/5eg/ D&D 5e General, Strahd Edition

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When do your female characters wear high heels, /5eg/?

>>48720502
Old Thread >>48713238
Transparently troll-made "succubi fuccboi" thread >>48720447

>>48720389
If I were GMing, I would personally allow it.
Both spells are useful in marginal and not-unbalancing ways, so it's not a bad idea.
I might even try implementing it myself in my next game.

>>48720520
Actually, it's usually halflings who steal stuff in my games rather then gnomes. Gnomes hardly have any presence at all in my home games except for this one fairly powerful recurring semi-joke character Wizard sort.

>>48720502
Maybe the "Curse of Strahd" is actually the party?
Because if the party does well and plays their cards right they kind of ruin all of his fun and kill him (temporarily) and quite possibly put the love of his life and unlife beyond his reach forever.

okay unrelated, but does strahd ever actually use a sword? I like that artwork but so far in our game he just attacks unarmed all the time.

>>48720597
He's a noble. He's got a sword. That's it.

>>48720620
Actually in my most recent run-through of CoS during the final showdown with him I had him start using a sword as a way of showing that he was done fucking around and how he was genuinely trying to kill the party now.

Mechanically he was using a longsword one-handed so the damage was actually identical to his unarmed damage, but the visual metaphor seemed to drive the message home for the players and they figured out what it meant right away.

>>48720502
Sthrad is cursed, and used the curses power to be a massive cunt

>>48720669
That's the real adventure's subtitle.

>>48720656
I can see how Strahd implying he even needs a sword to deal with you might be terrifying.

>>48720669
That's a pretty shitty curse then, innit?
Though I guess for a given definition of "cursed" it might not mean the same thing to the Dark Powers.

>>48720694
>That's the real adventure's subtitle.
"This is is Strahd. He's cursed. Also, a massive cunt."
>I can see how Strahd implying he even needs a sword to deal with you might be terrifying.
This was to a group of new D&D players who weren't even aware of the basics of the character, so when they found out he was a warrior-king of sorts they basically started treating him like a warrior and began to think of him as one and kind of tried to pre-empt him along those lines.

The sword along with ripping off that line from Witcher 3 kinda drove home the point that it was go time and they had to expend every resource they had on this fight because he sure as shit was going to do the same.

>>48720509
Luckily Skuld is from a pre-high heel society, so she doesn't bother with that sort of thing.

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Any of you guys go for more of a political type BBEG rather than the world ending Dragon or Lich gathering the dark forces to him?

My game has an expansionist Colonial Britannia esque sort of nation that's collecting magical artifacts and weapons to expand it's power and influence as it slowly conquers the world. Think India Jones's Nazis or Spartan Total Warrior's Rome

Unlike most of the older and free world, their military tech consists of colonial era muskets and cannons using a magical mineral that when refined works like gun powder. pis related is what inspired me.

Their foot soldiers also make great mooks because 5e muskets aren't half bad, and in melee you just count it as a spear. The first time one of my players took a fully organized volley from a squad of them was hilarious.

And one of my players has gone a little nuts in loving the new technology, he carries anywhere between 5-10 loaded pistols at a time, pirate style.

Only thing I'm ashamed of is I made them bit cartoonishly evil so my party would for sure want to help the free/old world fight them.

>>48720730
>with ripping off that line from Witcher 3
What line now?

>>48720762
>"If you acknowledge any gods, START PRAYING NOW!!"

>>48720751
>Any of you guys go for more of a political type BBEG rather than the world ending Dragon or Lich gathering the dark forces to him

I have, actually.
The actual "main villain" was a completely noncombat sort of character and it was the political influence and power he wielded that made him dangerous.

He had a scary-ass Monk-based minion who did all the fighting for him instead, kind of Darth Maul inspired.

>>48720751
>Only thing I'm ashamed of is I made them bit cartoonishly evil so my party would for sure want to help the free/old world fight them.

Not EVERY faction or villain needs to have deep, meaningful motivations.
Sometimes you can have a whole faction of ambiguously evil people or "evil by their inaction against injustice" types", but the main problem is that they're led by this utter asshole with no redeeming features at all so no matter how many "good" characters there are in the faction they have to deal with the fact that all of their orders come from a 100% evil guy.

>>48720775
I got the same kinda thing, my evil faction leader can't do shit in combat, but one of the most powerful Fighters in the entire setting is his right hand man.


>>48720790
Yeah my evil factions leader is a boy king who assassinated his cool father to take the realm. He's got a lot of Joffery vibes.

In an upcoming game I'm playing my favroute class again.

A Rogue.

I feel like I've done it all with Rogues over the years though. Thieve's Guild, Assassin, Detective, Spy, Treasure Hunter, Bounty Hunter, Politician, Ninja, Swashbuckler, Locksmith, Exterminator, Pilgrim, Scout, Prostitute, Cat Burglar.... Everything I can think of and more. So does anybody have any new or interesting Rogue ideas?

>>48720848

rapist rogue, or put your expertise in medicine and get the healer feat so you can be some kind of surgeon or plague doctor

>>48720909
Yeah, nah on the rapist and a Doctor Rogue was my last one actually. After I saw it how good the Healer Feat is with Thieves. I've been playing Rogues for well over a decade so I need the most obscure shit possible.

>>48720597
Here's Strahd with a sword if you want to really challenge your party.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3285-Check-Out-This-Beefed-Up-CR17-Strahd!#.V1ltafkrKUn

>>48720848
Put your Expertise into Athletics. Grapple everyone. Go into Arcane Trickster. Once you have Fly, you grapple enemies and fly straight up, then drop them as a free action. Have Feather Fall prepared just in case.

>>48720973
Build wise wouldn't a Rogue/Barbarian Birdman be better?

>>48720981
No

>>48720958
Damn, that IS pretty beefy.

>>48716569

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HJtVb9Uw

How do you feel about these changes to the bard colleges?

College of Faith
> Mysteries of Faith similar to Great Weapon Master

College of the Phoenix
> Fire dancer similar to monk / bladesinger
> Ignite the soul adds CHA mod
> Blaze of Glory procs on hit.

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>>48720751
>Think India Jones's Nazis or Spartan Total Warrior's Rome
Dude that game was fucking sick. You make me want to run a campaign stealing all the shit in there. Listen up boys and I'll tell you the tale of The Spartan.

I mean it was the purest form of campaign bait if I've ever seen it. Game starts with you "The Spartan" and your Spartan bros Castor and Pollux chilling in Sparta when suddenly the Romans come along with their fuckhuge bronze warforged Talos to wreck your shit. That's when Ares the God of War whispers in yo ear and tells you about how you need to get vengeance for him and he'll save Sparta from it's fate.

Predictably you stop the assholes from entering and destroying Sparta and destroy Talos in the process, but then Ares starts yer ass on an artifact hunt, gotta retrieve them Blades of Athena from a nearby Roman camp, along the way you meet and join up with a fine ass Amazonian princess, I forget her damn name.

Just when you get back to tell the King the good news about the new artifacts Sparta starts getting hit with a goddamn deathbeam from the sky that turns men to stone, fucking Roman's have kidnapped Medusa and are using her ass to shoot lasers and shit. Of course The Spartan naturally hunts down and smashes that gorgon powered deathstar piece of shit like any good Grecian.

Then Ares being the dickhead he is, informs The Spartan he'll be needing the Spear of Achilles, after a long ass haul through a bunch of barbarian badland bullshit you find your way there leading a Spartan expeditionary (guess how many men lel) That's when you realize the Romans have shown up and are going for the spear too, then both sides get their shit kicked because Achilles was a rad motherfucker and got buried with his entire army who decided to go full skelebro. So after fighting your way through a goddamn plethora of skeleton Achaeans and Roman mooks before you finally get eyes on the Spear and meet Motherfucking Praetorian Perfect Sejanus.

1/?...

>>48720944

Maybe with some DM leeway to let you get SA damage during wildshape you could play a rogue/druid?

>>48721104
That could be cool actually. I've played a Rogue/Druid before but never a Wildshape one.

>>48720502
Include the ToB in the OP m8s.

>Tome of Beasts by Kobold Press
https://mega.nz/#!xIcw0JrS!e_WL2JWFEU7HN0DwK69F9J9MLoe7qv69qez0lDGPWUQ

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>>48721098
>>48721098
Sejanus being the evil slick motherfucker he is, is a magic piece of shit. He summons this clone of you and watches on as you gotta beat your own ass. Finally The Spartan does smash on himself and grabs the spear, Sejanus decides to bitch out and cut off your only means of exiting Achilles's tomb before he teleports out like some kinda wizardy necromancy roman bitchboy. You find another path leading out, but as that motherfucker planned, it puts you right in front of the fucking Hydra.

After about an hour of slicing and screaming, the big ass multi necked piece of shit is dead. That's when The Spartan gets the great fucking news of that while you, your bros and that smoking piece of Amazonian booty were treasure hunting, Sparta got conquered and all your friends, family, and even ur pupper are dead as fuck.

So then you and your damaged friends head off to Athens to try and get some advice from Archimedes, who for some reason is leading the Athenian resistance. After an eternity of irritating escort missions the boy fucking Athenians finally get off their ass and help you in an open rebellion, while this shit is going down you meet motherfucker Sejanus again, but this time you got Archimedes using mirrors to fire lasers and shit.

Predictably after you soundly whoop his ass, Sejanus manages to sneak a hit in and kill your bro Pollux, but then he goes even further beyond. He makes him an undead servant, and summon a fuckhuge undead dragon for some reason, Pollux's brother Castor is forced to fight him as you fire crazy ass sun lasers at Sejanus's new stupid ass pet. Finally you get a straight fight out of the fuckface and you stab him in his warped heart. With him dead and the Roman forces running, you managed to at least save one of the three Greek city states (but for real who gives a fuck about the third one that isn't Athens or Sparta?)

>>48721212
You leave your fine ass Amazonian babe behind to mourn your dead buddy and protect Sparta, The Spartan, Castor, and what's left of the Spartan expeditionary start their trip to Rome. You end up at a place called the Gates of Saturn, some kind of fortress leading to a quick pass through the Alps to Rome herself.

The Spartan and his boys fuck shit up as usual, but then once-a-goddamn again there is motherfucking Sejanus. Fucker cheated death with a deal with Hades and some crazy ass cult witches. So you then proceed to do some crazy ass time space paradox interdimensional bullshit, kill all his bitches, and send that fucker to get raped by Cerberus for good.

Finally The Spartan and his boys end up taking the catacombs under Rome to sneak in, turns out there's a lot of skelebros, Romans, and even the fucking Minotaur down there. After murdering all that bullshit you go in to finally make a smear of the little asswipe emperor. Your bros fuck up and don't blow him up as planned, so as usual The Spartan just has to kill his way to his objective.

Finally you get to the measly little fuck and he kills himself claiming he's had a master this whole time and none of it was his fault. That's when Ares reveals himself, turns out he's yo daddy, and he's been wanting to kill you for a long ass time for revenge against some side bitch handmaiden that reported him to Aphrodite.

The Spartan being the balls to the wall sonofabitch he is beats Ares's ass down, then returns to Sparta as king.

The fucking end.

So, I have a player (sailor, half orc barbarian) who has a mistrust of Paladins in general, and his goal in life is to get revenge on the order of Knights who raided his village as a child.

He's been having recurring nightmares of the situation all of his life, but he doesn't know which order it is. Based on rolls, he's only been able to figure out that their symbol/tabbard has red in it.

Any suggestions on where I can take this?

>>48720656
Yeh I am going to put Strahd in his +2 plate and give him a +3 sword

>>48720751
who would ever help fucking natives

>>48721453
Keep in mind that even if you don't use the enhanced stat block >>48720958 linked, Strahd is still very much capable of being extremely challenging to any group.

If they don't properly restrain him, he can use a lair action to simply pass through the walls or floor and regenerate his health while he throws undead at them, then pop back out fully healed.

>>48721098
>>48721212
>>48721298
ima have to emulate this now

>>48721393

The place where everyone who wants to get even with the goody two shoes goes

Trickery Clerics

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Anyone have tips for doing a Five Room Dungeon in the Feywild? The party needs to get there as they seek the Council of Eight, seat of the gods in my setting, so I'm trying to figure out how to quickly capture the outlandish overgrowth of the Feywild within one sesh.

If it helps at all, I also want them to meet goat people.

>>48721475
>help fucking natives

Depends on what they look like.

>>48721882
Watch any or all of the last 4 episodes of Critical Role

>>48721475
>>48721897
Well the Evil Empire I was talking about isn't all whitey humans, a majority (about a third) of the Empire's Army are Hobgoblin, the rest are various foriegn races from conquered areas.

>>48721950

Does not deter my conquering nature.

>>48720502
Yes.

>>48720509
Iliira doesn't. She wears sensible soft-soled shoes, the better for sneaking and doing acrobatics with.

>>48721453
+3 sword!? From where? He was basically level 10 when he became a vampire... Even +2 is really powerful for his past.

Also, I'm taking the opposite approach. When the party encounters him outside the castle it will be in full plate and with weaponry. Inside the castle it will be out of armor, and in the fated location it would be when Strahd appears vulnerable which only enrages him more.

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>>48721908
Man I got like four hours to plan while at work, help a brother out.

>>48722329
The PCs aren't the first adventurer party Strahd has drawn into his domain and fucked with, keep this in mind.

A gimmick i'm planning on using for my upcoming game is that he's thrown gear that was carried by the countless parties that came before the PCs into his castle's treasury, and he sometimes takes out bits and pieces and fucks around with them.

>>48720848
Surveyor. Go Thief archetype and build your character around being the best at zoning cities, finding property lines in the wilderness, and figuring out when buildings or dungeons need to be condemned. Perception, Investigation, Athletics, and Acrobatics are your primary skills, used to get wherever you need to and not die from some collapsing structure. You also want Lore skills, especially History, to know about any special concerns of the land or property, and possibly Insight to tell when an owner is not telling all.

>>48720848
Thug, hit people in the face and steal their shit.

I'm gonna be playing a knight cleric in an upcoming game. I need ideas for a third retainer, as the first two are going to be a squire and a priest.

>>48720848
Use one of these anon!

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

Revolutionary
> Help your bros out!

Ruffian
> You hold em, I punch!

Time Bandit
> Prince of persia-lite

Does a Wizard need Int? If have Dex as your main stat, you can have a scaling damage source in Booming Blade/Greenflame Blade, and most of the utility spells don't need Int. Could you get by with a Dex/Con wizard?

>>48722615
Anything that they need to save against will be determined by your Int + Proficiency Bonus. Any ranged spell attacks will use your Int as a modifier to the attack.

So, yeah, wizards need Int.

So I'm working on a 1/3rd caster archetype for a class that doesn't have spells right now, and I'm having trouble figuring out the wording required.

Here's the main points

> Can ONLY learn spells with ritual tag
> Can ONLY cast spells as rituals
> Can learn new spells via meditating with spell scroll or spellbook for 4 + spell level in hours.
> Spells cast at the lowest level of that spell

Help a brother out?

>>48722615
Mountain Dwarf Wizard don't need Int, just a Warhammer and Scalemail. Not that good at the flashy stuff, but still solid practical magics.

>>48722695
If you were gonna do a Mountain Dwarf melee caster, I'd frankly do a straight Eldritch Knight.

>>48722695
I played a dwarf necromancer Recently with Shield and Misty Step for his low level slots and skeletons for the higher level slots. Dumped Int entirely and kept STR and CON as main stats with a heavy warhammer using booming blade and heavy armor mastery.

I wouldn't say it was good but it was a lot of fun. Definitely cool to march up into combat alongside your minions and be more resilient than the cleric.

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My characters are gonna go down an intricate sewer system that leads into the Underdark. On the way they're gonna come across a city of Wererats/Ratfolk. What are some good traps/encounters that would lead up to revealing this city?

>>48722784
Take a level of Dragon Sorcerer, if you can. It's like having a +2 to Con.

>>48722833
>>48722784
Oh yeah, forgot to mention since you're dumping casting stats anyways you can mix and match full caster classes for features freely and keep full spell progression for your scaling undead horde. Gotta watch out for that attribute score increase loss though.

>>48722864
Can't dump them completely. Multiclassing does have attribute requirements.

>>48722889
But, you can dump Int.

Point buy the following attributes: 14 11 14 8 13 13

Start as wizard. You can then freely multiclass into sorcerer, warlock, bard, cleric, and druid without penalty.

Have a billion fucking cantrips.

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Goddamn it this show is the most cringeworthy shit ever. I can NOT understand how people sit through four fucking hours of this tripe. First off, if you cannot find a D&D game of your own, it's because you deserve to be alone. This is the age of roll20, local game stores with community message boards, meetup.com, and literally DOZENS of other options. There is no excuse for not having a group.

So, anyone who is watching this actually prefers watching other people playing D&D over playing it themselves. Probably because they lack the creativity to even play a cookie-cutter fantasy character.

These shitheads are not funny. My (now-ex) friend forced me to sit through half an hour of these fucking morons. First off, I could barely make out what the fuck they were saying over the CONSTANT autistic laughter at every minor thing, like they have to laugh or it won't be funny. Then I realized nothing they were saying was funny or entertaining. It was just the same lame gay shit any game group could play. Fun to play in, barely fun to listen to. And the women are the absolute worse, they are literal whores who's only skill is mimicking orgasm noises for pain sounds in video games. How the fuck does that make them good roleplayers? They are fucking terrible at it, nothing about this show or story is compelling or interesting, and I stopped talking to my friend after he made me sit through just 1/8th of a Critical Role episode. I also stole 10 bucks off of his kitchen counter as I left out the door. Fuck him. He owes me that shit for wasting my time like that.

Can someone enlighten me as to why the fuck this show is allowed to exist, why people alike it, and why Mearls is now pandering to it (though the fact that he is a massive talentless shill might have something to do with that).

>>48722923
You need the required stat at 13 to multiclass OUT of a class too. If you have wizard levels and are multiclassing, you need 13 int.

>>48722658
Being a "blank" has given your character the ability to perform rituals for spells. You may learn spells that have ritual attribute, and can only cast them as a ritual.

If your character finds a spell scroll or spellbook for a spell with the ritual attribute, they may meditate with the scroll in their possession for 4 + Spell Level hours, and add that spell to their list of known spells.

>>48722957
>Waaaaaah stop liking things I don't like

Take your PC bullshit somewhere else.

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>>48722957

>>48722957
It's all a plot to piss you off. Your only defense is to get the stick out of your ass and let things be.

>>48722995
Hmm.

Swap the 8 Int for 8 Wis then. You can still multi into Sorcerer, Bard, and Warlock.

Though, I'd be wary of taking more than two levels of other classes, because the Spell Mastery class feature for Wizards is one of the better class features in the game.

>>48722792
Dire Rats, rickety wooden bridges crossing gaps that could break if a character is heavy enough, maybe a wererat watching the entrance has a Pipes of the Sewers

>>48723081
If he's actually a 1/3 caster, he isn't limited to casting only as a ritual since he'll have some spell slots.

>>48723084
>>48723100
>>48723102
>These shitheads are not funny. My (now-ex) friend forced me to sit through half an hour of these fucking morons.
>not bait

I mean it's some damn obvious bait boys

>>48723150
We only had a nibble

>>48723110
Alternatively, he can go sword bard all the way and just steal animate dead.

>>48723110
Although...

Hill Dwarf Wizard 18/Sorcerer 1/Fighter 1

Has proficiency in all armors and weapons plus shields, +2 HP/level, Defense fighting style for +1 AC. Use one ASI to take War Caster.

Pretty damn tanky wizard.

>>48722615
>>48722784
Who does this best? No-INT Wizard, no-WIS Cleric/Druid, or no-CHA Warlock/Bard/Sorcerer?

>>48723180

Necromancy tradition makes the minions a lot tougher and hit harder. Not to mention the ability later to permanently thrall a single powerful undead.

>>48723194
Draconic Resilience only gives +1 HP for sorcerer levels.

>>48723222
Hmph. Fair enough.

Although, now I have half a mind to make a necro bard with unique mechanics. And not *necessarily* Thriller inspired ones.

>>48722386
Yeah, that's where all the floating weapons and stuff come from in my game, but a +2 weapon is rare and a +3 weapon is very rare. A +3 item is meant for the level 17+ range, and adventurers against Strahd all enter at low level.

I would agree if you said Strahd had 30 +1 weapons hanging around, but the +3 stuff doesn't make sense.

So, one of the coolest PrCs I remember playing from 3.5 was the Mage of the Unseen Hand. Thought about how I would go about it in 5e, and stumbled on this.

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BySoj3LY

Thoughts? It seems really pigeonholed, just curious to see what you guys think about it.

>>48723389
Yeah, anyone carrying that shit around would have beat his teeth in already.

>>48723150
My favorite bit is the end about how Mearls is "pandering" to Critical Role. I'm not even sure what that could mean.

>>48720586
I the the party (and Strahd's delusion that he can actually find someone to replace him) are just a small part of the curse. Barovia itself, and it's dilapidated state, is his curse.

>>48722386
See if you can work out ways to have iconic items from previous editions down there.

>>48723408
You learn two custom versions of telekinesis, at the same level? I would do something about that.

>>48723424
>My favorite bit is the end about how Mearls is "pandering" to Critical Role. I'm not even sure what that could mean.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?3624-WotC-s-Mike-Mearls-on-the-History-Future-of-RPG-Discusion-Design#.V6ifsfkrLIU

He's shilling it hard.

>>48723413
Not alone they wouldn't... At least lore wise. I mean Mordenkainen couldn't do it with a peasant army behind him. Granted he was lacking the items needed.

>>48723291
Hill Dwarf gives you +1 HP/level too.

So, +2 HP/level.

Anyone have stories about using Mordenkainen's Magnificient Mansion? The two times I've seen it its just skimpy butlers and maids. Anyone use it for anything else or is it the go to fetish spell

>>48723619
Point is, it does jack squat for as long as you aren't a sorcerer, so it means little to this build.

>>48723619
No, he means the Draconic Sorceror ability is ONLY for Class Levels. Not Character levels.

>>48723561
That's nice and all, but pandering and shilling are two different things.

>>48723323
Did it. It was okay.

>>48723647
Bleh, that's true. I forgot it was restricted to sorcerer levels.

In that case, I'd probably do Hill Dwarf Necromancer 6/ Death Cleric 14 for a melee necromancer.

Has anyone used any sort of alignment tracking systems, home brew or form previous editions, that they liked?

>>48723465
Whatcha mean?

>>48723718
The less alignment is thought about the better, I say. Although, I don't recall seeing any of those systems so I can't really judge.

>>48723729
17th level benefit of the Enlightened Combo and the 17th level feature The Secret Hand. The first is 5 ki and the other 6. The wording on both is just a little confusing as well.

>>48723729
The 17th level class feature and the 17th level addition to Enlightened Combo.

>>48723762
>>48723767
That really the only problem with this archetype?

I was thinking of how specialized it is, and how it kinda forces you to play a certain way. Also, the ki costs of the "combo" seems weird to me.

>>48723869
I haven't analyzed it in depth, and like I said the wording is a little hard to crunch. It strikes me as a little weak, though.

>>48720848
Haver you done surgeon, barber, "barber", tailor, or "tailor"?

>>48723735
I have always been a fan of alignment, as long as you can get everyone to agree to what they mean.

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I plan to run Curse of Strahd next week.
I'm planning to start the adventure an unusual way, by letting the 2nd level PCs into Death House first. They will be transported to Barovia by the end of the module (they'll realise this once they get out of the House)

I'm doing this because I won't have a lot of time to prep for next week, but I'm really hyped to run CoS in general. I also don't really trust my players to follow the road up to the Village of Barovia, and I'm interested in getting them acquainted with Bismark & Ireena ASAP.
Only problem will be the delayed Tarokka Reading, but I can always cook something up with the Inn being owned by Vistani.

> Any thoughts or advices on this?

I'm a little bit surprised by Death House's combat encounters to be honest, they seem very numerous and very fucking deadly.
>Should I warn my players beforehand?

Also,

> How would you deal with the PCs wanting to get a long (or even a short, actually) rest INSIDE the House? Be specific if possible.

Thanks!

>>48720848
Of all those things you've said, I see you missing one major trope.

Noble Rogue.

Be Robin Hood, only less Ranger-like and more "prince of thieves" mentality.

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>>48720848
I don't see witch hunter/inquisitor on your list.

>>48723561
So by "pandering" you meant "shilling", and by "shilling" you mean "listing a prominent example of recorded gameplay" in a statement saying that designers can learn more from live play than from optimization guides and forums focused on dissecting rules.

>>48724119
>any suggestions
That's a great way to do it, just drop a hint that there are horses at Tzer Pool camp so they are drawn there instead of walking.

>warning players
Yes, also tell them to run. I split the specter encounter into three - her playing piano on the second floor and screaming (1d10 damage) and fleeing upstairs where a baby cry could be heard, and then taking her to half life and then finishing her off in the attic. The basement is even rougher but at level 3 not as bad, he ghouls and shadows and ghosts are ridiculous.

>resting in the house
This is fucking required. I basically made the first floor of the house safe from encounters, and creatures from the basement and below stayed in the basement or below. The only time they cannot rest is escaping the house.

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I'm trying to make a Kuo-Toa PC race. Looking at the Monster Manual entry for them, I just threw a bunch of ideas onto a document. What should I keep, lose, and change to make the race balanced?

>>48724030
>I have always been a fan of alignment, as long as you can get everyone to agree to what they mean.
so you've never been a fan of alignment then?

>>48723642
I have a CN gnome lich in my campaign who occasionally uses it to swindle drunk people out of their souls.

>>48720509
My female druid goes barefoot because she it makes her feel closer to nature.

>>48724469
I've always been a fan of it. And I've always had good players.

>>48724404
So if a kuatoa is traveling they need two water skins? One for drinking one for staying hydrated for one day

>>48722541
A hunter taking care of tracking/scouting and food/water logistics.

>>48724644
Yeah, something like that.

>>48724677
Everything accept that is fine. The only issue is that they are really really reliant on a constant source of water for that. Getting water in some situations is quite hard, and some campaigns don't focus on survival rules but this race kind of makes them have to do that.

If I were you I would lessen that, or make the threat of not being properly hydrated cause problems. If a kuo-toa goes without water for a day, they gain two levels of exhaustion. That just means the water is still very important.

Good stats, plus ethereal sight for the real reason why someone would pick this makes a strong candidate.

>>48724729
Could they have a tank of water on their backs

>>48724404
read this
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2j6xbo/5e_guide_to_homebrewing_races/
pick the traits that are fitting
aim for 6pts total
do not stuff them full with features

>>48724404
I think wetskin is a little harsh, if they get stuck on dry land and they die before the week is up. I'd extend it to a week or something unless you really are looking to cripple their usability.

So a while back (maybe 2-3 weeks ago) I proposed an idea of letting a mage focus on a particular style of damaging spells, augmenting them in various fashions for those that want to specialize in those elements of spells. I was wondering if there was something that could be done with the idea/notion of Prestige Classes from 3.PF and the Rune Priest.

I don't know how it would be done in a general sense (making something called an Elementalist PrC), short of making a PrC for every damage type that a mage could get access to (which is fine, but sounds like a lot of work).

For now, this is what I was thinking of for each damage type:

Fire - increasing damage, larger AoE, piercing damage resistance/immunities, gaining additional radiant damage

Cold - increasing damage, longer range, larger debuff, save vs. being frozen

Lightning - longer range, increasing damage, piercing damage resistance/immunities, bouncing/chaining damage

Thunder - larger AoE, longer knockback, increasing damage, save vs. being stunned

Acid - longer range, increasing AoE, increased duration, damaging/destroying structures/terrain/landscape

Poison - longer range, increased damage, increased duration, piercing damage resistance/immunities

Necrotic - longer range, increasing debuff, increasing damage, kill/KO on/above 0 HP

Radiant - longer range, increased damage, piercing damage resistance/immunities, AoE heal centered on you

Psychic - increased damage, affecting targets immune to psychic dmg., increase debuff, save vs. KO

Force - increased AoE, longer range, increased damage, more damage + AC bonus

So, one of my players died.

Well, their character at least

Now, the group is quite low level so they don't have access to resurrection magic, so I'm going to set them a quest to bring her back

But the question is, what do I do with the player in the meantime?

If they roll a new character, I'm afraid that by the time they resurrect the old character, they won't want to play them anymore, making the parties quest meaningless

Thoughts?

>>48724876
If you are going to do these you need to take a long look at what an instant KO can do, and what stuns can do. An instant KO means that empyrean who is about to just destroy a country is just softly knocked out by a psychic damage spell.

The thunder wave then stuns three young dragons around the caster, meaning that any within 5ft attacks are crits.

Those conditions can do a lot of potential damage, KOs are just encounter ending with a single spell, which is what 5e is trying to avoid in most cases. Being an elementalist can be good like adding spell lists, allowing your spell casting modifier to do damage, and maybe even reroll ones and twos like GWF. But those conditions can be way too strong in my opinion

>>48724924
Be a man. Make death matter and be actual threat not just another quest to be dealt with. She died ? To bad, NEXT!

>>48724924
Have the player play out trying to exist in the outer planes. Maybe she isn't where she is supposed to be and is trying to find a way out. Throw some encounters and there you go.

>>48724924
Make an NPC to tag along and let them play that character, or let them play random NPCs in game.

Don't invite them to that session / see if they just want to hang out that session.


>>48723081
Appreciate it.

So what are your thoughts on a monk that can only learn ritual spells? How can I make it both viable as a choice, and not stupid OP?

inb4 weeblife

I wanted to go down the path of a Dr. Strange type character, so a monk who learns arcane magic, but does so as rituals only.

>>48725038
>party split
maybe it's just me, but whenever party split happens player satisfaction goes down.
Either players sit there and metagame to the player(s) who are doing stuff or they have to be herded into another room like sheep so they don't bother people

>>48725021
These were just initial ideas, which is why I posted that list here. I know that KOs and stuns are strong, but those are meant to be "capstone" things to earn at the end of the Elementalist PrC.

Maybe KO and stun aren't the right ideas, either. For Psychic maybe they have to make a save, otherwise they lose their turn as they struggle to regain control over their own minds and run off in a random direction or do some random action.

For Thunder, maybe it's save or be disabled for a turn as you struggle to regain your composure after being shaken to the bone?

>>48724924
Make the "new character" npc level, low stats and lower level. Or using non pc rules entirely. Good enough to contribute but not equal to what they had before. And probably work it in as the npc being directly involved in the revival process.

>>48725042
here is the problem the only ritual that can do damage is Forbiddance. As ritual it would be 20 minutes to cast. Bassicly no use in combat. You can shorten the ritual casting time to half or 1/10th but still it will have no use in combat.

>>48724924
The ritual to bring them back requires a sacrifice.
The player plays the sacrifice until the ritual is complete.
If theye like the new character's skillset more, the old character's soul is put into the new one's body, or something like that.

>>48725164
You don't need to make it too weak, but if you just have them unable to gain experience keeping them over the original character won't be considered.

>>48725042
Honestly rituals only seems very very out of combat character ish. This character probably runs the show before and after combat, so I guess you should make sure they own it. Give them the list of spells, and let their knowledge of magic do the talking. At level 3 you get the spell list, and give them something defensive utility like, if you or an ally are targeted by a spell that requires a saving throw, you may use a ki to grant your wisdom modifier to the saving throw against it. Level 6 you get more spells and you can use two ki to have an ally within 30 feet to reroll a failed save against magic. Level 11 you gain knowledge on how to end another spell. Spend 3 ki and you can cast Counterspell. Level 17 when an ally makes a save you used your ki on, you can spend 4 ki, and redirect the spell back onto the caster.

>>48724924
Have that player play whatever villain the party is facing at the moment. Even if it's just one of the monsters.

>>48724924
Honestly, if they like the new character more, let them. Then, it's become a quest for them to resurrect their old friend, and they feel good as a result.

It's not really a worry, and all the other answers you're getting are stupid.

There's in Illithid at Baldur's Gate and he's taken over one of the small towns outside the city walls! People are being kidnapped in Baldur's Gate and being taken to the small town for who knows what reason! Heck, one of the four Dukes is under his control.

How do you involve the party?

>>48724876
>help me make this ridiculously complex system for specializing in every kind of damage, instead of just using the Elemental Adept feat or the dragon sorcerer class, both of which do exactly what I want already

>>48725840
Illithid's have to eat, so maybe they find a dead body with the back half of his head gone, his skull empty.

Rumors abound of weird dreams occuring amongst the populace in the small town, involving tentacles and eldritch words being whispered into their ears.

Maybe a servant of the controlled Duke approaches the party, asking for them to investigate why their master is being so weird as of late.

>>48725840
A mother is hysterical in the street because her child was taken by thralls of the Illithid. She begs them to help.

So last night I wanted to have my players wrangle and wrestle a Gorgon to get a McGuffin attached to it's back. But I couldn't really figure out the rules for how a wrestling match would go and I didn't want a straight combat.

So instead I had the dungeon builders forget to turn on the Gorgon and just had the McGuffin sitting on the inanimate Gorgon's back. It took them 30 minutes of planning and discussion to finally just take the damn item and leave.

I love D&D.

>>48726090
The rules wouldn't go the way you think. Size and build give no advantages to a creature when grappling, so the PCs could very easily keep its movement speed stuck at 0. But since that doesn't hinder its attacks and it doesn't really give them an exit strategy, they'd probably have to kill the thing anyway.

Me and a friend are going to be playing an upcoming game and he wants to play as a rogue who specializes in poisons.

What class should I play that synergizes best with a rogue?

Anyone out there with lots of experience as a rogue? What classes are your favorite to be with?

>>48726090
I can feel the paranoia that would have been in that room.

>>48724286

Yes. That is exactly what he means. Because he is in fact, asshurt that the designers were pandering to him and now they're not.

>>48726288
Battlemaster could help set up advantage through knockdowns and things like that.

>>48726212
Yeah, and I couldn't find any good resources for running wrestling matches in D&D outside of just contested strength checks. I could have run it like a skill challenge from 4e, but then I don't really have an end state if they fail. Plus I'm not 100% sure what that would even look like. And the Gorgon would be attacking at the same time, so why would the party even wrestle when they could just attack it.

>>48726399
They could even just Mage Hand the thing off its back. Or Misty Step on top of its back, grab it, and run like hell.

>>48726312
It was pretty great watching them squirm. Honestly their imagination is way more punishing than anything I've come up with.

>>48724404
i took my own shot at it, figure it has a score of about 6
http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1GIqeKt

>>48726434
>>48726399
Or if there does happen to be a grapple bard or someone else wanting to flex a big Athletics check, grappling isn't even the quickest way to get a treasure off a gorgon's back. You just have him shove the gorgon prone, then have another character pick it up off the ground before the gorgon's turn comes around again.

Point being, never assume that the PCs will solve an encounter in a particular way, especially if that way doesn't make sense.

>>48726288

Battlemaster is the right answer, but any melee-focused character is going to be solid gold. "ABF: Always be flanking" is still great advice even though flanking in the sense of +2-for-covering-both-sides is no longer a mechanic.

Your main goal is to enable your rogue to get sneak attack damage in every turn. While there are spells, feats, and class features that enable this nothing is going to beat good old-fashioned standing next to them for that. How much to focus on your own offense or your rogues defense is going to depend on group comp and strategy, but the short answer is "either."

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>>48720848
I love rogues too, anon. currently playing a tomb explorer/field academic, brash and arrogant doing it half for the thrill of discovery, half for academic pleasure. obviously inspired in indiana jones

another idea I have is make a plague doctor, kind of like >>48720909 said. could be more interesting if you and your GM homebrew some better rules for crafting potions and other alchemical shenanigans

>>48720909
Have you done serial killer?

>>48724119
>Only problem will be the delayed Tarokka Reading, but I can always cook something up with the Inn being owned by Vistani.
The inn in Barovia is owned by three Vistani women, actually. If spoken to, they direct the party to Madam Eva.

>I'm a little bit surprised by Death House's combat encounters to be honest, they seem very numerous and very fucking deadly.
I ran it with a party of 6, including a cleric. The only time they had trouble was inside the statue room, because they triggered two encounters at once. But if you rolled better than me, yeah you could easily TPK.

>How would you deal with the PCs wanting to get a long (or even a short, actually) rest INSIDE the House? Be specific if possible.
My players did this. I made them roll con saves against being 'tainted' and against taking points of madness from the constant chanting below.

>>48726764
>>48726356
What exactly is a battle master like outside of d&d?

What would a battle master weapons and stats look like in a typical online RPG or game like dark souls? would he be pure melee with a shield and weapon or use spells?

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>>48720848
>>48726807
Hey, I'm playing a rogue academic too! His backstory is that he is a second rate doctor who doesn't ask questions, so the local thieves guild uses his services. He saw some secret cult doing secret cult things and is now obsessed with finding magical artifacts to study. The setting I'm playing in is low magic so I was thinking of taking him in an "X-files" direction. Kind of a combination of Scully and Mulder.

>>48727079
Battlemaster deals in activated abilities while the Champion has the passive abilities.

>>48727079
He would be using pure melee, and would be using items that do slightly less damage but add effects on. Basically take a tank from most RPGs, where they can give crowd control, but take away any kind of aggro control.

In Dark Souls 2 Scholar a light comparison can be made with Sellsword Luet I guess, but imagine the shields can knock enemies prone and you can attack while they are prone.

>>48727079
That's not how this works anon.

>>48727079
Battlemaster uses kicks, parries and shield bashes to skillfully gain the upper hand, Champion mashes attack with a zweihander

>>48727079
battlemaster is just a fighter with a bunch of special techniques he can use in battle. he is otherwise mostly indistinguishable from any other fighter and can use whatever weapons he likes. there is some mild suggestion that the battlemaster is a more "intellectual" fighter than the champion, like a samurai who learns calligraphy, but it's very minor and for the most part both the champion and battlemaster are two flavours of the same generic fighter.

if you want to be a fighter with spells there is a seperate subclass for that, the eldritch knight.

>>48726764
>>48726288
Also, Commander's Strike allows a rogue to get sneak attack twice per round, once on the rogue's turn and once on the battlemaster's turn.

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Derp, we've just started roll20 and noone's used it before. Anything to keep in mind, any good starting pages or should we just start munching the tutorial?

My friends and I just started playing 5e (our first tabletop rpg) and we are doing the phandelver adventure since lots of people seemed to recommend it for new players. It says it ends at level 5 but we want to keep going afterwards, are there any kind of adventures that start at higher levels? Or do we have to just take another adventure and yolo the exp and monster balancing? I don't think we're ready to start writing our own setting and campaigns yet

>>48727258
I don't really know so I'm asking.

>>48727277
>>48727171
Champion seems easier to do since it sounds like just a normal big guy with big weapon.

>>48727255
>>48727277
>>48727316
So basically any melee character in dark souls could count as a battle master class if you can land parries or have an ultra weapon than can cause knockdowns?

Is the Roll20 module for LMoP worth the $20?
I'm a new DM and the prep work is a bit overwhelming.

Or if the contents have been uploaded somewhere, that'd be neat.

>>48728252
It probably is.
I plan to every non-Lost Mine module they release from now on just to make things way easier on myself as a DM for those particular modules.
+ I can use some of their more generic assets for my own games.

>>48727904
Princes of the Apocalypse is a good one. It might take some adjusting of encounters at the start, but its a level 1-15 campaign so it is only at the start.

Curse of Strahd is 3-10, if you don't start with Death House. Again, a little rebalancing at the start might be needed.

>>48728506
It looks pretty good from the screenshots.
I didn't know assets could be used in other games. That sways me a little.

Hey, anons? In a high-fantasy post-apocalyptic setting (think Eberron meets Fallout), if I have a Totem Barbarian Warforged, am I playing it wrong if I fluff them as essentially a transforming magitek battledroid? You know, Eagle Spirit's jumping boost being due to jump jets and the like?

>>48728663
Cool, thanks, we'll probably go with that one then. Is there any kind of easy/rough guideline for adjusting encounters? I remember reading some rpg books a few years ago and there was something about challenge levels that you could calculate for a party's strength and look up corresponding monsters.

>>48721212
I never did get past that fucking escort mission.

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>>48729138
You are playing it right.

>>48729149
Kobold Fight Club is a decent site for that. It shows you whether an encounter would be easy, hard or whatever for your players.

Ultimately, just adding some more enemies, or giving one of them some spells or something can increase the challenge.

When a spellcaster levels up, does he automatically get new spells in his book or does he have to find them? Also what happens if he finds a spell that's higher level than he can cast?

>>48729469
Read each class's "Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher" entry.

Whats the best adventure of 5E? Is it Strahd?

>>48729507
CoS is great, at least as far as I've played it so far.
Heard good things about Out of the Abyss as well.

>>48729497
Just did thanks very much!

>>48729550
Yup - differs between most casters.

>>48729507
That's entirely subjective; Strahd is interesting and it's structure as an adventure is unique enough that you could actually run it a couple of times like I have and come up with wildly different scenarios each time like I have.

But a group that requires more direction or railing or perhaps a GM that forgets to play Strahd's strengths but perhaps also his limitations might turn the adventure sour.

>>48724119
Bump. Any other advice or thoughts, guys?

>>48727069
I feel like you had the right idea with resting inside the house.
Rolling on temporary madness with a Wisdom DC8 seems like a fun idea.
Just getting the players to roll should be enough to induce some stress and prevent abuses.

A party of 6 is a lot though. Mine is going to be 4 I think.
I'll definitely tell them about the undeads and how having a cleric would be nice.
I fucking love clerics, hope people would pick them up more often.

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Hey, /tg/, am I unknowingly >that DM? Here's the deal:

Currently running a game, very high fantasy. Party running it TPK'd back in Curse of Strahd, and they decided they didn't want to do that again. In that game, same party remember, they got to the Village of Barovia, got recruited by Ireen and Ismark to get the body to the chapel. They go up there, and they start immediately wanting to kill Doru. So, they knock out the priest (before getting the body burried), and two of the party of four stay upstairs to watch the priest, a bard and a Sorcerer, and the Paladin and Barbarian find the trap door and break the chain. The Bard closes the door after them and seals the lock with a knife. So the Paladin and Barbarian proceed to get really badly fucked up, because they kept trying different types of attacks instead of going for the throat, and the Paladin dies. The other two decide they know what's happening (I was tired of their bullshit so I let them), and rather than unlocking the door to let the Barbarian out, they blow a hole in the floor and jump down.

Well, the Barbarian dies, and then Doru turns on the two casters who just jumped down. The Bard does the same thing that got the paladin killed, instead of using his Crossbow that he poisoned with holy water, (because I was going to be nice) he starts using other stuff instead. So the Vampire gets intimidated down into scurrying at the sides, until the Sorcerer attacks him ANYWAYS, and gets effectively 1-shot with the bite. So now the Bard is stuck down there, and runs for the door, because he tough that a basement like this was only, say, four feet deep? Or something, when I already said it was very spacious and open. But, I was losing my patience, so instead of having Doru kill them all, I let him escape. He runs outside, and as I had planned from the start, Strahd is there to introduce himself, for formalities sake. Well, the Bard just cuts open his belly and rage quits.

So, then, we do this game... 1/2

>>48729673
Your players are retards.
That's not your fault.

>>48729673
Party sets off from generic gothic city, and goes to a little Parish under attack by Orcs. They fight off the Orcs, with the Bard from before playing a Crown Paladin. Well, the party, rather than keeping an eye out and seeing to getting everything taken care of, open up the church and start healing the peasants. The fighter, who was the Barbarian, just starts flexing for the crowd as their saviour. The Rogue, who was the Paladin, did keep watch, but instead of calling out to the party that a pack of Gnolls were charging the party from the tree line, just keeps hidden and prepares to assassinate the Pack Lord. So the Gnolls slam into the peasants and the players, and it's chaos. So, with the Cleric (who was the Sorcerer) getting banged on, and the Fighter also getting banged on, the Crown Paladin uses his challenge channel divinity, and pulls six of the Gnolls. The Gnolls make right for him, but he just stands there and attacks. He even gets told "You're being surrounded" by myself, but he opts to just hit them and let that be that. So, the Gnolls second turn comes around, and two crits later he's all over the floor and a little bit on the ceiling because the other four Gnolls that hit him caused automatic failures on his death saving throws.

Does this make me a bad DM? Mind, the party survived, and incurred a debt with the local priest to cast revivify on their dead Paladin who was going to ragequit the entire campaign.

>>48729734
Given their propensity for not being tactical, 6 gnolls seems like a bunch.

>inb4 gnolls

>>48729734
What is the dodge action?
I'll repeat
>>48729708
your players are retards.

>>48729771
Thanks. Good to know I'm not off my porch here.

>>48729757
It was 8 Gnolls and a Pack Lord as the boss wave for five level 3s. They gave up their choke point at a barricade to go run to the chapel, and then just fought in the mob.

>>48729833
Yeah, sounds to me like they're just very bad at making reasonable decisions and employing efficient combat tactics.
My current player group and the group I'm used to DM'ing would wipe the floor with that, especially with a choke point.

>>48722658
Literally the ritual caster feat then

>>48729673
Why kill poor Donavich?

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If I anted to create a leper like pic related, or the Leper from Darkest Dungeon, what'd be the best course of action? DEX as a dump stat to simulate leprosy?

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>>48729673
>>48729734
You're not being that DM, your players just aren't making good decisions. It's honestly not that bad a thing if they're faring better in other parts of the game. Just take it into consideration when building encounters.

Don't try to teach them how to be better though. First, I don't think the DM should be the one doing that. Second, it probably won't be taken well.

Your best bet is to keep running things as well as you're describing them, to sometimes throw them a freebie.
You could also pretend that the encounter they're fighting is also 100% "by the book" even if it's not. This way, your players wont feel like you're "cheating" or being unfair: your hands are tied. Encounter's written as such, and not by you.

But yeah just keep running them over. At some point they should realise that they're just very bad at this, and maybe they'll try harder.
Just diversify a bit and throw them something else than combat encounters. Something they legitimately could feel good about. It gets frustrating if you're only getting fucked... Even if you deserve it.

>>48730007
Constitution as a dump stat would make more sense, even if that's not the Darkest Dungeon way.
Charisma as second dump, obviously.

>>48730007
Well the DD leper is probably best represented as a fighter in heavy armor with low dexterity.

>>48729673
Only one of my players was stupid enough to fight Doru. The rest just left. I tried to be nice about it but he just kept pushing so Doru murdered his fucking ass and drained him of blood. The priest went to get help and the party paladin (seriously, MVP of this campaign) Turned Doru and locked him back in the basement.

The player who died has died easily a half dozen times for being a retard, its getting annoying

>>48730033
>Don't try to teach them how to be better though. First, I don't think the DM should be the one doing that.
Why? The DM is supposed to be a guide and he's also supposed to give the players a campaign to enjoy. If he can help his players get better and also facilitate their enjoyment of the game and his story at the same time, why shouldn't he be the one to do that?

I don't think "just keep running them over" is good advice, especially if nobody explains to them what they're doing wrong. That's not going to help anyone get better or enjoy anything, it's just going to lead to more frustration.

>>48729833
Well, if they give up the choke point then wipe them. If they complain lay it out for them. Coddling them will only make keep them making bad decisions.

>>48720509
Because when you're a fucking female Deep Gnome, you don't want to be face to face with the cock of every Tom, Dick and Harry.

>>48729734
>>48729833
sounds like your players just have a case of the being retardeds

My DM told me to flesh out a character's backstory. I already had a small sketch (Dragonborn private investigator in a predominantly human city) but he wants more. We've already played for a while, so I came up with a story that's consistent with his actions.

I decided to go for a slightly dark tone, and wrote it out. Now, after doing so, I realized that some people might have this as their magical realm. I was basing it off a Cheap Trick song and a news article I read once about somebody in a similar position, but some people might take it in other ways. Now, the story is:

>Run away from home at age 16
>Go to human city
>Be useless at every job
>Try to become beggar
>Almost starve to death
>Get scooped up by local madame who's looking for something exotic for her wealthy clients
>Be prostitute until about age of 20, when he uncovers that a rival brothel has enslaved their workers via magic tattoos
>Decides to quit and become a detective, since he was pretty okay at uncovering that conspiracy, and hates his old job
>Spends about 5 years as a detective, uses seedy underworld contacts to be fairly successful, still gains no respect for obvious reasons
>Leaves old city to try and escape his past, which he is deeply, deeply ashamed of

This story fits the character fairly well, I think. It's consistent with his past actions, at least.

I think it will work, as does the one other player I ran it by. However, the other times I ran it in this thread, people strongly suggested that I don't go with it. Now, I'm pretty sure that's because they were assuming I was into that kind of shit, which I'm not, so I think I'm electing to ignore their advice.

My one possible problem is my DM, who has shown some fairly magical realm tendencies of his own. Now, I intended this to be a dark, depressing backstory. If my DM doesn't treat it as such, or makes it a joke, what should I do? I don't really want to make light of that subject.

>>48724556
I think the big consideration for alignment is who is looking. Is it:

Self? A deluded person could well view they are entirely good for doing horrible things.

Other people? Generally how society views their conduct. This is probably the best.

The gods? I hate this one. Different gods have different criteria and so the supposedly objective ideals of this alignment really depend on which gods one is talking about. A god of death could very well see that any who violate the natural order of death (either through necromancy that uses the soul or through spells like Raise Dead) are Evil. Eldath considers all violence as non-Good, while Corellon Larethian praises those who venture into an orc village and slaughter the young, old, and infirm who can't defend themselves. Keep it away from here and you will probably be fine.

>>48720509
Never, and I've played a lot of female characters. They look dumb and have no function, especially in an adventuring environment.
Do girls nowadays even wear them? I can only seem to recall women around my age wearing normal shoes.

>>48722329
He was a warrior king ya know with a huge army

>>48723200
No Wis Druid. All they need is wildshape.

Can you throw two handaxes with two weapon fighting?

>>48731087
read the fucking manual

>>48727723
use the [[ ]] for your rolls instead of /r
For example, rather than type /r 3d4+3, type [[3d4+3]]
If you're not using voice, keep your out of character chatting outside the roll20 and in a different room, like Discord or a steam group chat.

>>48731119

I have, DM hasn't, need to settle an argument.

>>48731143
Yes, you can.

Bonus attack doesn't get your ability modifier to damage without the fighting style.

>>48731143
OK so show him the portion in the Player's Handbook which shows the rules.

Why the fuck would he believe random anon over the Player's Handbook?

Get outta here

>>48731167

That's what I thought. I did some searching, but didn't find anything; if anyone has a handy dandy picture of Jeremy Crawford or Sage Advice answering the question, that'd be great.

>>48731143
>>48731167
Me again, page 195 of the PHB, under the heading Two-Weapon Fighting, last paragraph. It explicitly addresses and permits two hand fighting and thrown weapons.

>>48731184
READ THE FUCKING PLAYER'S HANDBOOK

>>48731200

Are you retarded?

>>48731226
Someone clearly is

>>48731243

My DM? Yes, that's been established. Just pointing out the irony in telling me to read when that person is not reading what I'm saying is pretty fucking stupid.

>>48731226
You don't need tg you don't need twitter get the PHB and then READ IT

READ NIGGER

>>48731270

Yes, see, that's the irony I was talking about. Try again. Or don't, just fuck off instead you dumb cunt.

>>48731299
Ok, I see that you are obviously a basketball American.

Take the PHB and open it to pp. 195 Two-Weapon Fighting, read it and then show it to your DM.

Is that clear enough for you, Jamal? Need me to express it to you in the form of rap?

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Question time. Starting Out of the Abyss with a close group of friends and have been rereading some stuff and found out I sorta fudged the first session. First off, I had everyone speaking Common, which I just fixed by telling my party that the Human Rogue (who also been doing the most talking) has been using another party member who speaks Undercommon as a translator.
But my big question is RPing the Drow. So far that same Rogue insulted an Elite Drow Warrior in order to get beaten so he could use Slight of Hand to steal the jail cell key which they succeeded on. Would a Drow just be contempt with kicking the shit out of a human prisoner or should I have gone worse?
Also this very same Rogue stated for his 3 days at prison he has been complimenting and loosely flirting with Ilvara Mizzrym every time he sees her. Because he is playing such a cheerful and optimistic character I thought Ilvara would have fun with physiologically torturing him instead of physical so she can crush his spirits and destroy that self assurances he has been carrying. Once more, just want to know if this is a cool way to be playing her or have I been missing the point of Drow?

>>48731334
Not the samefag, but please do. Not because I need it explained, but because I love the image of a D&Der rapping out the rules at the table.

>>48731350
>Once more, just want to know if this is a cool way to be playing her or have I been missing the point of Drow?
He must like getting beaten, because any female drow would torture the shit out of him for an inferior species presuming to even look at her, much less act so casual with her.

>>48731460
That's the reaction I got after telling a few experienced D&D players. I've been playing only for several months and do not exactly know most of the lore yet. At this point I'm just looking for opinions on if I am playing these Drows well enough or if I am not brutal enough.

>>48731607
The Drow are an extremely brutal matriarchal society. They treat other races like shit and are generally pretty evil.

>>48731650
They treat other like shit too, it should be noted. Especially females, who treat males like disposable minions that double as living dildos.

>>48731650
I knew that much. Well last session Ilvara found out that one of the guards keys went missing and immediately knew one of the prisoners took them so she had them all line up at the edge. She then gave a long winded speech on Drow>Everyone then made our Rogue pick who she was gonna execute by throwing off the ledge or she was gonna throw him off and a few others to boot. She did this as his punishment for his "transgressions" for all the shit he said.

>>48730477
>y DM told me to flesh out a character's backstory.

Why does this always seem to translate as 'make overly complicated and dysfunctional'?

>>48731777
Ahh yes, what better way to break an optimistic spirit than to make them have to decide who loses their life. Should have made HIM push them in...

>>48731818
Hmm... also ended the session there cause it seemed like a good stopper. So I think when we start again I will have her warn our Rogue that if he every so much as looks in her direction again she will cut off his balls or something and shove them down his throat. Or something else more brutal if I can think of something between now and then.

>>48731143

Okay,

Don't play with DM's who can't be bothered to read the fucking manual.

>>48731350
Sounds pretty good. In mine my PCs threw shit on Ilvara when cleaning her chamber pot, tried to storm the guards, and just generally were incompetent and got themselves killed.

>>48731897
No, threaten to cut out his tongue if he dares address her, and his eyes if he looks at her.

Or better yet, have her actually take a liking to him. Between how horribly Drow females treat their males anyway combined with their disdain for lower creatures, actually getting her to be charmed by him is likely the worst punishment possible. Now she just wants to break him. Once she has decided to make him a more permanent fixture, she would be molding his mind to fit what she wanted him to be.That way lies madness...

>>48732013
Yeah, this party just finished LMoP and I was trying to play by strictly adventure league rolls just so we could all learn the basics. Now I am letting them play with UA stuff (so long as I read it over first) and homebrew options. Luckily most of them have RPing experience and take it somewhat seriously. I enjoy DMing and playing all these cool characters but self doubt has me feeling like Ed Wood, a lot of passion but little talent.

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What does a drow sound like?

Do they have any kind of stereotyped accent like surface elves/dwarves typically do?

Are their voices raspy like the falmer in the elderscrolls?

>>48732014
Well, was considering -something- like this. Mostly inspired by this scene actually:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtjCVRm2DAM

Though I was worried it may come off as magical realmy and I am not sure if your typical bitch Drow would ever feel that way for a human. Though at a same time could be somewhat funny, running for your life cause you are being chased by a crazy bitch who wants to break you into her S&M pet.

>>48732145
I go with typical English Posh accent. Though play around, just try to keep it somewhat "noble" and articulate. German could also be neat.

>>48732145
I don't think that's ever been established, beyond the typical elven melodious voice.

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What's the general consensus around here about the currently published Demon Lords? I'm planning on running a campaign that revolves around going into the Abyss and I've been going through them to see what I have to work with before looking to homebrew.

Personally I feel the ones published in Out of the Abyss are alright depending on which, but some of them feel a bit weak to be considered some of the strongest, most notable and long lasting lords of the Abyss, especially if they're able to be patrons to Warlocks. The ones in the Tome of Beasts on the other hand feel a little all over the place with some being much more interesting than others playwise. I also think some of their designs were kind of boring or dopey.

>>48732113
Sounds good so far, don't be afriad to kill the boring NPCs to keep them punished for really dumb affronts to the Drow, and try to focus more on the the Drow really aren't as united as they may seem.

>>48732190
>German drow

Imagining a drow take on Oktoberfest right now. Probably gonna be rough getting my DM to let Lederhosen be a part of drow culture..

>>48732145
Eastern European Accents.

>>48732295
>and try to focus more on the the Drow really aren't as united as they may seem.

I already had Jorlan offer to help the prisoners escape after her caught the party trying to escape. I'm gonna role play him for a bit, thinking on how he is gonna try to fuck over Shoor and Ilvara and possibly make a deal with the party to help him kill the two if they get a high enough renown in the campaign. Asha I am not too sure what I want to do with, probably keep trying to urge Jorlan but I feel she might try by other means to get what she wants at some point. As for killing off some of the prisoners? leaning on Turvy, and Ront so far. Would say Suushar too but the party has really enjoyed him and I admit, he is fun to play.

>>48732293
Who feels weak

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>>48730733
>They look dumb and have no function, especially in an adventuring environment.
Daily reminder that high heels were not only functional but were a highly valued and necessary part of a horseman's attire.

Also, thinking that "looking good" isn't of extraordinarily high importance to individuals in any society is just ludicrous. Social power is a thing, anon.

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>>48732325
>A female Drow comes up to you wearing this and says;

>"You are a veak und pathetic excuse for a man. I vill be taking great pleasure in seeing you suffer under mein vhip und heal slave."

Wut do?

>>48732495
I ask her boobs to stop staring back at me.

>>48732495
>vhip und heal slave
heal slaves? But our heal slut is a grrl

So what are some good weapons I should try to get as a high level Rogue Assassin? Gonna have access to a massive hoard of them after defeating a lich, might be able to get 1 or 2 before international politics and reparations come into play.

>>48732535
>The girl in our party is playing a Dwarf Barbarian.
>The girl in the party of the game I am DMing is playing a Gnome Barbarian.
>My goddamn sister is playing a Halfling Barbarian in another game.

Not complaining but how come women always feel it's so funny to play the short, angry, raging character? I mean they are by far not bad class/race mix but I always see women always playing this mix first when they first start playing.

>>48732415
Maybe it's just my biases, but only being 3 CR higher than a Pit Fiend doesn't seem like territory for a being that's been around so long in the Abyss. For creatures who are able to take a Warlock up to 20th, that just seems a bit too low. Not saying they need to be hitting Tarrasque or Tiamat levels in terms of CR, but low 20s for some of the most well known ones just doesn't sound right. When I first read AotA I think the one that made me think this the most was Baphomet, being one of the lowest at CR 23.
To me it feels more like they gave them those ratings so that they were feasible for players to fight more than anything else.

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>DM rolls pregens for a one shot
>rolls up a Bladelock
>Gives her War Caster, Gauntlets of Ogre Strength, and a greatsword as a pact weapon
>My fucking face when I realise how dank Blade Ward+Armor of Agathys combo is, especially with Booming Blade on a reaction attack if they decide running is better than doing minimal damage to me while they take 15

>>48732636
>blade ward
>ever dank
But who was bow?

>>48732544
Something that adds more dice. Like a cold or flaming weapon.

>>48732415
>>48732618
Sorry that sentence structure was a little messy, but I think it got the message across. Anyway I know CR doesn't function like levels and it's more of a rough estimate in 5e than anything, I just think they could have been a bit higher than they were in OotA.

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>>48720502

holy shit this is amazing

>>48732805
Well, if you're the DM of a campaign that uses them, you can always buff them. If "They lowered them to make them killable by players" isn't a good excuse to you, or you think your players can overrun them easily, then give them a buff or swarm them.

>>48732820
That's not what I think it is... Is it?

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>>48732618
>>48732805
Well not all the Lords in Out of the Abyss are the strongest. If I remember lore right Jubilex is actually one of the weaker ones who has only survived so long out of being lazy and sharing a domain.

You want stronger Lords? Throw Orcus or Demo at them. Your players won't find them wanted for power unless they're very skilled or you're running a large group.

>>48732820
>>48732914
Holy fuck it is. Where are you kind sir? I have to suck your dick now. You can't just not let me repay you for showing me this.

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how the hell am I supposed to roleplay a character with a personality that "uses polysyllabic words to convey erudition"?

I don't think the guy who wrote that in the PHB thought that one through.

>>48732986

ohio

I'm getting into DMing, but I feel I need to be more read up on general knowledge shit.

What books should I read? There isn't that much out for 5e yet so books from other editions are okay.

I started reading through the Manual of the Planes from 4e, what else should I take a look at?

>>48733034
Describe your words in the abstract rather than actually saying them.

>>48732898
I will if it comes to that, I just wasn't sure and figured I'd ask around here to see what everyone's opinions were about it. Granted I forgot that you tend to not get many responses unless you're shitposting.
>>48732949
I will if the players fuck with them.
>>48733034
Unless you're formulating your sentences ahead of time with a dictionary next to you or you have a very developed vocabulary you probably won't be able to.

>>48733051
omw

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>>48720848

I don't see a good ol' Con Man on that list. Like Barry Lyndon. Either that or going back to basics with >>48722476.

>>48733231
Wouldn't the conman be more of a bard than a rogue? Charisma and all that.

hey, any other DM's that could give advice on trying to manage a campaigns time-frame? i want to make a campaign that will last around 10 8-hour sessions, but the problem is that my group is really inconsistent when it comes to times, sometimes we just manage to do 2 fights per session, sometimes 8. sometimes they refuse to do sidequests, sometimes they go on tangents that take entire sessions that has nothing to do with anything.


while i doubt i will ever be able to calculate/ plan it that exact so would any minor trick/tip be welcome

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>>48733267

Yes, you'll need Charisma, but the Impostor feature from the Assassin archetype just fits perfectly. Just add a Charlatan background and invest into a 14+ CHA score and you are good to go. Fuck bitches and get riches.

>>48733377
>Fuck bitches get money
Old joke is old.

>>48733419
Maybe, but it takes some brass to put it in your damn yearbook. A little, anyway.

>>48733317
8 hours seems kinda long.

Also, don't judge progress by how many fights you do unless thats all your campaign is about.

Judge it by encounters instead. ANY kind of encounter. Talking to an NPC is an encounter. Figuring out a puzzle is an encounter. Even the party talking to each other around the campfire is an encounter.

For the other things, players are going to do what players are going to do. Best laid plans, etc.

If it becomes a massive problem, talk to them about it, find out why they're ignoring side quests and shit. Maybe you're not making them interesting enough, or maybe they're assholes. Try to design the campaign around what your players will enjoy playing.

If running a campaign that they like isn't enjoyable for you, don't DM.

>>48732618
Keep in mind the Lords would naturally be much stronger in their domain

Also Balors are CR 19 as they are only a step below demon lords, most of them are just waiting for a chance to become a lord

>>48733602
Do the CRs in the book not include their Lair Actions? If they don't I'll need to think about that carefully when balancing, especially since the players will actually be in their domains and not the material plane. Thanks for bringing that up!

>>48733669
OotA doesn't extend to domains. If you want them to be tougher up their HP or give them minions

>>48733317
Planning out an entire campaign is a fool's errand.

Come up with loose ideas and let your players guide the story, coming up with stuff as you go. Make setpieces you could adapt to different situations or adjust on the fly. Never make hard-set plans more than a session or two in advance, maybe barely a session in advance in the case of your long play times.

>>48733727
Thanks for the tip, that helps a lot with some thoughts I'd been having about balancing them. I'd thought about minions and was considering using those versions from OotA as their out of domain "avatars", but hadn't quite put all the pieces together. Now I feel like I've got a lot more wiggle room.

Also out of curiosity, do you or anyone else in this thread know how the Demons/Demon Lords in Fifth Edition Foes turned out? I haven't really read any of the stuff from Necromancer Games before this so I don't know what the general quality is.

So my younger niece and nephew found my 5th edition monster manual while they were visiting and long story short Im gonna run a simple game for them. What sort of campaign ideas would be fun for 2 8 year olds (assuming I simplify the shit out of the rules for them)

>>48733857
those goblins stole our shit! pls help us! You awesome cool people are our only hope! We'll give you candy.

use candy as minis for enemies

>>48733832
As a final point, keep in mind that a CR20+ means your party is challenged if they are level 20

So your level 15 players in OotA will be fucked if they fight a demon lord who is at full strength

>>48733857
Put them against some kinds of monsters they would know about and give them a goal that's engaging, but not too emotionally complex. Kids aren't stupid, they're just not super experienced. Maybe have them fight some goblins or orcs, maybe some undead if they're not pussies. Make the goal something that they can get behind, based on what you know about them, maybe someone was kidnapped or maybe there's a magic item that will help a kingdom with a monster problem.

>>48733857

>>48733893
Use candy for the enemies and when they kill them they get to eat the candy.

Also don't be afraid to challenge them a little. Make them fight a big boss goblin or something thats tough enough that they feel like cool heroes for beating it.
Have the town or whatever reward them with piles of gold and give them the key to the city, etc.

>>48733948
Oh well I'm aware of that and am not running OotA, but thank you for your help and input. I don't plan on having the players run into any Demon lords for a while. Now if they decide to challenge one themselves...

>>48733857
Give them a servant named George who carries their things and talks in a goofy "mi'lord" accent. Make funny things happen more than violent things.

I'm a new DM, is it possible/viable/whatever to DM a 2 player campaign? Are there any good pre written adventures that would fit that kind of thing? Seems like they are all written for big parties of 4-5+.

>>48733857
Make sure to describe the things they do in combat as really cool.

'[NEPHEW], the goblin dodges around you and tries to stab at your back, but suddenly an arrow flies past your face and pierces the goblin's head with pinpoint accuracy! You look around and see [NIECE] standing with her bow pointing at the goblin, and she gives you a smile and a nod'

'The hobgoblin tries to block your warhammer with his shield, but it can't resist the power behind the blow. The shield crumples like paper and the warhammer drives through and smashes the hobgoblins face off!'

>>48734089
It's plenty possible, but you'll have to custom scale everything to them. Go especially easy on the numbers of enemies.

it's our irl sessions and we do it mostly every sunday, sometimes, like this week, we're off

my players usually never do any kind of "in-party" interaction, they are pretty much always four strangers walking together, i have tried to force them to RP via, for example, information that only one characters knows, side quests that are important to only one character yet needs the entire party, etc, etc. but it's always "i tell everyone else this" or "i need to do something, join me".

one player always got a character that's at least kinda interesting but is only interested in furthering the campaign, one is only in it for the rolls, one is a party face and thus dictates what the party is going to and is never met with any complaints and is also the only one that talks to NPC's. (i don't want to sound too harsh, they are good people, but i think the way they play is a bit "grindy"


i do try to make interesting encounters, that's one of the reasons why i want to limit it to 10 sessions, because i spend almost 16 hours preparing for each session, and i've started to see that the quality of what i do severely is rapidly starting to decline after that.

right now we got a system where i hold a campaign for around 10 sessions and then someone else switches me off, that's why i want tips for measuring campaign lengths

>>48734089
You want 3-6 people. If you make the encounters too small they'll get bored. If you really want to do it though you can just give the party an extra NPC (you only need one, maybe a guide or something with middling stats). If you play Curse of Strahd you'll have two decent NPCs to keep around the party and 3 if you get really lucky. You can have the two players command those NPCs in combat too.

>>48734089
Plenty feasible. Some of my most fun moments were with only two players.

>>48734133
whoops, forgot to link

>>48733582

>>48734133
Talk to them about it.
Find out why they're not doing it. It could be that they're just too shy/awkward to want to role play.
If that's why, find out if theres anything you can do to make them more comfortable.

It may also be that they're the type of players that just.. don't like to roleplay.

>>48734089
2 is doable. 3-4 is perfect, but 2 is certainly playable. Combat might be a little difficult to balance, since challenge ratings are designed for a party of 4, but you can always balance it downwards (use an encounter planning tool to help with that) or give them an NPC to help out.

Just be careful not to let the NPC drift into Mary Sue DMPC territory.

>>48720509
Always, they're 10/10 for cavalry and the only people who can't move normally on heels are pussy ass modern women wearing 10" needle heels.

So my PCs pissed off a Mind Flayer artificer who essentially has magical power armor.

What would be some interesting abilities to give this more melee-focused flayer?

What are some good fireside short rest fluff prompts to create character conversation/bonds/[s]development[/s]

Anyone else feel like the 3rd party publishers don't really get the balance changes in 5e? Tome of Beasts has some incredibly stupid examples of this shit.

>>48734426
Like what

>>48734330

t. crossdresser

>>48734430
Like the CR 2 Ice Fey that gives you two levels of exhaustion every time it hits you with its bow and you fail the Con save.

>>48734446
Literally what

>>48734430
Not that poster, but Tome of Beasts has some stuff that clearly is designed by someone with the 3.x mindset.

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>>48734378
Force damage "thunderous smite" magic charged fists.
Reactionary Lightning damage
Throwing massive hunks of rock
The ability to make the mother of all omelettes and not fret over every egg.

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>>48734452
>>48734459
"CR 2"

>>48734471
Huh, it has some modifiers to that. It probably isn't that bad actually. But honestly there was no need to use exhaustion mechanics for that basic effect.

>>48734471
CR was never useful before or after any updates. But I can agree that it might have a bit too much HP for its size.

>>48734471
What the fuck is wrong with that screenshot?

But yes, Tome of Beasts has some great stuff and some really awful stuff.

>>48734489
Yeah I just don't think it was necessary. At level 2 there are plenty of characters that can fail that Con save more than once and with that they'll be fucked for quite a while.
>>48734493
Fair enough.
>>48734494
The PDF has a very poor color scheme for reading, if that's what you're referring to.

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>>48734471
That doesn't seem TOO bad. The fact that the exhaustion goes away when you heal the cold damage is important.

Compare it to another CR 2 monster from the MM, the Carrion Crawler.
It has less hp than the carrion crawler, and its ranged attack exhausts with a DC13 save while the Carrion Crawler straight up paralyzes.

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>>48734471
>>48734494
Wtf is wrong with that screenshot

>>48734426
It has Qorgeth the Devouring Worm in it, so I'm willing to forgive the missteps.

>>48734520
Ah it does indeed. Okay that's not quite as bad as I thought then. Still the players don't know this little tidbit, so that might not always be a saving grace.
>>48734529
The fuck? My version has that shit color scheme and I thought that the Publishers were just retarded. Now I'm gonna have to dick around with Acrobat's settings.

>>48734717
Where'd you get it from?

I got mine from here https://mega.nz/#!xIcw0JrS!e_WL2JWFEU7HN0DwK69F9J9MLoe7qv69qez0lDGPWUQ

>>48734735
Yep, same here. It must be Acrobat's settings or something.

>>48734761
Try using Foxit Reader instead.

Acrobat is shit

>>48734687
I'm more of an Undead kinda guy myself, but he's a neat Demon Lord.
>>48734761
Yeah that's what it was. Wasn't a hard fix.
>>48734772
I might. I have a friend that uses it and they say it's pretty quality.

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>>48720502
Thread ain't lastin' much longer, but I'll post it anyway.

R8, h8, b8, appreciate.
This is draft one, so basically every ability is up for grabs. Not super attached to any of them except maybe the 10th level, which I think I might still mod a bit.

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>>48734828
First and last feature names are placeholders by the way.
Git gud.

>>48734828
Overall it seems pretty decent to me. Nothing really stands out as being overpowered and the archetype really suffers if you aren't with a party. Though the 10th level ability has quite a bit of utility in there, it's still very reliant on having a party to be useful.
Have you playtested this at all?

>>48734907
I literally made this in the last hour or so - haven't even run hypothetical encounters in my head yet. Just ran out some features I thought might fit with the fluff that seemed mechanically on par.
The point is indeed to be pretty party focused though, but maybe it's a bit too party reliant as it stands.

>>48734828
+Charisma to every attack is overpowered, particularly when combined with Allied Assault. I'd make that apply only to the first attack.

>>48734964
I dunno, it's only for one ally until level 15, and never to the fighter himself. While oathbreaker paladins get their aura at level 7 that does the same thing.

>>48734949
It's very party focused, but with all of buffs it gives to them it might be a good trade off to have.
>>48734964
It would more than make up for the lack of combat effects the class gives to itself. Maybe a max, an attack limitation or a tapering off would be in order because it would make all the characters dish out a lot of extra damage depending on their classes, but I don't know if it's "overpowered".

>>48734991
Oathbreaker Paladin's aura only applies to fiends and undead, and only to melee weapon attacks.

>>48735011
Any benefit that applies so broadly has to be treated carefully. Agonising Blast gets complained about on occasion, and Elemental Affinity and Empowered Evocation were errata'd to apply to a single roll.

>Party of Field Marshall 18/Warlock 2, all giving + 5 charisma to each one's Eldritch Blasts

>>48735150
Ah, good catch on the "Any attack" distinction. That wording does make it more useful in a diverse party, but also means the effect needs to be cut down in some way to avoid breaking shit too hard.

>>48734828
Rather than charisma modifier to all attacks, how about charisma plus proficiency bonus once?

>>48735150
Oathbreaker paladin's aura does apply to himself though. And it takes no kind of action to do so.
Additionally, think of the most extreme circumstance - say you've got a huge party of 10.
2 fighters (one is you), a monk, a barb, a cleric, 3 random casters who aren't warlocks, a warlock, and a rogue.
Say everybody is level 15, and you've maxed your charisma at 20.
Your attacks get no bonus. We'll move down the list.
Other fighter - 3 attacks, say 2 hit - +10 damage
Monk - 3-4 attacks, say 3 hit - +15
Barb, 2 attacks, say both hit - +10
Rogue - 1 hit one attack - +5
Warlock - 3 attacks 2 hits - +10
We'll say every other caster casts an attack cantrip, and 2/3 of theirs hit - +10
So that's +60 damage against one target with a party of 10 in which they're all attacking and in which they've got a 75% hit rate.

>>48735202
I've done stuff like that before, but I'm a but against adding proficiency bonuses to unique things as it stands. It's more that wizards hasn't given me sufficient precedence to do that than anything else really.

>>48735238
To put this into a more normal circumstance, we'll cut the party size down to 5. We'll use a more normal group comp and maintain a warlock still.
So fighter/cleric/warlock/rogue/barb.
Our marshall doesn't effect himself, so we'll go down the list.
Cleric attacks once, hits +5
Warlock attacks three times, two hits - +10
Barbarian attacks twice, two hits - +10
Rogue attacks once - +5
Total of +30 damage with an 85% hit rate, assuming everyone attacks the very same target in a round.

>>48735238
That's not the most extreme example, I gave the most extreme example. Each Field Warlock gives +20 damage to every other Warlock.
1 Field Warlock deals 4d10 + 20.
2 Field Warlocks deal 8d10 + 80.
3 Field Warlocks deal 12d10 + 180.
4 Field Warlocks deal 16d10 + 320.

An immediate bandage is to say that a creature can only benefit from this bonus from one Field Marshal at a time (Oathbreaker has a similar caveat). But the main multiplier is attacks, and the benefit is disproportionate to similar benefits.

>>48735364
>An immediate bandage is to say that a creature can only benefit from this bonus from one Field Marshal at a time (Oathbreaker has a similar caveat)
Yeah - I'd been planning to do that since
>>48735150
>Party of Field Marshall 18/Warlock 2
and remembering Oathbreaker.

>>48735345
An ability that adds +30 damage to the party per turn is a lot, not to mention giving everyone in the party advantage on an attack roll against the target.

>>48735383
Yes it is, but the hit rate/hit attempts of the party aren't going to be nearly that uniform/high over the course of normal combats. My estimate would be more around a 60% hit rate and less party members making straight up attacks every round, probably seeing the average damage it brings to a combat more around 10-15 dpr. Which is still great, and makes party members feel pretty good.
+ this is level 15+ we're talking about - that's pretty late in the game to begin with.

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>>48735364
>tfw none of my players are minmaxers so I never see this kind of game breaking even if I allow homebrewed stuff
Thank fuck.

From my interpretation of the PHB, if I do two-weapon fighting as a level 5 fighter, I make four attacks. Is this correct, or do I do three? The wording has given me the implication that duel wielding is just bad if you have another feature you could use.

>>48735499
Extra attack is two, and one more as a bonus action with your off hand. It's not exactly bad at that point, but never gets any better whereas someone with a big weapon will be getting those big attacks multiplied instead of your small ones.

>>48735507
>>48735527
Drat. There goes my dreams of 12 attacks as a Duel-Hand Crossbow fighter. The grammar kind of confused me, I suppose in part because I wanted two weapon fighting to let you take the attack action as a bonus action. Ah well. Thanks /tg/.

>>48735543
>Duel-Hand Crossbow fighter.
two-weapon fighting only applies to light melee weapons. you would need the crossbow expert feat to attack with a hand crossbow as a bonus action

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>>48735694
>>48735694
>>48735694