Fifth Edition General - /5eg/

Assuming at least one level of fighter in a campaign that will have a powerful magic greatsword nobody else wants, are there any particular ways to make a heavy greatsword wielding, heavy armor using character who fights and casts spells?

>>52479849
I should say, particularly good ways. For example, just EK 20 is probably plenty good, but does anything in particular stand out?

>>52479849
Fighter 1 / Warlock X
Fighter 1 / Sorcerer X
Fighter 2 / Wizard X
Eldritch Knight

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>>52479806
I'll get the thread started with an answer to my own question. I usually get my planning done Saturday or Sunday, and we play Monday nights. I'll put on critical role while I do my map making and go to town. I actually make maps of important areas (I'm running SKT currently, since it's my first time DMing. Here's a pic of the temple center of the Eye of the All Father I made. Please excuse my poor artistic abilities, I got a D in drawing in 2nd grade

And yes I know that the storm giant is off by one grid, but I had already outlined it in sharpie so whoops

>>52479806
>Planning! What do you do to plan your games, DM's of 5eg?
Mostly just get a list of proper nouns (NPC names, town names, etc) ready because I'm no good at making them up on the fly. The rest I mostly wing it. Pre-campaign I establish the main threat's goals and methods, that's about it.

>Do you have a specific day you get it all done?
Nah, doing it whenever I have free time.

>Do you make your own grids and maps?
I don't account for exact distances enough to make grids, usually treating combat as having range bands and levels of cover in a more abstract/narrative way. Maps exist but those are for my benefit.

Most of my dungeons and the like are designed with videogame level design in mind. A dungeon's layout of encounters/rooms/treasures are designed to create just enough immersion to suspend disbelief (ie: most buildings are largely but not exactly symmetrical, avoiding the traditional "pointless squares with labyrinths between them" dungeons, etc) while mainly being designed around a fun encounter in each major section of it. 90% of my encounters use the layout of the room itself (columns, balconies/alcoves, chandeliers, etc) and the contents of the room (rows of pews, traps, etc) as a way to make an encounter with otherwise dull minions interesting or to spice up a miniboss to make it more than just "this enemy has more HP and a higher AC than the others".

>Plan the story for the next session?
Only a little. Most of it is dungeon planning.

>>52479849
What do you want out of being a fightan mage? Buff & Sword? Use magical sword attacks? Some specific mechanic you want to play with?
Also, have you already decided your stats?
All classes can be played as 'fights and casts spells', at some level.

http://www.strawpoll.me/12622026
http://www.strawpoll.me/12622028
http://www.strawpoll.me/12622029

Polls for each of the archetypes in the latest UA.

>>52479891
Basically, enough fightan to make using a greatsword relevant, as opposed to how a 1-3 fighter/4+ wizard is probably going to be best served by being Captain America (that is, either using the shield for defense, or protector style).

>>52479806
I don't have a particular day for planning, it's just whenever i have enough time to plan and make something. I do try to get enough content ready for about 2-3 sessions ahead so i don't have to stress if i can't make something a particular week. For example, right now i probably have enough content to run the next 4-5 sessions.

What are the ways that a PC can gain access to burrow speed? There's giant badger summons and transformations and earth elemental summons/ploymorphs. Anything else?

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>>52479806
We meet once a week. I just set up a notepad file and type in ideas for next session as I come up with them throughout the week. I'll prepare a 1 page sheet of monster stat blocks that I expect to use, and maybe list a few other creatures and their pg# in the text file as well.
We don't really play with maps very often so I just come up with those on the fly if need be.
It usually ends up looking something like this, if anyone's curious:
https://pastebin.com/6w9warHg

>>52480045
You could refluff an Awakened Purple Worm as a Yuan Ti.

>>52479948
Then one level of fighter for CON saves and proficiencies, and the rest in Fiend Bladelock. You get your two attacks at level 6 with an invocation, naturally also your bonus from GWM when applicable, and your spell slots are used on Sleep (early on), Hex, Darkness, Armor of Agathys, and other situational no-save stuff, with your capstone being Foresight as a Mystic Arcanum at level 18.

Alternatively be a Stone Sorcerer and the level in fighter (and consequent delay in your progression) is there just so you can wear plate.

>>52479849
>>52479869
War Cleric
Valor Bard with heavy armor feat.

>>52480088
He wants one level in fighter.

I would like a return to Once Per Encounter powers.

How do you feel about powers and abilities that recharge after a 10 minute breather? How do you feel about making a short rest take 10 minutes, but leaving a long rest at 8 hours?

What do you usually hire a hireling for and how much is too much?

>>52480105
It's viable for a more superheroic campaign. Check out the DMG, they give guidelines for altering rest times.

>>52480105
>>52480160
I personally don't find short cooldowns to be "epic heroism" and long cooldowns to be "gritty realism."

Incidentally, I find it fascinating that in ebin heroilism, even though there's 1hr long rests, you still only get one a day. So there's some pretty interesting tricks you may be able to do with that.

>>52480170
I'm not going for heroicism here. Just for a more fun experience. I find combat too samey right now, and part of it is that my players are tight wads with their abilities.

I'm not looking to change the 8 hour long rest though. I think that's in an okay place.

>>52480160
I wouldn't call this a "superheroic" type of campaign either, nor would this modification be aimed at doing that. If anything, the current meta is "sub-human", but that's not why I'm doing this. I'm just trying to make things more fun.

>>52480105
I'd probably say no to 10 minute rests. We use it and the majority of combats are now the warlock and fighter spending all their shit, then wanting to take a rest because 'It's only 10 minutes guys'

Is there anything particularly ridiculous you can do with the Psionic Mastery feature?

>>52480196
I know. Personally, I don't find anything odd about going into each fight with short rests ready. There's a guy on here who gets upset about "not hewing to the balance assumptions 5e is set up with" or whatever (despite that nobody abides by the balance assumptions of 3e, 4e, or even OD&D/AD&D FFS).

What I grew up with is the idea that fighters (and, I guess, monks and shit?) should go into every battle at full strength aside from maybe hit points, and casters conserve their stuff every day. I don't have any love for this weird 1 hour anomaly.

>>52480198
I mean, the standard looting process would usually take 10 minutes no?

Is it me or does out of the abyss seem too easy? It seems like there is no difficulty in the combat, because the majority of the time, you are having one battle, then travelling for a certain amount of days before something else crops up, giving everyone access to all of their resources

>>52480198
I don't know about the fighter, but you have to get a FUCK LOAD of short rests for the warlock to surpass the wizard.

>>52480252
Sounds like fun.

>>52480232
Not every combat requires looting after, but thats generally how it goes
>I'm going to search this room
>ok, I'll rest while they do that
>Wizard says he will cast a ritual
>ok, that takes 10 minutes right? I'll take a short rest

>>52480048
Neat

>>52480272
Yeah, so it doesn't seem like it would interfere with gameplay much. Functionally, 10 minute short rests would just be "you can use these powers once per encounter, and they recharge almost immediately after". It still allows the DM the ability to rush the players.

Do you guys ever play characters with a 14/15 in their main stat? Or do you always pick a class that gets bonuses the class needs?

>>52480296
Always begin with 16 in your main stat.

>>52480296
If you're using standard array there's literally no reason not to have 16+ in your main stat at level 1.

How do you guys feel about adding a +1-3 to things like magic weapons and armor? Giving a +1 Sentinel Shield or a +2 Flame Tongue for example. I like talking/debating lore and mechanics with my players and this was brought up.

For example, for an Ancient Red dragon a regular Flame Tongue is nice but adding something really rare and powerful like a +3 Flame Tongue to their horde sets them apart. Or a lich has a +1 Staff of Power as he knew the creator of the original or was perhaps the maker. Situations like that to add flavor.

>>52480296

I had wanted to make a half-orc monk, so I ended up starting with a 15 Dex. It really killed both my AC and my ability to hit. I'm not sure if other classes have it as bad, but just be sure you recognize that you're taking a gamble in the early game.

>>52480347
Sure. Also remember you can do half bonuses. Like a +3 to attack master crafted sword that is explicitly not magical, just made by someone amazing. Or a +3 damage sword that has some special enchantments on it, but doesn't help you hit things. Etc, Etc.

>>52480352
>I had wanted
thats worth more then 16 in mainstat.

I think I've finally got this in a place that I really like it, so I'll be moving onto the barbarian now (I'll include that in the same pdf). I will always be open to suggestions and criticisms though on the fighter, so thoughts?

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>>52480460
Doh.

Also, I'm going to tweak a lot of general rules too, so I've added that section, but don't have many of the tweaks yet.

>>52480296
It's fine to do with most classes, but you'll be playing the game very differently from the other people who are playing that class. So if you have a Cleric with less than 16 Wis and less than 16 Con, going online and asking "how do I play this build well?" will just lead to hundreds of fags screaming at you instead of attempting to shift their preconceived notion of how it plays (which is based on the way the designers set it up so this isn't just "hurr grog" bashing). So, you can do it and survive perfectly fine, but it's up to you to figure out how to get the most utility of a class built atypically.

So any point of the Moon Druid with the "has seen" rule? Because basically your SOL on stronger wild shapes because of course the DM is not gonna let you have those and if you cant have them your basically useless

>>52480563
how are you going to turn into something if you dont know what it is?

>>52480563
>dm vs player mentality
Get a new DM.

I allow the druid to assume he's seen anything that would be appropriate for his background.

>>52480579
Its the issue is the DM can decide what you have seen. So its possible you have only seen plain jane animals your whole life and not much suited for combat ourside of a Bear which makes moon druid pointless

>>52480605
go and look for animals then

>>52480605
How about you... discuss it with your DM first?

>>52480563
>he acts like this would stop him from playing meme druid v0.5

>>52480612
Cool let me just abandon the party to go sight seeing.


>>52480616
I did. And anything midly exotic I suggested he shut down. Even something as simple as a Giant Spider.

>>52480640
get a new DM, or DM yourself.

>>52480640
>I did. And anything midly exotic I suggested he shut down. Even something as simple as a Giant Spider.

Then play a Land Druid intead.

>>52480640
Your DM is telling you to fuck right off with Moon Druid. You dense?

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Is there a decent way to make a kid PC? I feel like it'd be fun to play as an endearing boy scout, but the line between endearing and 'real fucking weird' is definitely there. Definitely looking for ideas.

>>52480670
The issue is he has never told me a such when I actually picked Moon Druid. He gave no concern or pause when I told him "yo man can i play a Moon Druid?"

>>52480457
he made it pretty clear it wasn't all that enjoyable, so... no

>>52480676
What kind of kid? If it's like 12-14 you're just a normal PC.

If you're like 8-11 you can be essentially a large lightfoot halfling. You can even eventually age out of it to trade halfling features for human/variant ones.

Younger than that and you're not fit for adventuring.

>>52480683
should've read the book

>>52480712
And I assumed when playinng a fucking outlander druid I would pretty fucking knowledgeable about Nature which I think is more than a reasonable assumption.

>>52480676
But you are a kid. A grown creature who refuse to grow up because it a lie constructed by society.

>>52480712
>DM clearly has an issue with his class features
>DM doesn't say this when he chooses his class
>somehow this is anon's fault

>>52480722
you know what they say about assumptions

>>52480676
Normally I don't endorse reskinning races, but lightfoot halfling. If anyone debates that a child could not fight effectively, point out that lightfoot halflings would be beaten up by your average six your old.

No fuckin clue why they're so tiny. 3'/30 pounds, for fucks sake.

>>52480732
it's in the book lol

Hey, Im a new dungeon master, and I have this friend who's really interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons. However he doesn't have a lot of friends who play dnd as well. What can I do to help him get into dnd?

>>52480746
What, that his DM is an idiot who can't say "no I don't want you to play a Moon Druid"?

>>52480755
Run a game and invite him???

>>52480757
that moon druids can only turn into animals they've seen lol

>>52480352
>>52480704
Did you enjoy the character or were the mechanical weaknesses to much?

>>52480711
>>52480745
Thanks. It would definitely make more sense to fit them into a halfling-type of lifestyle over something too melee combat-focused.

>>52480787

I enjoyed the character, but the combat was rough. I did not think the mechanical weakness was too much though, as it was still low level and was rough for everyone, even with their 16's. By level 8, it won't be an issue at all any more.

>>52480757
You can't shift into something you haven't seen.

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My players harvested some poison from a purple worm.
How much is "a single dose"? Can you only apply it to a single arrow/blade/other weapon?
Does it last only until a successful hit or multiple hits?

>>52479849
Paladin.

>>52480915
Generally that means single application, single hit

>>52480908
Ok then what the fuck determines what you have seen then?

>>52480915
Single dose just means it's indivisible and can only be used once. ns if they can stack though.

>>52480932
>>52480935
So it's better to have a melee character use the poison then, as a ranger can still miss and the poisoned arrow won't magically return to his hand so he can try again.
Unless the ranger WANTS to spend his turns running after his arrow.

>>52480934
Literally just how good you are at convincing your DM that your character has seen it, or something you've encountered. That's how moon druid is supposed to be balanced, as you play and explore, you see more cool shit that you can take note of and try to shift into.

>>52480272
Reminds me of Bx and having to track time in a dungeon with turns. I miss it. Simplifies things.

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What a meaningless statement.

>>52480934
Your backstory, background, encounters, deliberately looking for animals to gain their shape, etc.

>>52480965
Yeah definitely. If I was DM I'd make it situational whether or not the poison loses effect after a ranged shot miss. If it lands on a cobblestone path then it's fine but if it thwumps in the dirt I might roll a d4 to see if it still has enough poison (and hide that from the player cause I suck fat cocks).

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>>52480971
Gotta hammer it home for some people.

>>52480971
It's kind of needed, people are fucking stupid sometimes.

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>>52480971
>Muh god
>Muh negative energy
>Muh feelings

>>52480934
>Level 2-5
You should have at least one CR 1 animal you have seen in your lifetime or your DM just hates you
>Level 6-8
Use conjure animals to see CR 2 animals
>Level 9+
Use polymorph to see anything else

>>52480934
it's the exact same thing as wizards copying spells from books and scrolls except it doesn't cost you anything
count yourself lucky

>>52480915
According to the devs, ultimately how much you let them harvest is up to the DM. There's no rule against them harvesting multiple times. Personally, I'd let them try again til they fail.

>Lore Bards can use Cutting Words as a reaction when something happens
>Cutting words can be used to lower AoE spell damage

>Valor Bards need to preemptively use bardic inspiration on someone with a bonus action to use combat inspiration, and they person needs to use a reaction to use it to get more AC
>Bardic inspiration can't be used to increase spell damage

Why do WotC hate valor bards?

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What sort of learning curve is there to DMing 5th edition? Some friends of mine are used to playing pathfinder, myself included, but now I want to DM 5e for them but I've never DM'd before.

Aside from going through the module and making notes, understanding characters and the basic rules, what other prep should I do?

>>52481177
Go read the 5e DMG. It tells you everything you need or don't.

I want to make a bard. Any advice? How do bards get all the pussy

>>52481177
The usual prep for rp, have a plot, some places, and well characterized NPCs.
For combat prep, you'll need a lot of fun little encounters, try having a whole day (6-8 encounters, with 2 short rests and enough pressure so the players won't rest more) planned beforehand. If you can, include some enviromental triggers, like traps, springing traps on enemies is always fun.

>>52481177
Dumb jackposter.

How much money is enough to reward players with in their early levels?

>>52481300
Read the DMG, then add 2 levels to your party's levels and consult the charts.

>>52481300
Someone ran the math already for the wealth per level.
Shamelessly stealing and copy-pasting here:

Level| Typical hoard treasure acquired (gp)
1|0
2|140
3|280
4|420
5|560
6|4500
7|8400
8|12,300
9|16,200
10|20,100
11|24,100
12|42,400
13|60,700
14|79,000
15|97,300
16|116,000
17|134,000
18|362,000
19|590,000
20|818,000

That's on top of the magic items: 1 consummable per level, permanents at 4 and 7 (uncommon), 10 and 13 (rare), 16 (very rare) and 19 (legendary) IIRC.

So a friend is apparently putting together a 5e book of erotic fantasy, and has asked me to help because I'm a fucking deviant. I made a succubus themed warlock patron. Anyone care to look at my rough draft and see if it's over/underpowered?

https://pastebin.com/Ab6W6hZV

>>52481431
You have to go back.
>>>/d/

>>52481437
I think dnd threads get deleted on /d/, else I would try there too.

>>52481431
Its spelled Malcanthet.
Anyway, looks good.

>>52481431
The whip lacks the 'reduce speed to 0' effect on smites.
All warlock smites have that sort of effect on a smite.

>>52481431
Level 1 patron ability should only have 1 use between rests.

>>52481479
Will change that in my next draft.

>>52481493
Not really; the Mace of Dispater knocks creatures prone on a smite, and the Moon Bow has advantage v. lycanthropes all the time (nothing but extra damage on the smite). I figured 'you can beat the fuck out of a charmed creature without ending the effect' is good enough, verging on OP.

A simulacrum does not roll initiative. It acts on your turn in combat. Remember that next time you're faced with a planet full of lich-clones. Start combat and they're effectively incapacitated.

>>52481640

Technically it has to be of humanoids (so the lich before he gets transformed) but yeah. Probably better to sit that campaign out anyway since you're a grade A retard for not being a wizard in easy mode land.

>>52481493
>All warlock smites
>on smites.
>on a smite
>>52481553
>on a smite
The warlock pact weapons have that effect all the time.

>>52481678
I . . . huh. That's a confusing way to word it in the entries, but technically correct.

I'm going to blame the Oxford comma. I don't know if it IS an Oxford comma, but I'm blaming it anyways.

>>52479806
I was too late on the last thread to say that c0re is a nice guy and ask why anon hated him.

>>52481417
what the fuck is with this curve?

At level 5 you get 560 gold, at level 6 it jumps up 9 fold.

>>52481945
I wouldn't be surprised if whatever autist made this based on damage output or some other arbitrary metric.

>>52481417
>9|16,200
>tfw level 9 and currently at about 1000gp gained

>>52481945
>>52481986
It's supposedly from the tables in the dmg, making a load of assumptions on encounters per day

>>52481417
Wait, an uncommon magic item at 4 and 7?

>>52482044
Oh okay. Is this factoring utility item cost as well? Or just "Sell for gold" items from the hoard tables?

Our monk is getting a bit tired of being overshadowed by our paladin and ranger. Mobility is the only thing he has over them, even his critical hits hurt less than a regular attack from either of them.
Anything I can do to help him feel more powerful? And please no "monks are meant to be stunbots anyway", so many of the stronger enemies have huge con saves so he doesn't usually even bother.

>>52482138
Short rests take 10 minutes.

>>52482156
1 hour.

>>52482060
Again, if you ran encounters as per the dmg guidelines.
Those should be lower bounds, as in you'll get one item during your levels 4 to 6, an other from 7 to 9.
I didn't double check the math, but there was some discussion about how it could be a rare in the 7 to 9, and then back to uncommon in the next interval, and how some distributions ended up with only 5 items.

>>52482156
And what would that do? Allow him to throw more of his punches that do pathetic damage?

>>52482138
That's how it is, though.

Monks are built towards being stunbots. Either Stunning Strike or Flurry of Blows and apply prone.

Only way to increase damage is to take Hunter's Mark or Hex to apply an extra d6 to attacks, mindful of casting and moving the spell competing with bonus actions.

>>52480676
Angus is best boy

>>52480934
Go to the Wildshape Zoo run by the Drood Masturz. See all the fucking Wildshapes. Also, every zoo is a petting zoo unless you're a little bitch!

>>52482119
Iirc it's just the gold.

>>52482180
it's a suggestion. The one hour thing is terrible from a balance standpoint.

>>52482180
It would let him be more liberal with his ki usage, yes.

>>52482138
Remember that the monk being useless is almost always a symptom of bad DMing. The most threatening and dangerous enemies in the game tend to have low con saves (mages, archmages, arcanoloths, yuan ti) and often magic resistance, meaning the monk is uniquely suited to take them down. They are also great for punching enemies back into web spells etc.

>>52482138
Reminder that Monks can use Quarterstaves two-handed for 1d8+DEX, and should do that whenever not faced against something resistant against bludgeoning.

>>52482227
Why not just use a spear if they're resistant against bludgeoning?
Most things resistant to one are resistant to the other though.

>>52482170
No you retard, he's referring to the optional rule.

>>52482271
>he
Sure, samefag.

>>52482138
Seconding >>52482156; making short rests take 10 minutes would guarantee one after almost any encounter, thereby allowing short rest classes (like the monk) to use their abilities more often. Doing this would allow them to flurry on almost every attack, which should appreciably improve their damage output.

What monastic tradition did he choose? Not all of them are focused on damage - shadow is more like a rogue/ninja, long death is decidedly a tank, and if he took four elements he should be allowed to change his mind because that tradition is a dumpster fire.

>>52482271
>wasnt implied or stated in the post or discussion
Oh yeah, duuur, of course.
But why so agressive? Who hurt you?

>>52482331

Not either of them.

>>52482138
>Anything I can do to help him feel more powerful?

>>52482156
>Short rests take 10 minutes. (this was proposed earlier in the thread)

Here the guy gets it just doesn't think it'd be useful >>52482180

>>52482358
>not either
so... did I hurt you?
Sorry.

>>52482358
>Here the guy gets it just doesn't think it'd be useful

If he understands it and doesn't think it would be useful, then he is wrong.

>>52482180
What level is he?

>>52482319
Speaking of shadow monks, why would anyone ever play one? They are just inferior rogues; stealthy but no sneak attack or anything. Sneaking does jack shit when you have nothing to follow up with.
Actually, would it break the game to give shadow monks an attack of some kind similar to sneak attack?

>>52482393

>If he understands it and doesn't think it would be useful, then he is wrong.

People seriously want the "nonmystical punch guys" to be brought up to the "mystical punch guys" class and the "mystical punch guys" class to do the same damage as two handed swords and bow guys.

They want samey shit and can't stand the idea that a dude who punches people and hits them with sticks would have a different niche than a heavily armored knight with a zweihander.

>>52482433
>why would anyone play a guy with invis in shadowy illumination, basically anywhere, and silence on short rest cooldown plus stunning

Someone who was traumatically raped by spellcasters

>>52482433
You play Shadow Monk by taking 2 levels of Warlock for Devil's Sight.

>>52482441
I don't see why making short rests on a ten second cooldown would make the game samey.

>>52482493
It doesn't, I'm referring to people upset about monks being martial control types (stunning, knockdown, push etc on the cheap) and not damage dudes.

>>52482433
>Actually, would it break the game to give shadow monks an attack of some kind similar to sneak attack?

Just be a rogue dude.

>>52482501
oh, my bad. Part of his problem was the monk didn't feel like "wasting" ki points on stunning. I do think having ki points to "waste" every encounter would be good.

Do you think a high level campaign where you're only very seldom threatened by enemies that are actually near your general power level could work?

I've been toying with the idea of a heroic campaign where the characters are more or less demigods or the like, in the vein of ancient Greek heroes and the like. Easily striking down scores of enemies and only mildly being hindered by even the strongest of mortals.

Now, such a campaign would of course also feature divine threats, but the main bulk would involve epic heroes being just that, epic. Presumably, most of the actual intresting bits in the campaign would come from actual personalities and situations and how they're resolved, not from whether or not they can kill the enemy. I don't really mind the idea of very powerful heroes being able to overpower nearly all opposition without serious personal risk - after all, why even play a powerful character if you aren't going to actually feel powerful?

Still, I wouldn't like it to be completely trivial, because why even use rules in that case? Epic heroes cutting through enemies and striking down even the strongest (ordinary) foes without much actual personal risk should at least be intresting, if not exactly challenging.

Could 5e support this kind of play? If nothing else, lower-powered enemies can at least affect more powerful characters in this edition and at least do *something* if they're massed enough or have some appropriate magical backup, so I feel it wouldn't be impossible to get some actual entertainment out of it. Especially if the campaign features enough complications and actual personality-driven drama to make it meaningful. And the odd rival demigod/dragon/demon/whatever.

(On a sidenote, is there any word of official epic rules getting released ever, or any decent 3rd party stuff?)

>>52482433
see >>52482458 and >>52482477

Also, their teleportation in shadow has no limit, so at level 6 you're basically Nightcrawler.

I don't think giving them a nerfed sneak attack would be overpowered. I would make it require advantage, though - the rogue's 'you do more damage if another ally is in melee' ability should stay rogue-only. Shadow monks would specialize in attacking from the shadows (hurr) or teleporting and jamming a kunai is someone's ear.

>>52482519
Say it with me, because it took me far too long to realize this partly because 'monks are shit forever' is part of 3.PF stockholm syndrome:
Ki is a short rest resource.

>>52482521
Well, level 20 chars can definitely be threatened or even obliterated by CR 4-5 types.

You'll want the Cleave rule.

>>52482536
>Ki is a short rest resource.

Yes. That's why I suggested short rests on a ten minute cycle.

What does a stirge taste like?

>>52480198
I use 10 minute short rests in my campaign, but limit the amount of short rests to two per long rest.
This was explicitly done to let the short rest classes shine, since they usually get the short(!) end of the stick.

>>52480676
That's some adorable fucking TAZ art.

>>52482536
Well, the best way to give a Shadow Monk sneak attack is to... MC rogue after level 6.

Shadow Monk 6 / Warlock 2 / Rogue X

So I made something weird

My players don't really have any personal motivations

So I created a zordon - and the players are power rangers and I give them missions.

Except zordon is Danny devito acting like king kai and he is tricking the players (who steal from him and everyone else when they can) into killing people that he has a petty vendetta against. Like his ex wife who stole his favorite horse. It resulted in the players killing about 30 innocent people racing around neverwinter in a high speed chase on horse, magical carpets and a potion fueled crackfiend of a thief

Got some ideas to help our monk. Nothing concrete yet but a vague feeling at least.
Thanks everybody who participated in the discussion, even the dude saying "just be a rogue".
I won't be sharing anything as our campaign is pretty high powered, so it would probably raise a shitstorm here. People screaming that we're breaking the rules, telling us just to switch systems and all that.
At least my players are having fun and that's all that matters.

>>52482770
>I won't be sharing anything as our campaign is pretty high powered, so it would probably raise a shitstorm here

>caring what other people think

Can anyone explain how beast sense is supposed to work? You aren't controlling the creature so what it sees/hears would seem to be pretty random.

>>52482541
How?

>>52480296
I've changed starting stats in my game so that my players never have to worry about this garbage. (No racial ASIs, everyone gets an array of 16/16/14/12/10/8)

>>52483042
Thanks for making Dwarf Wizards optimal.

Has anyone played a Pureblood yet? What's it like?

>>52480563
Show your DM the UA druid shit for inspiration, if that doesn't help the problem is the DM.

>>52481431
Kiss of Death should probably not work on undead, and deal necrotic damage instead of psychic.

>>52482851
I think you're supposed to cast it, then get the creature to go inside a room or fly over a camp or whatever. It works best with a Beastmaster's companion, I suppose.

>>52482898
Well, gorgons are CR5 so they could just petrify the level 20 PCs. Plus, anything can overwhelm stuff with sheer numbers.

>>52482433
Shadow Monk assures surprise, not just for themselves, but also others. Pass w/o Trace, Darkness, Teleporting in shadows, etc. And they still have stunning strike.

I picked up the Player's Handbook today
Why did they exclude Spiked Gauntlets from the equipment?
Simplification?

>>52483198
>Simplification?
yes Alex

>>52483104
I'm asking because a totem barbarian gets Beast Sense and Speak with Animals as rituals. Beast Sense only lets you see/hear from an animal's perspective, not tell it what to do. Speak with Animals can let you tell an animal what to do, but it only lasts 10 minutes. So it wears off by the time you've finished casting the Beast Sense ritual.

I just don't understand what utility it offers to a barbarian. I suppose you could cast it on your shapechanged druid companion, but otherwise it seems pretty useless.

I genuinely do not understand the concept of spell components.

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>>52481431
Kiss of death is arguably more powerful than a Succubus' Draining Kiss, just so you know.

>>52483236
It's just a relic of older editions. Don't even bother thinking about them.

>>52483236
They were put in long ago for flavor purposes, and as a way to disable a wizard. Take his components and he's just a normal guy, so you can put him in jail. It's really a holdover now. But I guess it's like a Platonic thing where you use the art to take the flammable properties of something like bat guano and amplify it to make a fireball out of it. It's just part of the Art man

>>52481025
>>52481041
>>52481047
But it is meaningless.
>Can be Inherently Evil
It's either "They ARE inherently evil" or "They CAN be evil." CAN BE INHERENTLY EVIL is a meaningless statement.

>>52483236
They're a limiting factor on casters ability to throw out spells. Martials can be gimped by being disarmed, and casters face the same weakness from losing components, or having Silence cast on them.

>>52483236
My house rule is that no spell requires components except for rituals.

I just find them dumb, finicky, and just a band-aid for disabling wizards.

>>52483292
My house rule is that you're a fag

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>>52483310
My house rule is that if you ever found out about a build from /tg/, you can't use it at the table.

>>52482851
You do animal friendship, speak with animals and animal handling to make the animal go where you need it to.

>>52483335
Tough, but fair.

>>52483281
Well, for demons and devils it's a bit dumb, but regarding undead and other supernatural threats, those might not necessarily be evil.

>>52480676
I think Middle Finger if Vecna might have rules for it? I dunno.

>>52483335
good rule

>>52483236
>>52483286
>>52483292

I rolled my eyes when my new-to-5e DM hinted that the spellcasting focus should be something that can be disarmed or else you might end up, wink wink, disarmed.

Nigga there are no effective disarm rules outside the Battle Master, and the basic attack spells don't require a material components. My character is a strong independent caster that needs no focus.

>>52483350
Barbarian doesn't have animal friendship.

I guess my main problem is the time limits on the spells. Beast Sense can last up to an hour with concentration, but you're immediately rendered blind and deaf. Speak with Animals only lasts 10 minutes. So if you cast Speak first, you have to then tell the enlisted animal to wait 10 minutes while you finish casting the Beast Sense ritual, at which point Speak with Animals has ended and you can no longer communicate with the animal to tell it you're ready. Maybe animals are good enough time keepers on their own, but it feels really awkward.

>>52483400
The basic attack spells, sure, but higher level spells do. In fact, getting around those costs is explicitly the primary function of Wish. And while basic attack spells don't need fancy MATERIAL components they do have verbal and/or somatic components.

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>>52483236
You don't need spell components if you have a Focus or Material Component Pouch.

UNLESS

The spell has a component that has a cost in GP next to it. Then you must have that component every time you cast it.

Basically, most components don't matter unless your spellcaster loses their spellcasting focus/material pouch. In that case, they need to scavenge components (or something the GM rules as similar enough to work) in order to cast more complicated spells.

>>52483474
Are you that bad at reading comprehension, or some kind of markov chain that responds to keywords?

If you don't like the idea of spellcrafting components, just play a conjuration wizard, and you literally never had to worry about them again.

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Ok I need some help Anons, i have been kinda starting RP games with friends. were still kinda new but trying tho, we have been playing pathfinder till now but kinda wanna try 5th edition instead and im planning to become DM, So my question now is: Which book do I need to buy to be able to play it and stuff? I have a dropbox with online PDF documents but I rather have the book so I can just browse offline, but have no idea if I only need the player handbook or also the DM guide book. I dont have lots to spend so proly buy the one I dont imediatley need later. So what book do I really need /tg/?

>>52481417
That seems rather low, doesn't it? What PC is going to settle for 100 gold a session?

>>52483648
Level 5 in current campaign and we each have roughly 40 gold. Not too happy about it.

>>52482898
>How?

Well, a hobgoblin devastator is basically a 7th level evoker with a sort of sneak attack thing that works with spells. A cavalry charge of devastators on winter wolves would be very threatening, for example.

There are a lot of low CR enemies you can use on high level PCs.

>>52483661
My players are level 8 soon and have gotten about 30k gold in total throughout their adventures. And also around 10 magic items of varying rarity.

>>52483253
Succubi are CR4 monsters with a far more powerful charming effect that is also at will.

>>52483700
The peasants with bows/cross bows shit works on PCs much better than it does on Arch Fiends, also.

>>52483281
>But it is meaningless.

It isn't meaningless at all.

Undead CAN be inherently evil. A ghost or revenant is not (in AD&D, 3e, and 4e liches were not either). 5e vampires are obviously inherently evil.

Fiends CAN be inherently evil. Some are born that way and have never necessarily done anything wrong, I think as far back as 1e either alu fiends or cambions or both could sometimes be neutral.

>>52483648
>>52483661
>>52483708
>level 11
>~2k collected overall
I guess escaping the underdark was more of a priority than collecting shit though

>>52483661
>>52483708
I use a variant of the old "Gold spent = XP earned" rules. My players just hit level 5, so they've each earned roughly 6500 gold over 10-ish sessions.

>>52483643
Go to the mega in the OP.

Download all the core rulebooks.

Transfer them to your phone.

Congrats.

>>52483830
Download all the core rulebooks.
Transfer them to your phone.
Kys yourself

New GM here.

How do you guys usually handle combat on a grid in Roll20? Do you try and find like a battle map, or do you just use a blank grid and kind of hastily fill in the details?

I'm trying to figure out how to set a combat scene in a house that's like 20x20 and it seems awkward

>>52483843
>Kys yourself
*Kys youreself

Is there any reason to go valor over lore? It seems as if lore can even be decent in melee because they can just get a melee cantrip at level 6

How do the converted dungeons in Tales compare to their older edition counterparts?

>>52483843
He said offline, I assume laptops are out of the question.

>>52483861
You get expertise + two attacks, so you can get athletics expertise, grapple, and restrain in one go. Also you get Silence. So you can sneak the fuck in, pin wizards and shank the hell out of them, for example.

>>52483863
Tomb of Horrors is SUPPOSED to be a module about herding sheep, charmed orcs or zombies into a dungeon but they ruined it by making it so that checking for traps doesn't suck you into the pit trap and kill you instantly. So its ruined.

Can someone get me up to speed on expertise?

Hey, /5eg/, where's a good place to quickly read up on the setting of Greyhawk? My DM wants to do Yawning Portal and says it'll take place there without so much of the influence of the books published on it (Drizzt and those won't be making appearances or anything). Wikipedia isn't being too helpful and in other places it seems like there's too much information to comb through.

I'm namely looking for a library or a school/university for my abjuration wizard to be from. I keep seeing The Great Library of Greyhawk, is that an actual place? I know of Blackstaff Tower, Map House, Candlekeep, etc. of the Sword Coast and the Forgotten Realms, but I'm a little out of my element in Greyhawk.

>>52483917
>(Drizzt and those won't be making appearances or anything)
I'm 99.5% sure that he is not even on that plane of existence.

>>52483857
>20x20 and it seems awkward
Yeah try to create a serviceable map out of an office building blueprint with no drafting or architectural experience you fucker. You think this shit is hard try playing a modern RPG set in a fucking city.
Use interiors for renaissance-era german or italian houses as a reference and make an outline out of that based on eyeballing it. Sketch out the little deets like "table here, ladder here, stove here." Do this a few times till you figure out how to do it on the fly.

>I cast magic missile targeting my opponents wand.
It can't miss, right? And the wand can be destroyed, right? So why not? Then he can't cast shit and I get to forcecage his ass

>>52483830
Already have them as PDF as mentioned in the post, but I want the book, non-digital versions, but dont know which is like 100% needed as a new player to 5th edition.

>>52481945
It's assuming you get a decent magic item by the time you hit 6, right?

>>52483993

No. But don't take my word for it!

>Each dart hits a creature

ITS IN A BOOK
TAKE A LOOK
WEADING WAINBOW

How do you guys write out your ideals/flaws/etc?

>>52483996
Player Handbook is all if you play. Monster Manual for DMs.

>>52484061
Song lyrics, since the DM never checks them, I'll forget them, and no one ever gets inspiration for being true to character.

>>52483912
One skill that you have proficiency in now adds proficiency TWICE.

That's it.

>>52483912
Instead of adding your proficiency bonus, you add double your proficiency bonus to something you have expertise in. So, instead of +2 you add +4, etc.

Has anyone poked at Middle Finger of Vecna's Weird West setting?

>>52484114
>>52484105
Nice. Thanks guys.
how do I get it?

>>52484083
I've found with my DM the best way to get inspiration is play a dumb character then do a dumb thing in character. I've never seen him reward anyone with inspiration except when that happens

>>52483236
Spell components are a holdover from past editions, but also ass-covering for casters. It gives them an arguable (though totally non-existant) weakness in balance discussions.

Martials can be disarmed, which completely neuters their effectiveness. How do you stop a caster? You don't, not without being a high-level caster yourself or having anti-magic fields everywhere, which is just not happening. So you put in a little component pouch that can TOTALLY be cut off or stolen to stop the caster from doing his thing. Look, ma, we've achieved balance, the caster has a weakness!
except you can have 10 fucking pouches on you if you want and it stops literally N O T H I N G

>>52484132
One level of Rogue gives you Expertise in two skills (or one skill + thieves' tools). This improves to four skills at Rogue 6.

Three levels of Bard gives you Expertise in two skills. This improves to four skills at Bard 10.

>>52484132
Rogue, Bard, Knowledge Domain Clerics

>>52484149
The one game where people actually got and used inspiration was one where our DM was a stickler for turn time.

If you could explain your turn in combat in under 30 seconds (nevermind resolving it), you got 1/5th Inspiration.
So if you weren't a dumbass who waits until his turn to even begin thinking about what to do, it was very easy to churn up inspiration in a combat or two.

>>52483936
Fucking Mordenkainen showed up in Ravenloft.

>>52484220
>>52484211
>>52484132
It should be noted that Knowledge Clerics can only have Expertise in Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion. They gain proficiency AND Expertise in two of those at level one. It's also technically not Expertise so I suppose it could stack (not multiply; you'd apply proficiency three times instead of four) if you were a Rogue/Cleric or something.

Anybody have a good fillable pdf character sheet?

Some friends want me to run a game for them, but there's only 3 of us that are available at the same times, so there would only be two PCs. What classes can cover enough bases between them to make a fun two man team?

>>52484248
Literally anyone can show up in Ravenloft. There are portals to it (but not from it) fucking everywhere, plus the Dark Powers just go around snatching people all the time.

I'm making a combat oriented 1 handed crossbow fighter who is using the crossbow mastery and sharpshooter feats. What would you guys recommend as my future feats? I was thinking Lucky as one of them to help with my rolls but I'm unsure.

>>52484255
No stacking because the rules specify only adding prof (or some multiple of it) once, even though they're not all called Expertise

>>52484009
damn
undone by own exuberance

>>52484260
It doesn't matter what the players pick as long as you, the DM, choose to facilitate that choice.

Are there no Wizards/Sorcs/Warlocks/whatever in the group? Then just don't insert magical barriers you intend the party to pass through with simple dispels or Arcana checks or whatever.
No Rogue or Bard? Boy, people sure are lazy about locking their shit, or gee, it's real handy that we can make Crowbar skill checks to pop shit instead of Thieves' Tools. Not that only Rogues or Bards can use Thieves' Tools, but if your party is Barb+Fighter maybe they'd rather just break everything down or force it open with raw strength.
No martials or front-line fighters in the party? Gee, all the enemies have bows or guns or some shit or are also casters. Also, the fights are either all a bunch of tightly-clumped weaklings or one big strong guy who can get CC'd easily.

The point of being the DM is to tell a story and work with the group, not to craft some adventure that requires someone who can heal, detect magic, counterspell / dispel, punch through walls, pick locks, sneak around, and so on.
You can set any party up for success if you're willing to.

>>52484260
If UA, Mystic and Wizard can not-die long enough together to get to their peaks.
If not, a fighter and a warlock could go camping with.

>>52484289
Anyone? Please?

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>>52484338
IN A WORLD
WHERE EVERY ENEMY HAS A BOW
CASTERS SPEND EVERY FIGHT PRONE
>warlock doing breakdance spins while shooting eldritch blasts out of his butthole
>wizard reclining on his tenser's disk
>cleric laying on a platform dolly kicking himself along

actually i found my next character concept
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BOO7AoJ2M

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Has anyone tried playing out a court case in their campaign? How did it go?
One of my players was caught trespassing, and tried playing it off like he was kidnapped and taken there. Not sure if I should go through the trouble of setting up a trial or just let him make a charisma roll and decide that way.

>>52484435
Those are the only feats you're going to get.

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>>52484454

>>52484193
>Martials can be disarmed, which completely neuters their effectiveness.

by a battlemaster, which you will never, ever fight on the field of battle

>>52484454
absolutely amazing

>>52484513
Optional rule in the DMG allows for a Disarm attempt that replaces your Attack action.

Battlemasters get to do damage while attempting the same thing, that's about it.

>>52484454
>a bunch of kobold archers attack the party from high up on a hill
>flop onto my back
>get shot at four times
>hey DM you know they have disadvantage while shooting a prone target right
>entire party drops prone and starts shooting back
>kobolds also drop prone
>now everyone's just making Stealth rolls and crawling through the brush to get next to a prone enemy and stab them
we WW1 now

>>52484543
>Optional rule

Why even bother complaining about it then?

>>52482521
This is actually an interesting idea. You can take the concept of "minions" from 4e which are basically 1hp monsters that deal normal damage and then try to overwhelm the PCs with them.

>>52484581
Aside from the fact that a DM would probably have to be pretty silly to say "no, there is no way you can attempt to get the weapon away from its wielder", there are oodles of other means of getting a creature to drop an item aside from Battlemasters; Heat Metal, Command, Occluded Mind, like 5 other spells probably, and anything else creative you want to think up.

But stopping a caster? There's nothing but anti-magic and Silence, which doesn't even stop every spell. We have hard rules for disarming and characters sucking ass if trying to attack without a decent or proficient weapon, but there are no hard rules for similarly neutering a caster without using magic yourself.

Now, your table might decide that a caster can't make his spell words if you gag him, but where are the rules for gagging? What's the roll? How much do you have to grapple or restrain a target to prevent them from making somatic gestures? Again, what's the roll? Can you karate chop a caster in the throat and make him gag for a round? Can you flying dragon kick him in the chest and knock all the wind out of him so he can't talk?

Meanwhile, if you want to disarm an enemy, the book says in two different ways: do this, they roll this, and it works or doesn't.

>>52484483
My dm is doing some minor homebrewing where we get more feats later in the game.

My players are POd at me.

3d6 reroll 1-2
4d6 drop

You roll stats in order

1 player is completely ignorant of the game. He is the only one without a preconceived character. He picked mystic with 9 int and 16 cha, he doesn't yet understand main stats. I allowed him to swap stats.

The other players want to do this too, they aren't new, but they aren't good and they have characters from other media that is difficult to balance when they want something special.

So I wanted them to break out of that by having different stats than their fan fiction and exploring characters they are unfamiliar with

>>52482521
You need 20 enemies to not make 20 attacks and 20 moves and 20 reactions, because action economy heavily favors the larger group.

You also need to do something for the non-spellcasters who don't have AoE options to obliterate huge groups at once. That's either making all of their attacks hit an area (arrows that pierce a line, sword swipes that cleave a row), a few uses of spin attack or some fuckin' anime-ass slam-the-ground-and-make-it-explode-in-a-line shit, damage carrying over from one enemy to another even if the character isn't in range, and so on.
Otherwise you just get Burning Hands: the Adventure and not Dynasty Warriors like you want.

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>get a text from DM
>"I woke up too early so I'm napping, door's unlocked, come wake me up at 1ish"
>get there first, the others trickle in
>1pm comes, time to play
>go into DM's bedroom, let him know we're here
>he acknowledges
>few minutes go by, he's not up yet
>someone else goes up
>comes back and said he's still in bed but he was reminded we're all here and ready to play
>we try to rouse him a few more times before we all give up and go home

this is all I have to look forward to all week and we've missed two sessions in a row now because the DM was "sick" or "too tired"

>>52484667
>ROLL STATS IN ORDER
If you do this, it's with full knowledge that the game is almost assuredly going to suck ass and someone will be absurdly powerful or, more likely, multiple people will be completely useless.

If you or the group can't handle this,
DON'T
FUCKING
DO IT

>hey guys i set myself in fire but i really can't stand high temperatures, any advice?

>>52484667
Don't even bother, the self-proclaimed optimizers that frequent this thread will spam quote your post since you mentioned rolling for stats.

>>52484667
Rolling stats is okay.
Rolling in order is cancer.

Rolling is bad always
use the array or point buy

>>52484787
And we should always take the average instead of rolling the d20 for attacks, skill checks and saves!

>>52484811
naw just damage rolls
and max crits

>>52484721
If you actually care about him as a person, see about helping through depression/etc. Doesn't seem like he's doing the greatest.

>>52484774
The point is to get the guy that always plays wizards to try a martial

Or the guy that is quiet to play a high cha character

These are newish players - one player wanted to be a wizard from mtg. Trying to fudge spells and looks.

I'm trying to get them into dnd -not some anime video game super smash brothers.

>>52484667
>rolling stats

>>52484811
>he hasn't completely reworked the base numbers for HP, AC, proficiency, and DCs to be compatible with a "roll 6" system instead
d20 produces swings that are far too wide
one day you will see the light

>>52484846
Some people like playing Wizards and some people like being quiet.

I like playing martials. You can't get me to play a fucking Sorcerer by giving me crap stats or nerfing the classes I like.

>>52484864
>>52484787
>>52484751
>everyone has the same stats in different order
>everyone is human or half elf
>min maxing in an abstract game

>>52484907
You can play with the 50' hempen rope instead. I'll even show you how to tie a slipknot!

>>52484907
But how do you know that?

You've only ever played 4 sessions, youve never tried to talk or play anything else?

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>>52482318

>>52484939
Sorry, I don't have proficiency in Ropes (Knot Tying) and we don't allow Take 10s in 5E.

>>52484667
>statting for rolls

What if races had different options for stats so you could do more race/class cominbations

>>52484950
I'm gonna let you in on one of the most arcane secrets of D&D. No one else read this spoiler, we're gonna work on the honor system.

No one gives a shit about what the mental stats say. That's pure mechanics. The 10 Int Fighter is going to come up with better plans than the 16 Int Wizard every time because Chuck, the guy playing the Wizard, is a dumbass. Just because a character has X stat doesn't mean the player does. The Monk is going to do stupid shit because Brad is a moron who thinks "dude weed" is the height of comedy, and no amount of his character having meditated under a waterfall or the highest Wis score is going to fix that. The Barbarian is sexy because he's fucking J A C K E D and that's all the ladies care about; they aren't going to be turned away because Cha is his dump stat. The Bard who maxed his Cha even though there wasn't much of a point? He's just trying to meme social rolls, he's not actually going to come up with any good pick-up lines or persuasive arguments or grim and intimidating statements.

If you want to see if your shy player can bloom into a social butterfly, the solution isn't, "Here, your character has 20 Charisma, everyone loves them, you must be happy and out-going and persuasive, please play accordingly." Just put them on the fucking spot. Have NPCs notice the character's actions and ask them their opinion or thank them for their shit or whatever else. Make them the star of a social encounter or two and see if the player picks up on it. If they don't or are obviously uncomfortable, drop it. The point of the game is to have fun, not perform some social intervention for everyone at the table. You can't make Chuck smart, you can't stop Brad from being a juvenile twat, Jim isn't going to become an extrovert, and Dave isn't going to stop raping passed out chicks at the next kegger because you explained to him that fucking the BBEG's henchwoman after she got Slept is shifting his alignment towards Evil.

>rolling for stats

What I do is I talk to each player before the first session in a 1 on 1.

I ask them to answer in character, then I ask them a question for each stat, most of them ethical/moral questions or past experiences which I shape their stats off of.

What is the saddest event you have experienced?
One person said when he was 12 (dragonborn) a tree fell on his mother, and he was forced out of the village due to poverty, he had to steal, and become a vagrant and pariah

I gave him a str score of 7, because a 12 year old dragonborn is full grown basically.

>>52485100
And all of those are shit players that I would never let anywhere near my games.

>>52484667
Use 6+2d4

>>52485127
i'd play with the fighter and the barbarian
unless the barbarian is dave
what the fuck dave

>>52485150
The barbarian is probably Dave. I agree the fighter seems sane, but he should propose the plan OOC to the character with high INT (or some other trait that makes sense for the situation) and they can bring it up IC.

Our DM allows us to alter an arcane spell slightly by making an Arcana check while casting it.

For example, we were fighting in the streets of Silverymoon and Taern Hornblade teleported in and threw a fireball at all of us, but he altered it mid-spell to be made of ice. It didn't hurt us but it froze us all to the ground from the waist down. After that the DM said we could alter our spells in a similar manner by making a DC 10+spell level Arcana check. If we fail, the spell fizzles and the slot is expended.

We have also curved spells around corners and stuff with the right Arcana check. Anyone else ever do this? Seems like something a wizard could do. I see the Loremaster added some of this, at level 3 no less.

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>>52479806
When I plan a session I first lay down a skeleton of the story and flesh it out a bit with bullet points for key locations, npcs, and things. >Example: The PCs have ended-up in jail and need to escape before they are transported to their trial where they will likely be convicted.
>The jail is being run by the Red Zone Restraint Company and is located on an asteroid orbiting a fairly new colony where the courthouse is located and a shuttle will be arriving in 5 days to take them there. There are 3 other prisoners in the jail already; a friendly and wrongfully detained spider person, an overconfident troublemaking lemur-man, and an intense/oddly calm alien with dark grey skin and red eyes.

From that point I mainly just try to think of the options players have available to solve the problem they face and try to lay down the first part of those possible paths and am prepared to start paving the road they go down. I usually do this two days before the session but the more free time I have the more I tend to expand things.

On the subject of settings, as it relates to 5e, does anyone know anything about the Critical Roll setting that is going to be published by Green Ronin? I am not a fan of the series but wonder if the setting they made is any good.

>>52485190
don't see a problem with it. makes arcana an actually relevant skill.

>>52485190
I've let my Sorcerers change the damage type of spells on the fly for 1 SP for a long time. Also, any caster that wants to learn a permanent variant of some spell (Snowball instead of Fireball; Lightning Rays instead of Searing Rays) can choose to do that on their level up instead.

It works because I'm not a slave to the fucking MM and we don't go in for the "hurr fire is bad damage type" meme.

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>>52485100
>tfw I'm the aforementioned 10 Int Fighter because nobody else in the party cares to get involved with making plans so I have to get creative

On the bright side I'm a Battle Master so it makes sense that I can come up with strategies with average Intelligence. And being FIghtGyver is fun.

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>>52485235
>Battlemaster FightGyver who has to solve every puzzle because the rest of the table is dull
BROTHERS

>>52485127
Only Dave and Jim really suck. I'd hang out with Brad.

>>52485213
I try to use Arcana when I can. Mostly when it comes to gathering information about magical creatures, scenes or areas that look like magic may have been used, or if something might be slightly magical in nature. Though I've only used it once in combat, and it was for an Arcana check to see if a Gorgon could be damaged by a Heat Metal spell (it doesn't). It may have taken my action, but I'll defend that if it had worked it would have been sweet.

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>>52485337
The happiest I ever get is when I get to go "Well, I do have an X in my inventory!"

>my party just expects it at this point

>>52484289
Literally anything you want.
Thats the build.

>>52484846
>The point is to get the guy that always plays wizards to try a martial
>Or the guy that is quiet to play a high cha character
That's fine in theory, but it creates an issue that the players ability to branch out like that is based solely on the random chance of them rolling stats that support it. You might want someone to try playing a martial, not a caster, but if they roll 10 strength/dex and 18 int then they're going to play a wizard and your entire plan has failed.
A better solution is to just talk to your players about this stuff and suggest branching out, or in the case or quiet players trying to talk more. That's probably going to get you further than potentially screwing them over cause they rolled 8 Dex and 6 Con.

Today I lied to my DM about having a spell prepared because having it prepared really got a shitty situation unstuck and propelled the session forwards at a great pace

Am I a bad player? We really, really needed a scrying at that time, one party member had even managed to snatch a lock of hair from the target (without telling me beforehand) just for this purpose.
If I had told them "I don't have it prepared" it would've been a complete letdown and a disappointment. I just lied on the spot and there were cheers and fun instead of mucking around aimlessly for (most likely) another day for no reason.

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>>52485660
you cocksucking fuck

>>52485660
Nobody cares, but most will suggest that you DON'T make it a habit to cheat like you did,

>>52481727
I'm only assuming that's the intention based on balance, trade-offs with other options, and the moonbow. The wording could go either way.

>>52485660
You did the right thing.

>>52485660
Did you replace the slot?

>>52485660
90% of casters do this anyway so whatever man

>>52485761
Yeah I un-memorized something else

>>52485828
NOT FORCECAGE RIGHT?

>>52480252

I ended up pretty heavily modifying all combat in OotA to have any sort of challenge for the party. I enjoyed the settings and the herd of NPCs but the encounter design was mostly terrible in that book.

>>52485828
Then it's well enough, just don't make it an habit.

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>yfw they need scrying and you mem'd heat metal instead

>>52485660
You are a terrible human being

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What's the best adventure for a DM and players new to 5th Edition? I was going to start with Hoard of the Dragon Queen but I've heard mixed reviews?

>>52486001
starter set

>>52485908
Just set them on fire. No one will ever know.

>>52485660
That's fine. I have two spell sheets, one with full combat and one with some combat and some utility shit and just switch between them. No one notices

>>52486001
Starter set adventure, Lost Mine of Phandelver.

Although if the DM is a bit more inventive, Sunless Citadel in TYP could also be a great start.

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How does everyone plan for underground exploration?
I don't see much of a point to creating a giant map with dozens of side chambers when half them would be realistically empty.
But narrating it seems kind of boring.
"You continue along another 10 minutes until you come to this ledge, make a Acrobatics or climbing check. Okay everyone succeeds. Now you continue for another 10 minutes until you run into a goblin."

wat do?

>>52486001
Rise of Tiamet.

>>52483400
>no effective disarm rules
Of course there are.

>>52486121
Condense it. Give them a map before going in or an NPC who can traverse the area so they don't keep going down the false areas.

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>>52483400
>Nigga there are no effective disarm rules outside the Battle Master
Read the DMG, which has effective disarming rules (attack roll vs. athletics or acrobatics, takes place of one attack foregoing damage).

>when Odin shows up in person in season 4 of Vikings
Damn, that's how the gods should be used in a campaign

I bought takes of the yawning portal.

I want to do white plume mountain.


How do I make a battlemap for dungeons like this? I also wanted to make one for white plume mountain

>>52486230
Are you playing IRL or online? IRL your best bet is to draw out the individual rooms when they come up on a vinyl mat (find them on Amazon for cheap). Online just use the Roll20 maps in the Mega.

>>52486264
>it's in the mega

dude

also dudes reading this

I have just found the discord with all of these tools, those maps and all these tokens.

CritterDB as well

My life has just been made 10000x easier.

Thank you.

>>52486230
Be careful about giving your players three (3) legendary weapons

How do you guys handle music and sounds? Can anyone recommend a good soundboard

>>52486325
http://www.roblox.com/Home

>>52486315
>three (3) III tres
i hate all memes

>>52486121
Don't make the rooms empty. If you can't think of what to put in them, don't include them. If you can't think of anything to include besides the main path, don't bother making a map and just narrate it.
If you need ideas to put into an underground path, there may be a table in the DMG or else have some of these:
>the path opens into a vista of a large cavern filled with glowing crystals
>a hard-to-spot hole in the cave wall allows someone to squeeze through and find some neat secret loot. Maybe a skeleton with a set of tools the party doesn't have
>a side path that eventually puts them back at the start of the cave
>one of the walls of the cave is dirt and has a bunch of sarcophagi sticking out. If investigated, skeletons pop out
>if they're marking their path, they eventually notice an asshole creature following along and erasing/changing their marks
>if they are pursuing an enemy, they reach a fork and both paths have the faint sounds of people running
etc etc.

>>52486230
I play a Coastal themed Druid who loves crabs.

I however, hate summoning 8 crabs to be a cancer on gameplay.

Yawning Portal gave me a CR2 Crawfish that plays exactly like an extra large crab, I am so happy.

White Plume Mountain Area 7, Chains and Geysers.

Where is the challenge? The geysers erupt after 3 and 5 minutes (so an eternity in combat rounds). There doesn't appear to be any skill check required to jump between disks, so what is the challenge?

>>52486355
i h8 your dumb character

>>52485127
>>52485360
>people on 4chan shitting on a metaphorical introvert
I'm pretty sure this is irony? At the very least it's hypocrisy.

>>52486121
What lives there? I'm not talking about monsters that give exp, I'm talking about the harmless little spiders or mice. If monsters do live there, were there any adventurer's that came before the party that tried to fight and failed? If so, describe their remains, talk of scorch marks on the walls from a Fireball, or cuts or claw marks of missed attacks. Scraps of armor, a journal telling of their hopeless adventure with the last third missing only for them to find the missing pages as they continue on in the underground.

Plant life also loves dark, moist, cold places. Moss or fungal growth, nothing needs to be beneficial or harmful to the players, but it would flavor up the place a bit. Or maybe it does need to be significant. Perhaps there are zombies there that are caused from the spores of the mushrooms (not original, but hey, why not?).

What does it sound like? Drips of far off places? Is there the occasional skittering of claws on stone? A far off scream or wail? Or maybe it's unnaturally quiet, not even their own footsteps making a sound, even if they try to make noise, but they can talk just fine.

Go out for a walk, and observe your surroundings. Take note of everything you see, hear, feel, and smell, then see if you can't make some narrative of all of that in your underground.

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Lads, would you bed a gentle young halfling lass with a human fetish?

On the topic of monks yet again: any good ideas on how to improve the critical hits of a monk?
Extra 1d6/1d8/1d10 doesn't really strike fear in the hearts of you enemies. Adding an extra multiplier to the damage feels a bit lazy but that's all I can think of right now.

>>52486397
It's meta-depression.

>>52486414
just don't play monks
they're ghey

>>52486411
Nah. Too similar to a child.

>>52486436
im proud of u

I need some help..... I have written myself into a corner of sorts, well, I need a direction to go in that makes it seem like I had this all planned out from the beginning.


>Solid platinum ring with a skull etched out of platinum
It's cursed. Using detect magic and identify yields nothing.

So far what it has done:

When the ring activates: 1d6 necrotic damage to the wearer, it has blackmist creeps from the ring and weakens the user (flavor for damage)

When an entity that can use magic dies, or a dozen+ fresh humanoid corpses are nearby, a hooded figure that only the one wearing the ring can see. It floats still and does not move, it has no legs or face, but it has skeletal hands that only come out of it's robes to give the wearer an etched, flat ruby coin, if the wearer accepts it, the corpses disappear in a tuft of black fog.

The spectre will trade accept these rubies for services, it has said, and that it is a servant of Orcus. It laughed at the character using the ring unknowingly.

I originally had an idea for this, but I used this as a cheap way to bring a character back as drama happened and I brought his character back to make things chill.

I need ideas to follow up with this.

>>52486411
Only if she called me Daddy.

>>52486397
introvert = someone who should seek mental help.

>>52486411
IC or OOC.
IC No_
OOC No, for multiple reasons.

>>52486430
That's what our monk's starting to think but he's already level 8 and likes the character.
I'd rather find a way to "fix" the monk than force him to multiclass or discard the monk entirely.

>>52486464
>projecting this hard

>>52486411
Of course.
>That look of ecstasy on her face when her feet can't reach the ground.

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>>52486411

>>52486436
>implying that's not all the more reason

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>Lads, would you bed a cruel shadovar lass with a human abuse fetish?

>>52486519
It's not. Children aren't attractive.

>>52486534
Only if she called me her bitch.

>>52486534
Why the long face?

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>>52486411
Too loli like. The ass would have to be fat like those irl pseudo-dwarfs. Maybe like some sleeveless dress to show off her pit hair and stuff if she had flat-ish titties too. I need to know I'm doin an adult t b h.

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>>52486565
>The ass would have to be fat

>>52486575
That ain't fat.

>>52486414
That's how crits work for everybody
>>52486459
If its cursed but doesn't' ping as magical and doesn't have any benefits why would anyone put it on

>>52484660
>Aside from the fact that a DM would probably have to be pretty silly to say "no, there is no way you can attempt to get the weapon away from its wielder"

Disarms are gay and EXTREMELY unrealistic. So yeah, a good DM would disallow it except at dramatic moments.

>We have hard rules for disarming

optional

>>52486594
looks p. fat to me nigga

>>52486550
>people who are short are children

>>52486616
That halfling girl has the body of a child. That's a negative. Would not fuck.

>>52486575
T H I C C L I N G