/5eg/ D&D 5th Edition General

What is the consensus on the best/worst classes right now?
I'd say the best are Wizard Cleric Druid (in no particular order), and the worst Champion Fighter, Sorcerer and Monk

>>49795389
Sorcerer isn't a "worst class", it's just not as good as wizard.
Monk is fine.
Frenzy Barbarian and Blade lock are as bad or worse than the ones you listed.

>>49795405
>Monk is fine
Damage wise isn't, it's even worse than some casters in that department.

>>49795413
Got any stats to back up that claim?
I'm not trying to be an asshole but from my experience (which I know is anecdotal) they seem fine
They have a lot of options that let them do stuff other than just damage too

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build him

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate Battlemaster Fighter?

My moon druid just reach level 2.

But I just realize.. we are going to enter a dungeon soon. Is there any good beast I can wildshape into that is Medium size?

Black bear is probably be my last resort.

>>49795437
Is pretty easy, monk deals 4d10+20 = 42 and this spending 1 ki per turn

Now calculate for the rest of classes, and add GWM and/or Sharpshooter

Just rogue with one attack deals 11d6+5 = 43.5, make that a rapier and it's 44.5, make TWF and it's 49

>>49795486
They are really good
FuckyouandyourshittyIGNscores/10

>>49795405
>>49795413
He's only outdamaged by fighters, rangers, paladins, barbarians, rogues, sorcerers, warlocks, some bards, some clerics, some wizards, isn't that bad

>>49795492

Wolf for shoving? Badger for rip-and-tear? Skunk (small, though) for chemical warfare?

>>49795486
My Archer battlemaster was pretty fucking awesome

>>49795349
Best: Bard (ALL the spells, skillful, healing, actually having d8 health and some armour, etc), Barbarian-Rogue or Druid (Because fuck dying ever yet can still do other things), Paladin (because fucking auras)

Worst: Ranger. Many muticlasses. Then it's hard to tell - Warlock, possibly fighter/monk/rogue, possibly sorcerer.

All of the classes I listed at 'worst' can be very reliably played as actually good, but they do have potential to be pretty bad.

>>49795413
Monk has constant CC. Ki recharges on short rests, stunning fist and way of the open hand has stuff like knock-downs.
Also pretty damn good damage-wise early on, best with good stats.

>>49795503
That doesn't really adjust for missed attacks, and for comparisons sake that rogue is probably much higher level than 5 which is where monk's start doing that damage. Magic items on a monk also improve it by 2 damage (well more if the GM is cool and actually gives unarmed using magic weapon equivalents) to the rogue's one. Monk's (and I think barbarians to an extent) have a problem with not really getting much in terms of damage for sticking with the same class after a point though

>>49795405
>>49795413

Monk is just fine. /5eg/ likes to trumpet around the fact that Monks are a terrible class, but it works just fine. Sure they aren't really viable if you're going for a DPS build but their core class abilities alone allow them to have good battlefield control and "survivability" in the form of Unarmored Movement, Ki abilities, Deflect Missiles, Slow fall, Stunning Strike, Evasion, etc.

>>49795486
IMO, Battlemaster would rate a high 6 to 7. It really is dependent upon how many short rests that they manage to get in because that's when they reset their superiority die. But otherwise it is a versatile class with decent damage output.

>>49795492
Giant Spider.

So I'm working on the cosmology of my game, mixing concepts of Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, and Gnosticism.

I'm wondering if I really need things like the many other planes such as the elemental ones. Since all of Creation comprises these elements I figured elementals are just beings that are of one element more than others. Summoning them is manifesting them from the material around the caster rather than calling them from another plane.

Does this make sense or will it fuck things up?

>>49795574
My bad, it's Large. I meant Giant Wolf Spider.

>>49795405
>Frenzy Barbarian
What's wrong with them?

>>49795492
Large creatures can still go down 5ft gaps and normal doors. You'll be fine in rooms just might be at penalty if your fighting in corridors, and even then only in tight corridors.

>>49795589
>will it fuck things up?
Nah, go for it.
Worst case scenario is that you have to alter or disallow a few higher level spells that have to do with dimension hopping.

>>49795600
>bonus action to rage+frenzy
>your first turn you can't even use your extra attack
>can only frenzy on the later encounters of a day
>still takes all your bonus actions to use extra attacks, which is okay for barbarian but has a really bad synergy with a lot of things, like great weapon master.
as opposed to
>wolf: all the melee guys on your team get advantage
>bear: straight-up tankiness.

Frenzy has a good level 6, though, I believe.

>>49795600
Exhaustion is just too big of a penalty after the first one (mostly in how much a pain in the ass it is to remove). They probably should have just had an amount of times frenzy could be used per rest or short rest or something along those lines

>>49795600
Rage yourselves to death in bed at the tavern. That said you have a shitty spook against one guy maybe, one extra attack as a bonus and literally that is it. The entire subclass is the second worst in game, only one worse is wild mage.

>>49795600
Frenzy, rest of features are pretty nice, specially the retaliation one. But exhaustion is a fucking killer

>>49795287
He probably has familyshitdrama again, but yes, please do.

If you were to associate one profession with the many races of D&D, what professions would they be.

This is relevant to a campaign i'm trying to write where the many races were created for a particular purpose by the gods.

>>49792162
>What are you stupid? Avatars have been put out as enemies for like level 10 parties in 2e. Avatars are specifically there for something that's meant to be beatable and yet still a significant blow to a god.
I'm actually curious where this written and in which modules.

Funniest moment at your table, /5eg/?

I just had a choice moment happen with our sorcerer last night.
>Party is at a royal feast & ball
>They need a distraction to sneak up to the Prince's quarters
>Sorcerer roleplays his casting of this spell
>I feel my stomach rumbling from the pickled eggs I ate at the tavern last night, and I decide to harness their power to cast stinking cloud in the middle of the feasting table
>I reach back with my hand, cupping the noxious gas as my anus utters a horrible noise that only barely could pass as verbiage for a spell
>With my hand cupping this concentrated spell, I hurl it to the middle of the feasting table, surging my sorcerer's blood to craft this perfect fart
>It explodes as it hits the table, a rotten eggy fart engulfing the feasters, but I take care for create a narrow tunnel of undesecrated air for our bard to escape through

The whole table was in stitches by the time he was done with this, I had those affected by the spell roll with disadvantage and I gave him inspiration because damn, he deserved it for that.

4e was really good.

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>>49795846

>>49795389
The Champion Fighter isn't even bad mathematically, the Sorcerer isn't bad fullstop.

The Ranger is objectively the worst class in the game.

>>49795897
>The Ranger is objectively the worst class in the game.
Outdamages monk and rogue, so "objectively" is kinda pushing
Also it seems to be the only way of reliably flying before high level because GMs don't allow Aaracokras and Variant Tieflings

>>49795788
He's wrong. In 2e, avatars were stupid powerful.

In 3e, which had actual stats for the deities, there were actual rules for creating avatars for said deities, and they were still stupid powerful, well beyond what any 10th level character could deal with. Except Pun-Pun, obviously.

3rd Edition, however, did introduce the concept of Aspects, which were indeed CR 10 versions of the deities. But they they embodied only a single aspect of that deity and mostly represented the equivalent of, like, a deity throwing a toenail clipping at you that then grows into a full-sized monster to fight.

I don't know about 4e.

>>49795910
Ranger only outdamages the rogue if the GM is handing him favoured shit out the ass and doesn't know how the new sneaking attack mechanic works.

>>49795897
The champion fighter is bad outside of combat. Same problems the berserker barbarian has really, just less extreme.

>>49795753
And you want to stick to dnd Races?

>>49795897
Not with the UA fix the ranger is not.

>>49795964
The "UA fix the ranger" introduces yet another 3 level multiclass only class into the game.

>>49795922
He was so smug about it too.

>>49795928
No, ranger outdamages rogue because he has hunter's mark, 3-4 attacks, and other shit, I didn't even took into account new ranger with favored enemy. Also once he gets Volley or Whirlwind (specially Volley) it's more clear that he's in the 3rd place of martial damage dealers.

>>49795964
Have they even finished testing it yet?

Because as it is now, it's kinda imbalanced, so I wouldn't call it a valid option.

>>49795971
All the best stuff for the new ranger comes down the line.

>>49795971
I'm sure yourself, genius game designer that you are, can whip up just what the ranger class needs.

>>49795979
But it's not the worst class in the game anymore.

Holy shit you spergs are terrible at balance.

>>49795978
This, pretty much.

Pure rogues aren't incredibly strong, but they aren't incredibly weak damage-wise.

>>49795988
But it's not official yet. If it is, then who the fuck thought that was a good idea?

>>49795922
He should learn to read then before spouting his mouth off.

>>49795953
Yes. If I have to change things, it will only be aesthetics. The stats will remain the same, barring some minor changes like the way elves rest ,seems rather superfluous and never really used.

>>49795971
You knew that UA didn't designed with multiclass in mind at all right? They have to make sure that the class is good enough by itself, they will move onto balancing the multiclass aspect.

There is even a sageadvice about this.

>>49795389
Lore Bard

>>49795605
Oh right! thanks! Hopefully there won't be too many tight corridors.

>>49795986
>>49795988
>>49796058
It's obvious he's a retard and/or troll.

As a halfling fighter, am I better off with Dueling or Archery?

My instinct is for archery, but having to be out of melee range all of the time seems to defeat the purpose of being one of the tankier classes in the game.

>>49796128
Archery. Get Crossbow Expert. Go shoot people in the face.

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Lathander is a piece of shit.

>>49796143
Speaking of Lathander... do you think he has selfcest with Amaunator, now that they are separate being?

>>49796143
>implying this is new.
Not!Jesus has always been a piece if shit.

>>49796156
>>49796160
Honestly Amaunator is the better god, they should've stuck with him and purged the Realms of Lathander's existence.

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Sk4oioyke

Hey guys, I've started reworking the Wild Magic Sorcerer. I want to make as few changes as possible, and still make the WMS fun to play.

So far I've added the underwhelming 6th level ability to level 1, which gives him some nice support abilities at first level IMHO; and added a 6th level ability of my own. Any ideas for 14th/18th level? (Maybe merge the two levels at 14, and add something cool for 18th level?)

I'm also thinking of changing the capstone for the Sorcerer in general, because holy shit this one is absolutely terrible. Perhaps add something that can let them cast any spell, using one of their spell slots once per long rest?

Ok guys. Nothing in 5e is broken, but there are 3 tiers of builds.

>tier 1, things a DM has to build their campaign around
Diviner Wizards, Wizards Druids and Bards (well played post level 7ish), Clerics (optimized/well played), SS/GWM Fighter (past 11), Moon Druid (level 2-4), and Open Hand Monks (level 2-4 well played)

>tier 2, things a DM doesn't have to think too hard about - maybe a solid gimmick that isn't perfect
90% of players and builds

>tier 3, things that a DM has to think about homebrewing or adding special events to the campaign to make them feel as heroic
Wot4E monks, berserker barbarians (really just DPR barbs in general), beastmaster rangers (outside wilderness only campaigns), shitty players

>>49796203
Yeah, all of that seams about right.

I play a cleric (Not super optimized but still.) and Ironically my DM actually made me even more powerful. this added to the face I have had great HP roll made it so I'm a tank, healer and a damaged dealer. I'm having a great time but I just don't know how the other players feel.

Is Ghostwise halfling mandatory Moonion Druid race?

>Telepathy for comunication in beast form
>Wisdom and dex bonus
>Shapeshifting for Small size drawbacks
>Just Lucky in general

>>49796262
>mandatory homebrew

>>49796203
Acording to rpgbot.net Wot4e is super duper strong and OH is mediocre at best

>>49795389
Monk is fine and unlike the fighter doesn't have to beg the DM for magic items to work (yes most dms hand out magic weapons all the time but a good dm will make you work for it).

Champion fighter is only boring because maneouvers aren't available to all martial classes like in the playtests.
Otherwise Champion is passive boosts the class.

Sorcerer is a tad underwhelming because you get most of the features you'd want by lvl 6 and they are an overall worse wizard with better control of their spells.
It's mostly only used for multiclassing.

>>49796203
>Nothing is broken
>tier 1 contains at least 3 characters that are completely broken and can derail a campaign 3.75 style
>there are 3 tiers of builds
This is the problem with WotC, people will buy and religiously defend anything with their label even if it was written entirely by commission.

>>49795413
Monk gets consistent 3d10+15 (30 average) damage per turn and by burning ki gets that up to 4d10+20 (40 average).

If you truly want to 'fix' the class then make them get a fighting style at lvl 1 or 2.

>>49796313

Its SCAG mate.

>>49795480
Mastermind rogue/Warlock (Fey or old one) Blade pact with his pact weapon being a mecha.

>>49796428
Playtest gave them, for a minute, 1d10 holy damage at 11th level (I think) for 1 ki.

Maybe not 1d10, but 1d6 wouldn't be such a bad thing.

>>49796367
>>49796391
Surely you can't say WOT4E is OK?

>>49796401
Nothing is broken. There is nothing a DM cannot challenge without jumping through silly hoops in 5e.

>but... but... muh portent
It's only two d20 rolls a day

>but... but... muh skellies
If you can't figure out the ramifications of crossing a country with a literal army of undead...

>but... but... muh wish/simulacrum/etc
At that point you are also subject to these spells yourself - probably befoe you can ever cast them.

>>49796506
>but... but... muh excuses
>thinks people are talking about muh necrophilia when discussing tier 1 broken shit
Ok.jpg

>>49796463
Okay Wot4e isn't okay.

It's bad because they just slapped on magic that uses martial resources instead of giving synergy with the class.

They could have done it like an eldritch knight instead (spell slots etc) with druid spells+scag cantrips and make the use of ki for a metamagic-like feature an option.

No synergy with unarmed strikes is also shit.

>>49796567
That would have been better I think. Or just narrow it down by school or to a very specific list of potential spells to learn.

>>49795503
Why is stuff always calculated for a level almost no one plays at?

>>49796506
>he thinks objective power is what matters

Sure, if a class feature gives them +100 to hit you can still challenge them with AC 115 monsters, but the rest of the party is gonna be bored out of their minds and thinking "why didn't I roll that class?"

>>49795503
I think rogue with BB+SA+Cunning Action will deal way more

>>49796616
what exactly is cunning action doing to deal damage?

>>49796367
>monk
>variant human is just as good as non-variant human! (green) but half-elf is yellow.
>if anyone's going to use non-variant human, it's the monk
Pffffftahahafucking really.
Monks have 3 dump stats - str, int, cha.
Barbarians have 2 dump stats - int, cha.
Paladins have 1 dump stat - int. Paladins typically use strength and charisma and constitution, and then are given extra benefits for having wisdom (perception, wis saves) and dexterity (dex save, initiative). The only stat they truly have no use for is int.
If anyone would be a non-variant human ever, it would be the paladin.

Non-variant human is just as good for monk as half-elf, probably.

No, seriously, putting 'green' on non-variant human and 'blue' on wrath of four elements is a joke. This fucking site's probably a joke, right?

>>49796630
>>49796616
Cunning action to disengage after using booming blade.

>>49796567
This is my main problem with some of 5e options, the astounding lack of synergy, mostly talking about wot4e, beastmaster and bladelock, but there're others out there

>>49796684
>Wis not dump stat for barbs
Wut?
>Dex not dump stat for Paladin
Double wut?

>>49796583
Here I go:

Lvl 3: Spell casting (like EK/AT) limited to learning evocation and transmutation spells (from all lists except warlock).
Learns the 4 control element (mold earth, gust etc.) cantrips from elemental evil + 1 cantrip of your choice.
Learn an additional cantrip each time you gain the monastic tradition feature.
You don't prepare your spells but k ow them by heart.
Learning a new spell costs you Spell level+8 hours of meditation with a spell book or scroll containing said spell.

Lvl 6: Ki as sorcery points and you learn one form of metamagic. +You don't require material components for your spells.

At lvl 11: Each time you cast a spell with an action you can use your bonus action to execute an unarmed strike or spend one ki point for a FOB.

At lvl 17: By expending 3 ki for one minute gain an extra Wis mod to damage rolls that deal Fire, Bludgeon, Thundering or Frost damage.

>>49796684
>This fucking site's probably a joke, right?
It's well known for not having a real grasp of options in every system they touch

>>49796720
>Evocation
Evocation fucking sucks for a 1/3rd caster

Also Sun Soul Monk is better than what you posted

>>49796720
I don't think you should invest time and energy into acquiring spells to your list. It should be a limited list you get to choose from.

>>49795657
Other abilities are nice? You call being able to grognak scream one guy frightened if you stop fighting to scream, nice?

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>>49795373
>That art...

>>49796755
Immunity to fear and other stuff is awesome once you realize that's the main cause of barbs losing rage, and like I said before, retaliation is pretty boss

>>49796711
>dex
>wis
>not important

Wis fuels perception and wisdom saves along with other skills.
Dexterity fuels stealth, initiative and dex saves, along with other things like if you need to throw something that isn't a big, bulky object. Also very important if you're ever caught without armour.

I've tried playing with dumping dex to 8 and wearing heavy armour, and dex still comes up CONSTANTLY.

Paladins can also choose dex as their main stat, although they need 13 strength to multi-class in or out and they may want 15 strength for +1 AC from plate armour.

You 'can' dump dex and wis, but you'd be better off if they weren't shite. Monk's main stats being dex and wis is great for the monk, since those two stats are pretty important.

Any advice for how to run a campaign for a large group (6-7 people)? I'm especially having trouble creating encounters that the players don't steamroll because of their numbers

>>49796885
I played a Palock with 8 dex, I had literally no problem

>>49796889
Either a large number of medium creatures so that every one get to fight one or two on their own. Or make on massive creature that is more or less mini-boss level. It can feel a bit more epic to fight massive creatures but a large encounter makes if feel like an actual battle.

Another thing you could do is if you already have one massive creature and it just feels like it's hitting one target (like the barbarian tank or something). Just lower the damaged and give it multi attack. Maybe instead of just one big swing it does melee-melee-ranged. That way it can attack more party members and feel a bit more fun.

>>49796885
>You 'can' dump dex and wis, but you'd be better off if they weren't shite
Same can be said of literally every character ever, sure, it's fucking awesome if all your stats are good, but that doesn't happen and that's why you have sometimes to play the lesser evil. Monks also benefit from good Str (for grappling/shoving/knocking prone you know, stuff related to irl martial arts) but it's less important than Dex/Wis/Con and therefore sacrificeable.

Monk is the most MAD of the full classes, because they entirely depend on Dex/Wis/Con due not having armors and decent HDs. Barbs can use armors and shields and have d12 so they, theoretically, could sacrifice Con if they needed to, same for Paladins and Dex/Con, though possitive score is needed but not as much as a monk's

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Maybe I'm being an imbecile but I need clarification on this:

For the new revised Beastmaster, does your animal bro ADD your prof bonus or is its own prof replaced by yours?

Ex: Black Bear has 15 strength but it's attack is +3.
Would it now be +5 or +4?

>>49796367
>Wot4e: super duper strong
>Way of the Open Hand: mediocre at best

That is enough to tell me that the site is absolute trash. I decided to check out its Monk guide as well, and it doesn't once consider Ki cost when looking at the effects.

Yup. They have no idea what they're talking about.

>>49796972
I've read as its proficiency bonus is replaced by yours. So it would get a +5 to attack rolls if I'm right

>>49796401
>>49796531

Yes. Nothing in 5e is broken. There's no secret gimmick or correctly optimized character that's going to leave you head and shoulders above the rest of the party. Hell, you could be a halfling divination wizard with the lucky feat and it still wouldn't be "broken".

But yeah, tell me more about how you can derail a campaign 3.75 style.

>>49797028
Animate Dead with Warlock spell slots can get out of hand, but a DM really has to be asleep at the wheel for that to happen.

So I'm new to dnd pretty much altogether. I've played other ttrpg:s alot but never dnd. Now I'm joining a campaign with a semi-new -group (I know two of the players well and have met the gm before a few times)

My question is, I want to do a crossbow -wielding plate -armor toting veteran-soldier -type cleric. And on top of that I want to make it a wood elf. Do you think its viable in any way (I don't care about min-maxing) or will it get my group assblasted?

>>49797126
Battlemaster Fighter+Crossbow expert feat. Dex based so Wood Elf works perfectly.

>>49797126
It all seams good to me. Crossbows need dex so wood elfs are perfect. If you want to play a cleric you would have to pick a divine domain that gives you proficiency with heavy armor. War cleric is a good pick since you want to be a veteran but any of them are fine.
It all checks out if you ask me. Your group shouldn't complain if you ask me.

>>49797126
The main problem with this is that (a) Plate Armor costs a ridiculous amount - 1,500 GP which you shouldn't be able to afford for some time and (b) it has a Strength score pre-requisite and if you don't meet it, your speed is reduced by 10 feet. For the early levels, you can do just as well with Chain Mail.

Assuming standard array:

STR 13 (To be able to wear Chain Mail, but you do get disadvantage to stealth)
DEX 14 (+2 with Wood Elf)
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 15 (+1 with Wood Elf)
CHA 8

Go with War Domain, Pick up Chain Mail, some crossbows and you're good to do. Picking up crossbow expert as a feat will also help.

Alternatively, you could go just go with a Fighter build and multiclass into Cleric for access to spells (and healing).

>>49796531
>I have no mouth but I can meme

>>49796613
You hyperbole makes no sense.

>>49797119
The issue with animate dead will always be the baggage it carries. It's a very powerful spell that can make a very powerful swarm of undead.

It will also turn the the campaign into "hey guys, this necromancer dude is out of control" for a brief time which is only bad if you are a DM that doesn't want to have the player's action make an impact.

Then again maybe that's what passes for "derail" these days.

>>49797196
>>49797258
>>49797292

Thanks guys, I'll talk about it with the gm now that I know its not a completely ridiculous idea. Was thinking about going life domain for the heavy armor prof and the nice heals.

>>49797292
Crossbow Expert is pretty much useless for classes with only one attack, unless he wants to go hand crossbow

>>49796940
I wouldn't call monks MAD. I'd call them AD for just 'ability dependent'.

Whereas a paladin would have more of a decision to make between perhaps strength and charisma, a monk is likely to have a lot less. Sure, more wisdom means better stunning fists, but dexterity determines if you even hit in the first place and adds +1 to damage on every single attack. I'd likely expect a monk to go dexterity first.

The deal is that there's a massive gap between charisma/int and perhaps wisdom. Int and charisma can very easily be left to other party members and often isn't too impotrant in completing a task, but perception is something often everyone wants and wisdom saves are actually relevant, unlike charisma and int.

Strength in the case you gave for monks is pretty situational. Monks aren't really grapplers. Heck, they're shite grapplers in terms of athletics when there are rogues/bards/barbarians/fighters/paladins who do that better. They can kncok people down, but they should go way of the open hand for that, which doesn't run off strength. They also don't really need to carry anything, so carry capacity doesn't matter.

Paladins can work with shit stats even if it means their save throw aura sucks, but if you have 5 good ability scores a paladin would need that more than a monk. A monk wants three good ability scores, anything else isn't worth much.

How long can a giant live?
Fire Giant and Stone Giants for example?

>>49797511
>and wisdom saves are actually relevant, unlike charisma

bane, banishment, calm emotions, dispel evil, divine word, escaping from a forcecage, penetrating a magic circle, choosing not to be affected by a seeming spell, planar binding, an involuntary plane shift, the hopelessness effect of a symbol spell, zone of truth.

Probably some things I missed.

>>49797993
Note that most of those will never be applied to a PC

>>49798008
Bane, calm emotions, forcecage, plane shift, hopelessness, zone of truth. These are not bad things for an enemy spellcaster to have at the ready...particularly if it's a known fact that adventurers tend to have weak forces of personality.

>>49798032
Yeah so you've removed over half (most of) the list.
Thanks for proving my point.

>>49798059
The point I was countering was whether or not Charisma saves are relevant, not whether or not they are common. You can tell because of the part I quoted in my original post about the other Anon saying that Wisdom saves are relevant but Charisma saves aren't.

A fighter or wizard might actually believe that Charisma is a worthwhile dumpstat for about 6 seconds, until they have discovered that their new life goal, instead of "Stop Lord Badguy", is "survive the 666th layer of the Abyss."

>>49796367
Holy fuck, I'm reading more from this site

>berzerker is 'optimal'
>wolf is only 'green' and is suggested 'oh, it's good with rogues because, uhh, you give them advantage and that lets them sneak attack?!' instead of the more important 'They get extra crit chance, which means they're more likely to double their sneak attack
It's like they don't even understand the fucking game. If you stand within 5ft of a creature, you already get sneak attack for the rogues unless you have disadvantage.

>DON'T DIP MORE THAN A LEVEL INTO ROGUE BECAUSE, UHH, CUNNING ACTION ISN'T USEFUL FOR A BARBARIAN?

>barbarian was either yellow or green for multiclassing out of monk, yet red for multiclassing into monk, despite starting with +4 HP for going barbarian

>wizard: 'you shouldn't multiclass wizard, because, uhh, you have opposite abilities' rather than saying 'YOU CAN'T CAST SPELLS/CONCENTRATE WHILE RAGING'

Okay, time to look at WARLOCK
>pact of the blade: red
Actually did something right for once

Okay, how about RANGER?
>beastmaster, green
Fucking hell

>war cleric's divine strike (whatever damage the weapon deals) is considered blue, whereas tempest (thunder) is green
>implying physical damage is better than thunder

>vengeance paladin is blue, ancients/devotion is green
It's like they hate the prospect of helping your team rather than just dealing raw damage.

This site just gave me autism.

>>49798032
>forcecage actually requires you to be able to teleport out in the first place
>zone of truth requires you to actually want to not want to tell the truth
>calm emotions requires you to not want to be calm for whatever reason
>bane requires the enemy to keep concentration. Enemies suck at that.

I recall there being only two charisma saves from the monster manual itself, being 'pixies trying to find out what alignment you are' and 'ghosts trying to possess you'.

>>49796043
Well, alright. Here is my suggestions.

>Dwarves
Architects, smiths.
>Elves
Scouts and explorers. Think wood elf more than high elf.
>Halflings
Farmers, cooks.
>Humans
Gatherers of raw materials, producers of simple wares.
>Gnome
Inventors, doctors, etc.
>Half Orc
Guards. Soldiers.

>>49798224
Results of "Charisma saving" search through my PDF:

- Demilich variant trap the soul
- Gold dragon lair action
- Formorian evil eye
- Ghost possession
- Sprite heart sight
- Umber hulk confusing gaze

So not a ton, but they're not exactly found on niche monsters, either.

>bane requires the enemy to keep concentration. Enemies suck at that.

Depends on the circumstance. Concentration does not require line of sight or even line of effect. A goblin shaman or whatever that gets off a successful Bane should immediately turn tail and flee, either hiding behind total cover or even just outright running away.

>zone of truth requires you to actually want to not want to tell the truth

I'm 1000% certain that I could abuse the *shit* out of this as DM whenever I wanted to. I know because I have.

>>49796043
Fire Giants as the greatest smiths.
Stone Giants as the greatest masons and engravers.

>>49797511
Monk needs Wis not only because Stunning fist but because they can't get AC from anything else but Dex+Wis, no armor, no shield, nothing, this makes Dex and Wis your main stats by far, you need the best you can have in those, this isn't like a half caster saying well, I'm ok with a 14 in my casting stat. Then there's Con, that thanks to your d8 and because you're a martial with source dependant survivability makes it pretty imperative to have if possible 14+

A Barb can survive with 12 or even 10 in Con, same with 14 in Dex because armors and shield, you only need Str after all.

A Paladin does fine with 8 on Dex, 12 or 10 in Con and no more than 14 in Cha. Because again, armors and shields.

If monk doesn't start with at least 16 Dex/Wis and 14 Con is pretty much a dead man.

>>49798370
So, standard human starting build, using the Default Array (15/14/13/12/10/8):

Str 9
Dex 15
Con 14
Int 11
Wis 16
Cha 13

Close enough.

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>>49798434
>13 CHA
>11 INT
>15 DEX

>>49798195
This is hilarious

>>49798488
I don't see a reason for a monk to care about Intelligence over Charisma, but in my view being at least somewhat capable at social interaction is a more useful trait than being able to tell me the rough circumstances of the fall of Netheril.

He could prioritize Dexterity over Wisdom if you like, flipping the two. Like I said, I was using the Default Array and the standard human, so one's gonna be a 16 and one a 15.

>>49798590
No man, the problem is ODD STATS.

>>49798605
What part of "default array" and "standard human" do you not get?

15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 naturally changes to 16, 15, 14, 13, 11, and 9 when you add +1 to everything.

You can point buy if you want, the point was to show that even with just default array you can pretty much meet the "if a monk doesn't start with at least 16 Dex/Wis and 14 Con" thing if you want.

>>49798328
The thing is, the caster knows whether or not a person has failed the zone of truth saving throw.

NPCs can just spam it and eventually find out the truth, regardless of your charisma.

I seem to remember there being someone who recorded the number of saves in the monster manual, and I remember it being about four. Six sounds plausible, though, and then there are spells.

I imagine a lot of DMs wouldn't play it where the enemies would abuse game mechanics. If a hobgoblin uses bane on the party, they might stay at the back but simply just running away will just feel like the DM's fucking with the party.

Player abuse of mechanics like 'I cast heat metal on guy in full plate, then run for the hills' is more allowable, though still needs to be watched sometimes.

>>49798370
Like I said, that's not MAD. That's just being dependent on having good ability scores.

You can make a fighter with 1 strength using strength-based weapons who is still actually viable. Not great, but they can be not-useless.

The Monk has a very simple 'these three stats you definitely need. These three stats you don't need at all' while the paladin is 'this stat you kind of need if you want to do this, this other stat you need if you want to do that, this other stat if you want this, and that, and then this if you want that...' and ends up being 'you can dump any of your scores, but each has a consequence, aside from int.'

>>49798663
>I imagine a lot of DMs wouldn't play it where the enemies would abuse game mechanics

...we definitely do not play or run the same sort of games, you and me.

>>49798649
Point buying to get 16s, 14s, and 12s is the like the first thing you learn about charop. It triggers me so hard when I see players buying 15s in off-stats because "my paladin is really smart :^)"

>>49798370
>Early 5e
>Want to be tiefling shadow monk to go full Kurt Wagner
>Die because my AC was like 14
>Months later retry it in a different group
>Still die because my AC was 14

I know that feel

>>49798932
He's not talking about point buy anyway so it doesn't matter
as an aside I agree with you though. I just started DMing a game and all the players are like that. IIRC they all have 11+ charisma, I don't think any of the have any mental state below 10

>>49798663
Heat metal requires action every round to keep the damage going though.

Anybody know how to make a Table of Contents and an index using http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/

I must be half retarded but I can't get shit to center or break into columns. Any help or a link to a guide of some sort would be appreciated. I already know I'm probably an idiot or very ignorant on a good day. Thanks!

As a player. What do you actually think is ok for your GM to fudge beyond whats on his papers? Be it whats in the PHB, monster blocks or w/e. For better or worse for the PCs.

>>49798974
>mental state
heh

>>49799022
>tfw autocorrect makes a pun

>>49798932
I wasn't trying to CharOp, however. I was pointing out that a human monk, with the default array, can basically meet the "survival" requirements that that Anon posted.

>>49798974
>I don't think any of the have any mental stat below 10

This is not a bad thing.

>>49799013
As long as it's either for a good reason like improving gameplay, making the story better, lore, etc.
And the DM communicates this to his players and listens to what they say it's a-ok. If they say "No that's terrible, why would you do that?" you might want to hold off on it. If they say something like "that's great" you're on the right track and can most likely put it in with no problems. In the case where they say "But ___" you are fine and might just want to double check what you are going to do.

>>49798979
Bonus action, if I recall right. The damage also automatically hits.

>>49799071
I'm not saying it's bad it just triggered my dormant 3.5e instincts

>>49798731
If monsters abuse mechanics, it'd take away some of the immersion. That's the reasoning behind it, anyway.

It's good they're using the rules against the players, because the rules are clearly defined and the players know it isn't just the DM making up bullshit, but there's also an element of some monsters having abilities which the players can't expect to fully understand. In those cases, the abilities should be intuitive enough that the players can guess at how they work. Still kinda sucks to be told 'Okay, yeti looks at you funny. You are now paralyzed. He walks over and mauls your fucking face off because he autocrits you." rather than "The goblins all come out from behind cover, fire at you, then walk behind cover again and now you can't shoot them."

But, yes, I guess each approach has an upside and a downside.

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>>49799013
Some of this is a bit of holdover from the fact that my group has been gaming together for a long while, but it's always been an unspoken agreement that the GM can fudge whatever he likes, and his rulings are more important than the rules in the books. We know that he's going to run a good game no matter what, and in order to better tailor it to us, we give him whatever leeway he wants.

I've been in groups before where players will try and call the GM out on something and assume that the book supersedes the GM's authority. If your GM genuinely has the player's best interest in mind (So this doesn't include bad GMs who are on a power kick or actively want to 'win' the game) then why would you want to stymie him?

>>49799013
As long as the players don't find out or get suspicious, it's alright.

There's a little bit of magic lost if they realize you've been fucking with things, though.

Railroading with false choices such as 'you can go left or right, they both lead to the same place' sort of follows this in that it's okay if players never find out, but then it's still making a bad story because the players had no idea what left was and what right was and thus the choice was never meaningful no matter where each place leads.

>>49799164
>it'd take away some of the immersion

I'm just arguing in favor of playing monsters intelligently, or at least as intelligently as their statblocks allow. Tucker's Equal-Opportunity Monsters.

I also try to run worlds where the players, while the *stars* of the show, are not necessarily the center of it. Stuff happens, people are doing things, and not all of it is level-appropriate. The players aren't the first band of adventurers and won't be the last. The world has reacted at least a little to the existence of adventurers as well. Magic is also a force that is generally understood by those who use it.

A goblin who casts Bane knows that if he loses his concentration on it, it'll be disrupted, which might lead to his tribe mates getting slaughtered. Equally, as a goblin, he's probably an evil coward and hates his tribe mates, except insofar as they're warm bodies between him and the assholes who want to kill him.

So after setting off Bane, if he's fighting something obviously dangerous, he's going to take steps to protect himself, rather than risk getting hurt and the Bane being broken.

>>49799013
>>49799208
>As long as the players don't find out or get suspicious, it's alright.
I played with a new DM and he just couldn't hide it at all when he fudged the rolls. The way he acted made it incredibly obvious, and it ended up being kind of funny. Another funny part was when someone rolled perception and he said something along the lines of "uhh, okay, you don't notice the trap."

So yeah, I guess I agree that it's okay to cheat as long as you don't get caught.

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>49799232
willpower save against big guy jokes

I need help, we're starting Elemental Evil next week, i want to play a human wizard or a sorcerer and i'm trying to go for a Gandalf-like character. Now the problem is i don't know wether to play a sorcerer or wizard and what origin/school to chose: sorcere is the most fitting for a Gandalf-like character but both origins suck and don't fit at all (even if wild magic seems really fun to play); the wizard on the other hand has some really fun schools and i can't decide wether i want a diviner, an abjurer or theurgy with life/light domain (wich seems the most fitting although it doesn't seem as fun as the others). What do?

Btw the rest of the party should be:
-Dwarf Battlemaster (tank-damage dealer)
-Half-elf Fighter Eldritch Knight (main damage dealer)
-Halfling Bard (mostly buffing, some healing and some trapfinding/lockpicking)

and stats are 14 14 14 13 13 9

>>49799348
Favoured soul sorcerer

Your stats are mediocre as fuck

>>49799348
>EK damage dealer
>Not the BM
Do not compute

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>>49799232

>>49799348
Wizards are better, especially as a primary spellcaster for a group
I'd probably take a divination wizard

When I next run a game I'm going to ban so much magic, or turn it into rituals after the campaign I'm playing in right now. Some of this utility stuff is just too good and obnoxious.

>>49799363
>Favoured soul sorcerer
>wings
I don't really like it, maybe i'll go for a Theurge.
>Your stats are mediocre as fuck
I know but there's no coming back now

Aid for familiar should be a bonus action or disengage should

>>49799400
wat
this isn't 3.pf buddy

>>49799418
You aren't going to reach 14 level, also you said you wanted to be Gandalf, he's technically a Cedric angel, but Favoured soul works perfectly

>>49799440
Cleric*

>>49799400
Your players probably won't enjoy it, but I hope you make / find a group with tastes similar to yours

>>49799343 >>49799372
Yeah, this was part of my plan too.

>>49799466
>>49799437

Mostly just shit like Mind Rape

>>49799425
Don't drink and post

>>49799474
Literally what

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>>49799474

>>49799400
Huh. I'm doing the exact opposite. Everyone has Ritual Caster for free; I also added some 4th level Rituals and extended the ritual list out to 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells.

Additionally, anyone from any class can read and cast a non-class spell scroll with a DC 10 Intelligence check, or DC 15 if they can't read the language. Plus I made it so that the spells in a spellbook can be cast directly out of the spellbook as though they were scrolls, although this erases them from the spellbook permanently and they'll need to be replaced.

The idea with the last one was that a classic fantasy trope is some moron getting their hands on a wizard's spellbook and casting spells from it; but this is impossible in standard D&D. I dislike that.

>>49799476
Where's the fun in that? But really, I'm tired of GMs killing my familiars as soon as they use aid other action

>>49799491

OH

no wonder this seems bullshit, it's a god damned 3.5 rebuild.

Of all the editions, what is your favorite adventure book?

>>49799529
You're looking at homebrew? Of course it'll be bullshit.

>>49799547

fucking DM

>>49799535
It's the Marmite of classic modules but I'd have to say Barrier Peaks

>>49795373
One must have magic item for any party is a decanter of endless water. Dehydration sucks and the decanter can also allow makes a nice impromptu fire hose for putting out fires and stopping hostile creatures.

My favorite NPC encountered in 5e was Prince Derendil from OoTA. He is a wonderful noble who I will help establish a kingdom once the whole mess with the demons is done. LONG LIVE PRINCE DERENDIL!

>>49799232
I'm for doing this sort of thing where monsters act as intelligently as they allow, and are actually used to dealing with some adventurous types and using tactics, but...

Using tactics that are blatantly mechanic abuse rather than actual logical tactics would be a no.

If a hobgoblin runs in, casts 'bane' and then runs off immeditately with almost no chance for the players to react, that's not fun for the players.
The fun is that players have the choice of breaking past the enemy line to try attacking the hobgoblin at the back, and have options.

The best example would be a lich with 'power word: kill'.
Every day, they can simply walk by and murder an adventurer with no repercussions aside from not having a level 9 slot for a day.
They know adventurers could cause problems, so they could use this to simply out-right cull the adventurer population. While seeing the lich would be a very rare thing, simply meeting the lich might result in 'Oh, look, budding adventurers! Okay, one of you is dead. I'll kill another one of you tomorrow.'

Rather, normally, the lich would be assumed to keep their level 9 slot in reserve 'because, oh, stuff might happen later that day!' even though chances are something won't and the lich wouldn't care too incredibly much if they died.

>>49799719
How far are you in the adventure? What cities have you been to?

>>49799400
There are a lot of utility things that deserve nerfs for certain styles of campaign. 'identify' for example might not identify a super powerful artefact that nobody knows about, and would only give mechanical information such as 'this item has the ability to emit fire in someway.'
To be fair, the best approach is probably to give martials cool utility items than to remove magic. For example, only a martial might have enough strength to carry a magical battering ram or something.

>>49799517
I was considering a campaign where magic was extremely prevalent, and things like bag of holding handbags or magic brooms or fucking hogwarts was normal.
Heck, maybe hogwarts for little adventurers.

Anyway, the idea would've been that at certain levels everybody gets cool, unique magical abilities. Preferrably with downsides, and not directly combat buffs or devaluing unique abilities of other features.

>>49799804
The reason why liches don't make a habit out of doing this is because it flags them pretty strongly for extant high-level adventurers, or a bored chromatic dragon, or a god looking to add a page to their holy text.

>The fun is that players have the choice of breaking past the enemy line to try attacking the hobgoblin at the back, and have options.

Well, nothing's stopping them from trying that, they just have to catch up.

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I'm going to be DMing my first campaign, I asked my players how they wanted the story presented to them, and they said they wanted something as in-depth as possible, to the point where they might be okay with railroad (although two of them devoutly want sandbox)

So my idea is for them to get a "prophesy" (some extremely vague mumbo jumbo) at the beginning of the campaign, and then allow them to freely roam and to present arcs of the story to them as they pick their own path.

I'm just worried the prophesy bit might be a bit over the top, and I don't want them to roll their eyes at it. I'm thinking something along the lines of some old wizard mentioning some bit of their past, and then giving a cryptic hint to the BBEG before leaving.

Do you think that might be too much?

>>49800454
I can't speak for everyone but in my experience stuff like this never, ever works
It's better to have a few vague overarching conflicts or villains and then make whichever one the players attach to the most important

>>49800492
That I can do. I was thinking about there being some weird cataclysmic event to get them started, linked to the bbeg, but I could just as easily give them several leads and let them pursue whatever they choose (maybe have the leads tie back into one another later?)

skip the prophesy all together, you think?

>>49800557
Do that. Prophecies are lame.

The inciting moment doesn't even have to be cataclysmic. It be as small as "someone kidnapped grandma" and have the characters go hunting and get them involved in the larger conflict that way

>>49800557
Look up slyflourish or "The Lazy DM" for excellent DM advice to run a generic fantasy adventure.

I wanna make a fiend-hunter Arcana domain cleric. What spells should I focus on? Starting at level 3.

>>49800578
was gonna have there being some weird shit happening in their starting town for them to take care of, thinking that was the cause of the Cataclysm™ but once they venture out of the town, they find out it affected a bunch of different areas, not just their own

>>49800557
They start at a festival and a wizard fireballs the crowd, leaving only the PCs alive in the blast.

Their first adventure will likely be hunting down the wizard, which gives you a chance to introduce all the plot hooks.

>>49800557
Definitely skip the prophecy.
A huge plot thread can come from something as small as a wanted poster, Matt Colville (a guy who's advice videos get recommended a lot here) mentions this in one of his videos - a big political subplot in his game was introduced in this way and the players got interested and tried to learn more about the noble that posted it (the Invincible Overlord).

So I'm a newbie DM, and new to TRPGs in general.

I'm setting up a necromancer quest for my 4 friends who are playing the game with me. I'm gonna set up a Spectator as the bad guy, but after they beat the Spectator, they'll learn he was just the dude summoned by the real big evil neromancer

Is that a good thing, or a normal thing for a DM to do?

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How would one go about making a True Neutral character that isn't just an apathetic piece of shit?

>>49800905
That's fine. Most campaigns go mini-BBEG-->main BBEG.

You're throwing away the potential to do something cooler with the plot IMO but that works

>>49800905
Yeah, it's good.
Standalone villains are nice for subplots but when you're starting out the villain behind the villain is a classic way of moving a plot the players are already interested in forward.
And I'm sure such an evil wizard might be pissed off that adventurers killed his spectator.
A good way to kick off a reveal like that is that after a few days of rest and recover after defeating the spectator, the heroes are targeted by assassins carrying kill orders bearing a mysterious name or seal.

>>49800960
whats a cooler thing to do? I wanted to kinda give the players the experience of a Beholder, but not have a TPK

>>49800984
nice idea, thanks

>>49800960
I think for a first campaign it's good though.
A lot of first campaigns go to pot because the DM wants to overreach and run a game they're just not capable of running yet, so a standard plot progression is better in that regard IMO.

>>49800935
someone suffering from an internal conflict on what is good and evil, is the law just and true, can they trust their own morals and judgement to be chaotic, who determines good and evil

roleplay a 20 something who read their first philosophy book and doesnt know how to cope with it

>>49800179
>they just have to catch up
You mean, completely ignore all the other enemies that are attacking them, take all the reaction attacks for running past them if it's a smaller space, et cetera?

If in a dungeon and the hobgoblin just wanders deeper into the dungeon, there's really no option. The only way they could have possibly have stopped it happening is going in entirely unnoticed.

And those reasons for liches not doing that are very game dependent. Sometimes the players are some of the only high level heroes able to stop such a lich, sometimes a game has it where gods don't interact so freely with the world and would have to send heroes (Say, the players) to stop them. Dragons might be considered to not care, or be mythical, sleeping and waiting.

Tucker's kobolds done well will actually make sense. It won't be 'the kobold runs around the corner, aims, shoots you, does a little dance and then runs and you can only hit them if you prepared an action because you can no longer see them' but instead 'the kobolds are using cover and luring you into traps'.

>>49801066
They could disengage and run forward
Ain't no rule to say you have to withdraw back

>>49800935
I mostly think neutrals as selfish, but they're not as ruthless about it as evil characters would be, and they don't enjoy hurting others. So they could be interested in getting money or power, but helping someone out if they felt like it wouldn't be out of the question either. Especially if it was someone they knew.

Being in the middle of Law and Chaos just means they won't have any problems with fitting into society, but they might break the law every now and then if they needed to.

>>49801410
Neutral is for crimes like media piracy

>>49798311
I like these very much. Humans I don't think will be part of the "system" of the created races. They're more an anomaly than something born of purpose.

>>49798336
I hadn't considered non-PC races but this also works too. Perhaps they work/worked in concert with the dwarves?

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Hit a brick wall with my build. I can't decide between dark one's blessing and fey presence. Dark one's blessing gives me 1d4+2 (going from 1 to 3) temp hp just for killing an enemy, whcih syncs well with GWM. but fey presence frightening/charming enemies gets me advantage on melee attacks, also sleep and faerie fire are great. but then again I want burning hands cause it's cool and fits my character. GWM melee lock btw.

I wanna make Hellblazer John Constantine in D&D, in a sort-of pseudo Victorian setting (not Keanu Reeves Constantine, even though the movie is fine if you don't think about the comics). I'm only a player, so homebrew might not be kosher (or else I'd just write a class or subclass).

Thoughts?

>>49801488
vengeance paladin

>>49801488
Get your DM to roll out Masque of the Red Death?

>>49801513
Really? I don't see it. I was thinking some sort of Rogue/Cleric multiclass, but how to make that work I hadn't gone into yet.

>>49801543
Dex vengeance paladin. Beg dm for a magic crossbow you can smite through

>>49801487
Fey Presence requires you to invest in Charisma to keep it relevant, while dark One's Blessing is automatic. If you go with Fey Presence, make sure you grab Fiendish Vigor as one of your invocations early on (you can swap it out later).

>>49800935
Make it so they believe that all things must be balanced in the world. 'There cannot be good without evil, and there cannot be chaos without order.'

>>49801258
Disengaging takes an entire action, though. Lots of time wasted in the heat of a combat.

>>49801581
Thats a good point about cha investment. I wasn't too worried since I do have 16 cha and didnt think I would get this character too far. And yeah getting fiendish vigor in that case was the plan. Honestly fiendish vigor plus fey just seems mechanically better

>>49801614
It lets you get (almost) on-demand advantage, you get temp HP you can control rather than on-kill, and Archfey has some pretty good spells for a bladelock (go take a good, long look at Blink).

>>49801487
Will 1 to 3 temp hp ever really matter?

>>49801599
So you get your rogue or monk to do it as a bonus action and deal with the caster

>>49801705
3 temp HP whenever you drop a dude? It'd really help your goblin-cleaving ability.

>>49801728
It's not like it stacks, though.
Is half a goblin's damage in temp HP useful?

>>49801744
Assuming he's going to 4 in warlock and has some cha investment, it's closer to a full goblin's damage. He also gains this, presumably, every single round while cleaving goblins.

>>49801705
>>49801728
>>49801744
It's Cha mod plus warlock level, so if you have 16 Cha it'd start at 4 and go up from there, which gets pretty good fast.

Even Fiendish vigor equates to an extra level's worth of HP for your warlock most of the time. It's surprisingly useful.

>>49801568
Not-so-threadly reminder that ranged smites are fine and, if needed, can be balanced by requiring that the spell slot be spent prior to the attack roll.

I'm DM'ing for the first time in a generic fantasy setting, but my players really love Lovecraft shit so I was gonna try to squeeze a bit in, probably just a side quest with some C'thulu shit.

I have no idea how I'd get that kind of stuff in 5e though. Any help?

>>49801774
>>49801777
I guess it's conceivably useful against hordes of small enemies.

>>49801723
weird, it's almost as if that's their intended use or something.

>>49801803
It's not really a super appropriate system for that.
If you must, start with aberrations like the gibbering mouther.

>>49801831
...yes?
That's what I'm saying?
What's the argument here?

>>49801840

Oh I didn't mean I was gonna implement sanity and all that shit, just looking for some homebrew eldritch creatures that have somehow found their way into the world and have my dudes try to close the portal/gateway/toilet they found their way in from.

>>49801855
I'm agreeing with you
dumbass

Just ran my party of four people through Curse of Strahd's first part, the haunted house. It was a fighter, a cleric, a rogue and a wizard, and they did not have any trouble at all until the last boss, the shambling mound whom they faced at level 2.
They've all been at zeroes multiple times during this fight, but brought each other back through healing spells and potions, fighter survived unconcious and stable inside the boss' guts for about eight rounds, and eventually they even won, but with horrific losses. Every single one of them but the wizard died.
I guess the fight would be much shorter, if mound didn't succeed against Tasha's Hideous Laughter twice in a row. Even Portent didn't really help.
However, the wizard did come up with a clever tactic of luring the monster under tha gates and then crashing him with it. I've decided that the situation is so hopeless, I'll allow him to make int and wisdom saving throws, add the results together and deal this amount of damage to the mound.

Anyway, the wizard was the only one who survived the boss battle, but he only barely got out of the house alive anyway due to how it becomes a deathtrap the moment the mound dies. Only his newfound Misty Step allowed him to bypass poisonous smoke and scythe doors.
This adventure is fucking brutal.

>>49801979
I mean, they don't call it Life House.

>>49801979
I ran it, party got through the whole, thing, killed the mound with ease, went back upstairs, saw everything had gone to shit, panicked, died.

>>49801723
>rogue runs ahead
>right into a trap
>right into a gangrape of goblins that shove him down and beat the fuck out of him
>can't actually reach goblin because bane can be cast from quite far away and then the hobgoblin can easily move outside of the rogue's move+disengage+attack range (Which is only 30ft, normally)
>hobgoblin goes down winding corridors, hides amongst trees, etc
>bonus points if it's a flying creature and just hides in a tree like a little shit
>it goes down a traphole, a door, or something
>all the frontline monsters chase after the rogue and are out of range of the party for meleeing, so the party barbarian/paladin/GWM fighter etc can't do much
>even if the rogue attacks, they have to actually hit and the damage isn't gauranteed to break concentration. They only deal one instance of damage, probably, rather than having the whole party able to gang up on them

I don't know, here's endless ways a hobgoblin could abuse this in a 'no fun allowed' way.

Being able to concentrate on a spell on someone you don't even know exists and is literally miles away is kind of bullshit, to some extent, if there is no reliable way of tracking down the caster from the spell. But this is 5e, so they're not going to include extremely detailed rules about how concentration spells can lead you to their caster or something.

>>49801979
>deal int + wis save damage

What the hell is this. Did the wizard suddenly become a psyker?

>>49802111
apparently bows dont exist in your setting. Neat.

>>49801886
Alright, you just took a very sarcastic tone.
Bit rude, that's all.

>>49802186
welcome to 4chan

>>49802111
Can you maintain concentration on a spell you've moved that far away from?

>>49802207
Thanks but you're several years too late for that.
I guess this thread has just raised my standards, although it's been pretty shitty these last couple of weeks.

>>49802208
As far as I know, you can actually move to another plane and still maintain concentration, as per chapter 10 of the PHB.

Only:
1. Damage
2. Being incapacitated or killed
3. Casting another spell that requires concentration
4. Any effect that specifically disallows you from concentrating (Only one I know of is barbarian's rage)
can break concentration.

>play as a inquisitor type of cleric
>PurgeAllTheHerecy.png
>Another player rolls up a elf that is possessed by a demon and looks like one.
>OOC everyone is fine with this
>Realize I constantly have to make excuses why my character just won’t kill him every chance I get.

Do you guys have any suggestion how I can make a bit of a more “permanent” excuse of not just killing him up right. Since that whole “you’re more useful alive” doesn't make a whole lot of sense my character.

>>49802278
Jesus, what absolute nonsense.
Why is this allowed?

>>49802322
Due to my character*

>>49802322
As long as you're looking for a way to exorcise the demon it's easier to justify.
Perhaps he's useful alive to your church in some way.

>>49802361
That would make sense. While it would be up to the DM a bit I could justify the whole exorcising part as long as my character believes it's actually possible.
The problem is that my cleric would go "Nope exorcising didn't work, guess I just better get to purging." but I could skip that part.

Does anyone have any homebrew demons or devils?

I really hate the ones in the MM, they seem so cartoonish.

I'm a little confused on effects which reduce a targets maximum HP.
Say it reduces HP by 10, and the target's max HP is 32.
If they're on 32 HP they go down to 22.
But what happens if they're on 25 HP?
Do they go down to 22 as their maximum is reduced? Or do they effectively take 10 damage, taking them down to 15 out of a total 22?

>>49802278
Did you just ignore the "any situation the DM feels fit to call for a concentration check?"

>>49802500
They drop to 22

>>49802500
they go to 22

>>49802516
As a follow up question, what happens after their HP is restored? Will they be back up to 32?

>>49802500
If they have higher current health then what their maximum health would be reused down to, they take that amount of damaged..

>>49802530
No. They have effectively taken that HP as damaged.

>>49802541
Alright, cool.
Thanks everyone that gave me a shout

>>49802530
I believe all of those effects also say that the max HP is restored by some condition. Like a specter or vampire says after a long rest

Hey famalia can someone explain to me why someone would pick the "Thief" specialization in the Rogue class?
Assassin seems the best for outright killing shit and Arcane Trickster seems to be fantastic in terms of magical utility. What place does Thief hold?

>>49802598
Thief is a pretty boss thief/item monkey

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>>49795389

>god tier
Bard, Cleric, Paladin

>high tier
Barbarian, Rogue

>mid tier
Fighter, Monk, Wizard

>okay tier
Druid, Sorcerer

>faggot tier
Warlock

It's pointless to argue which classes are 'the best' when you should be arguing which classes contribute the most to the party.

>>49802612
>phb ranger is so shit it doesn't get a tier

>>49802612
>>49802630

I forgot to put ranger in there. If you allow the new revised one he's probably in mid-high tier, but vanilla is probably only okay-mid tier. In a game that actually has exploration they can be a great help.

>>49802606
>Thief is a good thief
Jokes aside, I get what you meant, but I feel like creativity with the arcane trickster class would outshine Thief.
Obviously, the capstone is incredible, but my group rarely does high-level stuff.

>>49802612
>Druid
>Okay tier
Literally why would you play anything else when you can have Stephen Hawking who can turn into a bear in its prime

>>49802612
Our wolf barbarian is so bro tier even our wizard is running into melee from time to time

He's a bladesinger

>>49802678

Because constantly saying 'lol I'm UNKILLABLE xD' and being an autistic pagan fuckwit is annoying.

>>49802504
That's not an absolute ruling but a 'DM can probably get you to probably do a DC 10 check' but I should've included it. I just mentally clumped it with 'damage' since it's like taking 0 damage but being forced to roll for it.

>>49802340
Not as bad as invisible familiars helping.

>>49802653
Bonus action item use is good if you stock up on stuff like cantrips, hunting traps and ball bearings, especially in low level games.
I'm not sure whether Alchemist's (blank) works with this but if it does then that's something to consider.

>>49802718
I don't know, I think it's worse.
You can deal with invisible familiars with like one attack with disadvantage, and besides anything else it's more of a player strategy than an asshole DM one.

>>49802612
>>49802678
I have to agree, Druids get all kinds of utility and healing and can switch it out on a daily basis according to need

Although when wildshaped in combat they don't really interact with the rest of the party other than being an obstruction to enemies, so there is that

>>49802716
But is it useful for the party?
The tier isn't based on if it hurts your feelings

>>49802322
Better have the demon incarnated and under supervision until you find a reliable way to destroy it. If you just kill the elf the demon might escape to god knows where and do god knows what.

>>49802788

Treehugger detected.

But I guess you're right, >>49802758 said it the best. They can be 'really okay tier.'

How can I make a Great Weapon Fighting halfling fighter, assuming no feats on the long run and standard array of stats?

>>49802805
Now that I like. I'm probably going to go with that. Thanks anon.

>>49795413
Eh. I'm doing fine as our "striker" so to speak. At lv 5 I have 3-4 attacks at +8 to hit for 1D8+5, 1D8+5, 1D6+5, 1D6+5(w/ 1 Ki).

We're a party of "off-archetype" classes. Monk, Paladin, Warlock, Bard.

The warlock definitely packs a punch, but I never run out of fist.

>>49802743
Without 'see invisible' or something to tell the familiar is there, there is absolutely no way to work out where the familiar is. The 'help' action does not indicate the familiar's position in any way.

If the familiar is 5ft above someone, they'll almost never get hit by enemy AoEs.

And anyway, it only takes an hour to replace a familiar.

And yeah, it's more of an asshole player strategy the DM should punish somehow.

>>49802718
It's not DC 10, it's whatever the DM says. The example was a DC 10.

>>49802894
It suggests that the DM may make you make DC 10 saves.

Nothing about making non-DC 10 saves.

If the DC is higher than 10, you should probably be taking damage.

>>49802836
Use a longsword two handed.

>>49801650
>>49801581
>>49801614

Ok, so looking through conditions, it seems frightened doesnt actually give attackers advantage. I could have sworn this to be the case in the last campaign I played, wtf.

>>49802881
>if the familiar is 5ft above the ground AoEs won't hit
Not even a little true.

>>49803130
Name me an AoE attack that may accidentally hit a target 5ft above a teammate (since you don't even know the thing is there) if you are avoiding hitting teammates.

>>49803233
>>49803130
Oh, now I think about it, there are some like spiritual guardians and the like that exclude teammates, but I'm doubtful about how many monster attacks exclude teammates.

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>Take observant feat
>DM stops using passive perception entirely

>>49803320
20+ passive perception op

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>>49802612
You literally just ranked them according to how much utility they provide.

What a stupid fucking criterion.

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>>49804139

>>You literally just ranked them according to how much utility they provide.
>Barbarian over half of the class list when they only have around five more or less mutually exclusive utility options

>>49804139
>You literally just ranked them according to how much utility they provide.
>What a stupid fucking criterion.

yes, that's what makes classes powerful, not just MUH DPS

Question about the Warlock class:

Pact Boon is received at level 3, let's say I take Pact of the Tome.
Can I then immediately take the Eldritch Invocation "Book of Ancient Secrets"? by replacing one of the Eldritch Invocations that I learned at level 2

Book of Ancient Secrets has the Prerequesite of Pact of the Tome.

What I'm wondering is if you can come up with a "stack" that "resolves" in an order such as
>hit level 3
>receive Pact Boon: Pact of the Tome
>get opportunity to replace an Eldritch Invocation
>replace _____ with Book of Ancient Secrets

The purpose of this would be to avoid having to either hit 4th level to trigger the replacement, or 5th level to gain a 3rd invocation.

What would you say as a DM? I think most DMs would say it's fine.

>>49804674
Yes, you can.

>>49795373
Does anyone have an NPC library with CR and EXP?

>>49804827
???

Why do you guy hate druid...?
Moonbeam + Restrict is fun! FUN!

>>49804859
Just looking for a bunch of stat blocks for NPCs. Preferably ones that have a combat rating and an amount of experience to give the PCs when they defeat it.

>>49804898
Isn't something like this at the end of the monster manual?

I want a prestige class that mixes a Bard and an Alchemist.

Breaking Bard.

>>49805188
Yeah, but it's not nearly extensive enough for my liking.

>>49805305
Get out

>>49804898
www.dmsguild.com/product/172470/Adversaries--Allies
It's PWYW

>>49805399
Ta anon

>>49805305
>>49805341
He does make a point though, Wizards should consider hybrid classes that blend archetypes.

>>49805627
Why? A large part of 5e's attraction is that it doesn't try to over-complicate things. Just multiclass, you twink.

>>49805627
They do that through archetypes like Eldritch Knight and Bladesinger.

how big should a village be for session 1, for newbie players?

the village serves as a vault to a bigger town. It's got 5 houses, a tavern, a church, a manor, and a shop. It's the remants of a town that was protected by a tower owned by a lord of the local area. That was decades ago, and now goblins have infested the local woods, so the level players need to kill them. There's a little dungeon full of goblins and the lord's tower which is in ruins. Maybe a couple goblins over there, too.

is that good, or should I make the town bigger? I was thinking of adding a blacksmith's place and a few more houses, cuz I have like 16 NPCs

>>49805687
It won't overcomplicate things, you goddamn retarded piece of shit.

>>49805696
They're not really good though.

Whats the most FUN solo class?

I was thinking of a PALADIN

>>49805868
Double the number of houses and one of them can have an attached smithy

>>49805968
thank you

So I'm DMing a group of new players, taking them through Phandelver.

I hate their characters.
I know that they can RP better, but are too stuck in their 1st ever D&D characters to move forward.

I could just kill them with some random thing, but they'd hate me for it and would see it for what it is.
But one idea I had, was to let them start a guild of some sorts, with a base of operations.
Retire their old PCs, to live out their lives managing the guild as NPCs. While they roll up new characters that have a little more substance.

Does this sound like a good idea?

>>49803233
Since you said "enemy AoEs" I don't have to :^)

Also Sleep.

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>>49805936
Illusionist wizard. It's you vs the world, and all you have to save you is lies.

Just kidding.
Open hand / Shadow Monk, (revised)Ranger, Paladin, Druid, and Valor Bard are probably fun solo-game classes.

>>49806243
I forgot about Rogues. Rogues could be fun, too.

>>49805936
Bard. Both Lore and Valor work.

>>49806544
>tfw no one to give bardic inspiration to
;_;

>>49806640
Usually when I hear / play solo-games, at least one DMPC is involved.

Thinking about rolling a bard that specializes in vicious mockery and invisibility, subclassed to College of the Mad God. Haven't played since 3e, what are the major changes?

How do I make this character as wily and obnoxious as possible?[/sub]

>>49799869
We are currently bumbling about some deep dwarf city. A high ranking guard lady sent us to capture a derrow with a fetching hat that is now the property of my svirfneblin druid. We are now in a tunnel in the derrow part of the city.

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>>49800935
Lady Totogai from Morbito: Guardian of the Spirit is a pretty good example.

has anyone tried the pugilist homebrew? how about the Arena royale additional brew? how did they feel / work in game?

Decent fun / broke dick?

>>49806861
Got any links? Cause I have no idea what you're talking about.

>>49806640
If you go Lore you can just use cutting words instead then.

How is the Plane Shift vampire balancewise?

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>>49806975
I'll put in the additional archetypes next.

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Made a map for the dwarven mountainhome my players are currently exploring.
This is the first level or visitor area where most merchants are located.
What do you guys think?

>>49806734
Who is still with you?

>>49807713
NPCs? We didn't bring any of them into the town with us but the only member of the initial prison escape group that has fallen is the one who would turn traitor (the half-orc?) and we helped the kua-toa fellow kill his demon worshiping daughter.

Right now it is just the party; deep gnome druid, wood elf monk, tiefling rogue, and aasimar bard.

>>49807832
Full orc. They were supposed to be an ass, yes.

I love how many moving parts that OOTA has. A shame my game of it died before the halfway point.

>>49806142
Bump I guess

>>49806142
Are they tired of the characters? How long have they been playing with the characters?

>>49808140
It seems to be a mix of, wanting to continue with their first characters, that the care about a lot.

And knowing that they can do better, making more interesting characters.

>>49808186
Ok but thats not your choice

>>49808186
So they want to make new characters, or you want them to make new characters? I'm not understanding your phrasing. Also, how long have you been playing with these characters?

>>49808215
Like I said, it's a bit of both.
It's been a month+ since we started playing, but it's easy to see that they just playing generic murder hobos.

The main point is; is using a guild hall or something to that effect, a good idea for retiring characters, so they can make new ones.

>>49808211
It kinda is.
If they're playing stupid characters that I don't enjoy running games for, I get to bring up questions and concerns about it.

So for whatever reason my new group is all starting out at Level 1

Any pro tips on how I can keep my character alive long enough so they can take more than a goblin sneeze before they keel over? Playing a gnome fighter (Not sure about fighting style yet)

>>49808348
Describe their characters. If they're generic murderhobos, why do the players care about them so much? Why not encourage roleplaying with the characters they have?

>>49808348
So bring up questions / concerns with your group instead of forcibly retiring the characters.

The guild hall idea would be a fine way to end it, but not if it's forced on them. Just up and ending the game a month in and giving them no control over their characters- no ability to roleplay- is kind of a shitty way to go about it and it's equivalent to rocks falling and everyone dying; a completely shitty way of doing things. Instead, you should talk to them.

You should ask your group about roleplaying. Reward and encourage it, and it might grow. Force stuff on them, and they might resent it. Either way, if they don't care about this roleplaying hoo-hah then they might not like it, IDK.

I'm going to say this a fourth time: you should talk to your group about issues like this instead of forcing them into things they may / may not like.

What are some of the good spells from elemental evil for druid?

Most seem pretty mediocre.

What is a good paladin build? I also heard warlocks have good/light/etc patrons to choose from are they good? And does a paladin warlock work?

>>49808752
>paladin build
Mixture of high charisma/strength/con. Heavy armor. Sword 'n board. From there, you can go Oath of Vengeance or Oath of Devotion.

Warlock/Paladin multi totally works. Three levels into Warlock will benefit the Pally greatly- you get access to Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast, so you have a ranged option that scales with your level. You can also take Pact of the Blade to get a weapon that overcomes magical DR really early. Depending on what else you might need, Devil's Sight(120ft darkvision) / Eldritch Spear(300ft EB) / Repelling Blast(10ft push on EB) might also be useful. You also get access to a couple of other Warlock spells, fwiw.
The only PHB patron that can be construed as good is the Archfey. There's a couple of Unearthed Arcanas that have additional patrons- Light, Dark, Underdark! has The Undying Light, where your patron is literally the plane of positive energy, and gives you the ability to add your charisma modifier to any spell you cast that deals radiant or fire damage. Your DM has to approve of that one, of course.

However, for all that gain, you lose quite a bit for multiclassing- you'll never get your paladin capstone and you miss an ability score increase. Then again, most games never get to level 20 anyway.

>>49808980
would you need to be warlock lvl 5 for enhanced E-Blast or does the character need to have an aggregate level of 5?

Asking mainly because a game I DM has a rogue/warlock and I feel this ruling may come up at one point.

>>49808667
Absorb elements

>>49809021
You get Eldritch Blast at 1st level Warlock, and invocations at 2nd. Agonizing Blast(and the other Eldritch Blast enhancing invocations) don't have a level restriction, and you get two invocations at level 2, so you can get enhanced E-Blast at level 2nd level Warlock.

>>49809121
I mean the damage enhancement for E-Blast, not the invocations. Wording's a bit vague, it says "2d10 when you hit 5th level", which I'm assuming means 5th warlock level.

>>49808361
Just don't play the hero and remember to use second wind. Use a ranged weapon when you can
>>49808667
Create bonfire is pretty cool
>>49809133
It was confirmed as scaling with character level

>>49809133
character level

>>49809154
>>49809156
Wow shit. That sounds disgusting.

>>49809172
???

>>49809183
>>49809183
>>49809183

nu bred