/5eg/ Fifth Edition General

>>53665493
Fighter is the best martial class.

Simple but effective. Give them a nice sword and run the party into a magic resistant/immune badguy and the wizard of the party will be crying tears of impotent rage while you solo it for the crew.

I want to make a sea sorcerer/GOOlock but I always feel like caster multiclasses are so shitty.

>>53665531
And then the Beholder floats out of your range. Hope you brought your magically-enchanted javelins; or went Dex-Fighter.

How does one get double proficiency if they flat out don't have a class feature for it? If you get a feat that gives you proficiency in a skill you already have, do you just get double proficiency? Or is it impossible?

Also, if we're playing combat with a grid, does moving diagonally count as 5 feet?

>>53665493
Am I wrong in thinking that the easily forgotten UA ranger archetype, the Primeval Guardian, is really cool?

Turn into a tree and become the archer-tank.

>>53665498
I started with Pact of the Blade, because that has fundamental issues at all aspects of the game. I rolled the current blade pact invocations (extra attack and damage) into the base pact, and I'm working on tweaking the smite invocations to my liking.

Currently I'm debating whether I want ranged pact weapons to be a thing. There are pros and cons.

For the rest of the warlock, I think it just needs good invocations at all levels, to make the class more attractive beyond dipping.

Finally, I'm ruminating on whether Eldritch Blast should scale with warlock levels, and what the most efficient way to do that is. I'm leaning towards yes, and also rolling the "mandatory" eldritch blast invocations into the base class, but delaying their level requirement to later levels to discourage dipping.

>>53665576
Proficiency does not stack

Abilities that give you double proficiency specify that you add double your proficiency bonus- you aren't proficient twice.

>>53665586
Oh, and as a general fix, I recommend short rests take 5-10 minutes.

>>53665550
Warlock doesn't count as a caster multiclass. Pact magic is completely separate from spellslots.

>>53665605
Figured as much, thanks

>>53665617
Or rather, completely separate from Spellcasting. The spell slots you get are freely usable by either class' spells/features.

>>53665566
Fighter pulls out his legendary enchanted bow and fires over half a dozen shots in a single round using magic anti-beholder arrows +3.

Beholder dies a horrible death as the Fighter stands victorious as the lone-survivor because the rest of the team were squishy mages.

Guys, let's say I want to create a combat encounter that happens in waves. For instance, the PCs are fighting some undead warriors and they come as follows:

>a few sword and board dudes
>a couple archers and some pikemen
>barbarians and sorcerers
>mixed fighters with buffing bards
>maybe something else, IDK

How would I go around on making a combat like this bearable? I mean timewise, I hate encounters that consume over half a session.

(reposting from last thread because I posted just when that one died)

How does it make any logical sense that ability score increases are attached to classes?

What about being a barbarian lets you increase your int?

>>53665620
I hate to say the same old shit that's been hashed out again and again, but not all locks are studying the occult in their free time.
At the heart of the warlock, you've made a pact with some being of higher power, and you've either entreating them for said power, or leeching off of it in the case of most GOOs
There's merits to both INT and CHA, but unfortunately there's no precedent (at least in 5e) for a dual mental stat class.
3.5 had archetypes that changes the mental stats for certain classes, but that's likely not something WOTC is looking to implement, even with UA pacts

File: __emiya_shirou_fate_stay_night_and_fate_series_drawn_by_char__3b46f62bc72f94ba91cd38163cad8676.jpg (650KB, 707x1000px) Image search: [Google]

650KB, 707x1000px

How is the Arcane Archer? Anyone played either version? What's the verdict?

>>53665662
But then how do we give the fighter/rogue something interesting to do

How would you develop Genasi based around the Five Chinese elements or Wu Xing? They are Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal.

On the alternative, how would you combine the Wu Xing to align to the classical elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water?

>>53665666
4e also had classes capable of speccing in multiple attributes, but you'd rather forget 4e had any good ideas wouldn't you satan?

>>53665659
>How would I go around on making a combat like this bearable? I mean timewise, I hate encounters that consume over half a session.
if your group has good aoe, hordes upon hordes of low hp enemies, use average damage for monsters, have them rush him and get rekt, this will have the benefit of eating up group resources without posing an actual risk.

If your group doesn't have solid aoe, use less monsters but have traps and such that can be utilized by the PC's to thin numbers.

>>53665662
With fighters it makes sense if you think about it as pushing your limits via sheer discipline or martial prowess. The actual reason is that without the extra ASIs they would be super shitty compared to other martials until they got the second extra attack

Post decent homebrew classes/races

>>53665719
I've got really limited experience with 4e, so my apologies on that

>>53665730
done. Pic related.

Am I wrong in thinking Wizard subclasses are way to similar thematically if not mechanically? If I feel like if I were to look at all of them except for Bladesinger and Necromancer I would just see people in robes and pointy hats and maybe they're a different color depending on their school.

To expand on this what I see when I look at Wizards:
>Evoker
Red Wizard
>Diviner
Blue Wizard
>Conjurer
Purple Wizard
>Enchanter
Green Wizard
>Illusion
Light Blue Wizard

Vs Warlocks:
>Fiend
A charming looking person on the surface who has an undertone of sinister intentions
>Great Old One
A crazy gibbering fool with tinfoil on his head preaching about how the end is nigh
>Hexblade
Basically Siegfried when he went full Nightmare in Soul Calibur

And Sorcs:
>Dragon
A lizardy man that I guess thwips its tongue out at people and talks about how inferior other races are to dragons
>Phoenix
Pyro from TF2
>Stone
Ben Grimm
>Sea
Dread Pirate
>Storm
Young Odin

And martials are easy to differentiate too. Rouge has common criminal, hardcore assassin, dirty politician and pirate all accounted for. Fighter has dumb meat-head soldier, smart "war is hell" soldier, knight in shining armor, and knight in shining armor on a horse. And for Barbarian, Totem and Battlerager are distinct with their wildling mythos and spiked armor, and while Beserker Barbarian is bland it doesn't need half a dozen classes to spread its blandness around in.

>>53665652
Good luck with that if you're a STR Fighter.

>>53665659
This idea seems pretty fundamentally flawed, because generally speaking, combat with more than twice the number of enemies as you have players is going to take half the session.

If you do want to do this, make it an actual horde, that the players can't hope to beat by playing fair. Instead of rolling for individual attacks, do group rules (in the DMG somewhere IIRC), and put several objective type things in the encounter, that if the players can get to and activate (which is the challenge), they can eliminate large portions of the horde.

Stages can be waves of the horde, with similar objectives. For instance, there might be a boulder on the other side of the encounter from the players, that if they can get to and push, they can flatten a large portion of the horde. Next they realize that in the spot they just left is an open gate that a large horde is about to come through, so they have to close it. etc, etc.

>>53665748
wizard diversity comes from spell choice. While the subclasses feel similar, an evocationist and trasmuter will function quite differently

>>53665586
>smite invocations
Explain this to me, people keep saying this but I don't get the comparison between warlocks and paladins.

How do I effectively tank when every enemy just ignores me and runs around me to the squishies?

>>53665807
use terrain to your advantage. You're not fighting in blank 100x100ft rooms, right?

>>53665754
Fighters get an additional fighting style and get more ASI's than they know what to do with. You don't need to have +5 Dex to fire a bow. Having 18/20 Strength and 12/14 Dex is more than enough to use it when you need to, especially when you get +2 to hit with the fighting style and you're spamming with action surge and likely enchanted bows and arrows by the time you'll ever be likely to face a beholder.

>>53665748
Evoker: the Demoman
Diviner: Just according to Keikaku*
Conjurer: The pet summoner
Enchanter: The mind control fetishist
Illusion: The Literally Cartoon Mage
Necromancer: The other pet summoner

Besides Necromancer and Conjurer, they all play pretty different.

>>53665802
In both UAs, there are invocations that allow the warlock player to convert spell slots for additional damage after successfully hitting someone. Just like a paladin does with smiting.

>>53665659
One of the issues might be that you backloaded the spellcasters so that they come into play with full long-rest resources against a player party that has possibly shot its load.

On the other hand you're holding back the buffers until many of their beneficiaries are already dead.

>>53665748
Diviners are pretty clear cut. They're prophets, astrologists and anyone who tells the future in general. Enchanters and Illusionists I imagine as the kind of magician you would see as antagonists on a chivalric romance novel. Evokers are standard rpg kill shit wizards and conjurers make things appear

>>53665846
I figured it was UA nonsense. That's silly.

I really hope it won't be in the book of everything when that comes out later.

This is mostly why I ignore UA crap. Why they thought giving Warlock's more things to spend a non-supply of spell slots on when it's just a rip-off of paladin smites is beyond me.

>>53665823
We've only had two combat scenarios so far, one in a courtyard and the other in a street

>>53665874
Because they have fuckawful spell selection to work with around said slots, and playing a bladelock over EB turret is actively hamstringing yourself

>>53665874
It was mostly an attempt to make the bladelock not a trap option, and in the first UA, it offered very efficient damage conversion. Of course, lebbit complained or something, and in the next UA they halved the conversion, making it a trap option again.

>>53665680
Pretty awesome. While you can only use super special moves twice per rest, you get the free +1 and curving shots.

Combine it with Sharpshooter and the Archery Fighting Style and you can you get -2 to hit for +11 damage. Plus if you miss you can just target another enemy with it.

>>53665807
Consider the Sentinel feat

>>53665652
This reeks of "I teleport behind him and say, "Nothing personal kid"

>>53665807
Your squishies burn Shield, turn into a Bear, or dodge in full plate while concentrating on Spiritual Something or Others.

Tanking is kind of dead unless you are a Barbarian.

>>53665862
Oh and transmuters I see as alchemists and reductionist science-y wizards in general if it makes sense. It's very broad, like conjuration, so hard to pinpoint

>>53665970
Transmuters are just cucks. They're the least thrilling and most terrible specialization you can take, and it could have been so interesting.

>>53665586
Not him, copying from last thread what I came up with was:
Blade gets Thirsting Blade baseline (at 5th).
Chain gets Voice baseline.
Tome gets Ancient Secrets baseline.
So all boons are actually interesting instead the cool feature being behind the invocation paywall.

Eldritch Invocations: make a system of Eldritch points (multiply Invocations known column by 2)
Make the must-have/strong Invocations costing 2 points while the fluff only costs 1 (greater and lesser invocations).
The ones that grant spells at the cost of a slot are 1, at will depending on the spell (detect magic 1, levitate and mage armor 2).
Maybe up the Eldritch Invocations capstone to 5th level, this is a bit extreme but would ultimately fix the dip problem.

At 7th, they get a capstone called Improved Eldritch Blast, it gives the agonising blast invocation choice of one of the new EB invocations or streamline into the patrons as in the UA before. Or make it 5th if you give Invocations at 2nd.

>>53665748
That's really what Wizards are though. A bunch of 4chan tier autists who squabble over "Nuh uh, my powers are cooler".

If you really want to make them different I'd suggest only having specific schools taught in specific areas. The Abjuration school in a freezing tundra full of tough tribals , the Diviners living on top of a mountain in a library where they spend all their day sorting knowledge and etc.

>>53665846
>Enchanter: The mind control fetishist

Is it wrong if I mind control people into performing my fetishes? I never knew that. Though any martial character would probably do it better.

>>53665807
Ancestor Barbarian, Crown Paladin, Tunnel Fighter, Knight, Protection, Warding Bond, Sentinel feat and Redemption Paladin.

You have to actually build around being a tank, luckily Martials main job is high damage output while casters perform control in combat. Tanking's not really needed.

>>53666008
They always looked neat to me, changing rock buffs on the fly, then breaking it for something neat, free polymorph. The first transmutation is really limited but you can still turn prison bars into something malleable like gold.

>>53665730
Pugilist from Sterling Vermin, it's a reskinned monk, but it has its merits.

Had a discussion on the local group yesterday.

My Rogue has Mage Slayer. GM had an enemy spellblade NPC attack me with Booming Blade to stop me from running away.

I said I would use my reaction to attack him, as per mage slayer, but the GM said that Booming Blade was a melee attack with a magical effect, and not a spell as such, and therefore wouldn't give me a reaction attack.

I thought it was pretty clear that casting a spell, no matter what kind or how it is cast, triggers the reaction attack, regardless of what that spell might be. My GM disagreed.

How is this supposed to work? Which interpretation is correct?

>>53666008
It honestly sounds like they'd have crazy utility if nothing else

>>53666115
Casted a spell. Booming Blade uses the cast a spell action, not the attack action. Making a melee attack is a side effect of casting the spell.

>>53666115
your DM is both wrong and stupid.

>>53666128
Until you realize how limited their defining features are. The best thing you can say about them is they get a crappy wild shape every short rest.

>>53666115
DM is wrong.

>>53666115
Bad call from your DM. Mage Slayer would've wrecked his shit.

>>53666016
>The ones that grant spells at the cost of a slot are 1, at will depending on the spell (detect magic 1, levitate and mage armor 2).
No.

All the spell invocations should give 1 free use of the spell, and the ability to cast it using spell slots afterwards.

That 1 free cast should be baseline, always. An invocation that still requires you spend a precious spell slot, needs to be horrifically overpowered to make up for this fact, because you are not just choosing a spell, you are also wasting a very limited and essential resource (invocation) to get it, and you STILL have to spend an even more limited spell slot to use it.

Just no. Considering we even have shit like alter self at will, getting 1 free cast at the cost of an invocation would be fine.

>>53666150
Free resistances is good enough for people to praise the Nature Cleric, and if nothing else you get a free Con save proficiency.

What's the verdict on Storm King's Thunder? How does it compare to the rest of the officially published campaigns?

>>53666137
>>53666147
>>53666200
>>53666201
Okay, thank you.

I just needed to confirm I hadn't missed something. My googlefu failed to find an answer, so I wasn't entirely sure if I was right.

>>53666150
It's honestly nowhere near as bad as you're trying to sell it. Wizards could literally not have any archetype features and still be gods.

>>53666086
>>53666128
People on /tg/ will tell you that anything except Lore Master, Diviner and Abjurer are worthless.

Honestly Clerics and Wizards are both good for subclasses, none of them are bad. At worst they're boring or meh.

>>53665493
>All the spell invocations should give 1 free use of the spell, and the ability to cast it using spell slots afterwards.
Now that's quite a buff, either let them cast without limit or 1 free cast, both is too much.

>>53666091
Reminds me, anyone have the extra fight clubs pdf?

>>53666245
Of course anon, but we're talking about the balance between wizard archetypes.

>Transmutation is the worst wizard archetype
"Yeah but wizards are good" isn't a relevant response.

>>53666211
Those are okay, but self contradictory, since the resistances come at the cost of the con save and vice versa. Also, those features are boring.

>>53665933
Does the Curved Shot and the +1 Attack from version 2 make up for the fewer skills, the non-regenerating arcane shots in longer battles, and the extra save allowance?

Am I blind? Where is Tunnel Fighter?

>>53666215
It's.. . A mixed bag. Large parts of the campaign feels messy, because it tries to do this open world thing, which just really doesn't work. A lot of it relies on the players making a decision, based on meta knowledge (We should be able to do this, because the campaign is tailored to our level) rather than character knowledge.

It is less railroady than shit like LMoP, which often smacks you in the head for not doing exactly what you are supposed to do, but it is still my least favourite campaign so far. The feel of the campaign was great, but the execution was just terrible.

>>53666233
Feats are already somewhat scarcely applied. As a rule of thumb if the feat should or could most likely cover it you should probably rule in favor of it since it so rarely comes up to begin with. There are exceptions (of course) but I think your DM made a mistake with that one.

>>53666290
Unless I'm mistaken, you can get it for free on dmsguild.

>>53666300
Yes. Your always on accuracy and damage will make you much better at damage dealing then other Fighters all day long. It's effectively +5% to hit that's always on and +1 Damage.

The better arrows (Bursting and Grasping) don't even allow saves at first. Grasping Arrow being a straight +2d6 and they have to use an action to have a chance to remove them.

For Archers, Arcane Archer is much better then Battlemaster. It's burst rounds with the arrows are a bit worse but the effects from them are much more powerful, and it's always on effects completely out do it. Battlemaster's advantages is it can burn every resource to nova slightly better and can switch weapons.

File: Angelic Seals.pdf (604KB, 1x1px) Image search: [Google]

604KB, 1x1px

War Cleric here looking to choose one of these angelic seals for a feat- do any of them in particular stand out? Mind you I can't access the greater seal version cause I'm no wizerd
I'm fine with dying so the glory (3 temp hp per kill) and the fortitude (reaction, +2AC) aren't really high on the list either

>>53666388
Not really +5% to hit unless you already would only have missed on a 2 or 1. There was talk about this a couple threads ago.

>>53665579
It's a nice throwback to the Warden from 4e.

>>53666297
>Those are okay, but self contradictory
But you can swap to the Con save right before casting a Concentration spell then change it to a resistance during a short rest before fighting an elemental or dragon.

I have 18 Cha as a Warlock and I'm about to reach 4, do I go for 20 Cha or pick Resilient for the Con save?

>>53666459
All these are pretty minor I think. Clarity seems generally nice and Recovery would make it even less likely for your character to die if you play smart and you don't have a killer DM

For all those people who want to play melee Warlocks.

Wouldn't making EB a melee spell attack where you can move between attacks like a normal weapon attack be enough? Between defensive spells and repelling blast you can even be fairly survivable.

>>53666597
Thanks kindly, wanted one of them for rp purposes more than anything
Am I just gimping myself then? Would you have any recommendations for a feat I could pick up as a War Cleric, third party or otherwise? Already have War Caster cause I don't want to lose my concentration spells. Was originally going to go with Heavy Armor Master, but I realized I was fine with dying

>>53666325
I think my GM was mostly pissed at the mage slayer feat, since he likes using mages, and my Rogue is giving him a really hard time because of how good he is at killing mages, and how easily he can shut them down.

>>53665586
>>53666016
How would you fix Pact of the Chain?

It's quite underwhelming.

I'm thinking of a Barbarian X/Stone Sorcerer 1-3. I know it sounds kinda retarded but I figured there's some decent spells for out of combat use and that I get a better AC calculation.

Thoughts?

>>53666773
Mages are squishy. Smart wizards will cast fly and rain death from above, stay out of the way of your backstab, and all around generally avoid saying "please stab me sir."

>>53666741
As a war cleric you could pick a weapon feat. But honestly if it's for RP there's no issue in picking whatever you want

>>53666778
I'd apply the Raven Queen stuff into it. Specially that she's dead now (unless they're giving 3 patrons to Warlock)

I just had a great season with my players after postponing our meeting three times. The monk got so drunk he made a villager break his 10 year sobriety. The bard earned the party free lodging with his music. And the wizard made a bunch of allies for the showdown in the morning. We had to cut it short because it got too late but it was fun.

>>53666778
Chain is fine though. Like tome it mostly gives utility, just in the form of a super-familiar rather than ritual casting and cantrips

>>53666735
One of the main appeals of Blade Pacts or even Shillelagh is that you can attack something that is immune to cantrips, unlike anything locked into EB. It sucks to be in a long campaign to defeat Tiamat only be absolutely useless against her.

>>53666870
This.

Personally I let cantrip bypass magic resistance up to a level equal to the caster's level/2. I feel like that otherwise, casters literally have to sit there with a thumb up their ass after casting some buff spells.

>>53666829
I don't really mess with UA so I'm not sure what you mean, honestly.

>>53666865
Nobody ever picks chain because it's lackluster. You get a minion and.. well, that's it. You get the equivalent of a level 1 spell: find familiar, which you can get through the Pact of the Tome.

I see literally no reason you would ever want to take Chain except for the cool flavor invocations that let you sense-share through your familiar, but frankly that's more or less for flavor and roleplay scenes and information gathering at best. I see no reason not to take Tome instead since you gain 3 cantrips and 2 level 1 rituals including find familiar and the ability to learn any amount of rituals you can get your hands on.

It's bad.

File: 1496811156168.png (136KB, 383x385px) Image search: [Google]

136KB, 383x385px

How does a DM actually keep track of time? I get that 10 rounds is a minute, meaning any combat encounter doesn't really pass any time, but what happens to a spell with a time limit after that? Like how long does a party spend inside a dungeon, or between rooms, walking down hallways looking for traps etc.
And overworld travel takes hours and stuff, that's not too bad..

>>53666793
It's still a rogue, and it is thr arcane trickster archetype. Grab a longbow, while the familiar is pestering the flying wizard, and enjoy taking your concentration save at a disadvantage.

This character is built around fucking over mages specifically, and that pissed off my GM. Despite all of his tricks, I always manage to get around it somehow.

>>53666950
The first header of PHB Chapter 8 covers the passing of time in that regard.

>>53666932
That's the main issue with the pacts, and has been from the start.

Time is interesting, and has so many cool options. It feels like a subclass itself.

Chain and blade are lazy as fuck, and can be replicated by the Tome, just to really highlight how pointless they are.

New invocations and even patrons are trying to change that, but Tome still has utility the other two can't hope to compete with.

>>53666778
Pact of the Chain is the best pact actually.

It goes like this:

Tier 1: Literally perfect if you have creativity:
Pact of the Chain
Tier 2: Great, doesn't require creativity
Tome
Tier 3: Shit
Blade

>>53666932
You can't get any of the Chain familiars through find familiar, to start with

>>53667030
Speaking of Tomelock, which patron is really good for that?

Hexblade is tailor made for Blade Pact, Raven Queen is tailor made for chain... what about Tome? Which pact just fits the utility style of Tomelock the best?

>>53667065
yeah, things like the imp being able to turn invisible or shape shift really make it completely outclass a normal familiar.

>>53667077
>Raven Queen is tailor made for chain
Except it gets a unique Tome only Invocation and has nothing to do with Chain of course.

>>53666932
Also, any pact warlock can get Minions of Chaos to cast conjure elemental.

I can be a tomelock or bladelock and summon a fire elemental. You can be a chainlock at level 9 and not even take that invocation while my bladelock summons a minion far superior to your pathetic level 1 imp ritual familiar. And frankly you gain no benefit over that bladelock if you do it: a bladelock summoning a fire elemental to fight against a chainlock summoning his fire elemental has no real benefits, save for the chainlock getting to share senses.

I think. RAW is weird. It says your sense sharing invocation is for your "familiar" but I'm not even sure that the chainlock casting conjure elemental counts that as your chainlock's familiar or not.

>>53667030
Tome is the best one objectively speaking.

Chain is the worst. Useless in all aspects.

Blade can be decent with the right build but is generally weaker than EB spam in of itself. Still fun, though.

>>53667046
I'm not seeing any arguments. I laid out why chain is weaker and inferior, but let's get back to the main point of me bringing this up in the first place rather than a meaningless shitpost:

How do you make Chain better?

>>53667065
>>53667078
Yeah, you can get an imp, a pseudodragon, quasit, or a sprite. It's nice for flavor and roleplay to have a slightly expanded list and the invisibility is nice for trickery but who cares when I can conjure an elemental at level 9 anyway?

>>53666865
Chain is useless, the best thing out of it is the invisible familiars which are basically a "reveal the dungeon map", which in turn are boring and take away the whole experience of exploring.

I'm a tomelock with find familiar and have the same utility with more, used my familiar to check the entrance of a cave.
As I didn't want the session to be "familiar reveals the dungeon", my character said it would be quite strange to have an owl deep in the cave, so we'd better off exploring ourselves, and that's all the utility I needed from the familiar, nothing justifies having an entire feature dedicated to it.

>>53667094
>conjure elemental
You don't use the chain familiar for combat you mong. You even acknowledge the things the familiar is good for, but seemingly handwave anything but direct quantifiable mechanical benefits as silly little flavor rp shit that will never matter

>>53667105
This, it's not even reasonable to argue that chain is good. It isn't.

Tomelock -> Book of Ancient Secrets -> choose Find Familiar -> gain the ability to cast all touch-spells through your Owl -> Owl has the ability to not provoke opportunity attacks -> Your Tomelock choice gives you an additional 3 cantrips of any class which you can pick to be all touch-exclusive spells -> Cast them through your Owl familiar

A Chainlock can't even effectively do this because they're limited to the normal 4 cantrips at max level for a warlock anyway (meaning they have a smaller selection of touch spells).

But I digress back to my original question:

How do you make Chain better?

>>53665579
No, you're not wrong. Not really sure how popular it is, but im guessing not much

>>53667128
Tome has tons of flavor, except you can also use it in combat.

Blade has some flavor, and you can use it in combat.

By your own admission Chain can't be used in combat.

Hmmm... really makes you think...

>and /tg/ hated Blade Pact
>and now /tg/ hates Chain Pact
>and soon /tg/ will hate the Tome Pact because the DM may never give you any more rituals at all.

>>53667065
Which doesn't justify the choice over tome or even blade

>>53667149
Can we just agree that /tg/ hates warlocks?

>>53667168
I am still wondering where this whole "blade is good" sentiment sprouted. It was "good" with one specific patron on the recent past, now it makes you a half assed paladin and mere days ago people were shitting all over it. Unless you're just being contrarian which you probably are.

>>53667133
You have to check the Raven Queen UA stuff, the first 2 capstones are basically what chain should've been (and yet it's only fluff), like merging with your familiar and other benefits.

>>53667211
I'll check it out.

That sounds interesting.

>>53667146
It's not about flavor anon. The familiar is not meant to be used for combat, and you seem to understand that it is completely useless "flavor" by this, then just completely handwaving the reasons the Chain familiar is not the same as the Find Familiar ones. Every single usage you can give it, you mention as an afterthought, something which you could in theory do but will never, ever reasonably happen in an actual game

How to play drow without being a fag?

>I mentioned Pugilist class earlier as good homebrew.
>Just go an email about a remaster of the class and some new stuff to the pdf

Check it out, guys.

>>53667242
You just play like you'd play any other race?

>>53667242
Don't be "the one good member of your evil upbringing" or "Evil psychopath".

Basically Drow work best as neutral and uncaring to their own race, or brought up in a community of surface Drow.

Also wear a fucking hood in anything smaller then a city.

>>53667199
I didn't think it was ever good.

Then this whole smite kerfuffle made me realize that you could pump spell slots into Cursebringer to do 10d8.

Now I'll complain that bladelock has been forever ruined, because I never had a chance to play original bladelock and see if it's actually good because I never gave it a chance.

>>53667242
Don't be a dick, it's that simple.

So I'm creating an artifact that the players will obtain.

It's a pair of gauntlets called the Gauntlets of the Storm that were forged by an ancient Storm Giant in order to let him tame the storms themselves.
Part of it would allow the wearer to use the Storm Giant Lightning Strike ability once per day. Should I change the numbers on it at all?

>>53667242
Call every other race an iblith
except for surface elves, don't deign to talk to them at all

>>53666950
Oh boy, how that question messed with my mind while I was learning to DM back in 3.0.
Turns out, you just wing it. Overland travel and downtime are the things you track, and if something requires precision - you just use rounds. For the rest - 'nothing messes with you, you succeed' or 'something fucks you up in the middle, here's what it is'.

>>53667254
What's different about it?

>>53667199
Back when Chartfag was around, Bladelocks would consistently outdamage Rogues and Monks (which in hindsight Rogues are just barely above Cantrip damage). If nothing else it's a free level two spell you can cast at will give the party meatstick an emergency magical weapon, and it keeps you from being shutdown by a Minor Globe of Invulnerability.

Then they were alright for a while until SCAG cantrip Shillelagh meme builds hit full force. Then we got the UA smite Invocations (Hex Blade is actually pretty weird clumsy as far as melee goes) as well as evolvging +X weapons. Now the UA smites got nerfed and (imo more importantly) the +X weapon Invocations are restricted to +1.

Personally I think Shillelagh is terrible, since you always need three specific things on hand to use it, your book, and oak staff and a material component, and you need a Bonus Action for every ten rounds of use when Warlocks are fairly action starved. I'm also not that sure that Smites from limited warlock slots were the right direction either but they were at least something nice to have.

>>53667291
But then it's not really a drow, or an elf for that matter, is it?

>>53666016
I like a lot of these, but your use of the term capstone is triggering my autism so fucking hard. I agree with the anon who said that spell invocations should at least let you free cast it once per long rest. If it's too much power, having it hide behind a level requirement that varies based on the spell could work.

>>53667309
From the emails:
>In honor of the Pugilist turning one, we'e added 3 new weapons, 8 new magic items, 3 new nonplayer characters to represent NPC pugilists
>The big changes to the Pugilist class on its anniversary involved its features, Moxie and Bloodied but Unbowed.

Then there's a wall of text explaining every minute change to it, it's reasons, etc.

What is the best use of Dominate Person that you have ever seen?

>>53667484
When I dominated YOUR MOM LOL

>>53667388
I use capstone because it's easier to know it's a separate feature of the class instead of a part of another feature etc, sorry, anon.

Free cast is fine, but the whole point of invocations was to limit those spells to one cast (read UA: Modifying Classes, it's one of Warlock's bullet points), so you might as well add them to the spell list instead, and that's a buff Warlock doesn't need (6 Polymorphs/elementals per day?)

I think blade pact should also grant medium armor, shield, and martial weapon profs. Then every blade works like Hexblade.

>>53667560
To be honest, the Hexblade patron is unnecessary. Blade pact should simply be better. No reason to lock Blade pact users into one specific patron while leaving the others flexible.

>>53667146
>DnD is always only and exclusively about combat

Chain warlocks are great for scouting, the poison chance can have some niche uses and some like the Sprite are useful in social situations.

What're people's thoughts on:

Mike Mearls shows that DMs can just handwave rules aside for fun and for the story.

Chris Perkins encourages DMs to put their own spin on adventure modules instead of just sticking to them by the letter.

>>53667677
see
>>53667105

File: goatmen.pdf (659KB, 1x1px) Image search: [Google]

659KB, 1x1px

Hey /5eg/, I've really been trying to hone my monster-making skills, and the problem with making your own monsters for your campaign is that you can't get feedback on them from your friends because your friends are also your players.

I can provide lore and flavor info if you request it, but I'm specifically looking for a check on whether these guys are mechanically sound (I hope I didn't make any clerical errors) and advice on what I can do/change to make these guys fun to play against. Their "strategy" is to ambush and overwhelm; a competent pack of goatmen will try to corral their targets close together and then move in with charges and axes. Conversely, competent players that are fighting them would want to focus on dispersal and obstruction, preventing the goatmen from ganging up at all. Shoves and grapples may be vital for keeping them apart, for example. I'd hope that the ability to overpower their ram attacks with a crushing saving throw would make combat more dynamic, and allow opportunities to counter.

I'm not too concerned with the challenge rating being 100% accurate; it's a well-built standard but not a very reliable one when it comes to intelligent players. But it's good for gauging the relative strength of single monsters against each other at a glance.

File: IMG_0627.jpg (55KB, 544x767px) Image search: [Google]

55KB, 544x767px

This shit about chain being unusable is why we can't fucking have nice things
It's not any better than reddit's theorycrafting bullshit and you know it
You play chain because you want to play chain, because you want to invest in a more unique familiar
You play blade because you're masochistic you really like gishes, and paladin just isn't for you
You play tome because you dig the classic warlock feel, and are rightfully content in being the utility mage with good cantrips that the pact was made to be

>>53667683
>DMs to put their own spin on adventure modules instead of just sticking to them by the letter.

There's nothing wrong with this. Though I'd only really do it for lower level stuff

>>53665659
Thematic combat.
Ask all the players, what do you do? They say something they want to do, and succeed (unless they want to do something crazy).

Then you make like four rolls for four groups of undead, to see how well they generally do.

Then you describe how the turn went.

Rinse repeat.

How do you be useful out of combat without being the party face? I'm tired of being the guy people blame for everything going wrong, but I want to contribute significantly out of combat

>Flourence's Flaccid Flail
>weapon(flail), uncommon
>The handle of this flail is made from the soft, stretchy wood of a rubber tree, allowing it to be used for a variety of tasks besides combat. While wielding this weapon, the user is resistant to lightning damage. This weapon may be used as a substitute for rope or grappling hook up to 30 feet when fully stretched. The head resembles a flanged coconut, with a nice heft to it. In combat, this weapon has the tag reach.

>>53667740
Feed info to your enemies, set up your party for a TPK, betray them when shit starts hitting the fan
That'll learn em

>>53667740
Be a caster
Be a rogue

Just take the initiative to do non combat stuff. Pick a relevant background like Guild Artisan and talk to the DM to see how much you can milk it, buy the party utility stuff, hire servants, etc.

File: 1483355715185.jpg (126KB, 333x500px) Image search: [Google]

126KB, 333x500px

>>53667723
>be chain
>get a slightly better level 1 find familiar spell
>wonder why no one picks it

>>53666115
The only way to get past a mage slayer's radar is a spell-like ability (not technically a spell), or a legendary action that prevents others from taking reactions against you.

That said, mage slayer probably doesn't come up that often anyways so fucking with the mage slayer seems silly.

>>53667717
Just looks like a satyr with a mask on

>>53667683
They want people to have fun.

I can see Perkins wish that people didn't follow the modules so hard, they weren't made taking into account some party compositions and following it blindly can fuck up your players. My DM had to improvise a secret shop before HotDQ's start because we started without a character capable of healing, that's not in the book.

>>53666586
Whatever works for you mate. Do you feel like con saves are important? Do you feel squishy? Would the +1 CHA make a difference?

All of this kinda depends on the encounters you're facing, and the powerlevel of your fellow players.

>>53667786
>Be blade
>Get some weapon proficiencies most classes already have and the ability to spawn weapons which are cheap anyways

>Be Tome
>Get a few cantrips you don't need since warlocks have the most powerful one already
>Need an invocation for the rituals

>>53667723
All they had to do was give Chain as a separate feature without competing with the other boons, they're simply better.

Chained Familiar
At 3rd level, your patrons gifts you a familiar. (Pact of the Chain text goes here)

There, fixed chain for you, fixed tomelock picking find familiar, fixed Bladelock lacking utility.

>>53666950
Depends on what they do.

I've had a kinda complex trap with 4 levers and 4 trapped doors, where one lever 'unlocked' a specific door, but only one lever could be unlocked at a time.

Players wanted to examine every lever, every door and every dragon head sculpture. They also spent some time searching through other stuff.

That took them about an hour.

Meanwhile, they breezed through another room (some kinda break room for the inhabitants), that only took about 30 seconds.

>>53667786
Play around it, you absolute fucking mong
You picked chain for a reason, maybe you decided that you'd like to have a proper companion to speak with when your silly party isn't comprehending the glory of your patron?
It's a fucking role playing game, in which you play a role and interact with your party and the world around you, not a pen and paper number crunch fest
Get the fuck over it

>>53667169
>>53667149
To be fair, warlocks should have been rolled into sorcerer as a subclass.

So my Goliath Berserker Barbian just hit level 4 at the end of this session. I used point-buy for the first time ever on this guy and because I dislike negatives for some odd reason these are his stats;

16 STR
14 DEX
14 CON
10 INT
10 WIS
10 CHA

Should I pump his strength up further, or do something with his DEX or CON? I assume that a feat would be a dumb idea.

>>53667836
>The value in pacts is based on the invocations available to them
Who fucking knew?

>>53667853
Their design is completely different. Warlocks don't even get proper Spellcasting as a class feature

>>53667683
>handwave rules
If the rules prevent fun, they should be changed.

>own spin on modules
Pretty much all modules leave room for GM improvisation anyways. I think you, as a GM, should tailor a module to your setting / campaign, but it is a good practise to keep as much of the original intact as possible (to see how different it is from your usualy GMing.)

>>53667814
Well, I'm the classic player that rolled 3 16 on abilities while the party's average is 12, so I'm a god among men. +1 con also makes 16 Con for me.

I think I didn't put 16 exactly for that feat then (went to Wis for the +3 save and Perception).

>>53667683
I don't know about handwaving rules since the intent is mostly simulation, but I'm not too picky about them unless I feel like I'm getting gypped in some fashion.
I'm fine with adjusting and spinning modules, Tim Kask said in an interview that the Adventures in Blackmoor module has a part that says you should totally change things around if you feel like they'd be better.

>>53667843
Blade is not even remotely comparable to the other 2 boons because in order to make it useful you need to build the whole fucking character around it when you could take Agonizing Blast and be perfectly competent in damage. Chain and Tome are freebies for which you can take a single invocation to make them better

>>53667860
Do you have the great weapon master feat? Consider that if not.

>>53667717
They're fine.

>>53667860

If I were you, I'd +2 CON the next time around. I think you can coast with 16 STR for a while, but moving up a bracket in CON won't just improve your health, but also your AC.

>>53667683
>Mike Mearls shows that DMs can just handwave rules aside for fun and for the story.

My general stance on this is "yes", but when Mearls says it, I think he's just using it as an excuse for his shitty rules.

>Chris Perkins encourages DMs to put their own spin on adventure modules instead of just sticking to them by the letter.

You basically have to, no module can be expected to be fit for all the possible character combinations (including things like motives and stuff).

File: Screen Shot 2017-06-07 at 4.40.19 AM.png (761KB, 568x738px) Image search: [Google]

761KB, 568x738px

>>53667910
Also I'd like to take the opportunity to post this module cover so we can appreciate the wizard with a laser rifle.

>>53667904
Just grab a fun feat, then.

>>53667199
Blade's fine. It does the one thing it should have over EB, it does more damage. Yes you have to build it right and yes you need weapon feats. There's nothing wrong with that though, giving up utility options for more average damage is a fair trade. Nowadays I'd say there's two Blade builds that are good.

Fighter 1/Bladelock X. Patron doesn't matter but Fiend does this best. Pick up GWM and the +1 Invocation, Extra Attack one and Lifedrinker. Other then that use spellslots for whatever tickles your fancy, probably Fire Shield and other buff spells.

The second's pure Hexblade. Take PAM and the invocations you need while using a shield and staff.

Doe either of these and congratulations, you're now dealing better average damage then an EBlock.

>>53667918
Goliath, so no. I have but I'm being assured that the weapon mastery will be better in the long run.
>>53667930
Is it that super useful? I manage to flip-flop between states of "I'm untouchable and unkillable" and "I'm made of paper mache".

Also, for backstory: We just fought our way through a crazy guy, two skeletons on skelehorseback, a skeletal minotaur, three gargoyles, a nerfed flesh golem that only had resistance and was one CR down, 3 more gargoyles, and then managed to scare an Annis Hag away. Our party was two Rangers (one of which had a jaguar), a Treachery Paladin, myself, and a Red Dragon Sorc. None of us had magic weapons until I smashed the golem in to the ground and even the the thing I found only did an extra 1 fire damage and was basically just for the case of overcoming nonmagical resistance.

Discussing pact boons is like discussing chess: it's obvious turning a pawn into a queen is the best option, but there's people that find fun in turning it into a knight and walk in L, or bishop/rook, even though a queen does everyone's job better.

>>53667995
>Is it that super useful? I manage to flip-flop between states of "I'm untouchable and unkillable" and "I'm made of paper mache".

I play a barbarian too; increasing the AC is always good but just being able to take an absurd amount of damage is basically the barbarian's "thing." To not invest in HP as a barbarian seems counter-intuitive, but maybe that's just my own playstyle. I do a lot of defense, thanks to those Ancestral Guardians.

>>53667860
Great Weapon Master.

Barbarians rock it much better then everyone else because you can get the free advantage against higher AC enemies. Plus if you kill something (easy as fuck to do as a Barb) you get a bonus action attack.

With the GWM bonus action attack, I'd suggest saving your Frenzy for big enemies. Where you need someone very dead but know you won't be able to kill one person per round.

>>53668023
Whereas personally I'm using a Berserker.
>>53668030
Yeah, I've only used Frenzy in two of the three sessions I've used him in so far, and only once in either of those two sessions, both times have been in the "final boss" phase.

Overall I'm getting some conflicting ideas here, and "hitting goddamn HARD" and "don't die anywhere near as easy" both sound very appealing.

>>53667932
Or he's a fun DM.

Which patron has the best Bladelock spells other then Hexblade? Fey and Fiend both seem good.

File: kraken.jpg (139KB, 800x1200px) Image search: [Google]

139KB, 800x1200px

If you wanted your level 10 players to have a harrowing encounter with the Kraken Society how would you do it?

Obviously I want to use sea spawn, deep scions and kraken priests but what else?

>>53668084
Berserker's there to hit hard really, if you were Bear or Ancestor I'd say defence but with Berserker and Zealot you want to be king dick of the damage.

>>53668090
Fiend because of its 1st level feature.

>>53668103
Is that even with the current stats that I have? I am using my unarmored defense currently but that may change.
I'm also considering getting a breastplate/half-plate when possible to compensate for the lower AC.

>>53668168
Yeah, pick up Medium Armour asap. Unarmoured Barbarians are basically a silly idea until levels 10+, it's mechanically better to get the 17 from Half-Plate+DEX.

>>53667786
>An invisible imp
>SLIGHTLY better than a find familiar spell
Get out of here

>>53668182
Unfortunately though after all three sessions I've only got a total of 303 GP.

>>53668211
>>53668182
Scratch that, 203, I misread what I wrote.

>>53668219
That's actually pretty good. Just buy whatever you can, anything that's going to at least be +2 AC from Unarmoured Defence is a good investment.

>>53666950

I manage time more or less the same way first edition handles it. Every player takes a turn Doing A Thing. When all have taken their turn, I mark off 10 minutes of time on my little sheet, and start over. I have a player roll for random encounters every third tick.

I can cast magic weapon spell on my quarterstaff and then shillelagh on top of it (but not in vice versa order) right?

Shillelagh doesn't hage a clause that preventing you from casting it on a magical weapon.

>>53668280
Yep, that works.

>>53667683
>Mike Mearls shows that DMs can just handwave rules aside for fun and for the story.
It's called "being a DM" and I've been doing since 2e.
>Chris Perkins encourages DMs to put their own spin on adventure modules instead of just sticking to them by the letter.
It's called "playing D&D", and I've been doing it since 2e.

>>53668097
Honestly, that's not really the best way to even USE the Kraken Society.
Remember, they're basically at the core an information/spy network. Most people working for it literally don't even realize that the kraken isn't a metaphor for "long arms that can reach anywhere" but a LITERAL Kraken.

So you're left with the query off; do you want them to have a harrowing experience with the Kraken Society, or a harrowing experience with sea monsters?

>>53668331
Too many, way too many, DMs and players are caught up in being too autistically rules focused, sticking too closely to rules and modules.

>>53668270
>random encounters every half hour

Jeez

Did anyone catch the newest Dice Camera Action?
Holy shit.

>>53668372
I blame the version of the game that deliberately went out of it's way to attract the CCG crowd and actually basically attempted to turn the game into a CCG, by admission of the designers.

>>53668372
And then there's DMs who make the game worse for the players with their lack of grasp on the rules.

File: ro-man.jpg (61KB, 372x273px) Image search: [Google]

61KB, 372x273px

>>53666950

I'm comfortable winging the micro stuff like >>53667305 and >>53667844 said but what really intimidates me is the macro stuff.

I have enough bookkeeping to do as it is without keeping track of the days of the fucking week. Am I just supposed to "wing" when it goes from fall to winter to spring?

>>53668409
Only if the players are autistic, the GM should be there to facilitate a story with the players as actors in it, not encourage autism.

File: 1492878521130.jpg (27KB, 647x451px) Image search: [Google]

27KB, 647x451px

>>53668436
I tried "keeping time" in the first session of Lost Mines and basically my players entered Cragmaw Hideout a little after noon and came back out at dusk.

Looking back that's very retarded. Though they did take one short rest inside.

Alright, aside from the shitty ms paint diagrams is there any issue with this?

Instead of casting Wall of Fire like the left figure, where it's used as a wall that damages everything on one side of it. I cast it on the adjacent wall, about an inch from the floor.

So instead of fire billowing up it goes outward from the wall. I chose the side facing up to be the side that deals damage to everyone.

Does this make what is effectively a giant 60x20 rectangle of fire that deals 5d6 damage to anyone who stands in it?

File: 10000hoursinmspaint.png (62KB, 2400x1080px) Image search: [Google]

62KB, 2400x1080px

>>53668471
Forgot pic.

>>53668471

Basically, you're asking if you could cast Wall of Fire parallel to the ground instead of perpendicular to it? That's tricky. RAW state:

>You can make the wall up to 60 feet long, 20 feet high, and 1 foot thick

The wall you describe would basically be a wall that's 1 ft. high, 20 ft. long, and 60 ft. thick, which won't work RAW.

However, you could argue that if you take the measurements relative to the wall it's originating from, then it's still a legal wall...but I think you'd have to get that adjudicated from your DM. My gut instinct is to award bonus points for creativity but the spell would be severely more powerful than intended if used in this manner so I'd probably can it.

>>53668225
Is it bad that I wanna wait for getting a breast-plate instead of scale mail?

Also you fucks should've told me how fucking simple and fun a Barb is after playing nothing but full casters

File: 1410550292124.png (10KB, 200x233px) Image search: [Google]

10KB, 200x233px

>>53668471
I'm going to bet anything that you're a Wizard player. This is why people hate your kind.

File: aaaaa.png (39KB, 337x144px) Image search: [Google]

39KB, 337x144px

>>53668541
>tfw you reach level 5

now you get to hit them really hard TWO times!!!

this isn't sarcastic i fucking love being a barbarian

>>53668534
One point in it's favor is the wording on it compared to other Wall spells.

Wall of Fire and Wall of Ice state:
>You create a wall of fire on a solid surface within range
>You create a wall of ice on a solid surface within range

Compared to other Wall spells which state things like:
>You conjure up a wall of swirling sand on the ground at a point you can see within range
>You conjure up a wall of water on the ground at a point you can see within range.

The lack of it specifying ground is odd, part of me wonders if this is intentional. Compared to other AoE spells that deal ongoing damage it seems about right. Evard's Black Tentacles deal 3d6x2 and restrain in a 20ft. square for instance.

I dunno, it seems kinda weird. All wall spells use one of two wordings, and Wall of Fire's does technically allow it. Just doesn't seem like they ever intended it to happen, but the why would they use different wording you know?

Ya know what's kinda dumb. If you want to discourage an enemy from reaching an ally, you either occupy every available space, or you stand 10 feet away. If you stand next to someone you can't keep enemies off of them.

>>53668626
That's what Sentinel and Protection are for.

>>53668547
>question about casting a spell
>Hey guys, I think anon might be playing a wizard!
Stellar detective work, Mr. Holmes!

>>53668621
>but the why would they use different wording you know?

Because natural language is cancer

File: 267.gif (3MB, 480x270px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 480x270px

So I'm running a game of 6 players. All level 4.

>Water Genasi Moon Druid
>Human Storm Herald Barbarian
>Human Divination Wizard
>Human Sun Soul Monk
>Gold Dragonborn Redemption Paladin
>Drow Assassin Rogue

Considering this party composition, what sort of stuff would be a challenge for them? Whether that be as a group or on an individual basis.

I'm trying to get used to balancing shit in 5e without using CR as much as I am.

File: 1496733158889.jpg (148KB, 683x1024px) Image search: [Google]

148KB, 683x1024px

How would I make pic related?

File: images (1).jpg (9KB, 225x225px) Image search: [Google]

9KB, 225x225px

>>53668695
conquest paladin

>>53668603
>Smashing someone's face in potentially 3 times with advantage on the attack with a 2d6+STR+Rage damage
Yeah. Yeah that's seeming DAMN fun.
In the first session I used him in he wound up (mostly) accidentally smashing doors off their handles twice. In his defense they were both locked and they needed in.

>Second session, explicitly just combat-focused
>Second wave of an entire gnoll warband coming down on us, I took a serious battering but managed to deflect waves of attacks at a time even with disadvantage from Reckless attacks
>End the combat by slamming my tetsubo (refluffed maul) in to a 1HP enemy, critting, and rolling maximum damage, sending the fucker flying a huge distance away
It's so fucking satisfying.

File: guts_vs_a_100_men_by_lonehungrywolf-d5jnhsu.jpg (252KB, 900x605px) Image search: [Google]

252KB, 900x605px

>>53668706
>Level 4 Human Variant
>Fighter
>Champion archetype
>Tunnel fighter fighting style
>Sentinel feat
>Polearm Master feat

punish them for entering your reach

never let them leave it

>>53665576
Check the new Feats for Skills UA. There's a double-proficiency feat for every skill with a nice secondary effect and a +1 to the associated stat, so it's like you're paying just half a feat.
https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA-SkillFeats.pdf

>>53666315
Here:
https://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/02_UA_Underdark_Characters.pdf

File: car.jpg (56KB, 500x375px) Image search: [Google]

56KB, 500x375px

>>53668706

Holy shit that's incredible

In my last session my party stumbled into a lair with two Spectators in it, and one of them nearly fried our wizard. Pissed to hell, I flew into a rage and fired my longbow at it (I know it doesn't get rage benefits, but hang on) and wound up getting a crit. The Spectator went down immediately, and then with my extra attack, I picked up the Spectator's corpse, which had fallen to earth, and just straight-up hammer-swung it through the air at the other one, doing a pretty great dent of damage. Our rogue finished it off.

In retrospect I think I broke the rule about limited object interactions (I had to draw my bow) but neither I, the DM, nor anyone else in the party noticed at the time. It was just really fucking rad.

>>53668471
The fact that one dimension of the wall is explicitly designated "height" heavily implies that you can choose the point of origin of the spell, but not its orientation. However, it seems unusual that it isn't specified that the origin must be on the ground. Compare the description for Magic Circle, which states:
>You create a 10-foot-radius, 20-foot-tall cylinder of magical energy centred on a point on the ground that you can see within range.
>centred on a point on the ground
With that said, also compare the description for Wall of Force, which states:
>The wall appears in any orientation you choose. as a horizontal or vertical barrier, or at any angle.
Because this line is conspicuously absent from Wall of Fire's description, I'd rule that Wall of Fire cannot be rotated to make a horizontal Floor of Fire.

>DM has been using flanking rules for the entire campaign
>Suggest a session without them
>Suddenly, the game becomes much better
So many features never used before turn up! So many spells suddenly become relevant! Like bless, for example - it wasn't exaclty useful before, with most of the party getting advantage all the time. But now it's godsend!

>>53668813
>use flanking rules in my campaign
>throw in lots of cover and environmental hazards
>the party refuses to use them and charges every foe head-on
I'm jealous of DMs whose players abuse the rules. I keep reminding my players of all the cool shit they can do, but they always forget it five minutes later.

>>53668763
My DM is great when it comes to that stuff.
Second session I was ever in in my first campaign (which was the last session of the campaign unfortunately) one of my allies went and got his ass attacked by some bandits or whatever in the city. It was the Phandelver campaign and after I tried to interrupt one and demand they fuck off peacefully before something happened, one of them ran up and tried to attack me (and whiffed horribly because I was a Sorc with like a +3 to DEX or something right off the bat, I rolled godly stats). I dip back out of his melee range and dodge another opportunity attack, only to crit him with a Firebolt and again rolling maximum damage. He kinda had a giant hole blasted through his chest and what little of them that survived ran like hell after.
The one we managed to capture for information again got a critical roll from me in Intimidation as well.

I'm still new as fuck to DND but god, I am loving every minute of it.

>>53668813
Newish to 5e, can you elaborate on "flanking rules"?

Is there a specific set of rules about approaching an enemy from behind like in 3.pf?

File: Fated-Conflagration-Art.jpg (284KB, 1200x876px) Image search: [Google]

284KB, 1200x876px

>>53668471
I agree with others, probably not meant to RAI and the RAW's too iffy for it to work there.

As far as the rule of cool goes, I'm imagining pic related in a hallway creating a swirling vortex of flames. I'd probably allow it.

>>53668871
Basically the same, rules in DMG.

It's kinda stupid unless you combine it with stricter movement rules (no dancing around an enemy), but even then, movement is very free in 5e so it just leads to constant advantage.

>>53668380

No, a 1 in 6 chance of random encounters per half hour of in-game time. On average they'll bump into something nasty walking around the dungeon once every three hours of in-game time. They also roll if they make a loud noise. Generally it results in one random encounter per session, while also giving the players a tangible incentive to be efficient dungeon delvers.

>>53668889
Huh, gotcha.

I switched over to 5e because combat in 3.5 is a slog. Its so much more fluid in 5e. We played in 3.5 from levels 1 to 5 without much of a problem but after that it started to reaaally slow down.

File: thinkfire.png (11KB, 112x112px) Image search: [Google]

11KB, 112x112px

What is the word on Redemption Paladin?

Had a player roll one up. They want to play a Redemption Paladin with the Inquisitor background. Sorta being like a half-Paladin-half-cop, taking the law into their own hands and pacifying criminals.

>>53668871
Page 251 of the DMG, as an optional rule.
>>53668889
>It's kinda stupid unless you combine it with stricter movement rules (no dancing around an enemy)
What would you suggest here? Perhaps something that allows opportunity attacks against any creature within range that moves?

What is the penalty for wearing armor you aren't proficient in, anyway?

>>53668914
Yeah, that's usually a problem if you play low OP 3.PF groups. Fighter-types stop being able to move around because it costs them their full attack.

The free movement in 5e is great, but I miss the tactics from 4e.

>>53668929
Yeah, basically, 4e style movement, you decide if you want to move or shift that turn, shift doesn't provoke (but you only have 5ft of movement, so everything that halves it takes it down to 0), move does (but you have full range as usual).

>>53667560
>Free cast is fine, but the whole point of invocations was to limit those spells to one cast (read UA: Modifying Classes, it's one of Warlock's bullet points), so you might as well add them to the spell list instead, and that's a buff Warlock doesn't need
What.

Are you stupid? Warlocks DO need a buff.

But if you want to limit it to once a day, fine, but at least keep it "free" - you spent an invocation on that shit, you have already paid a ton for it. Making it not only cost an invocation, but also a spell slot, AND be limited to once a day, is so ludicrously limiting, that it just loses all value.

Imagine if Sorcerer Meta Magics cost one of your highest level spell slots to use, and could only be used once per day. That's how retarded it is.

>>53665832
My party fought an undead beholder in lvl 4. And we won. And we saved the governor of the city, who happened to be Fläder Mausmann, discount Batman extraordinaire

Does the Eldritch Smite invocation replace Claw of Acamar and the other smite invocations from the other UA? If not why would you get it when it's inferior?

>>53667793
It does come up fairly often in my campaign, but that is mostly because my GM has a hard on for mages in general.

What would a "spell like ability" be? Battle Master shenanigans?

File: 1339309254750.jpg (35KB, 175x231px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 175x231px

>>53668972
>Fläder Mausmann

>>53667793
>The only way to get past a mage slayer's radar is a spell-like ability
Which don't exist in this edition. If you're casting a magical spell then you're casting a magical spell, even if it's a natural ability or whatever.

>>53667836
Jesus christ people.

The pacts are not the subclasses.

The patrons are the subclasses. The pact feature is more like Meta magic for the sorcerer. It is a "nice to have" feature that speaks of a direction you want to take your character. It is not essential, it is not the defining part about your Warlock, and it should never be treated as such.

It offers benefits to certain playstyles. That's how it should be.

If anything, the problem with Warlock subclasses (read:Patrons) is that they are so vague, and often doesn't feel like they have enough meaningful impact on how you play your character. That is why almost all warlocks play the same. There are subtle differences between a Fiend and a Fey Warlock, but nowhere near to the same extent as a moon vs land druid, champion/battlemaster/EK, Arcane trickster/thief/assassin, etc.

In fact, pretty much all subclasses has a large impact on your class, it is just warlocks that really gets shafted hard. They tried to fix is somewhat with the UAs, but it clearly hasn't, when people still think a level 3 feature, that never improves outside of invocation choices, is the equivalent to choosing between a subclass from pretty much amy other class.

>>53669119
>and often doesn't feel like they have enough meaningful impact on how you play your character

As far as abilities go, Fiend's level 1 is the biggest changer for abilities. Specifically makes you focused around killing people all day long and you can use AoE's centered on yourself a little more confidently.

Raven's is also pretty good. Makes it focused on scouting and exploration, while giving tricks to use in combat (Specifically getting it killed by the BBEG to get Advantage against him).

Celestial's gives you the ability to be a healer which is actually pretty awesome.

Hexblade's main draw should be CHA weapon attacks. Making it a good choice for melee Warlocks.

GOO's is just fucking awful, Fey's is good but doesn't change how you'd play and Undying's is way too conditional even though it gives you a ton of defences.

I know what you mean though, pacts should have a huge special power that defines them.

File: 1484057334104.jpg (25KB, 321x322px) Image search: [Google]

25KB, 321x322px

>be forever DM
>get involved in a new campaign with new people as a player
>unsure if anyone from the party posts here
>3/4 of our level 1 party is ranged
>figure out that we can just kite the fuck out of any enemies we encounter
>encounters have all been random with no ranged enemies yet

>>53669225
what if an enemy gets the drop on your though? Or can just move faster than you

How can I use Suggestion to cause a person harm without them knowing about it? I figure getting them to do something they couldn't possibly know would injure them would fly.

On a similar note, I could create a harem of Commoner Geas rape slaves who couldn't defy my will without taking enough damage to kill them right?

>>53669236
The former has happened already. We have a melee player who distracts them while we all get away. She did get pretty low one fight, but our damage is high enough that it was fine.

How would you guys feel about Pact of the Chain upgrading into higher level creatures at later levels? Like giving you the choice of Hell Hound, Nightmare, Wyrmling, Bearded Devil or Water Weird at some level, which are are all CR 3.

I don't know which ones specifically, but the normal familiars all seem to drop off pretty quickly

>>53669242
I'm more interested in learning that Geas stops anyone from attacking the caster or targeting you for 30 days if they fail a save.

Also that it doesn't end if you hit them.

So if you can find a way to lock someone in a space with you and Geas them then you can just spam Firebolt or punch them until they're dead and they can never react.

>>53666115
Your DM's interpretation is wrong, but his call is correct, because he's the DM and therefore the only law that he's bound by, is consistency of application

Our ranger just acquired a bunch of young hippogriffs.
They are too young to use as mounts and they haven't been properly trained.
How long do you thing training would take? A couple of months seems to be the general consensus on the net, if the training is daily and uninterrupted.
How fast do they even grow? Horses take years according to some forums, but I don't think this game's going to last that long.
Is there some magical way to make them mature faster or something?

>>53669269
Creatures of CR 1/3 of your level seems plausible, but you won't find tiny creatures that powerful anywhere

Maybe if you're allowed to play around with swarms?

>>53669350
Fairy Time Islands
Though one must tread wearily in that bargain with the Archfey or the Tohadedane druids, lest they be taken advantage of

>>53669385
Well, the bard has a "friend" in the Feywild. Maybe they could use that.
And then they fuck it up and get lost there for a few decades and the villain wins.

File: Branding.jpg (169KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]

169KB, 1920x1080px

>>53669285
>I'm more interested in learning that Geas stops anyone from attacking the caster or targeting you for 30 days if they fail a save.
SUFFER ME NOW.

>>53669100
Battle Master manoeuvres? Monk open hand abilities?

>>53669269
Yeah, compared to the blade, that...

Oh wait, scratch that, it doesn't scale, sucks ass, and gets *almost* acceptable by throwing 3 invocations at it, and building a very specific type of Warlock, more MAD than a Paladin.

>>53669499
>>53669269
I don't even get why those things aren't just invocation chains.

Is having both a pact weapon and a familiar really that imbalanced?

Both the flavor and mechanics they give are negligible.

Just a reminder that you should do a survey if you care about Warlock.

Don't let Redditor win. They think Eldritch Smite is OP.

>>53669521
Me neither.

Up invocation amounts, and make all 3 pact boons invocations.

Warlock class is suddenly fixed.

>>53669242
Drink this healing potion (poison).
Follow me, I will teleport you to someplacw nice (500ft above).

File: 1478429792533.jpg (29KB, 412x430px) Image search: [Google]

29KB, 412x430px

>player makes a character with no regard as to how it would fit within the rest of the party or even the rest of the setting

>>53666008
How to spot an unimaginative Wizard player who exists only inside the combat pillar and has no tactical considerations beyond rerolling dice or dropping AoEs on allies.

How is the favored soul sorcerous origin?

>>53669522
Fucking how? Twice per short rest I can pretend to be a Paladin, but my spell slots are like 5 times more precious than his and I don't have any of the at-will invocation powers because I had to use them all to make my pact weapon even halfway viable.

Why the fuck would they think anything on a Bladelock is OP?

>>53669601
Because in 3.5, favoured souls were sorcerers to cleric's wizard.

>>53667954
REEEEEEEEEEEE THAT ARCHER IS WIELDING A CROSSBOW, A SHIELD, AND A TORCH ALL AT THE SAME TIME
LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE

>>53666150
Or you don't have enough RL knowledge to break it. There are many type of wood and stone.

>>53669555
> not doing session 0
Your own fault. Character creation is best done as a group.

>>53669606
>Favored Soul: Divine Magic

>Your link to the divine allows you to learn spells normally associated with the cleric class. When your Spellcasting feature lets you learn a sorcerer cantrip or a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher, you can choose the new spell from the cleric spell list, in addition to the sorcerer spell list. You must otherwise obey all the restrictions for selecting the spell, and it becomes a sorcerer spell for you.

>You also learn the cure wounds spell, which does not count against your number of sorcerer spells known.

It's literally just Sorcerer with the Cleric spell list

>>53669605
Knock prone on hit on a short rest spell slot brah! Stronger than Divine Smite! - reddit

>>53669606
>>53669627
"How", not "Why" or "what".

File: ANGERY.jpg (46KB, 540x282px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 540x282px

>>53669625
>player shows up to session 0 and keeps changing his character to avoid fitting in with the rest of the party

>>53669646
Being able to twin buff/heal spells is bretty gud.Gives the sorc some much needed flexibiilty, in exchange for the class features being otherwise meh.

Which ends with the sorc being still kinda meh.

>>53669646
You will probably not enjoy it because of "ice cream flavor dilemma". You get even more spell choice than normal sorcerer, so no matter what you choose, you will feel like there are better choice.

>>53669646
It's like playing a Sorcerer, except you use your slots to play heal-bitch instead of damaging things.

Outside of the Mystic, is there any other UA material that is sort of unbalanced?

>>53669668
a lot of it is underpowered and shitty

>>53669605
Honestly just like this place alot of theory crafting, which one post posted here even admits.

>>53669668
> mystic
> unbalance

>>53669625
Session 0 isn't even necessary. Everyone has the internet. Even if you're not all gathered around a table physically for character creation, you can text each other or join a group chat and work shit out.
>hey guys i was thinking of rolling a barbarian, is anyone else considering a frontliner
>i noticed we dont have a healer

>>53669668
Ask a simple question:
Does the wizard have access to it? If the answer is yes, it'll be OP.

>>53669668
Speaking as someone who has played two Mystics and has been in parties with two other Mystics, you're dumb.

>>53669668
Every Wizard UA is overpower as hell.
Theurge become a saint faster than actual Cleric who serve god?
Lore do STR hold person, so your target will always fail it saving throw every turn.
Also Nuclear Druid can one shotted Tiamat.

>>53669692

this honestly sounds like you and whoever you play with just suck at playing Mystic.

>>53669692
People who think Mystics are broken are the same theorycrafting shitheads who spend all their time running numbers in a vacuum because they don't have a game to begin with, nevermind one where they've actually tried out the classes and meta builds they advertise.

They're the ones talking about Fighters who attack three times every round with GWM and PAM at level four and land every -5 AB attack forever,
or Monks with as much AC as plate users because of course you're going to roll two 18s for your starting stats and the DM is just going to give you an extra ASI for free,
or class features beyond level 11 actually existing in play and something that needs to be considered for balance.

>>53669766
Not him, but it sound like you haven't play mystic at all

>>53669766
>if you don't Animate Weapon + Lethal Strike + Knock Back every round you're not playing the class right reeeeeee

>>53669766
We have done math in here since the first mystic release. Even if you go full burst on Mystic, their still won't do that much damage.

>>53669820
It's not damage that's the problem, it's their versatility.

>>53669831
That's why my table banned Bards, Clerics, Druids, and Wizards.

>>53669858
That's also why your table is shit, by the way.

>>53669858
>if you don't take Nomadic Mind and switch focus every round you're not playing the class right reeeeeee

>>53669831
> versatility
They can't actually do everything at once. They are limited by their discipline known. They have less versatility than a Wizard.

>>53669820
Combat's not the Mystic's issue. Mystic is about equal with everyone else at most levels and has a period it's one of the better classes, but never goes retarded.

The issue is it has Suggestion where they do anything, any skill proficiency, can have AC better then anyone, turn microscopic and fling Talents while being unfindable and other bullshit. The cheese with Mystic isn't like Nuclear Druid, it's an issue with it being able to do stuff every other class can do just as well.

>inb4 Wizard

This is Wizard on steroids. At least Wizards can't spam a save or "Jump off the building" 40 times per day, without even saying a word out loud.

>>53669673
Okay I'm going to do some comparisons and see if I can figure this shit out.

Damage on spell slot for eldritch smite vs. whatever damage spell I can find at that level.

I'm just going to say they are using the bog standard 1d8 weapons for this, and since they are doing this off melee attack they will be two handing for the 1d10

1st: 1d10+1d8+STR + knock down vs. 2d10 (hellish rebuke)
2nd: 1d10+2d8+STR + knock down vs. 3d8 aoe (Shatter)
3rd: 1d10+3d8+STR + knock down vs. 8d6 aoe (Fireball, Fiends only)
4th: 1d10+4d8+STR + knock down vs. 8d8 (Blight) or 5d8 aoe (Wall of Fire, Fiends only)
5th: 1d10+5d8+STR + knock down vs. 10d6 aoe + knock down (Destructive Wave, Hexblades only) or 8d6 aoe (Flame Strike, Fiends)
6th: 1d10+6d8+STR + knock down vs. 8d6 aoe (Circle of Death)
7th: 1d10+7d8+STR + knock down vs. 7d8+30 (Finger of Death)
8th: 1d10+8d8+STR + knock down vs. FUCKING NOTHING FOR THIS LEVEL
9th: 1d10+9d8+STR + knock down vs. Kill something with less than 100 hp

Middle of the bell curve on 9th level is 50 damage if that means anything. What I'm getting from having looked through this shit is that Eldritch smite is decent if you are fighting one guy by himself and everyone is rubbing themselves on his body so you can't drop unfriendly AoEs. At some point in there the Bladelock is going to start getting CHA to damage but who the fuck cares. This version honestly doesn't seem all that exciting compared to saving your spell slots for actual utility spells that will have a big impact on the fight (or even fucking hex or something)

>>53669892
Warlock doesn't get spell slots over 5th level

>>53669921
Ah shit, you right, I've never played a Warlock past like level 10 and was just going down the Warlock spell list to make that.

>>53669886
Occluded Mind is not suggestion at all. The target believe your statement but is not compel to act on it.

You can believe that you are a piece of shit that need to die. Everyone does that from time to time, but not everyone act on it.

File: psionicdisplays.png (35KB, 1133x387px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 1133x387px

All the things that people could rightly complain about Mystic for and they focus on two things that aren't a problem.

You want to know a real issue with Mystic? Their powers have no displays like in earlier editions. Most spells are completely silent and invisible and there's no way to know a Mystic is doing anything or to stop them short of a KO. A Mystic can sit in a bar and melt everyone's mind with his psychic cantrip and no one would even know who or what was responsible if he tried to blend in or act similarly panicked by people dropping dead everywhere.

Part of that is true for other casters (if someone wants to wear 30 spell component pouches there's not much you can do to stop them, there are no rules for binding hands to stop somatic components or even how much movement is necessary, nor are there rules for stuffing socks in mouths to stop verbal stuff).

But thankfully it's an easy fix. You just look at pic related from the old SRD and have every Mystic run around with glowing eyes while making this noise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-G0SVEQW8A

>>53669936
>>53669886
And the DM is always there to put a stop on it. You actually play mystic in a game with DM and not actually just thoerycrafting right?

File: wubwubwubwubwub.png (999KB, 1031x640px) Image search: [Google]

999KB, 1031x640px

>>53669943
Alternative psionic sound effects are WUBWUBWUBWUBWUB and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSmlRuL6ZvA

>>53669943
detect magic still work dude. It also work on Monk's ki ability btw.

Mystic power is not a spell, but it is still magic.

>>53669950
Yeah, the most I ever did with Occluded Mind in combat was make enemies drop weapons, NOT attack an ally for a turn, or refuse to help one of their own allies.

>>53669962
Yeah, all those town guards and bar patrons walking around with Detect Magic up 24/7. Unless this is a town of Warlocks, you're fucking invisible. Just try playing a Bard or Wizard who says "I cast Detect Magic as a ritual" every ten minutes and see how long it takes your DM or the other players to flip the bowl of Cheetos in your face.

>>53669886
Microscopic Form is at the level where Gaseous form exist. And normal stealth / hide rule still apply. If you attack, you reveal yourself, doesn't matter if you have +99999 stealth or not.

>>53669892
The math has been run and unless you are short resting to a point where you have infinite spell-slots it's a flat out trap option now. It's shitty that people who have never touched the class are armchair balancing it. I've had 2 Hexblade players in my group, they shine in boss fights and are functional elsewhere. Now it's a trap subclass with huge opportunity cost. I've seen some decent fixes, but honestly until they address the resource problem they have and how all their goodies are available for a dip, Warlocks are going to be a boring class full of trap choices and irrelevance.

>>53669950
>The Mystic's fine guys!
>Yeah, well the DM has to change how most of your abilities work

?

>>53669936
Alright, riddle me how you solve a Mystic focusing on Nomadic Chamelion, with Miniature Form active and spaming Talents.

+5 Stealth, ADV on stealth, tiny enough to hide easy and can spam talents without being detected? So now an enemy will have to waste turns searching and even if they do you can likely just hide again next turn and continue the mental mind rape until they're dead.

Even if the DM will always put a stop on this, you can't say it's balanced. I can keep naming cheese like this you can do just looking at the Disciplines.

>>53669991
Find me one rule that would make you become detected for using a Talent.

File: b477248dbbb21dedca670210dd5c73ba.png (548KB, 1047x456px) Image search: [Google]

548KB, 1047x456px

How often do you guys have enemies get the jump on your players (or get surprise rounds on them)?

Does it ever feel cheap or just part of the world?

Not out of any specific reason, but I don't think I've had enemies out to get the player's just yet outside of wild animal encounters.

How do the players at your tables react to getting jumped?

>>53669988
>>53670005
Last one's for you.

>>53669987
> something weird happen in the bar and town
> "totally not magic brah! we shouldn't call for our local mage or cleric or scholar or that adventuring party!"

>>53670005
>DMs have to DM
Shocker. If the DM sat by and let me do everything my Wizard or Druid spells logically say I could pull off, I'd run away with the game even more than I do already with a martial

>>53670005
Talent is action
Hide is action

>>53670022
Such as?

>>53665493
>You will never squeeze the chest of your large-breasted Nubian ranger

>>53670019
>guards begin keeling over as they race to find the adventuring party / town apprentice / priest who's asleep already because he's 57 and only level 3 and already used his spell slots curing sickness that day
>no one realizes the psychic assaulter is in the crowd of panicked civilians running alongside them
>one guard somehow survives long enough to warn a caster
>psion just stops manifesting his talent
>GOSH I DON'T SEE ANYTHING, IT MUST HAVE RUN OFF
>WE SHOULD ATTACK THE CASTLE WITH PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES
Look bro, I'm pro-Mystic, but this part is still bullshit. It's easy to put Displays in.

>>53670030
I'll tell you in the next thread when I get back from work because I shoulda been out the door two minutes ago instead of shitposting still

>>53670026
>Round one hide with +10 Stealth and Advantage at level 1
>They look for you and likely have a +1-+4 Perception modifier
>You spam Talents from hiding
>They have a very low chance to detect you before you kill them

It's not complicated m8. Might as well pick up Stealth Expertise somewhere down the line as well.

Could multiclass your perfectly balanced class with Rogue to hide as a Bonus Action.

Even better just be a Goblin.

>>53670042
5e never have rule statement about how long the aura of magical effect last. But it sure as hell doesn't just disappear without trace.

>>53670079
If you can't find a rule to say it doesn't... then it kinda does.

Do you guys ever run group initiative for a bigger sum of enemies (say, higher than 5?)

Or do you all tend to just take the extra time tracking it and run them individually?

>>53670071
> spam Talent from hiding
You instant reveal yourself when you attack someone. Please read PHB before start arguing.

>>53670098
Always, running it the other way wastes a massive amount of time.

>>53670098
I'll usually do two initiatives for enemies, one for the strongest dude present, one for the mooks.

>>53670101
>Mind Thrust
>As an action, you target one creature you can see within 120 feet of you. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or take 1d10 psychic damage.

>When a creature can’t see you, you have advantage on attack rolls against it. If you are hidden—both unseen and unheard—when you make an attack, you give away your location when the attack hits or misses.

There's no attack roll. There's no sound or effect like casting a Saving Throw spell. Please find me this invisible rule where "Using a Talent gives away your position".

>>53670104
>>53670119
Interesting, thanks.

i mainly ask because they are going to try to get the jump on a dragonborn mercenary warlord in his camp of like 10, so i wasn't sure how to run initiative without it being horribly,
painfully slow

>>53670071
Goblin could work, but just like normal rogue... A ready action to counter when you use talent (and reveal yourself) would ruin it. Enemies can start destroying cover too.

Seriously, it sound like either you have a shitty DM or you never actually play in a game.

>>53670098
>Do you guys ever
Non-group initiative makes me cringe. I always run group initiative and only use more than one count if there's a strong boss or the enemies also fights against each other.

>>53665576
You can either have a diagonal move always use 5ft of movement or have it use 5ft and 10ft alternating. Both options are in the books. I use the latter, since it's what I'm familiar with from 3.5 and it's more realistic.

>>53670128
It's called out for "attack", not attack action or attack roll.

Unless you're arguing that stuff like Acid Splash isn't an attack too (honestly, I wouldn't be surprise if there is a sageadvice of JC ruling it that way).

Good luck telling that to your DM though.

How do I best build a mounted combat character?

>>53670282
Luckily for you, the unearthed arcana featuring cavalier JUST came out.

>>53670335
New thread.

>>53670291
Yeah, I saw that. The advantage on saving throws to avoid falling off the mount is alright, but the max DC is only ever 10, so it seems sort of weak. Aside from Born to the Saddle there doesn't seem to be much mount-specific stuff to cavalier, and there's only 4 maneuvers.

I was thinking a Paladin with Find Steed/Mounted Combatant.

Is there a difference between a bladelock and a hexblade or are they different names for the same thing? I want to play a cool Gish character but my group already has a paladin, which was my first choice. Any recommendations?

>>53670398
Bladelock is a warlock that took pact of the blade hexblade is a patron

>>53670398
I'd wait until later in the year when Hexblade will get its official release in Xan's book. They just took it out back and broke its legs this Monday.

But to address your first statement, Blade is a pact, Hexblade is a patron. Look up the older Warlock UA for an idea of what the Hexblade will be like(primarilly Cursebringer).

Until then I'd wholeheartedly suggest looking at War clerics. They are very functional Gishes.

>>53670291
Yeah...

Look, it's cool and all, but
1. You need a horse first
2. Horses are expensive, but to buy and to feed.
3. Horses aren't that tough. Once it dies, tough luck, go find a new one.

If yiu want a mounted combatant, go Paladin or Bard, grab Find Steed, and go from there. Much easier, you now have a resummonable war horse, that is intelligent, and you dont have to worry about. Also a lot easier to roleplay with.

After you get this, going full Cavalier would be fine I suppose. But you really want Find Steed. You are far too reliant on a mount to be okay with a fragile pony you can't easily replace.

>>53667146
Tome gives you cantrips for combat, which are inferior to eldritch blast. Chain gives you a familiar that can either increase your DPR by a small amount, or essentially grant advantage to half of your paladin's attacks, in addition to some mild CC and any creative uses you can come up for it.

Can a paladin using a glaive and PAM and GWM use the -5/+10 feature on the bonus attack? Also, does he get the d8 improved smite die with the bonus attack?

>>53666898
There's always daggers and crossbows. Who hasn't found a useless magic dagger by the time they face Tiamat?

>>53667094
Chain, unlike Tome and Blade, doesn't require loot to be effective.

The chain familiars are effectively Tensers floating disk, unseen servant, and arcane eye. The imp's shared senses mimics the devil's sight invocation. The pseudodragon's telepathy and blindsense are situational, but powerful benefits. Voice of the chain master grants unparalleled scouting early on in the game. Combine this with the actor feat and Mask of many faces and you have a great infiltrator warlock.

>>53667211
>first 2 capstones
Dude, how high are you?

I have heard rumors that this general has been overtaken by politcal correctness. Is this true?

>>53666898
>I feel like that otherwise, casters literally have to sit there with a thumb up their ass after casting some buff spells.
those poor, poor casters, cant measure up to their superior martial brethren.

>>53669812
You really defeated your own point if you think that's anywhere near decent when it comes to Mystic power.

>>53673066
Problem with EK is that everything it can do somebody does better. EK isn't as good a fighter as any other path and the casting is weaker than any other class. The only one EK comes close to is Arcane Tricskter and Paladin, but those are more specialized than EK and paladin is a natural caster and has smites so there's that to them.

Guys
Sentinel
Tunnel Fighter
Shield Master
Blade Mastery

This basically would make me "the immovable object," would it not?