/5eg/ D&D Fifth Edition General

My DM's letting us swap out racial +2 for our next game. I'm planning to make an Abyssal Tiefling Battlerager with their new spiky feat.

Is this cool or no?

Reposting;

So I am making a neutral good dragonborn Paladin. He is devoted to Tamara, but I am torn on a pretty big choice.

One is making him a Silver Dragonborn who is a Folk Hero. Your usual hero material stuff.

The alternative is making a White Dragonborn Hermit. The idea being that he has desperately tried to cast off his heritage, and has been accepted his God (of mercy, so I thought it was pretty fitting), and have a bit more of a struggle to navigate in social situations, because chromatic Dragon.

But would the second choice be a bit too edgy/snowflake?

>>53037829
>What kind of magical antics have you gotten up to in your latest campaign?
Getting turned into an 11 year old girl because of wild magic surges.

This is why Wild Magic Sorcerers are shit. Never again.

>>53037848
The second one is great as long as you don't overdo it. Much cooler than the first idea.

>>53037848
It sounds like you're aware enough to know how snowflakey the second option is. Do you, anon.

>>53037848
The 2nd option makes your character's relationship to god more personal. That makes for a better religious character.

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/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?

>>53037876
This. Not everyone has to be a Mormon who extols the virtue of his God all the time. Devotion is a very personal thing.

>>53037908
Fudge a few rolls if everything goes TOO well. Don't TPK them before they grt to react.

>>53037908
If they have full resources they should be fine unless they are retards.

Anyone got some ideas to improve Versatile weapons?

Onehanded, twohanded and all ranged weapons allready get nice support from Dueling, Defensive duelist, GWF, PAM, Sharpshooter and Crossbowmastery.

>>53037908
I did a similar thing. Party got ambushed by 15 undead on their way back to the city. 8 melee guys as a meat shield, 4 cultists with hold person and shit, a cleric and a mage, and an assassin leading them. I spent a day or two thinking if they're going to make it.
The party just ripped the assassin and casters apart before they got a chance to actually do any real damage. The players barely even lost any health. They were level 8.
Should've fudged the rolls to help the enemies.

what's a good backstory for a way of the long death monk

what ive got so far is that he's just a monk that trained on the high seas as a sailor and found that he had the uncanny ability to steal people's souls when he killed them. also his rival blew up the monastery he was from while he was away at sea.

>>53037970
>>53038020
I think my main concern is that one of the goals of the bad guys is retrieve a legendary magical item the party took from them. As such, they would go out of their way to focus the PC that has the item, even if he's the hardest to kill, just so they could grab it as he's dying. I also have some other shenanigans planned, such as pushing the wizard (who's tough to hit, with high AC and shield spell) into a big chest and locking him in there as fast as possible.

>>53037908
Just don't kill downed party members. The players should be survive unless luck is against them. Maybe be nice and mostly attack the tank.

>>53038066
That's where a surprise round comes in handy. Which is also one of the points I'm struggling about. How do I adjudicate fairly if players are surprised or not? They probably will be, because if everything goes according to plan they'll walk in literally blindfolded into the ambush area. I'm still a bit torn, trying to think of ways the party could manage to not be surprised.

>>53038108
The tank is the one with the legendary item, so yeah.

>>53038082
>steal people's souls when he killed them
Something something Davey Jones, something something guide them over the threshold.

>>53038066
There is no surprise round in 5e, surprised characters simply can't act until the start of their second turn. This allows for a third party to enter the fray (say, an owlbear) and prevents either side from missing all their attacks and then calmly acting like nothing happened and waiting for another chance to get a "surprise round"

>>53038039
>Versatile Combatant
>If you hit an enemy with a versatile weapon while wielding it with both hands, you may use your bonus action to attack with the weapon again, dealing damage as if you were wielding the weapon with one hand.
>Additionally, if you kill an enemy with a melee weapon attack, you may immediately move 15 feet as a reaction, but you must end the movement closer to an enemy.

and for a feat

>Adaptable
>If you are wielding a versatile weapon with both hands and have advantage on your attack roll, you may forfeit the advantage in favor of striking powerfully. If the attack successfully hits, it automatically deals damage as if it were a critical hit.

Might be a tad imbalanced one way or the other but it's, like, 5 AM.

>>53038446
Should clarify that the first one is a fighting style while the second one is a feat.

>>53038411
>There is no surprise round in 5e

There is in my games. It doesn't make sense to me to either have everyone on one side get an extra turn or no one. Makes more sense to have the sneaky people get an extra turn in before anyone else.

Should the melee classes get to choose more than one fighting style within the same class?

>>53038446
hahahahhaahahahaha no

>>53038504
Champion can already do that.

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>>53038446
>Free Crits

>>53038506
I didn't even read the feat, the fighting style alone is retarded.

Now that I have read the feat you'll be pleased to know that hahaahahahahahah oh my fuck no.

>>53037842
I've always found ti strange that tieflings, the descendants of demons and devils, aren't the race that can pick ability scores.

>>53037935
>>53037876
>>53037865
Thanks people.

Hoping to get a few solid opportunities for role-playing a charismatic hermit, whom everyone is automatically afraid of will burn down their village for shits and giggles.

>>53038446
>If the attack successfully hits, it automatically deals damage as if it were a critical hit.
Holy shit this would be so ridiculously broken on a Paladin that I can't even

>>53038446
No.

Fighting style:

>Versatile mastery.

While wielding a weapon with the versatile trait you gain the folowing benefits:

Twohanded attacks with these weapons gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls.

Onehanded attacks with these weapons gain another 5ft of range.

When a creature moves within 10ft of you without taking the disengage action you may use your reaction to make a onehanded attack with your versatile weapon against them.

I had one player accuse me of targeting them on purpose because I disliked them and that he wasn't having fun and wanted to quit.

I like the player and thought they were having fun.

Now I am bummed and not enthused to run the next game. What do

>>53038658
I like it.

>>53037862
You can team up with my party's wild sorc. 11 year old (now) tiefling boy. He's the most adorable little devilspawn you ever did see.

>>53038715
Talk to him like an adult and figure things out.

>>53038166
If you want to surprise the PCs, then roll stealth for the ambushers against DC set based on each PCs perception, probably disadvantaged if they're bag-over-the-head blinded. Just look up the rules for surprise and use them as fully as possible, so the players won't get butthurt about gm fiat.

What's the best way to build a character around Magic Stone? It seems like the only way to make Slings useful.

My current plan is a Variant Human Ranger for Magic Initiate. I'll talk to my DM and see if he'll let me ignore the rule of only getting 3 per casting for Volley.

>>53038497
Oh, so you haven't actually read the rules. Nice.

body percussion bard, yea or nay

>>53038781
Oh I should have said that we did and I think its ok now, it's just I still feel bummed out about running a the next session

>>53038898
I've read them, I've discussed them. I don't like them.

>"The DM compares the Dexterity (Stealth) checks of anyone hiding with the passive Wisdom (Perception) score of each creature on the opposing side. Any character or monster that doesn't notice a threat is surprised at the start of the encounter."

Way it works is either:
>Single PC sneaking on side A
>Enemies 1 and 2 on side B don't notice single PC
>Enemies surprised because there was "a threat" they didn't notice
>Side A gets to wail on them without issue

Or:
>All PCs sneaking on side A
>Enemies 1 and 2 on side B notice just one of the PCs
>Enemies not surprised because they noticed at least "a threat"
>No PCs benefit from sneaking

Alternatively, you could do a group stealth check, thus screwing the stealthy character because they're reliant on their group.

No matter how you treat these, someone gets screwed. As opposed to my method, which is:

>Single PC sneaking on side A
>Doesn't get spotted by anyone on side B
>Gets an attack in before anyone else because surprise round
>Sneaky PC benefits from sneaking, non-sneaky PCs don't, enemies don't get unreasonably screwed, everything fair and reasonable

There's no solid reason not to have a surprise round.

So the other day ran my 3rd session as DM, we're playing the starter set since we're all relatively new, for obvious reasons

This was the first session where I could notice some of the players were losing interest. I've been getting better with the technical parts of being dungeon master and being more freeform, but as the areas got harder, so did being the dungeon master.

Basically, I feel as if i'm taking too long trying to keep track of a bunch of enemies hit points and also their place in initiative. I tried the group initiative, and although I like the concept, I don't want too many enemies attacking the party in a row.

Any tips from other DMs? Seeing my group like that kind of got me uninspired, I played less than 10 sessions before having to take over as DM, so I want to make sure I can live up our veteran ex DM despite that. I just want everyone to have a good time.

>>53039015
>their place in initiative
Do you not just have a list written down at the start of each combat with "first this one, then PC 1, then enemy 2, then PC 2"?

As for enemy hit points, don't be afraid to fudge it if you're taking too long. That's true of everything as a DM. The players don't know what you know about the enemies or the environments. They won't know if you rounded their 27 damage up to 30 or down to 25 to keep the combat flow.

>>53039044
I have a list, but we use minis that usually aren't representative of the enemies that are fighting the party. And when there's 4-6 PCs and 10 enemies moving around, it took a lot of effort not to get lost remembering who's who.

I did end up fudging a bit, not wanting to fuck up the flow and all, but it was pretty obvious I was having trouble.

Also, as far as gauging the groups power level, is it wrong to throw a deadly encounter in just to see how they fare? My party has been mopping the floor with everything they see, when it comes down to it, they're pretty smart, but I don't want to seem unfair all the sudden either considering.

>>53039103
>it took a lot of effort not to get lost remembering who's who.
Using minis can be troublesome in that regard. Something I've found helpful is colour-coding them - if you're willing to put a drop of paint or highlighter on your minis, allocating them to "Red" or "Blue" or whatever helps significantly on your list:

Kobold 1 - Red - Initiative: 16 - HP: 10
PC 2 - Initiative: 15
Kobold 2 - Blue - Initiative: 13 - HP: 4

etc.

>is it wrong to throw a deadly encounter in just to see how they fare?
Nah. Difficulty level is a guide, not a hard and fast rule. If they start struggling, fudge heavier. Again, they won't know, and it's helpful for you to know what the extremes of their abilities are.

Did anyone watch Dice Camera Action? Is their game an exercise in frustration?

>>53038658

>1 handed perma-reach weapons
"No!"

How about just have Dueling's bonus apply to them?

>>53039211
These 1d6 weapons now have reach ''such broken, much wow''.

The only ones benefiting from this are Longsword, Spear and Quarterstaff.
I'd only really worry about Quarterstaff because it gets even better with PAM.

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>>53039133
>Using minis can be troublesome in that regard.
That was my main problem, color coding is a good idea, but they're actually not my minis (need to invest in my own) our ex-DM is a player in our party and he lets me use his screen, mat, and minis since again, most of us are completely new (or were new at least)

We actually have a LOTR risk set with 4 colored armies and 4 pieces per color. Might be cool to use them since they also kind of fit the theme too. They're also smaller so it'll be easier to fit more of them in a room and still be able to tell what square you're on.

I was thinking doing a complete freeform without a map/battlefield, but I don't know how I feel about it. I was doing the last cave we were in freeformed since it's pretty huge with a lot of backtracking so I didn't want to constantly have to erase and redraw, but I could tell my descriptions were just confusing the players for the most part.

I appreciate the advice, truly. I guess I was pretty afraid to fudge hard when it came to a really hard encounter because, despite what D&D is, it seems to tick a part of my brain that tells me "that's bad, don't do that"

We play once a week which is probably pretty standard, but I feel a need to rush and get as good as possible at being DM that the week in-between sessions really drags.

>>53039211
>>>1 handed perma-reach weapons
What are whips? I don't know what you're replying to but that bugged me.

Also am I the only person excited for Whip Kensai?

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Soooo I want to try out DMing and I made this dungeon and I'm having issues.

1. It's an abandoned temple type deal, I can't figure out to what. It is to. I want to have a mini library where maybe they can find journals and history of the place but it's no use if I can't come up to what It is to.

2. I have no idea what enemies to put in. It's taken over by a druid conclave that is working with blights, but aside from Blights, Druids, Shamblings Mound Miniboss and Archdruid Boss I have no idea what else to put in.

3. How trap heavy should the place be? I have a couple That I plan to put in as riddles and tests left by the previous occupants as but those are meant to be optional high risk high reward type things. I thought about having the Darkmantle with Roper combo as the deeper it gets it just becomes a cave formation, but I'm not sure if something so deadly would even be fun.

4. How many levels should it have? I was planning 4-5 the last one being the boss' chambers however I don't want it to drag on too much so most floors have no more than 6 rooms.

Thank you for taking your time to read this!

>>53039331
For all your needs, there are Gulthas Trees.

For traps, 2 out of 3 rooms should have something hidden, be it a hidden passage or a trap. Remember to include hidden treasure.

A dungeon with about 20 rooms is usually 3 floors. Extrapolate.

>>53039331
An Archdruid is CR12. If that is the boss the players are either going to breeze through all your normal shitty mobs or get their shit pushed in depending on their level

>>53039263
I'm not a fan of freeform either - it feels like it's too easy to miss out on some of the mechanics because you don't know where you are in relation to anything else.

If you're not committed to the minis (depends what you're into), something I've used in the past (and may again) which I find helpful is using sweets to represent enemies. Something like Skittles are colour-coded, small enough to go on the board, and once you've killed them, you get to eat them, which players usually enjoy.

Just relax and focus on keeping it all fluid. The big secret to D&D is never telling your party an outright "no" (unless it defies the actual rules), and keep the game flowing. If you can tick both those boxes and give a sense of adventure, your actual mechanics matter less and less.

>>53039354
Not him, but how long does it take to plan a decent dungeon? I've got loads of campaign planned out but dungeons you can't wing the design of nearly as easily as the open world.

>>53038989
What the fuck are you talking about.

Group rolls favour stealth experts super hard.

Say you have a group of 4 people:
You have Sir Jingle Bells with scale mail and no dexterity bonus. He will maybe average around 7 on his stealth roll, assuming no proficiency.

Then you have Sir Sorcerer McMoves, who somehow has 16 dex and proficiency. So that probably averages to around 16 on the stealth roll

We also have Miss DailyPeriod von Irontighs, the barbarian with 12 dex and proficiency. She might get an average of 14.

So 7, 16 and 14, which is an average of 12. That's not impressive, and will likely be spotted by most common goes.

Now we throw in Ninja McShadow the Edgelord, who has 20 dex and expertise in stealth. He will average maybe 22, which immediately ups the average to 15, which makes it far more likely that they'll succeed, despite sir jingle bells.

They just make it so much more likely to succeed a group roll - add a few levels, advantage to stealth, and inability to roll below 10, and you are regularly looking at a minimum of 23 stealth checks. This will do wonders at helping his team stay hidden.

>>53039269
Reach is wasted when you need to get close to use your bonus action unarmed attacks.

>>53039331
1. It's a temple that has been repurposed so many times throughout the years that nobody can remember the original purpose anymore and all records conflict.

2. That's fine the way it is. You never NEED to have a super wide variety of enemies

3.Traps are a meme. Only have them for that optional high risk vs reward things. Otherwise don't even bother.

4. That's fine the way you already have it.

>>53039386
That still means that the enemies are getting screwed by the existence of one sneaky character. I don't dig that.

>>53039269
I am making a Kensai Whip wielding Belmont as we speak.

It will be glorious.

>>53039397
>3.Traps are a meme. Only have them for that optional high risk vs reward things. Otherwise don't even bother.

Use them in conjunction with enemies.

A pit trap by itself is a speedbump.

A pit trap in a room full of enemies who are trying to bait/knock you into it is a fun feature.

Read the 4e DMGs for encoutner and trap design tips.

>>53039457
I know flavor is probably what you're going for, but Lance is better in every way for Kensai.

>>53039360
I planned on giving her a buff, with some legendary actions and maybe even some lair actions. Archdruid is just the template.

>>53039377
A week, I'd say.
>>53039474
A 1 dmg needle that applies poison is a great trap, if only to fuck up saves.

>>53039479
...

My point was if you are expecting your players to defeat a CR12 creature (and now you say buffed too) then BLIGHTS (CR 1/8, 1/4, 1/2) and DRUIDS (CR 2) will not be any form of challenge to them

>>53039505
That's not really true. Needle blights can be absolutely devastating, and druids are extremely powerful if you just change their spell list a little.

>>53039377

Well this is my first try, but it depends how deep you want to go. It can be from an encounter with traps or just a couple of puzzles, you can do them relatively quickly. More complicated ones will probably take a week or so until you get the story of the dungeon set up and you balance encounters.

>>53039487
>A 1 dmg needle that applies poison is a great trap, if only to fuck up saves.

Yeah, if there's a time pressure, it's just time lost otherwise, since the players can always recover.

>>53039526
Don't buy into the bounded accuracy meme. If there's a wizard in the group, he'll just fireball everyone into dust. You don't really have the space to spread out in the dungeon, usually.

>>53039544
>Yeah, if there's a time pressure, it's just time lost otherwise, since the players can always recover.

Indeed.
The temple of Ooze in OotA is a good example.

>>53039526
Needle blights can do a decent amount of damage but have very low to hit, AC and HP. Additionally as
>>53039544
The wizard will just fireball or more efficiently Burning Hands.

What is this magical spell which makes druids powerful. I suppose you could just piss off every single one of your players and cheese with Heat Metal but then nobody would come back to play

>>53039258
>forgetting battleaxe, warhammer, trident. And three of the weapons are d8, not d6.

Maybe read the rule book before acting like you know what you're talking about.

What levels should I take in what it I want a grapple based barbarian rogue multiclass?

Starting at level 5, also it's point buy so suggestions there are nice.

I mostly want rage and grapplefucking but the ability to get sneak attacks competently as well.

>>53039478
Lance has the ''speciall'' property so it doesn't work with Kensai.

>>53039628
Shit so it does, my bad. That's a shame though because my Lance Kensai was my favorite character and my DM's making me change to the new one.

>>53039596
The whole wording was when you use the weapon with one hand you get reach.

Not terribly broken cause the d12 weapons with reach allready exist.

So what's your problem?

>>53039654
Just grab a whip and hand-crossbow.

>>53039526
I'm more inclined to believe >>53039544 as I sent 8 needle blights to my group, with no wizard, and they rolled over them.

>>53039505
I think I get what you mean, though aside from adding more numbers (that I dislike, since players are slow as fuck in their turns already) I'm finding it hard to find stronger enemies. The biggest one I've found so far has been the Cavelight Moss that grew trapped inside a flooded chamber that the players can empty out. I thought about Ropers and Darkmantles, but I doubt you would keep that nearby if that place is your home.

In general I know that the CR is quite low for the group but unless I flood them with random enemies I don't see how else I can set this up.

>>53039487
That sounds so cruel that I'm going to use it.

>>53039655

Because there's no d12 weapon with Reach besides the lance, which has special restrictions. The four other reach weapons are d10s (halberd, pike, glaive). They only average 1 damage more over the versatile d8 weapons for that benefit. Having a fighting style allow for reach with one handed weapons basically precludes ever using the two-ganders, since anyone who wants to use reach weapons will take the style.

>>53039693
What level and how many of them

>>53039711
Balance it with something good.
A hidden lever reveals a cache of art objects, but the lever was trapped.

>>53039719
Not the guy you are replying to but... that's sorta the point? You pick a fighting style for the style of weapons you want to use. If you have dueling style, you probably won't use two handed weapons.

>>53039693
I think Volo had scale-able druid NPCs, but not sure.

>>53039719
>halberd, pike, glaive

Those benefit the most out of GWF, PAM etc.

They allready get superior DPR.

>>53039769

The fighting styles typically complement your use of a weapon - more damage with one-handers for Dueling for example. A fighting style that essentially displaces the existing weapons in place of others doesn't really accomplish that.

How does a mace scale when it becomes versatile?
1d6 -> 1d8?

>>53039770
>Pike benefitting from PAM

GWM can affect any weapon wielded in two hands, but your point is taken. I still think that fighting styles should complement existing weapon selections (e.g. make using a glaive better) rather than offer replacements (e.g. use a longsword instead!)

>>53039828
Yeah probably

>>53039828

Maces don't have the versatile property, but if you'd like to rule that they do, d6-d8 is appropriate (like with quarterstaffs and spears).

>>53039816
Duelling add +2 damage. That's strictly better than a higher damage die, unless you have ways to increase your crit chance.

>>53039610
Either 1 or Max. High level wolf barbarian can knock prone as a bonus action with no save as long as they are large or less as long as you hit. You use 1 attack to grapple which hits, so you Bonus action knock prone.

If you go one you have rage which is bread and butter grappling and you get nothing good for your build for quite a few levels.

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>>53037829
I'm making a Battlemaster that is NotKenshin. What are some feats or Maneuvers that I should look into (already have Alert and Sentinel)

>>53039844
>>53039848
Cool, thanks bros.

>Every time someone wants to try DMing, they run lost mines
>Group has run lost mines 5 times now
F U N

>Wolf Paws
>+2 magic unarmed weapons
>Hunt: when moving towards a target that you have struck with this weapon within the last 24 hours, you double your movement speed
>Pack Tactics: Attacks made with this weapon grants an additional +2 to hit if an ally is within 5 feet of the enemy.
>Doubles the amount of wild meat gathered on a hunting trip to gather food.

>>53039919
Has it been the same every time?
Have they run anything else?

>Wolf Paws
>+2 magic unarmed weapons
>Hunt: when moving towards a target that you have struck with this weapon within the last 24 hours, you double your movement speed
>Pack Tactics: Attacks made with this weapon grants an additional +2 to hit if an ally is within 5 feet of the enemy.
>Doubles the amount of wild meat gathered on a hunting trip to gather food.

How is this for a monk weapon? I plan on making a weapon befitting of the "raised by wolves" monk.

Yes/no? Anything I could add or change? Most of the party has +2 weapons already.

>>53039873
So level 1 barbarian, then rogue 2+ until something good comes around in barbarian again?

>>53039933
Well normally we have a forever DM running a game and have gone through a few, then every so often someone who never DMed before will want to run a game, then run Lost Mines. I get that it's the starter one, but a lot of the Adventure League stuff is fine for a first time DM

>>53039331
Don't forget Treants (CR9) and Wood Woads (CR5)

>>53039891
If you were able to get a katana to be finesse, defensive duelist would be good in later levels where the bonus matters. +4-+6 matters. And parrying seems like a swordsman' ability.

Trip attack could be good for ending a fight if you think you can scare them off, you and a brutal critical barbarian definitely would look imposing if you both are about to attack with advantage.

Menacing strike can do the same as above just they are actually afraid.

Martial Adept is actually pretty amazing for battlemasters and definitely should be considered. It's an extra maneuver in a fight and helps get them off.

Maneuvering attack is good for helping allies reposition and with party comp of slow moving guys like Paladins and casters it would be good.

>>53039926
What does unarmed weapon mean. It counts as an unarmed attack. Which is 1+Str?

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hey guys a character in my game has 22 int, a magic book they found takes 60 hour to read, would it be fair to drastically cut that time due to how intelegent they are?

the character received it though a random blessing which could go up to 24 int.
could anyone also give me an idea what 22 int would look like? give me an example of a character or real person that would have "22 int" or examples of what a person that smart could do.

>>53039487
>>53039531
>a week

So if I want to have a handful of dungeons available for the party to choose from almost from the outset, I should have them prepared well in advance of the game's start, then.

>>53039942
Magic gloves?

I'd say it's only halw-decent.

Change it to:

>While wearing these gloves your unarmed strikes deal an additional +2 damage.
>When an ally is within 5 ft of you and your target you may use your bonus action to grant them an attack with advantage agains the target.
>When making a survival check to hunt animals for food you gain an extra 20 pounds of meat on a sucesfull hunt and a bone trophy worth 1d8 Gp on a roll of 18 or higher.

>>53039985
Thank you, friend-o

>>53039946
Until unearthed arcana releases a path that strictly helps with grappling yes. 1 Barbarian. Don't start barbarian though cause Rogue starts you with better proficiencies. Rogue 1 then pick barbarian at level 3.

>>53040038
Ah yeah that makes more sense.

The idea of a (probably dwarf) rogue who flies into a murderous rage whenever he's caught roguing and just shanks the fuck outta things amuses me.

Especially since we're starting at level 5.

>>53040007
It takes 48 hours to read and a Tome of Clear Thought shouldn't be lower, it adds to how powerful this is, 20 is supposed to be the peak of human ability, having 22 Intelligence is being smarter than the smartest man alive.

I guess a fair example would be Sherlock Holmes from the movies and the BBC show. Being able to predict fighting moves of total strangers and coordinate what would be the best take down and how bad you are hurting them. Also the deduction of the airplane ticket in like two seconds. That's what 22 intelligence is like.

>>53038105
>Wizard with good AC and shield spell
>Can't escape a wood box

What kind of wizard- Is he one of those folks that thinks all you need to be safe is AC?

>>53039994
Yes. Unless you are a monk.

It is intended to be used by a monk.

>>53040012
>When an ally is within 5 ft of you and your target you may use your bonus action to grant them an attack with advantage agains the target.
That's terrible. Monks have an overabundance of things to use bonus actions on.

>>When making a survival check to hunt animals for food you gain an extra 20 pounds of meat on a sucesfull hunt and a bone trophy worth 1d8 Gp on a roll of 18 or higher.
That's fantastic. Replacing the hunting part with that for sure, though I'll probably replace "bone trophy " with "materials worth 1d8 gp", as a bit more catch all purpose. Then none of us have to justify why someone would want an 8 gp piece of bone.

Lathander triggered the Dawn Cataclysm, resulting in the destruction of several deities and powerful outsiders, the collapse of a half-dozen theocracies and presaged the fall of Myth Drannor.
What the flying fuck did Lathander do?

>>53040163
He rolled for stats.

So I played my first D&D game after years and... it was 4e. Didn't like it.

I wanna give it another go with 5e this time.
Can you guys tell me what 5e does different?

>>53040195
Makes martials boring again

>>53040195
Takes more inspiration from older editions, but keeps a fairly good chunk of the good ideas from 4e.

Compared to 4e you should find it vastly more trimmed down, no more power lists unless you're a spellcaster, allocation of stats tends to have more impact over base role stats etc.

Really depends on what you did or didn't like about 4e.

>>53040195
It's basically 3.PF streamlined and somewhat balanced. Except it's genuinely streamlined and kinda balanced this time and not some bullshit marketing buzzwords.

Realistically, how many players should a game have? I DM for a group of friends but now that word has gotten out, I have 7 people that would play if I didn't limit the table.

>>53039457
How would one stat the boomerang?
1d6 Bludgenoning, Range of a knife, and...something to emulate it returning? Would making a chance for it to not return be dumb?

>>53040280
>no more power lists unless you're a spellcaster

You mean, no more big and obvious power lists, unless you are a caster.

>>53040299
4-5 is best, 6 is doable, I play a game with 10+ players and it's like a game of battletech

>>53037842
Finally someone will be able to play as a dex-based rapier wielding half orc rogue!

>>53040299
4 is optimum. 5 is manageable. Any more than that and you're asking for a headache.

Anyone who ever tells you they once had a successful game of 8 or more players is either a fucking liar is completely oblivious to half the table being bored to death.

>>53040326
>>53040345

That was what I was worried about. Currently we don't have a schedule, just get a day that the 4+me can get together. If I brought in more, I would have to just say we're playing every other Sunday and whoever is there will play.

>>53040299
>>53040326
IMX 3-4 is best, 7 CAN be done but it's better with a co-dm, so the party can split up in non-combat situations without long waits for anybody.
For combat, 5e is a decent system for large groups, but everybody must know what they'll do. No fumbling around with the rulebooks, looking spells up, adding bonuses... everybody needs to be on top of their game, or it will slow down to a crawl.

Would it be a stretch to let a Forge Cleric use their Channel Divinity to make 100 gp worth of progression a day towards crafting metal items?

>>53040158
Has a level in cleric. And oh, I'm sure he can escape a wood box, but it should take him at least an action and a 4th level slot, which is significant if it means that's one less fireball he drops on the enemies.

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One of my players wants to play a Skeleton Ranger.

Wouldn't be that hard to work into the story.

Would it be impossible to balance having a Skeleton in the party? Would it make the other players feel like he was a snowflake?

>>53040568
Done it once. It was a pet project of the Necromancer in the party.

Basically he accidentally created a powerful in dead warrior (rogue in this case) that he could not control. He was still treated as a valuable friend, since the dead guy had a lot of unresolved business, and hey, being an immortal bundle of bones wasn't that bad.

We just house rules it a ton. Like, only the necromancer could heal him, or raise him, he never could die, but it might take a while and be expensive to get him back up from "dead", depending on how damaged he was.

>>53040345
We used to have 8. But 80% of the time someone was bound to flake.

6-7 was definitely manageable though at 7 the spotlight really does seem to get stretched a bit thin.

>>53040568
>Would it make the other players feel like he was a snowflake?

Depending on the players yes however it can be done >>53040615

>>53040539
Multiclassing was a mistake. 'I know I'm a wizard, but let me just take a single level of Cleric so I can have 25+AC whenever I want kthanks'

Thinking about this though, if you want the surprise round and are blind folding them, make sure their familiar is blindfolded too. Cause if not they can just look through the eyes of it and see the ambush coming a mile away and spoil the whole thing..

Building my grappler half orc rogue with a level in barbarian.

Based on this character builder at level 5 where I start I'll have a 17 strength, 17 dex, 14 con.

Should I rearrange these? My understanding is I need dex for all the sneaky bits and stabbing but strength and athletics for the grappling. I can't go below 13 strength or I'll lose being able to rage in combat.

>>53040568
well every NPC would have to react to it, unless it was a norm in the world. You could do some bullshit like an illusion or something to disguise them

How do you handle incredibly powerful NPCs? I try to accentuate that messing with them isn't a good idea, and could get them killed. I try to give little hints but I have killed one already cause they messed with her. I'm confirming that I am not That DM.

>Party is traversing a valley heading towards a city. Area is known for hill giants being present and being quite dangerous. People do often die around here.
>Start hearing humming over a hill. Party decides to investigate, some don't want to.
>Find a half elf humming a tune as she sits on a log. Sees them and just waves.
>All except three members of the seven character's head over and start chatting with her, talking about how they got here and names.
>"Leader" of the party uses sending to ask a contact if they know about her.
>All they get back is: "Run."
>Leader starts trying to get everyone to leave her alone and leave. Saying it's really really important to go while staying at the top of the hill. She is offering them a job and in return give them a powerful mace.
>All but one leave, who is the last remaining. The high elf insults her for her race, calling her dirty.
>The half elf doesn't like that, and uses Hurl Through Hell on the elf as the rest of the party is over the hill and never sees her again.

I let her roll death saves and she failed them. The player didn't seem mad at all and the new character starts with inspiration because they played their character which lead them to their death. I just want to make sure that I'm not coming off as That DM by giving them no indicators.

>>53040302
just make it magical and have it always return
a mundane boomerang isn't coming back after it hits something

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>>53040636
>One player normally bumbles into the spotlight
>Not on purpose but because he'll make a stupid decision and everyone will notice
>Like walking on to a pit trap after only tapping it with his foot when he found it

>>53040654
Having 18s by level 4 is quite important. It keeps the average AC of CRs being above 50 percent. But it's only 5% it's not gonna kill you.

>>53040656

I was thinking of just making a race like the Forsaken from Warcraft. They'd be known and normal, but obviously it'd be natural to be distrusting or nervous around them.

>>53040521
Yes it would make them very very strong. Three days and they would have a bag of holding a cloak of protection or a +1 weapon.

>>53040659
>Insulting a random NPC
>Not expecting potential consequences

You atleast gave them a warning through the sending, only way to have made it clearer was to have a chance to run before casting such as "if you leave now you'll get to live for atleast another day or so"

>>53040675
I can go 18/16 but can't reduce anything else because my con is 14 and everything else is 10 or lower.

Wouldn't 18 make more sense in dex for my main save and rogue abilities? Or does strength matter more than I thought.

I can be proficient in athletics anyways so grappling will be ezpz.

>>53040659
On one hand, it is at least a little bit shitty for not giving any prior warning. But I get the feeling the player would have survived had she not decided to talk shit for no reason. This is the consequence of just talking shit to everybody you meet - one of them might tell you to go to Hell.

>>53040696
>Metal items
>Bag of Holding and Cloak of Protection

>>53040521
Depends on the price you set on magic items, unless your thinking of purely mundane.

>>53040696
What if it couldn't be used to make magic items?

>>53040756
Then it would be fine probably, maybe it takes two charges of channel divinity, 100 gp is a lot. That's 100 days of a skilled laborers pay. What kind of stuff would they make

>>53040808
Basically I just see this as a way of making plate armor in less than a year

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Relatively new player here. I'm familiar with prior editions but this will be my first 5e campaign. I'm joining in the middle of things so I'm starting off at level 10.

I was contemplating just playing a straight Warlock - no multiclassing - for simplicity's sake. I'll read Warlock guides and take the recommended feats/spells/etc. Even so, will I still be severely gimping myself? Half the party seems to be minmaxers with multiclass characters that have two or even three different classes.

>>53040659
>>53040714
>>53040733
Why are the first 2 replies defending this shit DM?

nigga gave class features (normally not bad, but this is a 14th level class feature of 10d10 unavoidable damage) to an NPC and also one turn kills a PC because they insulted their oh so epic random NPC in the wild "run" wow what a warning! rofl holy shit id kms at your table famalam

>I let them roll death saves

so ur also telling me no1 in the group helped them??? no1 in the group tried to stabilize them? no1 in the group even attacked this son of a bitch for killing their (probably) friend? holy shit

>>53040656
I am >>53040615

We handled it as the undead was fully dressed and with a hood. At a distance, it was a skinny guy. Up close, he was good enough at hiding his face (or lack thereof) if people weren't actively looking.

He avoided social situations whenever possible, but he had serious issues with guards in general.

Most of the time, the necromancer could dissuade any hostility. Necromancy is looked at with disgust and horror, but it is not an explicitly evil act in and of itself, and the undeads are true neutral unless manipulated to be something else. It did give us problems here and there, but as a neutral party, they didnt really care.

Homebrew setting obviously, but that's a given. Undead PCs wouldn't make sense in something like forgotten realms.

>>53040834
Think of Warlocks as a solid entry to casters with a great deal of utility.

They're not as good casters as Wizards by any stretch of the imagination, but their damage is more reliable through EB and invocations, and they get a range of at-will abilities through the invocations as well.

They also have a great flavour if that's of interest to you.

It's accurate to describe Warlocks as a sort of magical ranged martial with some utility. Many take them as dips, but you'll still have fun with them whatever you do.

>>53040846
>nigga
>rofl holy shit id kms at your table famalam
>ur
>no1
>???
Don't worry, nobody wants you at their table anyways. You seem like kind of a cock.

>>53039873
>grappling with 2 rages per day
Anyway, grabbing doesn't hit so it won't trigger wolf 14.

For the life of me, I must be having a stroke, because I'm unable to find rules for creating items using other materials (like adamantine, or mythril) can anyone give me a page reference?

>>53040893
>insults someone using internet talk instead of their actual argument because you know they're right

wewlad! you could at least post a smug anime girl

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>>53040915
Just for you.

DM gave fair warning.

Dumbass decided to insult a random NPC.

Dumbass got dicked for it.

Having an NPC more powerful than the players are at the time isn't some cardinal sin like you seem to think it is. It's not like you provided much of an argument.

Everyone was over the hill by the time the dude insulted the half-elf and got murdered for it. They didn't notice, obviously.

You still seem like a cock.

How would you stat a demigod?
Empyrean as a base and tweak from there?

>>53040828
I would say yes as long as you are ok with facing 20 AC enemies who do the same thing.

>>53040659
Some players are too shit. It sounds like yours only got in trouble by playing their character to an absurd level of stupidity, but if the player doesn't mind, cool I guess.

>we go through a forest. We were told to recover an ancient flute currently held by a powerful demon.
>we find a clearing, where this weird, get like creature sits, playing a flute clearly matching the one we were informed of
>surrounded by a mess of mangled demons. Closest estimate we got was 20, including the demon we were tols was keeping it.
>we start asking if we could have the flute
>it starts talking about the purpose of it, and the true power it holds
>suddenly, Mister lawful Retard Paladin attacks it, because "hurr demon"
>Tell him OCC and ICC to not do it
>rest of the party goes along on his brain dead attack
>I stay back and do nothing.
>players complain that they just got wiped the fuck out with no chance of winning
Some people are just too retarded, and you can't help them. They need professional assistance. You can only so so much, if the players choose to be dumbshits despite all the evidence they could possibly need, then just let them, kill them, and hope they learn from their mistakes.

Meanwhile, this is how my Shadow Monk got a few levels in Warlock with a Fey Patron.

>>53040959
>Having an NPC more powerful than the players are at the time isn't some cardinal sin like you seem to think it is. It's not like you provided much of an argument.

didnt say this, i said its retarded to give class features as strong as that to NPCs because its too strong

you obviously made this NPC strong enough to 1 shot a PC and thats just all kinds of wrong and the warning was pretty meh

not defending your player though hes a shit roleplayer that wants to be le epik racist elfe xd1!!

Anyone have any good ideas for a great old one bladelock claw of amacar build (from unearthed arcana)? What is the best way to make use of the 1 handed reach weapon? Is it better to multiclass or just go straight warlock?

If expertise doubles bonuses that'd mean a +6 stealth becomes a +12, right?

So basically invisible just by existing.

>>53040846
Yeah...

This>>53040893
You sound like a shit player who wants his scaling Skyrim experience, where you dontbhave to worry about not being strong enough to take anything down, with your super special snowflake PC.

>>53040999
>you
>your
I'm not the DM. I just think you're wrong.

Would you say that giving an NPC any 7th level spells is also too strong?

And the warning wasn't meh. The player who got the sending could've said something. The warning was good, we should be blaming the player who received the message for not outright saying something.

Plus, it gives motivation to the party to get stronger to go and defeat this fucker.

>>53041053
No, expertise doubles proficiency bonus.

So if you have +4 from DEX and +2 from proficiency, you land at +8.

>>53041053
It doesn't double total bonus, it doubles proficiency bonus. This can still cause pretty high numbers at low levels, but typically not as heinous as +12 off the bat.

>>53041053
Yep. Couple it with 20 dex for +5 and the rogue ability to not roll below 10, and you will garantueed have a stealth roll of 27.

Good times.

>>53041062
Not the anon you're responding to, but a message that just says "run" is a little cliche. It would be helpful to have some kind of reason to explain to your fellow party members WHY they should run at the very least. But I don't particularly have a dog in this fight, so I don't care.

>>53040662
Could do a non-magical boomerang, ala Neutopia. At the start of your next turn, returns to where you were when you threw it. If you aren't there, it's gone forever. You have to buy a new one to replace it. 1d6 thrown 20/60.

>>53041102
>hey contact, you know who this person is?
>Run.
>oh alright, I'll just tell her she's a cunt first, can't be that bad
This is what Int5 looks like.

If you get a message like that, you get the fuck out of there as soon as possible. The sender didn't want to waste precious time explaining why, that should be the prime indicator of how fucked you are if you stick around.

Also not that DM, but come om dude.

DM with the Fiend Warlock NPC

Thanks guys was just confirming that it was enough information. I'll be sure to double up on warning in the future just incase, but at least they have a beef with someone for a good reason.

>>53041053
You still need appropriate circumstances to hide. It's nothing like invisibility.

>>53040659
Personally, I generally don't like players tangling with already established, very powerful, potentially antagonistic NPCs. It's one of the reasons I don't really like FR. Player spotlight type stuff, but that's just me.

I imagine you could have done a bit more in the situation. A final warning from the NPC itself, or knowing it would kill them so just having them reappear unconscious but stable and horrifically disfigured. The kind of thing which fucks em up but doesn't end their story.

But really, they did bring it upon themselves. Playing it by the book I don't really see as an issue either. I've seen players die to some incredibly stupid stuff.

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>>53040846
I have exactly one free (you) for shitposters, it is my gift to you.

>>53041184
Generally, killing a player on the spot for a single action that isn't blatantly suicidal, especially if it's not physically violent, is kind of a dick move.

>>53041156
Just for humor, Wis 5 would take it to mean her name is Run.

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>>53040876
Thanks for the sound advice and reassurance.

But I don't quite understand what you meant with "magical ranged martial"

>>53041156
From my understanding, the person who received the Sending message, and the person who got their shit wrecked weren't the same person, so the one who died, wasn't aware of the urgent message. And simply "for whatever reason" another party members saying "we need to go" without explaining anything can not be compelling to some. All I was saying is "She's an X" is just as easy, and less cliche then "run".

I just want to know on what page I can find mythril and adamantine though...

>>53041205
Actually this warlock in particular is in the backstory of one of the characters.

The player lost interest in playing the character so he left when a wizard passed information on that he thinks he knows where the warlock is but not sure and to come to him.

If that character was there he could have gotten a check to see if that warlock is familiar. But he wanted to play a different character so I just kept the character and ran with it.

>>53040163
He emancipated himself of Aumanator, I think and Aumanator went dormant.
The change in sungods fucked up many things.

>>53039984
Wood Woads would fit in perfectly! I'm adding those. Also.

>How much wood could a wood woad woad if a wood woad could woad wood?

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Just spent like 12 hours making a model of my players's home base. Nobody asked me to but it felt like a good idea so they could get a proper look at the layout.
These things can apparently be ported to a game engine for first person exploration which might be cool.
What I should have been doing is designing encounters, so this actually is just procrastination.

>>53037848
So snowflakey I can tell what your breath weapon looks like.

But who cares anyway? It's a pretend game.
My second favorite character is an Aasimar Light Cleric Nepotism Domain. I embraced the snowflake the same way one embraces low stats and had a hell of a time with it, making the most arrogant decisions possible (but only when they hurt just me, whenever possible) and then paying the ensuing price. It's good to have something for your character to grow out of.

>>53037908
Foreshadow. Hard.

No one will loose their minds if they acknowledge it was their fault for losing not paying enough attention.


Also, double whatever you're thinking about.

>>53041417
Fucking neat. Is the program free to get somewhere, or...?

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I've got anyone who wants to give their two cents

I'm relatively new to DM'ing and right now me and a couple friends are about 5 sessions into our campaign. We recently ran into a problem in which one of the PC's got cursed and was unable to fall asleep. He tried a bunch of stupid things to try and cure the curse e.g. getting blind drunk to pass out, holding his braeth to pass out and stuff like that. His next idea was for another PC to beat him unconscious, like literally within and inch of his life. I gave him the whole "are you sure? are you really really sure you want to do that?" spiel and he went ahead with it anyway (I should also add that he was pretty frustrated by now).

So obviously that shit doesn't work and for some reason that pisses him off. Beating someone unconscious does not equal a peaceful nights sleep so I have no idea why he thought it would work. After this he gets really moody and stops talking/participating which kinda annoyed me because it's such a small thing and he's only been cursed for one day in game.

In the end, I thought it wasn't a good idea to ruin the campaign over something like that so when they got to town they found a potions guy who had the cure or some shit. He (surpries surprise) cheers up pretty quickly after that but I can't help feel I let him get away with throwing a tantrum. I know you're not supposed to mess with peoples PC's too much but it's just the way he went about it.

So I guess the question is: Was I wrong for doing that? was he overreacting? should I have stuck to my guns or should I be more light-hearted about it?

Pic related it was a Strahd campaign

>>53040990
If I remember correctly, the Empyrean's are literally demigods already. If you want to make something stronger than them, you would definitely use them as the base and then look at the DMG's monster maker chart and buff the demigod to the CR you want it to be.

>>53041478
There's a free version yes. SketchUp is the name of the program, pretty easy to learn. Just draw lines and boxes on the ground, grab them and pull them up to make walls etc. Lots of tutorials on the net too.
I had no prior experience with it before making that so some walls are a bit wonky but the basics are easy.

>>53041484
If he was a full caster, he can't get a long rest so he couldn't get spells or gain hit dice back. He was near useless until then.

If they know the game then it's important to know that he has a ticking clock on his head of 6 days. Since you can't sleep you are exhausted at level 1 and so on to level 6 which means death.

I would have tried to give some kind of indication of what to do to get it fixed, but that's just me and that's not necessarily better. Letting them squirm and worry isn't a bad thing to try.

He could have been more chill.

>>53041484
No he was over reacting.

I take it he was playing a class that is heavily dependent on long rests? A wizard perhaps.

>>53041543
Also I agree with
>>53041529

You should have gave him a hint to let him know it's a curable condition. Maybe an Arcana roll so he would know it's a problem that can be solved.

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How do I explain to my players that they shouldn't get overly attached to their characters?
They constantly make the snowflakiest characters imaginable and then die after making stupid decisions. They can't seem to grasp that things in 5e will kill them.

>>53041582
Have you tried killing them?

>>53041612
n-no...

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>>53041582
Tell them you are ramping up the difficulty and a spare character may be important.

Also tell them to stop being a scrub and dying.

>>53041624
Trial and error Anon... Trial and error.

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So....

Our Campaign consisted of 5 level 3 characters, We found a deck of many things - after some people pulling some great cards, and some barely surviving that Avatar of Death monster - our party now consists of...

A level 9 character, a level 5 character and three level 4 characters. (3 to 4 was from xp gained from combat, the 5 and 9 were from xp cards.

Is our campaign basically doomed to stupidity and huge imbalance? Since one character eclipses everyone else, and there is another 1 level above the other 3?

>>53041582
If it's not just one player that's out of step with the rest of your group, and it's the whole table that is like this, I suggest you swallow your pride and change the game to better suit the groups desires.

That said, having it tougher to die doesn't mean you can't find creative ways to fuck then up if they otherwise would have suffered a permanent death.

>>53041648
What class is the level 9?

what sort of skill check would you use for blending in?
i want to give the party rogue a cloak that gives them something like pass without trace, a +10 to hiding while attempting to blend in contested by an enemies investigation instead of perception but i'm not sure if it should be stealth, deception, or performance

>>53041633
They're used to how our old DM used to run things which was with kid gloves. I don't really want to turn the game into a slaughter for the sake of a lesson.

>>53039984
And the Tree Blight from Curse of Strahd

>>53041529
>>53041543
>>53041565
Ah that would make sense. His class was a wizard so not lettinghim rest would've fucked up his spells.

In my defense, he did make 2 arcana checks and he got less than 10 on each. In retrospect, his character probably could've figured it out beacuse they had lots of time for r&r.

For reference, the reason he got cursed was after trying to "subtly burn a vistana gypsy to see if they heal at an accelerated rate" he failed his performance check and they got mad and cursed him. This was also after he got like a 4 on perception to see if they had any features that made them look like vampires.

>>53041648
Deck of many things

Not even once.

Sometimes I wanna go full on blast mage.
How's evoker wizard? Seems fun enough, and being able to lob a fireball into the middle of a room without hitting allies seems pretty nice.

>>53038066
That's because your idea of combat consists of people smashing each other with swords and spells on a grid in nondescript flat environment. Read up on Tucker's kobolds

>>53041658
Its split down the middle of our group. I'm not even trying to play extra lethal, but they expect me to pad out their health because "they die to easily"

>>53041529
>he has a ticking clock on his head of 6 days

Sleep =/= Long Rest

One gets exhaustion without sleep, one merely fails to recover certain features without a long rest, one can even take long rests without sleeping, one can gain exhaustion levels even though one takes long rests

>>53041648
Yes.

Your DM's cancer detector is broken. He should have just taken one look at the Deck of Many Things and said "fuck that".

Also here's an additional tip you should pass on to him: "Random" magic item tables should be taken as suggestions rather than gospel when the dice are rolled. In fact, ANY "random table" should be like that.

>>53041662
That's what the Actor feat is for. Deception checks to pass as someone else.

>>53041673
forgot to mention, he was "absolutely certain that they're vampires" and wouldn't stop trying to do a bunch of different shit on them. Finally ended with trying to accidentally setting them on fire with performance (which he failed). Then they got mad and cursed him.

Also forgot to say, the entire session pretty much got put on hold whilst he was trying to get beaten unconscious so he could get to sleep.

>>53041477
How do I foreshadow without spoiling the ambush? And you mean like, double the number of enemies? That'd probably make it WAY too deadly.

>>53041413
If you have this whole forest / druidy theme, you might want to consider using Dryads, Green Hags (hags are so fun to roleplay!), Redcaps, Vegepygmys and Awakened Trees.

>>53039015
A piece of advice i can give is that when i started as a DM i had the same experience your describing, but slowly over time the speed started to increase and the flavour improved. Looking back i can recognize that i was just bad, i wasnt quick or exciting, and i couldn't see it or change it because i literally was just doing my best. Just keep playing as long as they remain patient and you dont get frustrated it gets better

>>53041661

Bard, was originally a joke character. He has the tavern brawler feat and 16 Strength, about 12 Charisma. Will probably use the extra 6 levels to become actually decent?

>>53041484
>In the end, I thought it wasn't a good idea to ruin the campaign over something like that so when they got to town they found a potions guy who had the cure or some shit. He (surpries surprise) cheers up pretty quickly after that but I can't help feel I let him get away with throwing a tantrum. I know you're not supposed to mess with peoples PC's too much but it's just the way he went about it.

The potion's effects are temporary. Soon after he fails to fall asleep once again, and has to return to the potion guy who asks for increasingly extortionist payments for his highly addictive medicine.

>>53041662
Deception.

Stealth is for remaining entirely unnoticed.

Performance is to amuse and influence a crowd.

Deception is for "faking it"

>>53041747
Grappling as your main focus is terrible so aside from all that health he will be be not too unbalanced

I feel bad for the DM though, balancing an encounter around one person who has double maybe triple the health of the others is hard. He is gonna be last man standing a lot.

>>53041237
It's not an original statement to me. Essentially, if you think of most casters as having utility spells and attack spells, they have a variety of options for what they could do, and they're expected to mix and match for the situation.

For Warlocks, however, the majority of their role is to cast Eldritch Blast on repeat, much like a fighter would use their sword or a rogue use daggers or whatever. So although Warlocks look like casters, they play much more like martials, albeit ranged ones with a magical attack and much more utility, traded off for tankiness and versatility.

>>53041767
>Performance
Can also be used as "Acting a part"

>>53041803
Diluting skills like this is a slippery slope that ends with stuff like Arcana checks replacing information-gathering spells

>>53041803
Only if acting out a role is a public performance meant to entertain or influence someone.

>>53041803
Performance is for "attracting atention". It's basically the oposite of Stealth.
If you want to make sure everyone looks at you being such a great unobiqutous agent, yes, performance would apply.


You can also make a Sealth(Charisma) check

>>53040302
1d4 if it's gonna always return.

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>>53041582
>>53041664
Let them know up front "hey I want my campaign to be a little deadlier, things might be harder and if you are really attached to a character it'd be a good idea to be cautious and think twice."

After a fair warning all bets are off

>>53039397
>traps are a meme

Is dis niqqa srs

>>53041725
>Also forgot to say, the entire session pretty much got put on hold whilst he was trying to get beaten unconscious so he could get to sleep

What, why?
You didn't roll out every single attack did you?

>>53039258
>>53039655
>>53039769

First of all, you are retarded for the reasons anon made out about balance and everything.

But also for the express fact that there is no single longsword in the world that fucking reaches 3 metres, except when held by a literal giant you insufferable morons.

New Boomerang Stats:

D4 Finesse Special:

Ignores up to three quarters cover, as it swings around corners. If the attack misses, reaction to catch it.

>>53040834
Warlocks get a lot of fighter combat and less spell slots that regain at short rest instead of long, they're the optimal spellswords.

>>53041087
That makes a hell of a lot more sense.

>>53041986
Ya rly

I don't care if over-engineered traps Indiana Jones traps have been a tradition in D&D for literally over 40 years now. It's a sacred cow that needs its balls clipped off.

I use popular fiction and non-fictional accounts of war as my justification for this. Sure traps do exist in those mediums, but they never take center stage and are encountered to the ridiculous extent as D&D seems to encourage.

>>53042098
I can see your reasoning. Just make sure they are present, caution builds tension and the fear of stepping on a trap will be present in all of my games.

>>53042098
I agree with the high risk high reward thing.
I often have most traps be avoidable, because most players like to pump perception or investigation and they usually spot traps.
So instead have a trap exist that they have to figure out how to get around or disarm, or take the brunt of it in hopes of receiving some treasure.

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>>53042098
But historically IRL traps can totally take center stage.

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Stat me, 5eg

>>53042085
Not historical, but still fun if you don't care about such things.

>>53042168
2e had a fighter kit for that in the Diablo supplement

>>53038166
As long as the ambushers have higher stealth than the highest passive perception in the party you're fine. Worse case have the ambush with invisibility, illusory terrain, pass w/o trace etc. Good back up if your players start to fight you on being surprised.

>>53042124
That's fine and I'm cool with that.

I just hate it when they are encountered and are severe enough to the degree that the game comes to a grinding halt as the paranoid players excruciatingly examine literally every inch of an indoors environment before fondling anything they want to touch with a 10 foot pole, a Mage hand, or a familiar

Thinking about Plane Shift Amonkhret, what do you expect to see? For me it's Jackal and Mummy races (Naga are already represented with Pureblood Yuan-Ti)

Sup /5eg/, going to play my first one-shot soon, we're all level 5 and I'm thinking of rolling a human paladin. How do I play Oath of Vengeance in a non-edgy way?

>>53042197
>pass w/o trace
That's a good idea. Time to start wondering why a druid would be with the bad guys.

>>53042203
Remember that some monsters have traps like built into their encounter. Beholders for example trap the shit out of everything cause they can just float over traps.

I would say for temples and catacombs not really but some monsters have traps practically in the name.

>>53042258
Have an oath of venegeance against taxes.

>>53042258
Be the Batman.

>>53042287
>>53042316
This might or might not be the birth of Taxman

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>>53042258
Play up the green, downplay the red.

A bunch of online friends from various different countries wanna try to do a D&D session together.

Is Roll20 an alright platform?

Sorry for the dumb question.

>>53042335
Yes.

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>>53037829
>DM keeps trying to make BBEG's but I keep using my game knowledge to kill him whe ever they show up to gloat
>DM kills my character out of spite
>make a new soccerer
>DM makes me 1 level less than the team
>another BBEG
>again turns up to show his face and mock us when we fall down his trap
>instantly curse him and tell the ranger to mark him
>DM starts freaking out about his villian getting killed again
>misty steps out
>ranger senses him and me and her dimention door to his location
>he's surronded by countless minions
>get the drop on them despite disadvantage roll and turn BBEG into a frog
>get hit hard by a wave of arrows but turn both me and the ranger into young dragons with twined spell
>destroy everything and capture the BBEG
>long arch he had planned is ruined and we spend the rest of the session in town just relaxing

much later

>new religious zelot cult leader is parading round town
oh look another BBEG to hate
>curse him in town and try to convince him to stop talking shit
>town sees my character using necromancy and tries to lynch me
>dimention door out of town with her and hide while they're all being questioned about where I may have teleported off to
>turn into a cat and check out whats going on
>sneak into a cell and break them out
>skip town in the chaos
>travel to new town and see the cult leader again
>cult leader starts calling me out as a necromancer
>what are you going to do? he's a respected person it's going to be hard to convince them
I curse the mayor and uses subtle spell
>what you picked subtle spell?
>convince mayor that the cult leader is a fiend worshiper and trying to frame me
>they try to arrest him and he teleports out
>try to tell ranger to track him before he leaves but it's too late

end session

can't wait to see if the DM will make him pop up again or if he's learned his lesson. shoving villians in a parties face is a bad idea.

>>53042354
>inb4 religious zealot cult leader was actually just a good cleric who you attacked for no reason

>>53042354
You seem like a douche

>>53042354
you are a massive faggot

>>53042354
Either things that never happened or your DM is so retarded that he lets you actually kill villains he wants to keep around.

It's weird that you gloat like you have any real power besides what the DM lets you do. Instead of acting like you're smarter than the DM, you should appreciate that he lets you impact the world in meaningful ways, including killing bad guys that you think he wants to keep around.

>>53042354
That DM has never heard of illusions or simulacrums, has he? Also legendary resistance and legendary actions are a thing.

Your actions don't sound unreasonable, but your gloating makes you sound like an asshole abusing an inexperienced DM.

>>53042354
>turn both me and the ranger into young dragons with twined spell
Wait wait. So you're telling me you're like level 17+ and your DM is still throwing normal BBEGs at you? He really should step up his game.

>>53042354
>DM is bad.
>I'll be fucking Melkor, that'll show him.

>>53042354
Why must you be a dick? Do you not like this DM or something?

>>53042354
I would've kicked you out of the group by now.
Or just said "Nah" whenever you opened your mouth. I can't imagine your party is having much fun with you just shutting down the adventure at every turn.

>>53042354
Really it just sounds like you guys deserve each other.

>>53042453
young silver dragons are 9 CR
polymorth is a 4th level spell.

I'm level 10 the party is level 11.

>>53041582
I always come up with a detailed backstory for my character. I don't care if they die because I have tons of character concepts ready to roll. I mostly have these concepts to help the DM if he needs something to play off of for an adventure or an encounter. For example, when I played a character with 5 int, he made it so that I was cursed and actually had 22 int, and I had to survive long enough to kill the BBEG to break the cure. Then I died becuase I put on a mask that destroyed my mind because I wasn't smart enough to handle it's atunment.

>>53042544
Polymorph is beasts only, faggot.

>>53042544
Bahahahahahahaha
I see now. So you're cheating and your DM is definitely not experienced. Dragons are not beasts, anon. You can only turn into beasts with Polymorph.

>>53042354
>They dimension door to the villain's location
>Their teleport arrival isn't next to a sign saying "I knew you were going to do that" as he waves at you holding a piña colada in his other hand

At the very least, I'd have dimension door fail, and you take 4d6 Force damage per the spell's specification

>>53042449
This

>>53042561
Half Dragon is technically a beast...

>>53042599
He didn't say that, he said young silver dragon.

>>53042599
No. Fuck you for even saying that.

>>53042599
If anyone starts pulling half dragon bull shit at my table I am beating them.

>>53041417
Mite b cool even to do a dungeon there, just redraw the outlines and extrude.

In fact, i've been thinking about how good could be to redraw a dungeon into the level editor of Grimrock for a nice First Person Exploration.

>>53042632

Hey, it keeps polymorph relevant past level 8

>players finish white plume mountain
>refuse to give the three weapons to the owner
>owner puts a bounty up on them and the weapons
>they walk into neverwinter, see their faces on bounty notices
>guards go to arrest/confiscate them when they try to enter
>they flee and 3 mercenaries follow
>the barbarian with black razor has 110 tmp hp and chooses to fight
>8 wis barb is paralyed
>One of the lm pulls the sword out of his hand, and uses it to chop off his forearm
>other party members come back and give up their weapons

Barb got kind of power crazy with the sword

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>>53042573
>>53042561
wow thanks for ruining my perfect memory of ruining my DM's perfect story faggots.

I feel guilty now because I didn't know that either.
this is why you always read a spell out loud I guess

Does a weapon's versatile damage go up if you increase the base die damage is increased?

For example, if you were to cast shillelagh on your quarterstaff would it be 1d8 (1d10)? Or if you had a higher martial arts die as a monk, could it potentially become 1d10 (1d12)?

>>53042661
Are you retarded? Polymorph is relevant always. There's no fight that can't get better with a Giant Ape or T-Rex, or just making one of the tougher enemies become a rabbit. Besides it helps in exploration,

>>53042690
>Does a weapon's versatile damage go up if you increase the base die damage is increased?

No

>>53042690
shillelagh doesn't have versatile even when creating a quater staff. monks can't use matial arts with a two handed attack so they can't use versatile either.

>>53042269
Or a ranger, shadow monk, or trickery cleric

>>53042732
>monks can't use matial arts with a two handed attack so they can't use versatile either.

What the hell have you been smoking?

Versatile weapons don't have the Two-Handed property. Martials Arts doesn't care how you hold the weapon as long as it doesn't have the Two-Handed property.

>>53042702
But at level 8, your fight gets crazy by converting a dying ally into a T-Rex, as their level shares their rating


At level 14, the marginal gains are significantly diminished.

>>53042732
>shillelagh doesn't have versatile even when creating a quater staff.
Why not?

>monks can't use matial arts with a two handed attack so they can't use versatile either.
Monks can't use martial arts with a simple weapon that has the two-handed or heavy property. Neither the spear nor the quarterstaff have these properties.

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>Comes in to 5eg to gloat about being a massive fag
>Is informed he's been abusing a spell
>His "perfect" story only happened because of an inexperienced DM

Never test the autism of 5eg, 60% are here solely to theory craft op builds and call people idiots for not knowing everything.

How do I create Death Knight-ish character with only PHB content?

War Cleric 1 / Necromancer X?

>>53042828
My main question is why? Also see if your DM will let you be an Oathbreaker.

>>53042782
>>53042757
sorry guys my bad.
monk damage is flat no matter how you use the weapon so two hands or one both do the same damage when using monk damage.

>shillelagh doesn't have versatile even when creating a quater staff.
you can for flavor but will do the exact same damage regardless.

>>53041237

Martials typically spend their turns attacking with weapons, using attack rolls, and doing a set amount of damage when they hit, adding their stat bonus to a roll.

So a fighter rolls to attack with his Longsword, and does d8+STR damage when he hits.

A Warlock plays much the same way most of the time, except the weapon is Eldritch Blast. You roll to hit, do d10+CHA when you hit.

While other casters get Attack cantrips too, they usually have something better to do.

>>53041582
why don't make something like a character's guild?
>you can have 3 or 4 characters prepared, but when you going for adventure, you can just select one from your pool
>after coming back, you can re-embark with the same char to keep levelling him up or pick another one

>>53042850
But isn't versatile supposed to represent the fact that you can strike harder with two hands than one?

Why would being able to strike harder with one hand, either on account of magic or because you're especially skilled, not mean you would also strike harder with two hands?

>>53042802
I don't even make builds. I'm solely here for the chance to call people idiots.

>>53042880
I think the point of shillelagh is that it's magical, so the massive crushing pain you get is magic and not because you swung it really hard.

>>53042880
Shillelagh lets you use wis to fight. You can't use two hands to wis harder.

The monk uses their entire body as a weapon. A whole body is already greater than two hands.

>>53042872
i forgot to add that your character pool size is your number of "lives"

if you ran out of characters on an adventure, you are effectively game over

>>53042858
Thanks. I'm cool with a simple to play character like that.

>permaDM

My current game is about to end. I started it in March 2016 and I think it has about 6-7 sessions left before we complete the story arc. They started at level 3, they're level 19 now, and they'll be level 20 for 3-4 sessions before it all ends.

Does anyone else get strange feels when they know a game is about to end and there's not much else that needs to be thought out? My outlet for creative writing is gone, and I'm not going to start brainstorming for another game until I know what kind of stuff the players want to do for the next one.

>>53042848
Because being a knight in heavy armor ordering minions around is cool? You know, the charismatic leader type of guy?

Too bad skeletons is the only legit minions in 5e, I might be able to fluff them as something else if I'm lucky though.

As for Oathbreaker since it's in DMG and not PHB (and highly recommend to be "NPC Class only by the book), probably not.

If you remove a curse from an item, does that also remove the enchantment? And the follow-up question: if an item confers a curse upon you, but that curse is not limited to wearing it (for example, you cannot remove some items without Remove Curse, but other you can, though you are yourself cursed), does the remove curse need to target you or the item?

>>53041688

Eh. There's few enough times where you couldn't just sub in Lightning Bolt to avoid an ally. Or get a teammate to play Monk or Rogue and hit them with it.

Overchannel is strong; it's nearly double damage on your blasts. But it's level 14 and a lot of campaigns don't go that far.

>>53042902
I suppose you could interpret things this way, but just because magic is dealing damage on it's own, doesn't mean that there's no physical strike. So why wouldn't the damage die account for both the physical and magical hit?

>>53042907
Shillelagh can be used with strength (or dex, if you're a monk), though, and will still deal 1d8 damage. Using wisdom is optional.

>The monk uses their entire body as a weapon. A whole body is already greater than two hands.
But that's not how it works. You can use a versatile weapon as a monk and take advantage of the versatile damage all the way up to level 11. Only at that point do things become fuzzy.

>>53040568
Make him start out as a normal ranger. He picks up a cool looking amulet in some dungeon or another, setting off a trap that seemingly burns him to death, and he wakes up feeling much lighter after d12 hours.

>>53042929
Tempest Cleric can do that at level 2 if you don't think you'll make it to 14.

>>53042980
>Only at that point do things become fuzzy.

Only if you try to add rules that aren't there. A quarterstaff goes to a d8 when held in 2 hands. Versatile says nothing about any special interaction with Martial Arts or Shillelagh, so applying an increase is a houserule.

Can someone explain to me how the Curse Bringer invocation works for Hexblade Warlocks when Hex Warrior specifically states you can't benefit from two handed weapons?

How much does it cost to make a mythril crowbar?

>>53041688
Grab animate dead and then use your spooky zombie to body block stuff and spam fireball.

>>53042924
Couldn't you just use your charisma and naturally lucrative career to convince a few footmen to follow you around for a share of your spoils?

>>53043024
They use Strength when using Curse Bringer. It's a tradeoff for using a superior weapon.

>>53037829
Where is the /tg/ made character sheet?
The good one, not the ones in the mega.

>>53043024
You abandoned Hex Warrior and go STR route.
Yeah, it's counter intuitive.

>>53043008
>Only if you try to add rules that aren't there
That's how 5e is with a lot of things.

>A quarterstaff goes to a d8 when held in 2 hands.
Right, because normally it's a d6. The clear implication being that wielding it in two hands allows you to strike harder.

>Versatile says nothing about any special interaction with Martial Arts or Shillelagh
It doesn't say that it doesn't interact either. I'm just trying to understand what versatile is supposed to represent if there reaches a point at which there's suddenly no longer any benefit to wielding a versatile weapon in two hands.

>>53041751
This is perfect, thanks man. Definitely gonna use this

>>53043059
Well that seems silly.

>>53043066
>That's how 5e is with a lot of things.
No, it isn't. How 5e is with basically everything is that the rule is exactly what the rule says and that's intentional.

>>53043040
footman divide your exp but can't level up themselves.
footman cost gp per day.
footman cost extra supply per day.
footman miss a lot and doesn't scale in level.
footman can betray you.
footman availability is depend on DM shenanigan.
footman can't be put into bag of holding
footman can die from plague and disease
footman will result in mass combat sub-system.

etc etc.

>>53042916
Same thing happened to me: game ended after a year and the players got a nice little happy ending all wrapped up in a neat little bow.

But I felt relieved when it was over. I was itching for an extended break at the conclusion and I'm happy to give RPGs a rest for a while. I know it's only a matter of time before I get the itch again though

>>53043066
>It doesn't say that it doesn't interact either.

This is what I mean about inserting rules that aren't there. It's a houserule if you increase the damage because of what you think is intuitive. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's no consensus that it should be that way.

>I'm just trying to understand what versatile is supposed to represent if there reaches a point at which there's suddenly no longer any benefit to wielding a versatile weapon in two hands.

This is only a problem for a small subset of characters. Versatile represents hitting harder when using 2 hands for the vast majority of possible characters. Shillelagh and Martial Arts are the outliers, not Versatile. Shillelagh and Martial Arts are your issue and you're shifting the problem onto something that's not a problem.

>>53038658
>Onehanded attacks with these weapons gain another 5ft of range.
Make this cost a bonus action and I think it's okay.

>When a creature moves within 10ft of you without taking the disengage action you may use your reaction to make a onehanded attack with your versatile weapon against them.
The first two features taken together are already a lot to be added by a Fighting Style. This is certainly too much. With this as part of the package it may as well be a Feat.

https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Bearbarian_(5e_Optimized_Character_Build)

Thoughts?

>>53039418
Then don't use them? It's a game of near limitless options, do what you want. Although if they're moving as a party it makes more since for group rolls. No matter how much of a weeb shadow thief you are, the paladin botching a stealth roll is going to draw attention in your direction.
Vice versa if the party rolls well, ninja rogue would likely share his experience with the party to help them not be such noisy hobos.

>>53042924
>He doesn't make a charismatic leader and refer to the party as his minions
>Convinces them it smooths over situations
>Eventually they fall into actually being minions over time

Absolutely plebian.

>>53043150
This is what a fighter in one of my games does. It's funny when someone actually challenges his authority.

>>53043135
> dandwiki
NO

>>53043071
Sure thing buddy, just remember to pace it out.
Make sure you're not "laying this on them" but rather let them "find it out" so it feels organic, and not the "screw you" job your player maybe felt like it was.

Don't be afraid to have the alchemist play dumb at first, and give the new few doeses on the house, but by the fourth or fifth where the addiction is well and rooted in, then you strike.

You even benefit from a dead man's switch, where if they go murderhobo and just kill the guy, then the formula is lost forever, and it's so much worse than when they started.

So now they have to go back to the vistani, hat in hand.

>>53043174
:<

I'm sorry I didn't know.

>>53043135
Not overpowered, he is two levels behind for extra attack and brutal criticals. And the bear's health isn't amazing and you only have two uses of it.

>>53043116
It's a bit of a relief to finish off this story after building it up over a year.

At the same time, I have an itch to create a new story, but I don't want to create a story the players won't be interested in doing. The current game shifted a lot after it was about halfway done because the political parts were clearly losing their interest.

>>53043135
Worst meat tank than just going pure Druid (more health due to better wildshape and polymorph) or pure Barbarian (better damage)

Brown Bear only has +5 to hit and you're stuck with that forever.

>>53043216
>Brown Bear only has +5 to hit and you're stuck with that forever.

I always thought the druid still retained his own proficiency bonus to factor in.

>>53043240
Same

>>53043206
Holy shit - are you me? Same thing happened, but not in the game I was running that had a happy ending after a year. Another one before that fell apart after I quite literally gave the party a small island nation to run as they saw fit and the players decided they'd rather just continue their cycle of wandering around randomly to kill shit and get loot.

>>53043059
>>53043091
It gives a STR option that's on par with CHA so you can have GS, Longsword, or EB Hexblade. Its the kind of balance that people say they want, but don't actually want once they see it.

>>53043240
>>53043254
Druid isn't proficiency in claw/bite/natural weapon, so they always use beast proficiency on that.

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/01/23/wildshape-with-proficiency/

>>53043102
Sure, it is. There's a number of odd oversights that demand a ruling if or when the come up. Like how there's no check specified to mitigate fall damage, or how you can be completely unconscious and still contest a grapple.

>>53043128
>There's nothing wrong with that, but there's no consensus that it should be that way.
And I'm trying to understand why there isn't a consensus. Is there something I'm missing here outside of it not explicitly saying so in the rules?

>Shillelagh and Martial Arts are your issue and you're shifting the problem onto something that's not a problem.
But Shillelagh and martial arts aren't a problem. The rationale behind those abilities is very clear: magic and martial arts improve damage.

Versatile is the feature that acts strangely, because it falls apart as soon as you introduce something that increases an applicable weapon's damage die. You can still wield a versatile weapon in two hands, but you inexplicably deal the same amount of force as you could with one hand. It doesn't follow from the apparent rationale behind variable versatile damage.

This is a stupid question, but is it far to make a BBEG NPC more powerful by giving them multiple class archetypes at once?

>>53043311
>fair

I mean is it fair*

>>53043280
>And I'm trying to understand why there isn't a consensus. Is there something I'm missing here outside of it not explicitly saying so in the rules?

Yes, you're applying things in the wrong order.

Versatile is a weapon property. When a versatile weapon is held in two hands, its damage die increases. Shillelagh and Martial Arts are replacements of the end result, not modifications of the base.

>Using a quarterstaff
d6
>Are you holding in 2 hands?
>yes
d8
>Do you want to replace that die with Shillelagh?
d8

and/or

>Do you want to replace that die with Martial Arts?

Versatile doesn't fall apart at all. You just don't understand that replacement and modification don't meant the same thing.

>>53043311
It's not unfair you are the DM you make them however the fuck you want. Give him four attacks and level nine spells but the question you should ask is will your players be able to actually kill him

>>53043311
NPCs don't have to follow the same creation rules as players. See the Warlord NPC in VGM that has champion features as well as legendary actions similar to Battle Master maneuvers.

I think one of the warlocks in there has 2 level 8 spells as well.

>>53043311
It's your game dude, you can give them legendary resistance and actions if you really wanted to.

If your players ask why the Warlock BBEG is somehow using Fiend and Archfey features, just tell them he's a bad ass dude.

>>53043353
>Yes, you're applying things in the wrong order.
I don't think you understood my question.

>You just don't understand that replacement and modification don't meant the same thing.
I fully understand the difference. But that isn't what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about RAW, I'm talking about what versatile is supposed to represent as a concept. It doesn't just increase damage arbitrarily, there's a reason behind it. I'm not seeing why getting better at using a weapon (or enhancing it through magic) would change that reasoning.