/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

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>No OP discussion
Tell me about the various knightly orders in your setting

Playing a necromancer, should I organize my skeletons for ease of use? I'm currently thinking about sending them around in groups of four.
Also, should the groups all have the same equipment, or should there be a distribution within each group, or should like, one group be archers and the other melee chumps?

>>54457338
> should I organize my skeletons for ease of use?
Literally anything that can lessen the headache of summoning should be done

>>54457332
Is that ProJared?

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>>54457306
guess ill post it again
trying to come up with a vermin lord esq circle for druid
im thinking of making it a support/debuff circle with a die system similar to circle of twilight
>2nd lv
-you get d4's equal to your druid level
you can roll them to cover yourself in bugs (temp hp)
-or use them on enemies
(disadvantage on attack rolls and concentration checks for number of turns equal to number rolled)
-you also get the poison spray cantrip and can talk to vermin as if you had speak with animals
>6th level
-you can now turn your hand into a spider and detach it for 1 hour per short or long rest, it is the same as a spider familiar
you can hear and see everything the spider does, you can add your proficiency to it's stealth checks, it must be within 5' of you to re-attach as a free action by the hours end or it dies
if it is destroyed your hand painfully regrows and you suffer 4d6 psychic damage and have disadvantage on dexterity skills until your next short or long rest
>10th level
-you can grow spider legs or fly wings to get either fly or climbing speed equal to your movement speed for a number of rounds equal to your level
-you can now move through swarms as if normal terrain and all vermin must roll a will save with dc equal to 10+druid level or are neutral to you, those that fail by >5 are friendly those who fail by >10 are charmed
-you can now turn into swarms of vermin while wildshaped
>14th level
-the druid can create a hiveming with any summoned vermin, as long as you are within 30' of one or more vermin you add double your proficiency to intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saving throws and have tremorsense

definitely want to hear what other anons think

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>He started building literally himself until I stopped him
>Now he's a Chaotic Neutral Dragonborn with zero backstory

Can somebody go ahead and shoot me?How do I coax the player into making an actual character out of this scaly fuck?

And don't even get me started on Sword Guy.

>>54457332

Almost nobody responds to OP questions anyways

>>54457377
Sword Guy?

>>54457377
If he's new, let him develop his character over time. Also, I've played with great players who start out with blank-slate characters because they want to get a feel for the world and party and feel of the campaign before committing.

There's nothing wrong playing "myself in a fantasy world" in D&D. Its actually great fun to go "Huh, I wonder what I would do in this scenario!"

How much work do you actually put into your settings? Do you try to craft brief but interesting tidbits about areas the various races will be from? Do you curate the race / class options? Or do you just say 'to hell with it', and create the thinnest veneer since you know your players won't care, and will bitch if any option, even one they'd otherwise never chose, is left out?

I'm struggling with option 3 now.

>>54457389
That's one of the other players. His character's name is literally Sword Guy. Short for Swordicus Guyver. His whole thing is he likes swords, and he demanded that he be given extra proficiency when using swords. I compromised for +3 to rolls regarding swords when out of combat (knowing stuff about swords, doing sword tricks, etc). He briefly suggested being a pedophile before I reminded him that he was in a party with a paladin and a monk.

>>54457414
Fair enough. I just want to facilitate that creation as much as possible, and I'm not sure how to go about that as I've never played with someone so new. At least not since I first played.

>>54457377
Unless he actually makes it himself I doubt he'll give a shit about the character. On the other hand it sounds like he'll only build shit. Personally I would just let him do the "literally himself" one and just make him change the name or just kick him

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can you throw a versatile thrown weapon with two hands?

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>>54457358
The artist? Or the character
Artist is hong soonsang from south korea, I think the character is meant to be the sheriff of nottingham, he's one of his robin hood characters.

>>54457416
I draw up a basic continent, establish which areas have which terrain features (desert, forests, etc) add some key locations and say who lives where.

I can slowly add in more details during the campaign as people explore the locations, but I don't want to spend 10 hours making a location full of detail only for people to never go there At least mid campaign anyways,
I have fun with worldbuilding so I do it anyways

>>54457517
No, the versatile damage die is only used for melee attacks.

Does Eldritch Knight actually need a buff, or are their weaknesses exaggerated? I'm considering a house rule where you can pick spells from conjuration, necromancy, and transmutation in addition to abjuration and evocation. This would give them access to spells like False Life, Longstrider, Enlarge, Magic Weapon, Misty Step, Flame Arrows, Fly, Haste, Slow, etc., which I think would be really cool (and thematically appropriate) in an EK's kit.

I also have a house rule to buff 4 Elements Monk - all the elemental disciplines, except Fist of Unbroken Air, Flames of the Phoenix, and Water Whip, cost one less ki point (minimum of 1). This is on top of making Stunning Strike cost 2 ki for all monks.

Opinions?

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>>54457306
First player death of my campaign today

We've been at it for more than a year too, the party is in the middle of disrupting the BBEG's plans in tricking the member states of a country into civil war, hardly anyone believes them so they set to find more definitive proof than just their word.

Anyways this led them to a mad wizard the bbeg was using for help in destabilizing the region from afar, after they killed him they had, notes, documents, mapped plans etc. everything needed to get a serious ceasefire going

So they go to get ready to leave the place, and then the trap is sprung, essentially a small army worth of goblins/orcs/bug bears and a more elite group of the human majick flintlock guys from the more predatory country is unleashed upon them, a strike force specifically designed to eliminate them from the board.

They're all but cornered in the wizards tower, the only advantage they have is they know the terrain better and they can leave out the back before the horde is upon them.

So they flee as fast as they can out the back (they lost their horses because they left them outside, and by this point they've been butchered) with the small army right on their heels

part 1/?

So a celestial can under some circumstances become evil. What happens to fiends that go good?

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does crossbow expert allow you to use nets within 5 ft without disadvantage?

>>54457594
I don't think freeing up eldritch knight spells would be that huge of a game changer, but those spells are basically just the ones they would pick on their free choices anyway. If they seem really lacking in your games I'd say do it, but I don't really see the need myself. I think nerfing stunning strike is unjustified though. The monk needs some sort of go-to ability to make it not just be a fighter that can't use heavy weapons. I'm particularly against it if you're only doing it to make the 4 Elements monk look better

So there are quite a bit of races.

>Humans
As usual

>Elves
No facial hair. Lithe humanoids, pointed ears.
>Wood Elf
>High Elf
>Drow
Dusky Grey, to Charcoal-Black Skin
>Sun Elf
Blonde?
>Moon Elf
Blueish skin

>Dwarves
"Stout" humanoids, still medium-size

>Halflings and Gnomes
Both around the same height and weight. How do you distinguish between them?

>>54457701
>The monk needs some sort of go-to ability to make it not just be a fighter that can't use heavy weapons
Like Flurry of Blows?
And I'm not doing it just to make Wot4E better, I'm doing it because I think stuns are far too strong of a condition to only cost 1 ki point.

>>54457687
I don't see why not.

>>54457709
>Both around the same height and weight. How do you distinguish between them?
Halflings have a little human and a little dwarf in them, if not a straight mix between the two
Gnomes are like elves distantly related to fey, maybe a bit more so than the common elf

>>54457594
Well, you can buff them if you want, but realistically EKs have enough free slots already to pick up all the spells most useful to them regardless of school limitations.

>>54457594
They're fine. Battlemaster starts as the best Fighter at level 3 but quickly falls off. Once you get to level 7 EK is just plain better.

>>54457665
part 2/?

So they're running through the forest, hoping to lose them in the thicker deadlier marshier part of it far ahead of them. While this is all going on they're occasionally doing a small combat or two as groups catch up with them.

They're now pretty desperate, wizards low on powers, everyone is low on other supplies.

So the ranger tells me in secret (via text) a plan he's hatched on the move. As the party is running he puts more and more distance between them, trying to make a much more obvious trail than his friends. He kept rolling well, and after a couple min of this he finally reveals it to the rest of the party, with more than 100 ft between them, and the hordes right on their heels, he stops suddenly.

The wizard was the only one perceptive enough to notice so the whole group stops for a moment.

Conversation went like this
>What in the gods names do you think you're doing?
>The only chance we have left.
>That is NOT an option, we've gotten this far, and out of much worse! You don't get to give up now!
>This isn't giving up. This is all we have left, otherwise they win.
>*The stomping of iron shod boots is louder than ever*
>But we need you, we always needed you.
>I know, but now my time with you comes to an end. Let the trails guide you home my friends, for my path ends here. Ranngar! Do as we planned!
>The guy playing the Barbarian nods, and throws a couple jury rigged moltovs, lighting the forest between them afire
>Ranger gives a salute, then turns and starts shooting them as they come out into the clearing

to be continued again...

>>54457809
Wait, what?

Battle Master, the killiest fighter, is worse than EK?

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>>54457332
I'm coming up with a knightly order for my paladin.

I'm thinking of making them an order of monster hunters that specifically hunt monsters that try to subvert human civilizations (mind flayers, vampires, aboleths, etc.) They're from a sort of dystopian victorian england.

What do you anons use (those who use grids) when you don't have a miniature for a specific monster? I use minis to represent multiple monsters (kobolds can be themselves,imps, or any dragonspawn) and sometimes dice but dice only fit in the 1" grid, what if I wanted to represent a giant or dragon?

>>54457913
I used mini candy bars once to represent an Ogre

>>54457912
So basically order of the fuck enchantment magic?

>>54457934
Ah that's nice but I try not to mix food with my maps and tiles.

>>54457416
Add to it week by week instead of spending an absurd amount of time before the campaign starts. Every week spend like 30 minutes thinking of interesting lore and history for the places your PC's might end up in for your next session. Have some big picture stuff in the background and hammer out the details when they get there.

Whatever you do, don't make your setting so complicated you can't easily explain it in like 1 minute at session zero. Please do not write a novel and then expect your players to remember all of it. Less is more.

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>DM wants to nerf my Revised Ranger Natural Explorer feat

>>54457945
Well they were still wrapped, of course

>>54457979
What are they nerfing about it?

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>>54457859
part 3/3

I gave him encounters in waves, and he surprised me with his toughness, he didn't try running further, just making a stand. and he did really well, I didn't keep an exact count but but after quite a while he had racked up 25+ kills, but he was finally on his last leg, literally out of arrows and more kept coming.

Then a deep horn sounded, and the hordes marched rather than their combat jog, they formed at the edge of the clearing, then the matchlock human guys showed up.

They formed a traditional firing position, and with 40 of them their was no doubt as to them missing. Their Captain spoke up

>You have preformed admirably, rebel. But the line ends here. Tell us what path your little friends are taking. If you do, I have good news. My lord has given me explicit word, you will not be harmed, in fact he has grown impressed with your skill.
>He says you would have a place in the marksman squadrons, a prestigious position I will tell you.
>Your lord eh? Does he listen even now? I hear he's good at that.
>The captain nods
>Well if you're listening m'lord, I think you're an overgrown fugging salamander, and the free folks of this world are perfectly fine off without a lizard as a king. (BBEG's a dragon if you couldn't tell lel)
>A pity. Well your pitiful attempt at slowing us is lost anyway. Even now our reavers comb the wood beyond the flame, and you get to die knowing you failed.
>I die knowing I made a difference for once *draws his hand bow he had hidden away*

I let him have one surprise shot, he didn't kill that captain, but he did get to die knowing he wounded his pretty face badly. In the end the firing squad, well, fired. He got blasted by 40 muskets at close range, the damage was in the hundreds lel.

>>54458006
This could've all been avoided if your Wizard had Fly or Invisibility or Teleportation Circle.

This death is on him.

>>54457936
Yeah I guess. Order of the thank fuck for cha to saves

I'm trying to come up with some silly name like knights of malta, but i think that might be too over the top. I certainly wouldnt be able to say something like 'Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta' with a straight face.

>>54457687
Yes, and then you can attack with a hand crossbow as a bonus action.

>>54457913
Just tear a piece of paper that equates to that number of squares if noting else.

The closest I've come to using a grid is a whiteboard where we just write initials and erase when we move though, but I don't see why that wouldn't work

>>54458006
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq54jb_5WCI

Not a bad way to go honestly.

>>54458125
I've yet to come up with a fantasy name that doesn't make me grimace.

>>54458006
Shoulda fluffed that the captain died man, rule of cool.

Unless the PCs knew the captain and it would've fucked your boss fight or something, but man that would've been a way to go

>>54458189
Sounds like a (You) problem

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why are hyenas so shit compared to wolves
I just want a hyena companion

Wot4E monk, would they be fixed if:
>All Ki Spending discipline reduced by 1, minimum of 1
>Probably increase the amount of choices, there's not a whole lot of options in there if you want to specialise in one element.
Then Either:
>Allow them to trigger martial arts or flurry of blows after casting one of their disciplines
OR
>All of their discipline were now a bonus action, though this might require either the removal or an increase in cost of the Hold Person

Now instead of being a gimped warlock, you're a monk who can cast spells as well as being able to attack.

Thoughts?

>>54457913
I recommend buying a pack of 1" round bases, a pack of 2" round bases, and a pack of 3" round bases.

The 1 inch ones can be used for monsters where you don't have another mini to represent it. It's also useful for marking the environment (there's a fire burning in this square now). 2 inch bases are a good way to represent that a character is mounted. They're also good for "oh hey so this regular sized wolf is actually a winter wolf, so it's on this large base." The 3 inch bases are great for representing large monsters and also some spell effects. It's worth picking up a Reaper Bones dragon or hydra or something just to give a sense of scale, IMO.

I also like using the bases for abstract representations of combat. For example, my party recently fought a Roc while aboard an airship. I used a large base to represent the airship (with an eraser to denote the direction it was facing) and a small base for the Roc. Then I said that each inch of movement was 50 feet and went from there.

>>54457913
I bought 3 plastic chess sets from a 2 dollar store, it actually works amazingly. We have minis for the players, white chess pieces for allies, and varying sizes of black chess pieces for enemies. For larger enemies I have in the past printed an image of the enemy, folded it and stood it upright.

>>54457979
>have a player with revised ranger in my group
>he gets to know about every single giant and human in a multiple mile radius
>he can do this as often as he wants
It seems insanely powerful for such a low level ability. It also only takes a minute to use, so in RP it's basically free.

>>54458259
Just refluff a wolf

>>54458201
The PCs had dealt with him multiple times up to that point, The Rogue much later in the campaign dueled him atop a burning cathedral copycatting that spainish guy from princess bride

He kept saying "MY NAME IS MORDICAI VILANIRI, YOU KILLED MY FRIEND, PREPARE TO DIE!" Eventually he did gut him, after a pretty close fight.

>>54458318
That's the third level ability Primeval Awareness. The person you responded to is talking about Natural Explorer, the first level ability.

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why was this printed it doesn't even have an ATTACK

>>54458414
It's a fucking seahorse how would it attack something?

>>54458414
I would assume it's listed as a potential familiar in aquatic locations and they felt obligated to make the entry. It looks like it would be a really shitty choice though

>>54458421
yes that's the point it doesn't do ANYTHING maybe if it was a magical Rebreather Sea Horse that grants you water breathing for an hour if you defeat it maybe it would be worth it's ink

>>54458421
The point is that if it doesn't actually meaningfully interact with any stats in the game it shouldn't need a monster manual entry. I don't need to see salmon in the monster manual to know I can put them in my game

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>>54458414
>why does this small, unassuming aquatic beast exist?

>>54457594
Arcane trickster has the same kind of restrictions. How would you housrule that?

>>54458286
Does anyone have the 4 Elements remake? I'm pretty sure that was a good example of more choices

>>54458414
Underwater familiar? Small, can slip in unnoticed.

>>54458488
Isn't that just 1st level unless I'm misunderstanding it

>>54458486
WHY IS IT PRINTED WHY IS IT PRINTED WHY IS IT PRINTED
WHAT POSSIBLE REASON COULD ANYONE HAVE FOR KNOWING A FUCKING SEA WHORES HAS 1D4-1 HP??????
AND ELEVEN (11) FUCKING ARMOR CLASS (AC)
WHY IS IT PRINTED

>>54458518

Whadda ya mean? They're Rogues who have the same amount of spell slots and rules as EK, only instead of abjuration/evocation they can only pick from illusion and enchantment. And a few free spells ofcourse.

>>54458488
I'd give them access to conjuration, divination, and transmutation.

>>54458544

I'd think that necromancy is more a AT's forte and divination an EK's. But that's just my 2 cents

>>54457979
Why?

>>54458526
I can't help but imagine someone screaming this into a fish tank

>>54458569
Really? I don't see any divination spells that an EK would usually want, except for maybe See Invisibility, whereas necromancy provides False Life, Blindness/Deafness, Bestow Curse, and Blight. As for a rogue, divination spells like Detect Magic, Identify, Locate Object, and Arcane Eye would be very useful.

>>54458597
"Gonard the Barbarian equips his Ring of Waterbreathing and fastens a Tethyrian dagger to his belt. In an instant this mountain of a man majestically leaps off the cliff, leaving his trusty axe behind, and our champion silently disappears in the surface of the dark, cavernous lake. A school of sea horses startled from this sudden incursion HOLD ON LET ME LOOK UP THE SEA HORSE STAT BLOCK OKAY OKAY IT'S UNALIGNED"

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I'm rolling a Goblin Conclave of Beasts Ranger from the revised UA and had 2 questions.

1. Is Beast Bond worth taking over Hunters Mark? I'll be using a black bear.

2. Is it a good idea to multiclass into Druid if I want to up my spellcasting? If so, how should I go about that?

>>54458414
The real question is what are some other monsters in the book that can't even attack or do any harmful action towards you?

>>54458695
The irony is that in making a pointless stat block they have started a one man war against seahorses, thus creating a purpose for a seahorse stat block

>>54458696
Take both BB and HM.

No. You'll do fine as a Ranger. If you want to go full Beast-mode just start and stay as a druid.

>>54458716
What's the point of taking both if they're both concentration? Also, are both of them better than absorb elements? I think a defensive ability vs magic is going to be super helpful.

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Fresh autism if anyone is interested in giving feedback. Trying to overhaul the weapon system for my next game to allow martials to branch out and take feats that aren't PAM/GWM/SS/CBE.

>>54458738
Because each has a time and a place to be used. BB is super situational, and if you're a BM Conclave you get a better version of it anyway once you hit 3rd level, which for Rangers is only 1 more after you get casting.

>>54458758
Is this meant to replace feats that interact with weapons? I can't tell if these are meant to be applied on top of them or replace them

>>54458758

And I fucked up the reach damage reduction. It's supposed to basically result in the current weapon system where 2H, heavy weapons are 2d6/1d12 while 2H, heavy, reach weapons are 1d10.

>>54458808

It's meant to replace all the weapon feats aside from Dual Wielder.

>>54458845
In that case I generally like it. I feel like there would inevitably be options everyone would pick and there could probably be a little more difference between standard and versatile weapons, but those problems seem kind of unavoidable (and I feel to push those problems on to weapons and away from feats is overall a good thing)

reposing question
how do I make a deep gnome wizard who hates Drows, Illithids, and Psionics in general?

>remove the dumb Two Weapon Fighting style, make it so Ranger, Monk, Rogue, Fighter, Barbarian, and Paladin get it for free
>replace the fighting style with the Dual Wielder feat, allow Barbarians to take it in addition to a few others
Does this break anything?

>>54458875
In terms of spell choices at early levels I'd say always having protection from evil ready would be a good call since that's the easiest and most basic protection against mind fuckery. Past that the next significant defense I'm aware of is Mind Blank which is obviously a ways off. Everything else is really a matter of role play

kenku sweatshops yes?

>>54458898
It might make two weapon fighting a bit too good at the lowest levels, but not to a degree it would really upset anything

Does a paladin or cleric really only have to wear a holy symbol around their neck to cast their magic?

>>54458987
Yup. They could probably even just get a tattoo for it.

>>54458987
Yes

They can also paint the symbol on a shield, I'd allow holy tattoos or just being cast from their weapon itself as well

>>54458993
>>54458997
So a character with a holy symbol on their shield would still need War Caster?

Do ASI levels include both the racial and class ability scores, or is it one or the other? E.g.: human gives +1 to all attributes, and the fighter class gives +1 to two abilities of my choice. At fourth level, for example, do I add up +1 to all attributes AS WELL as +1 to two of my choice, or is it one or the other?

>>54459020
You want war caster for the concentration advantage and (depending on build) reaction attacks with the SCAG melee cantrips.

Getting rid of the foci juggling is just a bonus, really, since it doesn't actually affect casters aside from edge cases.

>>54459038
What are you smoking? When you make your character at first level you have ASI decided by your race. Then as you level up you have a total of +2 ASI distributed as you see fit.

>>54459020
That's where it gets weird.

RAW you can cast spells without War Caster, as long as they have a Material Component you're using the Holy Symbol for. If they DON'T have a Material Component then you need a free hand.

Luckily you can drop your weapon, cast and then pick it back up.

These rules are dumb and most DM's won't make you track that because it's pointless.

>>54459038
I don't know if I understand what you're asking, but I'll try to answer it. Racial features are only added on character creation. ASI is 2 stat points or a feat that you get from certain levels of a class. The two don't really have anything to do with each other other than both adding ability scores

>>54459053
I'm not smoking anything, I'm just new to D&D and I'm trying to figure out if ASI is an universal level up mechanic every other level for both race and class or it just for the class. The fact that both races and classes have a mechanic with the naming is what led me to this confusion.

>>54459063
Thanks for the answer.

>>54459070
You should really just read the first chapter on character creation if nothing else.

So I'm trying to think of ways to make phoenix sorcere not suck as many dicks as it does, which is mostly tied to how mantle of flame is only usable once a day and outside of that you're just a below average sorcerer who can do some light self healing and not die once per day. Which of these do you think is the better option?
>mantle of flame uses is equal to charisma modifier
>mantle of flame uses is copied wholesale from the barbarian rage uses
>mantle of flame recharges on a short rest instead of long
I was also thinking about them being able to bypass fire immunity and treat it as resistance instead, tied to their level 18. Thoughts?

>>54459119
Rather than make a new thing to keep track of I would consider tying it to spell use. Maybe just have it possible to use it every time you use a first level or higher (ie no cantrip activation) fire spell as a bonus action

>>54459119
Make it 1 use, and they can spend 3SP to recharge it.

>>54459155
Mmm, I toyed with that idea but it felt kinda shitty. I mean you're having to sacrifice one core ability of a sorcerer to regain the ability to use another, and with how strong mantle of flames is why would you ever spend your sorcery points on anything else? All I really know is the damn thing needs to be usable more often, but not TOO often that you can fire it off for every semi-trivial encounter.

>>54458758
Would it even matter if one is proficient in all weapons?

Have you played or DMed a campaign with sanity, fear, horror or honor?

>>54459259
I think the only real grey area would be class proficiencies like the rogue were it has simple weapons then a handful of other stuff. So long as you're clearly working from simple or martial I don't see the problem

>>54459020
If I remember right the wording is very specific in that Paladins and Clerics, if they have their holy symbol on their shield, can use the shield to cast spells that require material and somatic components completely unhindered--but only spells that have material AND somatic components. Spells that are only somatic, or verbal and somatic, do not get this benefit and really just confuse the whole fucking issue.

>>54459290
You can dance around it with item interactions to the point where it would at most probably only cause you to miss an attack of opportunity or two. Still it's kind of dumb and I have a feeling a lot of DMs would be open to ignoring that restriction.

>>54459290
Using a shield for both makes sense to me, but then I thought about a two handed weapon, or just no shield. Does the character have to reach for their amulet and hold it in their hand for the rest of the turn?

>>54459288
Fair enough.

>>54459314
Yeah it just seems kinda needlessly finnicky to me.

Has anyone played with spell cards? Are they worth it or a waste of money?

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Does the in pic underlined substitution refer to the great weapon or to a critical hit?

>>54459393
critical hit

>>54459288
A thought just occurs that rogues could work with some sort of note like "proficient in all finesse and ranged martial weapons that are not two handed or heavy"

>>54459393
The melee weapon.

Learn to grammar.

>>54459393
Refers to the weapon.

>>54459393
I would think melee weapon, since the "with one" referring to critical hits wouldn't need any additional note about whether or not they drop to 0 hit points
>>54459400
Well shit. Now who knows?

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Hey look I shoehorned Lore Mastery onto the Sorcerer.

The level 18 ability is OP as fuck but
>implying anyone plays at 18

>>54459411
>Learn to grammar.
It just sounded pretty op to get power attack AND cleave in one talent, so I had doubts.

>>54459422
Forgot to change the level 14 one to "Sorcerer Spell" but whatever, you get the idea.

So, I've been thinking of running my next game (a swashbuckling sandbox adventure) with some houserules to keep my game a bit more fluid.

I intend to merge GWM and dual wielding extra attacks into the attack action, for example, because we have a dual wielder barbarian (which I've noticed while playing to be the shittiest kind of barbarian). Any ideas of something else that I could do to make the shittier character options in the game a bit more viable?

>>54459422
The level 14 one is also basically just wish without the component ignoring part, but it also doesn't have to specifically use a 9th level slot.
I mean it's obviously OP as fuck, but in the hands of a sorcerer it might not be that crazy I guess

>>54459393
>When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon, or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee weapon

How do you make a single longsword-wielding fighter viable? Just allow them to fully use GWM with it?

How do you run for a wild magic sorcerer? It feels like I have to constantly decide stuff for them? When do I give them their tides of chaos surge?

>>54459491
By using a shield

>>54459501
For Tides of Chaos I just have wild magic trigger on a 5 or less on a d20 instead of only on a 1.

>>54459491
Take Tavern Brawler and Brawny. They won't be king dick of damage, but they'll be okay and also be able to have control of the battlefield.

>>54459491
Shield Master, taking Brawny or a level of Rogue for Expertise

EK also does well hitting with BB/GFB and War Magic, until 11th at least.

>>54459476
It'd probably be a good idea to give it a significant Metamagic cost, probably 7 points, but for that version I basically did the minimum amount of effort to make it work. I didn't even bother looking to see if the hamfisted "lore" makes any sense, since the settings I play in/dm don't use the Weave.

>>54459491
It's not like sword and board is irredeemably bad. You have 2 more AC, presumably the dueling fighting style for fairly high reliable damage, and you could put the ASIs to a bunch of different things, like hex with magic initiate, tavern brawler to freely grapple, or sentinel. You're never going to out damage the heavy weapon guys, but those exist to be the high damage style.
If you aren't using a shield there's basically no point though

>>54459491
I went shield master.

>>54459569
1 more AC, because a 2h is going to take Defensive.

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>>54457306

Does anyone know a good resource for downloading item/furniture/NPC/etc token icons with a transparent background? I'm dming a campaign on roll20 and while there's a generous amount of tokens available, they're like 96% the same stock fantasy characters and 4% weird shit from other campaigns. They have basically nothing for western settings, and very limited stuff for modern/sci-fi

thanks in advance for anything

>>54459621
Fair point. Long term there's also magic shields to consider, so it's not impossible the difference would grow over a character's career in favor of the shield user. The style of game and GM play a lot into that sort of assumption though

> first campaign, first session
> Friend of a friend shitty gm, but playing with friends otherwise
> session is awful but still have fun because I'm having fun with friends
I can understand why people dig this shit now, it's fucking cool

> tfw killing your first vampire in your forst encounter when you're party's level 2
I mean, the gm made him half retarded, but it was still awesome and hw could have killed at least one of us easily

>>54459692
Sorry for typos, phoneposting in bed

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What are some good traits to give a Shapeshifter passing off as Human people could notice, besides odd mannerisms?

Some I have off the top of my head, mainly ripped off from other sources-
>Despite looking like Christian Bale in The Machinist, they weigh over 300 lbs and as such would leave footprints on par with a Goliath
>They have no body odor, instead they have the faint smell of ashes to them
>Their clothing and hair sometimes moves a bit in windless areas
>If someone looked closely enough during a battle or other time they were moving a lot, they'd notice their clothing is attached directly to their skin in places

>>54459716
> they lose teeth, nails, and hair very easily
> when they are cut, they don't bleed, or when you cut their clothes, they bleed
> they probably smell bad

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>>54459757
> they lose teeth, nails, and hair very easily
I was actually considering the opposite, their entire body is strong through and through, from hair to skin, and if something is cut off, it turns to a black substance akin to ink drops in water before dissipating, which leads to-
>when they are cut, they don't bleed, or when you cut their clothes, they bleed
When they (Or their clothes, as they're all part of them) are cut or stabbed, rather than blood a smokelike substance like pic related wisps out before dissipating
>they probably smell bad
This is covered by the faint smell of ashes, to go with the ink/smoke theme- though maybe Divine classes and Druids would notice it a lot more.

>>54459783
I think combining the weird bleeding and smell could be kind of interesting. Like maybe only their blood smells weird?

>>54459806
That could work, and the lack of any kind of BO would still be conspicuous since they basically look like a hobo.

>>54458898
Barbarians don't need a Fighting Style. Neither do Monks, while I'm here.

Is Murlynd in yet?

>>54459716
>when they sleep, they sometimes de-shift part of their body. especially if they're having a bad dream. their foot might turn into a puddle or something
>they dont have sleep in their eyes when they wake up
>when they shit and / or piss, it looks abnormal for a human
>they dont tan in the sun, ever
>their hair never seems to grow
>they dont like to swim (they can but its hard to fake wet hair / clothes, or they just sink)
>they heal abnormally quickly

>>54459837
Their choices would be far more limited than other classes.

Haven't done any details yet but basically-
>Barb- TWF, basically Tavern Brawler as a fighting style minus the +1 STR, or a defensive style
>Monk- TWF, Mobile, and something to make STR monk usable (In addition to making Monks d10 hit die with Fighter ASIs)

>>54459867
You could just package the fighting style it in with the feat. Anyone who wants to go full musashi would just pick both, and having two fighting styles that basically amount to +1 ac is a little redundant

>>54459857
Is Paladin of Murlynd statted out yet?

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>>54459861
A lot of these are already there oddly enough, though all decent suggestions-

>They don't sleep at all, and are immune to magical sleep
>They don't shit, because they also don't eat (unless they choose to in order to avoid suspicion- any food is converted to shadow stuff over a long (compared to normal digestion)) period
>They don't tan or seem to sunburn- in fact they were first found staring at the sun in the middle of a field, seemingly with no ill effects
>Hair also never grows, though it hasn't been long enough to be relevant
>They sink like a rock unless they paddle like a motherfucker or shapeshift fins or some other such thing
>They heal stupid fast- pulling out a dagger would leave a would for about 3 seconds before it sealed up and looked good as new, (though this has no effect on their HP and is just flavor)

What are some ways an evil twin could mess with the party without revealing themselves? Like full-on malicious evil. And a shapeshifter.

Also, anyone got any cool sidequests ideas I can steal? I'm running short this week.

>>54459940
Framing any sort of crime is the obvious thing, but I suppose there's also just the matter of creating obligations that the party either couldn't live up to or would have difficulty meeting, or using up favors that the party may have been holding off on calling in (the players might get pretty butthurt about doing that one though. I'd use some caution there). Basically anything you could do with identity theft really

>>54459923
>They don't bleed, they just leak something that's KINDA like blood, but way too viscous.
>unless very old and wily, they change "clothes" rarely and their clothes don't soil
>they don't like to get brushed up against in a crowd
>they laugh the same way, every time
>they reproduce asexually, and thus only have a tenuous grasp on what normal races find sexy/how to flirt/what the point of mooshing your parts together is
>don't get fantasy racism, but still try to adapt, and thus young/inexperienced shifters may accuse a human in a grey-green overcoat of being and orc
>don't really need food, but might find the act of putting weird shit in their mouths pleasurable, and often view a digestive tract as just a handy place to store things

>>54458414
Wildshape

>>54459940
>Evil twin
Man fuck you just reminded me of the evil copy of my Barbarian running around causing havoc with the sole intent of fucking me over at every turn. I have no god damn clue what I'm gonna do against him.

>>54460078
I suppose you could get a tattoo or something

>>54460091
That's a great idea. Have a giant tribal tattoo on your face, very distinctive.

>>54460091
Well I meant more "what kind of action can I take against him while I don't know him" but I do, in fact, have a tattoo that I did not have at the time of his creation, even if he wasn't a disgusting, twisted version of me--I was cursed at the time he was "born." The issue is that he's already led us into an ambush with a huge full-room illusion so I have to assume that he has a decently high-level spellcaster of some sort working with him already so we can't trust appearance alone. As a result, we had a couple members of our group some up with call-and-response code phrases (which my character would never have come up with on his own, making it more airtight.)

But he already made the first move and I have no idea where to begin responding in kind.

>>54459867
>Haven't done any details yet but basically-
>>Barb- TWF, basically Tavern Brawler as a fighting style minus the +1 STR, or a defensive style
Not having a trained fighting style is the barbarian's style, and you also make TWF the premiere barb style if you give them the ability mod and bigger weapons for free. These are things that a path could do, but not something to add on top for free.
>>Monk- TWF, Mobile, and something to make STR monk usable (In addition to making Monks d10 hit die with Fighter ASIs)
Monks don't need twf, free mobile, or to use str. Whether you give them d10 HD or not, they also don't need fighter ASI.

>>54459940
-Get to the next town ahead of the party and give Good Twin a bad reputation
-Take out big chunks of cash in Good Twin's name if they have some fame as adventurers
-Get to town early, waylay the party, and take the adventure reward

What are people's thoughts on the spellcards? Are they a waste of money?

>>54460217
You could just print them or use a website like http://www.orcpub.com/dungeons-and-dragons/5th-edition/spells on your phone. I could probably find a use for spell cards, but I've never really felt the need

>>54460134

Monks could use some love. They are rather undertuned.

>>54459716
>Their pupils won't change size despite light changes.
>Avoid eating/drinking with silver utensils (maybe silver prompts a physical reaction)
>They can only shapeshift into what they've seen (if someone has a secret tattoo or birthmark a shapeshifter might not)
>Unable to crack their knuckles or other joints
>Can't sneeze
>Maybe they always shift into a mirror image of their target e.g. a scar on the target's right eye is on shapeshifter's left
>

>>54460243
Monks are nearly in line with non-feat martials for damage, the issue being they can't utilize them in that regard, and are the nest martial CC. Open Palm gets the the only hard Save or Die too.

>>54460243
Two weapon fighting would do absolutely nothing for monks, a d10 hd is really minor, and while they would benefit greatly from a free mobile feat, so would basically everyone. They don't have the same damage output as a fighter or paladin, but they can still stun their level times per short rest on top of whatever gimmick their archetype of choice has. Monks really only need love if they're 4 elements

>>54460134
>>54460243

I'll tell you what Monks really need.

FOB does 3 strikes instead of 2 after reaching level 11.

One extra ASI at level 10.

Done.

No need for anything else.

>>54460243
None of those suggestions were tuning or aimed at actual monk deficiency.

>>54458465
>cast Tongues on your Sea Horse
>have it attempt persuasion with a -4 Cha
>it succeeds

>>54460284
If you're going that route I'd rather just add flat damage to the martial arts die as you level up. Maybe going as far as making it just a +1 weapon, but that would kind of step on the kensai's toes

>>54460353
Why complicate things?

Letting FOB deal more hits after a certain level is a good solution without stepping on the Fighter toes or packing the class full of features.

As far as i'm concerned the basic Ki abilities Monks gain at level 2 should all scale as the PC levels up with the first improvement at level 10-12 and the second at level 18 or later.

Here's an example:
>Flurry of blows - you expend 1 Ki to make 2 Unarmed strikes as a bonus action. The number of these Unarmed strikes grows to 3 after you reach level 10 and 4 after you reach level 18.

>Step of the wind - As a bonus action you expend 1 ki allowing you to dash or disengage as part of the same bonus action. Until the end of your next turn your jumping height and distance is doubled. After you reach level 10 you can maintain concentration up to a minute to keep these benefits active for that duration. After you reach level 18 your Step of the Wind feature grants you flight with movement speed equal to your land movement speed for the duration of you concentrating on this ability.

>Patient defense - you expend 1 Ki to take the Dodge action as a bonus action. After you reach level 10 when you take the Dodge action you can make an Unarmed strike against a target within 5ft of you as part of the same action/bonus action. After you reach level 18 targets within 5ft of you that miss you when you use the Dodge action must make a DEX save against your Ki save DC or fall prone.

>>54460315
Those are basically just band aid fixes for them until I can think of an actual proper balance pass.

Barbarian probably doesn't NEED TWF, but it also doesn't break anything giving it to them since otherwise they're going to be GWM meme bait anyways.

Same with Monk, they don't really get anything worthwhile from TWF but if a player decides they want to TWF Monk I see no harm in it being not garbage.

And while I'm on the subject, I had the barebones of a Mystic mink bumping around since Mearls and Crawford are dragging their fucking feet on releasing the Mystic Archetypes for other classes.

>Level 3- Mystic Apprentice-
>You learn [1-2] Disciplines from [school], all Disciplines learned in future levels must be from [school]
>You can spend Ki in place of Psi Points, and Wisdom is your casting stat for these Disciplines. Your Psi Limit is still determined by character level, as with Mystic (Maybe give them slower max psi level progression)

>Level 6- Mystic Journeyman
>You learn one additional Discipline, and can use WIS for your Unarmed Strikes attack and damage rolls or something idk

>Level 11- Mystic Adept
>You learn one additional Discipline, and regain 1 Ki upon killing a hostile CR 2 or higher creature within 5 feet of you.

>Level 17- Mystic Master- You learn one additional Discipline, and you get something fitting for level 17 besides having a shitload of extra power from being a fucking Mystic

I'm planning on going a Str 8, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16 half elf warlock for Out of the Abyss, how well will my character be able to survive?

>>54460455
Depends on how your DM deals with minmaxers.

>>54460428
How is that less complicated than just adding a few points of damage to unarmed attacks? These changes seem far more drastic than anything monks actually need to be in line with other classes

Looking to DM my first time because I'm tired of looking for a DM. Two questions.

1) How much of the system should I know before I DM it? Most combat stuff, I'd assume?

2) What's a good newbie friendly module?

>>54460071

That, and it provides a nice baseline for when something weird happens like a round of spearfishing breaking out and suddenly the DM needs to take a guess at what the AC of a non-predator fish is. You can also use the 10 Wis to poke fun at a character's choice of dump stats.

>>54460539
If cantrips can scale then so can the fuckin KI features.

>>54460650
1) Not much, you can come up with rules in the fly, the important part is you go see what you got wrong, what you got right and them tell this to your players.

2) The Lost Mines of Phandelver everyone would recommend, I lever played so I can't say much.

>>54460650
1)Standard answer is PHB chapters 8,9 and rules in 10.

2) The Lost Mines or A Great Upheaval intro of Storm King's Thunder.

>>54457701
Monk can use whatever the fuck it wants if it's got the proficiencies.

>>54460428
You buff flurry so you have to buff the other two options as well, to keep up, but Dodge is evergreen and step of the wind already scales as your speed increases. You should identify a problem, isolate its source, then test changes that will impact as few other things as possible. The flying is a good idea, but it just looks like you're throwing out random ideas and got lucky.
>>54460429
The problem is you don't know what you're doing, you can't judge if something is balanced, so you're just throwing out random suggestions.
>>54460539
Basically This.

Identify the problem. Set a goal. Make the smallest change to meet that goal. The problem, goal, and change can all be debated and refined.

>>54456487
These are interesting ideas. I'd say using the d4s should take a bonus action and there should be a limit on how many you can use on an enemy, probably just one, otherwise you could totally fuck an enemy for the rest of the combat.

All this stuff might be too much on top of wildshape in my opinion. It could basically function as its own class. Maybe you should do that, call the class "Buglord." Subclasses could be a few different insects.

>>54457888
You are replying to someone whose only considerations are one or more of the following:
>SHIELD AND ABSORB ELEMENTS LMAO
>XD SCAG CANTRIPS!!1
>yeah, but I can cast Haste on myself at 13th level wait, 14th, unless i replace my non-evo/abj spell from 4th/8th level at 13

>>54458414
>stat block doesn't even mention that the males of the species carry the young so I can satisfy my furry mpreg fantasies

>>54457373
I like it Anon. Is this ontop of regular druid skills?

>>54459393
Flip the clauses and see what happens if you interpret it the same way as "gotta crit":
>if you kill a creature, or score a critical hit with one
>if you score a critical hit while using a creature as a weapon

>>54457888
Yes. Battlemaster is a dumbass meme that isn't actually good in anything but burst round once per short rest.

The real secret though is that all Fighters suck ass and will never compare to a Paladin or Ranger.

>>54460950
Better than burst once per long rest like pally.

>>54460987
Reminder that Oathbreaker is literally superior to Fighter in all ways.

>>54460987
Battlemaster only starts good, once you're level 5 then Paladin has 14d8's of smite. Battlemaster would need to rest 4 times before a long rest for it to match Paladin.

Paladin also has an effective +5HP per level and short rest Channel Divinity.

How's Oath of Treachery for Paladins? I've been considering playing a refluffed version.

>>54461074
Are battlemasters and fighters really shit?

>>54461027
>Wanting to be evil

>>54461074
B-but action surge!
Fuck WotC man, how can I even play a melee fighter knowing I'm just cucking myself?

>>54461095
They're not shit, nothing in the game is shit to the point where I wouldn't play it and have fun.

The powergaps are small, but they're still there.

>>54461098
Technically they don't have to be evil... they all will be though.

>>54461101
At least there's no Channel Divinity: Action Surge yet.

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So one of my players is getting close to upgrading this magic item I made a while back from its base form to Awoken. The player is currently level 9 and we run a pretty high magic campaign. Do you think its upgraded states are fair?

How many levels should the captain of the gaurd have and why is it 20

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>>54460950
And here we see the common "maximum potential damage is all that matters" fag in its natural environment. Its drab plumage helps it evade predators when it's caught out alone, but ordinarily these are social creatures, relying on the size of a pack to deter competing arguments. If we listen carefully, we may be able to catch some of its unique mating cry.
>GWM/PAM! GWM/PAM! GWM/PAM!
Beautiful. It looks like it's worked; already, you can see others flocking to join it in masturbatory dance.

The common max fag is a clumsy, but dedicated forager, picking about the battlefield for scraps from other birds' imposed conditions and CC effects. In this way, they have an almost symbiotic relationship with parties; these one-trick ponies rely on others to set them up (or a retarded DM), but in return they keep the map clean. Our friend has spotted a Battlemaster, one of its favorite hunting "partners". As the animated bush falls prone to a Trip Attack, we can see the common max fag swoop in, wildly swinging its -5/10. Miss, miss. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. Luckily, a nearby utilitybot was maintaing Bless. What do the bones have in store for our fag? A hit! Oh, lucky day, he's done as much damage now as if he'd landed both attacks to begin with. It's still not enough, but what's this? A Smite! That bush only had three health remaining and was near the bottom of initiative, but surely that was an excellent use of a whole spell slot.

>>54461161
>Autism

Please for the love of god tell me this is pasta. Also even though I agree all classes have their place and etc., you can't deny that when it comes down to it Paladin is plain mechanically better then Fighter most of the time. That isn't minmaxing, that's a fact about the game.

>>54461224
>Please for the love of god tell me this is pasta
It is now.

>>54461224
Typical Crawfordite.

>>54456391
>Tfw this was basically the exact idea I had for my Berserker, but instead of Tiefling it was a human that was abducted because they found him entertaining and thus grew up HUGE (read: Goliath).
Your idea is probably better.

But fuck, why are oni so cool?

>>54461141
Captain of guards shouldn't have levels, but rather challenge rating.

Depends on setting.

Frankly, i'd go with about 3-5. Obviously, in great cities there might be higher level guard member, but they will probably have higher rank as well.

>paladins think they're tough shit when their divine smite can't be used on hand crossbows

lol

How do you solve the Fighter vs Paladin issue?
The Fighter is obviously better at first level (fighting style, better healing), but the Paladin overtakes him at second (smite is better than action surge on average) and then keeps getting better.
I'm comparing the features and just don't see the Fighter overtaking the Paladin again.
Should Fighters just accept their fate and always go DEX?

>>54460950
>not giving your rogue a second sneak attack every round with commanding strike
>not being a cultured, artisan tool wielding fighter

>>54461553
Rangers can. Not only that but a Hunter can often get off another Hand Crossbow shot with Horde Breaker.

Hell we could even make it a Non-magical Ranger and then it is just trading Action Surge and Second Wind for all the Ranger abilities.

>>54459400
Why would they need to mention crit separately from crit-and-also-reduce-to-0? Think about that and realize you are wrong.

>>54461590
>not giving your rogue a second sneak attack every round with commanding strike
I think you mean 4 times per short rest, chews his reaction, makes you lose an attack and has a chance to miss. Not denying that it's good, but there's certainly better uses for you dice sometimes.

Also there's the good old fact a spellcaster could've just Hasted the Rogue.

My party of a Rogue, Fighter 1/Rogue 6 and a Sorcerer is amazing.

>>54461655
>Also there's the good old fact a spellcaster could've just Hasted the Rogue.
That's not how Sneak Attack works

>>54461668

The Rogue can use their action to ready for an attack off their turn, then use the Hasted action to attack.

>>54461655
>rogues can sneak attack more than once on their turn

Haste doesn't work

>>54461668
>>54461694
>Casts Haste
>Rogue uses Haste Attack and Sneak Attacks
>Uses his action to ready an attack
>Sneak Attacks right after his turn ends with a readied attack

It's kinda cheesy with the rules, but not really gamebreaking or anything.

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>level 11 oathbreaker paladin with GWM and PAM using as much divine smite in one turn as possible does 96 damage on average
>this is assuming a paladin somehow has GWM, PAM, 20 Strength, and 20 Charisma all at once

>level 11 fighter with GWM and PAM using as much battlemaster dice as possible and action surge does an average of 162 damage while also having 5 maneuvers it can afflict on the target
>this is assuming GWM, PAM, and 20 Strength, easily achievable for a fighter
>fighters also have the option to use hand crossbows

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Wizards and Lore Bards are vastly better anyway

>>54461683
Even so, with that strategy you are eating the reaction, a spell slot, and the wizards concentration.

For 1 superiority die of 4 that refresh on short rests?

>>54461715

I'm not who you were arguing with, I was just clarifying how it worked.

>>54461709
The Paladin has a pool of 28d8 per long rest there. Burst barely matters because the chance you'll suddenly need to do over 100 damage in a turn is very fucking slim.

Paladin also has Lay on Hands (pool of 55 extra HP), better saves, can use their spellslots for utility in non-combat days and a bunch of other effects.

Wizard's a meme. The real kings of the game are Lore Bards and Druids, with Paladin and Wizard in the next rank behind.

sooo how many spellbooks am i supposed to "give" to the wizard?

>>54461866
1 per wizard they kill

>>54461709
The paladin smites on the next round, and the next, and the next...
What can fightcucks even do?

>Running phandelver for group of all new players
>In cragmaw
>Someone suggests splitting party to pincer attack Klarg and his goblins
>Someone else says "splitting the party never sounds like a good idea"(yay, they're learning)
>After 15 minutes of discussing strategy they decide splitting the party is a fool-proof plan(...or not)
>bard sneaks into Klarg's room and unlocks door keeping outside encounter locked out
>3v3 becomes 6v4 with 4 goblins, Klarg, and a wolf.
>Bard gets spotted, klarg hits her for max damage crit with max crit damage, like 30 dmg vs bards total hp of 10
> In exchange for not having them die instantly have the party promise to never make such stupid plans again
>Win the encounter, barely, bard saved on save or die roll, whole party feels like idiots but agrees they need to communicate better in the future

I feel like this went over pretty well from a learning standpoint. Bard didn't get her character instakilled but was still a hair's breath away from dying, and the group now knows they need to be more vocal about ideas they think are bad.

Would any of you gone with the instakill? Keep in mind this group is playing their 3rd session of tabletop ever.

Assuming a game is set in the north, what are some interesting settlements to start in?

>>54462092
Vikings, Whalers, Eskimos, Eskimo Whalers, Dwarves in a snowy mountain home, In a warm roadside tavern surrounded by frost and death.

>>54461925
By not killing their character you robbed them of their agency as players.

I would have maybe let them trade their life for an arm or something.

>>54458414
This is (Me) and I just noticed a sea horse has TEN FUCKING POINTS IN WISDOM

>>54460869
yeah its the "circle" feature, like circle of moon or land

>>54462092
Fuckin oil rig, have fun getting off it nerds.

>>54459422
SorLock, you've added 8d10 damage for 2 sorcery points

>>54457377
I've had this before. He would only make blank slate "just a nice guy" characters with no depth or backstory and usually fighter.

>>54461925
hair's breadth*, hair doesn't breathe

>>54462206
also this

>>54462355
I wish I had a guy like this. All I get is fucking edgelords.

With great weapon fighting you can't reroll smite dice right? Of course not that would be ridiculous

>>54462376
RAW yes, but sage advice says the intended was just to reroll the weapon's dice.

>>54460862
>use wildshape
>get busy with a female seahorse
>prego.jpg
>change back to human
>male impregnate ftw

>>54461582
Pretty much.
Paladins are way better for close combat so fighter should try SS/CBE. It's better than close combat anyway.

>>54461553
The paladin can always use their spell slots on other things and walk up within 5ft with crossbow expert to make a melee attack with the crossbow to smite before continuing to fire.
The only thing holding paladin back is that they can't add improved divine smite at level 11. Divine smite isn't a problem because you can use it for maximum burst when you feel like it and how many attacks you make only determines how often you get the chance for a crit smite.

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>>54461799
>Burst barely matters because the chance you'll suddenly need to do over 100 damage in a turn is very fucking slim.

Isn't burst on demand one of the most valuable damage paradigms when fighting bosses?

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>>54461709
This is an old shitty graph that I need to update but it's accurate.
This is assuming no resources used, because despite your calculations you'd be dumb to think the fighter outbursts the paladin in a fight or outdoes the paladin in any field aside from 'at-will damage'.

I'm going to go update this to make this more readable though and go double check those smiting calculations you've just given

>>54461709
(Extra attack and reaction) 3*6.3+60+
(Bonus) 3*1+20+
(Haste, yes, paladins get that) 1*6.3+20
2 level 3 spell slots and 3 level 2 spell slots left for smiting = 8d8 + 9d8 = 40.5+ 36 = 76.5

Total: 204.7 damage average with an oathbreaker with bullshit stats.
If you remove the reaction attack or the haste attack it drops to about 160.

And this is why trying to compare them by burst damage is fucking stupid especially when GWM is involved when you shouldn't be using GWM on a paladin at that level.

>>54462653
Unless your DM goes 'oh look you're killing this too easy, suddenly the boss has its health doubled' and now your burst only healed the boss because the DM is a cunt.

>>54462785
Yeah it's pretty shit when a DM does that.
Personally, if I know players have high burst potential, I put them into situations that tempt them to blow those resources before the boss. If they overcome those obstacles without using those resources before hitting the boss, I'm super cool letting the boss get his shit kicked in in two rounds.

>>54462678
>you'd be dumb to think the fighter outbursts the paladin in a fight or outdoes the paladin in any field aside from 'at-will damage'.
>>54462770
>(Haste, yes, paladins get that)
>with an oathbreaker with bullshit stats
Don't get too invested in your conclusion and just run the numbers honestly. Fighters can burst. Casting Haste is not burst unless you have advance warning, surprise, and the ability to prepare for the fight. Oathbreakers don't even get haste anyway.

>>54462206
I agree with this. Should be a consequence.
And they need to keep learning. Once my players learned splitting the party isn't smart they then started to learn new things.

Like stop standing in a line so that the dragon breath/lightning bolt/whatever hits all of you at once.

What's the best real (i.e. full caster) class to complement five levels of Fighter, Monk, or Barbarian?

>>54463194
Are you asking about multiclass?

Fighter (EK) can work well with wizard. Any other fighter, just pick the caster class with the mental stat that fits best.

Monk/druid works decently well. I also am a big fan of monk/cleric because of the synergy both mechanically and often fluff-wise.

Barb/druid is good for raging bear-mode twice per short rest.

>>54463194
There's barb/warlock for armor of agathys+rage.

>>54463194
That's a fucking shit idea, so the 'best' is to continue taking fighter/monk/barbarian levels.

>>54463194
>Fighter
If Dex Eldritch Knight, Blade Wizard, if STR, Abjuration
If PDK, then Bard or Warlock
If other, Cleric.
>Monk
Druid for all the wild shaped mobility bonus, just remember, unarmed defense or Natural Armor, not both, and Martial arts or Multi attack with animal attacks, not both.

>Barbarian
Bear totem for Bear Druid,if you loose your concentration on the spell you were keeping while Wild Shaped.

If only three level dip and a battle ranger, a Cleric with cure wounds, spiritual Weapon and some utility rituals for outside of battles won't be bad, and you get to keep using medium armor

Anyone use, see or investigate a Hexblade Warlock? Emo-ness aside, is it good stuff?

whats the best lv2 dungeon?

>>54463642
It's straight up better at EB blasting.

Needs a Fighter dip like any bladelock if you intend to use it in melee, for fighting style and CON save proficiency.

>>54461134
>weapon of Azathoth
>that weak
>also a rapier
>not a warhammer
>cold damage
>not fire or psychic
what in the void is this faggotry?

>>54461582

The fighter does fine and his resource to fuck shit up doesnt get used for anything else. Stuff like Menacing attack and goading attack hit opponents right in the Wis using your primary stat and 2-4 attacls per round

What do you imagine a beholder's pirate ship would look like?
I like the idea of a beholder being a pirate captain, always paranoid about mutiny, and using an eye-patch to turn his eye on/off.

I got one from last night's session
>DM wants us to progress the story, guides us into next critical plot room
>Eventually reveal its a colour puzzle with pools, all have different effects
>Hundreds of combinations possible, room we came from has hidden entrance with concentric circles of 3 colours and other colors
>Prism pendant found, integral to puzzle
>Spend the next 2 hours trying colour combinations, trying using the prism in various ways. Mixing of 3 colours and colour combos don't work
>DM gets frustrated, eventually calling us idiots for not remembering elementary education. Tells us what to do.
>Just had to shine a fucking light through the pendant to reveal a nonsense riddle, eventually gives it to us to combine the primary colors
>We feel like dumbasses, DM comes off as a dick, we end the session since DM losses all enthusiasm

Let's hope next week goes better

>>54463642
It's a fixed blade lock but personally I just rather allow Profane Soul Blood Hunters at my table

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Has anyone actually assemble an army to fight a colossal/gargantuan monstrosity instead of just having your party deal with it?

>>54463799
>>54463939
Good feedback, thanks guys.

>>54463885
>His DM doesn't add a mysterious NPC who had gone mad stuck in that room
>They didn't find his notebook full of odd scribbles, detailing additional clues

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>>54463839
I'd think it'd look very eldritch and alien, nothing immediately recognizable as a ship. It shouldn't even look seaworthy, but it manages to stay afloat thanks to dark magicks. Oh, and it should be submersible for extra spookiness.

I'm thinking that it would look like something like the Narada from the JJ Abrams Star Trek.

>>54463987
I just treat armies as a sort of Lair Action

>"Oh on count 20 a volley of arrows drops all around you."
>"Oh a cavalry charges from behind before rushing the flank"
>"The modron air support drops alchemist fire"

It gets the job done.

>>54464016
The main hint he gave us was a letter stating this blue potion was levitation and important to the puzzle. Apparently what the DM expected was drink it, float up to a light and use the prism.
> :/ was our reaction

>>54464150
How is the hint not the fucking Prism?

>>54463885
I hope he wasn't using red, yellow, and blue as the primary colors.

I looked it up and it seems Greyhawk deities are statted.

How else can I build a cowboy paladin?

>>54461134
pretty weak desu, starts off ok. maybe make the mist give all enemies in it disadvantage to hit him and add some more spells/abilities

>>54462653
Only if your DM is shit at making bosses.
So, like 95% of DMs and everything the books throw at you.

>>54457338
They should be divided into groups with identical gear. Ideally give every one the same gwar, so that you can use the group combat stats

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>>54464370
>same gwar
Are you saying that his skeletons should be dressed like this?

>>54457306
I'm going to be running a Myr (from mtg) Scout Fighter tomorrow. Should I go sword and board to make up for the loss of AC or should I just Two hand and murder?

>>54458758
I recommend creating a basic system that simply replicates the existing weapon table first before you add the autistic extra weapon qualities. It'd help autistic people refluff their weapons more. People like me who would use a Flail except it's not versatile. Even if I use Dueling and would never use Versatile. Warhammers only for me.

>>54458898
Barbarians already have a fighting style called "+2 damage to all melee hits, improves with level."
The rest is fine though.

>>54459314
>A lot of DMs would be open to ignoring that restriction
Most do that I've played with, and I do myself. War Caster is still a perfectly viable feat for its other two benefits - the advantage on Concentration checks is solid, and cantrip AOOs open the door for SCAG cantrips (or a regular one if you want of course).

>>54462785
Your attitude is my favourite attitude with players, but only when it also contains the logical extension of "if we plan properly, a lot of battles are going to be cakewalks", "not all battles are winnable so sometimes we just have to run the fuck away", "monsters will use dirty tricks and if we fuck up somehow we might get ambushed pretty hard", and my favourite "I don't expect the DM to ever fudge his rolls in my favor."

If all of that is in line, then you're welcome at my table. If it's not, you're a hypocrite.

>>54464063
this is a pretty good way to handle it, I think.
Thanks for the idea.
I'd much rather have the beast roll a single check against a volley of arrows, than to roll a bunch of times for each archer firing, for example. I think having them be lair actions that work for the party is a pretty elegant solution to also the timing of when they should apply.

>>54459491
I'd probably swap the heavy weapon requirements of the feat. That is, you need to be using a heavy weapon to cleave, but not to power attack.

>>54457332
I have an evil order of knights call the Order of the Red Dragon. They are sworn to an ancient red dragon that rules an entire kingdom.

>>54459491
By fighter do you mean Class Fighter or "Guy who fights." Fighter.

I've got a Single-longsword wielding Dwarf Barbarian Battleraer that is absoolutely amazing fun. Took the +5ft, Expertise on Athletics feat and basically either 1d10 Swing, Grapple, Shove, or 1d8 Stab a guy I'm grappling. Battlerager adds some extra value to those grapples and gives me the bonus action rage-spikes.

A player in my other group did a Half-Orc Champion using Shieldmaster for the obvious bonus-action shove then strike with advantage to bait those bonus damage crits. Worked pretty well and was fun and thematic.

>>54463126
The best way to plan for this is to have extra bosses, I say. Extra potential content they can do if they don't feel challenged enough.

>>54464658
As long as there's no 'The DM fudges the monster's rolls' and instead 'The DM has back-up prepared but the players have the chance to know there's potential back-up that might screw them over'

'You kick the boss's ass so a second boss appears because lol fuck you' is one thing, 'You enter the boss's chamber and notice there's some sort of cloning vat at the far side on top of a grand stand' and then 'Because you just burst the boss down without thinking, naturally, their clone gains consciousness and comes out for round two' is another.

My land druid dipped 1 level into dragon sorcerer, how bad should I feel for being so cancerous

>>54465584
>1 level multiclass dip
Cancer
>Dragon sorcerer
Eh, who gives a shit
>land druid
You're not a moon druid.

Can someone explain or just give a list of things that could be the source of a Stone Sorcerer's 'Sorcerous Origin'?

Is it just anything that is a powerful Earth Elemental?

>>54465638
But I'm a caster with 19 ac anon and a potential 24 ac, I'm really cancerous aren't I

My group and I are bringing back a really old session with the first characters we ever created. Right now my character is an Arcane Trickster 3. Needless to say, my character's stat distribution is fucking awful and includes a negative constitution modifier and bad hp rolls. Should I try to fix this by taking the tough feat?

>>54465709
Try asking if you can redo your stats since you had no idea what you were doing when you made the character

>>54465709
You should fix that by jumping off a building and taking the average roll for health in the future

>>54465673
Anything that has dominion over the earth. Certain deities count, like Hades, and you could use an ancient Stone Giant ancestor as the excuse. In Eberron, there's the daelkyr Orlassk.

>>54465724
He said I can do that in exchange for losing all of my current xp without losing a level. I'd be 700 xp behind everyone else if I did that, is it worth it?

>>54465673
Look up Dao in the monster manual in the section on genies.

>>54465691
It's not like a stone sorcerer can't do exactly the same thing while not being a ghey druid

>>54465840
What are your current stats and what method do you use to generate them?

>>54465691
Clerics are full casters with 20 AC habitually so

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I need a Deity for a Paladin that believes the weak should fear the strong, but the strong have a duty to protect the weak. Also, ideally a particular dislike for those abusing magic.

I like the idea that Warlocks can be connected to things like Demons, Fae, Aberrations. But does anyone know of anything that would be moreso related to Monstrosities. Like...something connected with Mimics, Manticores, etc etc. Or am I just getting into homebrew territory?

>>54465975
>believes the weak should fear the strong, but the strong have a duty to protect the weak
This makes no fucking sense.

>>54465914
11/18/9/16/7/19
I planned on multiclassing into bard eventually so that's why the charisma is so high.
We rolled for stats and I got a pretty mixed bag. Current hp is 12. I've been pretty good about not getting hit since I'm playing a ranged Rogue, but the one time I did get hit I went down.

>>54465975
wot setting

>>54465975
Kord?

It's been half a year since I've had my last DnD session and have been rather ignorant in the current happenings and such. How's the current state of 5e, lads?

>>54465975
Bane

>>54466059
the release schedule being what it is, nothing has changed.

>>54465975

Probably any sort of war god that isn't explicitly evil. It's the responsibility of the weak to serve the army and fuel the war effort, and it's the responsibility of the army to protect their civilians and conquer their foes.

>>54465951
I'm not some dick sucking healer though anon

>>54466059
>Half a year
Nothing has changed. New book in November with subclasses and other stuff

>>54466045
Those are actually pretty good stats for level 3, except for the Con of course... Maybe ask your DM if you can just reroll your HP or even take the averages for each level for a smaller/no xp penalty. I personally wouldn't risk losing the 18 and 19, especially if you still plan on going Bard

>>54466096
>Healing as any class outside of a bonus action when someone is at 0
Why though?

What's the most useful Cleric domain for your typical party? Life or War?

>>54466096

you're playing a druid. That's way gayer than cleric. You're a dick sucking healer who's also a tree hugger

>>54457594

>nerfing stunning strike

for what porpoise?? monks are already mediocre enough as is, and stunning strike is a good chunk of their combat capability past level 6.

>>54466096
>Cleric
>Healer
Son...

>>54466146
>buying into the tree hugging druid meme
I'll have you know my druid has burned down like 5 forests in his spare time

>>54466115
Got it. Thanks anon

>>54466131
Life. Less slots used for healing because of your channel divinity.

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Found the Time of the Dragon box set and the Three Dragon Ante card game in a charity shop yesterday and got them for £8, Taladas seems like a pretty cool setting that I'd like to run for a one shot or something but not sure how to really translate the races well into 5e Do I search the DandD wiki?

>>54466170
ur druid sounds sik

>>54466170

>buying into the cleric heals meme
My death cleric will command you to go prone and then deal 50 damage to you with advantage at level 4

>>54457713

Even with Flurry of Blows monks still do pretty mediocre damage while having less HP than most martials along with all of their restrictions. Stunning Fist is a strong ability, but it's the only real think Monks have going for them, especially later in the game.

>>54466211
Hes a shit cleric than, he should be picking them up and healing them 50 damage at level 4

>>54466211
>50 damage
?

>>54466262
:^)

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>>54466218
Not everything is about damage though. As an Open Hand monk at higher levels you have great mobility, and the ability it either stun 2 different foes, setting them up for allies, or knocking 2 enemies prone, also setting them up for allies. Granted, neither is guaranteed but Move>Stunning Strike>Move>FoB with Prone>Move towards next enemy makes you a completely different kind of threat.

>>54460816

For buffs to Step of the Wind, why not let it give you ridiculous jumps? That sounds pretty in line with the monks deal anyways.

Patient defense could just nix the Ki cost. That's really strong, though.

>>54466329

Yes. I know, that's why you shouldn't nerf it. It's where all their power is. Let them stun things. This is like making paladins declare smite before they roll or forcing fighters to use bonus actions to get their full attacks.

>>54465691
Draconic resilience gives you +1 AC over studded armour until you get magic armour and you're not a moon druid so you're not really properly tanky and also you went all the way up to 18 dexterity

On the other hand, a wizard taking a 1 level dip of cleric is absolute cancer

>>54466152
Because there's no reason to use any other ki ability after you get stunning strike since it's so much better than anything else that costs 1 ki

>>54466329
>10% of your brain meme
Eat my ASS

>>54466412
>>54465691
Oh, also, you can't hold anything in your other hand if you want to use shield at all.

>>54466402
My apologies. I misunderstood your post and jumped the gun defending monks since I'm playing one.

>>54466412
Not to mention capstone for wizard isn't nearly as crazy as druid cap. So a druid that dips is always fine imo, since they're losing out on something super cheesey.

>level 20 meme
Some of us do get there. But I know I'm not in the majority.

>>54466422
.....only if you're female.

>>54466262

My bad, 40 damage average. Becomes about 50 damage average at 5

>>54466464
My death cleric/long death monk is really fun.
I am become shaman king.

>>54466211
>Playing cleric for damage
Yeah, no. There are better sources of damage.

>>54466488
>playing anything for damage
ftfy

>>54466415

So maybe make their other abilities a little stronger? Hurting their best ability might seem like it'll make the other options better, but all it really does is just make the monk as a whole worse.

>>54466488

>playing what's optimal instead of playing what's cool and trying to make it as good as you can

>>54466464
yeah but how

>>54466526

memes

>>54466594
If its memes that deal damage than why are ghey druids so bad

>>54466669
they use normie facebook memes

>any race can put their +2/+1 wherever they want

Is Variant Human still the best?

>>54466526
Probably not really "average damage" in the sense that they do that with each attack.
But like, they can do something that would cause that level of damage.

I'm guessing command them to drop on the ground using the command spell.
Then using channel divinity to deal +15 damage on top of about 28 average damage from something like inflict wounds. Has a high chance to crit as well, considering it's a melee spell attack and the target is prone.

>>54466526
>>54466730

One way would be to use Inflict Wounds as a 2nd-level spell (4d10) use Channel Divinity to add 13 damage on top of that then use your bonus action to attack with your spiritual weapon (1d8+4, assuming your Wis is 18). Average damage is 43.5.

Once you reach 5th level, you can cast Inflict Wounds as a 3rd-level spell (5d10) and you get 15 damage w/ Channel Divinity. Average damage is 51.

NEW THREAD

>>54466769
>>54466769
>>54466769
>>54466769

>>54466729
I just give every race a free feat at character creation because more options/powerful characters are fun for us.
Also var human can get two feats.
Still only one person picks human, and this guy only plays humans in everything.