Dungeons and Dragons 5e General

>>48556405
Warforged only if its a dungeon crawler

>>48544986
Old thread.

>>48556405
I don't even want to stick to RAW core tbqh because nu-DND butchered tieflings and dragonborn are hot garbage.

>>48556464
How were tiefling before?

>>48556491
Still fiend-touched special snowflakes.

>>48556405
Their take on Warforged so far may change, and I look forward to seeing just how they'll adapt them; especially potentially treating such things as Warforged Scout, Psiforged, or even creating a few first level feats to enhance them specifically like they did with the Sniflburbun Magic feat in Sword Coast. As they are right now, playable but I want to see more in their next revision.

Changelings I think they just need to tighten up the language around describing their abilities.

Revanants are interesting so far, though I would like to see rules allowing for for Half Orcs and Half Elves to be them.

And, I think generally, the shifters seem alright at a glance.

Curious to see how they'll tackle Kalashtar, the Inspired, and potentially Daelkyr Halfbloods once they flesh out Psionics and Eberron in general.

>>48556491
Randomly generated human with various demonic bits stuck on. Check out the the 1d4chan article on them; the D100 generation tables are still there.

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>>48556548
You know you can still roll the tables right

So, anyone got any ideas, hopes or expectations for the new races in Volo's Guide to Monsters? We know of 6 races we're getting so far, but anyone got any others they really want to see?

For the curious, those six races are:
* Orc, Goblin, Firbolg: Revealed in the product summary for Volo's Guide.
* Aasimar: Revealed on Reddit.
* Catfolk: Revealed on Twitter, but we don't know what "sort" of catfolk we're getting - there's tabaxi and wemics (lion-centaurs, essentially) as "traditional" Faerunian catfolk, after all.
* Tritons: The podcast where they talk about Storm King's Thunder.

Various teasers have revealed that we're getting Orcs, Goblins, Firbolgs, Tritons, Aasimar and Catfolk (though whether that's the generic catfolk or Maztic's tabaxi we don't know yet), but what else could we get? Kobolds, gnolls, saurials, what?

>>48556405
I keep warforged in my back pocket in case some newbie wants to play a Terminator or a cyborg.

>>48556590
I'd love to finally see an official kobold race. Is it weird that I dislike dragonborns but actively encourage my players to make kobolds? They're my favorite of the small races.

>>48556548
Honestly that sounds more snowflakey to me.

>>48556590
Weren't Aasimar in the DMG?

I feel like Kobolds could also show up, along with stat blocks of a couple UA races being put in official books (probably Goliath).

>>48556590
Weren´t kitsune included somewhere? Or was that an UA and I remember wrong?

Real Eberron content when?

lol at the idea of ever getting more official non-FR shit

>>48556689
Next year, probably.

So, on a random question; do folks think that the basic settings of either Rapture or Columbia (the Bioshock series), or Castle Brennenburg or Malthus' Estate (the Amnesia series) could be made into adventuring locales in 5e?

Likewise, how plausible would it be to do 5e monster stats for the Plants from Plants vs. Zombies?

...I make no apologies.

Is there a spell that lets me, like, store my spellbook in a pocket dimension or something? I have a character concept that works well as a wizard, but it works best to have him unburdened.

>>48556769
>what is a bag of holding

whats the general consensus on Curse of Strahd?
I'm not a good DM, but im the only one in my current group thats even willing. I ran PotA and it was okay, it felt like it dragged on a bit towards the end.
There was a lot of hype around CoS when it was on its way out, but I havn't heard much from people who have played or ran it.

I've read a couple ravenloft books, the most relevant being 'I, Strahd', so i feel like i understand Strahd enough as a character to represent him properly.
but yeah,

TLDR; is CoS good?

>>48556724

I haven't taken a look at it yet, but Curse of Strahd is probably what you want to see. Brennenburg would probably just confuse and anger PCs and make them start breaking everything.

>>48556405
I have no problems with them, although I do always look forward to the possibility of them getting revamped. But then, I've got an interest in unusual PC races and am not afraid to reskin races to suit my own needs - half-orcs into orcs, forest gnomes or stoutheart halflings into goblins, etc.

>>48556662
Yes, aasimar are in the DMG as a "build a race" example, but there's a writer on record somewhere (don't know where) saying he's not really happy with that version of them and wants to do one that'll do them more justice, especially since people tend to dismiss them as "boring" in comparison to tieflings.

>>48556667
Uh, not that I've ever seen. Far as I know, kitsune have only ever been official in Pathfinder, unless you count Kara-Tura's Fox Hengeyokai.

>>48556590
Anyone else wonder just how the hell they're going to pull off an Orc player-race? I mean, orcs in 5e don't even have Daylight Sensitivity anymore, and stat penalties have been out since 4e; what's the difference between pureblood and halfbreed orcs supposed to be anymore?

>>48556783
Curse of Strahd is currently the best 5e adventure. It's relatively easy to run and my players are having a blast.

Anybody know where I can get some monster manual PDFs? That and the forgetten realms one

>>48556783
Everyone loves Curse of Strahd.

>>48556781
Well duh, but then he's carrying around a bag of holding.

Repost of a problem just to see if daycrew has a different opinion.
>Team Roster
>Vhuman Eldritch Knight tank-y build
>Rogue/Monk assassin-y build
>Warlock party face and arcane-y build
>Bard of Valor support-y build

what sort of class/build would make a good addition to this

>>48556887
He can just stuff it down his pants.
Why do you want to expend your limited spell slots daily for a gimmick anyway

>>48556646

Yes. Both are monsters that should be Smite-on-Sight.

>>48556769
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Deeppockets_(5e_Spell)

How do I have meaningful environmental obstacles in random encounters? Is there a generator somewhere to generate it based on biome or would I have to just improvise?

all i been wanting since 5e's release was kobold PC stats, why the hell won't they give them to us?

Fuck, they did for other editions, but only at the VERY FUCKING END OF THAT GEN'S LIFESPAN

3.5e: races of the dragon, right around the end of 3.5
4e: that one underdark book, one of the last books made for 4e

>reposting because wrong thread

Eyes of the runekeeper versus druidic.

Druidic cannot be deciphered through magical means, supposedly.

Eyes of the runekeeper allows you to read ALL writing.

Is druidic even writing, or is it the weird placement of natural objects?

Which wins, the secret 'druidic' language or eyes of the rune keeper?

>>48556992
brah, just make shit up, just remember to use foreshadowing,
clouds -> rain -> storm -> hurricane

>>48557015
There's a 99% chance they'll be in Volo's Guide to Monsters. Chill, senpai.

>>48556892

Pretty well rounded. I'd say just play whatever you want. Paladin would be another nice front line, you could go Wizard/Sorc for blasting.

Maybe a Cleric of some kind.

>>48556783
Curse of Strahd is AMAZING!

And Strahd is such a fun villain, if a bit of a Stupid fuck face whom I have had the delightful pleasure to piss off and get under the skin of through playing this adventure.

The mental game against him is as important as the combat game. Its fun to match wits with him.

>>48557055
I'm not so concerned with weather, that will be a table of some sort, but I mean more just random trees being in the way, stuff like that that will make the battlefield a bit more exciting than an open field. It's on R20 so I guess I can just get a huge map and cut out bits for each encounter and say that's the terrain.

>>48557015
Wait, weren't kobold stats in the back of the very first 4e Monster Manual?

...Yeah, page 278, with the Gnome on page 276. I don't know where you got them being in the Underdark book, unless there were two of those (I didn't buy any of the Essentials stuff).

>>48556405

Literally from the moment Warforged appeared I've hated the entire concept.

As far as I'm concerned they don't exist.

>>48557053
>Druidic
>You know Druidic, the secret language of druids. You can speak the language and use it to leave hidden messages. You and others who know this language automatically spot such a message. Others spot the message’s presence with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check but can’t decipher it without magic.

>Eyes of the Rune Keeper
>You can read all writing.

You have the magic needed to understand a written Druidic message. You still need to make the Perception check to spot the message in the first place, and you cannot understand spoken or non-written Druidic messages. Iconography and other images likely count as writing, since glyphs do.

How do I work Modrons into my campaign where the main BBEG is Cyric related.

>>48557333
Well, modrons have a history of being vulnerable to chaotic subversion (see: rogue modrons, the Great Modron March) and are innately opposed to chaos. Plus, Cyric is the God of Malicious Madness and a real chaotic bastard.

So, three options immediately spring to mind:

Rogue Modrons corrupted by Cyrics madness begin causing havoc. These may be actively working for him or just act as "symptoms", with their depredations showing that the Mad God is up to *something*.

Modrons are sent to oppose Cyric's ploy and can become allies to the players or provide critical intel about what his plan is.

Modrons want to stop Cyric's plan, but because their intensely ordered minds are no less crazy than Cyric's chaotic one, their plans for doings so make them a secondary threat - for example, stopping Cyric's plans by razing villages that Cyric's agents have targeted to the ground.

I've actually been having a blast with Warforged.

My PC's are playing in a Victorianish setting in an Evil campaign. Their mortal enemy, who happens to be this crazed preacher type out to put them down is also a tinkerer and powerful sorcerer.

The Warforged have become his "Magnificent Seven" of sorts and while I haven't fully introduced them yet (my PC's have no idea what a Warforged even is) I've made hints about something "thundering, clanking, and heavy" following after them.

>>48556833
MM's in the link to the 5e trove in OP's post.

>>48557455
Cyric is also a god of death iirc, so he might have some insane plan to kill Law (as in the alignment).

>>48557455
This gives me some good ideas and a great base for the next chapter. Right now the party's Half-Orc barbarian believes Gruumsh has chosen him and is speaking to him through his sword. The voice of course, belongs to Cyric. So far he's guided him (and subsequently the party) to wreck a temple of Bhaal and a shrine to Tiamat.

Are there any caster-Rogue archetypes other than Arcane Trickster?

Specifically, I'm looking for more of a flexible magic assassin type, like... I dunno, the Vinheim mages from Dark Souls or Corvo from Dishonoured. A flexible, short-rest-recharge caster who can use his spells to improve his rogue-y stuff.

>>48556769
Play a sorcerer and don't have a spellbooks?

Ask your GM if you can tattoo your spell book on you.

>>48557735
Not any official stuff, no. Your best bet would be multiclassing into shadow monk or warlock.

>>48556405
I'm waiting for a more official warforged race before I play one personally, but they do exist in my setting and my players are free to play as one if they wish it.

>>48557735
Arcane trickster are exactly those. What spells are you wanting to cast?

newbie here, is the red box still the best starting off point?

>>48557907
The mega deposit it the best starting point :^)

I'm thinking of making an Assassin Rogue 3/Shadow Monk 5+ to make a ninja. Anyone have experience with this split? Seems pretty obviously synergistic.

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>>48557907
The Starter Set is more of a green and white box for 5e, but yes, it's a great place to start.

>>48557936
Monk 6/Rogue X works great. You get magic unarmed strikes and the shadow teleport, and unarmed strike gives you some extra damage over plain monks.

>>48557981
Why rogue over monk? Just sneak attack? I was leaning more towards monk for utility but I'm not set on anything yet.

>>48558017
Either split works, really. I prefer more rogue for more sneak attack and getting Uncanny Dodge, but going more monk gets you more ki points, so it's really down to preference. Just remember that both classes get Evasion at 7th, so avoid dipping more than that into both.

>>48557897
>short rest recharge

>>48558129
Go bladelock assassin then.

>>48558063
Right, makes sense. I had forgotten about Uncanny Dodge, now I have to weigh if it's worth picking up while delaying ki point generation and an ASI. Thanks!

>>48558017
Sneak attack is mighty nice, though.

>>48558129
Buddy, you're not going to be casting shit like Invisibility and Misty Step with a short rest recharge while also getting a handful of sneak attack dice and all those skills. It's overpowered.

Which is more powerful for a gish, War Magic or Potent Cantrip?

>>48558317
War magic

>>48558317
War Magic by a mile.

War Magic:
>Green-Flame Blade
>second attack as bonus action

Potent Cantrip
>slightly higher average damage on Acid Splash and Poison Spray

>>48557183
yeah they are there, but they are considered just kinda mock-ups, the "Official" write-up for them is in the dungeon survival book, my bad

The Dungeon Survival Handbook is a 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons rules supplement published in May 2012.

The book provides character themes, powers, and adventure ideas related to underground dungeons. It also introduces rules for goblins, kobolds, and svirfneblin as player character races.

what are some character fears that a good gm can have fun with?

What's your preferred flavor of Dragonborn /5eg/? Do you like em as humanoids with Dragon grafted on via magic? A proud warrior race of Half-Dragons? Full Dragons who just so happen to be humanoid?

>>48558586
Depends a bit on the setting, but I generally like 'em best as either full dragons who happen to be humanoid, generally by way of the "dragons experimented on their eggs to create more humanoid draconic creatures to serve them", sort of like uber-kobolds.

>>48558586
I prefer 4e origin: Bahamut wanted a race of servants, took a bunch of humans and turned them draconic. Because gods are dicks.

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>>48558523
Once I played a city rogue who was absolutely TERRIFIED of the outside world. Despite seeing trade caravans come in and out every day, and ships, and soldiers, to stand on the city wall and look out and see nothing but vast desert in every direction was terrifying. Every time we were away from civilization and such, the character would insist we were lost and going to starve to death after wander around for weeks. It ended up being more fun than it sounds... although I suppose that was more the way I was playing the character than anything the GM did.

>>48558162
Yeah, fair I guess. I guess it's multiclassing for me.

>>48558231
Well, Misty Step was something I was specifically thinking of because of Corvo, yeah... and I guess I don't really get the problem?

I mean, sure, a Caster needs to spend spell slots on Misty Step because they're a squishy little nugget and it's their only easy escape button for a bad situation. It's basically a Dash + limited Disengage for a bonus action, with some utility stuff like "cross the 30 feet wide poison lake".

But a Rogue already /gets/ Dash or Disengage as a bonus action. Misty Step is already only half as valuable for them, so why couldn't a subclass give them easier access to it than a Wizard?

>>48558837
>>48557735
Google got me this homebrew

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/r1SyYTv_

Im straight not the person to ask about balance but the 3rd level feature looks too strong and the 17th level looks too weak

>>48556887
The spell demiplane is what you are looking for, and Leomund's secret chest before that. I don't get why you are worried about it though.

>>48558837
Stop trying to be a video game character. The sooner you do that, the sooner you'll realize that kind of mindset is silly for a tabletop game. Video games are designed so that you can continuously play without needing to stop and rest for 8 hours. Gameplay is king.

Casters need to spend spell slots on Misty Step because the point of a caster is to sacrifice survivability for versatility. Rogues are already naturally slippery, having a higher hit dice, and deal decent damage without spells. You don't get to teleport all over the field in every encounter, sorry. There's a big difference between moving through terrain quickly and just poofing to where you want to go.

>>48558837
I would like to turn you onto the monk6/rogue x You end up with shadow step, and you get the background of being in a monastery style guild. I think their ki recharges on a short rest too, but I'm not super familiar with them.

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How reasonable is it to use a long-term DMPC?
I feel like I really don't have the time to roleplay a character while also running the dungeon.
Maybe outside the dungeon while the party is just walking around town, but in dungeons where I have complete knowledge of all the traps and encounters, my input would probably only be harmful.

>>48559250
Use something like a custom pixie, custom sprite, sentient animal, etc. instead of a full-fledged character. You want something which can be useful, is smart enough to talk to the party, but doesn't necessarily have the capability to do a lot in the dungeon so you aren't playing your own dungeon.

>>48559302
Well I mainly ask because I think it'd be easier to use a DMPC than to ease up the rest of the campaign since we're missing someone.

>>48559250
>How reasonable is it to use a long-term DMPC?
Don't fucking do it.

How hard would it be to run a post apocalyptic 5th edition campaign, set in a modern world?

I was thinking of explaining magic similar to what happened in Shadowrun, in that the end of the world happened and the new world is here.

That and now Earth is violently mashed together with another world.

>>48558586
The way I'm doing them right now is that dragons have an immense but limited amount of power and making more dragons takes up a lot of it so they often create lesser versions that are far less costly like dragonborn, kobolds and a few other creatures.

>>48559318
It would easier to lighten the encounters if they have lots of monsters, or just leave them as-is if the encounters are only 1 or 2 monsters.

Ask the players what class they would like to have along with them and let them decide the DMPC's actions in combat. You can override obviously suicidal stuff if you want, but leave the tactics to the players so your attention isn't drawn in too many directions.

Alternatively, take the idea I already gave about a pixie, sprite, animal, etc. and give it buff auras/spells so it backs up the party without having to be an active participant.

You want to avoid taking the spotlight off the PCs no matter how you do it.

>>48559350
Well, you end up with modern guns, which outclass melee and standard ranged weapons both realistically and by 5e's firearms in the DMG, unless they were somehow mostly destroyed during that apocalypse.

You also have to deal with custom pricing since modern money and production methods might be involved, which can be a pain in the ass. You could handwave that and deal entirely with common-sense bartering.

Other than that it could be fine, maybe.

>>48559390
I was also planning on making ammo scarce in certain areas and go for something either like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or The Last of Us.

Course til they get to areas more fantasy like.

>>48558667
I think you mean 3e; 4e was the one that gave them the "they were born from the blood of Io, the first dragon-god, who became Bahamut and Tiamat after getting split in half by Erek-Hus the King of Terror.

>>48559350
Not that hard, really. Between the rules for firearms/explosives in the DMG and the two web-articles dealing with expanded lists of modern tech and "Urban Arcana" subclasses (City Domain Clerics, Ghost in the Machine Warlocks, Technomancer Wizards), you should have the skeleton you need to build the rest on.

>>48559390
This anon's not quite accurate; there are Modern Firearms in the DMG, but he's right that they only cover "civilian grade" stuff like automatic pistols, revolves, hunting rifles, auto-rifles and shotguns.

>>48559062
>Stop trying to be a video game character. The sooner you do that, the sooner you'll realize that kind of mindset is silly for a tabletop game. Video games are designed so that you can continuously play without needing to stop and rest for 8 hours. Gameplay is king.
>Casters need to spend spell slots on Misty Step because the point of a caster is to sacrifice survivability for versatility. Rogues are already naturally slippery, having a higher hit dice, and deal decent damage without spells. You don't get to teleport all over the field in every encounter, sorry. There's a big difference between moving through terrain quickly and just poofing to where you want to go.
Okay. I mean, I hear you, I just don't understand you.

Shadow Monks can teleport 60 feet as a bonus action, then run like 100+ feet as an action. No spell slots required, all fine and dandy. Is that too video gamey?

Rogues can already Dash or Disengage as a bonus action.

So the difference between a Wizard with Misty Step and a Rogue with Cunning Action is that the former casts Misty Step and uses Dash to escape a gang of angry goblins without taking opportunity attacks up the ass, moving 90 feet away in the process... and the latter uses Dash + Disengage to escape without taking attacks, moving 60 feet away in the process.

So what's the problem with slapping a "teleport" cosmetic on the Rogue's Disengage/Dash and letting them enjoy the edge case benefits of Misty Step? As a subclass feature, that's pretty weak.

The Wizard uses up a spell slot because they're worse at that stuff, and focus on flexibility so they get a bunch of other stuff... but that doesn't impact the Rogue at all.

>>48559429
>"civilian grade"
>automatic anything

There any /tg/ changes to druids?

>>48559250
In my smaller game (3 players) there are a couple NPC's that become "DMPC"s in a weird sense. I've always been more limited in this regard and typically make them noticeably less effective than the PC's.

They usually have some sort of beneficial skill, for example, one of them is a cartographer who accompanies the party keeping track of their adventures, etc. but is constantly hiding in combat due to a reduced HP pool compared to that of a normal PC.

This is just one example but normally I try not to make the DMPC's all that powerful but rather give them benefits that reward the PC's for keeping them around.

>>48559988
If you're not using Ranger, Land Druid can get the natural explorer for their land.
As for Moon, there are several akin to "gain 1 exhaustion/fall prone if wild shape ends unwillingly", another one I've seen is removing the ability to Wild Shape while you're already in beast form, so onion druids have to shift back or let themselves go to 0 hp in order to take another shape.

>>48559508
So what's the problem with just multiclassing into one of those classes?

>>48558703
Sounds very interesting actually. I actually would really welcome you to my table. As a DM I of course enjoy watching my players perform heroic and mighty deeds but it is also really great to see them playing and accepting their own drawbacks, faults, and fears.

I really only reward inspiration when I see a player perform a spectrum such as that.

well done anon well done.

Bard or Rogue for a dancer?

>>48559508
Dash + Disengage is an action and a bonus, Misty Step just a bonus which doesn't provoke AoO. If you don't get why action economy and non-provoking are such an advantage I dunno what to tell you

>>48560126
Entertainer background. Any class.

>>48560091
So only nerfs for moon druid?

>>48560126
Depends on how you perceive them to behave. Bards are performers per say but they also play music.

I'd drift maybe from the Bard and go with the Rogue route personally. Femme fatale.

>>48559508

Shadow Monks can teleport 60 feet as a bonus action from a shadow to a shadow, meaning it's already more limited than Misty Step. They also wind up doing less damage than arcane tricksters, and their bonus action dash requires them to spend a limited resource (they also have to spend this same resource in order to keep up with the rogue's damage output that he gets for free every turn as long as someone's within 5 feet or he can find a way to get advantage). You're also ignoring that the Rogue has other features to balance them out, too. I think you have a poor idea of balance, honestly.

>>48560184
You want buffs for them?

>>48560363
I'm just running into problems with low level animal forms.
Animal saves are ass man.

>>48556405
DM question lads. I've got a player Warlock who took the Pact of the Great Old One and I'm really at a loss as to how to play this.

Reading through the list of things he gives the Warlock would he ultimately lead the Warlock into blithering insanity? Schizophrenia? A sort of disconnect with all earthly bonds?

I'm really at a loss for this one.

>>48558063

Rogue also gives you an extra ASI, but Monk gives you a free greater invisbility in shadows.

That's a really tough choice imo.

>>48560385
>>48560363
>>48560184
>>48560091

I don't really think it's even necessary to nerf them to be honest. They're pretty strong at level 2-3 but they fall into line pretty quick, since you should be zooming through those levels anyways.

>>48560385
Everybody has problems at lower levels. Keep in mind that druids maintain their mental faculties while wild shaped though. That helps with a lot of saves. Also they are full casters.

>>48560498
I agree, I think the "not wild shape while already transformed" makes some sense but I think they're fine, they just seem OP because land is clearly worse. Monks have a similar spike in power at 2-3 but no one seem to think they're OP.

>>48560546
Not against the druid, FOR the druid.
Is there an animal save above 13?

>>48560498
Yeah, I wouldn't bother nerfing them either, they can do anything, but not as well as the people who normally do those things.

>>48560562
Wait you are saying the animals save abilities are shit?

Who cares? People who can turn into a T-Rex don't do it because they can carry people around in their mouths, they do it because they can take a shit load of damage and deal a shit load too.

>>48560633

Unfortunately Moon druids can't turn into a T-rex. The best thing they can turn into is a Mammoth.

I hope when Volvo's guide to monsters comes out it has a few more Wild shape forms. I'd love to see a few higher CR flying beasts, it's kind of a bummer that by the time you can turn into a flying creature they're all pretty outdated.

Not that wild shape is bad anyways, it'd just be nice to have a little bit more variety I guess.

>>48560556

Even then, would you want to? You can only do it twice before you have to take an hour break after all.

>>48560782
>Volvo's guide

I smiled

Ranged, TWF or greenflame blade/booming blade rogue?

>>48560870

Oops. Did I get the name wrong? It wasn't supposed to be a joke but I guess at least someone thought it was funny anyways.

>>48560893

Big fan of Booming Blade/Ranged over TWF. I mean, honestly though, why not both?

>>48560782
That's mostly a high level nerf I guess, idk. Higher level beasts are lacking, and there's not any cool features to set them apart so they just become HP pools and there's very little choice since there's one or two best form/s. Damage resistance beasts would be cool, I don't think resistance should be inherently magical and would make it a bit more of a choice what to turn into.

>>48560893
Why not ranged and GFB/BB? Ranged keeps you out of trouble and Booming Blade punishes things that try to chase after you.

>>48561011

Yeah. The beasts at high level aren't really that great, although the elemental forms seems like they'd still be pretty sweet at higher levels. It's just a shame the final form is a Mammoth and that's it.

There really needs to be more CR 3 Beasts. I'd love to see one that can swim, some that can fly. I wouldn't throw too much into them though because they still are full casters who can cast while wild shaped later on, so if you do too much you'll probably push them over the edge.

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Just made a Half-Elf Paladin for an upcoming game.
STR 16
DEX 8
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 16

Gonna make him take Oath of the Ancient, and act as tank. Obviously gonna give him Protection and am stuck on which feat I should take first, Sentinel, Heavy Armor Master, or Shield Master? What would you guys recommend? Also how is your experience with Ancient Paladin. Also I envision him rocking out in this armor cept with shield and warhammer.

>>48561079
Yeah the more monsters are released officially the better moon druid becomes, especially something like higher level flying forms would be really good utility.

Volo's guide will break Moon Druids in half.

Mark my words.

>>48561144

Yup. As long as they're beasts, which I guess isn't a certainty.

>>48557630
He lost the death domain to Kelemvor during the novel Prince of Lies [and as of 5e also murder to a now ressurected Bhaal] but IIRC he is still the god of lies, deception, illusion, strife and intrigue.

>>48561112
heavy armor master is better the earlier you are in the game but isn't really going to help your stats
sentinel is better based on your party comp. the more ranged and/or soft people there are, the better it is
shield master is better later in the game imo, but your str is high enough to make it worthwhile now
its really up to your level and party comp, but i would suggest them in the order i typed if you A. are less than 5 and B have an "average" party spread

also, its a pretty boss character choice, imo though, i usually fluff their arms and armor kinda like a druid lite. using "sacred magical" woods to supplement the heavy arms and armor. nothings cooler than full plate made partially of tree bark and ivy. same goes for the antlers, magical skins or bones supplement other things, such as weapon hafts or scales instead of chain on armor

Should a new player keep like a ruled notebook of campaign details and the like? Or are the character sheets really all the more you need?

>>48561226
if they're a martial, i always print out the spell sheet anyway for notes, since they wont need it otherwise. if they're a spellcaster then yes, they're probably going to need extra space and/or help

even a scrap paper, or one lined sheet is fine

Alright, my character is 2 Paladin / 2 Warlock right now.

But I'm not sure how I should proceed with my leveling progression from now on.

More Warlock would be nice for Divine Smite spam and more utility spell.

More Paladin would be great for Aura and Mount (cool factor).

Probably end up as Paladin 6 / Warlock 14 at the end.

>>48561226
It's a good idea to at least keep the names and a short description of characters you encounter, especially if the have any substance in their words/actions. Names and short descriptions of important places are helpful too.

Anything more than those 2 are dependent on how much your DM likes intrigue and immersion.

>>48561218
Thanks, I am still working out the stat spread, big one is if I want 15STR to start off then bump it to 16 with HAM.

I'm excited to play it too. The idea for him is that he is one of the Knights that guard a Hamadryad (who they refer to as The Lady) and the town of humans and elves she watches over, blessing them with good farming so long as they respect her and nature. My guy ran from battle though, fearing for his own life and so disgraced, was commanded to venture the world and to only return once he regained his honor. Antlers are totally gonna be apart of his armor and his tabard will have the sigil of The Lady's Tree. Was considering have his armor a metallic-brown that on closer inspection has the texture of tree bark.

>>48561410

Fleeing from a battle isn't necessarily dishonorable though it's pretty easy to make it so. One of the tenants of devotion even mentions that you should be wise in picking your conflicts, since running into a battle that's just going to get you killed for no reason is dumb and not "honorable".

>>48561410
if you start with 15 str, then i wouldn't even question HAM being the first choice, unless you are literally the only melee.
also if your fluff is more druid oriented (with what it sounds so far) then adding some level of sacred plants (which includes animal, it just doesn't mention that)

like >>48561452 says though, thats not necessairily dishonorable to oaths
but that doesn't mean your CHARACTER doesn't feel like it was dishonorable, and that you feel you need to repent. maybe change command to self compelled. you dont feel worthy of protecting the lady if, when the dice fall, you run to protect yourself, rather than her

>>48561452
Nah, this is basically he fled and let his brothers behind. Like clearly he fled out of fear is how I made it out.

Also reworked the Stats
STR 15
DEX 8
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 16

So now I can bump STR to 16 at lvl 4 with HAM. Though I wonder if I really need a 16 Con seeing as it's just one more point of HP ever lvl.

Just got done adding a little under 20 recent PWYW entries to the DMs Guild trove trash heap.

>>48561552

Yeah. That's a good one. Especially if he fled at the first sign of battle, or the first time someone looked at him mean. Like I said, it's easy to make it dishonorable, but if all his bros were dead and he was fucked up and he ran like a bitch they would probably not hold that against him.

Also, I reaaallly recommend starting with 16 strength. Maybe 16/8/15/10/10/16 (+1 Str, Con, +2 Charisma) so you start off with a +3 in your main attack score. Later on you can pick up resilient (Con) which is probably better than Heavy Armor master anyways to shore up that even Con score and nab proficiency in constitution saving throws (important for concentration checks). I wouldn't grab a feat yet anyways; focus on pumping your main stats first (Strength and then Charisma, which you'll want for more spells prepared, stronger saving throws from your auras, and a few other goodies, as well as better faceitude).

>>48561679
Hmm, it's tempting. But also really depends I guess on what the other players pick, should probably work around on which route would be best. Is Resilient though all that good of a pick though? Seems sorta meh.

>>48561787
resilent to get a save is usually a good choice, but specifically if your stat is odd already. doubly so for spellcasters that have a Concentration buff up

>>48561824
I may only go with STR 15 to start. Our DM goes by milestones for lvling up so hopefully I will hit 4 fast enough. If not I will probably bump it up to 16 and keep Con at 14 since Resilient doesn't seem like the best pick for this build. But who knows?

Will totally take the advice though and see how the campaign fares before I make any concrete choices.

>>48561552
Do you really want to take feat that early?

/5eg/ told me that you should pump up ability score to 20 first before taking feat.

What's the best way to go as vengeance pally? I want a big weapon but not sure if polearms or maul/GS is better. I have uneven str and con so I'll probably use the first ASI to even those out.

>>48556590
>reddit
>twitter
God why do the devs have to pander this fucking hard?

>>48556590
From what I remember, The catfolk race might be a tribute to the old Rakasta from AD&D days. I remember reading that somewhere in one of the desires of Wizards.

>>48561971
Since it's evening out his main stat anyway an ASI with +2 STR isn't much better. But generally that is the case, with a few exceptions like PAM.

>>48562002
It's called utilizing social media for better brand recognition. Welcome to the last 10 years.

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>>48562002
>>48562002

>>48561971
Damn, now I don't know. I am sorta new to D&D and the group I play with always seem big on picking feats over ability score improvements.

But again I guess it depends on the party comp. I won't bother bumping STR past 16 if we have enough damage dealers. Charisma I might go all the way to 20 with. For now I will just default it to 16,8,14,10,12,16.

>>48562047
It's a common thing, they look so tempting but they don't realize that feats are handy and will help quite a bit in rare situations, while +2 to the main stat will help a bit in almost every single situation, especially dex characters (I can't even think of a feat to take over maxing dex).

>>48562002
Stop being a manbaby.

>>48562085
Will keep that in mind. Though Dex is gonna be a no go on this guy cause he is meant to be slow. Just hoping for Initiative rolls for now.

>>48562004
Possibly, I think Mystara's Rakasta were the first D&D catfolk race, but as I said, they're Mystaran; the only catfolk native to Faerun I'm aware of are the Tabaxi (Jaguar/Leopard-people from Maztica) and the Wemics (liontaurs from... somewhere).

>>48561891
>>48561824

I would reaaallllyy stroongly encourage not dumping your main attacking stat.

Resilient is good because it gives you proficiency in a saving throw. Constitution is one of the better ones to grab, and it's important for you because you'll be in melee but you might also have concentration spells you'll want to keep up. Later down the line when you grab it you'll be looking at a nice +4-5 increase to your constitution saving throw.

>>48562047

You should ABSOLUTELY bump your strength to 20. Plus 2 to hit is a HUGE deal in this edition, and because you aren't taking the dueling fighting style your damage is going to suffer hard otherwise. Charisma is important but bumping your strength comes first.

>>48562182
That makes it sound a lot more tempting actually.

>>48561971
I'm sitting on 2 19s right now and it hurts

>>48561995
Both great weapon fighting and great weapon master aren't as great on paladins as most of your proper damage will be coming from smites, which both don't affect (and GWMs option to drop hit chance for a flat damage boost won't see as much use when you want a high chance of hitting to do a larger damage boost with a smite).

For that reason I would rather go polearms, polearm master and sentinel is a great set up for vengeance pallies. Just remember to carry a weapon you can swap to when things get up close and personal.

>>48562215
I think your build sounds fun. Don't listen to these fags they gave up on giving you advice and are now just telling you how to play.

>>48562150
Yeah I just mean those that do have dex as primary stat, because they get attack/damage bonus, initiative, AC, a strong save and stealth/acrobatics.

>>48562204
>>48562182
I'm convinced then, though I will probably just see about getting STR and CHA up to 18 first. At that point I should have enough magical items to decide how I want to tank.

>>48561995
I think maul is cooler because you're just beating the fuck out of people. I assume that's your intent.

>>48562340
>>48562292
I do like the maul but I've already done greatswords on two characters so if polearms are good I may go that instead.

Been working on a Dragonborn Homebrew. Hope to get some feedback.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B002m2_KROanX1NsNDNfUkNhTkE

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wtf is this shit?

>>48562368
>I thought Aarakocra and Dragonborn were a bit boring so here's both in one
If it wasn't a pdf I would think you were joking.

>>48562364
Polearms are good, those two feats together give you powerful opportunity attacks everywhere, which at level 7 vengeance paladin allow you to get stuck right in.

>>48562377
Semon Kawks

How does Eagle barb play out, it seem it would be quite different than the normal facerush barb? I had ideas for one but not entirely sure how to build it. Just scale mail, shield, longsword and fly around reckless attacking? Or are great weapons still better?

>>48562377
Use the community sheet instead.

>>48562431
Could you explain your reasoning to me?

>>48562683

well my players already made their characters so it's already done did.

>Two players play as martials and max their strength
>They immediately buy an adamantine battering ram
And then the wizard invalidated their fun

>>48562634
not really different, but they get the obvious advantage of AoO defence and eventually fly, so they can much much easier go directly for the back lines and/or magic users. great weapons would still probably be better but if you want to dump dex a bit armor would be fine.
barbs can wear shields and still get UD though, so unless your con is surprisingly low, its probably better to still be naked

>>48562721
They have flight and breath weapon. Compare:

Storm dragonborn:
>+2 CHA, +1 DEX
>30 ft speed
>50 ft. fly speed (possibly higher if you are a monk, no unadjusted or heavy armor)
>Lightning/thunder damage res
>Lightning breath

Aarakocra:
>+2 DEX, 1 WIS
>25 ft speed
>50 ft. fly speed (no medium/heavy armor)
>Talons (a ribbon)
>+1 language

Aarakocras are considered a broken race because of their flight, and adding "you need to adjust armor" doesn't fix that. Ranged attackers and spellcasters make best use of the flight, and with +2 charisma you are just skewing it so that spellcasters are more fit, and archers are slightly worse. With the breath weapon, damage resistance and small other features, even 30 ft. flight on the other subraces they are also too good. Look at Eleazar or Musicus' guides for this stuff, and realize that unlimited flight is not a good racial ability in 5e.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m7qG9BDQEH1pIykhmUb88f1--ghHvJZlV5QBJUtzTR4/edit#
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ViqLSEN67mmd2Lo_OJ-H5YX0fccsfI97kFaqx7V1Dmw/edit

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Anyways I finished that Ancient Paladin character I spoke of earlier. Linked the sheet for those interested. Though the scores are still up to debate until I find out what the rest of my parties characters are gonna be.

Backstory and what not is bare bones for now.

>>48562721
mate do you really think that ridiculous homebrew is ok?

>>48562777
Thanks, armor depends on stats, main thing is S&B vs. GWF, polearms are better if nothing is hogging the bonus action so that doesn't seem great, I'll probably go with a greatsword.

>>48556892
Barbarian outlander Dex based archer focused on survival.
Curling fighting style with shortsword.
Dip a fighter level for archery fighting style.
Keep your Wis high and it would be good to go life cleric after gaining your second totem feature.

>>48562997
*dueling fighting style

Now I'm imagining Conan playing curling...

>>48562997
You don't even get fighting style as barb, and I have no idea what you want from barb that makes you not just go dex fighter with that build.

>>48562925
your charisma save is one off and you might need to mention what kind of holy symbol it is, most likely emblem (shield), and lay on hands is at least worded weird(you might want to mention 5xlevel). its 5health per disease/poison
other than that, i dont see anything wrong

>>48562970
yeah, eagle obviously eats bonus actions, so polearms are pretty much out sadly. gwf would probably be better, for all the reasons its good in the first place. shield fighting would be pretty good though with more feats, since you can easily get to, and lock down, mages, but that mostly requires a higher level or the boring race

>>48560633
I am now inspired to attempt a dinosaur circle homebrew

>>48563069
I have no idea really what I want to do with that Holy Symbol just yet. Was more or less something I am gonna run by my DM and see if we can make something cool of it. I word things for my character sheets so I understand it mostly. But the idea was every lvl I just bump it up to the appropriate points.

>>48557735
Nope. MC or bust.

Shadow monk/Assassin
Rogue/Warlock
aand
Swashbuckler/Dragon Sorcerer (more of a gish build)

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>no game till next weekend
>log on to edit my character
>dm left the game on scenic page where the current party is camping and beachside sound effects and music looping the whole time
>chill and immersive as fuck

it's the little things...

>>48562292
5e doesn't penalize a polearm user for fighting something 5 feet away unless I have missed something.

>>48563296
No, you are correct. The only exception is the lance.

So I'm making an Aasimar, and I'm not a big fan of the greek gods-style approach where a godlike person fancied a mortal and had a kid with them, before pissing off. Would it be possible for one of his parents to have been part of an experiment to try to make humans part of the elemental hivemind/whatever you'd call it, but failing it only worked halfway? It seems incredibly unlikely that two assimar of the same type would meet, then marry and have a kid, and simply planar earthquake shenanigans doesn't quite do it either. Maybe my problem is just with the race's fluff as a whole.

>>48563320
Ask your DM.

>>48563320

depends on the setting

it almost sounds mary sue but you can see stuff in the PHB like sorcerers having their origins from liches doing experiments, I would enjoy working something out like this in my game

>>48563296
Ah yeah you're right, I was getting mixed up with the lance special and reach. That said I think pikes should have the same special.

>>48563366
Pikes have no advantage like the lance does to make up for that. It's bad enough polearm master only partially applies to pikes.

>>48563320
Sucks to your Aasimar.

>>48563380
That's fine.

>>48563331
>>48563364
I suppose that's the way to go, yeah it sounds a bit special snowflake but hopefully I will work something out. It's a modified FR but there's no info on the wiki about elementals/dao so it's up to him.

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Ok so having seen people talk of multi-classing builds is there any reason to go full levels in a class. I know there wasn't much of one in previous editions unless it was restricted by dm ruling that certain books weren't allowed? I keep seeing warlock/rogue or sorc/lock being thrown around, but I'm wondering what makes these MC characters bring what they do to the table? I'm usually stuck to forever dm'ing so knowing what these characters can do would be beneficial should a player use them, or as enemies/bbeg

>>48563320
You have essentially run into the reason why 4e replaced "your grandparent was an angel" gridfilling Aasimars with "you are an angel that chose to forsake the heavens and live amongst mortals" Devas.

But yeah, what the others say; talk to your DM and see if you can work out an alternative. Maybe you are a prophesised Messiah/Saint/Prophet. Maybe one of your ancestors was a truly holy saint or messiah. Maybe you are just the chosen avatar or agent of a deity. Lot of ways you can play around with that "you have a touch of divinity" angle, really.

>>48563408
So either way, no one will use a pike except to live out the Stormwind fallacy.

>>48563451
Multiclass characters are not usually stronger than single class characters except at specific levels. Until certain combinations are met, the single classed character tends to be stronger. Multiclassing exchanges raw power for versatility in most cases.

The traditional casters that go up to 9th level spells are always stronger than multiclass counterparts until they achieve 9th level spellcasting.

>>48563453
I just realized I wrote Aasimar instead of Genasi, though I suppose the same still counts.

>>48563451
not all classes are balanced at every level is the thing. theres very few classes that have an amazing level 20 ability, that isn't equal or lesser than, a 1-3 level dip in another class

that being said you dont HAVE to multiclass, but some classes are just ever so slightly better because of it. martial clerics into monk is one example, another being nearly any class, and 1-2 fighter levels

>>48563454
It's a formation weapon in a party of <9.

>>48563513
So what's the appeal of the whole monk/rogue or rogue/warlock Sorc/lock or paladin/sorc combinations I have seen people talking of? I'm hoping by learning more and seeing what are good suggestions if a player wants to try it out I can also offer good advice. I'm odd I guess in that I encourage "creativity" when doing characters and how they want to build them.

>>48563548
the thing is, very few classes get multiple attacks, and most of the ones that do, only get 2
but the weapon based ones that get few attacks, usually have some sort of replacement, so they get comparable damage. clerics get extra divine dice, rangers get hunters mark, shit like that

but if you miss with that one attack you get, in the cleric example, you've missed with "three" attacks work of damage.
monks at level 1 get martial arts, letting them use their bonus action, for another (weak) attack. in the cleric example again, you now get two chances, instead of one, to get those extra divine dice now

clerics and rogues are essentially the same reasoning.

sorc, warlock, and paladin combos are a different beast, generally revolving around converting spells of any level, back down to first level spells, and using them for smite attacks. then refilling those spell slots, and smiting again and again

>>48563548
Sometimes mixing the classes can allow people to achieve a better or more fun to use mechanical representation of their concept. For example, someone who wants to play a ninja could be an Assassin Rogue, or Way of the Shadow Monk. The first gives you things like expertise in sneaking and sneak attack bonuses, while the second gives you martial arts and magical shadow tricks. Or, you could combine the two, gaining access to a breadth of lower level abilities instead of the higher level abilities of a class.

However, I feel that 5eg talks about them more often because there are simply a large number of combinations, and some interesting nugget of rules interaction could be unearthed.

>>48556534
My guess is that Inspired an the Kalashtar will be represented by a core race with two different Subraces. It'll be something like the Githyanki and Githzerai are in the MM, with a few features and core Psionic powers swapped around.

>>48563548
Monk/rogue is usually shadow monk with assassin rogue to recreate a ninja class. It trades off raw damage in exchange for increased mobility and more support for setting up ambushes.

Rogue/warlock is to cast Darkness on your weapon or something and use Devil's Sight so you can see through it. Because your enemies can't see you (generally) you always have advantage, so sneak attack always works. You trade off some sneak attack damage and ASI progression to more easily set up sneak attack.

Sorcerer/warlock sacrifices raw spellcasting power to have better cantrips and to convert the pact magic slots to sorcery points on a short rest. This is generally stupid before hitting 17th level in sorcerer because it's actually weaker than straight sorcerer when you consider the delay in reaching higher level spells and the delay in sorcery point growth, both in terms of the maximum pool and the extra slots to convert.

Paladin/sorcerer is to gain more slots to smite with. It's a more offensive paladin that makes some defensive tradeoffs. Greenflame Blade and Booming Blade also contribute to the offensive power by offering a quicken-able cantrip that can apply divine smite.

>>48563598
>However, I feel that 5eg talks about them more often because there are simply a large number of combinations, and some interesting nugget of rules interaction could be unearthed.
This, single class characters are straight forward and pretty easy to figure out, while multiclassing raises a number of questions and has a lot of potential for discussion, so in a place where most people are fairly experienced with the system there's not much to talk about when it comes to single classed characters.

>>48563548
Everybody encourages creativity im creating characters. Its just that many people's ideas on creativity are stupid.

Any multiclass related to Paladins, Warlocks, or Sorcerers all revolve around how class spells (like smite or Eldritch Blast) interacts with spell slots.

Multiclassing all revolves around getting very specific class features that you wouldn't otherwise have access to. If someone asks you about a potential multiclass, ask what exactly they want out of it, because often you can get what you want without multiclassing.

Speaking of multiclassing and odd builds, what about a GWM Ranger/War Cleric?

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>>48563606
>>48563598
Thanks for the info, honestly I like the idea on them all though truth be told I usually just play single classes all the way through, but good to know that options are there. I'll never get a chance to try them out as I always DM which is the only thing about my group that is annoying. I'm according them a good story-teller but I feel like I don't do that well, and at times wish that I could convince one of them to step up and dm it to where I could try playing to alleviate the monotony.

>>48563638
Ranger itself is actually decent with a 2 handed weapon because two-weapon fighting competes with hunter's mark for bonus actions, and one-hander with shield is less damage.

Adding war cleric is a solid way to boost the concept, but keep in mind the Dex requirement to multiclass with ranger.

>>48563598
>However, I feel that 5eg talks about them more often because there are simply a large number of combinations, and some interesting nugget of rules interaction could be unearthed.

This is one of the things I love about 5e. It reminds me a lot of Guild Wars where you would combine two classes naturally. The amount of crazy combinations was astounding, like making a Ranger/Necromancer that made lifestealing touch spells viable. 5e evokes that kind of mystery when it comes to possibilities.

>>48563638
It's somewhat similar to DW ranger I think, except it doesn't get bad on higher levels. You'd get extra attack and fighting style, like the more popular MC option fighter, but not hinder spell slots progression as much and gain a conditional bonus from Hunter as well as utility in skills and natural explorer.

What is /5eg/'s opinion on the Wild Magic Sorcerer?

Is it as awful as it looks? Fireball @ level 1 sounds like an automatic "please kick me from the group." There's some good shit like the auto-revive and regaining spell slots, but the chance to fuck up everyone's day seems a little much.

>>48556584
not that anon but out of curiosity do you just roll once for each one?

>>48563653
You could always experiment with ideas by creating a npc for one or two sessions that follows that concept. Npcs don't have to follow normal character creation rules, so your players won't necessarily know that they're any random multiclass. Enemies like this would make for particularly interesting fights, like that Rogue/lock >>48563606 mentioned. How well might your party handle a sneak-attacking foe that has Darkness centered on themselves?

>>48563686
well 5eg has talked about it the last few threads if you want to see old arguing

tl:dr its slightly worse than other full casters, but its not bad like some other archtype/classes
if you want to be a sorcerer, the other choices are mechanically better, if mechanically more boring

>>48563686
It's fun, and meant to be fun. You have a much better chance at getting something good, or something decent/neutral from the wm table than you are something outright bad

not the class for you if you want to autistically "optimize" a character for absolutely no reason

>>48556806
>Uh, not that I've ever seen. Far as I know, kitsune have only ever been official in Pathfinder, unless you count Kara-Tura's Fox Hengeyokai.
there were fox people in 3.5 oriental adventures, but they werent even dedicated fox people i think. there was just like a general "animal people" that could be a bunch of different things.

>>48563745
The extra dice rolling and looking at the table to apply the wild magic effects slows things down. No one lies the guy whose turns take longer than eveyrone else's.

>>48563758
that's why rolling on the table is at the DM's discretion

>>48563773
I think the d20 on every applicable spell cast is more what slows it down, it's much easier to just say that if the target or you roll 1 or 20 on the attack roll/save, then it's a surge as long as the GM is ok with it.

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>>48563758
>tfw guy takes forever on his turn because he can't do simple additional math.

>>48563801
in 5e? fucking how

there is very little math in 5e. get that nigger a calculator

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>>48563801
lol this is my really good friend, and to top it off hes playing a champion fighter. idk why but he just can't do addition in his head.
everytime i get drunk enough on game night i just start calling out his numbers for him as soon as he rolls them coz i'm pretty fast doing math in my head even when drunk.

>>48563809
It's some weird autistic guy I play with. He LITERALLY has to count on his goddamn fingers to do the math for how much damage his d4 daggers plus his +3 Dex mod do. It's sad, I have even gone out of my way to look at him roll just so I can say what he got just to push the game along.

>>48558523
Absolutely anything. Ive got my group perma terrified of everything, the cautious bastards, and im not even trying. Currently their biggest fears are beggers playing cars, black men, ticking noises, digging noises, and trains.

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*Possible Spoilers*

We were playing Curse of Strahd and our party was off adventuring in the country side looking for a werewolf den when we found a lake. We have a party of 7 level 3 players, all of us except for 1 player have played for a couple years now.


>In the center of the lake was a large tower with an old wooden bridge leading to it.

>We all thought it looked interesting so started walking towards it when my familiar disappeared.

> I roll an Arcana check and figured out there is some kind of anti magic field around this tower.

> As we get close we can see a metal door with no handle or hinges covered in strange markings of stick figures in different shapes in a circle.

> My character tries saying some words to the door but nothing happens.

>While I'm trying to figure out how to open this the cleric walks up to me says 'I'm just gonna put my hand on it'.

>I scream back 'NO! DON`T DO THAT!' and jump as far away from the door as I can.

> Cleric rolls a 1 on his dex save

> Lightning bolts explode from the door instantly knocking the cleric to the ground and almost killing him.
>The lightning door from hell doesn't stop. It keeps shooting out of the door every turn knocking unconscious anyone within 10ft of it.

> Only have one turn to save the cleric.

> Fighter takes out his grappling hook on a rope and lands his hook into the Cleric.

> We all pull the cleric away from the door to safety

>I spend the next 10 minutes thinking how to solve this until the lightning stops.

>I back up 11ft from the door and throw a dead zombie hand onto the door.

>Lightning shoots out from it again for 10 minutes.

>I walk up to the door and map the stick figure shapes with lines and discover the pattern that must be performed with your body to open the door.

>Scared that anything could happen and immediate death waits inside.

> Walk inside and see an old stone tower with a table, elevator with pulleys and 4 stone statues.

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>>48563892
>Party walks inside and drags the clerics unconscious body with us.

>I pick up a rock and throw it at the statues head.

>He turns his head and looks at me.

>Oh shit.

> Tell everyone we need to get out of here and i'm going to run out and close the door.

> Everyone says they want to stay inside

> Go outside and close the door, the stone statue turns his head back to it's original position.

> As my hand is on the door the magical symbol activates.

> Lightning shoots out instantly knocking me out.

> The entire stone tower shakes and collapses on me and the entire party. Everyone takes massive damage and is buried under thousands of pounds of stone rubble.

>>48559250
I run one which is more like a hybrid pc/dm pc. It works fine as long as you stay a bit in the background during problem solving, but you can have fun during fights. (all my pc's start with a feat, this had the helpfull upside of me being able to intentionally dump wis, and take the allert feat. Im blind as a bat vs. Ambushrs. But cant be ambushed. Nice little dm trick.

What would be a financially optimal set of equipment for an average front line soldier for an average medieval fantasy setting?
I'm thinking scale mail, shield, shortsword, and a halberd. 90GP total to arm a single soldier.

>>48563900
Dude I just got to that point last week and my party had such good perception going on we were able to get to the very top of that tower with just slightly breaking the elevator.

Thanks to that image on the door I am also now Lord of the Dance.

>>48563919
(historically) Shield, shortsword and spear, then probably breastplates. Scale mail took a lot of time to make I think, same with anything else that needs to be fit like chain mail. Next step would probably be pikes, and greatswords if the enemy has pike formations.

If it's just what would cost less in the game your list is probably better.

>>48557204
Why?

>>48563965
I'm sort of debating between spears and halberds, since spears are cheaper, weigh less, and can be thrown, but the halberds have a bigger hit die and have reach though they're heavier and need two hands.

I was thinking about the breastplate too, but in-game for some reason it's 400GP, which seems pretty excessive to me since it's not described as needing to be fit and is JUST the breastplate. I hadn't really considered the time it takes into making them, but I don't think that would have been needed to take into account when the PHB is just for the player.

>>48563919
Chainmail (helmet included, aventail style) spear, a couple of javelins and shield. That's slightly cheaper overall and makes more historical sense. Scale armour is a bit of a meme, yeah it existed in some forms, but mostly as an extra layer over proper mail.

>>48564044
Average soldiers wouldn't be able to use halberds well, pikes are easier but it's a specific strategy that won't be the optimal for the average infantry. breastplate is great because it can be mass produced, but for a poor army the material is more costly than chain, ring, leather and scale armor. Javelins are also a good addition.

If you have trained soldiers the mentioned greatswords are great against pike formations, and halberds are good in general.

Can I use minor conjuration to create a miniature sun? It is a non-magical object that I see before...

Might be a cool way for my Wizard to go in the final battle... sacrificing himself and evaporating eveything around him.

>>48564103
That meme is so old I can see the stink lines coming off it. I think that one even predates bardic horsecasting.

>>48564083
>If you have trained soldiers the mentioned greatswords are great against pike formations,

Actually in real life there's no real information dating back to that time period when two-handed swords were in use that they were used against pike formations; a lot of that stuff was written well after the fact, centuries in fact.
Greatswords were more likely used by bodyguard types, using their wider reach to keep enemies away or using them like regular polearms when in formation. You could use many polearms like that actually, but the expense of a greatsword compared to other polearms due to the difficult of forging such a long blade meant that it was equally a mark of status as it was a practical tool.

Just finished a session tonight. Shit was fun. I thought we were fucked though.
>Village full of demons that look like Zerg Overlords.
>Our fucking tiefling druid runs smack in the middle of the village.
>Tries to talk to them.
>They don't understand.
>She casts entangle or some shit.
>None of them get entangled.
>Runs all the way back to where the rest of the party was hiding.
>They run up and spit some kind of gas all over her and the dwarf.
>Three people locked in battle with one of these things, too fat to let the other things behind it past.
>Cleric, Druid, Monk.
>My Barbarian tries to flank, Wizard buddy stands back and helps me flank.
>He shoots fire at them, but they have resistance.
>Chop away at one until he gouges me down to 16hp from 25.
>Power through all of it, Wiz kills the one I was fighting with MAGIC MISSILE.
>Its corpse blocks the way for other of its kind.
>We slay the remaining few at a chokepoint, but only after our Monk goes unconscious three or four times.
Good shit though, had a lot of fun.

>>48564138
To explain; they DID fight against pike formations, but so did EVERYONE because pikes were kind of The Shit for awhile there, and they DID do better, but fighters with greatswords were often way better in general.
Germans loved the goddamn things, they show up in a TON of fencing manuals by them and a major 15-16th century fencing school had a whole curriculum about them, and the "Dopplesolder" thing (where a man with a greatsword was paid double) wasn't because of how dangerous anti-pike duty was but because a man using a greatsword on a battlefield meant he was almost certainly well trained and pretty damn well equipped to afford that shit. There was even some kinda badge that some schools gave you for qualifying to use one in practical combat.

>>48564138
>>48564183
I mostly said it because of the theory, even without historical evidence it makes a lot of sense for them to have used them in how greatswords are designed and used. But yeah, they're expensive as shit and hard to use as well. What do you mean by bodyguards, as in support-y soldiers keeping enemies at bay from their fellow soldiers?

>>48563919
>scale mail
That depends on where they're from. Scale and lamellar armors are typically found among peoples who fought heavily against arrows. Most types of scaled armor are shitty against even simple spears.

>>48564210
No, as in a bodyguard unit for officers who were staying back from the fighting, and if if got close they'd use the more balanced blades to swing left to right to keep foes back while retreating (harder to do with a top-heavy polearm), but could also use them as spears or heavy chopping polearms if the officer they guarded wanted to get stuck in and go on offense.

Another reason to keep them back was probably practicality; they were expensive soldiers to pay and equip so loosing them kind of meant loosing an investment, especially since you'd have to go back to those schools like the Marks Brotherhood where they trained guys like that.
Actually, I think even those Greatsword units in that Warhammer Fantasy game are labeled bodyguard units. Don't quote me on that though, I'm not too familiar. I know the Empire in WFB is supposed to be German-ish though with those big hats and poofy pants and heavy beards.

>>48564103
yes, but only a sun made of ice you cock goblin

How is Out of the Abyss?

May be playing it soon. Is it just a bunch of underdark trekking action?

>>48564232
Maybe so, but the in-game statistics makes it objectively better than about half of the other armors.

>>48564287
It's fine. A quick spoiler though: save as many of those prisoners as you can, they can really help you later.

>>48564303
I'm not saying to change the game mechanics, I'm saying use that little tidbit of info to add some flavor. Tell your classic martial guy that he knows what that armor implies: that the soldier of that nation either goes against and/or uses arrows often.

Spec the soldiers out for a reason other than generic convenience or RAW utility if you can.

>>48564352
Oh, thanks.

Warforged are completely useless. Rather than being one of the most interesting races in the game like in 3e, they have... +1 to AC.

Who thought this was a good idea?

>>48557015
>>48558454

Are you a r-retard, senpai?

3e: Kobolds are core
4e: Kobolds are core

who /redbrands/ here?

>>48564103
In faerun the sun is 100% magical.

>>48564757
Having a page full of unique rules or immunities isn't so much interesting as tedious to me, but without getting too into that UA (particularly earlier UA) tends to make choices on the underpowered rather than overpowered side

File: A DM's guide to the Kingdom of Caldaria .pdf (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

This is just a test upload/WIP of a DM's guide for a setting I've been working on for way too goddamn long, want to see if all the pics and shit are formatting correctly

>>48558231
Anon, this is the real reason people complain about lack of content. They just want more opportunities for WotC to fuck up and add something they shouldn't. You'll notice the same people who complain about lack of content are the same people who complain about player options being weak. They're just munchkins.

>>48565118
I might as well ask since the formatting and everything seems to be in order

Any suggestions, critiques, etc?

I'm playing a winged tiefling arcane trickster and my DM makes Tiefling players roll on "ye old" tiefling table when making a character and my results were:

- 10: Fangs
- 23: Black eyes (No whites)
- 32: 6 Fingers (including thumbs)
- 92: Roll twice more
- 47: Goat legs
- 84: Feathers on 10-100% of body (I got 31%)

Is my tiefling a complete and utter joke or is there hope for this monster?

>>48565203
Just decide where the feathers are and it won't be that bad. They could cover your wings, be instead of body/head hair, on your feet instead of goat fur, etc. The rest seems fine.

>>48565203
>black eyes
>white feathers
>6 fingers (probably red)
>wings
>fangs
wiggle your fingers on top and bellow your head and play the chicken you were born to be

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Does anyone have tips on how to make combat encounters more interesting. I know they are my weakest point as a DM, and I want to get more beyond the point of just having a bunch of enemies and some difficult terrain spread in between them

>>48558703
Sounds like Charlie from It's Always Sunny

>>48565247
How do you run them, minis, grid map, etc., and what type do you usually do, planned or random encounters?
Regardless, descriptions are very important to keeping players involved and so they know what the situation is. Watch Critical Role and try to mimic Mercer's style of narrating combat.
Difficult terrain also isn't the only feature that can be interesting. Heavy foliage blinds, rain lightly obscures, ruins and trees provide cover, and so on. Choke points, corners, and open fields change what tactics will work best, and how effective certain features will be.
If there are problems, you need to identify these, and it's impossible for others to help. Maybe players are taking too long to decide what to do/roll/do maths, maybe you're using a lot of time recording and keeping track of initiative (try a few different methods, popcorn is fun, players track visible list is less work on the GM etc.), or maybe your encounters last too long (3-4 rounds is average I think, longer combats can drag on and everyone will lose focus. It can be hard to fix, based in how you play monsters or how the players do combat, but it's possible to change/manipulate these to make up for it).

My group has somewhat the same problem with a writer GMing, combat just isn't a lot of fun even if we're invested in the results, I'm GMing a game soon for them and hope to change that but it's hard.

>>48565247
Tactics on the part of the enemies are a good plan. Bandits might set up ambushes, or have a couple of their gang sneak around to flank the party.

Inter-enemy conflict is also a good one. Maybe in a goblinoid war band, a couple of the hobgoblins are planning a coup and use the party's assault as an opportunity to take over.

Animal enemies are harder to do this with, but even they have some intelligence. Wolves might target weaker party members and overwhelm them, then once that person is down drag them off.

Playing with terrain can also make encounters more interesting. It doesn't need to just be difficult terrain, either. Tall grasses block vision, rocks in walls or high up can be loose and made to fall as a trap, trees can give vantage points and cover etc.

>Enemy is hyped up by NPCs
>Players are scared to confront him
>They try to talk to him
>One of them gets offended at him and shoots him
>The others freak out
>Lucky rolls lets them kick his ass
Was a good laugh seeing their fears vanish.

>>48565240
31% is a large amount of space when you think about it and my big worry is the way NPC's will react to something that looks like the bastard son of Satan and a chicken.

>>48565246
I know. My DM laughed for 5 minutes when I told him and offered a chance to remake my character which he never allows.

>>48565350
That's tieflings though, if the setting is very hostile towards them it's never going to be a great time in my experience.

So one of my players died.

The players are now on a quest to bind his soul to a golem and so far I've been on board with this, but now that they've almost done it, I'm not sure how to actually handle it.

Any ideas on how we should handle the player being in a rock golem?

>>48565427
Warforged? It seems like a simple option but you might want to let him keep his old ability scores or it could fuck up his character.

>>48565427
>players
I assume you mean player characters. To answer, I hope you've watched FMA because one of the main characters in that is the soul of a boy bound to a suit of armor. One conflict has someone ask him how he knows he's not just something the main character created, otherwise he is mostly his old self making a list of what to eat when he gets his body back and stuff.

If you mean mechanically, probably don't change stats, give construct things like not needing air, drink and food etc.

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My group played WFRP 2nd and now we are starting D&D e5 campain. I wanted to create a questing merchant, the guy who's home was sized by debt collectors due to really bad luck in big trade deal. His goal is to take back his home and his dream is to establish his own trading company. Now his on the road looking for three things: capital (cash, jewels, trading goods), connections (acquaintance with influential people and favors) and general knowledge usable in trade.

I figured out lawful neutral tiefling gonna be good but i have no idea what class to pick. Each D&D class is some dungeon genocide type but noone of them are looking good for this character. Im leaning towards wild magic sorcerer but he has nothing about creating and dealing with magic items which i could trade with.

Any ideas how can i implement this character into D&De5?

>>48565441
Oh, this could work.

Thanks.

They desperately want their meatshield back.

>>48565350
The bad reactions are kind of the whole point of tieflings (from back then anyway). I can understand not wanting to be a demonic half-chicken on accident, but I like their role as a mutant crap shoot more than the more streamlined newer versions

>>48565461
I do love the table and the mutations but my wings combined with unlucky rolls just make it painful. I'm going to try and play him but I feel the party's going to have a field day making fun of me but on the bright side I get to play a flying rogue so that's fun.

>>48565457
Classes in D&D rely on the power of the character themselves, there aren't any (good) magic item creating/alchemist-style classes (yet). So you gotta decide if he's a clever cleric worshiping a god of trade, a smartypants wizard, shady rogue etc.

>>48565164
Did you get the name from Mount and Blade?

>>48564757
They never have to eat, drink, or enter a deep sleep. Moreover, getting bonuses in STR and CON are pretty good.

They make excellent meat shields and are amazing at allowing your party to rest safely.

Why does it matter, anyway? 5e doesn't really need any kind of power gaming because the game is much more balanced than it used to be. Sure, there's some subpar things here and there, but nothing is so bad that it would drag down your party to the point of uselessness.

I know this is more of a 3.5e question than 5e, since the campaign I am playing in is a 3.5e one, but does anyone know of a race characterized by extensible arms?

>>48565663
Off the top of my head thri-kreen, xill, some sahaguin if I remember right (but I might be mixing them up with some other monster race). Pretty much all of them will not be worth the trouble of making a character out of if you want to make a non-shitty one, and aside from thri-kreen (and they're pushing it) are not really all that suited to actually being a player race.

Also are you retarded or something? If there isn't a 3.5 thread why wouldn't you just make one for your question? Also since there's so much info on 3.5 builds already you could probably just google "how to make a 3.5 character with multiple arms" and you'd probably get a good answer

>>48565714
I think he meant extendable, which I'd think rare, but yeah making a new thread is probably the way to go if the G can't help.

Hey, can anyone describe to me the deal with Pact of the Blade with Warlocks?
From just reading it all I can see is that they just get a weapon that's good for like every situation, but other than that it doesn't seem to do any decent damage, especially if they're later into the game, without taking those two invocations.
I may be completely wrong and look like a dumbass but I don't quite get it.

>>48565728
yeah, we've met this human-looking woman who can apparently stretch her arms indefinitely. The other anon seems to be talking about multiple arms.

>>48565817
Chances are it's something the GM just made up, maybe not even a race though it could be a homebrew race too. Have you met a swordswoman who wants to be the very, very, very strongest?

>>48556405
>"You came to the wrong neighborhood, meatbag"

whose party is based in phandalin here?

>>48565763
Pact of the Blade is a bit on the lackluster side of balance at the moment. It might get a lot better if they release additional Invocations, but I wouldn't count on it.

If you find the class compelling you can always ask your DM for homebrewed 1st level invocations. They're not really complicated to come by. The best ones I've found are:

1) Your Pact Weapon is sentient, and knowledgeable in certain aspects.
- Fey Patron Pact of Blade weapon is proficient in Nature and Survival.
- Fiend Patron weapon is proficient in Religion and Deception.
- Great Old One weapon is proficient in Arcana and History.

2) An invocation you may only pick once that gives you the benefits of Martial Adept.

3) Make the Lifedrinker invocation 1st level instead of 12th.

4) Melee attacks made with your Pact Weapon use Charisma for the attack roll and damage rolls instead of Strength or Dexterity. In paper that might be seen as crazy but, as is, you're better off with going Pact of the Tome and picking up Shillelagh anyway.

5) An invocation ("ancestral technique" or some shit) that gives you proficiency in shields and/or medium armor. Or something else that also gives you +1 to your AC, since it's kind of a problem as a d8 melee.

Basically anything that could help overcome the facts that Pact of the Tome is better even for melee, that Agonizing Blast is always going to be better as a DPS tool, that you're squishy as fuck, that you need a lot of different stats, etc.
I like the first and second best, personally.

>>48565960
I think pact weapon using charisma is a good core change, if it's an invocation you're using all your invocations just to make the blade not bad. That first one is really cool and fitting though.

Personally I let them use CHA for attack/damage, give them +1 invocation at 5th and 12th levels, proficiency in medium armor and shields.

Anyone have the pdf of all the official class options, and where to find them?

>>48560126
Entertainer Background, Blade Bard.

>>48566023
Isn't it unfair for the other martial classes though?

>>48566243
You mean the ones that get all armor and weapons, use their primary stat for attacking and gain features that directly help them tank/deal damage/whatever? It might be too much but I don't think it's to the point where it becomes better than true martials.

>>48566281
It shouldn't be "better than true martials" but even "as good as them" might be an issue when you have a Charisma based, cantrip-powered character.

It's one hell of an ability score, and a lot of utility on top of that.
Should Bladelocks be better at fighting than Bards of Valor, in your opinion?

>>48566335
Considering valor bards get better casting to back them up, a better hit die, more skills and such, etc., the freedom to only focus on Charisma as main stat doesn't seem that OP really. It's mostly just because Tome can get it so easily and it feels weird if they are better at melee in some respect than blade, plus the fact that EB is so good and it has to compete with that.

>>48565320
Thank you, I'd might spend a little more time preparing strategies beforehand.

>>48565315
Thanks for your ideas. I think I got the basics covered, what I usually do is draw up a map (on a grid), put in draw in some walls/trees/whatever's suitable, fill in some difficult terrain, I got that. And it works well for the filler action. I'm looking for more tips on how to make some 'special' encounters. Added mechanics for instance, alternative ways to beat monsters, extra stuff to pay ayyention to, that kind of stuff.

Let me give an example: One player who DMed a sidequest had an endbattle where all the players were locked in separate cells. The first player would be released, as would be his nemesis in a cell on the opposite side. Whenever another player was released, another enemy would be released. And then there was a sort of ringmaster who could step in and fuck shit up. And I could beat my nemesis (a giant toad) by kissing it (I played a princess). That was a fight that made me wish I'd thought it up.

>>48566481
>how to make some 'special' encounters
That's the million dollar question I think, it's a really tough one because adventures almost never do it. Get inspiration and listen to other GMs (I'd recommend Being Everything Else and Matt Colville's Running the Game, Matt Mercer doesn't have a lot of completely think outside the box stuff but he does tactics and set-ups well so Critical Role can be good).

It's basically like asking how to make interesting characters, a good NPC will probably be a good battle regardless of how it plays out mechanically, but it's not something I know the answer to.

> Like Oath of Devotion's light blade
> Like Oath of the Ancient's decree better

I just want to be a warrior of light who protect everyone's smile...

>>48566243
Pact of the tome (and Druid) can already do it via shillelagh.

>>48566612
You can change/add tenets anon, just mix em.

>>48558586
The way my setting works is the Dragonborn were once a single all powerful dragon that the other dragons were immensely jealous of, so they banded together and fragmented him and his magical power, and those fragments became the Dragonborn. As such, they are unaging but very limited in number since they cant exactly breed, since it would be more akin to masturbation than anything else. Their long term goals involve killing the other Dragon Lords to reunify themselves into one.

Hey /tg/, does anyone have a good swamp river map?

Also, how would dugout canoes interact with Control Water's whirlpool? How much HP would they have to withstand 2d8 damage per round? And how many feet a creature could paddle away from the vortex after making the Athletics check?

>>48566780
It's like Buddhism manifest, or a corrupted physical version of it.

>>48566632
First: no they can't. Shillelagh has some restrictions that make it very inferior to simply being able to conjure up any weapon and use your Charisma for both attack and damage rolls.

Second: it's not the Shillelagh part I am concerned about, it's the sum of all the little buffs the person I was answering to seemed to give his bladelocks player for free.

>>48566453
> a better hit die
Bards and Warlocks are d8 classes.

I personally think Bladelocks should be better at melee fighting than Bards of Valor. But giving two very sought-after proficiencies and two more Invocations on top better-Shillelagh for free... just seem a bit over the top.

Especially on a class that already gets just as much cantrips, permanent (and sometimes pretty unique) bonuses from Invocations, and spells on short rest.

I was merely wondering if your other (martial or not) players wouldn't find your Bladelock(s) a bit too good. Which honestly wouldn't even be that bad considering it's a very fun class to have in a party, from a GM perspective.

>>48556405
Alright anons, I have a newbie player question.

Ive only played DnD like...2 or 3 times, (and none of those were ever really done well) but for my new character I wanted to be a literal witchhunter. I was probably gonna play Eldritch Knight or Battlemaster, but that's not important. The thing is, I wanted to make my character hail from some area where witch hunting was viewed as a sort of spectator sport, but more ritualistic and cultural, like Bullfighting.

My question is, is it a no-no to make up your own locations, cultures, etc. as a player for your characters backstory, or is the lore too set in stone/only rewritable by the DM?

>>48566815
>very inferior
only big difference is you can't choose which weapon, that it has to be either a quarterstaff or a club
Eh.
That doesn't matter if you want a hand free to cast spells or you're a heavyarmour+shield lock. Which is probably a good idea if you're doing melee.

>>48565763
For now, your best bet for playing a standard(+SCAG) allowed yet viable melee warlock is 1 level on something with heavy armour and shields, pact of the tome for shillelagh and from SCAG booming blade and/or green flame blade.
And even then, you might want to still appreciate the fact you can cast spells.

How do you deal with monsters that have surrendered ?
Started new game recently and rolled in with a paladin soon to be oat of the ancients. Cheerful guy, always happy and looking for the good in people. Highest HP and AC of the party.
So we managed to clear a goblin cave, kill around 30 of them, worg, their boss and some boars. 3 were put to sleep and one just surrender at the end. I was all in for sparing them as they were no longer of any threat but rest of the party went and murdered the goblins.
Tried to argue against it, they were incapable of fighting us and the whole tribe was broken but party argued that they have and will continue murder and steal. Everyone made good points so I decided to take a breather and pout to the side while they loot. Great group btw.
I think it was decently RP-ed but do you have any idea who not ended up just murdering everything in the future? Or what to do with them? Take them prisoners? Let the monsters go? Rehab ?

>>48566800
>how would dugout canoes interact with Control Water's whirlpool?
Like any other object; pulled towards the vortex at 10 feet/turn, and takes the damage. Since canoes don't have Strength scores, they autofail the saves, though I'd say a creature in the canoe can make an Athletics check as normal to paddle the canoe out.
>How much HP would they have to withstand 2d8 damage per round?
DMG page 246 has info about object hit points. A large object (example given is a cart, so I'd assume a canoe is the same) has 1d10 (if fragile) or 5d10 (if resilient).
>And how many feet a creature could paddle away from the vortex after making the Athletics check?
I wouldn't impose a movement penalty, since the check represents overcoming the vortex's pull, so the same distance they could move normally.

>>48566859
It should be encouraged to write your own backstory. Best case scenario would be to work with your DM in coming up with the specifics of your story, that way it's better integrated into the campaign, and not a connection the DM had to make after the fact.

There's definitely lore, and a setting, but it's not set in stone. The very basis of D&D is telling, nay living the story unique to your DM and party.

My only suggestion is don't fall to the trap of being so married to the idea of your character that you're unwilling to play a group focused game with everyone else.

>>48566859
It depends on the DM. Personally, I love it when players have ideas for different cultures and so on for their backstories. It gives me some new material to work with, for a start.

So, ask your DM about it. And even if they say no, write the idea down for future reference.

>>48566919
>>48566901
Thanks, guys. It's always surprising how nice this community is when I'm used to shitholes like /b/ and /v/

>>48566871
In the end, monsters are monsters. Goblins aren't too likely to change their ways, and those goblins are likely to join the bottom ranks of some other goblin tribe somewhere if you let them go.
Prisoners is a waste of resources unless you need to interrogate them.
There is a very, very slight chance you might be able to make them better people, but they're still be stupid, untrusted goblins in the end.

It really depends. Sometimes monsters will surrender simply out of cowardice, but on rare occasions they may be willing to take a change of heart.
If they're not a monster and perhaps a human, you probably want to keep them alive to hear their case. The number of times I've seen adventurers just slaughter people without even taking the time to check who they're slaughtering...
Oh, all those trips to the jail.

>>48558586
Big kobolds.

>>48566871
In the Lost Mines campaign I'm currently running, my party have dealt with the goblins pretty peacefully, with some exceptions. They intimidated most of the goblins into surrender, then just left them alone.
Last session, though, they seemed to imply they intend to take over the goblin and gang activity in the area. So that's one way of dealing with surrendered enemies...

This same party also knocked out two of the Redbrands in Phandalin and made another surrender. Those three, they had imprisoned.

>>48566892
Thanks. Any suggestion on where I could find a swamp river map?

Which of these weeb-knight (samurai) archetypes is better? Either more appropriate for the setting (acceptable at your table), or balanced?

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1-L3BTod

Also, which approach to the samurai do you like better?

Hey tg any advice for a first dm who has never played dnd before.(I'm planning on running phandelvar)

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>>48567030
The approach where you realize that samurais aren't anything special and should just be any fighter archetype, or paladins with a strict code of honor.

Also called the "I don't have my head up in my ass" approach.

>>48563686
Try this table if the PHB table is not to your DM's taste:
http://pastebin.com/DdyiJDHg

>>48567054
>Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy?

>>48567038
Have faith in the dice.
Learn how to make your "no's" look and sound like "yes's" to your players.
You're not telling a story, you and your players are making one.
Check your ego.
Think outside the box.
Your players are strategic, ruthless, animals who want to win encounters and will explore every option to do so. So too, are your monsters.

>>48564977

>Having a page full of unique rules or immunities isn't so much interesting as tedious to me,

That's fine, you don't have to play them, but a huge part of the charm in Eberron was the way artificers and warforged interrelated.

>>48567030
>http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1-L3BTod
Here is the best Samurai: Battle Master Fighter.
Action Surge and Second Wind are your fighting spirit, Parry and Riposte are the fancy moves and the Extra Attacks are for mad sword sage skills. If you want to do the single draw strike add a maneuver:
As an action you sheath your weapon and end your turn. When enemy attacks you can use? attack of opportunity against him. On a hit the damage is equal the weapon die* the number of extra attacks + your superiority die.
Its probably shit but its better than the homebrew.

>>48565600
>Moreover, getting bonuses in STR and CON are pretty good.

Strictly inferior to a normal race, however.

>They make excellent meat shields

Well, not as good as, say, humans do. Definitely a race that belongs in the garbage can.

>5e doesn't really need any kind of power gaming because the game is much more balanced than it used to be

Being that far below feat-humans and half orcs is a hefty disadvantage, and its absurd to call selecting a feat human or a half orc "powergaming."

5e's decently balanced, but you still have to keep an eye out for what's good and what's bad.

>>48566871
Players generally expect monsters surrendering to result in them being stabbed in the back. Usually, they are right.

>>48567030
>>48567054

Oath of the Crown paladin seems perfectly on the nose, just for starters. As >>48567145
mentions, battlemaster works good for any mechanical element.

>>48566871
>oat of the ancients
>a jolly DYEL Paladin carrying a sack of oats on his back
>every day is leg day my friends!
>iron rations? but I'm bulking! y'want some oats?

If he was lawful good he probably would have given them a chance to repent their sins before chopping their heads off. Even surrendered evil non-combatants have a short life expectancy in the hands of a proper Paladin.


>>48566997
My players knocked out almost every single redbrand under the manor. The party Rogue got Halia's offer about assassinating Glasstaff and the party assumed that it was okay if they just knocked the others on the head a bit.
They ended up having to take 10+ prisoners all the way up to Neverwinter (the Phandalin prison is awfully small) for proper sentencing. Though a night time encounter with some goblins had most of the prisoners escape or killed, trying to escape.
The escape was orchestrated by Halia who wanted to sell them as slaves for a tidy profit; three Zhentarim caravan guards were accompanying the party on the trip.

>>48567194
>If he was lawful good he probably would have given them a chance to repent their sins before chopping their heads off. Even surrendered evil non-combatants have a short life expectancy in the hands of a proper Paladin.

I like paladins who actually have a proper liege. The liege sets the rules of engagement, and if the liege want you to accept surrender of large amounts of monsters, it is 100% on him to send enough backup that this is feasible.

>>48567194
My players also got Halia's offer, but they haven't gone into the manor yet (they decided to do the priestess' quest first, and then on the way back the druid poked around for tracks and they found their way to Cragmaw Castle).
I expect they'll go for a mostly non-lethal route too, probably through intimidation.

>>48567194
holy shit that made me laugh hard
Not LG more of a CG.
Thanks to the rest for the input.

>>48567096
Thanks, and what do you mean by
>make your no's look like yeses

I've got an NPC character coming up for the next session. The intention is to have them 4th or 5th level, with either Monk levels all the way up, or a mix of Cleric and Monk with either Light / Long Death Monk, or Death / Sun Soul. The reasons for that juxtaposition are long and complicated, but unimportant.

What's the best way to build them for minimal micromanagement while still being a decent aid to the participating players?

>>48567274
It means a number of things.

Players want to try something crazy? Give it a chance of success. Adjust DC accordingly, or add unforeseen consequences for failure, but make it fun. Don't default to "no".

Players want to go off the rails in regards to the story? Follow that thread, and later reveal how it's actually tied to the main storyline after all. Don't default to "no".

Be open minded. Be confident. Be creative.

>>48566950
We really aren't.

>>48567647
The only difference is that /tg/ at least likes to stay on topic.

Control Water spell, Whirlpool effect
>"Any creature or object in the water and within 25 feet of the vortex is pulled 10 feet toward it. A creature can swim away from the vortex by making a Strength (Athletics) check against your spell save DC."
How does that work? At the top of the round, everything is pulled 10ft, then on each of their turns, creatures can try to swim away? And only at half speed if they don't have a swim speed, correct?

>>48567852
>creatures can try to swim away? And only at half speed if they don't have a swim speed, correct?
Yes that's correct

>>48556769
You're building a nudist wizard aren't you?

>>48558231
But that's already possible. It just requires multiclassing.

>>48567123
If there was a proper 5e artificer, I'd agree with adding that extra 3.5 warforged stuff in an official release for the race.

There's not, so it would get really tedious to deal with all the exceptions for warforged since that's not really a part of 5e design.

Can someone explain this aspect of the Dmsguild to me? They don't have a problem with creating content based on WOTC material, does that mean I can stat out various Magic The Gathering monsters, races, spells, equipment, etc. etc. and attempt to sell it on the DMsguild?

Is there no wizard sheet in the /tg/ custom sheets?

>>48568882
There are wizard sheets in the ones I downloaded months ago.

>>48568946

Current zip on the pastebin doesn't have it

>>48568728
>does that mean I can stat out various Magic The Gathering monsters, races, spells, equipment, etc. etc. and attempt to sell it on the DMsguild?
yes

where the fuck is the unearthed arcana
We got shit for christmas super late last month, where is our shit this month?

>>48569013
You deserve shit you entitled fuck

>DMing out of the abyss
>Let players use their level 5 characters, adjust encounters for difficulty
>Dwarf war cleric with a military history falls into a deep depression and refuses to eat after the redhead dwarf woman he knew for 3 days dies in their escape
>Dwarf with a military history who's used to seeing his comrades die
>Loses his nerve because someone he barely knew dies
How the hell do I deal with this player? He was the best roleplayer in the group and now the game is a fucking slog because he acts like a high school goth kid, to the point where other players want me to railroad his character into not being a cunt

>>48569185

>player roleplays well
>how do I deal with this player

Please stop DMing.

>>48569185
>Dwarf with a military history who's used to seeing his comrades die
It's possible his character isn't used to that sort of thing because none of his squad ever died, or it's just shitty RPing.
Have something tell him it's okay that the women died and she's in heaven having a cool time, so he can get over it in character.