/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General: Changeling Edition

>>49068932
>tfw your character took two levels in warlock just for disguise self at will
>actor feat

Become the doppelganger.

>>49068932
Actually, none. Some of his minions have, but my BBEGs tend to be pretty straight-on and confident in their power. The closest they have come is wearing a cloak with a hood which was more because that is normal clothing for that person...

Tell me about grappling, /5eg/. What can one do with high athletics and good dice rolls?

>>49069024
Grapple, then shove, as early as 5th level. That creature is going nowhere and all attacks it's making are made at disadvantage, plus any attacks from within 5 feet against it are made at advantage. Keep a single target pinned down while your party kicks the shit out of it.

And you can make it more or less for-sure if you dip rogue (for expertise in Athletics), go barbarian (Rage gives advantage on Strength checks), or get some Lord bard levels (Cutting Words for fucking over their opposed checks).

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Don't know much about Warlocks but is Pact of the Tomb and Book of Ancient Secrets good? I'm making a GOOlock. These cantrips seem well rounded enough?
Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Spare the Dying, Guidance and Thaumaturgy.
I'm fairly new to all of this

So any news on Storm King's Thunder's upload.

Also I heard the main villain is one of the Dragons from the Wyrms of the North series. Any details about her?

>>49069293
Probably nothing, I'm sure they will post when they have significant progress.

>>49069293
>So any news on Storm King's Thunder's upload.
Yeah, apparently every time someone posts that it gets pushed back a week or something. Weird.
>Also I heard the main villain is one of the Dragons from the Wyrms of the North series. Any details about her?
I haven't heard that but it would be awesome if it was true.
There's a lot of old Realms resources that could be used in new adventures.

>>49069024
Go Eagle Barb and inazuma drop fuckers from 200 feet.

Argue with your DM about encumbrance rules and get angry that the Monster Manual doesn't have weight guidelines.

Drag your grappled target 1 foot in opposite directions 200 times in a single 6 second round and argue that it should cause some amount of damage.

Pay your DM to 'roll' a Boots of Speed into your 'random' loot table.

>>49069112
Pact of the familiar is good if you need a scout or can really abuse familiars without your DM hating you.

Book of ancient secrets is good if you don't hvae a wizard.

Pact of the tome is good if you intend to melee sometimes (shillelagh) and good for things such as guidance.

Pact of the blade isn't good at all, but you might still take it if you want to be some weird gishy guy.

>>49069024
Strength rogue (Barbarogue) is the king of high athletics checks. As other anon said -
1. Grapple them.
2. Shove them.

Grappling takes an entire action to get out of, if they even succeed at all.
Shoving takes half their movement to get out of. Normally not a price to pay at all, but you can't do it at all while grappled.

A strength barbarogue has high strength, expertise in athletics and while raging has advantage on said athletics checks. Barbarian's very high level feature or rogue's reliable talent also ensures you'll never roll below a 10 on your d20.

You'll become the king of the ring.

>>49069396
>Go Eagle Barb and inazuma drop fuckers from 200 feet.
Hao?

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Any advice on making an Oathbreaker Paladin?

Girl was like "Hey, let's make creepy borderline-incestuous siblings, I'll make a necromancer!" She isn't even into Game of Thrones, just thought it was a fun idea. I figured I would make a jovial, bloodthirsty dark knight to go with her scheming witch.

Is sword and board viable, or should I go two-hander? Any feats that work out better than they seem on paper?

>>49069490
Stack movement speed, grapple enemy, fly directly upward and drop.

It's been a while, but I think you can hit 360 ft. movement speed by combinations of Barbarian movement speed, monk movement speed, dashing and Boots of Speed, which ends up being 180 foot drop every round for 18d6 damage.

You end up having to be level 18-20 to make it work so it's more gimmicky than busted.

>>49069508

do whatever the fuck you want, oathbreaker and paladin are both op enough so it doesn't really matter

paladin is one of the best classes to sword and board with though, because their damage is so based on smite that the +10 from GWM and rerolls from GWF aren't nearly as important as they are to martials with lots of attacks (fighters) or ensure they hit with advantage (barbarians)

you guys might come across as that duo though, especially if you bring two obviously evil characters into a game of "good guys fight bad stuff"

>>49069508
Assuming evil campaign, oathbreakers are best against and with undead I think so it should at least work really well with the necromancer, assuming the GM

>>49069570
100 base with wood elf and 6 monk levels plus haste
Dash bonus action for +100
Haste action dash for +100
Already 20 and that's assuming no magical items etc.
Pretty cool but yeah, nothing broken really. It makes me want to play a high level eagle barb with haste though, you definitely get more out of the speed than most martials.

>>49069646
>assuming the GM
*assuming the GM allows you to build an army and all that.

Does anyone know a good homebrew to make a harpy PC?

>>49069628
>you guys might come across as that duo though, especially if you bring two obviously evil characters into a game of "good guys fight bad stuff"

Yeah, we plan on being careful about that. She's gonna be neutral, I'm aiming for the kind of evil that keeps his word and looks out for his close allies. More importantly, everyone's talking about their character ideas before the game starts, with an eye to creating a functional group.

>>49069678
The Elemental Evil Players Companion?

Are there any divination spells actually worth taking as a wizard? It feels weird being a divination wizard with only detect magic and identify as my divination spells

>>49069714

even then watch your mechanics too. oathbreaker is probably the best paladin route by far and the fact that you're pumping up a "why does she get to take 10 turns" necromancer with your auras is only going to exacerbate that. you're walking a tight rope. i'm not going to tell you not to play it and i think the idea of playing characters with a weird relationship like that is cool, but other people might not like it as much, especially if the necromancer gets a huge undead army.

>>49069678
Just refluff an Aarakocra maybe

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Any ideas on how to make combat more exciting or dynamic? Other than using difficult terrain, shove/grappling and have the enemies kite the melee users?
Last time the party fought a group of two elves with a bunch of blink dogs, the latter fucked off to fight a displacer beast mid fight and the elves ran, they had to face the displacer beast later.
I thought it would be good at first, but one player thought it was "meh" and the other said it was good, personally feel it wasn't as exciting and now I am trying to come up with something better that will get the players interested, but can't think of anything

>>49069974
Everyone has to take 2 levels of Monk and must use their bonus martial arts attack to do something cinematic in the scene.

How is playing a necromancer in 5th? Should I play a Wizard Necromancer or is Cleric still the way to go to controlling legions of undead?

>>49070008
I will need to add stats for ladders, and have the next encounter be on the wuxian ladder factory

>new party
>dont want to do the "you all meet in a bar"
>you all meet in a hole and the last thing you remember is that you where in your house, bar etc...
>they are inside a wizard stronghold, if you fall in the hole you lose your memories from a week ago

i dont know what goes next, a door into the stronghold?

>>49070180
Scrap it; have them meet at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

>>49070180
So what happens if you fall into the hole of forgetfulness multiple times?

Do you forget the same week twice? Do you forget the week before the one you forgot? Could someone force someone into the hole multiple times until they can't remember language anymore?

Can it be weaponized with a portable hole?

>>49070357
Players start to make unclever references to Planescape Torment.

>>49070096
Wizard does the undead army part better than cleric now. Cleric does the negative energy life stealing thing better now.

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honestly, playing Neverwinter, as bad as that game fucking is, the ideas it gives me for my games is pretty great.

Like this simple one where you find a safehouse of a gang you're trying to stamp out, only to find that they just set it on fire to cover their tracks, and you have to go IN the burning building to catch them cuz they are going underground (wererats). I wish I could make this kind of shit up.

and yes I know it's a shit game and shit setting, but for those of us running the shit setting it's got some things I can take and mess with, which is useful. also talking to some harpers and other factions makes the Faction thing in the rulebook make a little more sense to me, because when I originally read them I couldn't really tell a difference between them at all honestly.

I also have a buddy who does a lot of his combat encounters and ideas based off of WoW. He's more combat/tactician focused, I'm more of a storyteller.

>>49070407
Fuck Atari for making Neverwinter and guaranteeing that we'll never see a sequel to Dungeons and Dragons Online.

There's so many good magical item ideas that I've taken from DDO and put into my 3.5 and 5e campaigns.

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>>49070180
>you meet in a hole
>you meet in an oubliette

same thing

>>49069974
5th Ed's combat does not lend itself well to interesting combats. It's simple, try the DMG combat options (marks, flanking, and such)

>>49070552

There are plenty of moving parts and character abilities in 5e for combat to be interesting and fun without lasting excessively long. If you want muh tactix play 4e, it was good for that and did it much better than 5e with tacked-on optional rules.

Tempted to play a Undying lock elf attempting to create a better process for creating Baelnorns/ turn himself into one.

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any tips for high level play? never done a game at 10th level

>>49068932
I hope they play D&D for a vid/podcast. D&D picked up their podcast as a sponsor

First Draft of CR2 Monsterous Crab.
Large Beast
Hp 60 (8D10+16)
Ac16 (Natural Armour)
Speed 40ft, Swim 40ft.
Str16 Dex15 Con14 Int1 Wis9 Cha3
Senses Blindsight 30ft, Passive Perception 9.
Amphibious: The crab can breathe air and water.
Multiattack: the Crab makes two attacks with its claws.
Claws. Melee weapon attack: +6 to hit, Reach 5ft, one target. Hit 1d10+3 and the target is grabbed, DC14 to escape.

Does this all seem fair and balanced? Its attack bonus and ac is above reccomended for Cr2, however its HP is low and damage per turn is low. It has a decent swim speed, amphibious and blindsense, but lacks in any saving throws or skills. I'd rather it er on the side of weaker, than stronger since if it has too many advantages it would feel like I'm asking the DM to let me run something stupidly overpowered. Any thoughts on what could be higher? What should be lower? Any other abilities or skills that would be fitting a giant crab?

>>49070502
How the fuck would you even escape this shit at level 1?

What is a good way to incorporate my PC's sex life into the game?

I just have them roll dex rolls against constitution saves then roleplay the consequences.

>>49068932
>BBEG is a Red Shadow Dragon
None.

>>49070658
I'm playing an Aarakocra.

>>49070652
>that spoiler
Me too.

>>49070818
Not in my game anon. I don't let people to pick edgy/meme races unless we are going for that sort of campaign.

>>49070864
How are bird people edgy/meme races?

>>49070502
Pick a druid, wildshape into a spider, crawl your way out of that shithole.
ezpz

>>49070895
Do you want to chirp while you are speaking Anon?

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>>49070864
What about genki harpy waifu with a birdbrain memory and delicious flat chest?

>>49070969
I play on text

>>49070978
I am completely okay with this as long as the player is a girl.

>>49071015
>segregating character types based off OOC gender
fuck you, sexist

>>49071015
Played a short one/two-shot monstergirl campaign once. One of the girls at the table played a Harpygirl using aarakocra rogue, we had a ditzy cowgirl using half-orc great weapon fighter, a catgirl wizard (using elf I think) and I was playing a snakegirl valor bard using a homebrew race that got posted in one of the generals. Can't remember off the top what they had, It was like +1 Dex, +2 Cha, can grapple huge things and some other things. My tactic was to grapple things then shove them prone with Expertise boosted, inspiration boosted athletics.

It was very fun few sessions overall as well as a pretty fun little adventure/dungeon crawl.

>>49071155
I mostly think that flying is seriously overpowered and unfair to other players. Moreover, it can easily break the balance of the game and I can't be arsed plan around it everytime.

>>49070654
it''s bretty gud

anyone got a heroes of the orient rip, the book from DMs guild?

>>49070969
So you make your players talk with racial accents?

>>49071211
Yeah, level 1 flight makes a lot of early game hazards absolutely harmless and potential for "Oh, we're fighting melee enemies? How high is the roof, give me a crossbow and I start flying out of reach." It makes no real difference once you're past level 5-7 though since other classes have access to flying through magic items or spells by then.

In my group for Aarakocra we just ruled that their wings just double jump distance until level 5, where they get their full fly speed.

>>49071285
If you want to play as a bird might as well speak like a bird. Plus c'mon, racial accents are half the fun.

>>49071232
Thanks senpai, any input or does it look on the money.

I saw someone mention making monsters might be a good way to get some cash off the DMs Guild, but what kind of monsters are lacking in 5e?

Also, I read once that people would be more willing to tip for a "pay what you want" PDF than to buy a cheap one. Does that hold true?

>>49071328
My DM didn't expect anyone to really get into character. Then I entered with an aarakocra. He got the wonderful experience of listening to my (rather extensive) knowledge of bird sounds mixed into conversations.

It was awesome.

>>49071369
In bird culture that is considered a dick move.

>>49070606
Do it

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>>49070652
>>49070848

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>>49071447

>Where were you when Wooly the rogue stole the baker's fresh rolls

>>49069974
>Make combat more exciting or dynamic
Just because there aren't any explicit rules for doing stuff in the book doesn't mean you can't do them! The book itself gives examples like sledding down stairs on a shield or swinging from a chandelier -- give your players some scenery to chew on!

>>49069725
I don't see it in there.

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>>49071583

In my session tomorrow my characters are going to command various allies while they help a Green Naga conduct a ritual to take them to the Feywild. I'm going to throw a legion of Undead at them, and have the players command various forces while they try to hold back the tide. At the end a Lich is going to enter and fuck things up while they make their way through the portal.

I balanced it so that the PCs won't actually control their own characters by default; if they want to pull their character into the battle, it will slow down the ritual. Essentially it's a "Mission: Survive" type deal, probably 15 turns, I'm thinking.

Is any of this a bad idea? I'm worried about disincentivizing the PCs from using their own characters, but I want the fight to be epic and have an element of desperation, so that if they bring out the big guns, it's a hard choice.

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>>49071796

What's epic about watching a bunch of mooks fight a bunch of mooks?

Just abstract the big fight, then as the ritual approaches the final stages "the ground shakes and an enormous chasm opens in the battlefield. From the fires pouring out of the earth emerges a great demon summoned to crush this resistance. The spellcasters look to you and say 'go, buy us some time! We can finish the portal but not if that thing gets here first!' You know that your allies may die pushing themselves to complete the cast without you, but everyone will die if the demon charges unopposed. As the fight rages on around you, roll initiative."

Or you know, 15 rounds of bland mass combat.

>>49071796
I don't know your group but if they wanted to play a game like that then you guys are using the wrong system

They probably don't want to play a game like that though

>>49072137

Well, the mass combat was something of a request from my players, who wanted to do more killing shit and less dungeon delving/social stuff. I was gonna give each player several high-end allies to command, allies who are unable to pass through the portal.

But yeah, I get your point. Still, the last two sessions were mass combat, and they seemed to enjoy it enough. Maybe I'll ask my players what they'd prefer beforehand, in an abstract fashion.

I'll see what I can fix. Thanks Anon.

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So I've got a campaign running that I've got a few skeleton ideas for but I'm not sure how to string it all together (We're only 2 sessions in, and my current group suprised me how much they're into the plot)
Basically, Yuan-ti are trying to raise a commotion by enslaving and charm/possessing humans, kobolds, etc to try and create a superweapon/summon their god. I'm thinking of having them run through a temple where the Yuan-Ti are trying to absorb the life force from some Green Dragons, but I'm not sure how to wrap the idea up
I like the concept because it allows low-level PC's to punch wyrmlings to their heart's content, but there's also the chance that they might befriend one, and later be betrayed (since manipulation is a major trait of green dragons)
However, this brings up the issue of how they got all these wrymlings, but it may just be more interesting to have the snakes all just morph into dragon-snakes from the power they're harvesting, etc
Any ideas, /tg/?

>>49072246

I would see how the PCs react, and then change the story accordingly, depending on what's more interesting/fun to you. You only need to figure out how the next session is going to end, and then work on it from there.

As for where the Wyrmlings come from, maybe the Yuan-ti have been stealing eggs from a Green Dragon nest that was left abandoned for some reason. Maybe they captured a Green Dragon somehow. Maybe they're being stolen from right under a Green Dragon by magical means, like an artifact that can create portals or somesuch.

>>49072214

It didn't start that way, but it did evolve that way. I'm about to get things back to a PCs-vs-the-world type game, but the campaign is taking place in the backdrop of a huge invasion.

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>>49069678
Ive got ya.

>>49072299
I like the idea of them stealing it.
Maybe they use the charmed NPC's to do their bidding-- that'll totally allow for a followup where a bigbad dragon is going ballistic because her eggs keep going gone

/tg/, weird question about focuses. As I understand, to cast spells with somatic and material components, you need to have your spellcasting focus in hand and that same hand holding the focus counts for the somatic components, right?

But clerics and paladins can bear their focus, a holy symbol, on their shield. Does that mean that the hand holding the shield counts for the somatic components as well?

Any houserules, fixes you want to share?

>>49072425
Yes.

>>49070654
Seems fine, it's like a weaker chuul.

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>>49072429

I just adopt the standing rule that any time a fraction is involved you round down, always.

Rarely comes up but the clarity is convenient.

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Is there enough thematic room for a monk Way dedicated to archery and/or thrown weapons? As it stands they get proficiency with shortbows, but since they're not monk weapons, they don't benefit from Martial Arts.

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>>49072497
You mean the rule that is literally in the first part of the PHB?

>>49072425
yes, and i would also note that i personally count every holy symbol as "held" regardless of form, because one of the three choices is clearly a mechanical advantage over the others, and clerics who dont use a shield, clearly have a free hand to jiggle around their necklace anyway

>>49072359
>limited flying ability, whereas aarakokra/tieflings/anyone flying using magic can wear whatever armour they're proficient in.
>limited walking speed.
>has an ability that says 'the DM can take this ability away if they want'
>that same ability has a weird save DC cap, but probably for the best because you can use it AT WILL and screw everyone up constantly
>the ability takes away creature's actions
>then tries to make the creatures use the action that has just been taken away to dash, even though it no longer has that action

I don't dislike the idea of a worse-than-flying ability, but I think it shouldn't be limited to lighter armour (the +2 dex is already a penalty enough to anyone who doesn't want to take a dex class and heavy armour is already punished enough).

And then there should be a few abilities of interest like how the half-orc has bonus crit dice and that 'set HP to 1' ability. ... Instead of that singing ability, which is an at-will 'CC everything over and over until people get tired of being incapacitated and charmed 24/7'

Severely underpowered without song.
Conditionally overpowered with song.

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>>49072583

Oh hey I wasn't able to find that in the 5e book, guess I have no houserules off the top of my head then.

I thought my "cantrips can crit" rule was a houserule, but reviewing the critical hit section it doesn't specify weapon attacks so apparently full-on attack spells crit too.

>>49072640
it's a monster-esque race
it isn't made to be used in every situation

honestly, I dislike the song, but people were insistent that I keep it in because fucking harpies in 5e have it so integral to their character, and even when I nerfed it to hell, it still felt too awkwardly useful

Also,
>then tries to make the creatures use the action that has just been taken away to dash, even though it no longer has that action

Yeah, blame the harpy in the monster manual for that. They wrote it with
>specific over general

I'll try re-working it very soon with what you've mentioned though.

Playing Return to Ravenloft. The DM has allowed me to meet with Death, the entity who empowered Strahd, what should I ask for?guide to Lichdom? Playing a level 7 Eldritch Knight.

>>49072719
I think the best way to deal with the song is limit it to a short or long rest per use. Maybe don't necessarily put a cap on the DC, though I'd imagine most players would be sorcerers at that point since they need both the dex and the cha, and then they can abuse that cha saving throw.

Then, it could be a weaker part version of the monster's type. Perhaps it only charms enemies, which will stop the enemies from attacking you - which would be pretty useful for anyone such as a sorcerer. It also then means that it won't fuck up your entire party in the process.

Or maybe it could simply incapacitate any creatures that fail for a single round only and remove the DC limit. The fact this one still affects your allies is interesting, because then most likely you'll have your allies put wool in their ears all the time, or you'll have to position yourself carefully.

>>49072843
Those are actually fantastic ideas.
Thanks, anon.

I was expecting to get completely fucking trashed while posting that race, since it was my first attempt at homebrew

>>49072836
>a 1/3 caster
You'd make a pretty shitty lich, to be honest. But maybe you might be able to if you're really lucky.

Become the right hand of death or something.

Invite him to a dinner party.

Shake hands with him, but use an electric buzzer.

Bone him.

Honestly, it depends whether you think the DM is going to make the guy hate you or do something selfless for you or make a deal with you or what.

Maybe see if he'll lend you a spell.
Cast mage hand and pet him on the head.

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>>49072875
You've recognized a problem and even before I came here you were trying to do something about it.

That's way better than some things, where even supposedly experienced homebrewers fuck up big time.

And to be honest, almost all homebrew has some sort of a problem with it. Even some things in the PHB have problems with them. You only really deserve putting on the grill if you make something like picture related.

All the other elemental barbarian features were perfectly fine until you read this one ability where they completely lost the plot.

>Friend I've known a long time is finally talking about hosting a 5e campaign.

>Getting pumped, ready to discuss making characters and stuff.

>"World's going to be against magic btw. If you ROLEPLAY WELL, this shouldn't affect you. However, if you don't? Well, you're likely to die!"

I've played D&D in the past with this guy, and believe me when I say he's a massive hypocrite and couldn't roleplay his way out of a paper bag. He can roll well and succeed, but..he wants something he himself cannot do.

So what, do I just make a fighter and be boring McNoMagic and win everything, AGAIN?

>>49073051
Be an evocation wizard and blast everyone and everything to hell.

>>49073051
Play a paladin and be very cautious with spell use. Or subtle spell sorcerer. Dragon magic, dexterous combatant with some stuff on the side.

>playing Goliath barb named harambe
>die

Dicks out

>>49073051
>be a cleric
>heal sick children on the street
>run when the authorities come
>slowly win the hearts of everybody
>incite revolution
>complete politics overhaul, magical academies
>the lich king busts down the city gates and murders everyone with their undead army because everybody was ignoring him instead of being railroaded to killing him

>>49073051
Just don't play. It's the only way to get it through his thick little head the idea is retarded.

>>49073108
You have to be an adult to use this website, anon.

>>49073210
Everyone at my table thought it was funny. Stop being a stick in the mud

>>49068932
Have people read the Storm King's Thunder AL module that's basically the first chapter of the new book? It actually seems awesome and I am really looking forward to reading the full module

So my session is coming up in a couple of days and I'm nervous as hell. Will be the first session of our sandbox city campaign I'm running.

Any prep tips? Anything essential I need to have in my toolkit the session I might be missing? I'm paranoid I'm going to be flummoxed by something...

>>49073039
>Recognize the pic as the Elemental Barb hosted on Vecna and think they must have changed it by now
>It's the same
For what purpose? They've gone through a dozen revisions of some classes they post/host, why leave something so obviously, ridiculously poorly balanced untouched?

>>49073651
Because MFoV players don't actually play barbarians.

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>New game
>Playing Rogue
>Try to sneak attack an enemy fighting an ally
>DM says how are you sneak attacking when you aren't stealthed
>Point out part of the PHB where it says very clearly you sneak attack if the enemy is in 5 feet of an ally
>"Nah you aren't stealthed so you don't sneak attack".

It's going to be one of these games then.

>>49074193
>DM disregards the rules of the PHB

I'd leave.

>>49074193
Leave.

>>49072429
I lifted the consumable rules from The Black Hack and adapted them for my own game.
>Tracking Consumables. Can use the Usage Die mechanic for this. Every time a consumable is used, roll the usage die, moving down one die size upon rolling a 1-2. Rolling a 1-2 on a d4 means you’ve expended all of its uses and you need to replenish it. Ammo - d10; Healer’s Kit - d8; Torches/Lantern Oil/Waterskin - d6; Rations - d4.

How's this?

College of Mimicry
The college of mimicry specialises in the study of the behaviour of people, in how they engage in their livelihoods. Through weaving of bardic magic into performance, the mimic is able to emulate the abilities of others.

Apprentice Mimicry
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in Performance, if you don't already have it. In addition, choose a class feature of 2nd level or lower that you don't have. You gain that feature. If that feature refers to class level or a class table, use half your bard level rounded up as reference. You can change your chosen class at the end of a long rest.

Specialised Mimicry
At 6th level, choose a archetype feature of the class you chose that is 5th level or lower and you don't have. You gain that feature. If that feature refers to class level or a class table, use half your bard level rounded up as reference. You can change your chosen archetype at the end of a long rest, but it still has to be part of the class you chose. If you change your chosen class you also change your chosen archetype.

Adaptive Mimicry
At 14th level, you can choose a second class and archetype feature for your Apprentice and Specialised Mimicry. The second class feature can be from a different class, but the archetype feature must be from one of the chosen classes.

>>49074193
Fucking leave.

>>49074239
>>49074248
>>49074410
I'm going to give it a bit to see how the rest of the stuff goes, since I've played with them before without any issues. And since they're the only DM in the area.

If it ends up being an issue I'll just get myself killed (Which shouldn't be hard given sneak attack is like over half my damage) and reroll.

>>49074193
Leave OR explain you are going to *need* to change class since the DM is houseruling ignoring a major class feature of the Rogue by RAW.

By the sounds of the DM though if you re-rolled a barbarian he'd say you can't rage because you've not been made angry enough.

>>49070658
Negro, can't you read? It says for four players of level three.

>>49074416
No, no, fucking no. The DM is clearly an ignorant jackass, if he'll ignore the book like that.

Rerolling won't help. It'll just move the problem, until he decides to ignore something else.

No game is ALWAYS better then a bad game.

>>49074399
Makes valor bard obsolete

>>49075395
Why? AFAICT you can't get Extra Attack.

>>49069726
Sending becomes cash money when you get the spell slots to use it 2-3 times. Scrying can change the tide of an entire campaign. Those are the huge ones, Scrying can literally foil your BBEGs plans if they don't have Trusight.

So I'm going to be playing in an Underdark campaign, but for some batshit reason I've decided I want to play an Aarakocra.
I'm going to fluff it as "he was told that part of the god rod might be there", but ultimately I'm going to be playing a claustrophobic, slowly maddening bird person.
Why would I do this to myself?

>>49075956
Because you want to be bum rushed by spiders landing on your head while you are flying.

>>49068932
>How many disguises has your BBEG used?

Well, technically she was *always* in disguise. Scrylia, the Goddess of Conquest, liked to appear as either a red-and-black elder dragon, or a 12-foot-tall draconic humanoid with red scales and black armor.

However neither was her true form, as she was an ascended mortal who had undergone apotheosis 2,000 years ago. Her true form was a pseudodragon, who had been the familiar to a series of powerful wizards and warlords, guiding them towards creating an empire that she had intended to rule from the shadows.

>>49076020
>while you are flying
>implying I'll get much chance

>>49072214
The mass combat Unearthed Arcana actually looked bretty gud. I haven't tried it out myself and I guess it would make using the environment to your advantage and the like more difficult, but it looks serviceable and it allows PCs/giant monsters/giant monster PCs to be absolute gods of the battlefield.

>>49076043
The only reason caves open up to a size that allows flight is because something is on the ceiling so it can drop on you.

I know pvp is a huge no-no, but in some instances (and even in some rp, it just makes sense).

Could a Swashbuckler stand toe to toe (not literally, but could they hold their own or even win) against a Barbarian (berserker or otherwise)?

>>49076394
Depends on how smart/dumb the barbarian is. You could just keep running out of his range with Cunning Action after landing Sneak Attacks on him.

>>49076568
I was thinking of going Rapier+Whip combo, and utilizing my Familiar (help action) and Booming Blade while staying just out of range.

I just feel like it's the Barbarian's fight to lose.

>>49072425

Yes, as long as it requires both a somatic and a material component. Spells that have a somatic but not a material component still require a completely free hand. I don't know why the rules on VSM are that precise but they are.

>>49076581
If he has any brains, he'll nail your familiar the first chance he can when it's in range. Your mobility is going to be better than his unless he takes some of the improved mobility options of totem barbarian. He would need to use readied actions to keep you from dancing in and out of his reach unless he has polearm master and sentinel.

>>49073051

Bust out those playtest rules for the Mystic.

>>49074399

I've always hated the idea of "I get to steal your class features AND be a full spellcaster lol!".

Seriously, this is just a terrible idea.

>>49075425

Why not? It's a feature of 5th level or lower. The ability doesn't mention not being able to choose extra attack.

The worst part is you can get Fighter's extra attack too, along with Action Surge. So you can get up to 3-4 attacks and action surge while the Valor Bard is stuck with two. Oops! Sorry!

Oh, and at level 14 you can get Divine Smite and Lay on hands too. So you're a fighter with full spell casting progression, Lay on Hands, AND Divine smite with plenty of spell slots to abuse them. This archtype is fucking stupid.

How do you get the most mileage out of using a Whip?

Only thing I can think of is something like Booming Blade/GFB and Spell Sniper.

Sentinel feat to stop people in their tracks?

>>49076719
The 5th level features or lower are just archetype features. The 2nd level or lower are class. Nobody gets extra attack as an archetype feature at 5th or lower.

That being said, the broken part of this is just multiclassing. 6 mimic bard/whatever is pretty strong when you can double stack features ( action surge and superiority dice for instance). I'd probably just make it so you can't do that and it's fine.

>>49072577

Short bows do not benefit from martial arts, but daggers, handaxes, javelins, light hammers, and spears all do as they remain "simple melee weapons that lack the two-handed or heavy property."

Thus, they qualify for being used in melee as STR or DEX and being used as ranged as STR or DEX, since use of the thrown property is a ranged attack with a melee weapon. (Monks will teach you so much about the different attack types it's almost painful.)

Past lvl 10 you will be getting the bonus damage on the weapon, as well. However, your bonus attack from Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows *must* be unarmed. You won't be able to make a second weapon attack unless you have Extra Attack.

Personally, I'm thrilled that a base monk can have the playstyle of making one ranged attack against anyone while busting heads in melee range with their other hand for the low cost of the Crossbow Expert feat. And you can add Dual Wielder to grab an AC bonus plus the ability to make two throws a turn once you have extra attack. Neither requires *any* tradition much less a new one.

As far as a pure unarmored, high DEX, high AC, back-row archer build goes, I think DEX barbs have that one sewn up pretty tight.

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>>49070502

Thats pretty messed up.

From skimming it I'm assuming you can use the metal rods to scale room 7 far enough to jump over to the rope and shimmy up and out. Or kill off the Wights and use the oak spikes.

Not sure how you get by the columns in room 4 without a holy symbol when you arrive nekkid. I guess a Christian could fasten a crude cross from bones in room 1, anyone with a similarly simplistic holy weapon could do the same. If its a 2D symbol, could drawing the symbol on one's bare chest with blood or dirt count as a functional holy symbol?

If I'm wielding a weapon in either hand, I can choose to attack with either one without necessarily using "Two-Weapon Fighting", correct?

Like if I had a melee weapon in one hand, and a reach or ranged weapon (hand crossbow, throwing daggers, etc.) in the other.

>>49074193

Quit. They're either too stupid to realize how bad that fucks with the damage curve, or too stupid to care. Either way you'll save yourself more wear and tear by refusing to play with morons.

>>49076937
Two Weapon Fighting is just a rule for gaining a bonus action attack when using two weapons.

Two Weapon Fighting rulings don't apply to the situation you're describing. What you're describing works and is not Two Weapon Fighting.

>>49073297
are you playing with your friends from middle school?

>>49074399
Rename it Factotum because that's what it is

>5e is so popular that everyone wants to dm
>no longer have to be DM
>play
>realize I hate being a fucking player more than anything else in the world, that its boring as fuck and I just want to DM
now im stuck in a campaign playing.

>>49077416
Hey fuck you man. Forever DM here. Whenever someone in our group wants to DM, we give them a shot and so far they get lambasted by everyone else afterwards (after multiple tries even). This usually puts me back in the DM chair.

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>>49076898
>"low cost" of a feat just so you can make a thrown attack in melee range
>Dropping another feat for +1 AC and the ability to draw two weapons at once
>On a very ASI hungry class that gets jut 5
You really do need more then 16 and 16 Dex and Wis before level 12, and that's best case scenario of an optimized race.
Putting issues of drawing thrown weapons aside, that still means that there's no way to be an "archer" and while using thrown weapons gives them that versatile option, there's no practical way to focus on thrown weapons. Moreover Sun Soul covers the "short range attack" thing pretty mechanically.

Examining the other Ways:
>Open Hand: Exceptional hand to hand bonuses on top of the base class's, defensive bonuses and a capstone that is the only SoD in the game
>Shadow: Spells that are precisely for subterfuge and causing confusion in combat, high mobility and utility in darkness, extra attacks for ganging up on an enemy
>Elements: Elemental themed spells, unfortunately undertuned
>Sun Soul: At will and extra for ki ranged attacks, area of effect spell, at will area spell, bug zapper mode
>Long Death: Absorb HP from kills, invoke area of fear, never die, weaker than OH but still potent massive damage

Of these, the abilities of Open Hand are quite versatile and could work well for an archer, and Shadow would be quite useful due to its mobility. The main gate here is that without Martial Arts, any unarmed attacks you make while even holding a bow are nearly nullified.
So, the options I'm looking at here to open up the avenue of play that is "Monk with bow" is either a feat that lets you use something as a monk weapon, or a new Way that does so.
So, asking again: Do you guys suppose that there are grounds to work out an entire Way that enables archery and better thrown weapons? If so, since it shouldn't just be "All of your abilities boost this one thing", what should be the fluff it represents that permeates the features and inspires them?

>>49074193
Good DM: "Oh, it says right here in a very important clause for the rogue's core class feature that they can get sneak attack there. Okay, you get it, sorry."
Fucking Bad DM: Your DM. "I don't understand the rules!" or "I'm houseruling over core class features because I don't like how it works!"

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What do owlbears sound like?

>>49077646
An owl and a bear, duh.

>>49076860
The "choose a feature you don't have" part was supposed to cover that, but I see what you mean. I'd add a "You cannot gain that feature from another source as long as you have it from the College of Mimicry" clause in there to kibosh such shenanigans.

>>49077704

Honestly, I still heavily dislike this class for pretty much the same reason I disliked the Theurge.

>>49077608
>"Waaaaaaaaaaah"

>>49073651
They do not do that much rebalancing IME, I made a comment going through the Enforcer and how it gives +1 AC with disadvantage to stealth as the only practical benefit until 7th level on a rogue archetype, which is trash tier. The 7th level ability is basically a ribbon too. But don't listen to me, just respond to the people making off-topic jokes and references! It's just for fun after all!

>>49077758
I liked the Theurge but thought class dipping was more a Bard thing.

>>49074665
This, even if you gotta find one online that's not impossible.

>>49077646
Skreeonk

How to make Dambrath a empire?

>>49074399
So at level 20 you're an archetype-less bard with instead more slots and ritual casting and spells from 10 wizard spellcasting levels, as well as 10 cleric spellcasting levels, and domain spells from a druid land and a cleric domain.

Also what does "chosen class" refer to? You're choosing class features, not classes only.

>>49074399
Level 3:
>pact magic
Kinda powerful, and completely valid. You have to wait until level 9 to even get level 3 slots from it, though.
Given you get 2 level 5 short rest slots at level 17, would the be overpowered?
>sneak attack
Not too powerful considering who you are, but if you get bard level 19 you'll end up with 5d6 sneak attack from the feature. Hm.
>action surge
A good choice.
>wild shape
Okay, here's where it gets tricky.
Do you use half your bard level ROUNDED UP, which is actually BETTER than what druids get...
Or do you use half your bard level rounded up, and then you halve it again and round down to work out how long you can stay in wild shape?
>portent
Portent is fun.
>font of magic
Actually pretty weak in comparison to pact magic.
>cunning action
Always nice to have.
>ki
Dodge as a bonus action, up to 10 times a short rest by level 19. Why not?

I think the level 3 ability is only vaguely overpowered, perhaps. Not an awful lot so.Though I agree it's kind of in the theurgist wizard's realm of stealing shit and stepping on the toes of other classes without the great sacrifice of multi-class, still being a full caster.

>level 5 abilities you can steal
Level 5 is a defining time, so there should be some good ones here, right?
>uncanny dodge
Nice.
>stunning fist
You have no ki unless you stole the ki feature. Otherwise, could be pretty neat. Same applies to metamagic - you'd need to steal font of magic, too.

(cont..)

>>49077911
>>uncanny dodge
>Nice.
>>stunning fist
Archetype features only at level 5.

>>49074399
(continuing)

>more level 5 abilities to steal
If you could steal a level 6 ability, the paladin's aura would DEFINITELY have been stolen. Unfortunately you can't.

Oh, wait asecond, you can only steal archetype features?

That's kind of interesting. Alright.

Why not just steal the defining part of lore bard or something?

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>>49077810
>Homebrew is crying

>>49077948
>Why not just steal the defining part of lore bard or something?
Level 5 and under hombre. You can still steal superiority dice for example though, as well as another signature ability like Portent.

>>49077906
It seems like whatever class you choose the lowest level feature for (that you can change on a long rest) you can only mimic features from that class

>>49077940
I realized that after looking at improved critical and looking at level 14's ability to see if you could straight-up steal the 18-20 crits.

My overall experience so far is that the mimicry thing isn't really overpowered, considering the other bard features are already pretty strong.

However, I think having it there at all might kill people's will to multiclass, where multiclassing makes some sacrifices such as lower level spells.

>>49077973
I suppose it's arguable whether the extra magical secrets or cutting words is the main part of it, but...
You can steal cutting words.
You can then steal two level 2 or under features.
You can then steal another archetype feature.

To be honest, I think the level 14 ability is kind of overpowered when you compare them to the other level 14 bard features.

Not to mention, the other bard paths give ways to spend inspiration dice, and I'm not sure about the extra colleges in the non-PHB books but I think that might be something that should be added.
It kinda feels more of a gamey class which would be picked to try making combos rather than the class actually having a feel to it. Compared to the other bards, you're trading in things like extra proficiencies (which aren't so great for combat) for what could potentially be 4 very combat-based abilities.

Question regarding Wish. Say I want to use Wish to set up a contingency spell. Wish says you don't need material components for the spell you use. Contingency states that the contingent spell ends if you don't have the material component on your person. If the material component didn't exist in the first place, does that mean a Wish-born Contingency spell ends immediately?

Also, Wish says this: "You don't need to meet any requirements in that spell, including costly components. The spell simply takes effect." Does that mean if I so chose I could meet the requirements, such as using the statue for contingency?

Sorry for the rather odd questions. Playing a Bard, so I don't get Contingency unless I pull it off of another class' spell list.

>>49078120
There is no material component, so you do not need the material components on you. You'll consume the level 9 and level 5 or lower spell slots. If you did cast it normally, the 1,500 gp worth of stuff would not be consumed.

And now for the question you're actually asking for - No. You cannot, as those are no longer material components. You could hold them on you anyway, if you so choose, and pretend it's doing something... But it's not.
Note how it says 'You don't NEED to meet any requirements.'
You can still meet the requirements if you want, and nobody's stopping you, but if you suddenly no longer meet those requirements (lose the statue) there's no reason why the spell ends.

>>49076810
Sentinel isn't that good, cause your range is ONLY 15ft, not 5, 10 or 15, whichever you want. If you wield nothing but a whip, enemies only provoke an AoO when they leave your 15ft reach.

Booming Blade/GFB works with Spell Sniper though, and it also works with Distant Spell, though both of those only allow you to attack up to 10ft away.

Spell Sniper's better for normal reach weapons, rather than the whip

>>49078255
Reach property gives +5 ft., no mundane weapon has 15 ft. reach without using abilities like Lunging Attack.

>>49078223
So I don't need to worry about the Material components whatsoever with regards to Contingency, the spell keeps going until the duration ends or the Contingent factor comes into play. Since the statue wasn't a material component to begin with, I don't need to worry about keeping it on my person - Am I interpreting this correctly?

>>49078255
If you're holding a 10ft weapon and someone leaves within 5ft of you, you may make an attack on them.
Usually, however, this is just an unarmed strike unless you have something such as a cantrip to cast.

>>49076810
That's honestly probably the best way. Try it on a dexterity paladin, maybe.

You can use it with two-weapon-fighting if you get the feat.
A dex cleric with martial weapon proficiency might use it sometimes, as they get 1d4+dexmod+1d8 damage without having to disengage to run after.

>>49078309
oh fuck me, yeah, I've had a magical 15ft whip and never encountered a normal whip in any games, my mistake

>>49078323
By what I'm reading as RAW, pretty much.

Keeping the statue at all times is a requirement, so it doesn't apply.
The statue wasn't a material component in the first place, so it doesn't apply.

>>49078334
Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. You can't make an AoO with the reach weapon, you have to either be using a whip in one hand and a normal melee weapon in another, or hit for 1 damage with an unarmed strike. Monks excluded

I want to run CoS for my group soon but I have a question someone here can probably answer.
Why does Strahd bring the adventurers into his realm?
It's stated that he brought them and knows what they're doing, and they're playing into his hand or whatever, but why did he bring them?
It seems like they're the only ones who can stop his plans so why doesn't he keep Barovia adventurer-free and go get Ireena with nobody to stand in his way?

>>49078377
But you still apply sneak attack (if you can somehow make a monk fist a finesse weapon.. Okay, you'll probably need natural weapons to do this), you can still add strength modifier to that hit, you can still add rage damage modifier to that hit, you still set their speed to 0 if you hit.

I think the biggest thing is the 'set their speed to 0' part, which will probably stop the enemy from doing what they wanted to do.

Yeah, sentinel isn't so great on its own there. Might as well go for a crazy shillelagh quarterstaff + war caster + sentinel + polearm master + GFB/BB combo.

>>49078470
Quarterstaff doesn't have a range of 10 ft. though, so GFB/BB wouldn't work (I think). RAW it doesn't matter how an OA was triggered, so the enemy can trigger an OA from leaving your kicking reach and you can use your polearm to then attack them, or the opposite even, but it's not RAI from sage advice.

monk5/swashbucklerrogue15 quarterstaff-usig polearm master, or monk1/swashbuckler rogue19
>add war caster and GFB or BB for extra damage

>whenever anybody walks up to you, you attack them with your quarterstaff and add sneak attack, add GFB/BB effects
>you can then, on your turn, attack them with BB and dash away

Would be great if it didn't mean you couldn't use uncanny dodge.

>>49073426
I heard a good thing to do as a DM is have a list of fantasy sounding names ready. When a shopkeeper or NPC appears that you didn't have story for but the players talk you can just pick a name and go from there. The players then feel much more sandbox.

>>49078598

>adding sneak attack with a quarter staff

you might as well just go with a rapier and then not use monk because it doesn't do anything for your build at all.

>>49078544
The idea there was to abandon all that whip gimmickery and go do something stupid instead with quarterstaffs.

I think the place I learnt you can attack after someone leaves your 5ft range was probably a place like sage advice, but I can't quite remember.

>>49078598
Monk weapons aren't finesse, it's just that you can use dex instead of str with them, so they can't sneak attack. Most GMs would probably allow it but RAW it doesn't work, which I think is the meaning of these kinds of builds.

>>49078645
Polearm Master.

>>49078667

Then just go EK (single classed) because they have the extra ASIs to grab all the feats for this build and also aren't gimping their damage by not using a sneak attack weapon that all of their damage is based off of. Going Monk 5 (why 5? Extra attack?) just doesn't seem worth it in that build.

>>49078653
Unarmed attacks don't even require a free hand so every medium creature should get an OA when you leave their 5 ft. reach. Now, RAW you can use that OA gained from them leaving your unarmed reach to attack them with any attack you are able to, and this applies to polearms as well (so if someone leaves your 10 ft. polearm reach you can attack them with an unarmed strike as an OA). Opportunity attacks having to be made with the weapon you leave the reach of was specified in SA.

>>49078667
Yeah, this one was an idea sort of relying on sage advice too.
http://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/24/monk-sneak-attack/
Of course, it's not RAW, but I think the idea was that they wrote it as 'you can use dex instead of strength' to make it easier to read for monks, because the finesse property is ony ever brought into question by rogues.
.. And of course, sage advice isn't RAI, just some guy's thoughts.

>>49078705
It's to get sneak attack reliably out of turn with opportunity attacks, it doesn't do much for an EK and you might as well use standard polearms then.

>>49078667

More accurately, monk weapons aren't automatically finesse. Dagger is still a monk weapon even though it has the finesse property.

>>49078727
Right, that makes sense.

>>49078705
Extra attack on rogue is pretty nice. Monk 5 also gives you patient defence and a level 3 monk feature, along with one of the stat-ups.
But monk 1 was all that was required and gives more sneak attacks.

EK would not give you the extra opportunity attack damage.
Not to mention, EKs are the tankier denizens of fighters, and probably are less likely to use a bigger weapon unless someone is crazy enough to think EK is some sort of damage output archetype like battlemaster or champion can be.

>>49078747

Unfortunately you're not getting sneak attack out of turn with Pole Arm Master anyways because there aren't any finesse pole arms which kind of pokes a huge hole in the plan.

>use standard pole arms

I thought it was a Warcaster BB build in which case, yes, just use standard pole arms.

>>49078787

Absolutely nothing wrong with a strength based non-tanking Eldritch Knight. You won't do as much damage as a battlemaster sure I can accept that, but you don't NEED to. There's more to the game than just dealing damage.

>>49078598
Damn.
What game are you planning to use that built in? What's everyone else's builds like?

Do you always require your players' characters to act within the fluff of their class? Have you ever broken down the abilities to just the mechanical level and let them re-fluff them as they wish?

>>49078447
You must not have read the Strahd's motives section of the book.

He has two reason for beinging the party there. One he is bored and feels some new blood running around his land could be entertaining.
Two he wants to find a worthy successor to rule Barovia. He believes that the reason he can't leave Barovia is because as ruler he is bound to it. The entire "he is the land" thing. So he thinks that if he finds someone to rule Barovia in his place he can leave at last.

Strahd is not going to put just a random guy on the throne however so he tests the party and tries to get a feel for them. It's why he does not try to kill them early in the adventure. He especially looks for characters he thinks are similar to himself.

Weather Strahd is correct about this plan working or not does not matter. As Strahd is ultimately too arrogant to consider any of the party as worthy successors. He comes to this conclusion later on in the adventure or when they do something that actually pisses him off which is when he decides to kill the party and stop toying with them.

>>49078821
>Unfortunately you're not getting sneak attack out of turn with Pole Arm Master anyways because there aren't any finesse pole arms which kind of pokes a huge hole in the plan.
That's the thing, PAM works with quarterstaves which can be accepted by the GM to count as finesse weapons if you take a level in monk. That's the gimmick here.

>>49078847
Fair enough, I read through that part and it kind of confused me when it said outright that he'll decide none of them are up to scratch, so to speak, it seemed almost like he knew that it was a silly idea.
Thanks though.

>>49078824
None. It's just a passing thought, really.

It'd be squishier than a standard rogue because you're throwing away your use of uncanny dodge half the time but it'd be dealing more damage.

I think I'd rather try the barbarogue first.

Oh, I forgot that getting level 5 in monk also gave you stunning first.

>>49078821
Yes, there's nothing wrong with it, but it's not optimal.
EK is nicer with the additions of GFB, BB and Absorb Elements, and if you have GFB/BB then you don't care about having a big weapon, because that's not where most of the damage is coming from.

>>49078846
For 5e, people are pretty non-strict about things. People seem to hate the idea of restricting the paladin to alignments and even being reliant on strength or charisma with the addition of things like the oath of vengeance, and there being an oathbreaker somewhere.

>>49078846
Sure, but as it has to make sense within the world and in relation to other abilities etc. it's not exactly a big thing. Rage is one of my favorites for it, it can be anything from demonic bloodthirst inherited from your tribe to simple a trained warrior's intense focus in combat.

>>49073825
That might be true. I see much more work done on their spellcasting classes.
>>49077812
Yeah I've seen that too in some classes. It's whatever, I'll just change it myself if I wanna put it into a game.

>>49078447
Strahd lets adventurers in for several reasons that the book describes.
Firstly, he's under the belief that if he can find a "worthy" successor to rulership of Barovia that he'll be free. Adventurers are tough sorts of people so he brings them in and "tests" them, especially if they are human males.
However in a classic Gothic storytelling trope of his flaw being his undoing (namely arrogance) he will ALWAYS decide no one is as worthy as he was and thus always settle on killing them.

Secondly, he's bored as shit.
He's been stuck in Barovia for four centuries torturing the inhabitants. Now almost none of them have any souls and thus have any real initiative to do much beyond live and feel afraid of him.
Adventurers are different; they have personalities, they fight back, they can be unpredictable. It's basically some of the only enjoyment he gets anymore.

Lastly, Ireena is wife number 5 for him; she LOOKS like Tatyana, but he hasn't really settled on Ireena being her reincarnation yet, as this version of Strahd has never seen that happen before compared to his older version.

>>49078727
Sage Advice IS the official RAI. The problem is that sageadvice.eu and so many other people mistakenly think that Mearls and Perkins actually can give Sage Advice.

Unless the tweet is from Crawford, it can't be considered Sage Advice.

>>49078984
So, the one I listed is more of a DM opinion thing since it's mearls.
They do say, 'so I'd allow it.'
They didn't really say 'it should be this.' but rather 'this is how I'd do it.'

>>49078909

>nicer with the additions of GFB, BB...

There are points where GFB and BB are great and there are also points where it's not really optimal to waste your action on using your cantrip over just attacking, and it'll work fine if you pick up the Spell Sniper feat anyways (once again on a class that has plenty of room for feats).

>>49078879

>accepted by the GM

maybe? If I was the GM, I don't know if I'd allow it, especially considering how 'gamey' it is. If you wanted sneak attack outside your turn I'd tell you to convince someone else to go Battle Master.

Either way a theoretical build that the DM MIGHT allow doesn't seem all that great to me.

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So, just how dangerous is low-level combat?

I'm planning to start a campaign, and I've been worrying about how much I can risk throwing at the PCs. None of us are new to 5e, but I don't have experience with low-level combat, and I haven't run a game for any system in years. I'm hoping for the first adventure to be an simple introduction to ease us back into the thing, not a meat grinder.

The book says the party can handle about 6 medium encounters a day, and I've heard that tends to be a low estimate, but looking at the stats of level-appropriate enemies like animated armor, hippogriffs, and even orcs, and these things could drop a character on the first round. Am I underestimating the PCs, or am I going to have to go easy on them?

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>>49078984
My problem with even proper SA is that it's literally re-stating RAW. Like:
>Does the barbarian’s Danger Sense work against breath weapons and enemies’ special abilities?
A barbarian’s Danger Sense benefits any Dexterity saving throw against an effect that the barbarian can see.
>Can a Circle of the Moon druid speak the languages it knows while in the form of an elemental?
Yes, since the elementals listed in Elemental Wild Shape can speak.
>If a druid in elemental form can speak, can the druid cast spells?
A druid can cast spells in a Wild Shape form only upon gaining the Beast Spells feature at 18th level.

Gee, glad we cleared that up, next time I'll just ask on twitter instead of reading the handbook. Also I seem to have lost the best RTFM pic, anyone got it?

>>49077608
>Do you guys suppose that there are grounds to work out an entire Way that enables archery and better thrown weapons?
First, yes. Look at zen archer (pf) and order of the bow (3.x) for possible inspiration. I think throwing weapons just need a specialized feat like polearms and crossbows.

>The main gate here is that without Martial Arts, any unarmed attacks you make while even holding a bow are nearly nullified.
Second, you have to be wielding the bow for it to break your martial arts. It takes two hands to wield, so you can flurry just fine if you take one hand off the bow. Has to be flurry since it's not a monk weapon.

>>49079078
It would be better to go easy on them if you don't wanna risk killing them. Level 1 and 2 adventuring tends to be a dangerous game of rocket tag. Most enemies they fight can fall easily but they can be knocked out just as easily. I almost killed my first 5e party with just 6 bandits.

>>49079158

Why do you need to take your hand off the bow? Just kick the shit out of them.

>>49079051
Yeah. Quite a lot of levels, and then you have to consider the situation on other levels as to if it's worth it.

>>49079051
Having to take a feat and having to take a level in another class to make it work is enough of a cost to justify it, not to mention the fact that sneak attacking outside of your turn means you can't use your reaction for uncanny dodge.
It's not really unbalanced, requires an investment 'training in a monastary to learn to use monk weapons' or something which can make plenty of sense for a rogue and can be well-justified considering sneak attacks only require you to exploit a weakness - flanking an enemy or having the upper hand.

The only thing you have to do is say 'Optionally using dexterity instead of strength for a weapon = finesse, because that's exactly what finesse is.'
It's not RAW and it's a bit tricky, but I think allowing things like that opens up more build opportunities than 'just go rogue 20.'

>>49079078
As long as you make sure monsters aren't rolling really high damage dice, your party should be able to help a dying party member before it's too late.
If you have anything that rolls really high, it can potentially one-hit a guy.
Also, if you have monsters that attack guys when they're down, that's dangerous.

When DMing the first few levels I've found monsters getting lucky crits can really fuck anyone aside from barbarians over, but rarely kill them right-out, and ultimately nobody died. Several went unconscious, though.

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>>49079125
>Also I seem to have lost the best RTFM pic, anyone got it?

>>49079078
Get a feel for it first but if your players are smart even a deadly encounter will be at most medium IME. As for many encounters idk, but my party at level 3 uses maybe 1-2 spells and loses 5 hp total from the medium encounters they've been in.

They just beat a fucking hydra, which is CR8 and 3,900 XP, while "deadly" for 5 level 3s is normally at 2k XP. They had a higher level wizard who was taken into account but without any combat spells and him going unconscious turn 2 because everyone else was running faster than him, they basically did it alone (they managed to lure it between some trees which as tight space gave it disadvantage, and I buffed their newfound magical weapon on the fly as it seemed cool, but even then they did really well considering it's 2x deadly).

>>49078354
>"The spell just takes effect"
>Contingency.
I feel like something is wrong here.

>>49079231
Thanks anon.

>>49079291
The spell takes effect, and that effect is to store another spell.
It looks a bit dodgey but I think it works just fine.

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>>49079158
>First
I'd taken a peek at the Zen Archer, and will now look at Order of the Bow.
>Second
The problem is defining when you are wielding versus holding it. If you go by straight RAW, it would probably take your single item interaction to switch between "holding in one hand" and "wielding in two hands". Since you only get one of those, you couldn't "equip" it at the start of your turn and "hold" it at the end. Furthermore, you still wouldn't be able to use Martial Arts' bonus action attack, which occurs "When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn,"
Then there's the issue of a turn as a game abstraction, since a round is 6 seconds, and if you're not using the weapon most of the round you'd be shooting an arrow a second for two seconds and spending 4 acting like a monk...
It's a lot easier if you just get something that says "shortbows and longbows are considered monk weapons for you." Either a feat which can then be used with any existing Way, or a new Way that provides other bonuses to ranged attacks and has a unique thematic identity.
On that note, what are some ideas for that identity? The abilities should represent that for the most part, as opposed to just stacking ranged bonuses. We've got covered close range pure ki/skill, shadows, the four elements, sunlight, and death. What's something interesting that doesn't overlap with those but also works with archery?
Maybe more esoteric elements, like wood and metal, or lightning and ice?

>>49079201
If you have two hands on the bow, an autist could argue you're wielding the bow, not a monk weapon, and can't benefit from martial arts when you kick them.

>>49079465
Seeing as it's been confirmed multiple times that switching between wielding a 2h weapon to hit and holding it in one hand to cast doesn't use your interaction I'd disagree.

>>49079465
I would apply the same rules to the monk's bow as to the EK's weapon. At least I'm not saying to drop it and pick it up every round.

Anyway, you pretty much could go with a Way that is all bow, or that cheekily allows a bo as part of a way of weapon mastery that allows a monk to avoid needing unarmed strikes. Wood and metal elements would be great. Bring back Iron Soul style while you're in there.

is WotC going to release a new Ranger class at any point?

>>49070180
>You were all contacted to participate in an auction...

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>>49079583
After looking that up on Sage Advice.
While the concept is similar enough, it seems awfully cheeky to say "well, I just used two hands to attack with this weapon, but now I'm only holding it in one not wielding it!" it doesn't seem abusable.
>>49079602
If I did make a new monk path, I'd prefer to do one that lends a bonus or two to ranged attacks in the form of bows or throwing weapons, but I'd rather not take a crack at that whole special monk weapon kensai thing since there's already a dozen variations of that, and I don't want the path to feel generic and overly gamey.
I don't know if Iron Soul can be ported to 5e. Since class roles are more spread out and less defined, I'm hesitant to make things that overlap thematicly with existing classes.

>>49079775
Have you ever fired a bow?
You let go of the bloody string.
Ceasing to hold it in both hands is HOW YOU USE THE WEAPON.

How have you flavored or seen fluffed a person playing a monk that isn't weaboo fightin' magic?

Only thing I can think of is rolling straight boxer.

>>49079775
>I don't know if Iron Soul can be ported to 5e. Since class roles are more spread out and less defined, I'm hesitant to make things that overlap thematicly with existing classes.
>Druid / nature clerics
>Some sorc origins / warlock patrons
>Most gishes
I think you're pretty safe, as long as it's mechanically unique and interesting. I don't even use the fluff for 90% of homebrew I find, because I don't play in FR so I gotta fit it to the setting.

>>49079775
Some more specifics.

You can give them a good use for their bonus action, their ki, and their reaction, though they do have deflect missiles. You just don't want them to be better at ranged combat than the OH is in melee. So they should have a different focus than single target ranged damage. That's the fighter archer's thing anyway. Maybe go for accuracy, trick shots, or Seeker-style mystic bindings with punishments.

>>49079831
The only monk I played with for more than a one-shot was a gladiator, though I honestly don't like it much because "refluffing" in this case means refluffing an unarmed/unarmored fighter, not refluffing Ki. The gladiator was just a fighter, there was no meaning behind him adding WIS to AC or anything like that, and while I realize you can't be an unarmed/unarmored fighter, it's also not really what the monk class does.

Note, you can probably just fine refluff all monk abilities as something slightly more mundane, it's just that the player simply didn't do that and instead didn't explain parts of his skillset.

>>49079078
Like another anon said, level 1 and level 2 is like playing a game of rocket tag. For me, I only use the base damage of the weapon die and don't add in their modifier unless it's something that I feel would act as a "boss encounter" of some kind. So like a pack of goblins would have shoddy daggers and shortbows, and just deal a d4 and d6 respectively.

Once they get to level 3 though it tends to be a bit harder to 1-shot kill a player, but is still possible. More than likely you'll just 1-hit KO a person, but so long as there's a healer of some kind (Druid, Cleric, Paladin, Bard) they'll probably be ok until they get a chance to get a short rest.

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>>49079802
I understand that, and while I don't think it's broken or abusable, I feel like it's against RAI to be able to fire a bow and benefit from a feature that says "Usable when you're wielding only monk weapons" since the bow frankly isn't a monk weapon by default.
>>49079847
>Druid/Nature Clerics
I guess I can give you that one.
>Sorc/Warlock
...Draconic, Wild Magic, and Elemental Wind vs Fey, Fiend, GOO and Undying? Not much overlap there.
>Most gishes
Point taken.
I'll concede on that point, but I'm not personally interested in the concept (at the moment) so I'm not going to sit down and write it up.
>>49079849
Deflect should already be a fantastic thing to cover their reaction, since they'll likely be receiving return fire at range and can benefit from any abilities that give a bonus to ranged attacks with the counterattack.
As a possibility for bonus actions and ki, I think it may be best to avoid giving "more" attacks at range. Instead, perhaps abilities that let them expend something and add their Wisdom modifier to the attack roll, or giving them a few of the Paladin and Ranger on-weapon-hit spells that they can spend ki on.
I'm out of unarmored archer pictures, I think.

>>49079971
>>Sorc/Warlock
Mostly a reference to locks getting the positive plane's energy as a patron and sorcs getting the Shadowfell as an origin. It's not quite the same thing really, and it's UA of course.

>>49079971
They could still get something to help them out with melee or do something else for when deflect missiles isn't applicable, like Opportunist and glowy aura give.

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Best way for PCs to generate stats?
>Point Buy
>4d6 discard the lowest
>exploding D3s

>>49080274
3d6 down the line

>>49080274
Point Buy and Standard Array for long term campaigns, anything for short games or 1 shots.

Question Anons. I got on the DM's guild today and saw that there was an epic characters pdf on the top sellers. I'm a whore for epic levels from back when i started playing in 3.5 but 10 bucks for a 30 page pdf seems expensive to me. Does anyone know anything about it? has anyone purchased it or given it a try? Or does anyone have a copy to share? I looked in the dmsguild trove and I didn't see it.

>>49080334
This pretty much.

Unless the mortality rate is REALLY high, it's better to have a fair way of doing stats for long-term campaigns.

Otherwise, you might be playing as fail mcclownfart for three years while some other guy gets to play prince charming.

>>49080274
We always, ALWAYS, use point buy at my table because a couple players insist that they are "unlucky" and detest rolling randomly for it. I personally don't mind it though, i think it can make some interesting characters

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>>49080334
>>49080357
>>49080372
Got u senpai
thx

>>49080274
4d6d1, but everyone can choose anybody's array. Let's people roll and keeps the party balanced

>>49080274
Point buy but you roll for the amount of points you get. 20 + 2d6

>>49080400
>1 guy rolls well
>party is way above the CR forever
Y tho
I get you could adjust the enemies but... why? Just use point buy

>>49080613
oh dang, this is interesting

>>49080617
The encounter creation rules are imbalanced as fuck and complicated to boot anyway, it's not like encounters are going to be balanced for almost anything.

>>49080274
2d6+6 down the line, reroll if you don't have a 16, is what I do for heroic games. If you already have a character concept in mind or don't like rolling, you can use a modified point buy (31 pts, max 16 in a stat).

Can you guys send me a good vid of a group playing so I can enhance my DMing skills? I also would like ideas for a adventure in a old abandoned wizard school.

>>49080613
The intent of rolling isn't to make PCs of different power levels compared to each other, it's to remove min-maxing and allowing stuff like an intelligent paladin, making it less predictable and making characters' stats different beyond what their class is and what is objectively better.

>>49080911
Critical Role's best part is Mercer's god-tier GMing (at least in certain aspects). I also really like Matt Colville, but haven't watched much of his session videos (still watch his GM advice series).

>>49080911
critical role

Any good beasts for Beastmasters and Wild Shapers to take advantage of in the Tome of Beasts?

Also, fey, undead, and elementals for that matter in regards to Conjure X spells.

>>49080911
Acquisitions Incorporated is run by Chris Perkins who helped write the rules for 5e

>>49080911
HarmonQuest has it's moments, and just like anything else in life you're bound to find something you can steal, adapt, or tweak to your fitting.

But like >>49080951 and >>49080953 Critical Role is great for Matt Mercer's setting descriptions, pacing, and overall flow of things. You can tell how much of his "style" comes from being able to go back and forth with his players, because if you watch Force Grey, he's in almost complete control at all times in regards to roleplay.

Chris Perkins (Acquisitions Inc.) is a completely different style, but again I'm sure there's something you can glean from watching him.

>>49080274
3d6/4d6 for each stat, you may not assign the rolls. If you roll 14 for int, you have 14 int before racials. You can't trade it for something else.

>removes the notion of 'dump stat', no more fucktarded-as-a-rock barbarians all the time, just sometimes
>develop a character based around your rolls
>good for if people don't understand what classes mean what or aren't sure what they want to play
>bad if everyone really insists 'oh, I want to be a rogue this time!' or 'Oh, I want to play a healer!' or comes to the table eager to play specific character concepts before you've even begun
>if someone rolls higher than you, you aren't automatically a downgrade of them. You'll often have higher rolls over some of their weaknesses, whereas if you assigned stats the other person could easily play the same class as you, better than you.
>less time wasted on character creation for fast characters

>>49080954
>Wild Shape
Yeah, especially higher level forms will give more to choose from, conjuring spells probably a bit but I don't think it'll affect them much as you don't choose and versatility doesn't seem like it would make those spells too much better.
>Beastmaster
Their HP is the problem, as well as the features. No beast can fix it.

>>49081027

Speaking of
>as you don't choose

I've never been in a campaign / game where the DM HAD to choose. As a player I've always had the choice to pick whatever, and as DM I've allowed my players to pick whatever. IMO it makes sense.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/sageadvice_july2015

For reference

>>49081019
>good for if people don't understand what classes mean what or aren't sure what they want to play
My 14 STR/14 DEX/15 WIS/17 CHA dragonborn disagrees, as does my friends' 10 CHA/10 CON pally and 10 CON/9 DEX barb. The latter two at least had good strength scores. Having arrays and following the quick build for the class with array is better for newbies, it's not like they will know what the stats mean anyway so being just like any other barb stat-wise doesn't matter at that point.

If i want to know more about the forgotten realms, like the lands, areas, cities, and what not are like what is the best book/s for me to read? Is the 3.5 campaign setting any good for it?

>>49081289
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

>>49080911
I quite like the High Rollers stream on youtube cus americans cant into fantasy

>>49081289
The 3.5 and 4e ones are outdated, due to the reconning in 4th and ret-retconning in 5th. >>49081325
This is your best bet for now.

Every single game i DM my whole party wants to play edgy meme races, what should i do against this?

>>49070911
>run into gelatinous cube
>lose wildshape
>stuck in cube

alternatively
>flood waters show up
>the itsy bitsy spider

>>49080911
Dice, Camera, Action is pretty good.
Chris Perkins the 5e writer runs Curse of Strahd, and it's a lot closer to "regular" D&D than Acquisitions Inc is.

Do you guys like to DM most:

>>1 - Published Adventures;
>>2 - Own adventures in published Campaign Settings;
>>3 - Own adventures in own settings

???

>>49081137
Provided you point out which classes need what sort of stats and the players DON'T insist on playing classes they really shouldn't, it's fine.

There, either they thought it was fine or they wanted to do something no matter the rolls.

Now, low charisma paladins are perfectly possible. They're resorting mostly to smashing and smiting and a bit of lay-on-hands, with their level 6 feature being nowhere near as impressive, but it can work. .. While also being less tanky, despite supposedly being tanky.
I'd say the barbarian would suffer much more, though.

If they didn't insist on playing MAD classes, they'd be fine. If the barbarian and the paladin were fighters instead, that'd be fine.

And yes, that does suck, if you can't always play the MAD classes. But if you're playing a campaign where characters come and go a lot, I suppose it makes the MAD classes that extra bit special when they do show up, like how paladins were a very rare breed in the long-distant past.

Though I guess this isn't the intention of the later DnD editions, where they're putting character freedom on the forefront.

>>49081458
Ban them?

>>49081483
Published adventures reworked to fit own campaign setting

>>49081483
I like all three about the same, honestly. They all have their own perks that make them worthwhile.

Sup. I'm about to start my first campaign as a DM. All but 1 of my players is new to D&D, so I figure we'll play Lost Mines of Phandelver as an intro to the game. Today we had a session for rolling characters, which went reasonably well. We ended up with a stack of character sheets that seem reasonable, and the party seems reasonably balanced.

How, as a DM, should I be handling the stronger personalities in the group? I feel some of the quieter, less experienced players characters stand a chance to really add something to the party, but other more confident players (particularly the one that's played before and probs knows more about the game than I do) are likely going to take the limelight. What can I do to avoid them completely taking over the game, and encourage the shyer players to come out of their skin a little more?

>>49080993

I like Acquisitions Incorporated personally. I think the smaller group works well, Critical Role just has too many people.

>>49081484
We were all new, nobody there to tell us what class would be good. Most rolled arrays will be clearly better for certain classes while not working well for others, like if you roll good strength then you almost have to do a strength martial. I think that's fine for experienced players who realize this and sometimes go away from what is best because they have a cool idea, but for new players I feel like it would just become the experienced players telling them what to do, which defeats the purpose of rolling down the line. I think it's cool if you do assigned though, they can follow the quick rules to have a good primary and decent secondary and then just do whatever with the rest.

>>49081573

Have NPCs that will only talk to or engage your quieter members due to something in their race/class/background.

>>49070502

my problem with this is how does somebody get trapped in there naked without any realization of how they got there and why would somebody throw them down there.

it just seems...silly? i also don't know why you wouldn't play a character who doesn't have to rely on weapons like a monk or druid either. Otherwise you just sit around not doing shit.

>>49081458

Find a new group that wants to play the way you do.

>>49081483
I've never ran published adventures, and I love worldbuilding so it's gotta be the 3rd out of those. However, I've incorporated some modules at times, which I love because it has a lot of the work done already and I can just make it fit and add my "personal touch".

>>49081289

Look in the Adventurers leugue players guide on p,20 they list books to use to get familiar with FR. Use SCAG and it also lists books used as resources to make SCAG. Some things change over editions but many things don't as far as the setting goes.

>>49081483
Mostly 3, but I started with 1, and slowly worked to my own setting.

>>49081458
If it's tiefling or drow?

Explain that they'll need to include in their backstory a valid reason why people won't just shank them. If they're evil, the party has every right to kill off the character if they believe them to be a liability.
An evil character has to cover their tracks or make a reason why they're good to keep around for the party.

If it's homebrew, just ban it. 'Most' homebrew is terrible anyway.

>>49081638
Assigned stats definitely help avoid the problem, but even then someone who rolls badly and picks monk will still suck, given their AC relies heavily on two stats and can't be earned any other way. .. And their damage output relies heavily on having good dex.

I guess 5e is designed to be good no matter what path you pick (except beastmaster/five elements monk) if you follow the standard systems - Feats are a variant (players often pick them for fun over viability), standard array or point buy is normal.

But if you use some other system to determine stats, you have to be a bit more careful as you may be punished for MAD classes.

I think I'll maybe admit to being wrong. I read someone recommending it to new players so the DM could help them develop a character based on what they rolled, rather than go in blind.
I think array is probably the very safest for new players.

Even if you're sucking at your class, as long as you're having fun, that's the point.

Anons? I'm an aspiring homebrewer who, out of morbid curiosity, wants to try their hand at doing a Lamia PC race. One small problem: in media that isn't D&D, a lamia is, essentially, a "snake-taur"; human from the waist up, giant snake from the waist down.

However... [b]in[/b] D&D, that's the description of the Lamia [b]noble[/b] - and before anyone brings it up, no, that's not a Pathfinder creation, it's actually been in D&D since first edition, 3e just screwed up by not converting it until Expedition to the Demonweb Pits.

Anyway, in D&D, your standard lamia is essentially an evil carnivorous non-horse centaur - 60% lion-taurs, 25% goat-taurs, and 15% deer/antelope-taurs, according to their Dragon Magazine "Ecology of" article.

So, that presents me with a little dilemma. Anons? If I were to create a 5e Lamia race, how would you recommend going about it?

Stick with the more media-recognized snake-taur?

Or try and be closer to actual D&D lore by using subraces to represent the different lower body options - lion, snake, goat and deer?

>>49071381
Birdman is the right way to play one.

>>49081757
You do you, man.

>>49081757
do what you want, its your universe
on that note, whynotbothmexicangirl.jpg
races all have subtypes now, why not just make -taur a race, and snack, lion, goat, and deer all subtypes. make them seperate breeding if you need to, but theres nothing that says they have to all be co-mingled melting pot if they're the same race

>>49072836
You fool
Ask what you must do to free yourself from Ravenloft.

Is there any real reason to continue with monk after level 5?

>>49081991
you want more ki per rest?
monk is a bit like ranger, where the earlier levels are better.

where are aarakocra stated for PCs?

>>49082084
Players companion, along with the goliath and deep gnome stats.

>>49082109
>Elemental Evil
Player's companion.

>>49082084
The elemental evil player's companion

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>>49081757
D&D has, since its inception, been about crafting rules to cater to what players want to play. Someone wanted to be an Elf? The original Elf class performed that archetype, with magic and fightiness. Halfing class was stealthy and small. Someone wanted to play Van Helsing, so Gygax made the Cleric- a while after someone wanted to be a kung fu master and the Monk class was conceived, mind you. Of course, we've come a long way since then, but the idea remains that the game is there to service the group and whatever their tastes may be, no matter how patrician or shit.
If your table would have more fun with snek race, then do away with D&D lamia lore, or just rename the monster manual 'lamias' and reserve the name for your race.
Once I dug up an old 3.5 ooze person race and updated/converted it into a slime race, since that's vaguely relevant

>>49082084
See
>>49069725

>>49080274
18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8

>>49070502
Great concept, any surviving pcs are hunt down the fucker that put them in there and wreck his shit.
>Ok we've strapped him down and pinned his genitals to the anvil.
>Alright give the spoon to the Wizard.
>Why a spoon and the squishy Elf? I'm a Half-Orc Barbarian with an axe.
>Because you twit, it's dull and she has a strength of 8, it will hurt more.

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>game has been running for 7 months
>play a few times a week
>party started at level 1
>they are now level 3
>they have a fight
>find some gold and then go back to town and just enjoy themselves for the next few sessions
>nearly all my DM time is now put into making a town with so much for them to do, people to meet and small tasks to be completed


They have very little interest in fighting and the bard is becoming known in town and is starting to bring in crowds and making enough gold to tide them over. I threw a few mystery plots and stuff their way and even when a desperate farmer came to them to ask for their help in getting her husband back the bard threw high rolls, seduced her, gave her some gold and she is now letting him and the group stay at their place.

It's basically second life for them.

I'm not complaining, I love it, I get to be all sorts of people and describe all sorts of places and I'm sure there are DM's who would kill for a party like mine but I'm curious if anyone else has a largely non combat party?

I'm slowly building up to a big event they haven't been keeping an eye on which is going to throw a spanner in their relaxation.

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>>49082430
>game has been running for 7 months
>play a few times a week
>party started at level 1
>they are now level 3

There is a spell viewer like that in the OP that works for the Book of the Lost Spells?

>>49082287
>giving an array where all players can easily start with 2 18s
Ech

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>>49082430
>Run an inquisitives game in Sharn
>Hired to get some incriminating dirt on a band of Darguun Hobgoblins that have moved into the monster ridden lower city and are acting as a military police force
>Murder a bystander by their outpost, walk in the front door when they open it to come out, walk out with a few papers, an unconscious tortured prisoner of the hobgoblins', and leave behind 8 corpses 2 injured and more on the second story that they didn't engage
At least they're hired by the Droaamish mafia so they actually got bonus points for this

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>>49082567
>Eberron
My dude....

>>49082126
The free pdf with the player races and spells from the elemental evil is called the player's companion.

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>>49082430
>7 months
>playing a few times a week
>has gone from level 1 to level 3
Are you feeding them 10 exp for every session where they don't fight anything?

They'll be level 20 by the time everybody is an old man.

>>49082533
It's not as bad as it sounds.

>>49081019
>good for if people don't understand what classes mean what or aren't sure what they want to play
Nigger you have to understand what classes mean to know what you pick for the fucking stats

>bad if everyone really insists 'oh, I want to be a rogue this time!' or 'Oh, I want to play a healer!' or comes to the table eager to play specific character concepts before you've even begun
how you described that combined with
>develop a character based around your rolls
Makes it seem like you think having an idea of a character concept you want to play beforehand is a BAD thing. Don't get me wrong, having nothing but "I wanna play with this sort of stat block" is bad, but when you have an idea for a CHARACTER it shouldn't be considered the same. Especially these days where trying to play a class while having stats fit for a different one is grounds for getting kicked out of a group.

>less time wasted on character creation for fast characters
I don't know about you but I take quite a while to come up with a character concept. If I can't do it beforehand, you better give us a week off from session 0, or I'm probably not going to have a character for session 1 /I'm going to recycle shit I've already made in the past

>>49081289
I was told to read the setting books.
I ended up reading the Icewind Dale trilogy and liked it until the last one, and got super mad when I read a synopsis of the later books and Catty-Brie ends up with Drizz't.

How many people here use mats and minis when they play?

>>49082883
I play on Roll20 so basically digital versions of those.

>>49079831
He was a Sun Soul monk/Warlock/Sorcerer. When he wasn't casting the occasional spell, shoving the power of the sun where it normally doesn't shine, or sneaking around to steal from shops, the guy acted more like a barbarian than a monk. When we needed to talk to a scholar but the front desk wouldn't let us, his solution was to kick in the door and try to intimidate the help. He drank much and got into fistfights that were certainly not demonstrations of grace and poise. His solution to distracting a T-Rex was to mock it and run away with it trailing behind him.

I loved him...

for a harpy PC, how is
"While not wearing heavy armor, other creatures have disadvantage on opportunity attack rolls against you as long as you are flying." as a trait?

>>49082787
The classes recommend what sorts of stats you need, though. As long as you can read, you don't even have to really understand the class.
>you are paladin, this means you should have high strength. Oh, and then charisma. And then maybe con.

Of course it's not a bad thing to wanto play a certain character, but there's a certain charm to building something around a concept than being told to just go freestyle. They're two different ways of doing things, some people might like one thing, or the other.

The thing is, nobody's really going to say 'I wanna play with this statblock' since the stats are mostly just probability enhancers. I see a decent amount of 'I want to play a multiclass with these levels' and that's alright, because they then build the character up around their stats, hopefully. ... Hopefully.

As for the last thing...
Personally, the first times I've played different D&D things, I've been more excited about playing D&D than playing a specific character. You could've given me anything, and I'd have built a thing and been happy with that. I might even change classes once or twice before the first game.
Nowadays, after having played enough of it and especially in 5e... Doing 'just anything' would likely be boring. I wouldn't want to play yet another fighter. I'd want to try some interesting new build idea, or character idea that I haven't tried before. Maybe a lawful evil character in disguise, or a monk with certain vows, or a multiclass of something.

So reading over some intro stuff in Storm King's Thunder and one part has got me thinking.
Without spoiling too much...

Group can come across a cave home to these Goblins who have raided a nearby town. However there is one part of the cave full of defenseless Goblins whom flee at the sight of the adventurers and hide, they do not fight.

I was considering playing these guys as children and just your run of the mil peasants. Would it be an evil act for the party to kill these guys who pose no threat to them? If so, how would you shift the players alignment, depending on their reasoning?

What are your best Contingency combos, /tg/?

>>49082952
>not wearing heavy armour makes it harder to hit you

I'd find it much harder to hit a fast-moving, heavy-armour wearing flying thing than a supersonic, barely armoured thing.

There's no time to try to get around the armour at all, you'll likely just get a glancing blow.

Chances are the harpy PC already has a + to dexterity which makes players already less likely to wear heavy armour, which is the point of races. Elves are, because of their stats, very unlikely to ever be wearing heavy armour. But they can. It'll be rare, but it means it's a possible option for players.

To be honest I don't think it's a bad trait. It encourages melee more, whereas otherwise the harpies would always be using ranged attacks. I just don't think unnecessary restrictions are good.

Barbarians would very often wear heavy armour if their 'no heavy armour' restriction would removed. Harpies wouldn't.

>>49082738
It probably isn't, but...
They're levelling at about 30x slower than the rate you'd normally expect for a party.

>>49082883
I like maps and minis personally. I feel it helps players and DMs visualise the situation and plan out what they are going to do in combat and in other high risk situations.

>>49083033
Duly noted.
Thank you.

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>>49070652
>>49070848
>>49071447

I want them to get on that shit. I doubt they'd ever commit to it fully but damn.. I want it more than I've wanted most things.

On topic, our party of 9th Lv PCs are going to fight their first ever Beholder. Party consist of Cleric of Life, Fighter Battle Master, Warlock of Fiend, and Barbarian Path of Berserker.

Are we fucked beyond all reason?

>>49082968
>Would it be an evil act for the party to kill these guys who pose no threat to them?
If it's basically no combatants who have done nothing to them, then yes.

>If so, how would you shift the players alignment, depending on their reasoning?
Firstly, I'd let them know that they are clearly non-combatants. Don't be subtle about it either; players are fucking stupid sometimes, you know? If they kill them anyway, I might not shift their alignment immediately depending on how they roleplay it; hesitance, remorse, knowing they went too far, etc. Maybe depending on if they just went "well, it had to be done" I'd make them Neutral.

If they gleefully get on with it I'd personally make note of the ones that were just super enthusiastic about it and not give them call next time the game gets together and is scheduled.
I'm not even thirty yet and I'm STILL way too old to be playing peacemaker and smoothing things over for those players who want to make powerful characters because they feel weak in real life or people who think being an edgy little turd is the same thing as "maturity" or "deep" roleplaying. It's literally the exact same thing as the Lawful Stupid paladin, just in the other direction.

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>>49083236
Thanks for the advice. Sadly I have no choice as it's Adventure League at my flgs. Though if a Player kills them thinking they are a danger, then expresses deep remorse when he learns the truth, I won't shift their alignment. If they just go to town cause they want to be the edge lord, Chaotic Evil and now the new target to ever Gob in the cave.

>>49083064
wat?

>>49083296
Just make a regular Wizard of any type and que up this music every time it's your turn.
https://youtu.be/ypNPxwnppU0
Word of warning; next to NOBODY will get the reference.

>>49083324
>then expresses deep remorse when he learns the truth, I won't shift their alignment.
This is a good general plan.
Good people don't not ever make mistakes, but they DO feel bad about them and try to make up for their actions.
A Neutral character will do a bad thing, maybe feel bad that he did it but will frequently do it again because ultimately his immediate circumstances and needs are more important then right and wrong.
An Evil character flat out wouldn't care because the welfare and health of beings other then themselves do not factor into their decision process.

So, I'm doing a custom Sorcerer archetype based off of Red Mage from FF (uses both Black and White magic, essentially a Favored Soul without being fluffed as essentially Jesus). Got most of the shit down, I just have to come up with a good one for 14th level that can replace a dragon sorc's wings or a storm sorc's damage-dealing reaction. This is what I have so far:

ELEMENTAL GENERATOR

At the 14th level, you blur the boundaries between your arcane and holy spells.You have a pool of healing powerthat you can use as if you had a Paladin's Lay on Hands ability. This pool resets to 0 every time you finish a long rest. Choose a single damage type from Fire, Lightning, and Ice. You gain 10 plus your Charisma modifier hitpoints of healing every time you cast a spell that deals damage of your chosen type. This pool's point maximum is your current level multiplied by 5, and any points earned beyond the maximum are lost. You may change your chosen damage type any time you complete a long rest.

Gimme some feedbsck. Is only one elemental type too restrictive? How about resetting the pool on a rest? Should the number of points you earn per spell be lower, higher, ir just the same? Is the entire concept underwhelming compared to what other popular sorc archetypes bring to the table?

>>49083442
>An Evil character flat out wouldn't care because the welfare and health of beings other then themselves do not factor into their decision process.

How do you deal with the whole "Evil characters with loved ones" thing then, if you ever do it at all?

>>49083236
make sure to explain to the party what the fuck goblins are in your setting, are they mostly stupid evil creatures, or is this group of raiders an exception
i would say in most cases its not chaotic evil to kill goblins, leaning more towards lawful
but once again it depends what goblins are in your setting, if goblins are hated in the society and viewed as vermin (like in most settings) it would be lawful to basically genocide them even if it isn't good, nazis were lawful but not good
and im surprised no-one has posted goblin slayer yet

>>49083519
It's tricky because it's mostly a thing your average PC won't see personally.
An Evil character can have loved ones, but he won't always think of their emotional health and well-being. He might not deliberately mistreat them or anything of that sort, but ultimately he loves them because of how they relate to HIS situation.

Almost everyone knows someone in real life who's been in a relationship where one party is in love with another party but often hurts them emotionally even though when they're gone they feel miserable and empty.
What they feel is still love, definitely. It's just not a very healthy kind of love that doesn't take the feelings and happiness of the other party into account.

>>49083525
He's talking about an adventure taking place in FR where goblins are largely NE, so that was what I was referring to. In addition, the goblins are evil in said adventure as well.

FR "monsterous" races aren't completely without the ability to be redeemed into being N or G, but it's a lot harder for them because they often don't have the opportunities for it, or in cases like orcs are actually kind of physically conditioned by their deity to have a harder time of it.

That said, it HAS happened before.
In the Realms there was this rare type of orc that was basically born without Gruumsh's influence in then who were more likely to be Neutral or Good, though they were quite isolationist.
There was even a thing in the nation of Thesk that a bunch of orc and half-orc mercenaries brought over to fight the Tungian Horde had settled down and basically became regular folks because the people there liked them for helping to defend them, leading to a larger then average population of half-orcs in the region.

>>49083442
>>49083525
Goblins in this setting, according to this book are...

Still goofy dumbasses who hunger for power. Though these ones are more than willing to strike deals with the party for their own gain.

As for the non-combatant Goblins, yes I will still play them as dumb and cowardly. They won't swarm the party or put themselves into danger. But I think I got my answer. If a party member kills them cause "A Good Goblin is a Dead Goblin. They would just grow up to harm more innocent folk like they always do." Probably Lawful Evil. If "I like killing stuff, they might have something useful." Chaotic Evil.

>>49083769
Yeah, I've got the book.
Storm King's Wrath takes place in Forgotten Realms, so Realms rules apply, unsurprisingly.

>>49083810
This will actually be my first time DMing for Adventures League. What are Realm Rules?

>>49083839
What, on races?
Basically everything you see written in the Monsterous Manual COMES from Forgotten Realms originally, so assume all of it is in play.

Hell, I'd argue most of the "standard" D&D-style fantasy people claim FR "ripped off" it more or less STARTED since FR started getting pushed by TSR in the 1980's when D&D started getting really popular so largely what everyone associates with standard D&D fantasy originates from there first.

Certainly the wackiness of Mystara and the focus on demons and powerful demigods of Greyhawk aren't what you see badly copied in videogames, that's more like "Weird Fantasy" then traditional D&D Heroic Fantasy.

One of my players isn't one for roleplaying and fluff, so he gave me this as his Wild Magic Sorcerer background

> "I don't really know anything about my past, or where I'm from, I just kinda appeared one day so I guess I'm trying to figure that out."

I've decided to go with something along the lines of him being an imperfect clone / simulacrum of a powerful evil wizard that was killed / detained awhile ago (he's a half-elf). Any suggestions story wise? How do I reveal it? How do I leverage it into the campaign?

Any suggestions on how to make this as a weapon?

http://sot.wikia.com/wiki/Agiel

Was thinking instead of an attack roll, the target made a Con save or take X (necrotic or psychic) damage. If the target rolls a natural 20, the wielder has to make the save or take damage.

Suggestions for attributes, damage, etc?

>>49069112
I keep seeing that term GOOlock, what is it?

>>49084025
Great Old One Warlock. The guys who have Cthulhu for patrons.