D&D 5th Edition General: Giants Edition /5eg/

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>>49132324
The font for the runes looks pretty cool.

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>>49132353
I forgot the OP question... Have you ever used giants in a campaign in a memorable way?

One of my players in the upcoming Strahd game wanted to play a Tiefling bladesinger, putting aside the fact that it's elf only which I think i'll be lifting for my game, how do you make a good/decent bladesinger?

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>>49132398

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>>49132412

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>>49132438
>>49132409
Bladesinger is a good arcane tradition to take even if you don't want to attack with a weapon. You get very high AC at very low level, whack stuff with the SCAG cantrips, and the rest of the time just do what wizards do.

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>>49132467

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>>49132489

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>>49132507

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>>49132524

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>>49132535
Last but not least... Yakfolk.

Damn, you got me so excited for the Storm King's Thunder I just went and pre ordered it.

>>49132398
I ran a one-shot that was basically King Arthur (2004). All the players drew from pregen Dwarves that I made (in lieu of knights), and the horde above the wall was actually Giants. Tied it into the main campaign by making it the origin story of one of the current party members.

>>49132551
I never used these guys, but I always liked them

Is there a random encounter table? like one for forest and the like

>>49132409
just let them. reminds me of the tiefling NPC from Baldur's Gate 2, Haer'Dalis

Anyone ever created an in-game sport or had your players involved in something similar?

Was thinking of introducing both of these in the future for one-offs / palate cleansing sessions on my main campaign.

http://sot.wikia.com/wiki/Ja'La_dh_Jin
Which from what I can surmise (having never played BloodBowl) is very similar to Bloodbowl. The goal is slightly different, but it's still a football/futbol/rugby type sport, with fantasy creatures and death.

The other idea is gonna be a cross-section of golemancy / tinkering, and will be Battlebots style fights.

Any idea on how to make this happen?

So I'm running the "The Sun Goes Down with a Ruby Smile." moduleas my first DM session on Roll20.

Is there a checklist for stuff to get ready before running a session? Any advice ifg someones run this module before?

>>49132398
I did a one-shot in which Loki attacked, like he does every few thousand years, cause he's bored. Had a lot of giants with him. Wasn't anything special, cause Loki was medium size, and telekinesis is bullshit

>>49132409
Bladesinger never has to make a melee attack to be good. It's fantastic on its own, and the +3 to AC at 2nd level really makes up for the d6 HD
So basically, you're a normal wizard, who can attack with a sword when needed.
Nothing will be broken if you let a tiefling play it. If anything, it's suboptimal when compared to a high elf

I have a stupid question, as a new DM. I'm building combat encounters, and following the encounter rules in the DMG. I have five level twos, and had made an encounter with one single CR 3 monster. Then I read elsewhere that you shouldn't throw creatures with a higher CR than the player's levels at your players, so I'm super confused.

tl;dr Am I going to inadvertently kill my party of 5 level two players by throwing a CR 3 monster at them?

>>49133416
http://dhmholley.co.uk/encounter-calculator-5th/

that encounter would be "medium" difficulty. it means the players might have to think instead of just act blindly.

>>49133416
Five fresh 2nd level adventurers are going to mop the floor with a single CR 3 monster, unless it has a specific ability / immunity that they don't have an answer for.

Action economy is king, especially if your encounters are slugfests between adventurers and a single monster.

>>49133461
>>49133606
Ok, that's good to know. I think I had one of the encounters being with a Nightmare, which unless I'm completely misremembering, was a CR3.

I may also be being too cautious, after my first experience with 5E ended in a total party kill from a shit load of bandits the GM threw at us.

>>49132353
The runes are actually originally from the 2e book "Giantcraft".
Ed Greenwood REALLY likes runes.

>>49132398
Yes.
We had to fight a giant army once.
It wasn't very fun.

>>49133658
> a shit load of bandits

That's the thing. A higher CR monster alone is usually less threatening then a mob of low CR monsters. It comes down to Action Economy, and who has more chances to fuck the other party up.

A politically/socially powerful NPC has a very longstanding grudge with one of the PCs. My plan is for him to flatter the party and then send them on a simple quest to infiltrate a political opponent's mansion (the opponent is a known scumbag). Before doing so, he will profess his admiration for one of the characters, a Bard who is constantly bragging about how amazing and famous she is (she is not), and give her a brace of elegant daggers with her name on the hilt or something.

The mission will be to intimidate the opponent into doing something or not doing something or whatever, and the NPC will send one of his guys who knows the layout to lead them, or maybe to follow them, so that when they reach the opponent, the NPC's man will kill him using a dagger identical to the ones given to the bard, all moments before the planned moment when other guards will arrive. The NPC's lackey will reveal himself to be wearing the emblem of the opponent's guards, and will begin cowering in the corner.

The players will be able to escape or surrender or whatever, I won't make the guards a particularly difficult encounter (they're just guards), as the NPC's goal is the make the characters hated, eventually imprisoned, but ultimately to see the bard dead.

Any suggestions on how I could pull this off smoothly? I just see a million things going wrong.

Anyone have the maps for Nightstone and the Dripping Cave for Chapter 1 of Storm King's Thunder? Running this campaign tomorrow and would rather just use these maps on roll20 then building my own considering Nightstone is like 260 squares long.

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Does Magic Missile work with Hex?
>you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to the target whenever you hit it with an attack.
>Each dart hits a creature of your choice within range...you can direct them to hit one creature or several.

>>49133416
A single CR3 creature is going to get demolished by 5 level 3s. A CR equal to your party's level, or one higher is a standard encounter, while bosses without many mooks should be at least 2 CR higher than the party

>>49134132
Magic missile is not an attack since it does not have an attack roll.
Scorching ray however counts as an attack.

>>49133703
Then I have some bad news for you, considering SKT

>>49134132
No. There's no attack made.

You use the "Cast a Spell" action, not attack action.
There's no attack roll, so it doesn't count as a spell attack. There was no attack to proc the Hex, unfortunately.

>>49134088
Please spare your group such a terrible adventure.

>>49134132
I would rule yes, despite the literal wording saying otherwise.
I would also permit it for damaging effects that work off of saves.
It doesn't break the game when done this way, since warlocks will usually be the only ones with hex anyways, and they could use that level of versatility in their hex at later levels.

>>49134210
I literally did the first and most of the second part of it yesterday, and it wasn't half bad. But it might be my group, and all of us having fun, except one powergamer

>>49134210
Not what I was looking for.

>>49134248
My group is really looking forward to this as well.

Has anyone played IceWind Dale game?
Loved that one, and I was wondering if there was a fanmade Tabletop Campaign that anyone know about...

>>49134271
Unfortunately can't help you with maps, our DM built Nightstone from scratch on Roll20

>>49134035
>how I could pull this off smoothly?
really it shouldn't go smoothly. the guy trying to set up your PCs to be framed is doing just that, trying. you could have him bribe other NPCs to spread rumours about what they heard the bard doing/ saying/ planning if that's who he's trying to mess over the most to seem like she is planning to do evil.

he could also try to distance himself from the mission he sent them on evidence wise and feign ignorance if they try to talk to him about it and claim in front of others he can't be seen with their sort due to his position. people would get the wrong idea and since he's a politician he needs to maintain an image. they might know he's lying, but if there's bystanders they won't. or they could just be bared from seeing him and receive that information second hand from his guards.

if it goes wrong, it goes wrong. either way if you get the framed reveal how you want, or by them doing something unexpected and figuring out he screwed them they'll have a vendetta of some sort against the guy. his word against theirs.

Thinking up the backstory for a mid/high level spellcaster character I might use in a game soon, and got some mild inspiration after reading the bits on Genies in the MM

>Was a Wizard or whatever class I pick doing Wizard things
>As many Wizards do decided he wanted some tasty immortality
>Decided as many wizards do to get a Genie to do it
>Did the usual bullshit to get a powerful Air Genie on the material plane
>Didn't do the usual "follow my demands fuckhead" and have his wish backfire as many wizards do
>Instead gave the Genie a great feast and some gifts and said "If you grant me a Wish and don't twist my words to fuck me over, I'll become your servant until you, in your grace and wisdom, decide I've worked to earn it."
>Wish for immortality
>Genie agrees because having a powerful mortal servant mite b cool, plus they gave them a bunch of gifts and tasty food
>After settling all his affairs in his wizard lair, goes with the genie back to it's palace in the Elemental Plane of Air where he gets immortal'd (since who wants a servant that's gonna keel over in a few decades anyways?)
>Keeps his word and works for the Genie for an incredibly long time, eventually becoming good friends with them
>Eventually after helping the Genie with some undefined plot related event of importance, gets released from servitude
>Returns to material plane, turns out it's been several hundred years
>After spending a bit checking up on the state of things ends up joining the party for some reason or another, I'll be getting a reason from the DM that fits

Thoughts? The only catch is that the character would have "immunity to magical aging", which the DM said was fine since there's not really any situations where that's going to even be relevant.

Also related, if you ever find yourself making a wish to a genie (which is usually a shit idea), try to make a wish that would benefit them to not fuck up.

>>49134617
It's actually a quite decent backstory, I like it
Not TOO edgy, and not plain in the least

>>49134171
You might be surprised, actually
Wasn't even 3e yet when we had to fight that fucking giant army.
If you know anything about 2e that should tell you just how bad the odds were.

>>49134272
Lots of people crafted their own computer modules using Icewind. You can find those, run them, and then just copy/paste the information they have on all the characters and other stuff and do the standard 5e conversions for loot/traps/whatever.

>>49134317
Shit. Thanks anyways. I'm gonna buy the Storm King's Thunder Roll20 kit but that doesn't release till next week.

>>49134410
Thanks. Come to think of it, I just thought of a better premise for the frame-up. The opponent can have some kind of well known valuable/magic item/whatever he can send the PCs to "steal," (my group loves schemes and heists) and then his dude will lead them to the opponent instead of the macguffin, assassination, frameup, boom.

I'll take your advice though on paying people to spread rumors about the party, it'll help a lot. Thank you.

>>49134912
Glad to help. The heist bit would likely help motivate your players to go along with the plan if the reward is good, and a double cross at the end could be fun twist for a setup. Just beware of insight checks on the guide and the big wig whose putting them on the mission. If they smell something funny things could go in a direction you might not want.

>>49134617
>since there's not really any situations where that's going to even be relevant.

Be careful, I was blindsided by this (as a DM) while my players were doing a very undead heavy dungeon. A number of undead have this feature. Otherwise, I really like this backstory, and it's very similar to what I made for a past PC turned BBEG for a future campaign.

Would it be unbalancing to make Bladesinger an archetype of Bard, substituting Bardic Inspiration dice usage for Spell slots when appropriate?

>>49135023
That's fine too, it can go one of two ways. This NPC is THE trade big wig in the city with the biggest trade district in the continent, so he's a powerful man. Either it goes the way he wants, and the players become criminals to the city and, since they don't let a grudge go, have to find a way to go on the offensive vs this guy, or the party figures it out, avoids the frame, and the NPC has to use his vast connections and wealth to go on the offensive vs them. Either way I'll be able to come up with something, I'm sure.

And oh yes, he'll bait the hook with a good reward.

>>49135097
Sounds like you've got it figured out then. Should be fun. Good luck!

>>49135089
Yes, it would be the best class in the whole game, hands down, without even trying

Reposting from last thread (also thanks for the one advice anon >>49133058)

I'm currently DMing a campaign where it has the PCs become a security detail of a political gathering of candidates running for town mayor (elections will come next week) The gathering is like some debate being hosted in the town's city hall. Thing is, there's a looming serial killer in the horizon. My PCs found out his last killing was 2 hours away from town and happened fairly recently so they have reason to believe he's in town and could possibly target the candidates.

I'm not quite sure how to make a guard detail encounter interesting. The serial killer will definitely not waltz in so I'm thinking of interesting ways to make it an exciting moment cause my players are pumped up big shit is going down tonight. I do have this hook on the side that the local gang who is affiliated with one of the candidates might intervene and shit so there's that.

Overall, the biggest threat here isn't really the serial killer but a BBEG Lich who is being a puppetmaster to the whole political climate of the town. He's pretty endgame and I'm hoping the players to find out about it soon. I'm thinking of dropping the first hints of the Lich's influence on this night.

Any ideas? This adventure was pretty much winged on the spot since my players just wanted a pick up and play game but it ended up being bigger than we thought and now I'm here trying to come up with something engrossing.

>>49135234
Damn, seriously?
Bladesinger doesn't look THAT good...

>>49135343
It's not that good at all. Melee is not where a wizard should be. And all bladesong does is boost your AC - that's not gonna help you when your d6 HP gets hit by the dragon's breath because you decided kicking it with the barbarian and fighter in melee would be a good idea.

>>49135343
The +INT, or in this case, +CHA to AC is a huge thing, even more so when you already have a d8 HD. A 3rd level Half-elf Bladesinger bard would have 19 AC, and that's with the standard array.
Song of Defense using half your BI die rounded down is far better than using a spell slot to do it.
The Bladesinger's okay as a Wizard, but it would be fantastic as a bard, simply because bards are already the better class. You wanna give the bard +CHA on his concentration for the OP paladin and ranger spells he took with magical secrets?

>>49135454
Oh, no.
I'd be keeping the +Int to AC, not turning into +Cha.

>>49135477
Then it's utter shit, and Valor is much better, while Lore is still the king of the game

>>49135494
Utter shit in that delightfully autistic way /tg/ means "utter shit" in that it actually works fine but it's not the best so it's not worth bothering with?
Sorry if that sounds rude, but it's important to ask here because /tg/ is generally incredibly unhelpful when it comes to that kinda stuff.

>>49135524
no, utter shit in the way that the bard now has to have high cha, dex, con and int, because he needs the int to get anything from his archetype, and needs con to go in frontline cause his archetype is melee, which is already unfavorable.

>>49135494
Use this as a general caveat - nothing in 5e is unusable. It's all fairly competitive, unlike 3.5/PF.
When we call something bad or shit, we mean it's just not as good as something else, not that it's unplayable like 3.5 monks or rangers or whatever.

Keep that in mind for the future, because nobody is going to bother adding that implicit caveat explicitly into every one of their criticisms of a class. It's a waste of time when you should already pick up on it.

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Speaking of bards with unarmored defense and abilities that spend BI dice, could anyone drop some feedback on this dancer themed bard college?

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>>49135524
>lets make bards needlessly MAD just for one effect they have that they can do twice a day. if they bump int their dex (and thus AC or attacking) or their cha (casting)suffers, if they bump dex or cha their bladedancing sucks.
just... needless, counter to good design philosophy, mechanically not powerful, etc.
if u want to make a bard blade singer just take the kits of old ua bard and use that IMO.
t. not the anon you are replying to.

http://www.dragonmag.com/5.0/#!/article/109672/102457564?loadFresh=true&title=09_01_Issue%209%3A%20Cover

New Dragon+ issue. The "best gadgets and gizmos" article is actually useful, maybe stuff you've heard about or use already but a lot of the links are pretty good. Sad they didn't have Kobold Fight Club on there.

Also they finally put the "best of DMs Guild" shit where it belongs: not as Unearthed Arcana, but bullshit hidden in their digital magazine.

>>49135590
too many abilities for one archetype/10 is what i rate it honestly.

>>49135630
On what grounds? It has far fewer than Battlemaster or Wot4E, or even Invocations.

>>49135553, >>49135591
Okay, thanks for clarifying.
>>49135579
I'm sorry, wasn't aware.
I don't hang out much on /5eg/ and /tg/ in general, mostly because one glance around the board tells me it hasn't improved much since I left and might have even gotten worse since I stopped coming by here.

I just needed a second mechanical opinion because I'm an hour and a half away from DMing and my IRL GM friends are working. I'll just tell him to go Valor and fluff it as a Bladesinger, which was my first impulse anyway.

Thanks for the help fellas.

So did anyone get Storm King's Thunder on roll20? If so is it worth getting?

Me and my friends play over roll20 anyway and SKT seems nice. If I get the book I would save around 15$, but the roll20 version probably cuts most of the preperation work which is one of the main reasons for us not playing more often.

>>49135144
Thanks!

>>49135667
Just noticed that someone in this thread said that the roll20 version isn't out yet, but roll20 says its available right now. So what is it?

>>49135729
It is out. http://blog.roll20.net/post/149794076960/early-launch-achieved-storm-kings-thunder-is

>>49135667
Seconding this so that the person with it can make new games on Roll20 and transfer GM ownership of it to others so we can all have it.

>>49135590
Okay, as a guy with two lore bards, two valor bards and a jester under my belt. I'll look through it
First point, both lore and valor get more proficiencies. Give him more weapons, or more skills
Second point, does wearing armor inhibit any abilities? because the AC is literally Studded leather, and feels pretty useless, except for flavor. Serene is okay, but the Reprise is a bit strong, if it gives ALL friendly creatures within range the full BI die.
Spirited is also a bit strong, considering it's a buff to all allies, and other classes get this for themselves only three levels later. Duet is alright
Swift has the same problem as serene, affecting all allies is stronger than what other classes get. Fermata is fantastic, though i'd rather give something like 15ft move total, and you choose which ally can move and how much
Spellbound Inspiration is okay, unfavorable trade but that's the point
Dancing Winds is a good feature, but much stronger than anything the other bards get as their archetype capstone. it should be something meaningful, but passive, like the valor bard's spell and attack

>>49135665
I MEAN if he really wants to do that, i'd just let him and see what happens. it seems underpowered to me but if it makes him happy and its not overpowered my philosophy is just go for it. you can always throw him a magic item that patches things up later if he starts hating life or he can just reroll another character.

>>49135837
Not him, but I've fluffed a Valor Bard as a Bladesinger before too.
It's usually more the fluff folks are after I notice when making that particular class, at least with the sorts of people I play with.

>>49135665
>>49135837
Keep in mind that bards get archetype features at 3, 6, and 14, while wizards get archetype features at 2 (which can be altered to 3, okay), 6, 10 AND 15, which means even though the Intelligence based Bard Swordsinger would be crap, you'd still have to take out the level 10 feature as well, for fairness' sake

>>49135775
>Lore and Valor get more proficiencies
Because Lore is a skill specialist and receives an array of additional skills, and Valor is a gish and receives weapons and armor. Grace is intended to be near the front lines, but not directly contributing damage as Valor is, as well as being a bit less tanky than a fully fledged Valor built for AC. Weapons would be useless since scimitars complete the gamut of finesse weapons (besides whips, which I guess I could give them?), more skills would be gimping on Lore's territory, and they don't need armor since their Unarmored Defense bonus replaces it.
Studded Leather is only 12 + Dex.
Armor does not inhibit their abilities, or it would say so.
Noted regarding Reprise.
Regarding spirited, caster classes have cantrips that can deal full damage against mundane-resistant creatures at level 1 anyways.
I had not considered giving Fermata a 'budget' of movement to be spent, but that's a good idea.
Dancing Winds is intended to be a "one and done" feature since Grace already has so many persistent abilities. While neither of the other Bards has a x/rest feature as their capstone, the precedent for variations like that can be seen in the wide array of Wizard and Warlock capstones.
Of course, if Dancing Winds is too strong, I'll need to dial it back still. Originally I had it as dealing 1d6 damage and healing for 1d6, but other anons complained that was too weak and unnoticeable.

>>49136114
Rapiers are finesse weapons too actually.

>>49136114
I still don't think spirited is fair towards druids and monks, no matter the cantrips which can deal full damage
Also, every style they get has both an active and passive ability, you should disregard other classes and make the feature in line with other bard features, not wizard features.

>>49134679
>Not TOO edgy
It doesn't seem edgy at all?

I mean from a background perspective anyways, this could be the background and the character himself could have 4 katanas and a giant trenchcoat for all I know.

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>>49135906
yeah that shit can be worked out though, and starting the campaign you can just slap the second level feature onto the bard third and then figure out the rest later. i'm kind of freewheeling in my gaming though.
>>49135874
yeah i feel it. i'm just ultimately a let them do kind of guy... not saying you're wrong or anything. i agree with you, but at the same time, eh, let them eat cake.

>>49136235
Eh, the idea of striving towards immortality is a gimmick already, but it could be much, MUCH worse, yeah

Weird. Bladesinger anon seems to have actually just plain left.

>>49136259
>i'm kind of freewheeling in my gaming though.
5e's a better system for that then the prior two editions I think, or at least conflicts with the mechanics less when you do so.

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>>49136281
Immortality is something any Wizard worth their salt tries to get at some point or another, and that's certainly a more reasonable way than going the Lich route.

I wouldn't trust a Genie, but I guess it makes sense from the MM page on them for their plan to work.

>>49136209
I'm still not fully convinced that Spirited is unfair. The DM could drop magic weapons at level 1, and that would be as "unfair" to them. Or the wizard could just nuke them uninhibited.
The other bard features aren't directly aligned. One is a resource consumer, the other is a bonus action after a specific action at will. And I wasn't citing the other classes saying that if wizard can do it that bard should, rather to demonstrate there is a precedent for classes to have slightly different sorts of features from subclasses.

>>49136383
Used to be that if you were a high enough level Wizard potions of Life Extension were not uncommon.
They didn't make you immortal per day but you could live a couple of centuries longer then normal.

Going to be DMing a new game soon. I had an idea for a friendship mechanic to encourage my players to interact and reward them for creating stronger bonds with each other.

Basically the idea is that any time they go through something with another one of the characters, something that would generally bring them closer together, or otherwise make them work better together, they gain a +1 to their "bond" with that character. This bond stat has a maximum of let's say 5. I want this stat to be able to applied to things like help rolls or rolls involving that character. "You roll to notice something off about the mind-controlled cleric. Add your bond bonus to this." Etc.

I'm not super experienced with D&D (only been playing about a year or so) and I'm wondering if this will too adversely affect the mechanics of the game, or if there's any tweaks I should make.

>>49137025
Advantage is probably the thing you're looking for, a bonding stat kinda forces the party to be smooth even if the members in that party have severe differences, there's often interesting stories in the stereotypical dwarf and elf standoff.

Aren't Spare the Dying and Chill Touch the only necromancy cantrips?

Is it just me or is Death Domain (from the DMG) particularly weak?

>>49137025
Seems like tricky ground. It's good to encourage roleplaying, but sometimes players do weird things when there are +'s involved. Once you introduce the mechanic they might have some gay mudball orgy until they hit +5 and then go back to murderhoboing.

But you probably know your players better than I do, so idk.

>>49137025
i agree with >>49137279. The Help action gives advantage to the helper, so making the bond manifest as Help as a bonus action seems cool. If they bring the bond up or RP it in combat, they get advantage. just make sure they don't do it every time :P

it also brings the RP to combat; too often people think RPing and combat are mutually exclusive.

>>49137279
>>49137308
>>49137374
my main reason doing this is to let them feel like the connection between their characters is a tangible, growing thing. they're constantly learning how to work together better and better.

having this manifest as advantage is a good idea. but that does seem a little too on/off. either they work well enough together to get advantage or they don't, which doesn't quite offer that "growing" experience i'm looking for. perhaps i can just award that advantage *more often* the closer their characters are?

>>49137462
to make it "level" you could do this.

two characters with a bond can do the Help action to the other a number of times per short rest equal to their bond degree/level. Bond starts at level 1 and increases only as story milestones. Bonds are formed at the start of the game or as story milestones.

>>49137288
Looking through the spell lists, I'd like to add to this that Necromancy in general is plain weak.

>>49137557
Help action as a Bonus action*

>>49137557
writing this down. i think it works out.
thanks, friend

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>>49137025
>>49137462
this reminds me of the persona social links, for some reason

>>49132324
Need help with a character I'm making.

The character is a warrior who tries to mitigate damage as much as he can with spears, armor, big shields, and out maneuvering.

He looks like the guy that played Black Panther

>>49137956
what do u need help with
from your post my keyword searcher determined you should make a battlemaster fighter with a spear and a shield

>>49137988
Sorry.

Need help with naming him.

>>49138026
Deji Adeniyi

>>49132398
Our druid raped a giant.

>>49138275
I don't get it

>>49138422
Well I guess there is a story behind this.

>>49138547
It's just an African name. No jokes, no hidden meanings, just a name.

>>49136895
IIRC, didn't they just make you immune to aging up until you failed a system shock roll, at which point all those years you avoided hit you at once?

>>49138798
Yeah, basically.

File: Character creation list.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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Added new DM's Guild archetype in the new Dragon+ Article.

File: The_Wardancer_-_Martial_Archetype_for_Fighters_(9804176).pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>49139604
This archetype in fact.

So does anyone here have Storm King's Thunder yet? How is it compared to the previous campaigns?

>>49139628
Nice watermarks.

>>49138590
She was in a horse form too.

>>49139628
meh, it was free.

>>49139628
is this any good?

>>49140167
I like it. Seems like it would go well with a swashbuckler rogue.

>>49140091
meant for >>49139728

>>49139711
IMO it might be the best 5e adventure yet. There are no encounters that do not relate to the story and theme, and it's much more RP centered than any other module. It has a genuinely epic [and I cringe at that word's overuse] escalation and climax, and most of the interactions can be resolved via combat, negotiation, or at least 2 "other" options.
Finally, it's fucking King Lear with character names replaced with Gianty sounding names. The sourcebook even begins with a Dramatis Personae. It feels primal, literary, vast, and fuck-with-able at every turn by the players. I've got 3 tables starting it next week and cannot wait.
Also, flying housecats.

>>49140591
>King Lear with Giants
Not him, but it sounds like my cup of tea.
>Also, flying housecats
Oh, so tressym are back?
Neato!

>>49140591
I am eagerly awaiting the PDF.

My DM had a sentient giant octopus grab my maid and mindbreak her into abandoning my party.

I mean I know he wanted to make my party smaller, but this seems to be pretty far into the magical realm. I should probably stop accreting more party members.

>>49140747
the fuck. I don't think I could play with a DM like that.

I wonder if each rune will be its own magic item...

>>49140780
I spent literally an hour trying to find this thing inside a small pond. It turns out the fucking thing could hold its breath outside the water and ran up a tree holding my maid and tentacle raping her while I was swimming around and even boiling the entire lake.

Then it explained to me (talk to animals) that it was concerned I was abusing her (boiling the lake with her in it out of spite) and that he would be keeping her. The maid said she was happy with him and scared of me, and didn't want to adventure anymore.

So yeah, now my maid is the property of a sentient octopus tentacle rapist because I almost killed her a couple of times. Now I need to figure out how to remove him without her totally hating me so I can capture her back.

>>49140856
To be fair you are playing a game where you have a maid. So you definitely signed up for this.

>>49140895
I rescued her from a cave of ogres, she was the maid of the local lord. I sort of took her as my share of the spoils after saving... maybe not totally willing.

But it's still my maid! Totally mean octopus!

>>49140914
*saving the town

>>49140856
Just kill the octopus and use enchantment spells. Geas should work just fine for long term mind rape, suggestion for short term. Give absolutely zero fucks

>>49140747, >>49140856
Okay, first of all, bringing a maid with you in a D&D is sketchy as fuck. It pretty strongly reeks of fetishism and is hard to justify as anything else.

Second of all, if literally the FIRST thing your GM goes with is "mindbreak tentacle rape", then LEAVE THE FUCKING GROUP. Maybe bring other players you like with you, find a new GM.
I can think of more then half a dozen ways to remove her from the group without even trying hard right now that don't involve shitty anime porn concepts in any way at all.
He's either a shite DM or one that can't control his fucking fetishes, both are bad.

Don't pussyfoot around trying to "fix" the situation; you have the tools needed already, and they're called "your feet" and "the door".

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Now I know single-monster encounters are usually shit, but is a Stone Golem a legitimate threat to a level 10 party on its own? It shrugs off spells easily and is immune to cheese like summon hordes and Animate Objects.

>>49141020
Eh. It's medium.

>>49141020
How many characters? Do you want a Medium Encounter, or a Hard Encounter?

>>49141020
Depends on the party I guess, but Stone golems are pretty tough.

>>49140980
I mean, it fits with my character being a massive womanizer.

I even discussed it with the DM about having her doing cleaning and ... stuff.

>>49140856
You got cucked hardcore, son.
Kill the octopus, then kill the maid for disloyalty.
Then go find a new wench to fuck into submission to you.

>>49141056
There's other ways to show you're a womanizer, but in case you didn't read the larger section of the post, that is kind of a fairly minor part of your current problem.

Are you actually going to take steps to remedy it or not?

>>49141092
>Are you actually going to take steps to remedy it or not?
Yes. I have to decide between >>49141086
and >>49140936

>>49141160
Just so you know, the DM can at any time ruin both of on at a whim.
But fair enough; you gotta let people make their own mistakes.

Anyone start scaning Storm King yet out of curiosity.

>>49141317
Doubt it. It only came out in preferred stores last week. I'd not expect one until end of September, if we're lucky.

>>49141317
I plan on scanning it but I don't get mine in til the 6th at the earliest.

>>49140591
Fuck I hate Shakespear, but it's Giants so I want to play or run it.

I'm running a 5e Ravenloft campaign and my party is laying siege to the fortress of Krezk.

How would you guys as DMs run this? How would you handle the large scale combat that ensues?

For anyone who has already read Storm King's Thunder, how is the structure of the adventure (linear/sandbox) and how does the difficulty seem compared to the other released modules?

Any classes that are really useful, like Clerics or Paladins in CoS? I saw that there is some sailing, so maybe Storm Sorcs could be good?

>>49141410
Supposedly, mine arrives on the 9th...

I'll believe that when I see it, though.

>>49141476
http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_Battlesystem.pdf
Not sure Krezek is what you'd call a "fortress" though.
Maybe a "fort" at best.

>>49141479
Haven't played it yet and have only read up to chapter 2. Seems solid and will be DMing it tomorrow for the first time. I recommend having at least one party member knowing how to speak Giant. Also it seems Sailor would be a good background.

>>49141656
I know you said you didn't read much yet but how much sailing is there? Or are you mostly flying using an airship?

One of my players told me part of his character's backstory and I'm at a loss what to do with it. Here's what he told me:

>He was a saboteur in a war years ago (since birth he was trained to infiltrate enemy territory to sabotage their equipment to give his army an advantage)
>The war ended and he was without purpose since all he knew was war and conflict
>Left to travel and find a new war to become part of so he could have a purpose in life again
>Joined up with the other PCs because the fighting they all do together helps quell his desire to be immersed in war

What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?

>>49132353
As a scandinavian, it's funny how the names for these are just common words for whatever they represent.

>>49141917
You don't actually need to do anything, as a point of fact.

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>>49136359
Absolutely

>>49141917
Old war buddies.
Old war rivals.
Old war enemies.
PTSD triggers (loud noises, fireballs, the receiving end of siege equipment)
Temptation to contribute to growing conflict and be at the forefront of a new war.
An innocent companion who could help him to find peace.
Traps and things for him to disable and shine his expertise.
Fortress/territory management later on.

>>49141917
Tell him to really think through this character and expand his backstory further. WHHHHY was he trained from birth to infiltrate, what culture was he from that allowed this?

Does his character just really love war or is he a PTSD solider that can't assimilate back into society so he wants to be were the conflict is because that's the only way he knows how to live?

>>49141917
Reduced to the salient details:
>He used to be a soldier
>he wants to fight but not in a war
>he is pretty sneaky
I don't really see how that's difficult to deal with. It would fit in most any campaign that involves stealth or fighting. Which is most campaigns.

How do you guys deal with light at night time? Playing around with the dynamic lighting in Roll20 and was wondering if party members without dark vision being able to see 10 feet in front of them as dim light seemed reasonable?

>>49142041
Yeah, definitely question the "since birth" part; a functioning culture almost NEVER does this, and the ones that do NEVER run out of wars to fight.
"Trained since birth" is some weird anime-stuff that gets tossed around to sound impressive but the actual implications and consequences of it of it are next to never explored in anything.

>>49142074
Depends on the person and ambient light.
I say with bright moonlight or the equivalent 10 feet wouldn't be unreasonable, but in real life people living in modern urban areas even at night aren't really experiencing anything close to total darkness.

Go camping and you'll see that away from any urban areas dark means DARK.

>>49142074
I tend to set non-darkvision people to 5f/-5ft so they can barely see what's around them. They start remembering to pack light sources really damn quick.

>>49142112
If it's a clear night with a good moon, so long as you're not in the woods where the tall trees block everything you can see decently on a dark night.

>>49141540
It's been heavily reflavored.

>>49142258
Ah, I see.

Hey /5eg/, how do you deal with mixed level campaigns? I run D&D with children who have their own static characters but who don't have a consistent group because they get jumbled around.

>>49142322
I avoid them whenever possible. In this case, you should probably let the lower-level characters level up to be on-par with the higher-level ones.

>>49142469

I'd like to, but the program policy doesn't allow it. Instead, we have high level players play an appropriate level premade character, but that's only for extreme level gaps, like >5

>>49132353
Hmm...not sure I like the runes. When I think "rune", I usually think something meant to be carved into stone or something, which makes straight lines preferable to curved ones.

But, that's just a personal taste thing.

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>>49132353
>dragon rune is an ampersand

hoho

>>49141954
Isn't that the case with RL runes?

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>>49132324
>Aspell cast with a bonus action is especially swift. You must use a bonus action on your turn to cast a spell, provided didn't you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn. You can't cast another spell this turn except for a cantrip with the casting time of 1 action.

What's the consensus on this odd bit of wording?

My group ended up deciding simply you can't spend more than a single spell slots per turn. But I'm not sure.

Previously you can always trade in an action 'down', but this seems to forbid you for using two bonus action set any given point.

alright /tg/!

Best class?

Worst class?

>>49142919
1) Wizard
2) Beastmaster Ranger

>>49142860
Action Surge: you can cast two spells with casting times of 1 action each. You can't cast a spell in that turn that requires a bonus action--unless, potentially, both your Action Surge spells are cantrips (and that depends on DM ruling).

Quickened spell: you can cast one spell as a bonus action instead of an action, and the only other spell you can cast in that turn is a cantrip with a casting time of one action.

Bonus action spells: if you cast one, the only other spell you can cast that turn is a cantrip with a casting time of one action.

>>49142719
Not him, but symbol-character based languages tend to be more complex then that. Characters will have meanings on their own but to make actual words you'll string them together and then they make completely different sounds.
You can have two identical names in say, Japanese or Mandarin for instance but if you spell them in different ways the name changed it's "meaning" even if it's pronounced the exact same way.

Besides that, I think he just meant it was kinda funny that giant runes on another world are literally just Scandanavian words.

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>>49142664
Haha holy shit.
Cheeky fucks.

>>49142664
>>49143142
I don't get it.

>>49143416
D&D.
The symbol for dragons is the symbol that comes right before "Dragons" in D&D.

>>49142973
>>49142973
Okay that's spells it out pretty clear.


The limit on number of bonus actions spells strikes me as a very oddball and overly situational rule personally, especially as this no limit on standard Action spells.

If you can cast a standard then it stands to reason you can cast a bonus.

But presumedly they wouldn't of added it if it wasn't needed.

Action search does explicitly give you an extra bonus action right? (even if you can't use it to cast again), roses reckon simply say you can take another possible bonus action which seems to imply it's intentionally left up to GM discretion.

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>>49142664, >>49143142, >>49143416, >>49143434
It's a little on-the-nose these days isn't it?

>>49143448
Action Surge just gives you another action. No second movement, no second bonus.
You could rule against a caster/fighter casting multiple action spells, but then action surge is a breaking of limits and doubling of the character's capabilities, so it'd be a houserule rather than RAW.

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Creatures need to be suspicious and explicitly spend an action and make an ability check to see through illusions such as Disguise Self, right? They can't simply be walking around and notice an illusion with a high passive perception or investigation?

>>49143853
Disguise self explicitly states a creature must use an action and succeed on a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check vs. your spell save DC to see through the disguise, so yes that would be correct.

>>49143853
Yeah, it's gotta be something the player ASKS to do.

>>49143586
Yeah I reread the section.

>on your turn you can take one additional action on top of your regular action *and possible bonus action*.

The last part seem to imply you had a possibility of a second bonus action but with hindsight it's clear what they intended to mean.

Speaking of caster martial builds is there really no penalty *at all* with casting in a suit of platemail as long as you have on the armor proficiency for it?

It seems like there is no reason why everyone doesn't just take a level in fighter at the start.

My character join the army simply so he could go get the experience he needed to go to Wizard school.

>>49143923
>>49143929
I was actually thinking more from the perspective of a warlock player who used Disguise Self constantly, but it's a good rule to know since I'm a forever DM in case I ever need to rule it

>>49143943
>Speaking of caster martial builds is there really no penalty *at all* with casting in a suit of platemail as long as you have on the armor proficiency for it?

Yeah, that's how it ALWAYS used to work. Wizards didn't know how to wear armor and thus Wizards couldn't cast magic in armor.
Armor itself wasn't the cause of magic failing, that was just an added bit of unnecessary complexity that 3e threw in for literally no reason at all.

>It seems like there is no reason why everyone doesn't just take a level in fighter at the start.
In fact, all people should simply only take levels in the best classes numerically speaking. The entire rules should be re-written in fact to exclude ALL classes but the ones with the best numbers, right?

>>49143999
You don't need to spoiler being Forever DM. It's not like it's a rare condition which surprises and shocks all who hear of it or anything.

>>49143943
No, there's no penalty for casting in armor you're proficient with.

But it doesn't cause any problems, balance-wise. When you have so little HP that a monster looking at you wrong leaves at death's door, AC isn't all that helpful.

>>49142919
>best class
Most fun: rogue or fighter
Best: tome sorlock (enough utility + damage = survives basically anything, wizards being best at level 15+ isn't worth best overall)

>worst
Least fun: Berserker barbarian
Worst: Beastmaster in the wrong game, otherwise Four Elements monk

>>49144173
>Least fun: Berserker barbarian
Maybe Berserker is the least fun archetype, but Barbarian can't be the least fun class, now can it?

My players defeated the Old Bonegrinder with what I can only describe as anime bullshit.
>kill old lady with crits
>gang up and kill one night hag quickly after that
>last night hag bargains her life for children's
>party *sorceror* throws her through a window to the ground
>ranger leaps out the window with a silver dagger and crits on the attack roll to hit her
>dagger cuts off her arm and stuns her for one round along with dealing the previously agreed upon bonus damage from the leaping attack (the fall damage is translated to the attack)
>rogue leaps from window with aced acrobatics roll and while only having 2HP stabs her in the face to bring her down

They in total did half her HP in damage in those three attacks to finish her off. I was using massive damage and lingering injury rules in the campaign and the dice chose the party to come out on top - despite me buffing the hags in the encounter.

>>49144220
Barbarian can't do much beyond rage. They get good class features and live through anything, but they only have one resource to track that controls basically all their class abilities.

>>49144243
Mind you, that one thing they do they do really well. Rage + shove + grapple is crazy good.

>>49144040
I get the impression you are being sarcastic but it does seem worthwhile to pick up a sword before you pick up a wand

It's not like fighter isn't treated as the baseline to begin with

>>49144093
Bound accuracy bro, have a little hit points just means even more reason to be wearing armour

>>49144295
>I get the impression you are being sarcastic but it does seem worthwhile to pick up a sword before you pick up a wand

But some people don't because there's a shitload of people in the world who all do different things and become adventurers for different reasons.
Besides, our group HAS an armored wizard, he just got the Feat for it.

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Someone posted this a few threads ago and I just finished reading through it. While I found the content useful and interesting, I feel like some of the class abilities are a bit wonky balance wise. The damages some classes can deal out at later levels seems a bit extreme and some of the utility abilities seem too good in how often they can be used. I'm still new to GMing and balancing, but I don't think it's just me. Anyone else read this enough to give me a second opinion on it?

>>49144319
Personally prefer the party to all start out the same and then branch out from there. You all start out as level one fighters in the same army company. You're all apprentice wizards at Hogwarts or initiatives in the thieves Guild. But maybe that's just me.

Personally I just find it hard to believe more wizards don't wear armour if they can do it without penalty. It just seems like common sense.

>>49144492
>Personally I just find it hard to believe more nerds don't work out if they can do it without damaging themselves. It just seems like common sense.

>>49144492
>Personally I just find it hard to believe more wizards don't wear armour if they can do it without penalty.

There's a lot of things that don't make sense in D&D and spell failure percentage was one of them.
That's the kinda stuff that stems from people who thought D&D weapon weights were accurate and shit and that full plate was the single most encumbering and unwieldy thing to put on ever.
Either that or wearing metal or cured and reinforced leather somehow mystically interferes with magic for no conceivable reason I guess.

>>49142919
>best
Bard
>worst
Ranger

>>49137288
Yes, Spare the Dying and Chill Touch are only SRD cantrips for now.
No, the Death Domain isn't particularly weak.
It's not that good, but it's better than Trickery.
While their choice of cantrips is limited, those are very good cantrips

Quick roll20 question guys, setting up a campaign on it first time using the system, it's about tokens.

Now I can give the players permission to move them but is there some way to make that a permanent setting? You'd think I could assign their tokens and then they could summon them but even if they bring out their own token they can't control them without me adding permission every time.

>>49140643
Yeah, there's a Tressym at the start of the prequel adventure, and if it survives long enough, wizards can get the ability to summon them as familiars.
Mind you, they're pretty shit, with nothing but detecting invisibility, but it's cool

>>49141479
It seems pretty hard from the random encounter tables I've seen, with many encounters being with upwards of 10 enemies

>>49141954
That's been like that ever since 2e man, check up on older giant stuff. The Ordning isn't a 5e thing

>>49142625
Human runes were simple lines cause humans are weak as shit. When you're as strong as a giant, you can carve whatever the fuck you want in a stone

>>49144220
The totem warrior at least gets something other than rage and better rage

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>>49144404
Well, I made it for my players, so I read it through. The thing is that it's mostly intended for CoS, so "later levels" need not apply - the campaign ends at 10th or so.

Additionally, I have a...different...DMing style than most, fundamentally rooted in the idea that since I have 4 players and there's just 1 of me, the players will ALWAYS be able to outthink me. So I tend to throw slightly-beefier creatures at my players than their characters' levels suggest that they otherwise should be able to deal with, because, well, they tend to be able to deal with them pretty easily.

Basically I got sick of designing level-appropriate monsters and NPCs that died like chumps.

Still, I'll gladly take any suggestions you (or anyone else) has for modification.

Have a companion doc while you're at it: I don't like the idea of standard fantasy races in Ravenloft, and so instead got races based on classic horror monsters. Most of them are, again, culled from various places across the Internet, but I edited and changed them a lot more than I did the classes. As well, the wrought are entirely my own creation.

>>49142719
>>49141954
The rune names are literally just the swedish/danish/norwegian words for the thing.
Like, they're not giant language, it's google translate.

>>49145237
If we accept that Common is English, as has often been shown to be the case, why can we not accept that Giant is simply one (or more) Scandinavian language?

>>49145237
Mostly because there's no giant language in existence and the whole damn region is norse-inspired with Scandinavian names

>>49144404
It's not a UA or offical pdf right? USELESS.

>>49145326
>Playing 5e
>Not using any homebrew
What are you doing son

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>>49141479
In between linear/sandbox. There's a flow chart with options for each level, and the options within each tier are quite different and have different consequences for the story. Pic related. Already there's far more replayability than "lol tarokka."

Difficulty seems a bit easier RAW than CoS or OotA. There are ZERO random encounters, they're all scripted. It's much more story centered than dungeon crawl or "a fuck you jumps out of the cave/closet and reks." YMMV with how much you like that, but it's pretty sturdy plot wise. Pick a fight with a giant at level <6, then yeah it'll be "hard," but as a campaign it basically nerfs murderhobos so I'm less suicidal at the prospect of running it at my LGS.

No class stuff stands out especially, other than that perma-flying PCs should be discouraged/denied by DMs. Re: sailing, yeah storm sorcerers, sure, but idk not that big a deal. I'd say the one thing is that for tanky classes, AC/Dodge is better than being a high HP damage-sponge. It's giants and wizards and big monsters, they generally hit too hard to keep up healing, so try not to take dmg in the first place. That said, it's really more story than grueling fights, so w/e.

Also the penultimate act is a fucking naval battle with ships spearing the king giant, either requiring PCs to cut the chains or YOLO drown his emo ass and join the BBEG and ride off into the sunset as pillage-bros.

About to play my first game of 5e

If I play as a High Elf, do I get both the racial bonuses of both the "Elf' and "High Elf", for example +2 dex AND +1 int

thinking of playing a wizard btw, if you have any other advice. Thanks

>>49145764
Yup you get both.
Whatever school you take, lean into it and do its stuff as often as possible. Wizards are the steepest learning curve as they have access to the most spells, so sit down and read all wiz spells lvl 0-4 before you play, and make calls.

In general, think of yourself more as utility than as damage, but probably take a reliable DMG spell per level or 2, or one that scales well like Magic Missile.
Sleep is great, Mage Hand is a must, and Thauma/Prestidig are as good as you are creative and your DM rewards creativity.

If a creature concentrating on a spell is hit by 3 magic missiles, does it have to make 3 constitution saves?

>>49145764
Wizards have a spellbook and any spells they encounter via other spellbooks and scrolls can be written into their spellbook. Whatever your arcane tradition is, really make sure you understand how that works and remember that spells of that tradition can be put in your spellbook for a reduced cost.

Yes, you get both the core Elf stats and then you tack on the High Elf subrace to it.

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>>49145989
Never thought about that one... I would personally say no at my own table but I would clear it with your DM/make the call yourself if you are the DM

>>49145989
Yes, the creature makes 3 DC10 Concentration saves. Just like you'd make 3 saves if you were hit by all 3 scorching rays

>giant edition
>no baneposts
dat not good

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>It's perfectly fine to plagiarize and completely rip off Monster Hunter
Kickstarter and 5e is retroactively proving Siembieda was right.

>>49142016
>PTSD triggers (loud noises, fireballs, the receiving end of siege equipment)
If the dude's lookin' for more war then i doubt he's scarred too badly by the experience

>>49132324
My DM let me try out his "Heavenly transformation" monk tradition.

Basically gets alter self for 1 ki and can use natural weapons as monk weapons at lvl 3, can gain truesight at lvl 6 by spending 2 ki per hour , can Shrink/Grow at will and spend 3 ki per size category to get smaller/bigger beyond the usual Growth spell limit, can shape change for 2 ki per transformation and use all monk features in new form (lasts for 1 day and can be dismissed as a free action).

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>>49146247
>monster hunter invented monster hunting

>>49145996
Thanks, good tips.

Another question regarding Wizards, do Rituals need to be "prepared" or can they simple be known?

For example... if I have the spell "Alarm" in my spellbook, can I cast this spell as a ritual without having prepared it beforehand.

From what I understand, Wizards basically have a spellbook with all the spells they know, a certain amount of spells that they are prepared to use, and spell slots with which they can cast any of the prepared spells.

>>49147415
I'm pretty sure you can just cast it (specifically as a ritual).
IIRC if it has a component with a cost you still need it.

>>49143142
... sauce?

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So I'm getting into 5e for the first time this coming Wednesday, never picked up the books before. I'm joining a campaign relatively soon after it started so everyone is still low level. Class wise it's pretty balanced with a three humans and two gnomes for races. At level one, what should I play that will be both fun and useful for the group?

I was thinking of halflings because they're hilarious and druids because bears, but not 100% on it. I was told the thing needed most is a swing man, someone to fill multiple roles if needed. Advice?

>>49147415
"Ritual" is just an extra feature some spells have, which means that you can choose to add 10minutes to its casting time, and if you do so, no spell slots are expended. Otherwise it is the same as other spells, so components and preparation are as usual.

Yes - your spell book contains all the spells you have access to in general. (I'm omitting the terms "spells known" as this is confusing and applies more to other caster types).
Every long rest you prepare INT mod plus wizard level number of spells, and those are the ones you have access to for that day of adventuring. Each spell requires a spell slot (which should be renamed spell charge or mana sphere or something to be more intuitive) of a certain level or higher, except cantrips which you can cast all day.

>>49147984
You seem to be confusing the terms or ideas of "races" and "classes." Races aren't very important in terms of balance unless you're playing a very race centered campaign.

What are the other PCs' classes? Swing men are bards (best) and druids, and to a lesser degree clerics.

>>49147415
>>49147857
>>49147997
>R i t u a l C a s t in g
>You can cast a wizard spell as a ritual if that spell has
>the ritual tag and you have the spell in your spellbook.
>You don't need to have the spell prepared.

>>49147415
>>49147997
Derp - what I wrote is correct in general but in specific wizards do not. From PHB p. 114:

Ritual Casting
You can cast a wizard spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and you have the spell in your spellbook. You don't need to have the spell prepared.

RTFM both to you and to me.

>>49147997
>>49148042
>>49148045

Thanks, I read the manual but was confused by the wording.

>>49145380
Playing long-running campaigns so the players haven't exhausted all the available player material yet.

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>>49148015
by races and classes I meant the classes are balanced with a fighter, a ranger, a wizard, a cleric, and a rogue. Race wise there's 3 humans and 2 gnomes.

I was thinking druid, as you said, but don't know what to really go for with them. I've just picked up the handbook today and have been reading it, but there's a lot of options here.

>>49148181
Moon druids (shapeshifting specialists) are very powerful at early levels but are less versatile than Land druids (casters). That's it, really.

Does anybody know about any successful attempts at recreating Next playtest Sorcerer for 5e?

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>>49148223
stout halfling land druid it is then, thanks

Running through Mines of Phandelver in a homebrew setting with mostly first-time players and The Rogue is (naturally) being a dick.

Got to the room with Mormesk the Wraith, the Druid passed the Persuasion roll after the Wraith told them not to take his stuff.

Rogue, of course, opened the chest after that anyways. Wraith had held his action prior, so when that happened he attacked the Rogue.

Druid again tried to persuade the Wraith, made him roll with disadvantage, he rolled an 18, which passed the increased 15 DC I had given the Wraith. The Rogue left the room after taking 2/3rds of his HP from a single attack.

The Rogue keeps doing this shit, and the party is getting tired of it. Whenever someone talks to him in character about it, he gets personally offended out-of-character. What's worse is when he is in town, he plays his Rogue more like a Chaotic Good Robin Hood type, while in a dungeon he plays it like Neutral Evil. His actual alignment is, of course, Chaotic Neutral.

How would other DMs handle something like this?

Does Storm King's Thunder have any new player options in it?

>>49148273
>Whenever someone talks to him in character about it, he gets personally offended out-of-character
The player is a dick. Some groups kick those out. When you play in a group where everyone is everyone's friend, it get a bit more complicated if "Dude, knock it off" doesn't work.

>>49148286
Nope.

>>49148324
Yeah, everyone is friends and that contributes to this problem.
I've spoken to him about this on the side and he was apologetic, but when he's in-game and thinks there is loot, he turns into a dick.

If he keeps putting his party in danger for his own personal gain, I will be adjusting his alignment.

You guys probably get this question a lot but does anybody have a pdf listing all of the official player options (class archetypes, races etc) and also does it include UA?

As a neutral war cleric, which war god should my character worship? He's someone who enjoys all aspects of war and is effectively there for the fighting, promoting violence as the gold standard against which all other aspects of life are measured, as the natural order of things, and as the purest display of someone's true self. How would such a cleric view the different factions? Right now, it mostly seems he wouldn't be interested

>>49148494
What's the setting? Because that's some Ares stuff you're describing

>>49148521
5e, Storm King's Thunder. I'd say Ares might be too far on the evil side of things, but we do have two Zhentarim members in the group.

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>Find a Frost Brand
>I want it, so does someone else
>Not too bothered, let them have it
>Miss the next session
>Come back for the session after
>Find out the first thing the character did when the party got to the city was sell the frost brand

>>49148521
>>49148566
I realize now that my answer doesn't help much and I'm sorry for that. I don't know much about the lore though and I'm having to catch up.

>>49148608
>just straight up selling magic items you find in this edition
Ugggggghhhh

>>49148566
Okay, FR then. Let me go though a giant book of gods...

Uthgar fits the frozen north.
Tempus? He's all about battles and war but his dogma is close to "He helps those who help themselves"
Tyr or Helm, maybe, for a more lawful bend? Though they're more of protector gods. LG and LN respectively.
Garagos as all about battle, but a bit too insane.
Red Knight is pretty much Athena but in plate armor.

Skipping non-human racial deities...

Anhur seems to be an even more warlike Horus


Well, that's all I managed to find

What would you guys recommend as the best dungeon/map creation tool for 5e out there?
I'm new to d&d and I wanna create some stuff, I've seen "dungeonographer" and maptool mentioned a couple of times

>>49148849
Map as in dungeon-by-squares or a world map as well?

>>49148765
I think I'll stick with Ares. I went and did a little reading, seems like a solid suggestion. Well, aside from him getting ragged on by the Greek gods, but fuck them. Zeus is a furry anyway.

i want to run, as part of a campaign, a small mini adventure where the PCs need to infiltrate and sabotage a military fort in order to prevent an attack. Something like special forces kind of deal. Can you recommend a module i can use as inspiration for this ? I remember seeing a book dedicated to special forces in a fantasy settings... maybe. Pls halp.

>>49148860
I'm actually looking for both (if there's actually an application to specifically draw world maps besides gimp/photoshop).

>>49148863
That's just due to the fact that he was a patron god of Sparta (who didn't write stuff down) and most of our knowledge about Ancient Greece comes from Athens (who didn't exactly have a stellar relationship with spartans)

>>49148904
In that case for world maps I've heard "Campaign Cartographer" thrown around in these threads a lot

>>49148904
Hexographer is nice if you're looking to make hexcrawl world maps

>>49148940
Thanks a lot mate, I'm looking into it now and it seems to be pretty good, I'll download it and check it out

>>49148949
I'm not looking to run a hexcrawl right now, but this will definitely prove useful in the future, thanks lad

Besides world mapping anyone got any suggestions for tiled map/dungeon creation?

Can familiars take class levels?

I want to play a 5th Edition OSR style Megadungeon, but i want a finishable one (so not THAT huge).

Any good really big dungeon in 5th edition (can be fanmade or third party). I prefer dungeons that are easy to DM aka short descriptions (like Barrowmaze and Stonehell).

is there any 5th conversion of Barrowmaze?

>>49149058
No. That'd entirely be the realm of GM fiat.

>>49149058
No, though you could try to talk to your DM about it. Personally I would not give familiars class levels without a very solid and in depth reason.

>>49149058
I'd really like a look into the thought process behind this ass of a question.

>>49134679

>wants to live forever
>uses the most submissive, conscientious route possible, paying their dues along the way
> edgy

I'm curious if he knew what edgy actually means.

>>49149137
Rogue quasit for a warlock BNEG

>>49139628
Is it just me, or do these " you can use this move after the roll but not the declaration of success/failure" features completely rely on not using DM screens? I mean, I don't, but it would be weird to assume even if it weren't a) one of the first products they sold for this edition and b) an iconic symbol of D&D and even all rpgs for as long as I can remember.

>>49148442
>>49148442
Anyone?

>>49148442
See >>49139604

>>49149168
>it's an NPC
You don't need to follow the rules to the letter.
If you've got an idea, just go for it.

>>49149246
Thanks guy.

>>49149058
>>49149089
>>49149119
>>49149137
>>49149168

What is the best/ your favorite familiar and why?

>>49149443
I like sprites, but that's definitely in part because most people take imp or quasit.
I'm also a fan of normal animal familiars, especially ravens and crows.
But that flying cat thing that's in SKT (and maybe older editions? I think it's called a Tressym?) is neat too.

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>>49149443
Imp constantly in raven form, fluffed as just a magical fey raven.

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Relatively newer player here, question about a build

How would I go about building a Hoplite character?

>>49149443
The best are the owl and imp, but my personal favorite is the pseudodragon. I wish I could get one for my Dragon sorcerer.

>>49149523
battlemaster

>>49149485

is that what's-his-face from the Invisibles(name slips my mind, I wanna say Baron Samedi)

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>>49149545
Couldn't tell you, it was just the only character art saved that had a black bird.
>>49149523
Spear and shield with a shortsword for backup, right? Barbarian, Fighter, and even Ranger or Paladin could pull that off. If you want it to be as mundane as possible, Fighter's the way to go, as >>49149542 suggests.

>>49142008

This is the first rule I house rule out of 5th. If an action isn't possible by RAW the players shouldn't be able to do it. It just stops all kinds of meta gamey abuse.

Obviously as the GO I can do whatever I want. Was hilarious last game when I had an Ogre rip one of the players arms off. Another player tried to get clever and ask if he could use his medicine skill to reattach the arm. I asked him to show me where in the rulebook it said he could do that and he couldn't find it obviously. Now the one armed player makes all his attacks with disadvantage lol.

You guys need to stop being so whipped by your players and start punishing them.

>>49149707
>GO
What could this mean? With rulings like that, I'd reckon
>Gaping Orifice
>Game Obstructor
>Goodtime Oppressor

>>49149443
Barn Owl best familiar

>>49149784
Goodtime Oppressor seems pretty appropriate here.

>>49145149
Thanks for sharing. I get what you're saying about having your players kill accurately CR'd monsters, I have that happen a lot as well and end up throwing things a CR or two higher than what I am "supposed" to.
Anyway I don't think the stuff you put in there is bad at all, in fact I think some of the abilities are really fun and interesting. Undying Will, for example, is a very cool ability with enough extra usefulness for when it procs to not feel like a skill you'll never use. On the other hand I think their Relentless Fortitude might be a little bit too useful for something with no cost. I don't think anything in here is unusably broken (except maybe the Vermin Druid's 10d10 damage a round, which I think is far too high for a normal attack with everything else it gets in that form), just wanted to see if anyone else around here had maybe shared my opinions on it.

>>49149443
Bat. Decent scout and can see invisible shit.

>>49149707
>I had an Ogre rip one of the players arms off.
That's brutal man. Did they call the police?

>>49149707
>You guys need to stop being so whipped by your players and start punishing them.
And the trash your opinion goes.
If you see your game as an adversarial pastime, you're a goddamn moron.

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>>49150173

>>49144492
>because then they have to put points into strength.

>>49149707
7/10, pretty good bait.

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>>49150210

>>49150348
>"D&D isn't a GM against Players game" is bait
Okay

>>49150365
You idiot, he means the post you replied to was bait.

>>49148223
- Moon Druids are probably one of the most fun class archetypes in the game in the game.

>>49150404
You idiot, this entire conversation was bait just to get you to reply

>>49150460
You're not wrong. Still, their utility isn't quite there compared to Land Druids

>>49150482
Actually, it was to get YOU to reply

>>49148381
-Alignment is basically useless in 5e (not that it's a good mechanic normally).
-Want to piss off a player, steal their shit, want to really piss of a character destroy their shit. Add a little trap that you know he'll fall for, "I touch the coins that have been clearly stated we shouldn't touch", as you touch the coins, your coin pouch gets a little heavier. I check it. Instead of gold you find coins of lead/coal/ edible shit." Thief will think twice before touching anything again.

>>49148608
As a DM, I'd be fucking pissed, not only did they just casually sell a magic item, they knew another party member wanted it and willingly gave it up. Unless their was a legit other than my character is a dick reason someone would have their boots stolen and no more magic items.

Tg, what is good long term, background roleplay for a Neutral charlatan character?

I'm trying to get a solid grasp on the character, but all I've done so far is split all my money off into different accounts under varied aliases, and con the burgomaster into letting me use Glovia's mansion as a diplomatic embassy between Orasnou and the (nonexisting) Duke of Black Swan, slowly building it back up to its formr glory (Virtue of very liberal use of Jack of All Trades, Mending, and the workshop in the cellar) using the mansion as a secret hub for sympathetic Vishtani.

>>49150586

Cant con my party. They have zero sense of humor

>Friend asks if they can invite a friend to play the intro of Storm King's Thunder with us.
>Sure.jpg
>They want to play a Bard.
>"Well we already have a bard and that player has called dibs on it for a long time. You can play one as well it just not might be all that helpful for the party comp."
>They say that's fine and they will just roll a cleric.
>They give me their sheet...
>Charisma higher than Wisdom
>Nearly all Charisma skills trained except intimidation.
>Entertainer background.
>Trickery Domain
>"It sorta looks like you are trying to turn a Cleric into a bard."
>"This is what I want to play."
>"Fine, we'll see how it goes."
>Now I get told today on game night (a day after getting their sheet) they don't want to play.

I'm taking it as I dodged a bullet.

>>49149707
1. You sound like a terrible DM
2. "I house rule out rules that the rulebook doesn't cover but add in rules that dick my players over that also aren't in the rulebook like an ogre ripping their arms off ", is a terrible way to DM.

>>49149140
>>49149140
dude later defended the use of edgy by saying wanting immortality was a "gimmick"

I managed not to reply then but fuck, what a cringey bastard.

>>49150652
There isn't really anything wrong with the build unless their wisdom was sub 14

>>49150586
Your family was in crippling debt and/or marked for dearh by the mob, and the solution was to make new identities for everyone

>>49148273
had this same problem with a friend of mine, said he always played as a dick in his previous campaigns and people were fine with it (doubtful). thing is he was having his character in character brag about taking and hoarding all the loot, refuse to even give the wizard scrolls to decipher, and he would take things soley because another character wanted them.

finally got him to tone it down after every single person told him flat out he was pissing us off. now he skims just a little loot off the top (a small statue no one would miss, skimping a 5% finders fee from gold, etc) which is in character and honestly fine by us, mostly because he stopped bragging in and out of character about how much he was fucking us over.

tl;dr: compromise and let him be reasonably greedy, give him minor shit to hoard and let ppl in character beat him up over it.

>>49150736
Pretty sure it's personality that's the problem here
OTOH, two entertainers in a party is just fine as long as the players cooperate

>>49150507
Eh, I guess.
They still have enough utility to run and I'd say fun and way of thinking that moon druid encourages is better.

>>49150652
I mean, you did, because nothing is worse than having a player in a long campaign who just doesn't want to be there or wants to play something else

When do manticores hunt? Day or night?

>>49150652
You were in the wrong, a party can have more than one bard. Actually it's probably really good to have more than one bard. I would not be upset by a party of 5 bards, as a player or as a dm>>49150652

>>49150736
Cha was 17 and Wis was 14 (half elf). Their Dex was 8 yet said with the Entertainer background they were not proficient with instruments but with dancing. I told them in that case it would probably make more sense to have their performance checks made with Dex then with Cha but I would have to think on it.

>>49150849

They have darkvision so it's whenever you want them to.

>>49150854
Oh I agree that more than 1 bard is a good thing. However there were other classes that would of helped the party more. We just have 4 players without them and currently had a Bard, Warlock, Barbarian, and a Ranger. A Cleric, Fighter, or Paladin would have been a better pick, unless they went College of Valor Bard. Which they didn't want to.

Still I don't force my players to pick a class, I just give them warnings on the disadvantages and let them decide. If they really wanted to be a Bard I said they could.

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>>49150867

>odd-numbered stats

I wish my min-maxin' faggotry wasn't so rampant but hotdamn do I get triggered when I see this as a player-turned-forever GM.

>>49150923
Same. I mean I don't mind odd numbers if you plan on just making it even in the future with a feat. I don't really see it as min maxing either, with point buy you have precious scores I find you need to use to optimize your character ability wise. It's not like rolling for stats where you can afford to have shit messy.

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>>49150867

>8 DEXTERITY when you're proficient in DANCING

Have they ever seen a music video involving dancers and back-up dancers?

Dancing is ALL about dexterity and coordination.

A low dex dancer who has their heart in it but not the skill could make for a fun character though.

>>49151030
Oh shit.
I just figured out where the World of Warcraft dance animation comes from.

Anyone tried spell-less Ranger?
How about Deep Stalker?
And both on one character?

>>49150923
This. I can't stand it when I have that starting a character. In game I can tolerate it more if I know I can up it more, but having a fully leveled or starter character with odds drives me up the wall.

>>49151060
>Anyone tried spell-less Ranger?
You mean the one with 2d6 hit dice each level?

For youse other DM's out there, which do you prefer to use for your players to character build with -- standard array or point buy?

>>49151030
>A low dex dancer who has their heart in it but not the skill could make for a fun character though.

It would be if this is what they intended... which I am pretty sure was not.
To be fair this was their first time playing 5e, but what boggled my mind was this character had helped being made by our mutual friend that brought them to the party, and he is the biggest min-maxer I know.

>>49151109
Depends really. Standard is great just to keep everyone balanced. Rolling is fun just for the whole gambling aspect but more times than not can leave a character either unplayable or over powered as fuck. People should really try both, but I enjoy point buy more.

>>49151090
No, I think that's the Ambuscade one or something like that.
I mean this one http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/modifying-classes

>Preference
Point Buy

>Done at the table because something happened to the character, sheet, or player
Rolling.

>>49150586
Count of Monte Cristo style revenge

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has Wizards released any stats for FR gods in 5e, like Amaunator or Lathander?

and if not, are there some widely excepted homebrewed stats?

>>49135320
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes

>>49151881
No stats for gods yet, no.
The Demon Lords and Evil Elemental Princes are as good as you

>>49151881
Gods are for praying not slaying.
You don't need stats for gods.

>>49151881
>>49152473
Even the Demon Lords were a bit piddly for creatures that are supposed to be so strong.

My character in CoS died. I'm thinking my next character is going to be a Psion, using the Unearthed Arcana. I'm trying to decide on a race. Given I could find decent stats for one, do you guys think (story reasons aside) it would be okay to try to play a Mindflayer? The other races I'm considering are Drow, Tiefling, or a Fire Genasi, but I'm open to other suggestions/ideas.

I think I might want some ideas to help play my character better. It's my first time playing 5e, and my first time playing a spellcaster, but I feel like I'm not super sure how exactly I want to play the character I made.

>high elf wizard
>wizard school dropout because he was bored
(The idea of elves being potentially super lazy due to their long lifespans is funny to me)
>charlatan background
>dons fake "grand high wizard of importanttown" style gimmick to sell bogus potions

That's most of what I've been working with. I'm going for an evoker specialization, I think, in the future. Maybe down the line he develops some kind of motivation to get a second chance to learn spellcraft through his field experience. It rekindles a love for magic, maybe.

Any tips/ideas?

>>49152936
>>49152473
>>49151881
Only Tiamat. Tiamat has stats and earns her 30 CR.

>>49153632
Have a really high intelligence, and pick up unseen servant to clean you off all the time and do stuff for you. Also pick up mage hand so you can be even lazier. Also get find familiar and a familiar so you can just have your familiar look at stuff for you. Use magic missile at low levels and fluff it as your wizard kind of haphazardly shooting bolts of force around that fly towards the enemy. Other spells I would suggest are Tenser's floating disk to hold your stuff, and Sleep so that way you can laze about without your party complaining too much. In general use spells with saves instead of attack rolls to show that your character is lazy.

>>49152936
Well it helps that even if you kill them you don't ACTUALLY kill them.
>>49153722
Tiamat kinda straddles the lines between being a Demon Lord and a deity depending on what adventure module, what year it was written in, and what setting you're talking about.

D&D's cosmology mostly is fairly consistent within itself but Tiamat is all over the place.

catalogue says threads near its post limit so I've set up a new thread

49154210
49154210

>>49154241
try again

>>49154210
>>49154210