/5eg/ D&D 5e General

>>43972838
We use the flanking rules from the DMG (which I personally enjoy, as a GWM Fighter), and we've house-ruled that you can take an action to perform a coup de grace, since sleeping or paralyzed enemies are basically sitting ducks, anyways.

>>43972838
lingering wounds, because it's fucking awesome. Also flanking, because most of my players are 3.5 veterans. I'm planning on using both the Healer's Kit Dependency and/or the one rule where a long rest only lets you use hit dice.

>>43972838
When a PC dies if they choose not to be resurrected (or the party wont/cant) they cannot play the same class they were when they died.

Which FR clerics have the best fashion?

>>43972838
No Technology. It's distracting and people can't help themselves.

Also a little hourglass from an old boardgame to keep people from taking too much time on their turn.

>GM makes a grindfest game
>8 PCs lost in 5 sessions
>Asks for at least 2 pages of backstory each time
>Complains when we don't RP a lot and that we don't seem to care about "character developement"
Hahahah, NO, bye.

First time DM (on roll20 anyway)here, what kind of visual aids do you guys when your players are in a big sprawling city or anywhere that typically doesn't have an encounter?

>>43972838
My groups games have had a lot of strange house rules, which I plan to fix next session. Most were implemented by former DM and friend who introduced me to DnD. There was an autocrit system and crippling system that for a small bump in ac one could effectively autopilot or neutralize an enemy. I tried to use this system when I took over as DM but it has been exploited to all hell so I'm cutting it in Lue of something more tame.
Also we have a rule that allows one to trade a movement action for a single extra attack. This works out quite well to speed up combat.
Back when we played 3.5 the old dm used this strange system that allowed a person to attack once per dex modifier. We also used roll system so getting 18 or 20 dex at level 1 was not hard, allowing for some fucked up shit to happen.

I'm glad that old dm is gone from the group now

>>43974454
Just some art. You can turn the grid on a roll20 page off.

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>>43974502
So just like random landscapes?

>>43973719
That would suck. I would probably leave that group, but I love making characters so much that making new ones would 've the only thing in that scenario I could live with.

>>43973719
what wil the dm do if you just keep making almost the same character? thats what i would do

honestly i would just play "in character" and refuse to go on adventures. why would my high int char want to die for no reason, since that clearly seems to be what happens to adventurers in your dm's setting

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>>43973378
Priestesses of Eilistraee.

>>43974461
*lieu

>>43972838
If you say, "I do 'X'" then you character does it....no take backs or whatever, or time wasted on joking about slapping the bartender, etc. DM fiat of course.

DM begins a "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" if someones turn is taking too long on their turn during combat.

Ranger companion / pet CR increased a lil bit.

Unarmed is considered Finesse.

Flanking, Facing, all the combat maneuvers from the dmg, and a ton of homebrew content I give each class. Mostly options that players ask for when making characters, except for druids... gata get around to buffing the spell druid.

As per the hombrew stuff its mostly just balancing and making classes feel cool, such as my fix to the monk; Flurry of blows is a single unarmed strike that can be added to any bonus action you take, for 1 ki. Stuff like that.

I've been working on several character ideas and have been playing in 2 separate campaigns. In one I am playing a Goliath fighter who I am trying my best to optimize as a tank. In the other I am playing an insane warlock who I have no intent of trying very hard with. I've been having a lot of fun with both characters, but it got me thinking which is ultimately better to play, a character who is both fun, calm, and optimized, or a character who is casual, funny, and .insane?

>>43972965
This is actually in the PHB, interestingly enough.The descriptions of the resurrection spells say that the resurrected soul knows the god worshiped by the person bringing them back, and that they have the choice whether to accept it or not.

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>>43973378
I've always liked the Sensible Priestess of Shar. Simple and effective. Of course, if you want to go 200% fabulous, check the priestess of Selune.

Also: "Hey, priestess of Shar, would you mind standing right next to the priestess of Selune? And not, say, attempt to kill her?"

>>43977180
>tanking in 5e
>optimized
When your casters can slap on 5 AC with a Shield spell, or turn into a Bear or wear as heavy armor as you, and when you have one measly reaction per round to disrupt enemies, the concept of tanking is fundamentally busted without two other frontliners, which defeats the purpose of a dedicated tank.

Meanwhile it's hard to fuck up a warlock. Just take Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast and you're gold. Even Blade Pact will out damage Rogues with the bare minimum of planning.

what is a good event o place to make my players roleplay and flesh out their characters?

>>43977657
Adversity

>>43977585
If you mean druid when you say bear transformation, then you fucked up by being a druid. I have always personally disliked the class because they always seem to do nothing special. They have a transform ability that is nifty but ultimately not very impressive and can heal, which a cleric can do too and then some. More importantly though, you wont be spamming shield. You get at max 4 a day unless you take a short rest to get the slots back as a wizard or use your points as a sorcerer to restore the slots. In both cases its too finite to make either caster suitable to enter melee, unless your a bladesinger wizard that is.

On a side note If you position right you honestly only need one reaction. Most enemies don't use advanced tactics so they will usually swarm the first party member they can get to,

>Diviner likes to toss around predictions constantly
>Usually wrong but its amusing
>BBEG does his speech and how he will personally ensure we die painfully
>Diviner proclaims "I have seen visions of my death! AND TODAY IS NOT THE DAY I DIE!"
>Less than a round later he fails the save against a disintegrate and gets vaporized
>His portents were both lower numbers than what he rolled
Fucking lost it at the table. We had to pause for a few minutes so I could recover. Luckily he didnt get offended by me laughing but it was really damn funny.

>>43977657
Any event where the quest is something other than destroying unambiguously evil beings.
Make it so two well meaning groups/people have differing opinions on something important, the party is forced to demonstrate their characters own ideals and thoughts on the matter.

>>43977868
Beautiful. I hope the BBEG had as good of a laugh as you did as your party finished him off.

>>43972838
flanking, and you can switch from a path to an other at any level, and get the other path's abilities.

>>43972838
I want to do dirty things with the elf and halfling ladies.

>>43977825
>If you mean druid when you say bear transformation, then you fucked up by being a druid. I have always personally disliked the class because they always seem to do nothing special.
They have absolutely crazy spell economy, especially if the DM lets them pick their summons, and they can cache their healing with Good Berry at the end of the day.
>They have a transform ability that is nifty but ultimately not very impressive
It gives them a powerful short rest ability that stretches out their spells even further and staves off hp attrition and also helps prevent one shots in the early game.

>More importantly though, you wont be spamming shield. You get at max 4 a day
In the relatively shorter 5e combats it's usually enough if you start at range, toss a cc or aoe, and by the third round most things are dead when they finally catch up to you. Or you pop Shield when you get mobbed early on and it gives you enough time to deal with things or port away.
>In both cases its too finite to make either caster suitable to enter melee
Agreed but we're not talking about casters hanging out in melee, we're talking about casters getting by without a dedicated tank.

>Most enemies don't use advanced tactics so they will usually swarm the first party member they can get to,
This is terribly DM dependent and in the cases where it is true, it overrides any focus on stickiness, and thus wastes any specific optimization for tanking.

>>43977868

If I had been the DM I probably would have mentioned that the BBEG seems just as surprised as everyone else that the disintegrate worked for a second.

>>43978435
>Agreed but we're not talking about casters hanging out in melee, we're talking about casters getting by without a dedicated tank.

Without a dedicated tank casters will easily end up in melee. If your party consists of no one who can tank, then everyone will suffer and party deaths become 300% more likely. Tanks are needed just as bad as blasters and healers.

>This is terribly DM dependent and in the cases where it is true
I've never, ever met a DM who had the enemy forces to run past the immediate threat in front of them to go after a squishy caster. Archer may do it but there is no fix for back line enemies targeting back line allies outside of clearing out their front line first. Pretty much anything monstrous, undead, animal, construct, or low intelligent humanoid will lack the strategic planning to actually think "focus the caster", but without a tank they will go for whoever is closest, which will eventually be the casters.

And yes, I know you can play a front line thats not a tank but they will die much faster than you think. Trust me I've played games where 16 - 18 AC allies dropped like flies but my 19 AC and defensive style of combat saved my life and the lives of my allies.

>>43972838
Did someone just watch the last episode of critrole?
What is that black thing? Am I the only one who think this episode was pretty underwhelming?

>>43977585
I feel like AC is way too easy to get in this system, though it's been a while since I've played anything else. I just started a campaign where the sorcerer has as much AC as my fighter, and realized nearly every class has a way to boost their AC.

>>43978677
Well using spells to boost AC is only temporary and uses concentration and/or spell slots. When it comes to base AC most PCs can get 14 - 16 at level 1 and if they get a shield that will boost it by 2 for a range of 16 - 18, but the game is designed to where most of the time flat AC will cap out at 20 - 22. A full plate wearing sword and board fighter with protection gets 21 AC which will be your cap unless you get magic items or buffs that increase it further.

As for the sorcerer having as much AC as the fighter, the draconic heritage is a beautiful beast. It will carry that sorcerer very far n your campaign. Especially if he chose fire for his heritage.

>>43978665
Spoilers here for the latest episode of critical role.

The sphere is probably a failed summoning spell or ritual to revive Vecna and unleash him on the Mortal Plane, and it is now a Sphere of Annihilation. Which is as dangerous as it sounds. Keyleth rolling a nat 20 is probably what kept her from not losing the arm entirely, if not her getting instantly killed.

I feel like DMing is a shit job for how much effort you put into it. You plan out this story down to whatever level of detail works for you, craft plots and adventures meant to accentuate your PCs' strengths, backstories, and personalities, etc, and you never get so much as a, "Thanks for the session!" every once in a while. Then they get mad because you make one inconsequential ruling they don't like and make snide comments for the rest of the night.

And by "you" I mean "I". Oh well, it's either forever DM or don't play at all.

>>43978897
I know that feel. It's even worse when your group has a grand track record of zero campaigns completed or even played past level 4. The current campaign Iv'e been running was going smoothly but then some new living arrangements had to be made because dick ass roommate skips out on rent and now I think I have to retire yet another campaign before it even began.

On the bright side I play with another group weekly. it's AL organized play and we are running OotA. It's been going swimmingly.

>>43978897
Sounds like you have some pretty terrible players.

>>43978589
>Without a dedicated tank casters will easily end up in melee.
Not if you "position right" and totally use the terrain to the point where you would "honestly only need one reaction" to keep things on you.

>I've never, ever met a DM who had the enemy forces to run past the immediate threat in front of them to go after a squishy caster.
It's hard to threaten more immediately than a guy in a dress who can fuck everyone's shit up. In older editions you had hirelings pad out the line, so "tanking" was a matter of personal survival. In 3e you had rocket tag so tanking was just trip spam at best, and in 4e you had actual functional tanking to the point where optimizing it wasn't a joke but an incredibly valuable role. In any case, DMs who absolutely never geek the mage first are incredibly polite.
>Archer may do it but there is no fix for back line enemies targeting back line allies outside of clearing out their front line first.
Nonsense, unless short ranged weapons are used exclusively and they tend to be the choice of skirmishers who can attack from ledges or behind.

In 5e we're back to needing hirelings or rocket tag, both make tanking superfluous unless you are a Barbarian with tons of built in tank features that don't detract from your damage.

>And yes, I know you can play a front line thats not a tank but they will die much faster than you think. Trust me I've played games where 16 - 18 AC allies dropped like flies but my 19 AC and defensive style of combat saved my life and the lives of my allies.
I would certainly use a spare shield in the early levels for personal survival if there are frequent mobs, but I wouldn't waste anything permanent like feats or fighting styles on stickiness. Once things stabilize after the hazing levels then offense becomes king.

Did they keep the Elemental Chaos thing for the default setting or is it back to the Great Wheel?

>>43978897
Have you talked about this with your players?

>>43978984
>Not if you "position right" and totally use the terrain to the point where you would "honestly only need one reaction" to keep things on you.

Idk if you proofread this because you basically just said you don't need a tank because you need a tank. Of course the whole party works with terrain. The tank blocks the main path to the backline while the basher kills things, the healler buffs and heals, and the blaster AoE the enemies to death.

>It's hard to threaten more immediately than a guy in a dress
Sounds threatening, especially when your 60 -120 feet away while some beefy champion full of muscles is slapping me silly right next to me. Yes casters are super op threatening but enemies will not run to the backline unless they have no way to target the front line.

>Once things stabilize after the hazing levels then offense becomes king.
Offense is always king. Thats why you get duelist. You pump out a fuck ton of damage with it. It may not seem like much at first but a bonus 2 damage per attack can add up quick. Plus you go battle master and get all those sweet maneuvers including trip attack or any of the other ones that provide great damage and peal for the party. Plus shield master is handy too for that bonus action shield trip. Tripping people will keep them from getting anywhere far away any time soon.


Also why are we arguing about tank mechanics? This had nothing to do with my original question.

I have a question.

How would I go about rogue/monk multiclassing? I have a character in mind I'd like to try but I have no idea if this combo is worth anything.

I'm trying to do a classic "Headless Horseman Rider attacks party with ride-by attacks", however, I'm having a hard time finding any other interesting things that could benefit both the players and the horseman (eg. terrain, obstacles or the like).
Anyone got any ideas?

Does anyone have the new AL expeditions?

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>>43979451
The fight should take place on a long but narrow road at night. The only light sources should e the party torches and the horseman's pumpkin head. The road should have shrubbery or trees the back line can duck into to avoid the harsh charges of the horseman. The trees could be old and decaying so that if the horseman charges close by one someone could push the tree down and seriously hurt him. Maybe put a bridge further down the road the party could bait him to and then destroy the bridge to plunge him into the river. Maybe some roadside hills of cliffs that the party could use as upper ground to prevent him from charging through them. Just my suggestions take em or leave em.

>>43979362
All I could say for sure is either cut rogue at level 5 or 7 unless you really want the lvl 9 rogue archetype ability.Base rogue gets nothing good past 7. Shadow monk all the way for the remaining levels. Shadow teleportation is awesome. Idk how well it will work but I do know you get advantage when you teleport with your shadow monk ability so sneak attacks for days. As long as you fufill the sneak attack weapon requirements, whick I think limits you to shortsword as your best option. Should work soundly as long as your DM doesn't try to nerf you.

>>43979533
That's some great idea anon, thanks!

>>43979612
no problem. have fun with the horseman adventure :)

and goodnight /TG/

>That GM who repaid you having great ideas and moving the group forward with a coup de grace as soon as your character drops to 0
Well, seems I'm not wanted in this group, better leave.

What's the best rogue/wizard multiclass?

>>43979692
AT rogue.

>>43979668
>Not making sure your enemies don't get up again so they can kill you
Pleb tier enemies.

>>43979692
Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger.

>>43979778

Bitch you's in a fight with adventurers, you already got all of 30 seconds to live or die; you gonna blow 6 of them accomplishing shit-all (because killing one of them for real means nothing if you die)? Shit no.

WIN the fight, THEN coup de grace.

>>43979778
>Playing to have fun
>Repaying players who roleplay and come up with great, and puzzle resolving, ideas
Most unorthodox

Yeah, next time I'll do like the rest of players when a puzzle appears, enter facebook and let other dude resolve it

>>43979814
This is not a kid's game.

>>43979814
>>43979668
But killing the most invested player's PC is the best

>>43977585
>>43972838

Can we just admit that either Rogues or
Rangers should be kicked out of Core already? They feel like decrepit sacred cows that should've been slaughtered ages ago.

>>43977585
>Even Blade Pact will out damage Rogues with the bare minimum of planning.
Unless the rogue is an Assassin or an AT

Even so, the rogue with TWF or Crossbow expert has more chances to deliver the sneak attack and therefore not being outdamaged by your attack

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>>43979959
>Rogues

No.

Rangers maybe, they're just a bad multi classed fighter/druid.

>>43979959
>>43979988
Rogues? Nah. Rangers? Possibly. I like the basis behind them, but I don't think they really need to exist as a single class anymore. They'd probably be better off as a Path for something bigger, like Fighter or Rogue.

Given the spell Skywrite is a 2nd level ritual, why aren't the skies above major cities filled with advertising?

>>43980146
[Depends On Setting]

>>43979959
Rogues are well defined, have a clear role and unique mechanics.

Rangers are shit spell casters and half-shit martial heroes.

Fuck rangers.

Also, fuck sorcerers, 15 spells known across 9 levels? get the fuck out, what a shit caster class.

>>43980146
I'd fill the skies with DICK

>>43980192
>Fill skies with advertising for your wizard offering spellcasting services
>Make loads of money between every session
>buy more spells
>make more money
>Buy more spells
>Upset the DM until he throws a bitch it and destroys your spellbook
>Lmao you have backups even the DM didn't know about

>>43980146
I'm guessing major cities would either enact clean sky laws or demand a cut of profits.

>>43979975
>Unless the rogue is an Assassin or an AT.
I get the assassin bit but how does the AT get more damage with only illusions and enchantments? The advantage attack Mage hand?

>>43980268
Green Flame Blade.

>>43980268
Familiar = Sneak attack forever
GFB+Sneak attack = More damage a bladelock would ever pull

>>43980287
>>43980307
While this is true, I'd like to note that there's no real reason a rogue of any other archetype can't just take Magic Initiate to gain the same benefit while obviating the need for Int to cast most Wizard spells.

>>43980268
Like Eldritch Knight, Arcane Tricksters get access to 4 spells and one cantrip from any school. Pick Green Flame Blade and Familiar and boom, sneak attack with green flame blade every turn forever.

>>43980380
Well, duh, but I was talking about subclasses because he mentioned the bladelock subclass and not a special feat selection.

Holy fuck shadow monk is broken as fuck for out of the abyss

>>43980418
>Shadow monk is broken
Some might say shadow sorcerer is the brokest

Also I disagree

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>>43977585
The value of AC skyrockets the more you get of it, the value per point is exponential, because you get closer and closer to that near untouchable status. The difference between 20 AC and 22 AC is huge, It's difference between a pack one rounding you the moment they get advantage or them just tickling you on the odd 20.
The disadvantage/advantage system is a game changer for AC. Even the lowest CR monster could have a 10% chance to hit a god like PC rather than just 5%.

To be a good meatshield you need other stats beyond just the normal AC like disadvantage on enemy attacks, saving throws, hit points and resistances.
No caster can cover all of those bases. Shield spell isn't a tank ability but rather an "oh shit" button, a lot of buffs spells like shield of faith require consecration too. There are a lot better uses for spell slots to reduce damage; such things like killing or controlling the enemy rather than responding to an attack.

Bearbarian is an interesting build, however, it is not a meatshield character. Items and inability to talk really hurt them, they need magic to get their AC any where near acceptable levels, but even, other classes can get those same bonuses and do more with them.

>>43980178
while paladins are good half-caster gishes.
problem is, the ranger has a lot of exploration stuff, so they can't be as combat focused, but almost all of it sucks, and only works on some monsters or in some terrain, making it better for an NPC guide than for a PC.

>>43980478
Yeah, people really overestimate the value of Shield. The duration is almost too short to justify spending a whole spell slot on it. I had a player who was all boasting that Shield made him the best tank in the group. Then he ran out of spells and he got pounded into a chunky red paste by an ogre.

>>43980481
It sucks so much. I guess they must have been thinking that the ranger's out-of-combat abilities would be somehow incredibly broken if they worked everywhere. And yet, even in the right terrain and against the right enemies, they're pointless almost all the time. First you have to hope that it'll be a wilderness adventure instead of an urban adventure or a straightforward dungeon, and then you have to know that you're playing in the sort of campaign where the DM will even track your supplies and won't just assume that you brought enough with you and were able to follow the road to your destination.

>>43980544
it could have been a ranged or petmastery dex-based counterpart to the paladin.
a wasted opportunity, really.

>>43980498
>Yeah, people really overestimate the value of Shield.

It's less that, and more that they get addicted to that feeling of just telling your DM "No, I'm not going to let you hit my character."

A static bonus is good, but being able to say "Fuck you" to your DM for a single spell slot really lets them feel smug as shit.

>>43980584
This is why you never tell the players the exact value of the attack that hit them. You just keep all their ACs on file and tell them if it hit them or not. That way sometimes a player will be smug and use Shield and you can be smug right back because it wasn't enough.

>>43980562
What happened is that they took meaningless flavor abilities and treated them as though they were as important and central to a character as combat abilities. It's like if rogues got nothing at first level except Thieves' Cant.

>>43980618
Ah, the Cold Smug Wars of D&D.

>This power lets me withstand attacks for a round! Ha-hah!
>This style of DMing lets me waste the players spells! Ha-hah!

>>43980652
It makes sense that in the heat of battle you wouldn't know your enemy's exact margin of success for swinging the weapon that's going to meet your temple in a split-second unless you do something about it. You see that he's going to hit you, you cast the spell just in time, and maybe it's enough and maybe it's not.

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What the fuck is this hippy shit?

Nature is a brutal asshole that gives no shits. If anything nature characters should be like a Ted Kaczynski who joined PETA.

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>>43980629
Please don't hate on ribbons.

It's just a poorly designed class because it unfortunately falls into a niche that always gets overshadowed by the druid, fighter, or barbarian.

If anything, I'd say hating on the barbarian makes the most sense, because it does a far better job as the "Outlander warrior who's attuned with nature" than the ranger, and it seems like that class got first pick of the toy chest.

>>43980696
Ribbons are fine, it's cool when people have ribbons, but they're not the same as real abilities and shouldn't be treated like they have as much weight as real abilities when balancing a class. Rangers get two ribbons at first level and nothing else. Aside from their half-caster progression of spells, one extra attack, and the features of their subclass, everything a ranger gets is a ribbon. That's a problem. Paladins get all of the above and also a bunch of real, non-ribbon abilities on top of that.

>>43980672
Alternatively, the spells that Shield would work work for are the ones you see coming (the near hits), and the ones that it wouldn't work for are the ones you don't. While the player can see the attack that Shield wouldn't help, the character just gets hit before they know what's going on.

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Why can you get another path from a different class, but you can't get another path from your own class?

I can't think of one reason why multi-pathing rules shouldn't exist.

>>43980747
paladins also get an early, multiclass-friendly, ability to mix combat and spellcasting together, in their smiting.
you could take away the ranger's paths, give him a pet like from the familiar ritual, and have the paths provide a 'ranged smite' or a 'pet smite', weaker than the paladin's but with more options coming in with more levels, like lasting for a full round, or providing a +ac or to hit bonus to him or the pet, and you'd have fixed the ranger.
actually, it would become a keystone for new builds, like the paladin is for gishes right now.

>>43980808
iirc you could multi-path in the playtest, now word is that the more creative groups will houserule it in anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

>>43975504
>sacerdotisa de eilistraee nua pelada pornor

>>43980747
It might be because any time an ability that was actually useful in combat came up in a discussion, someone would say "That sounds more like a barbarian ability."

>>43980808
Would you have to take Fighter (Champion) 3/Fighter (Battle Master) 3 to get both archetypes?

>>43980877
you'd be a fighter 6, for the basic abilities (so you can't stack action surge), with the champ 3 and bm 3 abilities.
sounds like it would open up a world of optimization, but at least stops double-dipping into early class abilities.

>>43979803
I have been in one fight where this wasn't true, otherwise yes that is extremely annoying if the DM doesn't follow it. That fight was basically an angry guy that hated adventurers and wanted them all to die, and he would resurrect when killed. I didn't have any complaints with him killing me except that the rest of the party didn't realize that would happen until it did while I was screaming inside for like 2 rounds.

>>43980922
Well some restrictions are built into the class features and multiclassing section that seem to both support and contradict this.

When there are six Martial Archetypes (from future splatbooks) can I be a Fighter 6 (Champion 1/Battle Master 1/Eldritch Knight 1/Purple Dragon Knight 1/etc.) to get all six Fighting Styles?

>>43980676
>Paladins
>Brutal

Go cleave and smite somewhere else, bonehead.

>>43980840
That makes sense actually, the advantage on dex saves for example makes a lot of sense for ranger but also kind of for barbarians. That's still only the stereotypical barbarian though, there are tons of barbarians you could play where that makes as much sense as giving it to a fighter, while all rangers have some wilderness exploration and travelling as part of them.

Paladin's get the following as their top level of spells:

Raise Dead
Geas
Dispel Evil and good
Destructive Smite
Banishing Smite
Circle of Power

Every one of those spells is respectable, useful, and is likely to come into play in some positive way that helps your party.

Rangers get

Commune with nature (lmao)
Tree Stride (Fuck off, this is dogshit)
Swift Quiver (it's ok)
Conjure volley (The only actually good spell this level)

Fuck rangers, they're bad fighters and bad druids rolled into a putrid mess of flavour text.

>lmao what if your campaign is all set within a forest?

Well, that would be shit, for a start, but I suppose the ranger would be comparatively useful then.

It's called dungeons and dragons, not "Forests and Owlbears", although that actually sounds zany enough to be a fun one shot.

>>43980981
it's all houserules, so ask your DM.
going the way I proposed above, no you don't, fighting styles are class abilities, not path abilities - you get a second attack instead!

>>43980981
You can't get more than one Fighting Style, it's right there in the multiclassing rules. Which is silly and I would allow taking more except taking Defense but that's another discussion.

>>43980818
If anyone knows the number of that playtest, I'd love to look it up. I only have playtests from 2012.

>>43980877
>>43980922
Level 3 features are usually powerful, it's why some multi class dips are really nuts.
I was thinking you'd have to pick a feature of equal level, I might impose that rule mutli-class. It'd make picking your level really important, but it would open up an interesting world.

What do you think is more preferable? Pick a feature of equal level, sequenced progression or maybe a mix?

>>43981016
The exception to this is the Champion archetype of fighter.

People overlook this because "Muh battlemaster" gets spammed every time the champion is brought up.

>>43981016
>Can't get multiple fighting styles

PHB pg 164 called. It says you need to reread it.

>>43981016
>>43981040
You can't pick the same OPTION more than once, but you can get more fighting styles.

>>43981020
level 3 features ARE powerful, but there's a point you'll miss the higher-level features.
having some manouvers and extra crits looks great for a champion/battle master, but then he can either go for more and bigger dice, or more crits. there is always a trade-off of some kind.
I'd say it's better balanced than the usual multiclassing because it doesn't stop characters from getting the defining features at level 11 or 20.

>>43981043
Yeah I wasn't sure if it was in every Fighting Style feature description or just in the multiclassing rules, makes sense it's the former since it's a feat as well I guess.

>>43981071
Wow I've always misread that. Neat.

>>43972838
What are the best and coolest itens to be found in OotA and where?

>>43981143
most of them are random but waifu blade, some spell stones, and piwafwi's are always good

>>43981152
dang.

Whats a piwafwi?

>>43981164
basically a drow-made cloak of elvenkind. They lose their magic if exposed to sunlight for one hour straight.

Also there is this item at the very end but its kind of a spoiler
Wand of orcus

>>43981182
not touching that, cuz its evil.

>>43981164
drow cloak, idk how it works mechanically in oota, but usually it's a cloak of elvenkind with some extra stuff, like boosting a drow's innate magic.
being drow craft, it used to self-destruct if left too long in the sun.

>>43981192
Well if you do get it it actively works with you to kill another demon lord because the wand does not want to be wielded by one of the other demon lords

>>43981206
shit, also o destroy that fucking this is hard as fuck.

>>43981206
I bet it backstabs the party like that slimmy, two-faced, backstabber, lying, piece of shit you know what prisioner im talking about.

>>43981193
>>43981182
Sucks to have the waifublade around then!

>>43981265
>Played a deep gnome wizard
>Had a crush on topsy
>her and her brother get killed in a random encounter with some lava
I was sad.

>>43981298
Im sorry anon. =(

>>43981298
Jimjar was killed by some ghosts.
It sucks, cuz he was funny and a capable fighter.
Two other were murdered.
I wanted them all to live, anon!
I wanted us to be a big happy family!!

>>43981298
your waifu is a slut, there's a reason they're called deep gnomes and it isn't because of their philosophic debates.

>>43981152
>spellstones
are those that spell storing things?

>>43981223
>destroying the wand of orcus
DMG pretty much says that it cant be done.
Too hard.

>>43981334
Because they live deep underground?

>>43981334
Your mouth is a garden from which only lies grow.

>>43981353
>to destroy it you need to fuck orcus in his own realm, ressurect a guy, fuck orcus again, along with his armies and other fuckers who might want the wand for themselves.

>>43981143
Waifublade.
Other than that is pretty much random,so yeah.
Luck can fuck you over.
HARD.

>>43979959
>Rogues
No, fuck off
If two classes should go it's Ranger (Barbarian has all of their fluff, just give up and make it the gish archetype for druid already) and Sorcerer, which struggles even more to find an identity in an edition that has three spontaneous charisma casters as core.

>>43981143
your own spellbook

>>43981005
>It's called dungeons and dragons, not "Forests and Owlbears"

I guess it takes Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, then, to have adventures in the wilderness. I mean, the Wilderness Survival Guide came out in 1986.

If you absolutely have to have a dungeon every time, I take it you don't play the transition to the dungeon either? Every dungeon is entered through the city sewers? What if the damn dungeon is 60 leagues away in the Forest of Doom, and 40 leagues of that distance consists of said forest?

>>43981353
The Book of Vile Darkness is harder to destroy for good.

>>43981484
the Ranger at least has potential, as an arcane archer or a pet class, and the Sorcerer, defined by metamagics, is the best caster for gishes (quicken lets them act as both caster and mage, or just double gfb in a turn)

My characters found a deed to a parcel of land (thank you random table), and are wanting to go find out what's on the land instead of the actual mission they're on.

Any suggestions? Area is called "Half-Moon Hollow" (again, thanks random generators).

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Sup /tg/
I'll be DMing 5e for the first time soon.

So I'm trying to create a powerful artifact, a book where you bind the souls of recently dead. When your soul is in the book, you can't be resurrected.

Now, the user of the book can summon these spirits to fight for him. Probably just one at a time, otherwise it would be pretty overpowered. If their souls are killed, they are completely destroyed and only way to save the souls trapped into the book is to destroy it in some kind of special manner.

How would you create an item like this? Should there be some drawbacks with it?

It's obviously a very evil item, but I'm hoping that the PCs are greedy enough to use it.

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Thank you so much saving me from that mean evil princess!

I've been locked away for 5,000 thousand years, so alone for so long.
Never leave me, promise me that Tec- erm Heroes, I don't want to be alone ever again.

Post your face when you realized waifublade is Ryoko trapped in Techi's sword-key, and the evil princess is Ayeka.

>>43981484
Funny, I would say that the core mechanics of the sorcerer in this edition, Flexible casting and exclusive Metamagic access, along with the fact that they're not tied conceptually to "lol ur grandpa fuck X thing" gives them more of a resonant identity than they've ever had before.


>>43981572
A large clearing in a dense pine forest, with a dilapidated Manor estate on the grounds. It is actually the site of a feywild crossing.

>>43981587
I'd make it look like a normal Wizard's book. Standard fare, good leather cover, good parchment, but nothing screaming 'evil' at first sight.
It would contain a number of spells, all of the 'summoning' subschool, that call on those spirits.
any caster can cast those spells as long as he's attuned to the tome, and if the summon dies, the pages detailing the spell crumble.
upon further inspection and study, the pcs can find ways to put new 'spells' into the book, and realize how evil it is.
you'll have to design the spells, but making them take up concentration, and being limited by the spells the pcs can cast, would help balancing the item.

>>43981530
>Don't leave town before buying supplies, I have 6 different hourglasses (sized for your character's based on Con scores) which when empty result in your death.
>Did you use the loo?
>How clean are your hands?
>Roll to avoid catching salmonella from that inn

Sorry bro, I'll just file that with the rest of the shit that doesn't matter most of the time.

Sometimes a nice foresty adventure is nice, but frankly if the story was set up so that the only person who could resolve it was the party's ranger because "I'M SO GOOD AT BEING IN A FOREST", I would be sceptical.

The point is that Rangers don't do anything useful that other classes can't do better 90% of the time.

Even the whole "I'm good at forests" shtick seems like it would be just as easily seeded to the druid.

Rangers are not a good class.

>>43981572
A hollow is a valley in the mountains, so maybe a half-moon-shaped (when viewed from a mountain) small valley, a river running through it from the mountains, pasture for sheep and cows, and an entrance to a kobold-infested mine even the crustiest local farmer has forgotten about tucked behind one corner.

>>43981587
It would be handy for liches because they could keep the souls to eat later.

As for drawbacks, maybe the book has a chance of stealing the souls of friends and other people you don't want stolen if they hit 0 HP and it's within a few hundred feet. Maybe it makes people come back as revenants dedicated to killing the book's owner if their souls get loose or it fails to trap them.

>>43981617
I would disagree that they have a strong identity because they don't.

They are one of 3 charisma based classes
Their spellpool is just a smaller version of the wizard's.
They can only have a total of 15 known spells at max level, this is absurdly low.

They should've simply dropped the sorcerer and replaced it with a generalist class of wizard that has the metamagic abilities in place of the school specific bonuses of the other wizard archetypes.

>>43981773
>one of 3 charisma based classes.

I'm retarded, because I meant to say "Charisma based casters", but even that is wrong because I forgot Paladins.

>>43981773
Ah yes, the old Tautological argument. "Thing isn't thing because it isn't."

>>43981792
>I'm retarded
At least we can agree on something, anon.

>>43981792
the paladin covers a completely different role, it's just an half-caster, let's not mix apples with oranges.
the only real overlap is with the warlock, as both use class-limited abilities to make their spells better, either with invocations or metamagics.

>>43981611
I dont have a face for that.

>>43981658
That sound pretty great.
>>43981770
I'm thinking that everyone within 100 feet who drops to 0 hp has a 1%-5% chance to get sucked into the book but the one who has attuned to it has to succeed a hard Will save or something.

>>43981822
Why do you think they're good then?

I've given reasons, you're just act like a dick.

>>43981876
I never said they were good. I said they had a resonant identity. They have a playstyle and fluff to support that playstyle that set them apart from just being "caster class #4." We seem to be arguing fundamentally different things.

>>43981617
>>43981484
Warlock feels like a more interesting Sorcerer to me, honestly. Now if only they could stop being AB/EB pez machines.

>>43981914
The Sorclock should be an actual base class that does what both of them do (but in a somewhat balanced way), with the fluff from both as a 'power I haven't worked for' thing.

>>43981962
They're perfect as "the guy who partied and cheated his way through mage school" class if you merge them.

>>43981551
true

>>43982124
It's funny because I have a sorcerer villain who got kicked out of his school because he was studying to become a warlock.

>>43977573
I always enjoyed the Priest of Sharess from P&P, basically a dark haired Fabio

>>43982203
>>43982124
Probably a terrible idea from a mechanical standpoint, but a Warlock/Sorclock interpreted as a successful/failed (depending on the speaker) Conjuration Wizard would make for godlike flavour in my opinion.

You called upon the Beyond, and the Beyond answered in ways you never dreamed possible.

Cue getting kicked out because you consorted with e-- THEY DON'T GET IT.

Hell, even a Paladin order might not appreciate your Undying Light Contract.

>>43982616
a sorclock is never a bad idea, mechanically.
no pact or sorc path interfere with quickening hexed agonizing blasts, and twinned buffs for the martials.

>>43982616
My homebrew pretty much just ripped a nerfed version of meta, tacked it on lock, removed sorc, and called it a day. I like lock too much and considering I'm using a lot of demonology it felt like a good idea at the time.

>>43982888
I'd rather rip the lock, and add invocations as potential cheap metamagics.
wanna agonize that blast? it's 1 spell point, and you can't stack it with quicken.
that would remove pact magic, if any spellcaster wants to mc into metamagics it will be simpler that way, instead of forcing them to get a smattering of pm.

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>>43982546
>dark haired Fabio

And the priestess of Sharess-as-Bast wore a loincloth and hugged a cat, if I remember correctly. Walking into a temple of Sune or Sharess must be like walking into a model convention.

Also, another anon in another thread put together a handy chart of the clerical kit in the Realms. My favourites:

>the practically demure Sunite who shows less boob than the priestesses of Mystra and Lathander
>the Aurilite in her fabulous princess ball gown and the cheapest claw hammer from B&Q
>the priest of Helm's Egyptian Eye Hieroglyph helmet
>Moander's priest in dire need of weeding
>the Gondsman's sweet hat
>the Myrkulite's Halloween costume
>the Banite going for the old "I'm LE so I might as well wear the spiky armour" route

>>43979001
Great Wheel is the default, but there's nothing wrong with using the Elemental Chaos if you want.

>>43980478
Barbarians can actually get an AC of 18 at level 1 but its very difficult and basically gimps all of their mental stats. I think the only way to do it though if is you are human.

>>43983252
>15,15,15,8,8,8
>Default human 16,16,16,9,9,9
>AC 16
>Pick shield with the money you get from backgrounds if any
>AC 18
Is possible, yes.

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>>43981611
>"wat?"

>>43983252
the worst part is, this makes them very MAD. which is appropriate for a barbarian, but they'll need 6 stat increases if they want to stay shirtless all the time.
they can end up with an AC of 24, tho, which is great and tanky.

Looking for input on a character backstory. For what it's worth, GM has provisionally okayed non-Forgotten Realms races in Forgotten Realms setting.

>Warforged Draconic Sorcerer
>Wizard who created him used dragon blood in the construction because WIZARD
>After the wizard died, warforged sorcerer seeks to find new purpose and meaning to his existence
>Decides to try to become more draconic as a means of being more "alive"

Completely retarded or even slightly salvageable?

Off topic: Ugh, the Basic Player Rules text is all aligned to the left. I can't read that unaesthetic mess!

Why does WotC hates it's players? :(

>>43983460
Good enough. Don't be a faggot and play nice with your party and you'll get along fine.

>>43983460
well, the dragon's blood is the only part of him that is actually alive, it pulses with power, and drives him to live more, feel emotions, and all that good stuff... it could work.

>>43983409
>stay shirtless all the time

Any barbarian worth his or her salt should always be showing off the ol' mighty thews.

>>43983296
Possible with variant human too. You just have to pick up a feat that will boost your str, con, or dex. The best options would be resilient and tavern brawler, but athlete can do the job just fine too.

>>43982967
>beshaba priestess
kinky

>>43983516
>>43983537
Fair enough. Thanks for the input. I usually try to make PCs that can play well with others, but I suppose one angle might be having him try to emulate the type of dragon whose blood he has.

In the case of a metallic, that could make him a fairly sociable type.

>>43983503
we earned that hate.
the ranger class is just a freebie.

>>43982967
>Not being a priest of Waukeen and swaggering into battle with your fucking golden pope hat and 50 pounds of ermine

>>43983751
Beshaba > Loviatar

>>43982967
Holy shit, the priest of Torm is fucking ridiculous

>>43983788
give me the location.

>>43982967
That minister of Ao is one fancy motherfucker.

>>43983818
>>43983851
>>43983788
give the damn coordinates!

>>43983864
>>43983851 is in the black cloak on the bottom right.
>>43983818 priest of talos is the spikey black thing in the top right.

>>43983827
>>43983864
Topmost and leftmost. You can read the text if you open the image at full resolution.

>>43982967
>mfw I'm a Priest of Bhaal

>>43982967
Priest of Tempus (top left) is just Saint George?

>>43983906
>Look at me! I am totally not a giant purple faggot!

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>>43983827

>>43983906
>>43983938
>mfw I have no face

>>43983943
nice

>>43983906
>"Excuse me, is this the Temple of Bhaal?"
>"No, this is the Temple of Leira. Bhaal's four doors down the street, on the left."
>"Oh, thanks. It's dark and these dark robes and featureless masks are a right bugger."

>>43982967
>Priest of Azuth gon have to smack the priest of Ammunator with his pimp stick if that ugly ass cracker dont stop trying to stare him down

Any fluff on why avandra isn't in 5e?

>>43979975
>Unless the rogue is an Assassin or an AT
Assassin only comes into play when your whole group has surprise, by which case you've effectively defeated your opponent anyway. Assassin is the worst Rogue subclass because it's only good if you are already winning.

And that's before we get into the week long makeover that gets blown out by level 1 or 2 spells.

SCAG cantrips require multiple non-fire resistant enemies or stupid enemies to really do damage, and while they add to sneak attack...

>Even so, the rogue with TWF or Crossbow expert has more chances to deliver the sneak attack and therefore not being outdamaged by your attack
...the fundamental problem is that sneak attack damage is too low even if you consistently get it. Eldritch Blast or polearms with all the proper feats and invocations will straight up out damage SA whether you always get it or not. Then there are the other spells to factor that seal the deal.

The one exception is if you are a melee Rogue (um...) who stays toe to toe with an enemy instead of getting away with Cunning or Panache (warning...) who sacrifices your Uncanny Dodge Reaction (danger!) to make another off turn sneak attack with an OA or Commanded strike.

Rogues are really hurt by the lack of debilitation like they had in 4e, (DC 10 marbles don't count), and by the lack of reliable on demand nova. Thieves' Reflexes is the closest they get.

This is where a bunch of people will chime in about not needing short rests or being skill monkeys so they don't need combat effectiveness, but bounded accuracy hacks off skills at the knees and being only evasive means that the rest of the group has to change their tactics around you or take more rests to pull your slack.

>>43983996
because she changed into something else?

>>43983996
She spent 5 years in a hellish island, when she came back home she couldnt be the goddesss she was, she had to become someone else, she had to become something else.

>>43984000
level 1 or 2 concentration spells with short time limits that don't actually do anywhere near that much. But true it could be better.

>stupid enemies
Considering the trigger condition for booming blade, it would actually be extremely hard not to trigger it if you're in the middle of close combat.

>>43984046
5 years should be nothing to a proper goddess.

>>43983932
Makes me think about an Amnish priest of Tempus what with the conquistador kit and the facial hair, so San Jorge, perhaps. Who needs a morion when you have a bitchin' dragon's head helmet?
>>43983751
Aside from Beshaba's naughty stocking and Loviatar's Red Sonja-with-S&M kit, the evil priestesses are much more sensibly dressed than their good equivalents, who readily show the world what Sune gave 'em. Hell, my favourite (Shar's priestess), looks like a cute art teacher, not a cleric of darkness, sorrow and edgelords.

>>43982967
>Priest of Gond is wondering how that stick appeared in his hand

>>43984046
What is this mentioned in? A novel or a sourcebook?

>>43982967
>Grumbar priests' shoulders and platform shoes

I think he might be several gnomes.

>>43984263
It's actually mentioned in Faiths and Avatars that Grumbar's priests tend to be really big and buff. Apparently the god of earth elementals thinks that's the proper look for an earth priest. Also makes it easier to get Grumbar's point across when his priest comes to town to spread the message of "overseas exploring is bad".

>>43984071
All you need is one cast where it would make sense in order to destroy 7 days of work. The target doesn't even have to paranoid, just have anti-assassin divination spells used at a place and time where assassins would be around. If your target isn't rich or important enough to afford anti-assassination spells, then why fool with them at level 9, much less blow a week of downtime.

>Considering the trigger condition for booming blade, it would actually be extremely hard not to trigger it if you're in the middle of close combat.
It depends on the combatant, but anyone should have a way around it for a round.

post the name of your current/last PC
try to guess the race and class just by name

I'll start

this should be easy.

Roscoe Butterfingers

>>43984580
Sounds like a halfling to me.

Marthal Kalithum

>>43978897
I feel you man. I've been DMing for the better part of a decade and just recently had a player actually say

>"You seem like you've put a lot of work into this so we can have fun. I just wanted to say thanks."

I was so blindsided by actual appreciation that I didn't even know how to respond.

>>43984000
Rogue is a dip class. Sad but true, the extra skills, Cunning Action, and Assassination/poison use are nice abilities, but the rest of the class doesn't give much combat effectiveness.

>>43972838
I was kinda thinking of enhancing the ''Ki enforced strikes'' feat for monks by adding this to it:
Monk can spend 4 ki points to deal an additional (monk level)/2 d8 force damage per attack for the next 5 turns.

https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/672870411428696064

>rogue 11/bard 2 can take 10 on all ability checks

>>43979362
Renewing my question since more people are on right now and I'd like more opinions on this.

>>43979362
You're both dex dependent and past monk 5, sneak attack adds damage at a greater rate than your martial arts dice progression. Bonus action dash/disengage without a ki cost stacks with your unarmored movement extremely well. As long as you're okay with giving up some ki in exchange for skills and utility, it's pretty good.

>>43985386
What are you hoping to achieve out of the combination?

Consider that dipping out of Rogue loses you Sneak Attack damage, but gains you anything from the ability to run around naked to Extra Attack, whereas dipping out of Monk inhibits your Martial Arts die and Ki progressions, but gets you anything from Expertise to Uncanny Dodge.

Also bear in mind that:
>You cannot Sneak Attack with a non-finesse monk weapon (including unarmed strikes) without a houserule.
>Both gain Evasion at level 7, and they don't stack.
>If you're going Monk for any less than 11 levels, you don't gain any comparative damage benefit from your Martial Arts die over simply using a shortsword.

Monk and Rogue are both not exceptional classes in terms of damage, but if you're not hoping for a super-optimized DPR build anyway, go ahead, but just keep the limitations in mind. Build what you want.

>>43985080
an additional 10d8 per attack? or even just 3d8 when they get the ability, it's an extra 12d8 over a round of attacks...
the monk needs something like that, but maybe toned down? 1 ki point per round, 1d8 per 5 levels?

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How do we fix gnomes?

>>43986009
The answer, like with everything, is to breed with their women. Worked for elves, orcs, and demons. Now it's the gnomes' turn.

>>43981617
Nah dude. Sorcerer's identify in 3.5 was "spontaneous caster" and now pretty much all casters are spontaneous. Metamagic is really not enough to be the defining mechanic of a class. It's could easily be just a feat. they needed to do more to mechanically differentiate them.

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>>43974454
I use one of the various generators to make up a generic city map.
http://inkwellideas.com/free-tools/random-city-map-generator/
Mash until I get something good that would fit my city, maybe tweak it a bit in paint, merge a couple of them together to make a massive city.
Like this one. Just a simple map to roughly identify points of interest and the players' general location in town.

>>43986126
In all fairness to 3.5 sorc, I've always been convinced that the updated, heavily reinforced 3.5 Bard was more credible as "that dude who wields magic naturally and so can afford to be a dilettante" than a class that as wimpy, caster-centric as the Sorcerer. And when the tomes came there were three mor spontaneous casters who were already more flavorful.

>>43986378
Also, never forget to cheat like a motherfucker.

Google Images is your friend. If you have a big city in mind, search for Tang dynasty Chang'an, Constantinople 1000AD or 1200AD, Imperial Rome. An average mediaeval town, search for "Anglo-Saxon burh" or similar. A village? "East Grinstead 1360" has served well in several campaigns.

Print the maps or pics out and draw lines and numbers or use Paint for that to mark up important places.

Does anyone have Primeval Thule PDF? Can you share it please?

Is there any tool (official or unofficial) around that allows me to grab monster stats, maybe add some traits and print that for 5E?

>>43986126
speaking of which, there's feats to mimic other class-exclusive abilities in small amounts

Magic Initiate (any full caster)
Ritual Caster (any full caster except sorceror)
Martial Adept (battle master)
Healer (basically spare the dying + cure wounds lvl 1, with an ammo requirement instead of uses per day)
Actor (assassin)
Tavern Brawler (Monk, though it also gets Grab and Improvised weapons)


Where's the feat that gives you two (additional) metamagics and two (additional) sorcery points?

It's literally just martial adept but for metamagic instead of maneuvers.

>>43977585
>one measely reaction

SOMEONE DIDN'T TAKE TUNNEL FIGHTER

>>43984192
>>43984090
Anon is quoting the intro of that show Arrow.

>>43986109
Thats your answer for everything!

>>43979959
If we change ranger to the UA one, where you summon your spirit animal to help yourself and allies, always have a surprise round (that happens even before the normal surprise round), and has more HP than the barbarian, but has no more weird gimped druid spellcasting or useless favored enemy, does it then have a place again?

>>43987428
why not give him something like stances as in weaboos fightig 3.5 and the skirmish attack from scout (3.5)?

>>43983460
you're just doing this for the AC aren't you?

>>43984000
or, you know, you act as a scout, and kill everything before your injured team hobbles their way through.

>>43987468
not sure if stances really feels all that Schwarzenegger in Predator to me.

>>43986009
Well, at least gives them x7 to str and land speed 35'

>>43987468
skirmish as that shitty as fuck sneak attack like extra damage? Man, the images are returning to my brain, holy shit, scout was goddamn awful.

>>43987735
pathfinder's scout is glorious.

why sneak when you can charge?
combined with Thug, an earthbreaker, Enforcer, and Bludgeoner, you can sicken for level/2, shaken total sneak attack damage-4, and frighten for 1.

Sap adept and sap master also help really make it ludicrous.

You end up shakening for like, upwards of 50+ rounds if done right.

>>43987215
Probably just matter of page count.

>>43984000
Assassin and Arcane Trickster is a shit.

Thief is the best, bitches don't know how good their action economy is, and the power of Fast Hands and UMD.

>>43988005
how does sipping an additional feat onto a list of like, 30 affect page count?

>>43986009
By punting them.

>>43983996
She is. In the DMG, along with the other 4e Points of Light gods. Page 10.

>>43988061
How do you think, nitwit?

>>43988053
>Arcane Trickster is a shit
Lel

>>43985300
>10 ever being useful

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>>43988273
It's true though. It's just a fluffy 1/3 caster.

They might have been good if they got sneak attack on spells, but all they have is that stupid hand that can fondle monsters.

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Of the classic DnD archetypes, which class best represents the based as fuck hardboiled detective from pulp fiction?

Is it rogue or Paladin?

>>43988622
Paladin probably in most D&D settings. A lot of fiend fuckery out there; someone has to clean it up.

>>43986126
honestly I'd have sorcerers use the spell-point variant from the dmg, and combine them with their sorcery points. makes them a lot more spontaneous / flexible, and makes them feel more like the "casting is an art, not a science" class they're supposed to be

>>43981572
>>43981617
Headed north the party must find the mountain pass that crests ten miles along a rocky path. There they turn northeast through a winding bottlneck fissure; they have to completely loop around and finally come out onto a cliff. They see below a hollow with a sizable glade perfectly shaped like the half moon. With the curve positioned west, towards the party, there sits a fort halfway between the straight edge of the glade. The fort is about 50 ft by 100 ft, nothing special. It does however have what appears to be a watchtower of elaborate architecture with an ornate clock. (If the characters can see this far say 2 miles down rocky windy paths, 2 miles through thick forest, maybe 1 mile to the tower they'd see that it reads the correct time.)
At night this tower does serve as a portal to the Fey. They feel they own this property.

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>>43988574
Seriously?

They get full Rogue at-will damage, plus magical utility and the ability to invisibly pick pockets from a distance. That's pretty fucking sweet.

>>43986126
>mechanically differentiate them

I do this >>43989666 (praise to the beast) as a hard rule, sorc is the only one able to use spell points, and they must use it

>>43972838
My standard houserule for 5e is everyone gets a free feat at 1st level.

>>43989801
>magical utility
Don't AT only get the schools of mindrape and "of course nobody believes in mirages irl"

>>43988574
>They might have been good if they got sneak attack on spells
Like on GFB and Booming Blade? they do

>>43990182
And 1 cantrip and 4 spells (3rd, 8th, 16th and 20th level) from any school they want

>>43990182
They get a small number of other spells. Illusions are actually pretty good for them because they generate things to hide behind.

>>43990182
>mindrape
You mean the best school?

>mirages
You mean shit to hide behind and distract people with so you can Sneak Attack?

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>>43990104
you are crazy.

>>43990249
Does GFB let them get sneak damage twice? Or just on the dude that physically gets stabbed?

>>43990920
Just on the dude that gets stabbed.

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>Tired of 3.5 and want to try 5e
>Rest of the players in the group dont want to try anything else
>So I join a group at my LGS
>Make a cartographer rogue that wants to make what would basically be the worlds first atlas
>DM doesn't even look at my character sheet before we start playing
>After a short intro, discovery of a sacked traded caravan, and a bandit ambush we make it to town a few hundred gold wealthier
>We talk to some people in town who basically tell us to "come back tomorrow"
>Party decides to go shopping
>I don't really want anything so I climb up to the rooftops and start sneaking around while making a map of the town
>DM gives me a weird look
>Other players do things for a while until he eventually tells me a guard starts shouting at me
>I calmly climb down from the roof and go over to speak to him
>DM gives me another strange look
>Guard takes me in for questioning
>Explain to him I am just mapping the town from the rooftops
>They ask me why and accuse me of planning a robbery
>Explain that I work with the cartographers guild and show him my membership papers
>DM stops the RP and says "Geeze I am giving you a ton of chances but you just cant play a rogue right can you?"
>My character gets arrested and "has his hand chopped off" for stealing
>Tells me not to bother coming next session
Well time to try and find someone else who runs a 5e game in this shitty fucking town.

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>>43991576
Damn son.

>>43991576
I wonder what you were supposed to do

>>43991610
Steal shit, stab shit, and nothing else apparently.

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>>43991576
welp, i'm sorry you got a shitty DM anon. Tbh if I were you I would of made a fucking scene of it. Yelled at him for being a bad DM, argued with whatever convoluted rulings he is making, try to fuck everything you could up before you were kicked out for being a good player. If the DM is gonna be a shit head the players should be too, that's my philosophy.

>>43991898
I really didnt care enough to put up a fight. I spent maybe an hour and a half rolling up this character and we played for about three hours. I seemed to be the only one that wanted to talk in character and any attempts to RP between characters was met with disdain. I had hoped that it was just them not being sure of how to deal with a new player but I was wrong.

>>43988574
I houseruled them to give them just that. gave them sneak attack on every spell with an attack roll because it makes perfect sense.

anyone have any good snakefolk shit? lamia or anything really.

>>43991576
Sorry anon, your DM is in fact a complete retard.

>>43992245
Can confirm.

>>43992244

Nagas are a moderately difficult race to play, primarily because their slow movement speed makes it impossible to escape most opponents through retreat. This is particularly noticeable in the early game, where a naga's Deformed Body mutation penalizes any armour they wear, their innate AC bonus hasn't had time to balance that out, and their combat skills and alternative options are most limited. Don't be afraid to make use of their poison spit ability to soften up difficult fights you can't avoid, and don't feel bad burning consumables to keep yourself alive through difficult encounters you just can't avoid.
Once a naga survives long enough to come into its own, however, they acquire an excellent array of useful perks, including better than average AC, auxiliary constriction attacks, see invisible, poison resistance, good magic resistance, and an excellent HP pool. Their slow movement speed will blight them the entire game, but survival becomes much less of a struggle.

>>43980481
>problem is, the ranger has a lot of exploration stuff, so they can't be as combat focused,
Rogues manage it just fine. Full casters manage it too. Monks are almost entirely combat focused (try open hand), but struggle to be better in combat than casters. It's just not a real tradeoff. Rangers aren't even bad in combat until they stop getting any new combat abilities, around level 8.

>but almost all of it sucks, and only works on some monsters or in some terrain, making it better for an NPC guide than for a PC.
There's the problem.

>>43981617
Class defining features come at levels 1 and 2. Level 3 is where you pick your archetype. Are you a quicken sorc, or a twin sorc, etc.

Sorc class defining feature is "Your mom fucked a ____ and gave birth in a ____" and their totally unique spell list, which is like the wizard spell list with less spells on it. I guess being the only full caster with no ritual casting is unique too.

What are some good tenets for Rangers in a setting where they are basically paladins of nature? I've heard that here before but never really understood how it works, and how it's different from Ancients paladins.

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So my players might have just received a baby Owlbear and I dont know a whole lot about them. Anyone got any tips on how I should handle them attempting to train it and how it should act besides it wanting a ton of food from them and attacks them or other creatures especially when its hungry.

>>43972838
>Pic

Ravenloft?

>>43991576
He should have had a 0 session with you. Every dm needs to sit down and talk with a player to get an idea of their character before they can join a campaign.

>>43992828
It would probably be fine as a baby, growing up it would probably get more and more violent though like real animals do that haven't been pets for several generations already.

>>43992828
it acts exactly like a bear to be honest

>>43984000
Sneak attack with a 1d8 weapon with advantage at level 20: 42.9 DPR.
20 rounds of this is 858 damage.

Eldritch Blast with Hex with advantage on the first bolt at level 20: 41.8125 DPR. Use Foresight for advantage on all and it's 52.65 DPR.

20 rounds of this is 1053 damage.

Advantage to Warlock of 195. An assassin's death attack is worth 30.81 for the auto crit + 73.71 if they fail the Con save. Thief's Reflexes is worth 42.9 every encounter. An AT's self haste is worth 30.9 every round (Hide/distract, attack with haste, ready an attack with your normal action). None of the rogues are using Crossbow Expert, Booming Blade, or Sharpshooter (with stroke of luck). Just a light crossbow and reliable stealth. It's actually pretty fair, slightly favoring rogues at the end for reliable damage.

>>43991951
Well from my experience you should find an official AL group. Maybe I got lucky but the players who are a part of the AL in my area are all great players and most of the DMs are also really good and fair. The only DM who is questionable is a player who will fill as DM and sessions with him always just feel strange and drawn out.

Start of OotA spoilers

> Friend who normally plays is DMing so I can gave a chance to
> Roll up a lawful good halfling cleric party mom
> During the escape, we're in a guards equipment room, Turvy is scared by the weapons so I grab like 2 things and escort them outside
> Hear a scream
> Our rogue/wizard failed to bash open a chest and dismissively told the deep gnome obsessed with keys to try his ring of them
>I rush in, wizard grabs his spell book from the now opened chest, gnome is on the ground screaming in pain
> Quickly identify poison dart mechanism, he was hit in the hand
>I try to make him a torniquet, 22 on my medicine check
> it's already spread to his torso
> Use Cure Wounds
> Relieves pain, but doesn't help
> Soon is clear he's beyond recovery, I cover his eyes and reluctantly allow the wizard to put him down
> My character feels a failure because she couldn't save him
>Mfw the DM mentioned the arrow was drow poison and he gave up searching for what that meant during the procedure

>>43993355
Drow Poison paralyzes not kills

>>43993397
I know that. But from what the DM let on when he looked it up, he didn't.

I'm making a 5th level arcane trickster rogue and can't decide what spells to get, any suggestions? Was going to grab find familiar as my one non-restricted spell but the dm seems to be giving everyone in the party a pet to start out with

>>43994155
Find out if he's giving everyone a pet. If he isn't, find familiar can guarantee you having an ally in melee for sneak attack proccing.

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Doop

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>>43992384

But you're wrong

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html

If you can't make the connection between the above link and what why what you just posted is wrong, you should read up on what Edward Snowden linked to the world.

http://www.cjfe.org/snowden

>But you probably won't, because being wrong is painful.

>>43995354
>replying
http://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/filename/ningyo%20hime.jpg

>>43984131
>cute art teacher
>cleric of darkness, sorrow and edgelords
Same thing, really.

>>43974461
>Back when we played 3.5 the old dm used this strange system that allowed a person to attack once per dex modifier.

Christ, why would he want to make DEX even more broken in 3.5?

>>43995734
Again, not my call. Tbh it took me awhile to learn fully how broken it was because they were using that system when I started playing DnD for the first time.

>>43992703
Sorcerers can get their powers from pacts it doesn't have to be from heritage exclusively

Playing 5e for the first time in a one shot and a friend wants to play a a PF-esque Magus but with bows. Are there rules for such a class yet?

howbout this fighting style:

iaijutstu:

the first attack you make in combat after drawing a weapon in the first round of combat does +10 damage if it hits. this bonus increases to +20 damage at 5th level, +30 damage at 11th level, and +40 damage at 17th level.

is this balanced? would different numbers make it balanced?

maybe 10 per breaking point is too much. what about 10/15/25/30? something different? 8/16/24/32?

just an idea, i'll never dm, and probably never collaborate with a dm on making homebrew rules. or at least i can't see how that would ever come up.

i think i'd be a good co dm maybe but again i don't think it'll happen. i'm not good enough at talking and making multiple characters seem real on the spot, and i'm not really good at explaining or describing things.

>>43995796
Not really, no. Mostly because there are maybe five damaging touch spells in 5e, so having the ability to deliver such spells through weapons is pointless.

Best I can give you is Eldritch Knight with a bow.

>>43995842
Oh well. Thanks!

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>>43995838
No, it's not balanced.

And jesus christ, anon, grow some fucking balls. No one knows how good of a DM they'll be until they try, and most people are shit until they have some practice.

>>43995794
Sorcerers can get their magic from shitloads of things. Dragon blood infusions, born during a massive storm, walking through a wild magic zone during puberty, wizards casting experimental spells on you. There is literally no reason to assume that sorcerers have magic because Grandpa couldn't keep his dick out of something anymore.

>>43995867
no no i don't think i would even enjoy dming really. i would like to develop a setting but i enjoy being a player too much and i don't like having pressure on me or people relying on me. anyone else feel like that?

whats unbalanced about it? the way i see it it needs to be slightly better than say dueling fighting style in short combats, but it gets worse in more drawn out ones. its only good against one enemy, if you hit with your very first attack.

Does anyone have nice ideas for a loli lich's dungeon? So far I've got:
>Teddy bear golems
>Pillow fort rooms
>Pillow-smack-in-the-face traps
>Potpourri traps
>Pit of pudding that only looks like corrosive slime
>Skeleton minion acting as a riddler and guide
>Animated ancient toys defending certain "treasures"

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>mfw converting Pathfinder monsters and classes into my 5e homebrew

Paizo has such cool monsters and classes trapped in a bloated, poorly-balanced system, it's a shame really

>>43995936
>Innocent girly kid shit
You're going about it all wrong, man.

>>43995948
Will you upload the stuff you worked on into the thread's collection? I'd like to see the base classes homebrewed into 5e because I love the fuck outta the concepts of the gunslinger, summoner, oracle and inquisitor.

>>43995958
Well, I want to have a lighthearted adventure for my players, which then suddenly turns to horror halfway through. I only have these ideas so far, nothing for the "horror" part yet.

>>43995936
>>43995958
It should be a super-deadly death dungeon where they're accompanied by a young girl from the start. The young girl is lost but the entrance locks behind them. This young girl constantly gets into near-death experiences that the players must save her from, putting themselves into harm's way. If/when they get to the end, she goes into fits of giggles, misty steps into her cushy throne of human bone, and the final battle begins.

>>43995948
>Paizo has such cool monsters and classes trapped in a bloated, poorly-balanced system, it's a shame really
That's because everything good that Paizo has put out was thought up by someone else many years beforehand.

>>43995838
This is far too strong and the ability is worded in a very messy way. Try something like this
Weaboo Name: All melee attacks you make in your first round of initiative deal +5 damage.

This scales automatically with extra attacks, and makes you have a legitimate trade off with the other fighting styles. Dueling is 2 points of damage and the heavy weapon one averages out to right about 2 points of damage since the twitter change to it. If the encounter lasts 3 rounds or longer, this is inferior to them, but if the encounter is shorter is superior, and it also encourages nova play (action surging during the first round of combat is even better).

Still VERY strong and probably only balanced by the fact that not every encounter will start you within 30ft of somebody.

>>43995960
I haven't really touched those yet

I've mostly been adding class archetypes and Sorcerer bloodlines and such

>>43995978

This, seriously.

Every original monster in the Bestiary is garbage, and every half-decent one is either a lazy copy of something out of mythology, or an even lazier copy of something out of D&D (which itself has even odds on the same bet).

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Im gonna DM a oneshot adventure for my family this christmas who never played D&D before and barely knows what it is. Should i let them make their own characters or give them premades? Any good ideas on an adventure, preferably premade?

>>43995994
If it's a one-shot with normies, premades are the way to go. Just do a standard fighter/cleric/wizard/rogue party and leave the names, descriptions, and personality blank.

>>43995994
Make premades. Don't assign though, let them pick.

>>43996011
>Normies
>Muh Nerd Elitism

>>43996011
They are normies big time, tried making up a few premade but later realized i did it all wrong, i might just ask what they want as well

>>43996030
You're on 4chan. it's not
>Muh Nerd Elitism
It's
>They can't relate because I'm so much smarter in all the autistic ways than them.
>They aren't terrible at socializing

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>>43996030
>>Normies
>>Muh Nerd Elitism
Fuck you, anon, I actually really enjoy people getting into the hobby and love that 5e has proven to be a good entry for so many.

>>43996085
>spoilered text
Mah Undercover Brotha.

>>43996085
Same

5e is nice and easy, and easy to expand upon as well

>>43995994
Realized i could just take the start of LMoP adventure, make them start in town instead and do the first goblin cave where they save Santa or something instead of the human guy

>>43996137
>the goblins are all dressed like Christmas elves and their leader is dressed like Santa

>>43996152
Yeah just like that, replace goblins with something grinch related, change the wolf encounter that two wolves are attacking rudolph or something and the players get to save him. Change bugbear leader to the grinch who has santa captured and the goblin hostage encounter is where they have the christmas gift. Perfect

>>43995982
do you think theres a way to balance it around just a single attack? risk reward you hit or don't?

i think that inherently has to be somewhat unbalanced but i kind of like the fact that it doesn't really interact with extra attacks (though you could still say shove, then draw a weapon and attack).

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>>43981005
>D&D should conform to my idea of what it should be
>any universe aside from cookie-cutter European medieval-renaissance-victorian is likewise invalid

>>43995867
>And jesus christ, anon, grow some fucking balls. No one knows how good of a DM they'll be until they try, and most people are shit until they have some practice.

thinking about this more, is this true? should I just try out dming? what if the people i play with don't like the campaign i'm putting together?

no i think i'm too much of a robot, too awkward to do it. maybe it would just need to be a mostly combat campaign lol...

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>>43991898
an eye for an eye, my nigga, you sound like a petty little fuckboy desu

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>>43995838
Jesus Christ, I bet you make posts on DandDwiki

>>43996408
Nah I'm just done with shitty DMs. If a DM is gonna ignore your characters personality and instill his own vision of what you character is gonna be, punish you for not conforming, and mutilate your character before banning you from the table, I'd Damn sure want to let him know how much I disapprove of his Bullshit.

>>43995877
But in almost all of the cases sorcerers have magic because of something that isn't their fault. Thematically, they need to be getting their magic in the same way that they level their magic. Wizards study tomes and invent new spells on their own. Bards sing songs and learn secrets. Warlocks make deals for power.

I say sorcerers are actively trying to mimic and recreate magical beasts and phenomena as the source of their spell casting. The storm sorcerer might not be able to eat lightning and crap thunder, but they would be the one standing out naked watching a tornado. The red dragon sorcerer doesn't get an additional infusion of dragon blood, but maybe he can contemplate existence while sitting on his fresh hoard of gold coins. And the Wild mage goes on a gambling spree.

A purely passive power source just doesn't jive with the features gained by leveling up. They get better at casting, so clearly the sorcerer practices casting.

>>43996498
You do understand the concept of honing a talent, right? Like, some people have a natural affinity or aptitude for something, but they still have to practice if they want to improve. Same with sorcery. You get your powers through something that isn't in your control, but you improve through practice. As they get batter at casting, they naturally begin to manifest further abilities related to the source of their power.

Just to clarify, I'm not arguing with you, just explaining how I see it.

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>>43996491
you sound like a domestic abuser justifying beating their spouse, TBQH

>>43996534
You don't need a natural talent to be any other class. But you could have a natural talent for any class. That it is supposed to be a natural talent isn't really represented anywhere. So I just say it isn't. Unless that's the background the player wants of course. miss the difference between being a dragon cultist because you like dragons and being a dragon cultist because you are a dragon.

>>43996289
What you posted originally is outrageously powerful because +10 damage is at least five times better than dueling style at level one. (I say at least because even factoring in damage alone its five times better, but you also have to factor in things like killing an enemy much faster because of the extra damage. If you don't get hit for 12 damage because the enemy dies within the first round of combat or somesuch, its infinity times better defensively)

You could do something like.

Weaboo fightan: When you hit an enemy with an attack for the first time each encounter, you may spend your bonus action to deal an extra 1d6 damage.

It makes you use your bonus action, its usable multiple times (but only once per opponent). Its comparable to TWF but slightly better in exchange for only being used once.

>>43996463
the irony in this post is strong, though the point is a good one

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>>43996637
ok i know i sound like im beating a dead horse and am autistically chasing this weeb dream, but hear me out. and again, this is a thought experiment that will literally never be put into actual play.

is there a point at which numbers wise the concept of a flat damage bonus applied in the way i laid out be possibly balanced?

if we had 6 combat encounters in an adventuring day, and say you have 4 turns on average per encounter. lets say (going off of my own experience... no idea what the real number is, i'm just explaining where i got my numbers)

that would be pre extra attack: 24 attacks, so with dueling fighting style 48 extra damage. for 6 encounters, to balance out having that spread over each encounter would be +8 damage on the first action. but you only get one shot at this, so to bump it up in risk reward a bit and to follow the trend of +10/-5 (say) i called it +10.

so ever extra attack you add another 48 damage to your adventuring day with dueling fighting style. ie a level 20 fighter with those encounter numbers would be doing an extra 192 damage per day. so likewise you scale the extra damage from theoretical weeaboo fightin similarly (i followed cantrip levels just coz). dueling and great weapon master scale via extra attack, but this is a hypothetical extra attack independent fighting style. perhaps that would lead it open to multiclassing abuse, but idk if that would even really matter.

accuracy, you might say, would change those numbers. but if you say hit 60% of your attacks throughout the day, isnt that true of your first attacks each combat as well? so accuracy doesn't really touch these numbers right?

i also understand the desire to make it a die roll, but on a super specifically triggering bonus damage attack, i feel like the potential to over the course of the day 6 times deal potentially 1 damage per time, assuming you hit, would be kind of sucky.

i get your point about how killing an enemy 1st is better need to think about that

>>43996790
Honestly, I don't understand why you don't just make it an auto-crit instead of a damage bonus. The damage scales to both the number and size of dice.

>>43996790
i guess perhaps the answer is that burst damage is just way more powerful than sustained damage, because of the potential to negate threats ie kill monsters before they can hit you for very much if at all.

maybe if it started at lower damage, it would be better. whatever maybe i'm just satisfied with that being the answer to my question. there doesn't need to be a finalized answer because again never going to be put into play.

>>43996790
Isn't iajutsu about attacking quickly with surprise

So just make it something like advantage on your first melee weapon attack

>>43996587
And you sound like a troll. Good day sir.

>>43996827
Auto crit would be far too strong for rogue dipping. Almost no reason to ever go assassin then.
>>43996790
All of your numbers are based on a flawed assumption, that is if it is the same amount of damage being dealt (or close to it) that it doesn't matter when the damage comes.

It matters a lot. If you have an encounter against 4 enemies that is supposed to last 4 rounds, and you kill an enemy in the first round because of this, you also got to avoid all the damage that enemy would deal. There aren't any fighting styles that give you an extra 10, 20, 30 or more HP that you avoided by killing that enemy faster. At low levels I cannot think of a meaningful (to you, since 5 and 1d6 were apparently too small) difference in damage for this ability when compared to dueling. And if the difference is high enough at high levels, it will probably be too good again because killing an enemy is even more important in the first round (you could be saving your party from literally hundreds of damage from an AoE or the like)

>>43997037
I had a version of this that was basically "during the first round of initiative you may use your reaction to draw your weapon and make an attack".

it was part of a feat though, and not a fighting style

>>43997202
In 5e drawing a weapon is part of the attack

>>43997216

on your turn. This allowed you to do it as a reaction. Can't speak for the balance though, as I never got to actually use it in play. Switched characters before I would have had access to it

>>43997216
You wish, you get one item interaction for free, so unless the weapon has the ammunition property you're boned. You can't for instance chuck 3 javelins, and you can't draw two shortswords to dual wield in the same round.

>>43996790
Up front damage is better than damage. in4 turns, so it would be reduced, not increased at the start. then putting all the damage into one attack gives it extra benefit from attack roll improvements. Battle master has plenty of examples so it's more valuable on first attack than even on each attack on round one. So if it's equal at 8, it's balanced at 6 or 5. Or less, since it's good for stronger weapons than dueling is.