Derek. "I mean, really." He then passed his character, a variant human Eldritch-Blast-machine warlock, to the DM for approval.

>"If it keeps happening, we'll have to ask you to leave." Jeff's face was grim as he paged through the rulebook, working on his variant human Moon Druid with a Life Cleric dip.

>Unearthed Arcana: That Old Black Magic
>new options for Tieflings (the quintessential Warlock race)
>new spells for summoning demons (something many Warlocks would be interested in doing, especially an Abyssal tiefling warlock)
>spells are for sorcerer and wizard only
Explain.

>>54435384
>WIZARDS of the Coast letting non-Wizards do things
ho ho ho

>>54435384
Warlocks don't get ritual casting without their pact.

>>54435373
Joke's on you, I play a Dwarf Fighter [sword]-n-boarder every time.

Anyone know of any Adventures/Modules with a Bard as the main antagonistic force? Any edition is fine.

>>54435373
>Has a problem with a straight Warlock
The moon druid things is pretty dumb, but only really matters for Goodberry, lucky diviner wizard is better/more memetic with a halfling, and i straight disallow tunnel fighter, cause it's a shit UA.

Seems like you have an unnatural hatred for your fellow man.

>>54435459
What does that have to do with anything?

>>54435459
They're not even rituals, they all have a casting time of 1 action, and no (ritual) tags.

>>54435311
Ah I see, sounds like his friend is being unreasonable.

To be fair to the New DM though the book is just a guide and how the campaign is ran is completely up to the DM's discretion. If he felt that the goblins wanted to kill every villager then they killed every villager.

>>54435384
Warlocks aren't supposed to be summoners in 5e. It's actually strange that they get Conjure Fey, they don't get anything else.

>>54435373
My current character is a variant human. I took Gourmand.

>>54435467
>wearing a shield as a dwarf
I hope you're a cleric laddie

>>54435544
The iconic D&D dwarf is now a battleaxe+shield fighter.

>>54434742
>>54434686
Good lesson to not play a difficult campaign if not everyone is on board.

>>54435544
>Not turning your shield into a cooking pot

>>54435373
My variant human took
Duel Wielding

Do you ever feel like the campaign you're writing for your players might be stupid? That'll they'll maybe tear into the story and find either poor motivation for NPCs or plot holes. I don't want to waste time on boring my players. Sometimes I say just go with it and see how they react and think the typical stop the bandit thieves can be fun while other times I think I have to come up with this unique and complex character in a strange and mysterious situation.

>>54434597

Wouldn't a bat just fly in between the holes of the net?

>>54435542
>the only class to have backstory explicitly stating they have researched arcane lore and found ways to contact other worldly beings to create pacts
>cannot summon anything at all
Why the fuck can Sorcerors summon demons? Wizards and Warlocks should be the only ones with that sort of knowledge

>>54435560
versatile weapons sux or so I was told

>>54435579
I took Duel Welding. My character fights using acetylene torches

>>54435524
>To be fair to the New DM though the book is just a guide and how the campaign is ran is completely up to the DM's discretion. If he felt that the goblins wanted to kill every villager then they killed every villager.
That's just another thing against him though, OP isn't roasting him for not running the module to a T, but his friend thinks the change to make more villagers die is bad and seeing as he changed it on his own accord he is to blame for that if it's a bad change. He could have defended this, but chose to pussy out, accuse them of cheating, and stop GMing.

So what is the absolute worst playable race right now? No monster races

>>54435560
The iconic characters have been trash since well before 5th edition.

>>54435608
Eh, mechanical issues. Instead of Hexing, you'd just summon a demon to keep around every time you short rest.

>>54435606
No, but good luck hitting a bat with a net. 15 foot range and you literally always have disadvantage.

>>54435384
Because you'd see every Warlock picking up every one of these summon spells and getting their party killed when they fail the CHA checks.

>>54435629
I never said they were good, just that they are the go-to depiction. Hell, character creation uses Bruenor.

>>54435633
>Take Lucky feat
>Roll 3 die, pick one

>>54435633
You can use sharpshooter to not have it.

>>54435631
I'm not so sure. Controlling the demons is incredibly hard, in fact a couple them are literally just hostile to all creatures.

Take a look
https://www.media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/07_UA_That_Old_Black_Magic.pdf

>>54435624
One of the ones with sunlight sensitivity.

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>>54435624
Tritons

>>54435614
sword and board only gets bad once others get GWM/SS, but two hanging is pointless because dueling already gives MORE damage.

>>54435624
Non-variant human or the Underdark races that turn retarded in sunlight.

>>54435560
The two character dwarves in the PHB are clerics with a 2h mace

>>54435624
Genasi are stupid broken at low levels, so is that dumb bird race

>>54435677
Bruenor is literally the first character shown/described in the PHB you lying cunt.

>>54435633

what about just a jar or a box, or even a bag?

>>54435686
The first time I've ever seen anyone call a Genasi broken

>>54435665
tritons are cool as fuck yo

>>54435686
Explain.

>>54435662
Fair enough, and it definitely makes it less of an issue, but when they didn't get the rest of the "Conjure X" spells, or animate dead, i can see sticking with that design choice. Again, excluding the odd inclusion of Conjure Fey.

>>54435691
Now it's an improvised weapon.

>>54435665
Tritons make good Paladins, and are obviously very good for any campaign involving water. A built in swim speed makes a HUGE difference in combat ability in the water.

>>54435689
Yea and if you look further into the book the character for dwarves is a female dwarf with a maul, then the character for clerics is a dwarf with, you guessed it, a maul. That's two to your one you fat sausage

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>>54435691
Now you have an improvised net, good job losing your prof bonus.

>>54435707
Flying and Levitate

>>54435726
Isn't there a truckload of dwarves across the entire book? Page 10 there's a dwarf with nothing but a handaxe.

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>>54435623

I told NewDM that I thought that it was a bit much because there was no "half-reward", as in some of the villagers are dead and the survivors ask us "Why? WHYY?", but there are still some survivors.

NewDM can be a bit sensitive, and can sometimes let anger build up without letting you know. Still, his mastery of the rules and tactical genius (he carried my last campaign as a Necromancer, and was nigh unkillable by the end) will go to waste.

Dammit...

>>54435739

>always have disadvantage

y tho

For anyone who is good with CR calculations, what would the CR of a ghoul be if it had three attacks (two claw one bite) and max HP?

>>54435758
The rules?

It's a ranged weapon with an effective range of 5. You are within 5 feet of your enemy to use it.
You have disadvantage.
You are within 15, maximum range, but not 5.
You have disadvantage.

You have a couple of options to negate it, but they involve feats, or, obviously, attacking someone you would have advantage on to negate.

>>54434537
Fucking yes I like Adventure Zone

>>54435697
>>54435707
Only at low levels. They have innate abilities equivalent to 3rd level spells,good constitution for maintaining concentration or resisting poison. If you had a whole party of them you could plan around it, but if you have a regular party and then one guy who can breathe water from level one with a swim speed of 30ft, or a guy who doesn't need to breathe at all and can levitate, or can fly like 60ft if its that bird thing, from level 1 it's all pretty ridiculous and fucks with your options as DM. Obstacles that will be hard for the rest of the party are effortless for the EE races, and if you try to balance to make it harder for your EE race you usually make it hard for the rest of the party. It's just a pain in the ass and forces you to make certain choices, like tight tunnels that you cant fly levitate or swim in

>>54435747
I had an aarakocra in my party at the beginning of a campaign a while ago. He died in the first session because the bad guys had bows.

Levitate is even less spooky. 20 feet off the ground doesn't matter almost at all.

>>54435797

I know why nets have disadvantage, I'm asking why there is no other object in the game I can use to trap small creatures without being at disadvantage

>>54435833
Again, the rules. Attempting to use an improvised weapon to catch something most resembles a net, meaning you would be using a nets stats, but without proficiency. Unless you have tavern brawler.

If a weapon specifically designed to capture things is difficult, why would a non-weapon be easier?

>>54435108
Playing a Tiefling now. DM has been pretty consistent about the hate of Tieflings. I got into a huge bar fight just because I walked in. It's just a big RP opportunity as I see it. I'm just playing that my Tiefling character is racist as hell too. Its fun and reasonable.
Warlock BTW.

>>54435862

Because there's a massive difference between trying to restrain a humanoid-sized warrior and scoop up a tiny flying creature.

You're asking what's the difference between covering a person in a huge net and swiping your hand to catch something small.

>>54435789
Unless i'm retarded, ghouls are significantly weaker than CR1 is "supposed" to be, as doing what you say made the ghoul CR1, with OCR2 and DCR1/2

>>54435817
Having one character who can swim really well doesn't do much for the rest of the party. At best, it's a help action so you crank the DC up two or three points.
Let the swimmy guy have his swimmy time and help the other not-swimmy guys. Don't even try to challenge him, just challenge the rest of the party assuming he helps.

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So I have a question.
I'm trying to make pic related in 5e and I have no idea where to start.

I'm want to get myself hyped because this game will run for just about when the next game comes out.

>>54435890
No, catching something in your hand is a grapple. If you want to fluff a grapple as a box or whatever, that's fine. Nets restrain, which is a stronger condition, and applies because the net is a weapon.

>>54435904

Huh, that's interesting. That OCR was definitely what I was looking for though, thanks.

If I recall, the CR calculations don't account for things like the ghoul's paralysis ability, which would certainly make it stronger than just attacks alone.

>>54435066
That is probably the issue. It's hard to balance at lvl 1 for a new gm so the party felt mad about it
>>54435108
I disallow

>>54435831
You can't put anything out of reach to the party, they can maneuver however they want across the field, take high ground, avoid pit falls and chasms, literally all of the enemies need good ranged attacks against them,

>>54435906
If you wanted to have an encounter you're going to have to scrap that because you will find it nearly impossible to find a challenge rating that isnt too easy for "the swimmy guy" without also being too hard for the not swimmy guys. Plus if you ever wanted to have an interesting item at the bottom of a body of water thats completely trivialised too.

Do you guys not DM? The EE races really cut into what you can do with the environment because they're literally designed to have mastery over at least 1 of them

>>54435942
Right, i totally didn't bother to look at anything except the numbers. In that case, you'd probably hit CR2 at a minimum, since doubling the paralysis chances is pretty big.

>>54435926

I said "swipe your hand" as the motion. Compare catching a wasp in a jar with throwing a net over a person. It's a completely different action.

>>54435966
I've literally recently gone through this, if the party has prep time, the balance doesn't need altering, the swimmy guy just has a good/fun time in that fight. If they don't, you tune it down a bit. Being forced to use a spear/dagger/whatever isn't that huge.

>>54435909
UA Gothic Heroes - Revenant
Archfey Bladelock

You got the rest

>>54435975
Compare throwing a net over a wasp with throwing anything else over a wasp. Or catching a wasp in a net, like a butterfly net is an actual thing, and anything else.

Again, if you want to GRAPPLE, that's one thing, but trying to game the mechanics to get better nets when improvising is pure min-max faggotry.

>>54435108
Doesn't the PHB's entry on tieflings to to pretty great lengths to tell players the public reaction to them?

>>54436019
>game the mechanics to get better nets when improvising is pure min-max faggotry.

>>54436019
hat's not what I'm trying to do.I'm looking for something that could specifically be used to catch a small or tiny creature without disadvantage. It wouldn't be usable on a medium sized humanoid at all.

A butterfly net isn't even close to the same thing as a net that you would trap a person in.

>>54435909
That's an odd one. Seems a ranger/psion but I don't know if the ua psion even gives you comparable abilities and imo it isn't balanced.

>>54435966
>If you wanted to have an encounter you're going to have to scrap that because you will find it nearly impossible to find a challenge rating that isnt too easy for "the swimmy guy" without also being too hard for the not swimmy guys. Plus if you ever wanted to have an interesting item at the bottom of a body of water thats completely trivialised too.
Oooooor you can let the swimmy guy have his fun. Letting one PC be superior in their element is not a bad thing.

>>54435909
Ranger/warlock

>>54436084
So why are you so opposed to fluffing a grapple? You seem intent on having a better net.

>Grapple sprite.
>Shove it in a bag.
That's all it takes.

>>54436084
Even using a butterfly net on an insect or something small would usually rely on catching it by surprise to do it easily, which would imply advantage.

If you were actually fighting against a cat, do you really think it would be as easy to catch it in a butterly net compared to just hitting it with a bat?

>>54435966
Trap the item

>>54436052
Sure they're mistrusted and generally assumed to be up to no good, but partly they refuse to trust anyone either. I see no reason that they should be full on shunned or fear for their lives wherever they go. Just mention that the guards seem to be keeping a close eye on them in particular, or have a shopkeeper warn them of the price for stealing from them, that sort of thing.
You'd have to be a real manchild DM to actively impede the party as a whole because one player chose a race you think ought to be treated harshly in your society.
I mean there are fucking lizard men and dwarves and all sorts of wild shit running about. If you think like that guy >>54435019 then you'd better have a world in which the races completely stick to themselves and your party is entirely of the race of their home town

>>54436132

I'm opposed to adventurers not being able to do things real people without training can. If I don't have the strength to grapple, that means I can't catch something tiny in a jar? How does that make sense?

>>54436135

Assuming the net is beg enough for the cat, yes. Why would one be harder than the other?

>>54436196
Being a dog-catcher is several magnitudes more difficult than beating one to death. Safely securing a person is much more difficult than beating them into submission, which is harder than just killing them.

The less violent you want something to be, the more difficult it likely is.

>>54436222

A dog is big enough to fight you. I'm specifically talking about trapping tiny creatures, not things that are strong enough to resist or fight back.

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Whats a good justification to have all the races be united or at least tolorant of one another?

>>54436196
>. If I don't have the strength to grapple
If the thing you are trying to "catch" is stronger than you, size isn't particularly relevant. Strong fish pull rods and people, rather than the other way around. Nets having disadvantage isn't even that big a deal if the creature has a low AC, and you have a reasonable dex.

>>54436246
Catching a fly is harder than killing it too anon.

>>54436263

fantasy

>>54436263
Enemy of my enemy. You just need a BBEG that threatens all the races, or the world itself.

>>54436263
Affirmative action

>>54436263
Everyone hates goblinoids so much they can't spare any hatred for the other races.

>>54436263
My current campaign is an isekai world 200+ years into it. Everyone is from different worlds/regions to begin with, and they needed to come together to stay safe from a hostile environment. Sure, insular communities have popped up, but the vast majority don't care about racial stigmas, and "monster" races were useful/helpful thanks to their martial ability and strengths.

>>54436263
There's enough goblins around to murder that everyone just does that

>>54436277
>Catching a fly is harder than killing it too anon.

If you use your bare hands it is. If you scoop it up in a jar it's not.

>If the thing you are trying to "catch" is stronger than you

in that case it would be a lot harder, yes. If it is indeed stronger than you

>>54436263

How about just money? Some border city or city on a major trade route decided they could get even richer by catering to all the races rather than just a few.

There are girl goblins, right? I mean, there have to be. Goblins don't just spontaneously split in half to reproduce.

I'm not asking because muh magical realm or anything, I just realized in all the campaigns I've ever played, official and homebrew, I've never encountered a girl goblin.

Maybe that's not something that strictly needs to be specified though, I guess.

Just ignore me.

>>54436325
>If you use your bare hands it is. If you scoop it up in a jar it's not.
Scooping it in a jar is still far harder than a fly-swatter. Which is why disadvantage is a thing. It's harder to do than using the appropriate tool.

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Can anyone who has experience with this homebrew give some advice? My friend played this for a few sessions and honestly it feel like he does nothing in combat except summon his fire elemental. Out of combat he does nothing either (But I feel like that's because our DM didn't give us much chance to roleplay)

>>54436263
Most player races are inherently good unlike certain human races

>>54436353

how do you know which goblins are girls? Maybe some of the were but you couldn't tell, just like I can't tell if a squirrel is a girl

>>54436362
There are no mechanics in that.

>>54436353
>There are girl goblins, right?
Yes, but it rarely matters.

>>54435909
This
>>54436124
UA Ranger Hunter 11/Archfey Warlock 9
if you want to focus on his martial ability, probably take archery, horde breaker, and volley
UA Ranger Hunter 6/Archfey Warlock 14
if you want to focus on the mind controlling aspect.

>>54436353
Yes, there are girl goblins. If you're interested in artist depictions of them, InCase has made many.

>>54436357

Maybe, but it would be a hell of a lot easier than throwing a knife or shooting an arrow at it.

Maybe flyswatter attacks have a property that gives them advantage against flies, ever consider that?

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>>54436384

Well, that's simple enough. They look like pic related.

>>54436402
Less of the mind controlling aspect and more of the wraith/ranger powers. Doesn't have to be strictly undead since my DM knows I want to play a character with those powers so he said I can make a ring for it (obviously not the one ring, but one that grants those powers)

What's the point of different types of clothing?
When has anyone ever worn anything but their armor?

>>54436463
D&D is a roleplaying game, anon.

>>54436463

if you try to wear that dirty ass scuffed to fuck rusty dick armor to a noble's court you'll get laughed out the door

>>54436463

infiltration

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>>54436392
>>54436362
I believe this is what is in question. Another player in a short game I was in played a wind one, seemed mostly like a different warlock and it was hard to tell if it was particularly weak or strong. Low level shillelagh was enough for him to be decent in combat.

>>54436463
Every time i'm in a safe place or town?

>>54436475
>>54436482
>>54436487
>>54436484
Huh never seen this come up once. Maybe it's just me that's been playing in glorified combat sims for the past year.

>>54436485
Yea that's the one I meant (dumb phone poster without the right version on my phone)
But yea it feels like an even worse version of a Warlock

>>54436534
Do you wear a work uniform on your day off?
Well even adventurers have days off where they relax.

>>54436606
>Well even adventurers have days off where they relax.
What really? So far my party has not experienced one day off from adventuring.
To be honest it's almost like our DM just railroads us into encounter after encounter, mostly boss fights. With lengthy monologues of course.

>>54436534
IME it matters about as much as disguise kits and such, once in a while the situation arises where you need to dress a specific way but most of the time it doesn't matter. In a oneshot we were infiltrating a castle from the basement and found chef's suits outside the kitchen that we used, while my fighter stayed in his armor pretending to be a noble. Finding a fish in a cheese wheel that granted me a wish allowing me to actually be a noble helped.

>>54436643
>Finding a fish in a cheese wheel that granted me a wish

WHAT

>>54436667
It was a pretty whacky oneshot and the dm made a d100 table of magical items specifically for it so it got a lot of use. Eating a cheese wheel while waiting, there was a fish with the head of a man saying it'd grant me one wish and my knight-impersonating fighter wished to be an actual knight. My favorite were one player getting both an orb of demon advice and one of angel advice, each having a demon/angel trapped inside that would give advice, and when he put them together they merged and started fighting loudly in his pocket.

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>>54436638
Ask your DM to give you a day off so your team can recoup and do anything they need to do.

If your DM is cool then he'll let you, if not, then he is shit and he should know he is shit.

>>54436263
Stolen Generations.

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Friend of mine found a pretty interesting Artificer rework on reddit. Dumping it for what you guys make of it.
I think it's interesting and a good use of the Warlock's general framework, but I'm reserving full judgement until I can see about putting it to practice.

Not sure what the hell to do to Thundertree in the starter set adventure to make it more interesting and cohesive. As it is it just seems like a bunch of random encounters jumbled together into a single area.

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>>54436263
They live in a cosmopolitan planar metropolis.

>>54436847
That is sort of the beauty of it

Thundertree was a fun session or two, I have DM'ed LMoP for two different groups now

don't let your dumbass players run there at level 2 or 3

Do Wizard familiar's have the ability to give an ally combat advantage by helping, and which familiar option is best?

>>54437044
>yes, but it shouldn't be allowed
>owl

>>54434537

I greatly enjoy it, but I'm speaking as someone who loves all McElroy Bros. content. I know TAZ shirks the rules proper a lot of the time, but I understand it's necessary for good radio. It convinced me that glass cannon monsters - fast paced and high stakes combat - is the best way to go; I can always see my players' eyes glaze over when combat takes too long.

"Are you my friend?" is my favorite moment from the series and I yearn for an opportunity to roleplay a moment of that caliber with my group.

>>54437044
>combat advantage
It's just advantage, 4rry, but yes. They can go in and use the Help action, and if they're an owl can swoop out without taking an opportunity attack because of Flyby. They are extremely squishy though, a stiff breeze will make them go poof.

>>54437044
Yes, but expect the DM to squash that familiar 1 turn after you pull that shit.

>>54437044
Yes. Owl is typically the easiest to use that way with it's flyby ability. It'll still die as soon as enemies start targeting it so be smart about how you use it.

>>54437060
>It convinced me that glass cannon monsters - fast paced and high stakes combat - is the best way to go; I can always see my players' eyes glaze over when combat takes too long.
That's a big selling point for me, guess I gotta check it out sooner rather than later. Hp bloat is awful, challenging players without using it feels great.

>>54436830

It honestly looks like a serious improvement.

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i threw a deck of many things at 1st lvl players. knew it could break the campaign or kill off players, but it sounded like and was alot of fun.
but now i really dont know how to pick up at session 2.
>human barbarian got cursed by medusa, his few items got destroyed, jumped to lvl 5, boosted his INT for some reason, and summoned a avatar of death.
>tiefling warlock got a sentient +3 arcane focus from the key card, a female knight follower "which was quickly asked to draw cards", and then got trapped by his patron Mephistopheles in suspended animation
>the knight drew the throne card then immediately gave the property to her lord, drew the comet card, and when her lord vanished she started drawing cards to try and bring him back. her INT dropped to 5 with the fool, and drew vizier to learn the location of her lord.
>halforc paladin gained 50,000 gp in jewelry, made a NPC and devil enemy "devil actually works under Mephistopheles", and then got 3 fucking wishes.
>tabaxi rouge jumped to lvl 9 and got a wonderous item, then got his soul sucked out of his body and taken by the same devil.

first they wished for the avatar to leave and never harm the barbarian ever again. next they wished for Mephistopheles himself to return both players back safely with "no strings attached". he opened a gate from the nine hells and delivered the two back, but before he did he stuck a syringe full of a black liquid into the tiefling. when they freaked out because they said no strings attached, he replied with "this is a syringe, not a string." and everyone at the table had a laugh. finally they wished for their own individual, obedient, adult dragons.

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>>54437132
to give more context, this all took place in a tavern inside a major port city. a wanted sorcerer gave them the deck without telling them what it was, then he walked off. and i guess the influx of 4 adult dragons are gonna destroy the tavern and cause a big seen.

theres no way the government of the city are just gonna let this slide, they will likely be brought in for questioning, people are gonna want to claim or kill those dragons, and what if the players decide to conquer the land? im really at a lost and i need a interesting direction to take this. any suggestions are appreciated

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If I'm a Cleric with a sword in one hand and a holy-symbol-emblazoned shield in the other, can I cast spells, or do I need a free hand?

See, on one hand the phb says I can use my holy symbol as a spellcasting focus, so I know I can use it place of material components, and the section talking about material components states that I can use the same hand I use for material components to do somantic components.

On the other hand, how would that work for spells with somantic components but not material components, and why would we have a feat like Warcaster?

Just wondering if there's an official clarification on the subject, or if I'm maybe just dumb and missing something obvious.

>>54437163
More dragons show up and want answers as to why their people have been kidnapped and enthralled.

>>54437132
Sounds like you fucked the game my man. Even with the full party they all have wildly different levels and potential.
Scrap the game, say you messed up and just pretend it never happened. Next session is session 1

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Ok story time, contains light Curse of Strahd spoilers and artificer playtest

>be playing CoS in a non-adventure league game
>make kobold artificer to playtest, go alchemist. DM wanted stats rolled so i started with 16 INT, along with HP rolled at levels after 1st, which i've rolled about average so far.
>name him Doctor Takk, dresses and acts like some combination of Darkest Dungeon Plague Doctor and Shovel Knight's Plague Knight. Is an actual doctor and thus prefers to be called Doctor Takk, even by fellow party members.
>fight some guys in a winery
>unlock doors and chests cause tool expertise and have thieves tools
>during a fight everyone is jumping down onto a wagon and taking damage, I use a winch to lower myself safely
>can use identify as a ritual without spell components, identify a staff
>use my intelligence to figure out some strange device is a printing press
>find hidden room full of brown mold
>we make mistake of trying to burn it, backfires on us very hard
>get out, but seeing brown mold and getting a good taste of what it does, see a roleplay opportunity and think ALCHEMICAL REAGENT, and with some thinking, use an empty wine bottle and the wizard's mage hand spell to safely shove some brown mold into the wine bottle and cork it
>going to try and work with the DM if I can either make some limited ammo alchemical cold bombs, or perhaps replace one of my alchemical formulas with some sort of cold bomb in my class features, like make it the same as either the fire or acid, just cold, and using a con save. Using alchemist's supplies tools.
>also be the one that finds the sunsword at the abbey

This session tonight has really been a Doctor Takk episode and he really shined, though 90% of what happened was out of combat. He's very useful out of combat, though combat itself he still needs a bit of a buff, 1/4 caster ain't doing shit, especially when all of your spell lists is only buffs or heals

>>54437106

Grif's not a perfect DM but he emphasizes the story over all else, and so combat always serves the story. His loosey-goosey approach to the rules turns off some hardcore players but, like I said, makes for much better radio.

I could never get into Critical Role because just listening to plain, uncut gameplay is actually really hard to stand. At least for me.

>>54437173
Warcaster is because your arcane focus isn't supposed to be a shield or weapon.

>>54437132
>i threw a deck of many things at 1st lvl players. knew it could break the campaign

you were right

>>54437173
>>54437335
To clarify, a holy symbol isn't a graphic, it's like a physical crucifix.

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>>54437132
One of my dms did this too. I drew sun and dm immediately nerfed it.
Also
>this is a syringe, not a string

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>>54437315

>tfw the sunsword is in ravenloft in our game
>tfw the DM never gave us a reason to go there before the "last level of the game" so to speak
>tfw the fucking cleric is going to try to claim it even though I'm playing a god damn paladin

>>54437132
Sounds crazy. I'd be interested in the wording of the wish. I'd either
A) Male the Faerie Dragons
B) Make them obedient to somebody not in the party. Or even each other

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>>54437335
>cleric

Clerics use holy symbols as their focus, which explicitly can be on the shield.

To answer >>54437173's question, I believe the way it works, if your holy symbol is on your shield, you can have a weapon and shield out any time you case a spell with a material component that allows your focus as a stand-in for the materials. But any somatic spell with no materials or spell with materials that have an explicit cost require a hand free.

Is there ever any reason to use a sickle?

How do I convince a king to make me his court wizard and what duties would being a court wizard entail.

>>54437423
>Clerics use holy symbols as their focus, which explicitly can be on the shield.

Well fuck me, my bad.

>>54437425
Harvesting season.

>>54437316
Yeah I'm in the middle of critrole at the moment and just watch it while drawing battlemaps, before I did that it was way too boring for me to be able to watch much at a time, but Matt's awful encounters and stuff is wearing on me and I'll probably take a break and check out other podcasts.

>>54437426

>hey wizard can you scry on this dickwad baron for me? i think he's trying to have me assassinated
>hey wizard my wife is speaking in tongues can you take a look or should I call a priest
>hey wizard the peasants are complaining about a dry season can you whip up some storms for us

>>54437425
Doesn't seem like it. A dagger is better for everyone in basically every circumstance, except when it comes to damage type and price. 2 gp vs 1 gp is not a big deal, and the only things I know of that really care about damage types end up with Slashing being the worst in almost every situation it matters.

Clubs are at least dirt cheap and useful against skeletons.

>>54437425
A 9th level or something monk should do as much damage with it as their signature quarterstaff/spear, and thrown property doesn't matter at that point either with darts.

>>54437480
>the only things I know of that really care about damage types end up with Slashing being the worst in almost every situation it matters.

pretty sure treants and awakened trees resist bludgeoning and piercing but not slashing

>>54437384
Fuck no dude, unless he's a Light Cleric that shit is yours.

>>54437425
If it's magic.

>>54437499
Yeah, like I said, almost. Compared to the other things like Oozes that are immune to slashing and skeletons that are weak to bludgeoning, Slashing is pretty objectively the weakest damage type.

Granted, that's a really slim margin, but still, it's not even helpful for that. I mean, the scenario where that works is if you really need an off-hand simple weapon for dual-wielding, but you're fighting a treant so you don't want to use a dagger. Except it's also not just simple weapons, because a Handaxe is better.

So if you're a Strength Based dual-wielding druid fighting a Treant, you'll want a Sickle. Otherwise, that same character would prefer a Dagger.

Hypothetical Question: Do you think Dungeons & Dragons sales plummet if WotC released official epub/pdf versions of their rulebooks?

I am aware of the Basic Rules and the D&D Beyond project.

Is the criticism that 5e is too boring, too safe and doesn't have enough edge a valid one?

Apparently a criticism is that it's not easy to die in 5e and tactic used is to just rush head on into danger.

I'm bummed to hear about sickles. I wish scythes had a stat block. Simple weapon, 1d8 slashing, two handed would be nice. Basically a slashing spear that you could only use two-handedly.

And yes I know that scythes were actually terrible weapons IRL

>>54437630

It's as easy to die as your DM makes it. I've had characters in 5e die because they lost initiative.

>>54437480
>>54437499
>>54437587
sls has 6 creatures with resistance, 2 with immunity
prc has 10 creatures with resistance
bld has 8 creatures with resistance, 4 with vulnerability

Bld is best, the other two are pretty much even.

>>54437616
They'd probably go up once people found out it wasn't $30-50 per book entry fee.

>>54437630

I just saw that episode of Web DM too

In a vacuum I suppose it's pretty easy to stay alive in 5e but I feel like the difficulty will always be determined by the DM. If you want a deadly campaign, you can make one.

>>54437587
>>54437499
You fine fellows seem to know what you're talking about with damage types, so real quick:
Ihave a warlock with dex as lowest stat (really wasnt thinking about my AC when I decided that, but have chosen to stick with it), chose a spear, get 2 daggers automatically, and intended to take the light crossbow but due to low dex have switched to a mace at the last minute. I figure as I have Eldritch Blast and a +5 on spell attack i should be using that for range anyway, so it's a good idea to take a mace for some variety in damage right?

>>54437616
>Do you think Dungeons & Dragons sales plummet if WotC released official epub/pdf versions of their rulebooks?
Fuck no. Pirating is already super-easy.

>>54437630
Not quite. It's less lethal than some editions, but there is still danger if you play it poorly. Part of the issue is that they balanced for way more encounters than I think most people often use. 6-9 in a day is really pushing it.

If you're actually running that many fights though? Yeah, it becomes a lot more threatening.

>>54437668
Pick up Crossbow Expert and don't worry about your melee ever again.

>>54437630
I don't think it's particularly bad when it comes to survivability in either direction. But it is very safe and standard with little interesting, I enjoy it as a sort of "base" game, a go-to for D&D-style fantasy, but there are other games I enjoy more.

>>54437668

Force is the least resisted damage type in the game, so needing to diversify damage types shouldn't be an issue.

If you're at range eldritch blast, and with that AC I'd make it my #1 priority not to ever be in melee range of anything.

>>54437678
>Pirating is already super-easy.
>have every core and supplemental 5e book published
>not a single one is legit
I'd support WotC by at least buying their figures but from what I can see on their site it's randomised like trading cards?

>>54437665
>>54437659
Yeah, it was coming off that video. Does this mean they were correct in the sense it's also end user related, that it was their issue rather than just the system's?

>>54437668
If your dex is low, you certainly don't want to really bother with a ranged weapon, since Eldritch blast will do fine.

I'd say you could stick with a spear, or a mace if you're really worried. Generally though, Eldritch Blast will be doing a lot more damage than anything else.

I wouldn't go with >>54437702 's suggestion if only because it's a bit wasteful, and honestly you shouldn't have that much trouble keeping your distance anyway.

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>>54437668
>>54437661
For good measure, here's the tables I have on damage types, only includes MM creatures but useful for a few different things.

>>54437729
>>54437706
>>54437697
>>54437665
>>54437659
>>54437630
They seemed pretty adamant easy survivability was because of the system itself rather than how they were running it.

>>54437760
Didn't even know Thunder was a damage type.

>>54437789
It completely depends on how aggressive enemies are about attacking downed PCs, and how much healing the PCs throw around.

>>54437789

I don't know what video you're talking about, maybe elaborate? In the games I play in people die often enough. Maybe one death every 3 sessions or so.

>>54437789
hp bloat is a thing, and once you're past the first few levels needing to go to negative max hp in a single attack to die means that won't really happen, and you have 3 death saves so as long as someone gets you up within 3 whole rounds you should be fine. Though a big thing is whether the GM makes the monsters hit players that are down or not, as they can then die quite easily with advantage and autocrit as crits make you fail 2 death saves. I feel like this isn't exclusive to 5e though.

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>>54437242
this honestly sounds the best. im thinking of making a ancient red dragon that openly rules a country and treats the nations wealth as it's hoard. i saw that idea posted here a wile back and thought it was cool, im thinking it swoops in the middle of their interrogation and maybe kidnaps any red dragons the party has to mate with. its species is dying out and it needs a heir to it's throne.

>>54437789
It isn't. It's more survivable than say, AD&D, but that's not hard to accomplish.

Compared to say, 3.5 where every group can just buy a Wand of Cure light wounds and have a fountain of health or 4e where everyone has 30 hp at first level and can replenish it several times thanks to surges, 5e is looking relatively lethal in many regards.

The only thing I've seen that makes it easy if you have a cheeky paladin who goes around using Lay on Hands for 1 point on downed party members, but even that's relying on the DM not attacking dying players at all.

Thanks for your replies.
>>54437702
Well I'll probably be casting mostly
>>54437724
>with that AC I'd make it my #1 priority not to ever be in melee range of anything.
Well at level 2 I can take the Armour of Shadows invocation and cast Mage Armour at will (13 AC, -1 for my Dex), but I have to drop it at level 3 and swap for Book of Ancient Secrets to get the most out of Pact of the Tome, and then I can't pick it up again until 4th or 5th level when i can have 3 invocations (I want Devils Sight and don't think I'd swap it for anything, not even better AC)
Maybe I should train for medium armour with a feat? That would also free me up for more invocations
>>54437746
>I wouldn't go with...
Do you think it's worth taking the feat with medium armour proficiency instead of keeping AoS as an invocation? Then i wouldn't have to worry about melee so much
>>54437760
Thanks!

>>54437290
the players are very exited to start the next session so even if i did break the game, im gonna run the game anyway for the players sake. im sure theres a way to balance this out

>>54437900
>Something to remember, which I think many people forget, is that Death Saves also last the entire day.
Not true. Death saves reset when you stabilize or get any more HP.

>>54435166
>weeding out undesirables
>keeping orcs

Why? They're literally the worst race.

>>54437376
how did he nerf it? no item or less xp?

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>>54437900

>>54437914
I'm not the above anon, nor do I have much experience with 5e but I'm pretty sure that death saves last until you finish a long rest.

>>54437886
His suggestion with Crossbow expert was so that you wouldn't get disadvantage for casting Eldritch Blast in melee. Personally, I find that wasteful.

Medium armor could be a good investment, since it not only frees up an Invocation, but also would let you grab a shield.

Is there any real difference between a dex paladin and a str paladin?

>>54437827
>>54437844
>>54437852
>>54437871
>>54437900
Here's the video, bros https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95MkS984Vm8
Their issues with 5e starts around the 8:15 mark.

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>>54437900
>which I think many people forget

I do think it's a good houserule though.

>>54437924
Less xp. He just bumped me up to level 2

>>54437937
"Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed.
Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect
by itself. On your third success, you become stable (see
below). On your third failure, you die. The successes
and failures don't need to be consecutive; keep track
o f both until you collect three of a kind. The number of
both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or
become stable."

>>54436263
Insane demon monsters from a realm of nightmare have begun overrunning the world.

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>>54437937
I hope you're pretty.

>>54437969
The more you know

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>>54437900
>>54437914
>>54437937

>>54437943
>His suggestion with Crossbow expert was so that you wouldn't get disadvantage for casting Eldritch Blast in melee
Oh I didn't realise it included spells
>Medium armor could be a good investment, since it not only frees up an Invocation, but also would let you grab a shield.
Im not sure how much I want a shield. I'm not sure if it's good or bad but I mostly want to RP and will happily sacrifice a bit of functionality to make the character I have in my head, it's just my AC is very very low and will likely be a problem. I'm sure I'd get by with just medium armour and no shield, I don't imagine having a shield ever. Maybe if it had very unusual shape/design or something

>>54438006
Remember that a "shield" is anything from tiny ass bucklers to kite shields. Pay an extra 5 gold and have a fancy one made.

>>54438006
>Didn't realise it included spells.
It encompasses any ranged attack made when in 5ft of a hostile creature. This means if Orc#1 is standing behind you and you cast eldrich blast on Orc#2 (who is 50ft away) you will have disadvantage on the strike because an enemy is within 5ft, even though you're not targeting that enemy.

>>54437954
Well, part of their complaint is from comparing it to 2e, and 5e is most certainly not as lethal as 2e, since in 2e if you hit 0 you were dead.

Another factor might be that they're used to more instant-death mechanics from older editions where certain monsters could just kill you on a bad roll. And of course, it's also possible that they're simply not giving the players the proper amount of challenges through the day that 5e recommends.

I would say that 5e is safer than earlier editions, but not to the degree that it would become boring unless you were doing something wrong on top of it.

Anyone ever finish a campaign as a class and then feel like playing another character of the same class right after?

Finishing OotA as a paladin, and I wouldn't mind making another one for SKT. Differently flavored, of course.

>>54438066
>ever finish a campaign

no...

DM always either gets bored or someone's work schedule changes or something

>>54438006
Well, part of the reason I suggest that is that if you have 8 or 9 Dex, I think you may get a penalty to AC even with Medium armor. Still, a breastplate would give you 13, and a shield on top of that gives you a very respectable 15.

And of course, like >>54438029 says, shields can be vary greatly in how they're described. Depending on what pact you are you could have some small fancy elven buckler, a fiendish looking spiked shield, or some strapped together bits of driftwood.

I'd highly recommend it though.

>>54438089
Chin up, guy. The OotA I mentioned is the first campaign I'll have ever finished and I've been playing ttgs for nearly ten years.

>>54437954
So
>monster mechanics are wonky at times
I can agree with that, and they're not very exciting overall, most of them just being bags of hp that do damage
>CR and monster vs. player balance is fucked
True, a party at level 6 is supposed to be challenged by a CR6 monster but a CR8-10 is more likely to be fitting.
>Players will always succeed
Not sure how this is specific to 5e, maybe it's just the simplicity so you see through the mirage that other systems keep up? Many modern games, whether their challenge lies in skirmishes or resource management, have the PCs being very likely to succeed. I think 5e's monsters may be part of this, as again they often just do some damage and have some hp and it can become just a battle of attrition, attacking each other in turn until someone falls over.
>it's sort of a greatest hits of D&D but ends up without any of the great things of previous editions
While I'd only say B/X, 2e and 4e are worth mentioning for this, and 5e feels like an attempt to make a less horrible 3rd edition, I do agree that it's just kind of dull and lacks a strong selling point.
>Past level 1-2 it is extremely hard to die
This one is being discussed, of course compared to 2e and OSR it's not going to be as lethal, compared to other games I don't see how this is a big deal. Making it have more "edge" by handing out lingering injuries or exhaustion when you fall unconscious, having death saves persist until a long rest and so on are common houserules though for a more heroic type of game I find it quite acceptable.

Understandable overall, though the last point is a bit overblown.

>>54438150
>>Past level 1-2 it is extremely hard to die

Bullshit. I've had level 4 characters get killed instantly by taking more than twice their HP in damage

>>54438115
What if i just use my ability score increase at 14 to put my dex at 10? Instead of medium armour proficiency. Though i'd probably then have to take Armour of Shadows when could.
Just really not a fan of carrying shields around

>>54438056
They were also coming from 3e and 4e though, if they just used the lethality of 2e that would've been understandable but it's as difficult to die in 3e and 4e if not more so.

>>54438183

Even if you don't carry a shield the medium armor gives you more armor than mage armor

rogueadin multiclass? paladin to 3 for treachery and then rest in swashbuckler?

>>54438183
I assume you meant 4 and not 14. That could be an option as well, but you'd still be stuck with 13 AC and having to take Armor of Shadows.

At that point, you might as well still go with the Medium armor bonus, since a breastplate with 8 dex will give you the same AC as mage armor with 10. Plus later on you could potentially get half plate and have it go up higher, or eventually get a feat for Heavy armor proficiency and be dealing with even better AC by wearing Chainmail or Scale.

It's really up to you, but Medium armor seems like a solid pick either way. A shield is just so useful though, so I'm having a hard time understanding why you'd turn it down, but that's your decision.

>>54438176
I do think the first 5 or so levels are pretty lethal, not just the 2 first as they claim (though they are particularly so). But 4 characters taking twice their hp in damage to instantly die from full is not common in this edition, and outside of the first levels I'd be shocked to see that happen. Even just at level 3, sure a crit can do a lot of damage, I made my players fight a cyclops at that level and it could crit instakill someone easily, but not reliably.

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Do there exist any homebrew classes that are actually balanced?

More specifically, does there exist basically a "hunter"? As in, most of your damage and abilities come from, or are in synchronization with, a pet/summon/etc?

>>54438191

3e it's pretty easy to die. Lots of 'save or die' or 'Save or be as good as dead' effects as you go up in levels.

>>54434468
It depends. There's this terrible sweet-spot where a creature that deals a target's max HP on average is actually fairly likely to mildly underswing leaving the target with a few HP left then mildly overswing for a fatality.

>>54438191
I heard them mention 2e specifically, and they were mostly talking about higher levels as well, which made me think they were talking about it more.

I really do feel like it does boil down to the fact that going for 5e's recommended number of encounters per day doesn't mesh with the pacing an average GM goes for. Like, who plans 9 encounters in a single day, having all of those be average difficulty? Or 6 deadly encounters for things stronger than the players?

If there's one thing I disagree with 5e on, it's that decision, but even that's pretty easily fixed with the proper variant rules.

>>54438225
I got hit for 61 damage from a young dragon's breath when my HP was 30. I was playing a sorcerer, so thinking back, with 30 HP I might have actually been level 5.

Even discounting instant kills there are a ton of times I've been KO'd in one round by an enemy when I was the only guy on the team who could reliably heal.

>>54438249
Having access to wand of cure x, rods of resurrection etc is really easy though.

>>54438223
>I assume you meant 4 and not 14
Yeah, sorry
>At that point, you might as well still go with the Medium armor bonus, since a breastplate with 8 dex will give you the same AC as mage armor with 10
Okay, sounds like good advice
>I'm having a hard time understanding why you'd turn it down
Just really into the RP and not a fan of how shields look. I can't imagine my character carrying a shield around or using it in battle with one hand full of arcane energy.
I'd happily play a paladin or cleric with a shield, but I'm playing a pure warlock, I'm not even intending to multiclass or anything, I don't think of spellcasters as using shields

>>54438282
Our wizard was killed to a breath weapon at level 9 (shadow dragon so he died from going to 0, but he also succeeded the save so if he hadn't it was probably instadeath). It's definitely more lethal than they make it out to be, and especially if playing squishy classes there are enemies that will fuck you up if you're not very careful.

>>54438314
You could ask your DM to have a parrying dagger of some sort and count that as a shield, but I suppose it's understandable enough.

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Would you allow these to work with magic weapons?

>>54438239
Revised Ranger, Beastmaster Enclave. It's not homebrew but it's what you're looking for

>>54438150
>>CR and monster vs. player balance is fucked
>True, a party at level 6 is supposed to be challenged by a CR6 monster but a CR8-10 is more likely to be fitting.
That's not true, it's just what people assume. That's not even a medium encounter.

>>54434537
First half was was better than second half

Went from funny guys fucking around in a fantasy setting to a tumblr safe space fan fic.

Griffin is funny but has shit stories, he rail roads too hard and just is an all around bad dm.

I love the McElroy senpai so much, hilarious people, but the show really dropped off half way through

>>54438361
I'd say either the combined rarity of gem + item cannot exceed legendary or gems count toward attunement limit.

>>54438361
Seems like more of a replacement for the typical magic weapon system, rather than something to add on top of it. I would just say to add some +1 and +2 gems that don't stack but can be slotted in for bonuses.

Also, the throwing bonuses for a lot of these seem really wasteful for the price. 1000 gold for a DC 13 save or 2d10 damage? Nobody would ever do that.

I would say instead to make those third effects only usable once per day, sort of like spell stones. Maybe dial back some of them to being single target, but that would also make them appealing as something for a Wizard to use as well. They'd also need to burn out for the rest of the day though, so that the caster wouldn't use it and then slot it into a weapon.

>>54438365
I think that's what it boils down to. People aren't as aware of what the challenge rating means, so they're throwing a lot less at the players than they're supposed to handle.

5 CR 6 encounters for a dungeons sounds reasonable at first glance for a level 6 party, but in practice it would be a cakewalk.

>>54438362
Beastmaster needs some tweaking to be balanced but this is as close as there is

>>54435134
I have a tiefling paladin of vengance at my table right now. She does pretty well, uses the Sentinel / PAM combo effectively. Also tanks a fair bit of damage.

>>54435624
Probably Drow, Duergar, or non-variant human.

Duegar are probably the worst of the three, I have never even heard anyone consider playing one.

>>54438481
>She does pretty well
>Sentinel / PAM combo


yeah, no shit

>>54438365
>it's just what people assume
Where in the MM/DMG does the game say otherwise? Their math seems fucked to me at least, idk how it's just people assuming things without basis in how things are written and outlined.

>>54435909
Probably either a Eldrich Knight Fighter, a Hunter Ranger, or an Archfey Bladelock. Possibly a mix of two of the options, if you are willing to multiclass.

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>>54438561
People still use the 3.5e definition of CR despite it not applying to 5e at all.

CR for a 5e monster is basically it's "level," a general measure of its offense and defense. The actual difficulty of an encounter is determined by XP totals, which account for party size and enemy count.

>>54438446
A medium encounter isn't supposed to be a challenge, it is supposed to drain resources. A deadly encounter is supposed to drain more and possibly drop someone. People misunderstand the cr system constantly. I use CR 5 encounters on lvl 5 parties so that the players use some spells or abilities in order to make the CR 6/7 encounter in the next room more suspenseful.

>>54438561
Page 82 of the DMG, Creating Encounters, gives you a chart and how to use it.

A single CR 6 creature is worth 2300 XP, just short of a medium encounter.
You are also supposed to use a 6-8 encounters, 2 short rests, 1 long rest set up, so that such an encounter, even though it's "Easy" drains resources.

>>54438561
Just as a quick example, a Medium challenge for 4 level 6 characters is 2400 XP total. A CR 6 creature is 2300 experience, just shy of what you want them to be dealing with. A Hard encounter jumps up a lot to 3600 for 4 level 6 characters though.

While a monster of that CR is roughly equal to a group of 4 players, it's not supposed to be a huge threat on its own.

Add on to this that the level 6 characters by the next table are meant to earn 4000 experience in a day. With 600 experience being a medium encounter, you'd need to have them fight 7 of these CR 6 monsters for a full day.

There's a lot of factors that go into it, but I rarely see people throwing that many fights of what they assume is a decent challenge at the players.

>>54438623
Yeah, that's my point. Someone who has played other editions might assume that a CR 6 monster is a bigger threat rather than a speed bump, or that a Medium encounter is more meaningful than it is. They also might have habits with their pacing that makes them think 5 encounters should be fine, since it's worked for them in the past.

The end result will often be a dungeon that hits way less hard than it should due to people misunderstanding and over/underestimating what the system expects.

>>54438556
That free Enlarge tho.

>>54438702
Yes. If you want to make a single encounter rough on a lvl 5 party then put them up against a CR 8 or 9 creature. Otherwise in a "dungeon" setting give them about four 4-5 CR encounters followef by a 7 or 8 CR encounter

How do I play Megumin from Konosuba in 5e?

>>54438844
Dragon sorcerer, one of the fire options, or Kaladesh Pyromancer. Spam fireballs all day every day, convert level 1-2 spell slots into sorc points whenever possible.

>>54438844
Wizard, the moment you get the ability to cast fireball that becomes the only spell you ever cast

>>54438864
>>54438877
I knew you wouldn't fail me /5eg/

>>54437937
>>54437969
>>54437983
WTF I'm playing a campaign right now that death saves are cumulative and it has killed a player twice

maybe the DM made it that way because resurrection is easier, but idk

>>54438392
Agreed. 100% behind this.

That being said, I still listen every other week.

>>54438225
There are several monsters that can be quite lethal. An invisible Will o Wisp can float above a battle and take a reaction every turn to cast Consume Life when a PC is downed. A Gibbering Mouther can kill a PC without reprieve if he gets close. Both are CR 2.

>>54438989
Intelligent enemies can and should also stab downed foes, especially if they see someone stand back up. Down isn't dead, and goblins/kobolds should know that. Personally, i also always have undead go for the kill too, they want to slay the living, not hurt them until they stop.

>>54438844
Either draconic sorcerer or evocation wizard. You get Fireball at level 5.

Draconic gets you bonus damage to fire spells (6th level), and lets you turn your useless low level slots into spell points which you can use to boost Fireball damage, range, save DC, cast as a bonus action, cast without verbal/somatic components, or turn into spell slots that can cast Fireball.

Evocation lets you cast Fireballs that avoid hitting allies, bonus damage (10th level), and you also get the ability to once per day do automatic maximum damage with a 5th level Fireball, or twice per day but the second time is going to knock you out or otherwise leave you at very low HP (using it a third time is going to kill you). A very Megumin thing to do, but unavailable until 14th level.

Either way, you start with 16 in your spellcasting stat, and your ASIs go into it until it's maxed, and also you grab Elemental Adept (Fire) to ignore fire resistances. Other feats worth mentioning are Alert to have better initiative, Tough to have more HP (good for Wizard?) and Inspiring Leader also for more HP (this time tempHP for the whole party).

I'd say between the two, Sorcerer is superior as an exclusive Fireball spammer, but Evocation Wizard has its merits for the concept I guess. For a 20th level you'd multiclass out of Wizard at 14th and take the rest of your levels in Sorcerer anyway.

Is there a way to make an optimized monk instead of just playing a fighter or paladin?

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How do I get players out of the mindset of making a joke out of everything? Only just recently a few of them go on some stupid tumblr page that has memes of what DMs or Players say at the table, and they keep trying to come up with jokes in that style.

Just talked to one about it and sent them some of the best stories from /tg/ like the one with the paladin who has to go back in time, Bonzy the Sad Clown, and the Medua one, but I'd like more help with doing that.

Or I dae dae dae try playing another system / am I understanding the game wrong? I go for verisimilitude first and antics second.

>>54439158
/tg/ is a wonderful place

>>54439195
I want my players to stop doing incredibly stupid things "because that's what my character would do." Yes, we get Kor the Half-Orc has -1 Int modifier and he might be inclined to run into a crowd of 30 city guards and start a brawl or jump of a cliff because he thought it would be funny. But cant you do something that would be FUN for the dm and the rest of the party for once? Why do you have to ruin every single plan the party concocts your leroy jenkins shit?

>>54439195
Each shitty meme costs 1/10 total exp.

With level downs.

>>54439257
Consequences. If it's what their character would do, react how the guards would react - jail or death. Or how gravity would react - splattered on the rocks, or with a broken leg that wastes a spellslot to heal. I'm sure the party will love it.

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I just let someone in my game make a v3 mystic, what should I expect?

>>54439285
I've done that but he gets frustrated that he couldnt beat the four guards single highhandedly and the party is getting tired spending time bailing him out. I'm gonna talk to him about his behavior.

>>54439171
Way of Shadows might be useful for more utility with their teleporting, but that puts you more in the vein of a Rogue focused on stealth and supporting.

I recall Sun Soul being a decent option for its ranged versatility alongside having slightly better blasting options, but I could be misremembering.

A big problem that monks have is the lack of something like Sharpshooter or Great Weapon Fighter to really improve their damage, among other things.

A Kensei monk using the UA material might be a good option in that regard, though I think it's been revised since it's initial release, and a DM might be less likely to allow it. Can't speak for its quality, but it could be a good place to look if you want raw killing potential.

>>54439334
Sorry to hear he's being a shitlord, but you're taking the right steps. Hopefully he shapes up instead of being shipped out.

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>>54439257
I feel your pain. Shitty memes broke my favorite video game, SS13, and now it's in my tabletop. When I asked them to read some of the longer stories or just stories I sent about amazing moments that went beyond NAT 20!!!!1111, but they said if they wanted to do that they'd read a novel.

Why is cooperative storytelling dead?

>>54439171
Way of the Shadows and Evil Sight from Warlock 3.

Now you're the only optimized one in the party.

>>54435543
I saw someone using this same term in an earlier 5e thread, but I couldn't find it in the PHP, what do?

>>54439409
Gourmand is from an early UA (Unearthed Arcana: Feats).

>>54435606
a net with small holes

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>>54439409
red box

That feel when Mike Mearls does not remember some 5th Edition rules use rounds. This guy is probablly the most annoying game designer ever, it takes him 15 minutes to explain "his" initiative , and boats how good it is. You can find this "new" system in the DMG and he says "Oh, I did not play more than 5-6 games with it". He made the rules few years ago, he never tested them apperently.

>"Bonus actions are something you have to learn".
It is just a recourse, it is not hard to understand. Let's make sure every class has its own type of bonus actions, because remembering one name for an action is more complicated than remembering thousand. On how many layers of stupid is this faggot?

>>54439542
Speed Factor is not nearly the same as his Greyhawk initiative. It's much closer to AD&D's initiative, though.

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>"Of course I can run into someone, attack them with two weapons and run away to hide in a bush without them beeing able to see me."
I bet he even makes their players/npcs roll dice when they go where someone hid to see if they notice someone that just flew by them in this round. No wait, he beleives there are no rounds in 5E, nevermind.

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How often do you base your PC on a character that already exists?

>>54439601
That's technically feasible though, depending on the terrain and how much movement the player has.

Assuming a Rogue, move 10 feet up to someone, stab them with two-weapon-fighting, move 10 feet into some undergrowth (opportunity attack for this unless you took mobile, which is a good addition here.) Then a bonus action to hide, and 10 feet more movement while staying hidden in order to obscure your location a bit. With mobile, you have a little more wiggle room on top of this, more still if you're playing an elf.

It's not like it's overpowered or foolproof or anything, but yeah, in the middle of a fight, you can leap out of cover, stab someone, and hide, with them only have a general idea of where you are.

Of course the Hide action doesn't make people magically forget where you went. It just means they've lost sight of you. If you duck behind a table in the middle of an open field and hide, all they have to do is get an angle where they can see behind the table and you're no longer hidden because you no longer have cover from them. You could also be hidden from one person, but not another.

But yes, having the enemy need to search around if the PC has moved from where they hid is reasonable, and this entire concept that needs a feat to function properly is still far more interesting than the Rogue sitting in the bushes and using a Hand Crossbow to do it.

>>54439664
TWF uses your bonus action, doesn't it?

>>54438406
>>54438425
Thank you for the feedback. I think I'm going to play it safe and make it non-magic items only.

I will also up the damage on the damage roll for the gems, how does 4d10 sound for an uncommon, and 6d10 for a rare?

>>54439664
If it were the ability of some Weeb Ninja archetype everyone would suddenly be ok with it.

>>54439601

Who are you quoting?

>>54439677
If you want to attack with your off-hand you have to use a bonus action, yes.

>>54439716
Mike Mearls, he said something simmilat to that on that loser's "Dungeon Life" podcast.

>>54439664
Rouges die pretty quick in my sessions, mostly because they never ever move when they hide, moronic is it not?

>>54439677
Ah, you're right. My mistake there. Still hypothetically doable, but at that point it would take a multiclass on top of all that and probably not be worthwhile.

The big upside to Rogues is being able to Hide as a Bonus action, otherwise you won't be able to be nearly as capable at relocating after attacking, and you'll probably be spending extra turns trying to Hide and relocate otherwise.

Either way, it's still not the sort of thing that's really out there as far as rule interactions go. And of course, any Rogue can simply fire from their hiding spot with a ranged weapon, use their bonus action to hide, and then move to another spot of cover, and do all of this in a far easier way.

>>54439698
It's not even like the rules are that hard to buy. This guy leaps at you, slices your leg while you were distracted fighting his buddy, rolls away under your sword swing into the bushes, and then you lose sight of him. You follow him over towards where you lost track of him, but he's crawled away since then.

Worst case scenario the enemy is going to wise up and just ready an action to attack you when you try and jump him again, but the same goes for someone trying to use stealth archery.

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I'm building a West Marches game where the players start on an island about 5 days travel from one side to the other, and I've got the island map done. I need ideas for what to put on the island though. The premise of this campaign setting is Forgotten Realms, but pieces of each plane is being moved into this new plane, and the Heroes conveniently have started in a town with mostly Faerun stuff.

I was thinking of adding Hawaiian Kobolds that sacrifice to the volcano because they think there's a dragon in there, and possibly Aaracockra raid from the mountains nearby on villages, but other than that I'm not sure how to litter this baby with content.

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I'm going to play a level 9 Barbarian here soon, in a campaign were everyone else is using sharpshooter or some super build shit

Human with GWM and PAM and just reckless attack GWM? What path?

>>54439760
Yeah, if someone watches a Rogue hide behind something, and they don't move later, that's on them. The phrasing of the section on stealth isn't strict enough to make an argument otherwise.

A good example would be that shouting gives away your position, though doesn't make it so you are no longer hidden. This means that it is possible to know the position of something that is hiding without actually seeing it and causing it to no longer be hidden.

The rules for stealth are rather simple stuff, I'm just not sure what point you're trying to make with it.

what's a good feat for a swashbuckler rogue who doesn't know anything about magic so no Magic Initiate melee cantrips?

>>54439822
Mobile? Defensive Duelist?

>>54434742
Look in the mirror

You're the DM now

what's better - spiritual weapon or flaming sphere?

>>54439830

Mobile seems kind of a waste since Swashbuckler gets the free disengage anyway.

Defensive Duelist is competing with Uncanny Dodge for my reaction, so I'm not a big fan

>>54439842
Spiritual weapon.

Van anyone give me a good reason for my druid tot leave his forest? I was thinking about following a young rare kidnapped animal for it's mother. What sort of animal should I go with? Setting is FR.

>>54439846
why?

>>54439783
GWM+PAM Bear Totem

Alternatively Barbarogue (with Shield Master), maybe Half Elf with Elven Accuracy if the UA Feats for Races are allowed.

>>54439822
None. Alert and Mobile are nice but there's nothing that will meaningfully help you, and it's better to take a level in Fighter than moderately armored if you want shield proficiency.

>>54439850
Maybe he got curious about what other forests are like.

>>54439862
Not dangerous to your party, attacking AC is generally better at lower levels than targeting saves with a low DC, has better single-target damage that isn't resisted by many creatures.

>>54439850
Looking for a good place to plant the seed of a sacred tree.

>>54439765
>Hawaiian Kobolds that sacrifice to the volcano because they think there's a dragon in there

I like this idea

>>54439821
That you should not be able to hide good if you run away from melee. The first round of you in the bushes should be easy to find you, the secound round in the bushes makes you very well hidden for you can move after you hide so they can't know your position unless they are 5ft from you.

>>54439783
Sharpshooter build, I see your DM lets people cheat :D .Bear barbaian, because it seams most of your buddies want to fling shit at opponents, they need a eat shield, be one!

>>54439895
>That you should not be able to hide good if you run away from melee

Unless, as I've pointed out, you're a Rogue. Use your movement to get to cover, bonus action to hide, use the rest of your movement to reposition. With mobile, 40 feet of movement should be plenty to get you in, out, and away.

It's not foolproof, but it would work quite well in many situations.

https://twitter.com/DnDBeyond/status/887313634904481794

Why the hell hasn't DDB talked about this more?

>>54439911
Yes it would, if you leave some movement that is fine. What I am trying to say is that players at my Local Game Club don't do that, because DMs are too soft on them. There are like only 3 harsh DMs, one of them runs only Pathfinder and the rest are lazy to run stuff, so yeah. SOFT.

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>bitching about SS/CBE/GWM/PAM
>when wizards exist

Who cares if the guy that swings a sharp stick or shoots a bunch of small sticks does slightly more damage? I guess martialplebs need to throw dirt at eachother down in the mud lol

>>54439958
>Teleports behind you with Mage-Slayer feat.
Sorry kid, nothing personal.

Bearbarian here, should I get a cloak of protection or a headband of intellect?

8 int human barbarian right now

>>54439967
>contingency:dimension door
>double hold person with simulacrum
>double disintegration on following round

lol

>>54440001
>10d6+40 damage twice
>150 total

And that's assuming every other step of your plan actually goes off. Was your Simulacrum just convieniently waiting in the bushes that you Dimension-Doored too so that you could order it to cast hold person, rather than standing next to you where it would get chopped to bits? Or does it also have Contingency prepared with the trigger being 'when I feel like it'?

How would you feel about your party having a cleric that hides in their sanctuary and helps every round?

How would you feel about that cleric also having find familiar through magic initiate and the familiar is also helping every round?

>>54439936
Because their beta character creator is an unfinished piece of shit?

>>54439958
Yeah, basically.

GWM and Sharpshooter are problematic because they shoehorn martials into a very limited set of builds if they want to be competitive with each other.

Wizards, on the other hand, are playing a completely different game.

>>54439936
https://www.orcpub2.com

I use orcpub.

>>54440088
Biggest mistake I've done as a GM was allowing GWM and Sharpshooter

One Sharpshooter, one Great Weapon Master, and a poor fire drac sorcerer. Poor "blasty" sorcerer can't come close to their DPR

>>54440152
Yeah, Warlocks and Sorcerers are the most affected as their kits are built towards being casters that deal damage, but simply don't have the big GWM/SS boost option.

Barbarians, Fighters, Rangers, Paladins... as I said they're kind of shoehorned because of how effective it is, but if they want to deal damage it's there, they can do it.

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Never toyed around with Beholders. Like, ever. Feels weird, but I sorta wanna introduce them in my campaign.

I'm trying to start straying a bit away from CR sometimes as it can be finicky as fuck, but Spectators. Are they like Dragon Wyrmlings, above their own challenge rating belt? Or are they about where they should be?

Just curious for balancing encounters.

How often do DMs and players appreciate well elaborated characters, with rich backstories that are lore friendly to the setting the character is being played in, how well the player RPs the character, how often the player makes decisions using the character's thinking instead of what would be the most optimal outcome in the situation, and in general makes the character actually exists? Obviously not talking about edgy or over-dramatized players.

>>54439975
Only get the headband if you intend to roleplay it well.