/5eg/ Fifth Edition General: "Stop making shitty generals"

>>53031393
First for c0re being a total piece of shit

>>53031393
im going to be dming a session soon and im wondering if you guys have any tips for a first times dmer

>>53031403
Keep your shitty reddit drama out of /5eg/.

>>53031425
"Party just starting out" session or just "my turn to DM" session."

>>53031490
party just starting out but im having them start at lvl 6

>>53031521
Why?
Is this just a light romp through a module or something?

>>53031536
I just know that me and my friends don't like having to start off at lower levels

I've been running games since 1st edition, and I'd like to offer advice, but it'd be very broad unless you share an idea of what you and the players expect out of it.

>>53031403
what does this mean

>>53031603
Ok, that establishes that all of you are familiar with TTRPG and dungeons and dragons, but haven't always had fun sessions.

What don't you like about low level? Too high a mortality rate? Not super-powered enough? Monsters seem dull?

why do capstones suck so much? The last two levels are dead for almost every class.

>>53031603
starting from 1st level is the best way to understand the system, just level them up quickly.
there's reasons why it's designed such way.

>>53031693
Because the designers knew nobody plays on 15+ levels anyway, so they just didn't care.

>>53031693
5e's design philosophy is to be fucking terrified of people having fun so everything has to be watered down until the point of uselessness, except for high level spells, those are apparently fine...

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Rather than namefag, I'm just going to start using Pawn Art (I use cardboard pawns) to differentiate my responses.

Keep in mind that 6th level is a pretty substantial level. It DOES free you up to use a lot more of the Monster Manual, but it also makes CR1 stuff and lower more annoying than anything. And the MM is heavily weighted towards lower CR.

>>53031649
mortality rate and a lot of the classes (from what ive seen) get their cool shit around lvl 5-6
>>53031699
as ive said above we already have experience with dnd its just i have no experience dming

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>>53031693
>Playing to level 20

You might as well just play BESM or some system that's actually geared towards retarded anime power levels.

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>>53031734

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>>53031752
Delete this picture.

>>53031764
＿(┐「ε:)_

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>>53031746
Starting out with all your "cool shit" is like opening your Christmas presents in November, but it's your game.
What's your biggest concern as a DM?
Players not following the adventure?
Not being sufficiently descriptive?
Things bogging down?

Here's a key thing to remember, that a lot of DM's ignore. Your job isn't to "Almost beat the PCs" necessarily. Your job is to allow them to win in a manner that's exciting to them, and that gives them a sense of accomplishment in the game.

>>53031693
Wizards did testing and found that hardly anyone plays past level 10, so they front loaded classes and got lazy on the back half because it was easier.

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so, what are some fun side-quests you guys have been on recently?

we passed through a small town that had a very fresh grave dug up and the corpse plundered, whereupon we started investigating and asking around. the old gravedigger had fairly recently disappeared, the new one was a drunk who had, in a drunken stupor thought he had seen someone scurry away after he went out for a piss, the corpse belonged to a young girl that had been sick for a long time, and regularly visited the old hedge witch, the wife of the old gravedigger was sweet but fairly blunt, and it seemed she had something to hide.

after a lot of investigating with both social encounters and borderline magnifying glass tier looking for clues stuff so did we manage to sneak into the wifes house when she was out, found her basement to find a half-butchered corpse of a young woman along with, as the other clues would implicate, signs of a monster.

once confronted so did she admit and revealed her "true form". the dm claimed her to be a "wendigo", a human cursed for eating human flesh (she was forced to survive starvation) she and the old gravedigger had, despite that, fallen in love and settled in the town, where he had brought her chunks of the recently passed and then lived in solitude. he died a while ago, and after she had eaten the last of him so was she forced to try to try to get her own food.

the paladin readied his weapon and gave a short speech of her not getting away with this, and she went "okay". the paladin got a slight bit confused before she explained "i don't want to keep doing this anymore, i just want to be with [husband]... just bury me next to where i buried his bones". the paladin got really uncomfortable but went through with a quick mercy-killing and burial next to a small stream of water in a meadow. we got the quest reward for solving the mystery (with some details -out of respect- left out) but we also walked away with a wonderfully bittersweet feeling.

man that was fun.

tg, Curse of Strahd references being possible to ressurect Doru Donavich, a vampire Spawn, but the rules of ressurection are iffy in regards of how they apply to Undead.

I can know you can ressurect them once you kill them, but how does the 10 days period apply then? Doru has been turned for a year.

>>53031837
my biggest concern is that it wont run smoothly and that ill be checking the rules so often that there will be large amounts of time where nothing is happening because im a forgetful faggot

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>>53031854
Stacks of powers don't make for interesting characters (or story). It just makes for a shit-ton of powers and abilities. The GM's storytelling ability, the players willingness to "be" a character, and the sum of their adventures together is what makes a high level character a fun experience.

I say this as someone who's DMed campaigns into the high teen levels on 3 occasions, and had long-running games in other systems.

It IS harder for they young crowd to sustain a running campaign over the course of 3-4 years, as life tends to intervene and mess things up.

It's less that people don't WANT to play past level 10, it's just that it's damn tricky keeping a group of players together for the time necessary.

My current 5e group is well into it's second year, but we are older players (most of them close to 30, myself close to 50) so our routines and schedules are pretty stable.

5e is fine at high levels because a lot of your earlier level abilities mature and become more powerful, and the sum of them is quite strong.
Spellcasters get mighty magics, Martials are wielding legendary weapons and armor and all that.

>>53031393
Still forgot an OP question. tsk tsk.

>>53031746
well then, just be a sensible, reasonable human being about your campaign.

don't fumble your die all the time, but try to preserve the momentum if possible. player agency is the most important thing to me, how every decision must be meaningful and consequences must be real and tangible.
the objective is for everyone to have fun, and everyone means not the majority/minority at the expense of the rest.
talk to you players if problems arise, like normal, sensible and reasonable human beings. don't be afraid to kick problem players out. don't set your players for failure with poorly informed decisions, rolls shouldn't automatically stop anyone from success. if you need time to figure something out, don't be afraid to stop for a moment. if you are making your own campaign, don't bother detailing everything, chances are most things will go unused. let your players tell you their stories and incorporate them into your world, if appropriate, so that they feel like part of it. make their backstories matter and the hooks personal when appropriate, again to make them feel like part of the world. reward creative and intelligent play, even at expense of rules and prepared outcomes/plothooks. don't mary sue your npcs/bbeg, let your bbeg have reasonable motives and intentions. play your mobs intelligently and balance your combat as to not trivialize or ostracize part of your players. balance between combat, exploration and social interaction and rotate the spotlight to give everyone a chance to perform as they envisioned their characters.

if playing with a module, remember the module is mostly a guideline, if you have to depart from it or expand out of it, don't be afraid to do so.

and most important of all, make sure everyone agrees to the overall tone and intention of the campaign from the start. failed expectations are the single most important cause of run failure.

daily reminder Scourge Aasimar Sun Soul Monk is super fun even though you're behind the curve a little

>>53031894
Yeah, resurrection does cut it.
Raise Dead has a 10 days limit, Resurrection's is 100 years.

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>>53031917
Spellcasters should be familiar with their own spells (another advantage of starting low level), and the resolution of most situations uses simple d20 mechanics/advantage/constested rolls. It's not a particularly rules-dense system.

Your biggest concern is keeping the encounters and challenges interesting and not letting them bog down. Don't get the party stuck in a Big Fight against monsters that are too samey or lack pizazz. A big pack of ogres might be a challenge, but it's a boring fucking challenge unless you give some of the ogres some weird attacks or behaviors.

If you're going into the 4th round of a fight, you better have a plan for something interesting to happen in the 4th to keep everyone's attention focused, be it environmental, some 3rd party monster showing up and attacking both sides, or some other crazy development.

>>53031393
>"Stop making shitty generals" edition

Don't be a fucking shithead memefaggot, OP.

>>53031693
Rogue, Barbarian, Druid, Paladins, and Wizard get pretty cool shit.

Is it possible to make a Dex based tank in 5e?

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What kind of special properties would a sentient weapon made by Cloud Giants have?

I've given one of my players a greatsword made by cloud giants that he has to funnel magic into to 'level it up', basically turn it from a +1 weapon to a +2 weapon with one special property.

What should that property be?

>>53032085
>If you're going into the 4th round of a fight, you better have a plan for something interesting to happen in the 4th to keep everyone's attention focused, be it environmental, some 3rd party monster showing up and attacking both sides, or some other crazy development.
I made my players fight a single animated armor for 23 rounds once and then I quit DMing

>>53032170
what the fuck, how.

>>53032119
Yeah, Monks only gain the ability to become invisible and resistant to 99% of damage at 18th level, and an endless supply of Ki at 20th.

Nothing cool.

>>53032163
Rogue with high dex and good armour can use a reaction to halve any damage you DO take once per turn after a few levels. Get shield proficiency from fighter maybe.

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How should I go about moving my campaign into Planescape? Baldur's Gate 2 has me thinking about a planar sphere suddenly crashing into the abandoned capital city and tossing them into whatever plane seems most relevant/interesting to their PCs.

>>53032163
Actually ignore that. I'm a retard.

>>53032170
Yeah I heard your story before; at least you did humanity the service of retiring.

>>53032163
What is Swordsinger Wizard?

>>53032165
You no longer need to breathe. (Air gets awful thin up there!)
Resistance to lightning.
Channelling lightning (can do a lightning bolt, or deals electrical damage)
Perhaps it can 'cut' clouds to make the solid clouds that cloud giants build their castles on.

>>53032085
>>53032009
Thanks ill try to keep this all in mind and maybe ill come on tg this saturday and describe how i did

i've never played before but I heard some people say combat took them 30+ minutes, how is that possible?

What skill do l use to read my location by using the stars?

>>53032210
Read the Planescape setting. Most likely, they stepped through a portal accidentally and end up in Sigil or one of the major planar pathways (Infinite staircase, Yggdrasil, Oceanus, Styx). Portals are easier, since it's any bounded passage that can be a portal, the key anything from a tune they are whistling, the exact day and time during the year, or fresh goblin blood.
Again, read the setting. READ THE SETTING.
The planar passageways are a good way of giving them a choice of some kind, if they meet a guide there.. one that doesn't know the way back to the Prime they came from, but can certainly point the way to a portal to Sigil, or whatever other place.

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Here's a rule I instituted at 4th level.
Strength gives +1 to hit and +2 damage per 2 points over 10.

I find it counter-balances the almightiness of Dexterity quite nicely, and keeps the fights flowing a bit faster when you're in the mid levels and shit starts having 90-130 hp rather commonly.

Of course I I had decided to use this at 1st level I'd have been careful to use few if any "Strong" Monsters against the party.

But otherwise I find it works very well and the players (Dex based and otherwise) are quite happy with it.

>>53032280
Survival or weaponized autism

>>53032163
EK is one of the best tanks out there

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>>53032280
You need Navigator's Tools to get your location.
Simply looking at the stars will only give you your orientation towards North, not your location.

>>53031917
>>53032085
>Spellcasters should be familiar with their own spells (another advantage of starting low level)
and non-spellcasters should be familiar with their own features.

this is the worst problem i've had with my table, both as a dm and as a player because i'm autistic.

we are 5th level now, but one of our players joined at 4th level, he's playing a fucking battlemaster and haven't used a maneuver yet, in two sessions (like 4 or so combats) because he still gets confused with the terminology (we don't play in english as it's not our first language, but his english is a LOT worse than the rest of us') and the system's basic mechanics.

and even some of the others, who have been playing for about a year now, on and off, still don't have their spells and features prepared before hand, don't know how to resolve a spell or are not sure on if such feature works with this other thing or not.

i'm autistic enough to know pretty much the PHB from memory, but you have to give time to the rest of your players to grasp all the things they can do until they start actually thinking instinctively in the system.

the learning curve is ok and expected so don't push them too hard if they fumble too much. you still want to know the general gist of what their classes do, and having them give you their spell lists and give them a look as well, as to make it easier for them.

So is 5etools going to update with the new UA?

>>53032306
Strength's problem isn't its power. Strength's problem is that it's not useful outside of the classes that use it.

You might as well give players +1 hp for every 2 intellect because 'Intellect is weak and even with +1 hp every two levels con saves are more important so it's a tradeoff between skills and saves' but then you realize wizard is perfectly fucking okay without you giving them more heatlh.

>>53032387
Who am I, Negrodamus?

>>53032273
well, maybe you'd want to play first and see how it goes for you...

>>53032387
Astra has taken a few days to update in the past, but usually it was done within the first 4 days.

>>53031713
I kinda figured, but it would have been just as easy to give people something cool. It didn't even need to be game stats. Like, maybe a level 20 barbarian gets unlimited blowjobs.

>>53031734
yeah a lot of classes seem to effectively get 9th level spells as their capstone, after which you can multiclass out. To be fair though, they've limited everyone to one a day.

>>53031752
I feel like having an inspiring capstone is important even if you never get there.

>>53031854
it's probably biasing that high levels broke earlier editions and created a lot of work, so everyone avoided it.

>>53032119
granted, though some of those are uninspiring even if they're mechanically useful. Maybe I should have said "most classes" rather than "almost every class."

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>>53032403
No, Strength's problem is that Martials and semi-martials are always better off with Dexterity's wide array of benefits (important save, lots of skills, AC and hit bonus) over Strength.

With Strength slightly weighted with +2 damage, it's actually worth considering a Ranger or Cleric with a secondary Strength stat over Dexterity.

I'veb also replaced Barbarian's Feral Instincts 7th level "Initiative Advantage" with "can use STR on Intimidation/Animal Handling rolls."

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>>53032165

>>53032474
you are one of the few to think so lowly of polearm mastery and great weapon mastery

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>>53032466
>I feel like having an inspiring capstone is important even if you never get there.
At 20th level the Epic Boons open up, those are some serious capstones in terms of sheer power (at least most of them).

>>53031713
But if they make classes shit past 15 because no one plays that far why bother making 20 the level cap.

No good material is made for epic level play so no one plays it. Thus no one plays epic level content and none gets published.

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>>53032560
No, I just don't believe that Fighters and Barbarians should all be Glaive masters to kick ass.
My current Berserker is a two-weapon fighter, the Champion is a Sword and Boarder.

Is there a Pyromancer subclass for Sorcerer? I can't find it anywhere.

>>53031393
>Starting drama for no reason in the OP

You suck.

>>53032641
Planeshift: Kaladesh

>>53031894
There's no undead creation process that takes less than a minute, so even if you suspend animation, you're not pulling this off with anything short of a raise dead.

That said, depends on the type of undead, and whether or not the body decays.

With vampires they don't, but liches is another story.

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>>53032598
1. classes aren't "shit" beyond 15th level
2. There's never been a large amount of very high level content for any edition of Dungeons of Dragons. The Epic Level Handbook was pretty much splat with some monsters in it.

3. Stuff like the Tome of Beasts has significantly higher level monsters in it, and with bounded accuracy you don't need dungeons full of 20th level monsters anyway.

>>53032641
Phoenix Sorcerer also does a pretty decent approximation of a pyromancer, as does Fire Dragon Sorcerer.

Planeshift: Kaladesh is best simply because you can eventually overcome fire resistance/immunity.

>>53032641
Not officially, no, but Draconic Red and Phoenix are pretty fire-focused.

Could you cast passwall on a ceiling thats about to crush you and your party

>>53032691
You can overcome resistance with a Feat in the PHB.
How do you overcome immunity?

>>53032701
yes it states that it works on ceilings specifically.

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>>53032712

>>53031992
Well into your second year of a 5e campaign? Do you play monthly or just throw all leveling advice out the window?

It takes about 1 year to 18 months of weekly sessions of 4 hours to reach level 20, and it should be closer to the 1 year mark.

>>53032474
As the other guy pointed out, all the biggest weapon damage comes with strong weapons. Besides ththat, nearly anything you can do in combat besides attacking (grappling, pushing, shoving prone, etc) need strength (or expertise)

>Run Death's House
>Total party kill at shambling mound
That thing is brutal

>>53032273
If there are like 6 or more people at the table and they're fighting something big/many things, then yes, combat can take a half hour or more.

>>53032838
>adventure is called death house
>people die in the house

makes sense

>>53032611
You're picking the archetypes designed for the biggest weapons and then going against what they're supposed to do.

That isn't 'Oh, I like diversity!'
That's 'Oh, I like being powerful no matter what I pick!', and that's like saying 'I don't want to die because I did something really stupid' or 'I want to punch slimes in the face as a wizard and still be viable'. You can do that in pathfinder or something.

You can do sword and board on a fighter, but you should honestly pick anything BUT champion.
You can do two-weapon-fighter on a barbarian, but you should honestly pick anything BUT a berserker, and consider barbaroguing.

>>53032474
>Strength on intimidation and animal handling
God, this fucking meme again.
Charisma represents your objective ability to manipulate people through intimidation.
Strength has no objective bearing on how good you are at intimidation. Just because you have muscles doesn't make you any scarier than a wizard. Some people are actually less scared of you because you have muscles. Some people are actually more scared of you because you have muscles. It's subjective. And strength for animal handling should just be renamed 'Animal abuse', and anybody can abuse an animal without having to be super strong to do it.
In any case, all you're doing is giving people even more reason to use PAM considering they get extra attacks and thus more chances to use the extra damage.

>>53032838
>Death House
>people die

Really does get the old noggin' joggin' eh

>>53032922
And, I mean, also, all you're doing is encouraging all barbarians to become autists who yell 'b-b-be afraid of me senpai' because they all took 8 charisma yet they still somehow intimidate people.

If you don't like having a -1 from charisma to intimidate, actually get some damn charisma. If your DM is reasonable, they will let you have easier intimidation checks because you're a muscley brute (when against people who would be afraid of that) rather than giving you an arbitrary number increase.

>>53032922
>Be obese nerd who never intimidated anyone in his life
>"S-s-s-scaring people is all about your force of personality! If you phrase your threat really well, people will shit their pants!"

So, I recently joined a new game, and after a while it became apparent that the DM is a living, breathing block of rock salt. I mean, it looked cool from the campaign description and the players seems alright, but I am not sure I can get along with the DM. Not mentioning any details since I guess there's a good chance he browses 4chan.
What can I do now? I don't want to be rude and he wasn't even nearly as abrasive to the new guys as he, seemingly, had previously been to other players, but I'm not sure I want to dedicate a couple of hours a week to a game run by a dude who will probably end up in a greentext eventually. Hell, I feel I am already at the beginning of the greentext.

>>53033022
>he thinks the only people that play D&D are obese nerds

good meme friend, and i bet you also think only kids play video games huh

>>53033022
>Be behind bars
>Try to intimidate someone with your muscles
>They laugh at you
>You bash at the bars, I'm so strong I can break through them!
>They laugh at you harder, you're in a forcecage

>Be behind bars
>Make actually convincing threat as a wizard
>They're fucking scared because they know you could actually teleport out and follow through with your threat

>>53032922
Holy fuck you are the worst kind of rollplayer. One that doesn't even fucking know the rules. It says right in the PHB that under certain circumstances, bonuses from other statistics can apply to skills, so that doing something like crushing a stone in your hand in front of a person you're intimidating allows you to roll Intimidation (Strength). I can think of several more examples, like rolling Performance (Strength) if you were a circus strongman, or maybe Medicine (Charisma/Intelligence) if you were curing a hypohondriac. Just shut the hell up and fuck off to 3.pf/4e, it's obvious you want to play a minmaxing combat game and not a roleplaying game. Dickweed.

>>53033069
If you were anything but, you wouldn't spout such retarded bullshit.

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>>53032922
>You can do two-weapon-fighter on a barbarian, but you should honestly pick anything BUT a berserker
My campaign's Berserker isn't shit though.
And I don't allow multiclassing.

>>53032474
>>53032922
Strength for intimidation is in the PHB. It's not some random houserule, and there was no need to make it a class feature

>>53033080
>Castercuck power fantasies

>>53033080
Why is the wizard behind bars when they can just leave though?

>>53033115
page?

>>53033144
175, but it's a Variant rule.

>>53033137
>why not kill a man if you can get away with it

Ever heard of being lawful or actually resolving your problems in a way that doesn't make you look like a criminal? Shit, even an evil character might want to go through a proper trial if they knew they would be declared innocent. Have any of you actually lived a life among people? RPGs attempt to simulate life, not power fantasies and excel sheets (talking to rollplayers and minmaxers here).

>>53033137
This.
"I would teleport out and turn you into a newt, but being captured is all part of my plan!" is a rather dubious threat to make to a guard, not to mention the fact that a powerful wizard would be bound and gagged in a cell in the first place.

>>53033144
175. It's more generally about being flexible with skills and letting players use different abilities under certain situations.
>SimilarIy, when your half-orc barbarian uses a display of raw strength to intimidate an enemy, your DM might ask for a Strength (Intimidation) check, even though Intimidation is normally associated with Charisma.

>>53033172
I didn't say anything about killing anyone though.

Tell me about indomitable and what it can be used for, please.

>>53033086
Yes, it says that. That doesn't mean just beacuse you think it works it works.

If you're a circus strongman, there's no reason to completely remove charisma unless somebody else is running the entire show and you're just sitting there not even looking at the audience flexing. In that case, you don't even need performance because someone else is doing the performance check for you.

Medicine (Intellect) actually makes sense for recalling information about medicines. You are objectively good at medicine, thus you get your proficiency bonus. You are objectively always recalling information for the check, so you use intellect.

Intimidation (Strength) doesn't work. You are objectively good at intimidating if you have proficiency, so that's fine. However, you are not always objectively using your strength to intimidate - it depends on the situation. Charisma on the other hand is an objective measure of how you interact with people and influence people, and that's what you're doing here.

I'm not saying you can't intimidate someone with your muscles, I'm just saying it should lower the DC instead of giving you a flat boost to your skill that completely ignores how good at are at social shit.

>>53033166
>>53033185
That's fine. And under certain circumstances I'd let players do it, of course.
It's simply codified in the Barbarian class I use (we don't roll for initiative normally, so it's a replacement ability) and the Strength based animal handling is to represent every huge lug ini fiction who's raising giant temple snakes or Komodo dragons or bears ect, ect, it's a pretty common trope.

>>53033137
Even if it sounds doubtful, it's much more likely the wizard can teleport out than the barbarian.

>>53033231
>>53033086
Actually I kind of fucked up the description a bit.
I should say for medicine not something stupid about 'objectively always recalling information' but how wisdom doesn't apply instead - wisdom doesn't apply because wisdom isn't used to recall information.

In the case of strength-intimidation, the reason it doesn't work is because charisma is still more important.

>>53033205

I was trying to go to the absurd to better illustrate my point. Regardless, if you can easily shrug off an obstacle in front of you, but it is not in the nature of your character to do so, it comes off as a little odd. A lawful wizard might be compelled to stand trial even if they were unjustly imprisoned, a good-aligned one might escape if he was chaotic, but would likely not threaten his captors, and an evil one might escape, or he might go through with the charade for some ulterior motive. There are lots of reasons to not simply teleport out, especially if you're in the situation where they managed to imprison you in the first place.

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>>53033231
That's why I have it specificially on 7th level and higher Barbarians, because their wild feral aspect and reputation as rage-engines give them an intimidating air.
They aren't just Dirk the Strong Knight, they are the scar-covered wildman from Frost Mountain, who's barely civilized.

Thus it's a Barbarian ability.
btw I'm not trying to sell you on the idea, or promoting that you use it in any way.

>>53033231
>>53033263

Well that's fine if that's how you wish to go about it, and it's totally valid if you use that as your homebrew. However, the books only list that one variant rule. And of course it doesn't work just because you want it to, that's still up to the DM to decide

>>53033211
It's basically the lucky feat.

>>53033314
I'm just angry about nonsensical things.

Strength (intimidation) is basically just combining two rolls into one - Say, a roll to smash open a door and a roll to intimidate someone.
Giving somebody strength (intimidation) 24/7 just sounds stupid because it goes against intent, but I guess you can put anything you like as a feat really.
But it's a real shame to nerf barbarian's midlevels even harder. Advantage on intiative is actually one of the more okay-ish mid-level barbarian features.

>>53033334
That variant rule is about conditionally using different scores rather than always using a different score. Because, as said, your muscles aren't always relevant and if you did do that I'm sure sometimes your DM would say 'Actually, simply because you used your strength to roll instead of actually using your charisma, he's not intimidated at all because he doesn't give a fuck how muscular you are.'

You can kind of get away with it if it's a feat/class feature as person said, but it really sounds like it would be better if it were expertise in intimidation or proficiency in intimdiation. And not only that, that would leave there to actually be a reason to have charisma on a barbarian instead of just dumping it and trying to intimidate everyone anyway. But it's not like they're advertizing their homebrew as 'all barbarians should be like this.'

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im planning to build a divination wizard based around astronomy/astrology

i plan to run him lawful good with a love of adventure

give me some cool ideas /tg/

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>>53033405
Massive, physically powerful guys don't need to tear phone books in half to be intimidating; triply so if they fly into murderous rages to deal death, becoming amazingly hard to put down when they do so.

>>53033578
A lawful good wizard really doesn't seem like the adventuring, outgoing type.
You're going to have to try justifying that with some severe backstory, such as the place they studied at being burnt down because a mob who suddenly decided 'magic is evil' or something like that even though magic isn't outlawed.

Though, you could also say they didn't get out much for a number of years due to enjoying the comfort of society but they want to see the stars from different places and they're adventuring for that reason.

>>53033578
Use the phrase "you can thank your lucky stars" a lot.

What types of magic shots should I have for my arcane archer when they first become available?

>>53033587
The fact they're a massive, physically powerful guy is the goods you're selling.
You use charisma to sell that to your enemy - 'I am massive, physically powerful and you will regret fighting me.'
You don't use your strength to sell that. That's like rolling dexterity or intellect to sell a cake because 'You make the cake with dexterity/intellect'.
Unless your DM is lazy and wants only one roll for that rather than two and combines them to simplify things.

There's no reason why a massive, physically powerful person deserves such a boon over a wizard who can point his finger at somebody and leave them as a pile of unrevivable ashes, or lock you forever in the earth, or simply speak a word and have you die then and there with no save. The wizard, too, has to sell themself, 'I am a wizard who can speak a word and then you will die.'

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>>53033508
>You can kind of get away with it if it's a feat/class feature as person said, but it really sounds like it would be better if it were expertise in intimidation or proficiency in intimdiation. And not only that, that would leave there to actually be a reason to have charisma on a barbarian instead of just dumping it and trying to intimidate everyone anyway.
It's based on the idea that the bigger and fiercer you appear, the more intimidating you are.
And this allows Barbarians the option of getting proficiency or expertise in it (through a feat) and being even more exceptional at it.

Barbarians wouldn't dump CHA if they wanted to be subtly persuasive or able to put on a good performance, but let's face it; Charisma is the 5th or 6th stat choice for Barbarians.
Intimidation is just that, it's being friggin intimidating. Chewbacca doesn't have a high charisma, everyone knows Wookies are strong as fuck and have a reputation for unpredicable ferocity, just like Barbarians.

>>53033677
I didn't read your entire comment chain, but it's either in the PHB or DMG that the DM may call for checks using alternate stats.

So it's RAW and RAI.
If you're arguing that's stupid, then I think you're stupid.

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>>53033677
>You use charisma to sell that to your enemy - 'I am massive, physically powerful
Hahaha, no, you don't. Unless you have inflatable fake Spongebob muscle arms.

You are either a Big Guy, or you aren't.
Faking being Large is Disguise Kit, not Intimidation.

>>53033685
By that logic though, you might as well have everybody roll Intimidation (Their attack stat). A rogue who can nail your head with a dagger at pinpoint precision and take you clean out is more terrifying than a rogue who can't aim for shit.

It's like up here >>53033677
You should have a benefit for being big and fierce, but that shouldn't be in the form of a roll. Not everybody wants to buy the same cake, some people want different cakes and so it's easier to convince them 'You should fear my muscle cake' than 'You should fear my magic cake'. Then other people are different, 'You should fear my magic cake' would be more convincing.
But in all of those cases above, charisma can help you sell those cakes. Charisma can help you sell a bad cake or a good cake, or a cake somebody doesn't want.

>>53033709
He's taking exception that I give it to barbarians as a feature; I generally don't use the variant rule that often.

>>53033711
Ironic considering the guy who played bane wasn't even a big guy.
He used his performance skill to fake it.

But you're absolutely right. I don't need to look at a dude with 18 inch biceps and have him convince me with his force of personality that he has 18 inch biceps and could crush my head like a grape.

>>53033709
Flanking is also a variant rule and it's shit.

I'm not even against using different attributes for things, it's just that nine times out of ten people don't give sufficiently good reason for it. They do it because 'Oh, this stat is higher' rather than 'This stat would be more appropriate than this one'.

>>53033733
Oh, well that's silly of him.
It's basically just you putting a sticky note down that says "for future reference, if you've got big ol' arms, you can use str for intimidation."

However, if I were you I'd probably just be consistent and let everyone use it. I don't think you need to be a barbarian to intimidate someone with your str.

Although you could argue that you need to display your strength for it to be relevant. A barbarian might not wear armor so his muscles are exposed, whereas the fighter might have his muscles hidden behind plate. But if he lifts a huge rock while also wearing heavy plate, that's pretty intimidating.

>>53033773
>this variant rule is shit, therefor that variant rule is shit

Are you actually a retard, anon?
Or are you that guy who's native language isn't english and thinks he needed to tell us explicitly he didn't use the flanking var

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>>53033732
Danny Devito can not sell himself as a large, powerful guy, no matter what he rolls on Charisma/Intimidation.

Again, the point of making it a Barbarian feature is that Barbarians specifically channel the spirits of beasts or their own boiling fury, and can intimidate on a primal level. Thus the Animal Handling too.

Chewbacca doesn't communicate "Hey dude, I am a scary Wookie and might hurt you pretty bad", he radiates "Large Dangerous man-beast" and people clear the hell out of his way.

>>53033773
>I'm not even against using different attributes for things, it's just that nine times out of ten people don't give sufficiently good reason for it. They do it because 'Oh, this stat is higher' rather than 'This stat would be more appropriate than this one'.

>I don't want players to be able to succeed, waaah
>all metagaming is bad, waaaah

If you're the DM you ultimately get to decide if its appropriate in the situation. If you wanna be a good DM, hear your player out with an open mind and if it makes sense, roll with it. No one ever said "gee I love how my DM never lets me do anything I want to do."

>>53033738
>He used his performance skill to fake it.
No, they used camera angles to fake it.
Hardy himself did nothing, they even dubbed in his silly modified voice later. If you watch it with the sound off, he's barely even giving a performance, his whole damn face is covered.

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>>53033621
i really dont wanna be "that morally ambiguous wizard with no sense of right or wrong"
just feels played out and stupid
i want to be a wizard who uses his magic as a means of exploring the world and seeing the wonders it holds and helping people along the way.
>>53033622
this would be good even without dubs

>>53033738
>And have him convince me that he could do that
If it's a peasant, of course you're going to autosucceed.
However, many things in D&D can't easily just be crushed by a 20 strength guy. A single punch from him is enough to do just a sliver of a strong monster's health. If it's a case of 'I punch you and you die' then you should have a hideously low DC to beat on intimidation, but if it's a case of 'Well I guess you might kill me if we got in a fight I guess' then you have to use charisma to not be the fucker who's intimidated and instead intimidate them.

>>53033792
Look, anon. You do understand how arguments work, right?

You or whoever it was said 'Look, it's a (Variant) rule in the book, therefore you're wrong.'
And then I said
'Look, there's another (Variant) rule in the book, and it's a shit rule.'
So, at this point, instead of resorting to 'Lol you're a retard' you should say 'Well, okay, I think that this variant rule is actually something that should be considered because..'
I'm saying you should actually explain why I should give a shit that there's a variant rule that says stuff.

But I already said that I don't have a problem with the variant rule itself, so this isn't really an argument that needs to happen.

>>53033839
I was just making a joke because performance is often so underused as a skill.
I love it when DMs call for performance for an extended ruse rather than a ton of deception checks. Such as pretending to be a noble to blend in at a party.

>>53033828
Well, I can agree with you there. It was going to come up sooner or later, but one of the best reasons to allow shit that doesn't make 100% sense but kind of vaguely works is because it's more fun. What I'm whining about here is 'actually, charisma would be more appropriate' but when you're at the table it's better to just roll with it.

Not because rolling strength instead of charisma rather than having high strength lowering your DC against most enemies is going to make them more likely to succeed, but because you've validated their idea and they get to have a larger number to add and that makes them giddy.

>>53033811
>Danny Devito can not sell himself as a large, powerful guy, no matter what he rolls on Charisma/Intimidation.
Because he's trying to sell really shit goods, and therefore his DC is too higher for his intimidation to achieve.
If he had a high enough intimidation, he could at least convince people that he could gauge their eye out with a pokey stick rather than crush them under his fists.

If it's a barbarian feature and it's something about transferring your physical energy into an aura of intimidation or something, I think that makes sense. But in the case of Chewbacca, Chewbacca doesn't have to roll jack shit to intimidate people, because he doesn't have to convince people. People already know.

You don't have to roll persuasion to sell a cake that somebody's already going to buy.

>>53031649
Lack of player agency for uncreative new-schoolers. Too many people depend on what their character sheet explicitly enables them to do, and level 6 is a popular houserule to make it so the character sheet, rather than the character, is fun to play.

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>>53033880
I have DCs (and in some cases costs) in my campaign for using Performance to earn money, culturally influence communities (and even nations) and win influence with nobility/ the ruling class.

Which is how it's supposed to be used.

>>53033857
It is, technically, not a variant rule.
Either way, saying one is bad therefor the other is also bad is not a solid argument. You shouldn't be lecturing anyone on logical arguments.

Here is what is says in the book:
Often, players ask whether they can apply a skill proficiency to an ability check. If a player can provide a good justification for why a character's training and aptitude in a skill should apply to the check, go ahead and allow it, rewarding the player's creative thinking.

I recommend following the advice in the book.

You might be interested to know that automatic successes are actual technically a variant rule. But hey, those must be shit too because flanking is shit.

>>53033857
No one said anything about autosuccess in this context. We're saying make a str intimidation check. Making a check implies there's a chance for failure.

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>that feel when running Curse of Strahd over roll20 and it started off as a small cozy spooky party but got way too big
>that feel when you were certain the whole thing was gonna collapse--5 people babbling over google hangouts, dropped video calls, echoes and feedback, the works
>that feel when the players grew a sack and helped me, the forever-DM, move it all to Discord and configured their roll20 sheets correctly to minimize my work
>now they can enjoy the dozens of maps I painstakingly tailored to them and hundreds of pop-up story events for every corner of the realm, complete with pictures, and it all runs like a smoothly oiled machine

I have no words for how comfy this feel is. I love my players.

>>53033259
>we don't roll for initiative normally
What do you use instead, and is there a reason you can't have an ability modify it?

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It's funny because all this pedantic nonsense started because I stated that I had Str-based Int/AH as a variant Barbarian 7th level feature in my game, and wasn't advocating any change to RAW or trying to sell it as a "superior option".

>>53033934
It is also used to pass yourself off as someone else. There's a class feature somewhere or something that hints at this, but I can't remember which one at the moment.

>>53034015
For brevity, we just go in Initiative bonus order, with ties going to players.
Of course I don't have an Assassin in the party, but it cuts down on needless dice-rolling and more importantly initiative tracking.

>>53034025
Do you know where you are?
We live for this autistic shit flinging. Why else would anyone spend there time on this thread for longer than a couple posts in order to have a question answered?

>>53034045
My players insist to roll initiative for every round. It's a bit slower but if that's what they want then that's what they'll get.

>>53034069
Mine were overjoyed to stop rolling for it, and one player who usually got the job of tracking it for the DM was ecstatic (no one else wanted the job).

I didn't push for it, but everyone treated it like a horrid chore, and it does speed things up.

>>53034043
Convincing the local farmer that you are "A chicken inspector from the city" is performance.
Convincing him that you're Rodrigo, the guy who regularly inspects his chickens is Disguise Kit with possibly performance to mimic his voice.

>>53034124
Disregard that; the first case is Deception.
The second case is Disguise/Performance or mimicry.

What was I thinking?

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>>53034015
>tfw DM has us roll d10 for initiative
>tfw i took improved initiative
>tfw went from going last due to crappy rolls to going first 90% of the time

>>53034045
So you could still give the barbarian some bonus to initiative here, like saying advantage is +5, or adding proficiency, or something. I get the impression a lot of their little features are supposed to add up to make up for being a bit MAD.

>>53034140
It's okay anon, I knew what you meant.
And absolutely.

However, I can also see convincing him you're a chicken inspector requires a performance check if there regularly are other chicken inspectors (not just Rodrigo). You're pretending to be doing your duties correctly. Acting like a chicken inspector. That's of course, if perhaps he's watching you. If you just tell him you are and that's that, yeah, deception.

In any case, the Barbarian 7th level "Advantage on initiative" generally doesn't do a whole lot for them. Whereas Str for Intimidate/Animal Handling is reasonably useful and makes sense for the class. (IMO, cool your shit).

>>53033993
It's heavily implied autosucceed because
>I don't need to look at a dude with 18 inch biceps and have him convince me with his force of personality that he has 18 inch biceps
And therefore you don't need him to roll, because he doesn't have to convince you about jack shit.
If you say 'Well, I'm not SURE if he has 18 inch biceps' then how is he going to improve your eyesight? However, he could try to show off his strength, and combining a strength check (Show off strength) and intimidation (Charisma) (To then 'sell' you that you should be scared of it) into intimidation (Strength) is probably fine. If you say, 'No, I don't need him to convince me' then it's just strength, no intimidation, because he doesn't have to intimidate you, just show you his strength and let you decide for yourself.

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>>53034247

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Any tips on getting the most out of a familiar?

Is 5E the best choice for a group & DM that are entirely new to d&d?

Is GWF/PAM with a quarterstaff the best option for an Oath of Redemption Paladin, or could I try and go for TWF (if the DM allows) and Dual Wielding with twin maces?

>>53033973
It is a flawed argument, but it is a point nevertheless. If somebody made a book of 5e rules and all of the rules were shit and then added a new rule, it would be a valid expectation, 'the new rule will be shit'. Of course, you could then say 'Actually, no, look, it's not shit and this is why' but you didn't do that last part.

I seemed to remember it being a variant rule, and everybody kept saying it is, but if it's not then you could've just said that last post.

Now then
>If a player can provide good justification for why a character's training and aptitude in a skill should apply to the check
And if you were listening, I've said several times, this is perfectly fine. I'm arguing about a particular case where people always insist that strength should be able to apply to intimidation if you're a big muscley man.

And by the rule given there, you can say, 'Oh, I want to crush this helmet, but ALSO intimidate an opponent. Can I use my inimidation proficiency on my strength check?' and you'll probably get away with it.
But if you say 'Oh, I want to intimidate this opponent, but also I'm really muscley, so can I have strength instead?' then this doesn't follow that rule you've just quoted.

>>53034326
I think so.
It's what I started out with, DMing for one guy with some 3rd edition experience and the rest of em being newbs as well.

>>53034326
Yes.
It's very streamlined and reasonably balanced.
I say that as someone who's played since 1st.

Would you not consider a katana a finesse weapon?

>>53034369
Short answer: no.
Long Answer: the Wakisashi and the and the Ninja-to are finesse weapons, the Katana is Versatile.

>>53034369
katana very obviously would be represented by the longsword in 5e

>>53034328
pam yes, gwm no because quarterstaffs are not heavy

twf is utter dogshit unless your gm is willing to do you several favors

>>53034369
No

>>53034369
No more than a longsword.

>>53034341
>>53033973
Just checked, page 175. Says 'Variant'. Not sure if you're quoting a different page or something, but it definitely sounds like a variant rule to me.

Reading it, however, it does appear there is part of the rule that says 'Similarly you can put strength instead of charisma for intimidating' but really what I'm saying is that's stupid unless you're jerking your players off.

>>53034369
Yeah, I do.
In my game it's a 1d6/1d8 finesse versatile slashing weapon.

>>53034395
Wakizashi, whatever.

>>53034411
This would also be acceptable, if only for the sweet Weeb tears.

>>53034305
Giving them a personality straight out of your patron's book is a start.

>>53034436
That's part of the reason, but also katanas are kind of a precision weapon more than a power weapon so I felt that justified the finesse property... but no way I'm making a finesse weapon with a higher damage output than a d8, so d6/d8 versatile seemed like a fine place to leave it at.
I guess I overthink this stuff.

I am new to spell casting. What are the step to use them?

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>>53034305
roleplay or mechanics?
>mechanics
scouting
spying
stealing
>roleplay
a tool to flesh out your characters personality by interacting with the personification of your magic
a characterized reflection of your character
another "person" for your group to interact with

>>53034483
its your action if thats what you're asking

>>53034398
>pam yes, gwm no because quarterstaffs are not heavy
I didn't even want to take GWM. Just GWF.

>twf is utter dogshit unless your gm is willing to do you several favors
I dunno, you get to double your strength modifier output. And if you miss with the first weapon you can still do half-decent damage on a hit with the second one with your modifier. Plus with Dual Wielder you get to ignore the Light property AND get a bonus to your AC when you've got two weapons drawn.

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>>53034483
Step 1. Read the PHB, you lazy fuck

>>53034403
>>53034341
>>53033973
Actually wait fuck sorry for third post but I remembered what was going on now

1. You said 'It's a rule'
2. I said 'Just because it's a rule, doesn't mean it's a good idea, here's an example of a rule that exists but is shite: flanking.'

I'm having trouble keeping up with myself.

So for a College of Swords/Swashbuckler what are some spells I should be looking out for?

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>>53034553
>battle bard
you know what to do

>>53031393
Assuming warlock is off the table, what makes for the next best blaster? Evocation wizard? Sorcerer?

Can a wizard make a decent elemental blaster?

>>53034527
Flanking is a variant rule

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>>53034604
Don't sweat it babe I will be scatting all day, but I need to know what spells I will be castin'.

>>53034553
you dont because its strictly worse than college of valor

as always to make the most out of it take GWM use a greatsword and take haste as your first magical secret. the rest of your magical secrets can be a lot of things because the bard spell list lacks many of the core defense spells normally found on the wizard spell list

some suggestions: shield, absorb elements, mirror image, armor of agathys

Is the Tough feat an acceptable way to beef up a d8 hit die class?

>>53034706
And so is using stats with other skills

>>53034794
Tough, for all intents and purposes, puts you from 1d8 to 1d12 hitdice except for healing from hitdice.

It's not bad, but there are probably better ways.

If you're a warlock, 'moderately armoured' would probably serve you better.

Depends what it is.

>>53034692
Wizard is good but doesn't really come onto its own until 8th when they get INT to damage.

Draconic Sorcerer can throw +CHA fireballs 2 levels earlier.

So I'd say, Light Cleric.

>>53034804
Yes it is

>>53034341
>
And by the rule given there, you can say, 'Oh, I want to crush this helmet, but ALSO intimidate an opponent. Can I use my inimidation proficiency on my strength check?' and you'll probably get away with it.

Not at all, or at least I wouldn't rule it like that. I'd decide if they're strong enough and tell them to only roll for the intimidation. If they were trying to break something really difficult, or bend a piece of tempered steel etc. I'd ask for a seperate strength check with the regular strength modifier.

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>>53034726

>Play College of Valor
Nah, I want to play the blades babe.

>Haste, Absorb Elements, Mirror Image,Armor of Agathys
This sounds groovy.

>Shield
Defensive flourish baby.

>>53034403
There's an inconsistency.
In the DMG it isn't a variant, in PHB it is.

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>>53032641
Really hope they do a revised edition of the phoenix sorcerer to be more in line with this.

>>53034341
Regardless, you can't point at two different things and say they're both shit because they both fall under variant.

Anyway, it didn't seem necessary because so many people have already listed why the rule makes perfect sense. You disagree, that's fine.

>>53034025

What >>53034062 said. How many people here do you think actually play DnD, not just autistically pore over the rules and make meme/minmax builds or masturbate to their homebrew settings, then come on here and argue about rollplaying versus roleplaying? I'd say about 60% at the most.

>>53034818
Would it work for a monk?

>>53034917
I play the game about once a week and then with another group about once a month at least.
But yeah, even though I play the game most of what I do here is shitpost and shove my autism in other people's face.

>>53034911
That girl is hot.

>>53034911
this is stupid with a bunch of dead features too so i dont see why you like it

>>53034911
>Sorcerer of the First Flame
>Using Chandra and not the Witch of Izalith
Get out.

>>53034854
>bend a piece of tempered steel
Now that would be a feat.
Because it wouldn't bend, just break

>>53034858
haste and armor of agathys are probably your best two spells to pick up at 10

haste being awesome no matter what, and armor of agathys gives you some much-appreciated hp and a lot of extra damage against melee enemies

hellish rebuke is also good because it uses your reaction, so you can attack and still be able to cast it. the short range isnt much of a problem because youre going to be in melee most of the time anyway

absorb elements is a strong defensive spell that gishes really like because it only eats up your reaction

shield is a good pick for the same reasons as absorb elements

>>53034926
once you reach 20wis/dex high AC is important for making that health actually matter.

My biggest complaint with college of swords is that it seems to fuck over two weapon fighting?
Why even have it listed as an option if dueling is obviously superior?
I feel like wizard did this on purpose because they hate TWF. I can't blame them, though. Dual wielding is such a meme combat style anyway.
I guess it just triggers my autism that they present it like a valid option when it isn't really at all.

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>>53034917
I'm waiting for my game to start, and I've been planning a sky-themed campaign for later.

>>53034916
The thing wasn't that I Was pointing at two different things and saying they're both shit. The thing was I was pointing at two different things and showing 'Because this is shit, I have proven that it is POSSIBLE for this other thing to be shit, and therefore you need to say more than just the fact it exists.'

>Why the rule makes perfect sense
Now, now. That's bias. Everything but the last line makes sense, at least.

>>53034888
Huh. How odd.

>>53034926
For a monk, get mobile. Monks have to be careful with their ASIs as they lose survivability and damage and effectiveness from putting it into non-dex/wis/whatever, but mobile is worth it because you can run in, punch, run out and be completely impossible to hit if you do things right.

>>53034970
>The thing wasn't that I Was pointing at two different things and saying they're both shit. The thing was I was pointing at two different things and showing 'Because this is shit, I have proven that it is POSSIBLE for this other thing to be shit, and therefore you need to say more than just the fact it exists.'

What a completely nonsensical line of reasoning.
>that's bias
No shit. I meant it as people listed why it makes perfect sense which is what you wanted arguments for. I'm not saying you agree that it makes sense.

So how often do you play this game?

>>53034944
Shieeet nigga I'm in med school not an engineer I don't know shit about no materials.

>>53034522
>>53034495
I only played martial fighter. The part where there no roll to hit confused me. Just roll for the damage and force my target to roll is all I got from it.

>>53033732
Id let rogues roll intmidation dex for scaring somebody with a shot/throw

>>53034970
>Huh. How odd.
Maybe by the time the DMG came out they thought it was a good enough rule to use. I mean, they pretty explicitly say it's a good idea to let the player do so and that you should encourage that behavior from players.

I honestly don't see why you wouldn't though. Anything that encourages a player to put thought into the system is good enough for me. If there's no justification, though, then of course you should say no.
>I want to make an intimidation check using my int
Might work at a chess tournament. But probably not against the guy holding an axe ready to cut you in pieces. But who knows, maybe he plays chess.

>>53034993
>Nonsensical
If you read back to the original post >>53033709

'It's a rule, so it's RAW and RAI, and if you're arguing against that then you're stupid.'

I provided an example of a rule that most of us can agree is stupid.

How is that nonsensical reasoning?

>>53035038
Shit son I'd let somebody roll intimidation (wisdom) to scare them with Sherlockian powers of deduction ("HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY KNOW"), intimidation (constitution) by drinking some poison or putting their hand in a fire or something (think terminator judgement day when he removes the skinglove or a crazy barbarian cutting a gash into his face).
Hell, intimidation (intelligence) to spook him with some eldritch knowledge or something.
There's so much you can do with that variant rule IF you convince the DM/your players manage to convince you.

>>53035100
I didn't mean deduction, more like observation (like noticing somebody smokes by their fingers or something).

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>>53035035
PHB pg 200-205
everything you could need for casting spells

>>53032170
>>53032215
How the fuck did that happen? Please, I need to know.

>>53035099
Because they're not the same rule.
Also, seems like there is an inconsistency with whether or not it's actually a variant.

Anyway. Your counter argument was much more flawed than the original argument.
Also your argument assumes that most people agree flanking is bad without providing any support yourself as to why it is.
It isn't a great argument technique to wholly adopt the thing you're accusing someone else of doing.

Lastly, I can see how we differ in interpretation. But I took that post to mean "if you think the rule is stupid, then I think you're stupid" more as a light quip than an argument in and of itself.

>>53035038
I'd just do either:

>They roll attack to make a warning shot
>They roll intimidation to scare the enemy
or
>Assume they 'hit' their warning shot
>They roll intimidation to scare the enemy
or
>They roll attack to make a warning shot
>If the enemy is scared, no need to roll intimidation

>>53035157
Would you have a failure on attack miss in all cases or maybe hit the person on a critical miss? I think that could be interesting.

>inb4 somebody attacks me for perpetuating the critical fail/hit meme

>>53035157
Id rather condense to 1roll than 2

>>53035100
I mean, why wouldn't you if it makes sense?
It makes social interaction much more fun if you were to do so, in my opinion.

Because instead of saying "uhh... I have intimidation let me roll it..." you instead move on to say "With my high level of intelligence I start speaking at length using big words to intimidate this simpleton" or some shit.
You've just moved from boring intimidation roll to a pretty flavorful one and the player is much more involved.
There's still a check and a risk of failure. Perhaps in this example you fail because as soon as you started using big words they just tuned you out until you finished talking.

Different strokes. But I would really encourage you to actually use it if a player has a good idea. In fact I'm going to tell my players to do so.

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Just curious, but you write your character's bio in first or third person?

>>53035210
>not writing in second person

>>53035218
>not from the DM's perspective

How to I College of Swords? It seems good but I can't seem to figure it out.

Should I start with a level of Fighter?

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>>53035190
>I think that could be interesting
I think your idea is bad and you should feel bad

>>53035230
>not from the PHB's perspective

>>53035270
>not from /tg/'s perspective

>>53033578
Walking 100 miles is better than reading 1000 books.

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>>53035300
>not from the perspective of the gods

>>53035256
Well alright, you needn't use it in your games.

>>53035099
The only thing you should have said was that it was a variant rule that you didn't like to use.
Everything else you said was retarded.

>you don't like it so anon thinks you're stupid
Okay, so? Don't get offended. It was just their opinion, m80.

Also, I think the point of their post was to point out it was present in the source books and not just a homebrew thing.

>>53035313
Thanks anon, I feel better now

Goblin favored soul. Essentially the goblin pope. Either was inspired by some deity or received power from them directly. Goes around thinking he's hot shit because he's goblin jesus.

Next character? Thoughts?

>>53035309
>not from the perspective of the arch-devils
pssssh

>>53035218
>Then, amazingly, she opened the gate, redirecting the river and crushing the invading hobgoblin band.

>I, as always, was masturbating in the bushes a few hundred yards from town.

>>53035156
>Because they're not the same rule
I can't give an example of the same rule. That just wouldn't work.

>Inconsistency in whether or not it's actually a variant
That's true, but in both cases whether it has the variant tag or not, it's something the DM can choose to use or not, like with flanking.

>Your argument assumes that most people agree flanking is bad without providing any support yourself
I could give support if asked, but it's not like you gave any support for the rule, so there was no need to explain. The support is something that would happened if you had replied with something sensible like asking me to back up flanking being a bad rule.

Yes, I didn't say 'The using skills with different proficiencies rule is shit and here's why' because
1. I actually agreed with the rules, just not certain applications of it.
2. I was making a counterargument, not an argument. And the counterargument was simply just an example to show that you were making the flaw of appealing to authority, the authority of whoever put it in the rules, instead of actually making an argument.

And then I also got more confused.
And now we're here just as confused without having achieved anything.

>>53035335
>not from the perspective of the character's gut flora

>>53035337
>second person

>>53035353
>not from the perspective of your kouhai

>>53035337
That's third person anon, let me help.

>And then young Gork, you will recall how you murdered the absolute shit out of those humans with your heavy great-ax.

>>53035210
>>53035218
>>53035230
>>53035270
>>53035300
>>53035309
>>53035335
>>53035353
>>53035363
Guys please l need real answers or my DM is gonna kill me.

>>53035345
I think you're also getting confused about who you're replying to. It's cool, though. Hard to keep it straight.
Anyway, do what you want.

>>53035363
>not from the perspective of a guy you randomly met once while shopping for produce in the town square

>>53035373
A style utilized in many video games as an prologue that shapes you character. Pick choices and another character tells what you did.

>>53035388
>not writing the DM's backstory from the perspective of the character's mother

>>53035400
>not from the Player's perspective

>>53035388
>not writing from the perspective of a player killed by his DM

>>53035116
I would the loli! Attack roll are dependent of the spell I use, so I only need to keep track of which spell I use.

What are the rule to understanding a spell? Do you just automatically get them as you level up?

>>53035388

Whichever you think is best anon. Personally I used third person for my last character, but depending on how invested you are maybe use first. I would definitely not write in first person, but voicechat/in person I might do it.

>>53033669
The line one seems pretty good, considering the damage gets boosted by your ability mod and free +1 Arrows. Aslo the fact that it ignores cover can be very handy at level 3.

Bursting Arrow is +2d6 on your target with a 2d6 splash that's going to be useful at killing weaker enemies for a while.

Grasping Arrow is the best in my opinion. +2d6 and then they have to either waste a turn or take another 2d6 every turn.

I'd take Grasping Arrow and Piercing Arrow at level 3.

>>53035403
Oooh yes, I didn't even think of that. Yeah, that's the best example of second-person description. I quite like those.

>>53035322
But I do like to use the variant rule.
I just don't approve of usage of it that doesn't make sense.

>>53035432
its all dependent on your class and shit. Read the god damn book bro

>>53035452
grasping arrow is the only one I didn't really love only from a flavor standpoint

I'll probably do the line and bursting, as you mentioned. I can see bursting being quite useful at lower levels, like you said, especially because you won't have multiple attacks until level 5. So it can come in handy.

>>53035415
>not from the character's perspective

>>53035424
>not writing from a certain point of view

>>53035515
>not writing from an uncertain point of view

>>53035116
>>53034522
Anyone got any more tasty RTFB reaction images?

>>53035388
>not writing your background as an anthology of all these different perspectives

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What's your most satisfying single turn in combat?

>>53035499
If you really need to blow your load you can use two Bursting Arrows at level 5 for some fun. With a Shortbow and Sharpshooter you can burst 2d6+6+20 on one guy and then deal 4d6 to him and everyone around him.

I absolutely love Arcane Archer because it reminds me of Dragon's Dogma and most of the abilities are easy to refluff how you want. Have fun with it anon.

>>53035530
>not having GRRM edit your anthology to make sure it's extra gritty

>>53035563
>not writing as an ironic greentext

>>53035533
Uh, I once had a level 2 warlock monk that crit for max damage on a standard goblin that was hexed.

Basically anytime I crit and roll max damage or close to it feels pretty good.

>>53035570
>not writing from the perspective of a man who mistakes ironic for sarcastic

>>53035570
>not using greentext to convey agreement while everyone else thinks you're being ironic to spark arguments with those that agree and placate opponents

>>53035593
>not knowing sarcasm falls under irony

>>53035602
>not asdfgpsa psagjpasjgp asdgjpasjdg apjga

>>53035551
Yeah, not to mention action surge if I felt like it.
I also really like it, but perhaps one of my favorite features is curving shot. I love the idea of seeking arrows.

One game I ran I gave one of my players a helmet of arrow deflection which would give a +5 bonus to AC against arrows. But any arrow that passed within 10 or 15 ft of him (I don't remember exactly) would automatically target him, including any he shot himself.
Was a ton of fun. Now, that's not incredibly related to arcane archer, but the curving shot reminded me of that.

>>53032550
What the fuck, this is literally the exact same story I created for the sword in my game. Like... down to a tee.

>>53035533
The time I managed to roll max damage on my fireball as a level 6 War Mage.

I don't know if the computer fucked it's self or what but dealing 60 damage to the room full of cultists was pretty fucking fun.

>>53035624
>not making sense

>>53035190
I mean, the shot will probably be to determine how 'cool' the shot is, but considering to the enemy it's 'Oh shit almost hit by an arrow' in any case except 'enemy is hit by arrow'.. You shouldn't bother rolling it at all.

>>53035646
>not making out

>>53035646
>making sense

>>53035629
Well if it makes you feel any better, it's not a terribly original story.

>>53035661
>not going for half a year without making out, 2 and a half years without sex

Kill me anon I'm so fucking lonely

>>53035665
>not rewriting the PHB in greentext

>>53035690
>not having already achieved undeath

>>53035334
Why would someone of social standing that high (within his race anyways) join up with an adventurer's party? Within the setting you're playing, wouldn't people react negatively to a goblin in a civilized settlement?

If a creature's pushed 8 feet should I treat it as 5 or 10 on a grid? I feel like rounding to the nearest whole makes much more sense here but the PHB does say always round down.

>>53035711
>goblin jesus wasn't rejected by his own
do you even jesus?

>>53035690
Oh no, sounds terrible.
Not that I would know of course, being 26 and never even held a girls hand. Fuck off normie etc.

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>>53035527
Not a D&D specific one, but here you go

>>53035723
Because the 5 ft square simulates the area you occupy, not where you're actually standing, anything beyond 5ft back will push you into the next square in my opinion.

So even 5.5ft would push you into a second square.

>>53035697
>not rewriting the rewrites of all the core rulebooks in more greentext

>>53035737
Sometimes it's better to have never known the taste of honey than to never be able to taste it again.

>>53035737
>forgetting which board you're on and likely making some feel bad about themselves with unthoughtful posting

I'm s-sorry anon.

>>53035723
>>53035749
I'd just round down. 8 feet would be 10 feet then.

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>>53035690
>giving up your ability to take wizard levels

>>53035690
The best thing I've had in 25 years is giving a random guy from the pub a blowjob. Go back to facebook with your normie problem.

>>53035749
I like this line of reasoning because you're put over the threshold of the square and into the next.

[__][__]
___^ 5ft
[__][__]
____^ >5ft

>>53035770
Sure, but those that have tasted shouldn't try to get pity points from those that have begun to resent the very idea of anyone tasting honey because they have become bitter and resentful.

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Found this because I don't feel artificer isn't quite right how it is

Is it, specifically the Gunsmith portion, still balanced?

>>53035810
Last year I got my first kiss and blowjob in the same day. Then a week later I had sex.
All at the age of 22.

Don't give up hope. I thought I'd never get any action.

>>53035723
Do whatever you want, the important thing is to just try your best to be consistent.

>>53035837
I am ugly, fat and have a terrible personality. I have already spent a few years trying to mentally condition myself to dislike the very idea of being in a relationship.

>>53035793
>>53035737
>>53035690
I no longer feel bad that I haven't had my pp touched in 2 weeks.

>>53035876
Can I touch your pp? I can pretend to be a girl if it helps.

>>53035876
The only thing than can make Man truly happy is that there is always someone worse off.

Schadenfreude and fake compassion is the pinnacle of human emotions.

>>53035876
Welcome to 5eg, where some come for comfort and others come for despair.

>>53035533
Oathbreaker paladin villain broke into the castle riding in a black dragon, tried to attack our paladin but instead killed our hobgoblin friend we had grown attached to. I was a halfling rogue, 3rd or 4th level, saved against the dragon fear thanks to Brave, and jumped on to the oathbreaker in anger. My DM didn't think we'd be able to hit the guy, but I crit and dealt a satisfying amount of damage to him, at which point he decided to flee.

>>53035900
This desu

>tfw your 8th level party is trapped in the armory of Ironslag with 10's of Fire Giants waiting for you to leave through the only exit.
>Bard and Sorcerer can only dimension door four of the five party members out.
>Walls are too thick to tunnel through
>Doors are so big we can't open them and run like hell. They need our combined strength to flip the latch.
How the fuck do we get out of this little pickle without being spitroasted on Fire Giant cocks.

>>53035914
Dimension door 4 of the 5. Cause a distraction to lure them away.
Last guy hopes for the best and runs for his life in the mean time.

>>53035914
WE NEED ONE OF US IN THE WRECKAGE BROTHER.

>>53035914
Well obviously someone's going to have to stay while 4 dimension door out. I'd suggest leaving the person with the highest Stealth.

Tell him to hide somewhere and come back for him later.

>>53035930
Oh shit I missed the last point.
Hmm.
It really takes all 5 of you? Awfully convenient.

>>53035940
They expect one of us*

Sorry about that.

>>53035914
Open the Dimension Door to the water plain and get some Water Giant bros to help you fight the firegiants

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>>53035986
That wouldn't solve anything, they'd just become Gabe.

>>53035986
>t. martial that doesn't understand magic

>>53035986
>open the dimension door to another plane

Wait does that work?

>>53035740
Someone with a little skill could shop those books into D&D books, then we'd have another good one.

Would knowing astronomy be an Arcana, History or Religion check?

How do I not screw up as DM? Things never go smoothly.

>>53036039
Accept that mistakes will happen and aim to learn from them.

Encourage your players to tell you things they liked and didn't like about the session afterwards.

>>53036035
Depends on the application/context in which you learned it.

Some people learn about the stars, constellations and such based on stories from the past. Prominent figures, etc.
Astrology would probably involved arcana but could involve religion if you used it for such purposes.

>>53036035
Int check. More specific knowledge could be any of them.
Knowledge of astronomy as a practice would be history, knowing constellations pertaining to religion would be religion and knowing if they are magic is arcana.

>>53036035
How are you trying to use the stars?
Trying to use them to find your way home with your knowledge of astronomy?
Make an int based survival check.

>>53036035
Intimidate the stars to tell you their secrets.

>>53036035
Astronomy is Nature and Survival
Astrology is Arcana and Religion

>>53036118
But only using your charisma :^)

>playing a female wild magic sorcerer
>created to replace a dead character, where I used the fact that we had just saved a handful of magically gifted slave chicks from a psychopathic noble.
>GM always forces us to use something that fits with the current events, as if it doesn't, it can take several sessions to get your new character introduced
>Got myself a neat little concept, with the character crushing a bit on the Paladin in the party (knight in shining armour and all that jazz)
>GM is very good at asking for wild surges, to the point where I pretty much roll on every second spell cast.
>rolls 35 on the wild magic surge table
>rolls a 9
>GM laughs, as she tells me I got 9 years younger
>The character was 20, GM didn't allow older at character creation

So let me get this straight, since I am still trying to fully grasp the situation here;

Nothing changes except for age, right? So presumably the appearance changes a bit, but nothing else?

I cant really find any rules about this.

And I need to think of something else, because I worry my GM is planning on something stupid happening. She hasn't exactly been subtle so far.

If a cleric got their hands on an artifact book of magical secrets that contains lost spells and rituals, what fancy rituals could it have?
I was thinking stuff like allowing you to switch two of your ability points from one attribute into another, or getting an extra attunement slot. These of course would require ingredients, time and money.
Suggestions welcome. Even silly ones that offer no gameplay benefits.

>>53036145
>Nothing changes except for age, right? So presumably the appearance changes a bit, but nothing else?

It's open to interpretation.
I'd probably go full on age regression, appearance and everything. I think that's the intention, to be honest. As if you aged forward 9 years, you would also look older.

The strange thing is that you're going from 20 to 11. That's a lot of development reversed.
If your question is would anything except for physical characteristics change, I'd say no. Just those. Possibly height as well, as appropriate.

>>53036145
>I worry my GM is planning on something stupid happening
... What kind of stupid?

>>53036145
I assume it's a purely physical change, but as >>53036179 said, it's a matter of interpretation.

Mentally you're the same as you were, but physically you return to the equivalent of an 11 year old

Unrelated, but that's exactly what I want to happen to my current wild magic sorc, you lucky bastard.

>>53036166
I'd probably let them take 1 cantrip from any class, and 2 spells from any class list that they can cast from. Like a bard's magical secrets.

You did say artifact level, so it should be pretty good.

>>53036145
Depending on the DM they might have you lose some wisdom and gain some dexterity in exchange.
At least it's not as bad as a DM I had that aged my monk 80 years in one encounter, killing him instantly.

>>53036145
>gets to play a mahou shoujo
You're living the dream, my nigga

>>53036166
I'd suggest you take a look through older edition spells that are not currently a thing in 5e. There might be some very cool ones here and there.

Off the top of my head, I remember reading about a Chariot of Fire spell that looked awesome.

>>53036247
Well, the book is meant to contains shit that has been lost to the ages so I guess spells that have been left out of 5e would be appropriate. No spellcaster alive would remember those old spells anymore but the book would.

>>53034937
how are these dead features exactly especially if you compare it off to the Kaladesh pyromancer. The first one does the exact same thing, except at first level it allows you to just pick any damaging spell and deal fire damage with it. The rest of the features almost match up completely with the other as well.

>>53035400
That poor bastard's cabbages.

What should I take for my High Elf Sage's 3 bonus languages?

>>53036179
>If your question is would anything except for physical characteristics change, I'd say no
Yeah that's what I was thinking.

Having the mentality change would be strange. Backwards, I can imagine, but then it would also have to apply id you got older, which wouldn't make sense. How would you start acting differently? You are shaped by experiences and events, so if you get 10 years older in a split second, nothing would actually change except for your physical attributes.

At least the stats the GM decided on is fitting enough (Str9, Dex12,Con8), so hopefully I won't get reduced any further.

So essentially, I should just keep playing my character the same, except take notes of noow significantly smaller stature?

I do wonder how much you'd notice this... like, would you be able to accidentally forget you were suddenly a child, or would you just be so keenly aware of it, that you couldn't possibly forget?

I'll probably go the second route, if only because it feels fitting for a high charisma person with proficiency in both insight and deception, but it is an interesting question. I wonder what the idea behind the age change was, and if they had any actual thoughts on how it was supposed to be played out.

/tg/, I'm going to put my party through a unfair encounter. An ambush from their enemies, with a well thought plan to ensure the ambushers have all the advantages on the beginning. Plus it's considered a deadly encounter for my party, but they will be fully rested and with full resources, and they have several powerful magic items in their possession.

My question is, how do I run this in a way my players don't feel like I'm shitting on them, or cheating to ensure something that I might want to happen, etc? How do I avoid a tense atmosphere at the game?

>>53036350
>stats the GM decided on is fitting enough (Str9, Dex12,Con8)
Jesus. How the fuck did that happen?

>>53036209
Not sure, but considering that we've found half orc brothels for humans, raped and tortured women, and a soup stew with the bones of children in it, I am not exactly expecting something good.

>>53036211
>>53036231
I am not so sure about that. I find it awkward enough to try this, but now having to deal with role-playing a girl in an 11 year old body...

I am not that good at role-playing man.