/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

Which is the better spell, Shield or Mage Armor? I argue Shield because you can cast it as a reaction, it blocks magic missile, and you only have to use it when and if you need it, so you can save a spell slot for something else. I ask because I'm making a Wizard for a new game I'm getting into, and I don't have any protection spells, but I'm thinking of taking one just to be safe. Are either Shield or Mage Armor really necessary?

>>54096492
Why not both?

Both are only necessary if your DM really hates you / you keep putting yourself into situations where you get attacked.

A good wizard shouldn't be attacked in the first place.

>>54096492
Play LMoP and get yourself a Staff of Defense, then you don't have to choose!

>>54096466
I have an item in my game that engulfs the user in a deep purple mist for one minute, while in it they have truesight and the ability to see into space.

>>54096520
What's LMoP?

>>54096534
Lost Mine of Phandelver. Glasstaff has one.

>>54096520
The Staff of Defence is so good for a level 2 item. When we got there the DM obviously expected the Wizard to take it, but he gladly gave it to my Eldritch Knight.

Taking the super tank EK to whole new levels is fun.

>>54096534
Lost Mines of Phandelver, one of the first modules put out for 5e, and definitely the best one at the time. It's actually aged pretty well, and aside from one difficult section at the beginning (the goblin cave is better handled at level 2 than at level 1), makes for a great starting adventure for a group of people new to 5e or tabletop games in general.

>Goliath Mystic with Giant Form active
>6 levels of Totem Barb for Aspect of the Bear
>Bard casts Enhance Ability Strength on you
>Someone casts Enlarge on you
>Become Atlas

THIS IS WITHOUT FLAW

A player in my group of 3 is going to have to step away for a few sessions for unrelated issues, how is playing with two people? I was thinking about doing some TftYP in a separate game with the two other players, but I wonder how I should balance a campaign around just two players. Is it even worth doing? How do small groups do it? I feel like it will be awkward and unfun without at least a minimum number of people to bounce banter off of.

I haven't been able to play with my group at all for about a month now because we're all a bunch of college students and two of our members got flung across the country for summer. Video or voice calling isn't necessarily a problem but what IS a problem is that no one's damn schedules line up at ALL because of work, etc. so I'm just really mad that the group got torn apart by circumstance right as our campaign was reaching a critical point. We might be able to pick it back up after the summer but by then, the momentum will probably be gone and it just won't feel the same.

Is there any remedy to this?

I've never used Roll20 before and am considering hopping on just to get my fix, but ultimately, it's not the D&D I care about, it's the D&D /with my friends/ that I care about, so Roll20 or a new group would only be a partial cure.

>>54096724
Switch to fortnightly games and see if that helps

>>54096737

dude if even fortnightly games worked, we would have at least gotten ONE game in by now. There is not a single time of the week where every member is free at the same time. We came close with Saturday nights but then the friend on the east coast would be staying up absurdly late due to time zones.

There's six of us, for the record, one DM and five players.

I made up a dwarf clan founded by a dwarf who killed an ice giant king with a stone warhammer, but is that even possible?

>>54096839
Well it would be a Frost Giant... and yeah I guess. If the founder was a really powerful Fighter or whatever he could kill a Frost Giant king.

>>54096839
Sure. The dwarves just conveniently stay quiet about the Clan head's human and elven friends who fought with him.

>>54096839

Totally. What the clan doesn't know is that the founder just got a lucky shot in, "The Man Who Killed Batman" style.

>>54096466
Is it weird that I knew this was Treasure Planet just from the image thumbnail? Even though the thumbnail just shows a bluish-purple star patch?

>>54096839
Mechanically sure but if you feel like it feels a bit cheap storywise you could have a secret background bit where the story is embellished significantly, he killed an already weak/old Ice Giant by some dirty trick such as hammering his skull while he was asleep or weakening him with poison.

>>54096890
>elves
Too busy sucking their own dicks to do anything

>>54096911
Some Olaf One-Eye shit right thar

Is 12 STR and Brawny enough to be a dedicated grappler? I'm a Mystic so Brute Force will let me get a +5 to the checks too if needed.
If not I can put my 11 elsewhere and use a 16.
Ideally I'd prefer to focus CON and INT more than STR.

>>54097327
Forgot- also free Advantage on Grapples with Brute Force

AFTER SESSION REPORT

With the blessing of Big Goblin (the local goblin deity), the heroes help arrange a tournament to determine which of the six goblin chiefs is worthy to be the next Boss. The tournament is comprised of 3 events: a battle royale, a singing competition, and a trivia challenge.

The battle royale is set in an ancient keep that has fallen into ruin. The party favors Grax as the next goblin Boss (he desires peace with the humans), so they secretly give him some magical assistance in the battle. The other contenders are killed off one by one, either by combat or by falling into traps, until only Grax remains. He wins the royale, and wins the singing contest and the trivia challenge by default since he's the only one alive.

While in the keep, the party finds another clue to the location of Great Emperor Vaunord's lost treasure. After tournament ends, they resume their search for the treasure. As they travel through the foothills, they encounter a pair of very big, very stupid ogres. The party barely pulls through in the bloody battle than ensues, and the cleric nearly dies again.

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>When you play a Mystic and the DM thinks it's broken because "you can do too much"

I'm not sure I can go back to a boring Ranger or Fighter type class now.

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>game dies in a horrible way
>in okay terms with the dm
>Not ask him to join the sunday game set in the same universe to avoid putting more pressure on him
>He says "Really sucks. I would invite over to sunday but its pretty full"

>>54097726
What are your disciplines? What is your party made up of?

>>54097756
If you're the same guy from yesterday, I do have new advice.

If you have a huge attachment to this character, and this universe, but you can't get in? Detach from it. Completely. Don't ask "what happened this session?" or "How did the new party treat X NPC or Y NPC?" It'll hurt too much. Just tell the DM that if there's ever an opening, you'd be happy to join back in, but he doesn't need to overload himself because you know how much that would hurt him. If something comes up, and you can get back in, then ask for a summary, but for now, just let it be. Maybe you can use the passion you felt for that setting and put it into making your own setting?

If I was using a large token where does a cone originating from that token start? Any edge of the token? In the center of the token?

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>>54097917

>>54097917
Depends what type of attack the cone is and where it's emitted from. A breath would start where the mouth is so this is creature dependent. So a dragon could pull it head back in order to change the emission point. spells most come from the hand (which can be depend whether they extend the arm or not.)

>>54097917
I remember reading something on Sage Advice Crawford said.

In the edition a cone can be from ANYWHERE the token's controller wishes. So if you need to aim from the corner of the token to reach around the corner you can, if you need to aim from the middle of your space to avoid hitting an ally you can and so on.

This is represented in fluff of being able to move your head, hands and etc. to the exact area you want to aim from.

What's your favorite Plane?

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What's the spookiest and Halloweeniest character build I can go for? I'm currently torn between Warlock and Necromancer

>>54098010
Anyone who says anything other than the Abyss is a bundle of sticks

Is Tidal Wave a decent spell? Seems pretty low on the damage but the area it targets is a nice shape for fucking up enemies and the Prone seems handy.

>>54098010
Feywild

Is the Giant Growth discipline worth it? Seems like a waste when I get 5 temp hp a turn anyways and could instead pick one that has like 6 different "spells" instead of just 2.

>>54098016
Long Death Monk has spooky aura power at level 3, and oathbreaker paladin has a weird dark angel mode at 17. You can also play a fallen aasimar from Volo's so you can go dark angel from that start. But that's more emo than spooky.

>>54097868
Thanks. Ill just put some distance for my own sake then.

>>54097917
To add to this question does the width of the cone depend on the size of the creature or object or is it all the same?

>>54098037
As you have deduced, it is probably better for a Soul Knife or front line Avatar, or even for an Immortal to temporarily use before swapping it out once they get their ablative hitpoints.

>>54098065
Trust me, I understand how it feels. Something similar almost happened to me a few months ago, but I helped out and got the DM to excise the cancer with a fuckton of effort and communication with the group, but it only worked because it was one problem player who drove our DM to almost give up. If there was even one more straw, the game would've died. So you've got to know that distancing yourself will be better in the long run.

Without giving me any >dandwiki, are the races there, minus the joke ones, properly balanced and fun?

>>54098119
What matters is that my dm feels better desu. His life is as shitty as it is. Thanks for the feedback friend

>>54098165
Depends on the race. Some are, some aren't, according to the skill of the people who made them. They're probably all decent starting points regardless, however.

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Is UA Changeling really good or really shit?

>>54097726
That's your own damn fault for playing a UA that is overtuned and bloated with options. If you can do everything, every other class is going to feel worse. It's why I don't play Wizards anymore.

>>54098165
It's on a case-by-case basis, some are built like dandwiki (shit), like the genasi variant that gives 10th level moon druid features at 1st level like it's nothing.

Example of a "balanced" one: Common Orc from https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Orc_(5e_Race) is at least decent, basically a half-orc, but other subraces there have features that were never curated by someone in the community (Sun Adapted)

>>54098269
Broken for social interaction, shitty for combat.

Sorry if I'm retarded but I seem to recall a post from before regarding making money using the performance skill like there was a mechanic for it. Could someone tell me where to find the details on it?

>>54098335
Entertainer background's feature is the nearest it gets, not entirely specific to the Performance skill, though

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>9 Sun Soul Monk/ 11 Horizon Walker Ranger
Walk up slowly, teleport, punch, Kamehameha. What more could you need?

>>54098335
UA Downtime maybe?

>>54098363
>What more could you need?
Good class features

>>54096906
...That's impressing.

I fucking love fifth age, its so much fun

I'm playing a clone of R Lee Emery Portraying Gunnery Sergeant Hartman XXl (because there are other clones) and it's a god damn blast

Making an Immortal Mystic. What should I take for my final Discipline? Looking to cover a lot of bases for team support and self durability.

Level 8 btw

>Brute Force
>Adaptive Body
>Mastery of Light and Dark
>Mastery of Air
>Intellect Fortress
>Nomadic Mind*, Iron Hide, Third Eye, or Mystic Recovery

*more for the "find general location" ability, I'll be talking the Focus over with the DM to nerf it- I'll need to find people to "steal" languages/skills/tools to swap in instead of just being able to pick any of them.

>>54096492

Shield is better in emergencies. Mage Armor is constant protection. If you're not taking a lot of damage Shield is the better choice, if you're getting nuisance pinged Mage Armor. Both certainly doesn't suck but it does raise a question of how well you're party is working together.

>>54098032
found the bundle of sticks

>>54098298
Sounds about right, then.

How is Out of the Abyss as an adventure module?

>>54098743

Good if you want more Underdark/cave stuff or are looking for resources for running prison breaks/PCs running with large caravans of NPCs. Story can be a bit lackluster if you don't like the Underdark to begin with and "everyone starts in jail with nothing" doesn't sell well to all groups.

>>54098016
Awakened Undead Necromancer/Bard

So you can Form your own undead mariachi band

How does one become a much?

Want to make a my BBEG a fallen Arthurian knight trying to bring back the once and future king

>>54099085
A Lich*

>>54098743
The entire first half of the module is just wilderness exploration and dungeon crawls. Not to say that there's not a enough social interactions, of course.

There's like 10 NPC companions at the start and the plot doesn't require any of them to live, but most of them have their own little plot.

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>Meanwhile, in Port Nyanzaru...

>>54099095
You do a magical ritual involving scrolls and a container of some kind. What you use as a container is up to you. The details are kind of left vague and the DM can insert whatever they want.

You might say it is just a matter of being really good at Necromancy, it might be a specific arcane ritual that any caster could do, it might require human sacrifice.

I'd say build an Eldritch Knight and apply Lich traits and give him some Necromancy spells and minions. The actual mechanics of a Necromancer Eldritch Knight don't really matter for the players.

>>54099115
So if none of them live it's still good?

>>54099085
>>54099095
The original description for the lich ritual involved an 11th level spellcaster who, through his whole career as an adventurer collected poisons and blood from the poisonous creatures they encountered. It also described creating a poison specific to the caster out of it all that includes a unicorn's blood, the heart of a golden dragon, two members of his same race, one half his age and one twice his age, and three infants of any race. On the night of a full moon you have to slay them all, mix together their blood into the poison. Then you cast cone of cold, animate dead, false life, souljar and a couple others both on the potion, and on your soon to be phylactery. After that, you drink the potion and make a system shock roll.

If you beat the DC you rise as a lich. If you fail the roll, you are forever destroyed, and not even deific intervention can bring you back. Because the intense evil of the spells you wrote onto scrolls in your phylactery, and the actions you did to get up to that point actually tore a hole in reality and essentially made the universe say 'as long as this object exists, this lich exists' making you a permanent law of the universe until your phylactery is destroyed.

This of course was a 2nd and 3rd edition rendition of the ritual written in some book, so you can do what you want.

>>54099085
If he's an NPC, however you want. Could be some arcane ritual foretold in long-forgotten prophecies, could be making a pact with fucking Cthulhu or something. Sky's the limit, anon.

>>54099304
3rd edition didn't really go into great detail in the monster manual entry which described adding the template, though I really wished it did for all the "good lich" shit I've seen here

>>54096466

I play a homebrew 5e Spelljammer, so...

Hey /tg/, I know this is 4chan and usually not the place for blogposts, but this feels like a friendly enough board that I thought I'd give it a shot anyway.

I always wanted to play D&D, but didn't feel like joining a random group. Recently, one of my best friends realized that it might actually be a ton of fun, and he gave me the Starter Set for my birthday with the Lost Mines of Phandelver module. Myself, I don't really like the prospect of DMing. I really love how the rules work and I can create a nice story, but I'm absolutely abhorrent at being a good narrator. I get shy when a group listens closely to me and I shut down (even my friends). Luckily, my friend was interested in DMing so he took up that role.
So we gathered a group and started doing LMoP. We are all literally new to the entirety of tabletop gaming, so we're making a lot of mistakes, but we're having a blast each session (tonight is going to be session 5).
Now instead of using a Starter Set prewritten character, I created my own. I tried to keep my backstory as close as possible to the prewritten characters (their backstory and goals tie in directly to the LMoP module, and I thought it's going to be too much for our new DM to improvise my entire backstory).

So instead of the starting set wizard, I created a warlock. They share mostly the same traits and their goal in LMoP is roughly the same.

However, I feel like I kinda fucked up my Warlock. I created him with roleplaying in mind, but now I realise he's really weak in the actual game. My DEX and CON are both pretty low (10 and 12 respectively), so my AC is 12 (bought some better armor to boost my AC by 1) and my HP is 21 at level 3. Is this going to be a problem, or is making an optimal character for combat completely uncessary?
I'm clueless on the difficulty of 5e (again, we're completely new at this) and I would be a bit bummed if my character would already die before we finish LMoP.

>tl;dr: Did I fuck up my character?

>>54099494
As long as your CHA's good, you'll be fine. Don't take blade pact since you lack the stats for it, and don't go into melee. Play smart and you'll be fine.

>>54099494
Warlock's gameplay is quite simple, stay behind, use Hex + Eldritch Blast whenever it's reasonable in combat, you keep Hex concentrated even outside combat, so you get 1 hour of uptime before you need to use another slot.
I'd suggest picking Pact of the Tome, it's the classic warlock. Ask your DM for some ritual spell scrolls from loot when it makes sense so you have more utility outside combat.

>>54099140
Isn't that the port where the new D&D adventure book is set in?

>>54099494
>HP is 21 at level 3
You'll be fine. Wizards and most Sorcerers only have 20 at level 3 so as long as you keep away from most enemies you'll be fine.

>>54099494
What are the spells you have?

How do I level 3 Druid.

>>54099518
CHA is 16 at level 3. Going to up that to 20 as first. Also took the invocations that buff my Eldritch Blast with a push and I can add my CHA modifier to the damage. Seemed like I was going to use that as my main damage, so why the fuck not.

>>54099617
>you keep Hex concentrated even outside combat, so you get 1 hour of uptime before you need to use another slot.
This kinds of things we are still disputing over. My DM and me are both new, and I told him I think it's reasonable that I can concentrate on my spell outside of combat, as long as I'm not resting. He disagreed.

>>54099662
Ok thanks for the tip

>>54099681
From the top of my head, I made my story so I have an (unwilling) pact with an Elder God, so;
>Dissonant Whispers
>Hex
>Hellish Rebuke (might switch this one out when I level up, but 3d10 sounded great as a fuck you if somebody attacks me)
>Detect Thoughts (fits my roleplaying)

and a shitload of cantrips, including Eldritch Blast (ofcourse), Shocking Grasp, Shillelagh, Vicious Mockery and Friends.

>>54099617

Oh and to add, I did take pact of the tome, since it also fits my roleplaying best. He was a scholar, but landed on some forbidden knowledge, which unbeknownst to him made him make a pact with an Elder God.
So he's quite the typical study guy. I interpreted his high Charisma as having enough willpower or personality to not crack under the insane knowledge that was bestowed upon him. Not sure if that's how it works, but I didn't really understand why Warlocks use Charisma and not Wisdom as spellcasting. His Intelligence is his second highest score, followed by Wisdom.

It's not really original, but I like it.

>>54099661
It's the main civilized settlement of Chult, it's the main trading center for the continent. If you look close you can see stairs that lead up alleys makeing the circulars buildings the tops of ziggurats (which makes the walkways make more sense)

It's very Dinotopia/Flintstones, people using Dinosaurs for mundane tasks like beasts of burden etc. Its also super diverse, Yuan-Ti and other "Monstrous" races can be found wandering the streets.

That maps not released yet

>>54099724
Pick up Book of Ancient Secrets Invocations and Armor of Agathys spell

>>54099810

Ok thanks for the tip anon.

>>54099304
Source?

>>54099850
In general just pick everything that allows you to cast spells for free because you have very little natural spells slots

>>54099724
>He disagreed.

Switch classes ASAP to something stupid simple like Champion Fighter. Your DM is either bad at reading or thinks he knows better than the PHB and either of them will turn a rules interaction heavy class like Warlock into active misery.

>>54099885

That bad? I'll have a talk with him. We're good friends, so I'll explain it to him.

Main problem I have with my group is that most refused to read the PHB for the first few sessions (I'm the only one who got one), and they got annoyed when I tried to explain them the rules (DM is always right you told us, stop trying to correct him constantly with rules). Which I agree they had a fair point, but I was just a bit annoyed many basic rules were completely ignored. Our Cleric couldn't attack because he was concentrating on a spell.

However, it's gotten better. People are getting more invested and interested in the actual rules on things. Finally they all want to read the PHB now and a few are going to buy it. The DM now knows most basic rules in the PHB and is slowly starting to implement a bit more advanced rulings such as difficult terrain/lighting/foliage.

Remember we're only at our fourth session and none of us has ANY experience with tabletop gaming.

To add, what this guy said; >>54099617
>Ask your DM for some ritual spell scrolls from loot when it makes sense so you have more utility outside combat.
Can I copy those rituals in my book of shadows one I get that invocation which lets me use rituals? Or is it impossible to copy spells from scrolls.

What's stopping me from using Alter Self to change my appearance to a skeleton and feign death?

>>54099999
Eldritch Invocation: Book of Ancient Secrets
Prerequisite: Pact of the Tome feature

You can now inscribe magical rituals in your Book of Shadows. Choose two 1st-level spells that have the ritual tag from any class's spell list. The spells appear in the book and don't count against the number of spells you know. With your Book of Shadows in hand, you can cast the chosen spells as rituals. You can't cast the spells except as rituals, unless you've learned them by some other means. You can also cast a warlock spell you know as a ritual if it has the ritual tag.

On your adventures, you can add other ritual spells to your Book of Shadows. When you find such a spell, you can add it to the book if the spell's level is equal to or less than half your warlock level (rounded up) and if you can spare the time to transcribe the spell. For each level of the spell, the transcription process takes 2 hours and costs 50 gp for the rare inks needed to inscribe it.

>>54100019
10 intelligence

>>54100021

Yeah I read that, but can I add scrolls? I read somewhere that scrolls don't count the same as finding a spell in a book, since scrolls are a one-time use thing. Something along the lines of;
>a magic scroll has the magic imbued into it, while a spellbook has details of how to cast the spell

Or is that up to DM's discretion?

>>54100019
The fact that people can roll perception to realize that the skeleton is somehow breathing.

>>54100142
So, if I can act out being dead, then it's no problem? That's what I figured. I just wanted to make sure, given how there's also the Feign Death spell.
>>54100038
Hilarious.

>>54100170
Yeah, If I am your DM, I will demand you roll a deception check vs their passive perception.
If you succeed, then the bluff succeed.

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So i'm playing a fighter and next level i get to take an ASI. (Level 4)

Should i beeline straight for Str 20 or can i mix in some feats to make things interesting if i'm looking for combat power?

>>54100232
The great weapon or polearm feats could potentially do more for you in terms of damage output than a simply 20 strength, but obviously that's only if you actually use those sorts of weapons. I would personally try to get at least 18 before bothering with those though

Anyone have advice for rp'ing a Druid of caves and the underdark?

>>54100422
See if your DM will let your wildshape forms be Underdark related, the underdark is an extremely hostile place, remember, even the Drow hate traversing it without a large entourage. So let that go into account for your personality. Could be overly paranoid, suffer from Hyper-vigilance, could be cautious. Things that look too good to be true could spark these things.

Did you survive as a Predator? Did you take care of Myconids and dwell with them? (Fungal people of mild intelligence. Communicate with Spores, etc.)

You need to do whatever it takes to survive in the underdark, there's no room for Kindness, or Generosity. It doesn't mean you're a dick, but it means that you don't easily hand shit out to people without some even trade.

Could worship that Primordial Earth Deity, then assume Earth Elemental Forms when you get to that level.

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>>54096466
How do I go about making Elric Melbourne?

Should I go Eltrick Knight or is there some sort of bizarre combat viable caster build out there?

Is the lucky feat is broken as it looks or have I missed something?

If I'm reading it correctly disadvantage actually improve your odds. You're rolling three dice and picking the one you want to use.

>>54100511
It's one, if not, the best feat in the game. You can view as a broken feat if you like.

>>54100539
>You can if you want is broken if you like

Okay I know that term gets throw around a lot but I don't see how it isn't.

You get 3 "actually I succeed" points, there is no downside to using them and they apply to everything.

It's a feat tax at this point, you be a fool not to take it.

>>54100611
Its not a feat tax. The only real feat tax is war caster for a gish

Taking a feat for my Duelist Champion Fighter.

What should it be?

>>54100611
>It's a feat tax at this point, you be a fool not to take it.
Note that most GMs either don't allow it, or nerf it.

Every single GM I know run it as a "improves your roll by 1 step" mechanic, where disadvantage becomes a normal roll, a normal roll get a advantage, and advantage becomes super advantage. If someone wants lucky, they are informed of this. We get a lot of McAutismo

RAW confirmed by sage advice makes no logical sense, and does indeed make it a "I get 3 automatic successes every day".

>>54100678
>war caster
How is this mandatory for a gish?

This doesn't seem to give my Dragon Sorc or Paladin anything of value that matches a +2 to my important stats.

>>54100714
Shield master.

>>54100678
True but I still think it's painfully general and board though.

Ideally a feat should represent a character's specialisation and dedication to a centain area or a rare talent that really separates them others, even those in the same class and level.

Lucky seems like a bad case of "just plain better".

>>54100738
Solid feat, although I'm probably going to be using a rapier with the dueling fighting style.

Definitely will consider it tho

>>54100716
>Every single GM I know run it as a "improves your roll by 1 step" mechanic, where disadvantage becomes a normal roll, a normal roll get a advantage, and advantage becomes super advantage.

Which is really how it should've been. As noted you're actually *better off* rolling with disadvantage because you still get to pick the best dice No they cancel out or you take the better of the two lowest like common sense would imply.

>>54100768
Dueling only requires "no other weapon", the shield is not a weapon.

In the rare event an attack does zero damage because of resistance or the modifier was a negative, is it still considered 'taking damage' for stuff like concentration checks?

>>54100900
If you take no damage, then you take no damage, dunno how to make that more clear.

>>54100477

Bladelock?

>>54100900
Just because your attack hits, that doesn't mean you've damaged the enemy. You still need to do actual damage. 0 damage is 0 damage.

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>tfw arcana this tuesday
>tfw it will be a complete disappointment just like the previous one

>>54100727
More so arcane gishes that use shields

>>54101299
You can literally drop your sword, cast a spell and then pick it back up.

Or if your DM won't let you use the RAW work around then sheath your sword, cast the spell and then when you need to make an OA use a Cantrip because the feat lets you.

how to drop a character/leave a group without coming off as a huge dick?

story proved to be a huge combat slog with pretty much no interactions outside of combat and my character/playstyle is utility/support/RP heavy at the point where if i try to actually do damage in combat, i get massively outclassed by pretty much everyone at everything.

>>54098640
Nomadic Step adds a lot of survivalbility to yourself with Defensive Step. It also lets you teleport your allies out of danger with Transposition and Nomadic Anchor, which can help a grappled or surrounded allly without even putting yourself in danger.

Which god is most fitting for a character who values self reliance and individual responsibility?

>>54101353
Use your words.
Douchciest thing to do is just be a no-show.

>>54101444
Setting?

>>54101317
If you have the feat you wont need to sheathe your sword in the first place.

>>54101444
standard dnd faerun, playing a goliath if it helps

What's a good adventure to run with a two-player party? I know it's silly to ask, since most I've looked at are balanced around 4 minimum, is there potentially a way I could rebalance their encounters to work better with two?

>>54101540
make your own m80, it's not hard and is way more fun/rewarding

>>54101581
Aaaaaah I have never made my own setting before, and I have limited DMing experience. I'm afraid I'm gonna royally fuck it up!

>>54099711
Spike growth

Are there any classes that work better in an open world sandbox setting than in a normal campaign?

>>54101444
>>54101516
Goliaths are mostly animists, but with your parameter I'd say either Uthgar or Shaundakul will fit the bill, though both are sorely neglected in 5th.
Or other gods of strength/travel

Uthgar for the hard-living barbarian who seeks to test himself against the world.
He has sub-religions based on animal totems.

Shaundakul for the traveller who seeks to walk freely to new horizons, also a bit more on the heroic side as he abhors beings that would ruins peoples freedom to travel (mostly bandits)

Session today. I don't remember what the fuck happened last time.

>>54101701
Cheers, Uthgar seems like a pretty decent bloke

>>54101597
As long as you keep a straight face none of your players will know.

>>54101295
Tuesday is the 4th of July, so no UA this week.

>plotline about deadly disease rampaging through a small village
>"Lol it's okay we can just go around casting cure disease on everyone"
>murder mystery adventure
>"lol it's okay we can just cast speak with dead to find out who murdered him"
>guards watching royal jewels, time to be sneaky and clever
>"lol we can just cast invisibility and silence and waltz right past them"
>mysterious ancient force is going to rise again and characters need to discover its secrets to stop it
>"lol well I prepared like 10 divination spells so we don't need to explore that ancient library after all guys"
>character dies heroically in combat to save his friends, a tearjerking scene
>"LOL just kidding, we can resurrect him. Wouldn't want death to actually mean anything, would we? That wouldn't be FUN"

God I love D&D.

>>54101597
Never make a plot rigid, best thing i ever learned was to stop writing stories and instead just take templates and layer them.

Steal ideas, staple them together and paint over the seams with tropes.

So instead of "going to Illuster to meat with Baron Rengelt to take out the gnoll king Rraghtl and the Necromancer Jhoora"
You party goes to [Area] and get quest from [NPC they find interesting] and get quest to investigate [Area] where they encounter [Creature native to region] only to discover a plot by [stolen character character with a new paint job whom you think fits]

>>54101706
Don't you recap at the beginning of each session?

>>54101824
For the speak with dead the murderer could have cut off the victims mouth

Look if you don't like that theres magic solutions to ordinary problems than don't fucking play a high magic game like D&D

>>54101824
Nice opinons, but

Cure Disease is gone

He didn't see his murderer/They wore a hood

What fucking castle isn't alarmed against illusion?

Overwhelming power drives diviners into coma.

1000 GP cost, also by the time they get it game is practically "completed", also soul jars, spirit trap, required a corpse

Also what the point of your post? To say that magic makes hard things easy?
Amazing revelation there.

>>54101824
>plotline about deadly disease rampaging through a small village
>"Lol it's okay we can just go around casting cure disease on everyone"
"The adventurers find themselves exhausted at the end of the day, feeling like they've made an improvement to the populace of Village-Inn they return to their shoddy tavern rooms for a well earned rest... Only for the Village Elder to awaken them in a panic stricken voice, explaining that the disease, a curse in nature... has returned in those they "cured...." " Done.
>murder mystery adventure
>"lol it's okay we can just cast speak with dead to find out who murdered him"
"The Murderer uses a soul stealing dagger and implants a shadow to possess the corpse. Any attempt to garner information misleads the party or points them at innocent targets." Done.
>guards watching royal jewels, time to be sneaky and clever
>"lol we can just cast invisibility and silence and waltz right past them"
"The Guards, while appearing as normal men, are actually a band of Dopplegangers hired by the Treasurer of the Royal Family. They detect the thoughts of your gigglish companions as you try to sneak past..."

>mysterious ancient force is going to rise again and characters need to discover its secrets to stop it
>"lol well I prepared like 10 divination spells so we don't need to explore that ancient library after all guys"

"The Mysterious ancient force, being as mysterious and ancient as it is, has mysteriously covered its bases on Shitty Divinitation magic, since you know, it's Ancient and Mysterious. Which means it knows its shit and not much is known about it. "

>character dies heroically in combat to save his friends, a tearjerking scene
>"LOL just kidding, we can resurrect him. Wouldn't want death to actually mean anything, would we? That wouldn't be FUN"
"Characters Soul feels that its Death would lose its meaning if it returned to the Living. It lived a good life and wishes its friends the best of luck on its adventures."

>>54102073
B-but GM Fiat!
The GM is supposed to bend over and say thank you.

>>54098949
Im stealing this for an npc. Thank you.

File: ShameReloading.gif (962KB, 245x213px) Image search: [Google]

962KB, 245x213px

>>54102089
Ha-ha. No. My players find that the "easy" ways, are the most painful.

I don't reward corner-cutters, I reward ingenuity and intelligence. While we're all Murder Hobos, we can be refined and respectable gentlemen at the same time.

The Above? Joe-blow Wizard/Cleric thinks magic/God solves all of his problems! *Gasp!* Intelligent enough to study the arcane, but too lazy to idealize real world issues without overusing it! *Gasp!* Well lets put him in a situation where he has to be a little more creative.

> "Please leave Chaotic-Neutral at the door."

>using a cure disease spell to cure a disease is cutting corners and not intelligent
?

>>54102201
>OP of said discussion is fundamentally saying that the party, instead of finding the cause, just casts Cure Disease and leaves the town. Avoiding the quest-in-mind and believing they'll receive the same long-term rewards. Since he's mocking the simplicity of Magic versus Issues.

Gee. Reading comprehension must be hard.

>>54102152
>Not letting casters use their class abilities.

Why even let them learn utility spells?

>>54096701
whenever one (or more) of my players can't make it. I still hold the session, but I create a little 1-shot commoner game where they're all lvl 0 commoners (commoner stat block) and they have to try and survive whatever the 1-shot is for that go around. They usually die, but if they live, I let them push that character to level 1 and then their main group will meet these commoner characters in their travels.

I never try to push forward in a main campaign without the whole group. But that's just me

>>54102287
>Utility spells
That's what they are, note no spell school offers "Leomunds greater plot resolver"

>>54102287
CURE DISEASE DOESN'T EXIST WHY ARE WE EVEN TALKING ABOUT IT
The only thing I can think of that outright cures diseases is Lay on Hands, and there's no way a mid-level paladin would be able to use it on all of the people in a town anyways. Especially if this scenario is actually a curse, unless the cause is remedied then it'll just keep coming back.
But besides that, why forgo the cool adventure your DM obviously put effort into in favor of bandaiding a problem and leaving

>>54100511
It kinda makes sense in a wierd sorta way.
You close your eyes before you take a shot with your bow and due to dumb fucking luck you make a perfect shot.
Its like when a kid in baseball closes his eyes to swing and hits it anyways

>>54102361
Disregard the Lay on Hands bit, I realize there are a few other spells that could cure diseases.

>>54102287
>Not teaching your players to find the Values and Rewards of discovering the Cause & Effects of your World Events that they discover.

I fully support Utility spells, used sparingly.

Does it make me a Bad GM for not allowing MurderHobo #5 to solve every issue in five to ten minutes and not allow storybuilding?

Or does it make him a Bad player for not wanting to delve into the mysteries of his World, custom or not.

If you want to go do 5-minute quests, go join Dr. Dicks Murder Spree fight 30 CR1 mobs at a time kill-fest with BBEG you kill on your fifth playthrough with your +8 Magical Trinkets.

If you want compelling story and character building, you sit at the table like an adult.
>>54102357
What this Anon said.
>>54102361
Sorry man, I was thinking 3.5.


Can someone post that image of that LGBT group that ignored the Lich BBEG and the kingdom got overran a month or two down the road after they fought for gay marriage or some shit?

Because if my party ignored what was causing the Disease, that shit would happen to them on that kind of scale. Entire countryside, gone.

>>54102361
I'd just say let the heroes keep burning lesser restoration/LOH, if the soil, the food or the water is the source people just get sick again the day after eventually the heroes themselves.

>>54101540
Run LMoP, remove a third of the monsters and make a shy cute elf Life Cleric follow the party around for their healing needs.

>>54101824
>Have high fantasy world mechanics
>Wonder how low fantasy problems are being fixed by high fantasy spells when you didn't account for them in the setting

idiot

If your party of assholes knows magic, then every confrontation in that setting needs to have some way to account for it, or else your party wizard is going to cast greater plot resolution and either make things boring or feel (rightfully) slighted when it turns out you didn't prepare well enough for your own game and have to DM fiat things.

That disease? They can cure it from the villagers, but that's just the symptom of the problem and not the cause. It's magically resistant to the inoculation, so if they don't stop the source, the villagers are just going to keep getting sick.

The victim? His soul was stolen, or it's tongue cut out, or some other plot device that accounts for the fact that speaking to the dead is a thing that happens in this setting. Your party is not a vacuum and NPCs don't have to be retards. A smart murderer knows spells exist.


Guard tower? Magical barriers a-la Gringotts that wash away illusion, or just plain jane magic alarms. Or, special sentinels that are louder and MORE dangerous than regular guards, tuned to attack magical intruders.

>>54102418
You are bad if you don't account for your players using utility spells. You need to build around THEM, not the other way around. If your worldbuilding can't account for your wizard using a wizard spell, then you need to look at your setting again, because that shouldn't happen.

While this discussion is going on, I have a question for you DM/GMs.


If a player takes an extra step in your event, to seek out further information on the plot hook, or goes the extra-mile to stop/get/retrieve/kill/finish something, do you gift them with a greater reward table, or chosen piece of loot, than lets say, if they chose the short route/path to said plot hook?

I'll gift extra XP, or an extra item table d20roll if my players go an extra step (nothing CRAZY, mind you), but I was wondering if others do the same.

>>54102460
A smart murderer would dispose of the body anyway.

>>54099140
>Nyanzaru
>no catgirls
wtf wizards

>>54101824
>"Lol it's okay we can just go around casting cure disease on everyone"

For the sake of argument, let's peg this small village at 100 people.

5e doesn't have a cure disease spell. It's been rolled into lesser restoration (2nd level for bard, cleric, druid, paladin, ranger), heal (6th level), and 5 hp of a paladin's lay on hands ability.

So let's say a 10th level party of Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, and Bard. They have access to lesser restoration, but not heal, but let's give the bard lesser restoration even though it's probably not an optimal spell for him to know. The bard and cleric could cast lesser restoration at most 11 times each per long rest, or 22 times total.

The Black Death killed about 1/3rd of Europe, so let's assume that that is the infection rate. If we presume the "deadly disease" is the Black Death, then 1/3rd of the village, or 33 people, are infected. The Black Death was also horrifyingly contagious, and lesser restoration says nothing about granting immunity to subsequent bouts of the disease.

So cure 22 people (at most), 11 are still infected. In a single day those 11 people could theoretically re-infect the whole village, or - if we presume that the 67 who weren't infected had a natural resistance to the plague - even just the 22 seemingly cured folk. This also doesn't take into account the possibility of asymptomatic carriers, who have the Plague but won't die from it, but can still spread it. Further complicating matters is that the Black Death could be very efficient - seemingly healthy people could go to sleep, and be found the following morning dead from the plague.

This is leaving aside that the plague has 5 additional potential victims now - the players themselves.

The players might figure out that they have to set up quarantines, but quarantines can be broken.

I suspect I'm running low on character space, so more in subsequent posts.

>>54102418
let's see
A village is 5 to 30 families
Assuming 4 members per family that's 20-120 people that need curing
A average party of 4 at level 5
1 full caster and 1 half caster capable of curative magic, that comes to 7 people cured per long rest, not including party member's that might be infected.

>>54102032
>Cure Disease is gone
Wait, what? What does this mean?
>I'm gonna cast Levitate
>ya can't, it's gone
>gone where?
>just gone
>like, not in my spellbook?
>nope gone

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>>54102516
It means it doesn't exist in 5e.

>>54102418
>I fully support Utility spells, used sparingly.

That's the problem. You're not being clever, you're taking tools the players have in their arsenal and putting hidden conditions just so you can go "HAH! GOTCHA!" and using the justification that they'd otherwise solve your carefully laid encounter/mystery too easy.

This is a horrible solution to the problem of high-fantasy DnD magic sidestepping the game system.

You have to make the call beforehand of either pruning the spell list or designing situations that require more than the simple application of a single spell. No "gotcha it doesn't work!", which just makes the players feel cheated, but more complex scenarios that actually use the various tools the party has at their disposal.

The third option is to consider not playing DnD because the magic system is busted and the high-fantasy setting it's meant to emulate isn't very conductive to puzzle solving roleplay.

>>54102460
>You are bad if you don't account for your players using utility spells. You need to build around THEM, not the other way around. If your worldbuilding can't account for your wizard using a wizard spell, then you need to look at your setting again, because that shouldn't happen.

Never once, did I say I didn't account for them. But not every issue is easily solved Anon. Nor is it assumed that the world doesn't recognize or Account for the Wizard Spell lists.

If taking into account a Utility spell is plausible, then this also means that the world Adjusts to the Wizard Spell lists as well.

Cause and Effect, Anon. I run an extremely High Magic setting. If a disease is unleashed, its more than just a handwave or two if it's made itself into a Side-Plot of mine. If its an Ancient Evil, if its intelligent its warded its revival.

There's a difference in holding your players hands and allowing them the freedom to find their own answers.

>>54102504
So you can cure 7 people every 8 Hours, curing the entire village in 3-4 days without resolving the issue of the Why the disease is happening. Implying that we can successfully quarantine the populace and handle shitty Village living conditions. We're effectively pissing into the wind if it continues to spread or we're forced to burn clothing, homes, fields, etc.

>>54102418
Your players should be able to cast as many utility spells as they want. It's up to you to create a setting where simple mechanics in the game don't automagically fix your plot upon casting. Your players are completely within their rights and reasonable to want to use mechanics in a game you chose and didn't see fit to homebrew away at the start of the campaign.

"Not allow" is fundamentally wrong when it comes to a mechanic you've allowed. You're going to make your own player feel slighted for wanting to do something they rightfully should be able to do because you didn't prepare. Your quests and problems should anticipate players using spells as part of their toolset, because they ARE part of the toolset. You're playing a fantasy game. Magic isn't cheating, it's part of the game.

>>54102498 Is a really good example of what you could do. Instead of getting angry and going "no, you've used utility spells for x and y, I'm not letting you use utility for z. Think now." You go "Yes, you use cure wounds... and then x happens"

Tabletop is inherently an improv thing. Never go for 'no' when they're in the bounds of the things you gave them, go for 'yes, and', then complicate things for them.

>Fag plays in a game, where magic exists
>Fag is surprised that mundane problems are solved by magic

>>54102546
7 people per day

>>54102541
oh shit I'm sorry

Is there a reason why gnomes are immune to cackle fever?

>>54102498
>In a single day those 11 people could theoretically re-infect the whole village, or - if we presume that the 67 who weren't infected had a natural resistance to the plague - even just the 22 seemingly cured folk
I'm pretty sure that plague victims who survive can't contract it again. It's like measles. I don't know if they can't carry it, though.

>>54102546
>If taking into account a Utility spell is plausible, then this also means that the world Adjusts to the Wizard Spell lists as well.

I don't see what your problem is, then. Are you just complaining that your players are moving on after they "solve" the disease even though the problem causing it is still there? You need to make it clear to them that the problem still exists, and cure disease didn't fix the whole problem. If they're choosing to ignore that or fuck off and do other things, then you have a completely separate problem.

>>54102541
>>54102581
Lesser Restoration
>>54102593
Who says that they are

>>54101824
>>"lol it's okay we can just cast speak with dead to find out who murdered him"

This one falls apart immediately if the victim was stabbed in the back or otherwise didn't see the murderer; or if he doesn't know who his murderer is (answers are "usually brief", meaning the corpse won't provide a detailed description); or if the murderer wore a mask or otherwise disguised himself.

>"lol we can just cast invisibility and silence and waltz right past them"

This is a ridiculous world of magic. The fact that some asshole might do this is well known.

In particular, the problem with casting Silence is that it creates an area of utterly no sound - which is INCREDIBLY disconcerting. That something magical is going on will be noticed as soon as one of the guards tries to clear his throat, shuffle his feat, whistle a tune, sigh in boredom, tap his pike into the ground to the beat of this song he heard earlier, try and talk to his companion, Hell, particularly attentive guards might even just notice the lack of normal breathing, heartbeat, or the like.

(The idea of guards just standing still and doing nothing a-la Buckingham Palace is actually a very new invention in military discipline, only since about the 1600s or so. Prior to that guards were not expected to stand perfectly still and remain absolutely quiet except during ceremonial occasions. Hell, they often had stools they could sit on).

And that's being generous an assuming that Silence won't create a huge ringing in your ears, which is entirely internalized and so should still happen but, to be fair, the spell's description does say that *all* sound is cancelled out.

The point is that Silence is useful to stop enemy mages from casting spells. But its usefulness in sneaking around is highly dubious at best. A LACK of sound can be just as cacophonous as a marching band.

Oh, also, besides all that, your plan falls apart if there's a closed door.

>>54102606
They didn't survive it naturally, though. It's plausible that since it was purged completely through magical means that it also purges the immunity you received, or that the immunity didn't have time to develop.

>>54102546
curing the entire village in 3-17 days if it up to 120 sick.

>>54102606
That's just it, they didn't "survive it", it was removed from them, no immunity was developed.

>>54102516
Still, I don't think there's a problem on imposing a ban list of magic at the start of the game. If I want to run a dungeon delving game where the players are after ancient texts, be it to piece together a prophecy or learn the location of old treasure vaults, I'd definitely say Comprehend Languages doesn't exist on the world.
They'd have to take the texts to sages, and the journey would be part of the adventure.

>>54100121
If the spell on the scroll also has the Ritual tag (like if you find a Scroll of Detect Magic) you'd be able to copy it down into your Book of Shadows. Of course, it would only be castable as a ritual. Copying the spell consumes the scroll, I believe.

Wizards would be able to copy any scroll into their book so long as it was on their spell list, however.

>>54099724
>Can concentrate on spell while getting shot stabbed set on fire and punched in the face.
>Cant keep a spell up while you sit down, retie your boots and take a piss

>>54102637
Banning things at the start and making that clear to players is completely fine. That's called homebrewing.

Banning things mid-game or just outright making mechanics not work when they come up is you fucking up. That's called making a massive oversight as a DM and then punishing your players for it.

>>54102629
>>54102498
I'm just gonna stop posting, you seem to pre-empt all my replies more eloquently and to the same point.

>>54101824
>"lol well I prepared like 10 divination spells so we don't need to explore that ancient library after all guys"

This one I don't have a clever answer for because I've never had to deal with this problem in game.

>"LOL just kidding, we can resurrect him. Wouldn't want death to actually mean anything, would we? That wouldn't be FUN"

I actually do find that somewhat problematic, but funnily enough there are ways to achieve similar effects. For example, my character in Rise of Tiamat sacrificed herself not by dying, but by running up to an ancient white dragon in the Temple of Tiamat that would have completely screwed over the party (only she and 1 other PC were nearby, the other PCs had wandered off for in-character reasons), and throwing one of her bags of holding into her other bag of holding, dragging both her and the dragon into the Astral Sea (no save). She's not dead and so can't be resurrected, but none o the party members have access to planar travel, and have no real way of tracking her down anyway.

For the record thereafter in the Astral Sea she got INCREDIBLY lucky and managed to kill the dragon by herself. But that still leaves her floating and lost in the Astral Sea

>>54102606 >>54102634
More to the point, the Plague was fucking deadly. It had a 90-100% kill rate. Even ebola only averages about 50%.

>>54102665
Anon, I really don't understand what your problem is if you're doing the stuff we've all suggested already. If you're making contingencies that accommodate the players using magic, then what's the issue? Just have them think with their heads in those situations too.

>>54102542
>>54102555

So for you and you... Refer to post below.
>>54102073

These are not alternative means to you? In your sessions, do you always "Win"?

These are not "HAHA GOTCHA" scenarios and quite frankly, are ways to improve the way that the OPs group was tackling the implied situations.

The players are given the resources to be informed of these reactions to their actions and to find an alternative path. Being told that "HAHA OH SHIT, those guards who were placed there specifically to deter pilferers couldn't see shit!" is more clever than the means offered, is simply appalling.


>>54102614
This is all in reply to the OP of whom I replied to. Once again, the reason we're debating this, is because he claims Magic is making his any plot hooks tossed a Magicians way simplistic.

If you want to move on after curing 22 people who get sick next week. Feel Free. But you won't get the same XP/Reward that you would get for staying there and fixing the issue. Also the issue would come up in later sessions if you passed through there again.

This is my entire argument and point that I've been trying to get across. Otherwise, I completely agree with the second half of your written statement.

>>54102516

It means you cast Lesser Restoration now.

>>54102606
Even if they didnt just lose the plauge because lol magic some infections dont work like that.
Its like how you can have the flu more than once or get shingles from having chickenpox.

Actually thats a perfect way to handle it. A few months / years after the party cures the plauge with magic whether from normal spells or the macguffin everyone who had the plauge is breaking out in super-shingles

>>54102622
Dude, silence is 20 feet radius. You have to walk fucking right next to someone for them to fall within the area of effect.

hey. im am running COS and the players have reached the castle by accident and teleported inside. they are still level 5 and i want to create for them the sense of dread and oppressive atmosphere as they must reach the brazier room to teleport away (they are in the Study right now), So its gonna be a stealth mission i think. I need help with ideas and helpful hints on how to include in descriptions i make or what encounters on cool events i should throw their way in orde to make this fun. They met Strahd and they made him very angry. Now they are very afraid they might run into him. Any suggestions or any good source that describes the castle in a more detail way than the book (as atmosphere not as rooms and such) ?

>>54102716
Why would your guards be more than 20ft away from the doors.
And a 20 ft hallway is wide as fuck

Any of you guys ever have a sessions, from either side of the screen, where the PCs just talked to each other? Maybe it was a relaxing tavern scene after a heart bout of adventuring, maybe a monster hunt gone wrong and they were all forced to sit and wait while someone recovered from the battle? I see a lot of concerns about player interactions and the like, but I assume that's just because these kinds of things don't get brought up much.

>>54102691
>If you want to move on after curing 22 people who get sick next week. Feel Free. But you won't get the same XP/Reward that you would get for staying there and fixing the issue. Also the issue would come up in later sessions if you passed through there again.

See, this is completely wrong. You shouldn't lock players out of rewards because they used mechanics readily available in the setting. You need to account for the players using the full breadth of their arsenal and balance problems around that. If you make a fantasy disease, you need to account for your cleric being able to fucking magically cure people, and not dock them XP for doing something that makes complete sense to them, like magically curing people.

Also, what is with "moving on" thing? Why would you let your players cast a fix-it spell, move on, and then blame them for moving on? If you let them do that then they're going to think that this was just a one-off problem that you WANTED them to fix quickly. Give them a reason to stay and then show why using a utility spell doesn't fix everything. Don't punish them for playing the game logically.

>>54102721
Obligatory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY

>>54102681
Im not the one posing the question, I'm >>54102634
>>54102504
Every time i answer some dude said the same thing better than me, 30 seconds ahead of me.

>>54102621
Are you a retard?

"Cackle Fever
This disease targets humanoids, although gnomes are strangely immune."
https://astranauta.github.io/rules.html#Diseases

>>54102697
>some infections dont work like that.
Some infections, sure, but I'm pretty sure plague is one of the ones that do.

>>54102697
>Lidda: "WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO JOZAN?!"
>Jozan: "It's gonna be fine, Lidda, relax. Pelor's granted me lesser retoration, it's gonna be fine. I'm gonna cure everyone, Lidda. P-Pelor's gonna see to it. You just gotta have a little faith, Lidda, you gotta URP trust me on this one. It'll aaaall be over very shortly."
[cures people, they start developing super-black death]
>Jozan: "Ooohhhkay. Well, sometimes magic fixes make things worse, Lidda. Lotta people don't get that."

>>54102746
Why should they get experience if they learned nothing?

It's roleplaying, not a MMO, thete is no set reward for curing X number of NPCs.

>>54102593
Gnomes are such a bad race that the diseases don't even want them

>>54102716
20 foot radius is a 40 foot diameter. The entry you have to sneak past is at most maybe, what, 10 feet across? The guards are gonna fall within that diameter.

Also remember that silence doesn't move with you, it's static.

>>54102771
ha ha! pop culture references

I could more easily imagine a wizard who decides that since gnomes are immune,
why not turn everyone into gnomes? So much polymorph.

>>54102808
Gnomes are immune to cackle fever, not every disease.

>>54102785
You don't gain experience through learning things, you experience for surviving encounters. More experience for success, less for failure, and somewhere in the middle for cheesy bypasses.

>>54102791
>fall within that diameter.

>Standing guard with Bob
>Suddenly can't hear any sort of sound
>Tell Bob
>No words are coming out
>Something is up, raise the alarm

>>54102743
Yeah. Full RP sessions? Sure. Had a few sessions where my players were doing crafting of recent spoils (Making Armors, weapons etc.) that'd take a few weeks in-game. They legitimately just walked around their major city buying supplies, chatting about ideals and future plans over the entire session. Was pretty comfy. I've got a warlock who specializes in leatherworking, an Artificer, a Wizard, a Barb, a dickass thief and a generic Blacksmith fighter in my group. So there's always tons of banter and shit to do in "downtime" off-time between traveling.

>>54102746
What he said --v
>>54102785


>>54102829
So you're effectively saying that they deserve a lesser reward, but not as much of a reward if they didn't stay for Success? Which is what is being implied.

I reward the players, like I've said. Sure. I'll reiterate "But they don't kill/destroy the creature/artifact causing it, so they don't get the loot/XP involved."

Is this so hard to understand?

>>54102785
You don't get experience by learning things. You get experience by surviving encounters. That's how DnD works.

That plague town? That was an ENCOUNTER. How a lot of people do it is they make blocks of XP for each "part" of a quest. So, fixing the townspeople or temporarily curing them is some (small) amount of XP. Then, figuring out the cause is another part of the XP, and then solving it is more XP, etc. Nobody is telling you to give them all the XP because they did the first part of an encounter, and I really really hope you aren't letting them walk off from an entire thing because they solved the first part with magic. That disease should come back the next day, or the party should roll and maybe one of them gets sick after they're done "curing", to show it's still there.

Though, if they do "solve it all" with magic, then you should still fucking give them full XP, you mongoloid. They solved your encounter with the tools you gave them, why would you punish the players for doing things in the most logical way possible? Why would a player not use magic if they could? That's why you need to balance things AROUND magic in a fantasy setting.

>>54101824
>>murder mystery adventure
>>"lol it's okay we can just cast speak with dead to find out who murdered him"
There is literally a game based around a court capable of seeing the last moments before a target died, and straight up channel the spirit of that person, and the while point is how difficult it can be to know for sure.

One of the killed victims was sure who had killed him, but he was tricked into believing it, so it wasn't the actual truth.

This is actually even better in d&d, because it becomes quite easy to mess with people.

Example: Noble hates his rival. Noble gets killed, and says it was done by his rival when someone casts speak with the dead.

Trough various shenanigans, he gains a huge fortune from his former rival, now thrown into prison for the rest of his life, and with the additional funds, he hires a cleric to revive him.

In reality, the murder was a setup. It wasn't the rival, but no one can prove anything.

>>54102877
>But they don't kill/destroy the creature/artifact causing it, so they don't get the loot/XP involved

Then they haven't beaten the encounter. The DM needs to make that clear (like everyone has been saying) and give them a reason to stay in the town and continue finding what caused it. This is what everyone has been trying to say to you.

>>54102819
Fucking gnomes.

>>54102860
Exactly. Silence is actually a terrible spell to use if you want to sneak around because it creates more problems than it solves. This shouldn't be surprising - it was designed to fuck over enemy casters, not make wizards sneaky. A wizard who wants to be sneaky just turns himself ethereal and passes through the walls, or cuts out the middle man and teleports right to where he wants to go. That's not to say that Silence can't be used for sneaking around, just that you have to be very careful with how you angle it, making sure that no guards fall inside the radius.

OR, you could just get a ranger to cast Pass Without Trace, which is far more effective.

>>54102073
It is a pointless argument.

I had a city full of diseased kids. Only the noble class could afford to have lesser restoration cast on their infected children, but it was quick to spread, and airborne, so they could get infected again.

The clerics, even in full force, has no way of eliminating it. There was easily thousands of kids in town, and they couldn't remove it from everyone at once, ans it seemingly popped up again whenever they thought a containment zone was purified, because, surprise, animals get carry the airborne disease, so you need to cleanse EVERYTHING in order to remove it.

That takes a completely different kind of power to root out.

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>>54102914
But that isn't what is implied by the OP.

>plotline about deadly disease rampaging through a small village
>"Lol it's okay we can just go around casting cure disease on everyone"

It's the ideal that they can solve the "Encounter" easily that the OP is trying to put across. Via Magic.

If the players don't have incentive to stay, even if begged by the Village, I am not going to stop them from leaving.


Now I'm reaching a point where i'm being told that providing alternative means is unclever if I don't instantly reward this faggoty ass group with XP for trying. Everyone gets a Gold Star, right?

Yet when I state that I won't prevent them from making their own choices, but won't adequately reward them for choices they DIDN'T make. I get called Bad.

Goddamn man. I'm arguing with a bunch of woman. Going in fucking circles. I've stated that. How many people are replying to me. Fuck.

>>54102948
Sounds like the whole place should have just been cleansed by holy fire.

>>54102469
Wish my GM did.

It is literally always "nope, that storyline is done.".
>what about the third that originally stole the artefact? He could steal it again. We better find him.
>You spend a full month looking, using everything at your disposal, and find no traces of him, and nobody is giving you any additional clues, even if you probe their minds.

Just, always this "ultimate cockblock" situations, where for some reason we hit a wall harder than the earth itself, and has no choice but to abandon it.

He will also happily throw NPCs at us that mock us of we continue to search or ask around about some NPCs the GM doesn't want to show up anymore.

>>54102978
The fuck are you going on about? Look at >>54102897

The "town villagers needing immediate help" is just one block of the overall encounter. If they 'solve' that and move on immediately afterwards, you give them the XP for that specific bit that they did (which is small) and then they move on. You should reward them for that part, but not the other parts, because they didn't do those yet.

Nobody is arguing for you to give them full XP for the encounter if they leave it half done. It is on you for letting that happen, though. You shouldn't rely on an NPC begging them to get the point across - you need to show why it's important, not just tell.

For instance, if they cure everyone, you should make them roll to resist infection as they leave the town, maybe making it high enough DC so that 1-2 party members are afflicted for the day until the cleric can cure them. This shows them - through the mechanics of the game - that whatever is causing this is still a big threat. If they don't stay after that, that's them deliberately jumping over a plot hook. You should talk with them after the session about why so you're all on the same page, and then move on.

>>54103007
I had the same issues with my first GM, he didn't like how the entire table became a "Why ask questions? We won't get answers. Everyone's an asshole. Nobody knows shit."

It really killed his storyline. Anytime an NPC would try to speak to us to tell us something, we'd interrupt him(the NPC) and rudely just tell them where to point us or to give us a fucking map. Constantly bringing up our past-encounters with people who don't want to give us or were incapable of giving us, information.

On a positive note, he stopped doing that shit to us. Because we became asshole murderhobos who didn't give a shit about plot anymore.
Then again, we all pre-meditated this shit. Because we were tired of him doing it to us.

>>54096839
>is that even possible
Of course.
The story doesn't specify how he got to that point, so he could have had any amount of help. Which is not to say the Dwarf king wasn't a good combatant; just that he didn't march into the Frost Giant's house, kill all his guards and then the king all on his own.

>>54098010

The Shavarath

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>>54101786
Any excuse they can get to not do work.

Thinking about making a PAM paladin to purge heretics, should I go with devotion or vengeance? Also if I were to take a 3 level dip would sorc or warlock be better? This character is for an upcoming OotA campaign we're gonna run so I figured paladin was a solid choice.

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>>54103044

>State that I reward ingenuity and intelligence. Get a bunch of these fucking things after. >>54102152

>>54102746
>>54102542
>>54102555
>>54102460
>>54102287

Gee man. Sure seems like a third of my (You's) got all hot and heavy about rewarding folks, huh?

That was a nice debate from the original OP>>54101824


I wonder if he thought it'd get that much attention. I'm done.

>>54100678

Well, or Dual Wielder for a throwing build, but who does those?

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What are some good options for bonuses for the party if they've all been resurrected from their various afterlives and are now stuck on an alien planet that's been mostly overrun by demons?

I'm thinking stuff like damage reduction/evil, extra hours, smite attacks, domain abilities, etc...

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What's the best feat for a variant human necromancer? I was thinking about going with lightly armored

>>54100775

For some reason I thought there was a ruling that said that if you had disadvantage and Lucky, you picked the *two* dice that counted. So, like, you got, effectively, the middle result of three rolls.

>>54102983
This.
PURGE THE UNCLEAN

>>54103243
Why not go all the way and get into Heavy (Full Plate)?

There's no spell failure in 5e.

"Casting in Armour
Because of the mental focus and precise gestures required for spellcasting, you must be proficient with the armour you are wearing to cast a spell. You are otherwise too distracted and physically hampered by your armour for spellcasting.

The Lightly Armoured, Moderately Armoured, and Heavily Armoured feats all give you proficiency with their respective armour categories. This means that you would be able to cast spells if you take one, two, or all three of these feats and are wearing the appropriate armour."

>>54100477

Presumably bladelock, although elric does canonically put pure wizards to shame with his magical ability so you may not have the full fantasy there.

Take the inheritor background and inquire with your gm about having it be a magic greatsword that heals you every time you hit a living creature with it.

If your gm will go along with it and you want to go for maximum character adherence, you could have your base physical stats (dex, con, str) be very low by default and have the sword provide a large stat boost in those areas to you, but only when you have it on you.

>>54102860
This sounds like a useful scenario for me, but:
>>Something is up, raise the alarm
How? Hand signals or something? Might take some improvising on the guard's part.

>>54099760
Warlocksnuse charisma because they get theirmpowers from the pact they made and their own willpower is hiw they made the pact. Its a bit silly to me personally, their patron doesnt actualymgive them the power directly but its the unseen bond between them that does.
I think they should be wisdom based and draw their powers directly from the patron, which makes sense seeing as most patrons are godlike.

>>54096661
What can you lift with that?

>>54103267
The heavy armor feat armor requires medium armor proficiency though.

>>54103329
As stated, yes. 3 Feats total. Ever play a Wizard in full plate? Incredibly homosexual. When I say homosexual, I mean, you'll have shit trying to touch you, that can't touch you.

As a necromancer? You've got shit trying to touch you, while your undead are touching them.

Then again, it's all choice man. I gave my opinion.

One of the adventure hooks in SKT has a party of level 6 taking on like 20 Frost Giants, 2 at a time until they kill about 10.

Is that even remotely possible?

>>54103329

There's not much point to Lightly Armored since Mage Armor is better. And even if you don't want to spend a spell slot, you could use the same feat on Magic Initiate and get some cantrips for your trouble.

Take a level of cleric with a Heavy armor domain. That'll keep your spell slots at maximum and get you your armor.

>>54103429
Why don't the giants all swarm them at once?

SKT is known for being shitty like this.

>>54103451
There's a huge fog that's rolled over the port that they're in.

>>54103451
Because the giants are spread out over a wide area and dealing with other stuff. The frost giants aren't just obligingly lined up, you have to seek out each pair.

>>54103459
So you have to assume the frost giants fighting the players don't say 'Hey, other giants, come beat the shit out of these guys they're being annoying' or something?
Just have them come two at a time so conveniently that the players can hide in a tower and shoot arrows at 400ft because they'd die otherwise?

So I went and gave a player permission to make a Loremaster wizard. I often hear it OP as fuck.
The player in question is pretty much incapable of thinking tactically and is probably going to be throwing fireballs all day and nothing else.
Is there any need to nerf him if he's not going to do shit like str save hold person in the first place?

>>54103476
I was going to fluff it that all the giants are making a massive ruckus with their pillaging and what not, so the sound of small folk fighting isn't going to catch immediate attention. That's not really the problem I have with this.

>>54103475
Well, alright, that's fairer. Even if the giants were busy, they could easily yell 'hey, these guys will kill us all if we don't kill them' and get their friends, but if they're far enough apart that the players have to actually find them then I guess that works.

I imagine if the players capitalized on assassination style fighting it could work for them.

>>54103491
Honestly still sounds like if you bring a giant to 30% hp they can just go 'oh fuck' and run off and shelter with their friends because a giant can probably outrun you unless you have some rogue/monk or a smart wizard or some slows or whatever.

But back to the other point, what's the party make-up? Are they efficient players?

>>54102489
>>>/pfg/
Also, there's some Tabaxi, not a lot compared to their human counterparts, but there's some

>>54100477
Elric of Melnebone is most like a Wizard 15/Fighter 10. Remember: He's Emperor and both a great wizard and an exceptional duelist.

>>54103429
I actually ran that, but I changed it up a little bit.

I threw in some Trolls, fewer Frost Giants, and a few Winter Wolves with an Everlasting One waiting on the ship and then changed it up to be a degenerative group of Giant outcasts.

The issue isn't that it's hard, but that fighting 10+ Giants in a row is boring as hell.

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>Starting a new game
>Remove variant human, give normal human and all the other races a free feat
>All of the players choose human anyways
>All of them play girls
Is it too much to ask for some variety?

>>54103694
If my concept doesn't have a tenet that jives with a race, usually I just make them Human or a Halfling.

I mean what's the point of being an Orc if you're not going to give them a backstory involving Orc tribes or give them Orc like personality traits?

>>54103694
Humans are easier to play as, mostly because, well, we're humans. Other races have to deal with preconcieved notions on what an Elf is, or what a Dwarf is, whereas you can go anywhere with a human.

>>54103683
>Giants
>Boring as hell

The trick is to make them do things other than just swing their weapons and hurl rocks.

Environment is big, but I like to give them Dex save sweeping attacks, make them stomp around and send out tremors that force a Str save throw or be knocked prone, etc.

I am going to retire my lvl 12 Bard, storywise he has completed his goals. I want to reroll an Archer. How is UA's Arcane Archer?

>>54103165
Also I'm debating maybe going One hand/shield with shield master for the ability to bash the shit out of things, but I know PAM has a reputation for being borderline op. What do you guys think?

>>54103278
>inheritor background
Where do I find that?

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>Next game want to make a Cleric of Talona
>DM making own setting with his own deities

>>54103902
Shield Master's bonus action shove isn't reliable without Expertise. This puts it in a bad spot compared to other things that could be competing with your bonus action.

But let's combine your two ideas:

Make a quarterstaff & board paladin that uses PAM and takes 3 levels of Warlock for Shillelagh through Tome.

>>54103299
>nothing is making noise any more
>start to panic when you try to speak but no sound
>obvious distress and uncharacteristic gesturing brings the attention of fellow guards
>running to get help leads to you leaving the AoE
>realize magic trickery is afoot and raise the alarm

Silence is a static AoE, it doesn't move with the target.

Why are halflings so bad

>>54104082
25 ft movement and no heavy weapons

>>54104082
Bad at what?
Mechanically, they're great.

>>54103325
Everything.

>>54104132
>Using heavy weapons when you get +dex +con
>Not being a barbarogue halfling

>>54104147
Heavy weapons deal more damage
People play what they want, even when it's suboptimal, literally baning them from ever using them is just bad
Multiclassing is an optional rule
Dex Barbarian is a meme

>>54104132
>25ft movement
>an issue

>>54104181
>Heavy weapons deal more damage
Only with feats. Otherwise, actually, shortswords would be doing more damage. Unless you're a fighter.
>Multiclassing is an optional rules
Heavy weapons being actually good is an optional rule (read: feats).
But halflings are still good at anything else that likes +dex and +con (Read: Almost every single class.)

>People play what they want, even when it's suboptimal, literally baning them from ever using them is just bad
This is not 'literally banning them'. They can still use heavy weapons. But whether people play suboptimal things is something else, I suppose.

>>54104132
>no heavy weapons
Then play something that doesn't use them? Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer or Warlock are all fine

>>54104147
Good barbarogues use strength, bro.

>>54104181
Dex Barbarian is a meme that actively works.
I in fact have a player who is playing a Dex Barbarian and it is an effective combatant that is contributing plenty to combat and isn't anything remotely like useless.

>>54104270
They're good at different things.

Dex barbarogue capitalizes on being really fucking hard to kill, which honestly isn't very useful a lot of the time when everybody around you dies instead but eh. Does about as much damage as a rogue.
Strength barbarogue does less damage than a full feated barbarian but has some nice rogueish traits.

>>54104082
They aren't tho? You're just an idiot at actually building characters or something I guess?

>>54104293
Does the barbarogue really do less damage if you go Barb 5/Rogue 15? I'd have thought sneak attack would cover that up.

>>54104227
>Only with feats. Otherwise, actually, shortswords would be doing more damage.
At 5th level:

Shortsword 1d6 = 3.5 average damage
Greatsword 2d6 = 8.3333 average damage (because of GWF)
+4 to STR or DEX (main stat)
Two attacks


TWF = 3 * (3.5 + 4) = 22.5
GWF = 2 * (8.333 + 4) = 24.66666 ~ 24.67

If you are a barbarian it would be 28.5 vs 28.67

Damage is close though, so it's balanced. Paladins would be good TWF at 11th if PAM didn't exist.

>>54104293
DEX Barbarogue isn't particularly good at anything. Need 20 DEX and 16 CON to only just edge over non-magical Medium Armor AC, and that's the only trick they get over STR Barbarogue.

Also, Barbarogue is better damage than Barbarian past 12th or so from the Sneak Attack curve, much earlier if you factor in out-of-turn Sneak Attacks through Haste/Sentinel/whathaveyou.

>>54103968
Ask him to make a similar god.

>>54103741
>What's the point of playing an orc if you're not going to give them orc like personality traits?

I, for one, enjoy playing characters who are neither stereotypes nor opposite stereotypes.
Drizz't, for example, is as much a product of Drow stereotypes as anything and doesn't really challenge them in genre terms; he just is the exact opposite.

So I would want to play an orc who was neither a savage warrior nor a cultured elite just to defy the stereotype. I'd want to defy the stereotype by being something else. A Battlemaster orc with flail and shield, or a Nature cleric, or a valor bard. That's not to say they'd be ignorant of how most Orcs are or that they wouldn't deal with societal or personal urges to behave that way, but they don't have to be polar opposites.

Once you free yourself or your players from expectations like yours of what fantasy races should or shouldn't be, you can explore more interesting variety in characters.

>>54104410
You're getting up to +3 AC+no disadvantage on stealth or +4 AC, better initiative, better dex saves and better dex skills. Assuming the other barbarian takes a breastplate you get +1 AC at level 4, 9, 13 and 17. Pretty lackluster until later levels, yes.

You lose athletics/strength check ability, damage and strength saves. However, you can start with 16 strength on a dex barbarogue and be just as good for damage in the early levels until you hit the point where you have better AC than the other barbarogue.


So at a low level neither barbarogue is awfully different from each other assuming they focus on physical stats.
At a high level you either get more damage from strength barbarogue or more AC from dex barbarogue.
Strength barbarogue works better with two shortswords for grappling and rage damage+reckless on the off hand attack, dex barbarogue works best with shield+rapier for stacking AC.

They're good at different things once they become distinct.


As said, the only issue I'm seeing is that if the DM doesn't even bother attacking the dex barbarogue they might as well be a strength barbarogue.

Any advice on a warlock hexblade? This will be a lvl 4 one-shot adventure.with only 2 players.

Cursebringer would be really nice if it wasn't a greatsword. The benefits don't seem worth giving up charisma as my attack and damage stat.

Green Flame Blade, Booming Blade seem decent. Chilling Hex and Burning Hex are also nice picks.

I'm leaning towards Chilling Hex and Green Flame Blade for some minor crowd control.

Anyway to easily get myself a second attack at lvl 4?

We start with 350 gold, starting equipment and one uncommon item. The only really 'special' item I've come across is the Adder Staff, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

>>54104406
Barbarians don't get GWF. Paladins would, but I guess I should lump paladins in there as well because they get a damage boost at level 11 much like fighters do that disuades them from roguing up.

A barbarogue with shortswords deals more damage than a featless barbarian using a greatsword, though.

And there's very few interesting barbarian features beyond level 5 that's clearly worth it over rogue stuff like uncanny dodge, evasion, expertise, etc. So why wouldn't you be a barbarogue if you're not using heavy weapons? Even a fighter or warlock or paladin or monk or anything with extra attack could level into rogue. Though, if I were a paladin I'd keep levelling for the support and spells.

>>54104555

No, okay, first, DEX Barbarogue doesn't actually get better AC than STR BR until 9th level at minimum.

Next, you can't be both 16 STR, 16 DEX and 16 CON without pb dumping your other stats. This is stupid.

Following up, Rogue 11 makes Stealth disadvantage on Half-plate meaningless anyway. Not that Stealth even matters that much.

And lastly, STR Barbarogue can also use shield+rapier, and it's even better at it through taking Shield Master and using the Bonus Action shove so they get themselves advantage without having to rely on Reckless Attack.

>>54103325
>>54096661

Assuming the character has 20 Strength (which why wouldn't you, if this is the build)

>Medium creature with 20 Strength (300lbs)
>Add Giant Form (Size to Huge: 1200lbs)
>Add Enlarge (Size Gargantuan: 2400lbs)
>Aspect of Bear (4800lbs)
>Bull Strength (9600lbs)
>Goliath Powerful Build (19,200lbs)
>Total Lift, Push, and Drag is 38,400lbs

If I did the match correct.

If I want to draw power from spirits and the afterlife, what planes should I pick?

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>>54104781
>No, okay, first, DEX Barbarogue doesn't actually get better AC than STR BR until 9th level at minimum.
Assuming the other barbarian takes half-plate, in which case they have stealth disadvantage whereas the dex barbarogue doesn't. Which is pretty critical if the barbarogue decided to take assassin.

>Next, you can't be both 16 STR, 16 DEX and 16 CON without pb dumping your other stats. This is stupid.
What's wrong with dumping int and charisma and wisdom?
Most barbarians already do it.
A strength barbarian should have 16 strength 14 dex 14 con at the very least, so it's not much to ask a dex barbarian to have 16 dex 16 con 14 strength or even 16 in all three.

>Following up, Rogue 11 makes Stealth disadvantage on Half-plate meaningless anyway. Not that Stealth even matters that much.
That's at level 16 total when you almost have +3 the other barbarian, not to mention the usual
>high level games being anywhere near coherent.
In fact, if your DM allows the UA they might pick up the mariner fighting style for +1 AC if I recall that working right which means it'll be level 17, not level 16.

>And lastly, STR Barbarogue can also use shield+rapier
This stops them from efficiently grappling (capitalizing on their high athletics) and attacking and means they're dealing less damage which is the point of being a strength barbarogue instead.
I edited a table quickly to get this result for level 11 versus 17 AC.

If you don't reckless attack (tanking)/grapple, dex is better.

>>54104607
Only ways to get a second attack by 4th are PAM, GWM and quickening cantrips (sorc 4). PAM requires you to make the Attack action in order to use the BA attack, so it's not compatible with the SCAG cantrips nor with Chilling Hex. But the cantrips aren't particularly good before 5th, anyway; when it comes down to it, an additional attack is better.

Since it's a one-shot, an alternative to Hexblade would be Fighter 1 / Fiend Warlock 3, using variant human for PAM and grabbing Shillelagh through Tome. Dueling FS makes up for the Curse damage bonus and Fiend gives you TempHP on kill, so what you miss out on is the 19-20 crits and ASI at the cost of making the other bonuses always on instead of once per short rest.

>>54104552
>Drizz't
>z't

Why do people do that. It's just Drizzt. There's no apostrophe.

>>54105024
Oh, right, also, the dex barbarogue there has 14 strength. The reckless would be better if they had 16 strength, which is possible.

>>54105024
>Assuming the other barbarian takes half-plate
They can get a breastplate later

>What's wrong with dumping int and charisma?
Nothing

> wisdom?
You will fail every saving throw possible against any mind controlling spell

>>54105024
>Which is pretty critical if the barbarogue decided to take assassin.

Why in the fuck? Do you realize what system this is? Assassin is a bad archetype because Rogues only actually go do solo stuff in bad games. Rolling stealth for surprise will only come up maybe once, and relies on the whole party.

>What's wrong with dumping int and charisma and wisdom?

Why in the fuck? Do you realize what system this is?
INT? Sure. Charisma? Alright, whatever. Wisdom? lol fuck off

>This stops them from efficiently grappling (capitalizing on their high athletics)

Shove/prone is an athletics check anon. It is exactly capitalizing on their strengths.

Your whole argument is dumb because you're giving up some of the greatest multiclass features just for slightly better AC and saves. That's what being a DEX Barbarogue means. It's idiotic.

It's more memer than DEX Barbarian.

>>54105184
It's not even better saves, because he's advocating dumping wisdom.

Y'know the one save where every little bit matters.

>>54105157
>They can get a breastplate later
And thus have lower AC.

>You will fail every saving throw possible against any mind controlling spell
Then get a devotion paladin or if you're really deseperate 6 levels of berserker before switching over to rogue.
It's a +2 save difference between 12 wisdom and 8 wisdom and honestly while that isn't anything to laugh at it's not as important as, say, AC.

>>54105184
What else are you going to get?
>Thief
Depends on the DM if this is effective.
>AT
You don't need GFB/BB, you can't cast while raging. Still a good choice, but eh.
>Swashbuckler
Why are you running away from combat? Also your charisma is going to be shit because you need 13 con/str/dex no matter what and you probably want 14 dex 14 con 14 str no matter what.
>Anything else
Why bother?

One of assassins bigger flaws is that it doesn't give you anything in the midlevels, but you've multiclassed 5 levels out anyway so who cares?
Assassin is a perfect viable choice for a barbarogue, though I'll admit the other choices are good too.
If you can't ever get a chance to use assassins' features then you're fucking up somewhere or the DM's fucking up somewhere.

>slightly better AC
If you use reckless attack to make the most out of strength, you become easier to hit. If you try to grapple, you can't use a shield and attack.
Slightly better AC is immense when you have already high AC, resistance to damage and uncanny dodge and a huge health pool.

>>54105034
good advice, I don't know all of your acronyms though.

PAM, ASI, GWM?

>>54105320
Polearm Master feat
Ability Score Improvement
Great Weapon Master feat

>>54105184
>>54105300
>Shove/prone
Yes, though to be fair your shove/prone isn't much better than a dex barbarogue's, really. Assuming they have decent strength, and they need at least 13 strength in the first place. They'll still have advantage while raging and expertise in athletics if they want it.

>Dumping wisdom
Your DM is shit if they hide everything behind perception and make it a god stat that way. Either that or they make everyone roll it constantly and someone else picks up on it.
Wis saves, again, are kind of an important point but it's only +2 on wis saves at best, and your DM probably won't be throwing endless wis saves at you. The best solution is really to have a devotion paladin because why the fuck don't you have a paladin yet?

What's the best method for stats?
Rolling for Stats
Point Buy
Standard Array
Other

>>54106052
Rolling with point buy as a fallback.

>>54103917
Sword coast guide i believe

>>54106052
Doesn't matter as long as all the players use the same method.

>>54106052
point buy, especially for 5e.
With ASI's, feats, and stat caps, rolling well puts you at an even larger advantage than previous editions

>>54106052
Talk with your players

>>54096466
If i wanted to build a hobgoblin devastator should i go
Ek 6 / evoker x
Ek 6 / abjur x
Ek 6 / lore bard x
Lore bard x / evoker 6
War cleric 2-4 / evoker x
War cleric 2-4 / abjur x
Probabaly starting at 5 and we roll for stats

>>54106073
>Next game DM says we can use anything
>some people are going to roll, some point buy

>>54106370
>DM inevitably bumps the players with low rolls up to at least the level of point buy, thus negating any reason NOT to roll.

Barbarogue is a bad meme.

>>54106438
Last time I did roll-for-stats in 5e, I let the players know there would be no punishment for retiring a character and rolling a new one while they were in the major capital city.

Only two players went through with it, and the game worked pretty smoothly.

>>54106052
There is no best everyone has preferences. I like point buy for more dramatic and tougher games. Stat rolling for casual games where it's just a game and jokes.

>>54106052
Point buy works best for 5e.
Standard array is honestly pretty boring, I wouldn't recommend it unless you don't trust your players to be able to handle something as simple as point buy.
Only do rolling for stats if your players are used to older D&D experiences and demand it.

>>54106438
I'd imagine he'd make someone play 6 8's if they rolled it

>>54106467
Multiclassing in general is a bad meme. Stop doing it.

So I realize 5etools isn't updated as often anymore, but if some intrepid anon feels like putting in the work to add a "Includes ASI" tab to the Feats page I'd be grateful.

>>54106783
Playing any class is the worst meme

>>54106817
>playing dnd
Is this a new meme?

>>54106794
I'm new to 5e, and I'm finding the 5etools in the op link very handy. Are there any supplements or UAs that haven't been added? Looking at the github, I'm not finding any kind of 'needs data entry' lists for unsubmitted stuff.

So I hear there's a bit in the rules where if something would give you proficiency in a saving throw you already know you can swap it to something else. Is this true?

Thinking I'd like to take Resilient (Int) (I have 19), but as I've already got INT saving throw proficiency, put the save into CON.

>>54106882
There's no such rule. If you take resilient (Int) and already have proficiency in Int saves, you're wasting a feat.

>>54106865
Pretty sure it's currently up to date. Unfortunately the original creator got v& for using Roll20 assets or something like that, so the current "curator" just keeps it up to date rather than adding new shit to it.

File: 59519ef409f67.jpg (17KB, 612x340px) Image search: [Google]

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>When you're 28 but she's 14

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46KB, 500x442px

>>54106933
>when you have stage 4 cancer

If someone is using Sanctuary yet there's no other targets in range for the attacker, does the attacker hit the user anyway, hit themselves or not attack at all?

>>54106857
>meming
Is this a new meme?

>>54106897
>Unfortunately the original creator got v& for using Roll20 assets or something like that
Is he okay? Why can't he update 5etools? Did he just stop caring about 5e?

>>54106983
He still plays 5e a lot, just doesn't work on the tools of trove or anything.

>>54106961
>metameming
Is this a new meme?

>>54106933
What, did the bitch go wizard and only take 10 con at level 3 while you went paladin with 14 con?

>make characters of various races genders and backgrounds
>Usually the last to make a character
>Am typically relegated to being the token female character because I like variety in group and no one else ever makes a girl PC
>"Anon why do you always play girl PCs?"
Help.

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42KB, 1029x409px

>>54106897
really, a cease and desist from roll20 and not wotc? suspicious

>>54107155
>female adventurers
Preposterous.

>>54107155
Diversity is a bad meme.

>>54107155
If you want to play a girl, play a girl. If you don't, then don't. It shouldn't be more complicated than that, regardless of what your tablemates say or what you may think you need.

Looking over Mystic stuff
>Level 8 Mystic with Mind Thrust
>2d10+5 (15) PSI damage (Dealt via DC16 INT save, thus probably increasing accuracy considerably)

>Level 8 Mystic with BoomBlade (d8 weapon)
>3d8+5 (17) Thunder/Physical with a potential 2d8 (8) Thunder

Considering you need INT more than STR or DEX anyways (And it costs a Feat for Booming Blade) seems to me like there's no reason not to just use Mind Thrust as your main attack.

>>54107167
He was using Roll20 assets or something I don't remember.

I'm sure some other anons could give you a quick rundown.

>>54107167
To be fair it was someone posting here and they did strongly hint 'Look, just take down the roll20 assets and there'll be no problems' but they kept doing it and then they got an official legal notice.
Which was a damn shame.

However, I wish no ill feelings because the one who maintained the thing did a damn good job without being asked or paid.

At least, I think this is the thing we're talking about.

Okay, so Green Flame Blade and Chilling Hex. Both let you deal damage to a second target, automatically, after hitting the first target.

Whats the nature of a 'target' in 5e? In previous editions, you were always free to attack empty spaces or even the ground.

Can I smack the ground and deal Charisma Mod x2 to my second target? Seems decent in 1 on 1 scenarios, especially at low levels.

>>54107299
Via Crawford's Dragontalk segment, a target is "a creature you choose to be affected by something" or "a creature in an area of effect that is affected by it." Plain English terminology.

And no. Chilling Hex is
>each of your enemies
and Hexblade's Curse itself needs to target a creature.

And GFB specifies that you need to target a creature with the melee weapon attack it grants.

>>54107336
I see. Wishful thinking on my end.

>>54102469

No and yes. I don't add anything to that particular treasure trove. But handling current opportunities well creates bigger opportunities in the future, and bigger opportunities pay better.