/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

Why is 5e so bland and devoid of interesting options? Was it so it would be casualized for normies?

>>54417947
Why are you such a bitch?

Can swords be spell focuses?

still can't believe they wasted an entire unearthed arcana on fucking greyhawk initiative

After two years of play, tonight I suffered my first TPK. I was a little excited to have hit a first, but the rest of the table was upset. I wasn't really attached to the character.

>>54417962
Not an argument.

>>54417991
You do understand that Unearthed Arcana was originally a bunch of variant rules, right? Not extra paragon paths or archetypes or whatever the fuck you guys call them now? That said I agree, initiative is ine of the worst parts of D&D as is, like alignment it's objectively bad and since it's its release better ways of handling combat order have been tried.

>>54417988

RAW I don't think so, but if you ask your DM if you can use some string to tie your wooden holy mark to your sword/axe/mace and he says "no" then it's probably time to find a new DM

>>54417968
You could talk with your DM to see if he allows you to have one bulky skeleton instead of two skeletons, which makes combat faster.
Also, Death Cleric is supposed to be an NPC class, it's within the Creating Nonplayer Characters chapter.

>>54417987
>The human paladin has less strength
Human simply puts 15 Str +1 from racial, it's the same as an half-elf
>the human full casters have less AC or constitution, making it easier to lose concentration as well.
What is War Caster feat

Greyhawk initiative seems like a far worse system to initiative. It makes fights take far longer simply because the amount of extra rolls alone and gathering who goes first.

It doesn't even sound fun.

>>54418004
Not him, but to clarify, his sentence wasn't actually a question but a statement.

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>>54417839
I come across the Skold (shield) Rune in storm king's thunder, should I keep it as is, place it on a weapon or armor?

>>54417839
Well, we play "Princes of Apocalypse" campaign, so...

>>54417947
Why do you think 5e is bland? And what kind of options would you consider interesting?
I have not problem with either of what you mention. On the contrary - i would prefer my game to be even simpler.

>>54418004
It's not an argument anon, but it's a legitimate question. So I'll ask again: why are you such a bitch?

>>54418162
>>54418148
>>54418120
Stop, you'll hurt his widdle feelings.

>>54418067
It's more of the fact I don't like the idea of minions, I've never liked that about Necromancy.

Also
>A player can choose one of these options with your approval.
I don't see how that makes it any more unable to be a player character then UA. You can even play a Death Cleric in AL games if you get the right certificate.

>>54417839
Have a player who is a water genasi and her people are at war with native fire genasi from the elemental plane of fire.

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One of my players is going to be missing tomorrow's session, and since it would normally involve his character quite a bit I wanted to run a pseudo-oneshot that still had an impact on the game (albeit a little one). What I had in mind was sending the other players to the "dream realm" to either confront some evil force or go through a glorified dungeon. Here's the catch though: All the PCs are metallic dragons.

What sort of interesting objects, themes, NPCs, rewards, etc. would be good for such a party. Keep in mind that whatever "story" is behind this dream sequence has to finish within four hours at most, and it should have a tangible result that also doesn't put the missing player out

Crossbow fighter or longbow fighter? Which one is better?

When a multiclass character takes a long rest. When they get half their hit dice back is it for each class level or just the total?

So if a level 12 character was a level 8 barbarian lvl sorcerer 4, can they get 6d12 or does it have to be 4d12+2d6?

Not a big deal just wondering.

>>54418348
hand crossbow fighter.

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>>54417929
This sounds like a good idea for a single separate gem, a gem that gives you a 19-20 crit range on activation, but I'm unsure if it would scale or work well for the sapphire.

Also posting it again just for transparency, should these items work with magic weapons?

>>54418348
Longbow Fighter before level 11- 1d8+15×2
Hand Crossbow Fighter before level 11- 1d6+15×3, can also attack within 5 feet without disadvantage

I dunno anon it's a hard choice.

So anons do you roll or take the safe number for rolling hit points?
I take it on D8s myself

>>54418398
Why so? Hand crossbow doesn't deal much damage and its range is rather limited.

>>54418330
>What sort of interesting objects, themes, NPCs, rewards, etc. would be good for such a party
The best reward of all anon
Adventure.

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>>54418367
Not sure but this might help

>>54418481
*3? I believe you can't reload your crossbow if your other hand is occupied by another crossbow.

Am i wrong?

>>54418538
RAW states that it functions the same as a sling, you can reload with the same hand you fire it with and drawing ammunition is part of the attack.
Unless the DM wants to homebrew your character into the ground.

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>>54418538
>When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a loaded hand crossbow you are holding.

Guess what. A hand crossbow is a one-handed weapon.

Wield a hand crossbow and have a free hand, shit out damage because lmao CBE+SS is even more broken than PAM+GWM.

>>54418564
Errata changed it to "you need to have a free hand to load Ammunition weapons".

>>54418330
Are they young metallics? I'd say maybe have them fight a dracolich or shadow dragon. Or a bunch of giants.

>>54418330
Just throw a bunch of adventurers at them.

>>54418506
Crossbow Expert gives you a Bonus Action attack with a Hand Crossbow if you attacked with a one-handed weapon on your turn.

Hand Crossbows are one-handed weapons.

Attack with a Hand Crossbow and you get an extra attack.

Now apply Sharpshooter to get rid of the long range disadvantage (bringing Hand Crossbow effective range up to 100ft) and add +10 damage to each shot.

Short range? Fixed.
Low damage? Fixed.
Bonus attack? Yes please.

>>54418518
I mean, this isn't a *bad* idea

>>54418609
Fairly young, yeah. They have already fought a dracolich, though shadow dragon has some merits.

>>54418646
"You all come to consciousness in a tavern. There's a heavy beating on the door, along with cries of what sounds like a gnome, a half elf, and a dragonborn wanting to get inside so they can start murderhoboing already. You also realize with terror that your hoards are all stacked up in the corner of the bar. What do?"

>>54418067
>15 15 15 8 8 8
come on now

>>54418565
GWM/PAM and SS/XBE is dumb af. I homeruled those feats don't work together

>>54418715
>15 15 15 8 8 8 because DM doesn't realize 30-32 point buy is better

>>54418703
I'm not sure if your baiting me with your post.
>Extra ASI
>All Fighting Styles
Have someone thats more experienced than me review your post but so far it seems mildly alright.

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In an effort to make the champion class more interesting I am implementing these changes for my tables

1)Remarkable Athlete now grants an extra ASI
2)Additional Fighting Style now gives ALL fighting styles
3)Remarkable Athlete is gained at level 10, Additional Fighting Style is gained at level 7

I think this adds a bunch of versatility without making the class too much stronger

Does this make the class viable at all? Thoughts?

Would it be a good idea to be able to choose class features from within the different archetypes of the same class?

First time dm here. How do I properly build a villain?

>>54418791
only if the DM can houserule that some dont work together. Having an out-of-place eldrich knight feature on a champion that cant cast spells wont really work.

>>54418796
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Credible-Villain-in-Fiction
What Tier of play is he.

a Low-level bandit king?
a Mid-tier Angery Druid?
a High-tier Paladin-Cleric duo?
a Epic-tier lvl24 Arch-Lich

>>54418772
>>54418787
Why would it be bait? Extra ASI doesn't seem to make it too strong since most fighters won't get extra much specific benefit to a build from it (they'll already have enough for 20s and their build feats). All fighting styles just adds versatility. Defense is the only one that stacks so it's pretty much the only one anyone takes at Champ 10, giving all lets you switch up fighting styles situationally

>>54418834
I just assumed it was bait because I'm not familiar with the balancing aspects of homebrewing and an extra ASI seemed strange to me.

>>54418787
Champion isn't all that bad compared to Battlemaster, it levels out at 15 and is actually better with that capstone. If you buff their start without taking something in the end, then there's no reason to go BM.
That said,
>1)Remarkable Athlete now grants an extra ASI
kill yourself

>2)Additional Fighting Style now gives ALL fighting styles
kill yourself

>>54418791
Probably not. At that point you are opening pandoras box. No telling what kinds of insane builds you can get

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How do you handle the Paladin's Find Steed?
Do you let it get saddled and barded? Let the player tell it to telepathically attack?

>>54418831
Low level pirate king, actually. A hill giant and his non-giant crew. I have a specially bad time coming up with motivations.

>>54418834
>Champion with a halberd
>now have 8 ASI
>20 STR 20 CON
>PAM GWM Sentinel Lucky
>GWF Defense Tunnel Fighter

>Champion hand crossbow
>20 DEX 20 CON
>CBE SS Lucky +1 one extra whatever feat to boot, pick fucking ritual caster, whatever
>Archery Close Quarters Shooter Defense Mariner

never homebrew again

>>54418856
Assuming two 16 stat starts (Dex/Str+Con) you get two 20s and 3 feats RAW. No build really needs more than that to go online anyway (PAM/GWM etc). An extra asi either means a luxury pick or more balances abilities
>>54418861
Real constructive retard. Explain to me how giving all fighting styles does anything bad balance wise

>Played in an Encounters session tonight
>most of the party is Level 2
>joined by two Level 4 characters, a wizard and a ranger
>the two Level 4s basically solo a combat encounter to the point that the rest of the party didn't even need to be there
>they then basically proceed to troll the entire Level 2 party with spells we can't counter, just for TEH LULZ
>magically trapping people inside their clothes, turning people's clothing invisible so that they're basically naked, generally just being douchebags
>DM is not only letting them do it, but laughing uproariously at their antics
>multiple members of the Level 2 party are quite literally asking "What the actual fuck?!?" as the DM says that it all happens the way the dice say it happens

God damn it. This is what our party gets for inviting in two players whose own DM didn't show up. A bunch of Chaotic Evil Trolls who basically used us as a "look how powerful we are compared to you" ego trip.

And the DM we've been playing with for a month or more letting them get away with it.

At some point he really should have said something to the effect of "enough is enough, please stop fucking around with my players."

>>54418899
Depends if he can get a psionic steed.

>>54418952
They're telepathic with an INT of 6 and understand a language of choice iirc

>>54418934
>allowing UAs carte blanche
>allowing GWM/PAM or SS/XBE
never post again

>>54418962
But can they telepathically attack?

>>54418979
The retard proposing those changes is allowing weapon feats, get fucked you nigger
>XBE
Ugh.

>>54418979
I agree, allowing upitty martial cucks anything useful to them is silly. Trying to compete with wizards lol

>>54418934
>can't even figure out ways to improve the build straight line with ASIs so chooses luxury feats like lucky or ritual caster thus proving my point
kek

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>>54418999
>But can they telepathically attack?
kek now I get it
I meant as in the Player telling it telepathically through their link to kick shit in

>>54418787
Here's what I did to buff Remarkable Athlete:
>You add half proficiency to all Str, Dex and Con checks, as long as you don't already have expertise applied.
>Once per long rest you can exercise for 10 minutes and gain the effects of Enhance Ability (Bull's Strength or Cat's Grace).

>>54418943
wait till nightfall, slit their throats, done. Level 4 wizard has what, 22 hp?

>>54419002
I don't allow them so that builds are more varried rather than a bunch of Fighters/Rogues/Rangers/Paladins/Barbs all using the same fucking weapons and feats every game

>>54419015
>expects me to dedicate a thorough review of the feats to pick an extra one just to prove you wrong instead of just referring to the generally accepted wild card feats that fit anyone about as well
>thinks lucky is a luxury feat
>thinks people won't have the liberty to pick feats that fit the campaign like resilient wis or dex depending on your needs
kys

>>54419028
I wanted the extra feat to give the class versatility. Maybe grabbing feats like sentinel, shielmaster, mobile to give them more things to do in combat rather than move + attack. Battlemasters get 12-18+ superiority dice in a RAW suggested adventuring day while champions get (just attack every turn)

>>54419102
Champion is literally designed around that, for people that don't want to read rules. You're massively missing the point of the Archetype, m8

Anyone got a PDF for matt Mercer campaign

>>54418861
This. Personally I just make their level 3 also give +1 Attack/Damage which seems alright.

>>54419044
No idea.

I doubt they'll be back. They've had their fun at our expense. Hopefully.

And if they do come back, I'm fairly certain almost the entire party would tell them to fuck off and find somebody else to torment.

I don't mind some goofing around, but blatant "we're gonna fuck with you for no real reason, and you're powerless to stop it", that's just mean spirited, and isn't winning them any friends.

As for the DM, his enjoyment of them fucking with us is making me reconsider playing at his table.

>>54419102
Champion is literally designed to just be "I attack the bad thing": the archetype. Some people enjoy playing that way.

>>54419126
>Anyone got a PDF for matt Mercer campaign

Here you go, somebody posted it in the last Critical Role thread:

Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting

https://dnd.rem.uz/5e%20D%26D%20Books/Third%20party/Critical%20Role/Tal%27Dorei%20Campaign%20Setting.pdf

>>54419022
Yeah sure. Honestly if the steed dies, you can re-summon it later.

>>54419126
Someone posted the link on a critical role thread. If it's not in the catalog, should be in the archive. I downloaded the stuff myself.

>>54419022
I can't see why not. It's not like it's a stupid ass phb ranger amirite?
But not if you're actually riding it, or so say the Mounted Combat rules. It's the exchange for getting advantage on stuff.

>>54419095
You're not getting it. No feat you can pick is going to pump the straight line power level of a build. Lucky is hardly going to spike your dps, resilient isn't going to do that either. Also you are clearly retarded since you can't come up with anything besides "kys" for a conversation
>>54419119
>>54419143
The class is weak. Unless completely optimized it falls behind unoptimized builds. No reason not to give the underpowered "attack the target" class an extra chance to do other things without imcreasing dps

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I return with further Martial Feat "rebalancing".

Starting with GWM. I was going to make a separate one for Finesse and non-Heavy/non-Finesse weapons, but it's easier to just lump them all into one.

>Deadly Attacks
You've mastered striking enemies where their defenses are weakest. You gain the following benefits:

• On your turn, when you score a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action.

• Before you make a melee attack with a melee weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to not add your Proficiency Bonus to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add your Proficiency Bonus to the attack's damage. If you are wielding the weapon with two hands via the Versatile or Two Handed traits, you instead add double your Proficiency bonus to the attack.

This seems to me like it's in a "decent" place, GWM now scales better in both damage and chance to hit in addition to making Versatile weapons a lot better overall.

Dual Wielder, made mainly to go with new GWM (And to hopefully make a competitor to PAM+GWM and CBE+SS)

>Dual Wielding Master
You master fighting with two weapons, gaining the following benefits:

• You gain a +1 bonus to AC while you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand.

• You can use two-weapon fighting even when the one-handed melee weapons you are wielding aren't light.

• You can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one.

• If both Two Handed Weapons you are wielding are Versatile, you count as wielding both of them in two hands.

This makes TWF significantly stronger, (Still needs TWF style to be fully effective), while also making STR TWF more viable since there isn't any Finesse Versatile weapons. With this you can pick either PAM+GWM for the chance of Reaction Attacks or TWF with GWM for more damaging attacks without reach. (Think of it as the melee equivalent to CBE.)

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>want to make a wizard
>realizing summoning is gimped
>Necro not so Necro anymore

Fuck. Anyone got anything else with some spells in it for a specific themed wizard? Kind of not used to that class.

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>>54419209
On to the ranged feats.

This is pretty much identical to Sharpshooter, except that it includes Thrown Weapons.

>Deadly Marksman
You have mastered ranged and thrown weapons and can make shots that others find impossible. You gain the following benefits:

• Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged and thrown weapon attack rolls.

• If you make a thrown weapon attack, you can draw another weapon if at least one hand is free as part of the attack.

• Your ranged and thrown weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.

• Before you make an attack with a ranged weapon that you are proficient with, you can choose to not add your Proficiency Bonus to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you add your Proficiency Bonus to the attack's damage. If you are wielding the weapon with two hands via the Versatile or Two Handed traits, you instead add double your Proficiency bonus to the attack.

Crossbow Expert revamped to be more of a "Ranged Weapon" master. The biggest change is allowing Hand Crossbows to be used with a shield or one-handed weapon and a weaker Sharpshooter, replacing the Hand Crossbow super-damage spam with the Shortbow (When combined with the above revamped Sharpshooter).

>Ranged Weapon Master
Thanks to extensive practice with ranged weapons, you gain the following benefits:

• You ignore the loading quality of crossbows with which you are proficient, and can load Hand Crossbows with both hands full if you are not Grappled or Restrained.

• Being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.

• When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed weapon, you can use a bonus action to attack with a hand crossbow you are holding.

• When you use the Attack action and attack a target within 100 feet with a Shortbow, you can use a bonus action to attack again with your Shortbow if your target is within 100 feet.

>>54419175
Thank you very much

>>54419204
>power is just damage
>rerolling a miss/failed save isn't power
>turning a disadvantage into super advantage isn't power
>not spending 3 turns feared running from the dragon isn't power
>not dodging out of 90 damage worth of fire breath isn't power
What can I say, you should really kill yourself.

>The class is weak.
[citation needed]
Run the damage calculations before you come shit up a perfectly good thread with your stupid ass bullshit.

>>54418367
>>54418521
That doesn't answer my question but thanks all the the same

>>54418502
So you'll take your chances with a d6&d8 but not a d10 or d12? Sound smart.

>>54419246
I don't play Barbs at least not yet
And taking a 5 on a 8 feels better to me than taking a 6 on a 10
It's just one of those things man

>>54419209
Only issue I see is the crit extra attack does nothing for twf

>>54419175
How often is there a CR thread??

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>in a dungeon
>meet a rebel group
>they have a mage npc
>shows he can do magic
>i do it too
>he keeps trying to one up me
>we get in an arcana off
>i fucking lose
>whole time we're in combat the fucko laughs at me and taunts me and shows off

>>54419209
>>54419226
Please use a tripcode

>>54419268
Yeah that's a bit iffy, but I figure always getting your bonus attack (Which is stronger than a PAM bonus attack, assuming you have the TWF style) makes up for it.

In addition, Barbarian should be able to get TWF.

>>54419244
rerolling one dice roll 3 times a day isn't as strong as you think

also damage wise the champion falls behind battlemaster for like 17 levels and that's before you actually add the effects of manuevers. How about you think through things before ruining a thread with your mindless bullshit

>>54419306
Don't worry anon, that's all the retarded shit I'll be posting.

>>54419229
Not a problem.

I haven't had much of a chance to read through it yet myself.

But one thing I have noticed is that the inability to actually use the names of the Gods is a bit distracting. Especially if you don't really know what their titles or nicknames are.

>>54419273
Once per episode, with maybe one extra in a week if the discussion is ongoing.

It boils down to
>Grog/Travis is best
>Marisha is the worst in every conceivable way
>SJW+anti CR copy pasta
so the threads are only worth having to discuss specific events, such as Darin De Paul being awesome and Marisha shitting it up again.

>>54419273
Pretty much with every new episode.

It's half people who don't like it bitching that it even exists, and half people calling out Keyleth/Marisha over her idiotic decisions.

And somewhere in there is actual plot discussion of the current episode and several previous episodes. And the show as a whole.

>>54419310
It is. It is so strong, in fact, that a watered-down version of it is apparently good enough to be a fighter feature thrice.

So with your changes, the Champion starts equal with the BM, to just blow it the fuck away in the later levels. Sure solved the balance between subclasses, fucker.

>>54419330
Damn I wish I could shit talk druid more

>>54419368
Just wait till thursday, it's at least 1/3 of every thread.

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New to DMing, how easy is it to convert creatures from older editions of dnd to 5e? The core monster manual doesn't really have anything I need, and seems to be very lacking in humanoid creatures.

>>54419362
It's so strong that it's one of the worst abilities a fighter gets. Good point. Lemme know the next time you go to 13 Fighter multiclass to pick it up

With my changes champion starts weaker than BM and ends about the same with still less versatility. Great pointn ya got me

>>54419389
Volo's Guide to Monsters has more stats for humanoids, might be worth checking out before you try to convert stuff.

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>>54419389
WotC put out a guide that's... okay-ish. Be sure to read the DMG guide on CR calculation.

You can put together nice-looking statblocks easily with this: http://www.critterdb.com/#/index

And calculate CR more easily with this: https://astranauta.github.io/crcalculator.html

>>54419389
What are you trying to convert? Volos has more stuff and the DMG has an extensive list of npc template modifiers for humanoids

So I've seen it in an earlier edition (or Pathfinder, I'm not certain where) that someone made elemental dragons. By that, I mean dragons that gained power from, or were corrupted by, the primal, raw, chaotic forces of the various Elemental Planes in D&D. But I'd not seen anyone do such a thing for 5th edition, so I'm trying to do a rough draft/outline for these Primordial Dragons. My current thinking for these is they all are at least Large or Huge size, and are definitely aimed at a high CR, probably 20+. They still have Legendary Actions and Legendary Resistances as a normal dragon.

> Earth Dragon
Gigantic HP pool, high AC due to scales embedded with gemstones, immune to acid damage, resistant to slashing, piercing damage from non-magical weapons, resistant to poison, can't be forced to move or shift position as the result of a failed save vs. a skill or a spell. Uses it's sheer weight/size to defeat its foes, and the breath weapon is literally breathing boulders at people, and if you fail the DC saving throw you're buried in rocks and can't move until the end of your next turn. Doesn't have a high movement speed on land or in the air, but literally swims through the earth for most of its movement.

> Air Dragon
Fast as all hell and the fastest fly speed of the four elemental dragons, lowest HP pool of the four. Relies on multiple hits and hit-and-run tactics to survive, with the breath weapon being a combination of tornado-speed winds to deal slashing damage and lightning damage in a large cone. The dragon is more air than flesh, and what few objects in its body that are physical are almost literally bones made of air and teeth made of lightning. Immune to lightning damage, resistant to poison, slashing, piercing, bludgeoning damage from non-magical weapons.

(Continued below).

>>54419209
>>54419226
Where's the rest of your rebalances? This is the first I've seen it, so how did you tackle PAM?

>Make it so Large Creatures (And creatures that count as Large) do 2+2x[STRmod] with Unarmed Strikes, Huge do 3+3x[STRmod], etc.
>Also allow creatures that "count as Large" to wield Large weapons (Though not Huge, as that starts getting to the point where you can't fit the weapons through doorways.)

Does this break anything other than making Firbolg STR Monks capable of shitting damage at the cost of AC, and making Unarmed Goliath Tavern Brawler Bearbarians super scary?

It seems silly that a Goliath Barbarian able to lift a car without even doing a STR check (Powerful Build, Bear Totem, Brawny, 20 STR has a carry capacity of 2,400 lbs) does as much damage with a punch as a Gnome with 20 STR. (Carry capacity of 300)

>>54419411
It doesn't and it doesn't. Go ahead and introduce it anyway, it's your own game you'll be shitting. But don't come here and pretend it's something it isn't. You could easily show your changes are due by cooking up a simple spreadsheet with some damage comparisons and sample events in which your changes would show themselves necessary and appreciated.

>>54419462
Those are all I had for now. In my opinion PAM is decent as is, it's the +10 damage per hit that makes it spiral out of control.

If I get to the point where I have enough of them I might consider compiling them into a .pdf.

>>54419439
Nothing specific, I have a few older monster manuals laying around with a wider variety of creatures and was just wondering what I'd need to do to convert them. I suppose I only really need to change hit points and damage though?

>>54419441
(Continued from above).

> Water Dragon
The smartest of the four, uses it's fluid nature to compress and shift around the battlefield. Likes to fight in water if at all possible, as every round it's in the water it heals some number of hit points. The breath weapon is a line of high-pressure water dealing piercing and cold damage. Will run if it feels the fight is turning against it, the desire to live/survive overpowering it's need to fight. Slow on land, ok in the air, moves through water like it's not even there.

> Fire Dragon
Arguably the most lethal of the four, and the most dangerous. Immune to fire damage, resistant to slashing, piercing, bludgeoning damage from non-magical weapons. It's blood is literal lava, scales glowing a constant radiant heat as though you were standing next to an open lava flow. Any melee hit splashes lava onto you in the form of fire damage, and if you're next to it when it's turn starts you get singed for some fire damage. The breath weapon is more a cone of lava than a gout of flame, and its claws are razor sharp obsidian nails. Not too hard to hit, probably the second lowest HP pool, but will fight to its death or the death of its foes once a fight begins, looking to consume all in its path.

My main concern is this: I'm looking to use similar stat blocks of an Adult or Ancient Chromatic Dragon (Black for Earth, Blue for Air, Red for Fire, White for Water), but I want to try and beef up one of the scores to a stupid high level, to represent the pure elemental power these dragons possess. High CON for Earth, high DEX for Air, high WIS for Water, and high STR for Fire. I know this will screw with the math on the to-hits, damage, and save DCs of the various attacks, but is said beefing up going to make the CR to a point where even a high-fantasy, high-magic item, high-level party is going to see these guys and go, "nope, fuck that, we're out of here."

>>54419496
Personally, I think PAM should just be expanded to two handed weapons in general, rather than just exclusively polearms. It isn't like the weapon class sucks anyway.

>>54419486
It does and it does. You can continue running games in which champion is only used for 3 levels in crit fishing Pally or Barb builds. You literally just sat here complaining that rerolling 3 dice a day makes Champion blow BM out of the water. You don't even understand the game enough to see how that's laughably retarded

>>54419507
Hit points, attack/damage, AC, saves/skills are the biggest. Resistances and legendary/lair actions are a bit more grey area

>>54419266
You getting diminishing returns. 4/6 is 66.66% of the total possible. 5/8 is 62.5% of the total possible. 6/10 is 60% ect.

But you're also risking lost out more as you die size increases. So I tend to play it safe myself.

Question how long does one dose of poison last? Is it just one hit or multiple hits?

>>54419575
You don't understand simple phrases. Crit 18-20 + survivor + 1 extra feat to your heart's content blows BM the fuck out.

>>54419629
They already get the first two so effectively you are saying Lucky blows them out. You're just trolling though so it's cool

>>54419616
Depends on the type of poison

>>54419219
>Summoning
Is Druid territory. Possibly their most powerful spells and the area they dominate.

>Necro
Is about skeleton hordes. Death Cleric is for anyone not focusing on skeletons.

>>54419219
Necromancer is crazy powerful with the right set-up, though your DM has to be able to cope with it.

>>54419307
>addition, Barbarian should be able to get TWF.

Everyone can. You just need a pair of light weapons.

>>54419735
I mean the fighting style

>>54417839
Is dominate person a save or die?
Our group can't decide if an NPC that dominated a PC should be able to make him kill himself.

>>54419209
>>54419226
Here's one for you:

Versatile Warrior
You can use Versatile weapons for both offense and defense.
* While wielding a Versatile weapon with both hands, you gain a +1 bonus to your AC and may add that weapon's Enhancement bonus, if any, to your AC. This counts as a shield.
* When you use your Reaction to make an attack with a Versatile weapon, such as an Opportunity Attack, you gain Advantage on that attack.

Okay guys.

Level 4 Assassin. Variant human, with weapon master and crossbow expert feats. Heavy crossbow, sniping bitches left and right.

Will it work?

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>>54419798
>Enhancement bonus

>going through each individual classes list of skills and abilities and rewording them for their future equivalent (it's not a magic bolt, it's a psionic burst!), as not to destroy my players suspension of disbelief
>feel like dying

After over an hour of doing this I suddenly realize that I could just only do the first level abilities, and then leave any more work until I know what classes they pick. I'm retarded.

>>54419671
One of the injury poisons. Wyvern Poison and Purple Worm Poison.

>>54419810
Probably not but it sure beats playing "yeah... I walk up and do my basic strike again..."

>>54419813
Sorry, old edition speak still gets to me.

> you gain a +1 bonus to your AC. If that weapon is magic, you may also add its bonus to attack and damage rolls to your AC.

>>54419819
Lol. Why even waste the time? Most of them are time nuetrel and you can let your PCs rename them according to their character

>>54418029

what's a good way to handle combat order?

>>54419876
Because if I don't figure out how each class fits into the world, the setting falls apart. I can't just go "warlock... uhhh.... I don't know pretend it's cyber-shit."

>>54419876
>>54419986

The whole thing is fucked anyway, because I know everyone will want to use a gun, so immediately I have three fucking Rangers running around, which will tear up my shit trying to balance

>>54417839
Feasible ways for a martial to shut down enemy casters without them getting off a spell? Can grappling prevent somatic casting?

>>54420096
>Be a Shadow Monk (Or any kind of Monk but Shadow works best)
>Teleports behind u
>Unsheathes Silence for V components, Darkness for spells that require sight, or just straight Stunning Strike for no spells at all

Well built Monks played by non-retarded players take fat shits on single enemies.

Can a Rogue with haste do this?

>Hasted Action
Attack (Sneak Attack)
>Bonus Action
Attack/Cunning Action
>Action
Ready Action to attack when an ally gets closer to X target.

>Trigger occurs
Attack (Sneak Attack)

>Stunning Strike
>Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent's body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

If I'm reading this right, I can try a Stunning Strike more than once per turn?

>>54420124

>Implying Monks are martials.

They have magic expressly mentioned in the fluff for them.

>>54420144
Yes.

>>54420152
Yes.

>>54420153
If you want to be pedantic about it Totem Barbarian is magical bullshit too. Does that make a Bearbearian a Gish?
Martial doesn't necessarily mean "nonmagic".

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What would a coven of Green Hags ask of a druid (and his party) to give them the location of a legendary item?

>>54420157
Would you consider this >>54420144 metagamey or exploitive?

>>54420207
Maybe, but not enough to matter. Rogue damage is middle-of-the-line an allowing Haste to improve them that much is fine, especially with how it eats up their action economy and has as that horrible lose-a-turn side effect.

>>54420153
>>54420124
I'm playing a fighter, but I'm pretty stealthy. I tend to get on top of the casters before they know what's happening but it doesn't end up mattering. They get off all their big spells before they die.

Can I grapple and cover their mouths to prevent verbal?

>>54420219
That falls under the magical category of "depends on your DM". Hence Monk being so good at it. You stun a nigga and there's no "well they can still waggle their dick a bit to shoot a fireball", it's a trip straight to get fucked town.

How are you supposed to design encounters? I've DM'd two sessions and both times I just stole encounters directly from the book.

How am I supposed to design fun, exciting, challenging encounters when the game is based around rolling dice? They could just get shit rolls and then be absolutely up a creak.

Is there like a math program that compares the PC classes and level to the number of enemies and healthpoints or something? Because I am completely baffled as to how anyone's actually able to properly balance an encounter.

>>54420230
Yeah. I'll talk to my DM.

I've tried as hard as I can to find answers myself but can't find shit. It just seems like that's a slippery slope. What's to stop an enemy barbarian from grabbing my sword arm and stopping me from attacking.

I'll try to figure something else out. Maybe burn action surge and slap on some manacles after I grapple them.

>>54420264
I'm sorry about the answer I'm about to give, but it's really something you just have to do by gut feeling to do really well.

There are encounter generators but they're usually really underwhelming and trivial, even when they say they're deadly.

Kobold fight club is the only encounter generator I know of that's worth a shit here.

>>54419516
About your question at the end, I feel like the only thing that could break it is stupidly high CON, because that's the stat used for the breath weapon DC. If we're talking CR 20+, that's at least a +6 proficiency. With a CON between 26~30, that means your Earth Dragon could have a breath weapon DC anywhere between 22 and 26. To be fair, Ancient Blacks already have a save DC 23, so there's that.

The highest DC there can be is 27, but we're talking Tiamat level here.

>>54420264
Fudge rolls. Change numbers on the fly. You're the only one who knows how much HP each monster has. Have your HP but also decide something like "3 hits and the monster will go down". Figure out how your party likes to fight best, and throw things at them that breaks away from their comfy fighting style.

>>54420096
>>54420153

Archer Battlemaster Fighter with Alert and Sharpshooter feats. Mage Slayer and Crossbow Expert will also benefit you but Alert will allow you to attack before the magic user can.

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>>54419516
To avoid the party ditching the encounter, incentivise them. Perhaps overcoming a dragon (combat or otherwise) will provide a boon to overcome the next dragon.

Maybe each dragon also has a weakness that somewhat nullifies their abilities such as the earth dragon being vulnerable to thunder damage or soaking it in water slows it down further.

Overcoming/placating the dragons might result in the party becoming rulers of a fiefdom which presents it's own problems...

>>54420370
I'm not having trouble doing damage, and I have mage slayer. It's just I sort of hoped for a way to prevent them from whipping that fireball at my party before they went down.

>>54418565
Someone mind expanding out these acronyms for me?

>>54420310
>>54420367

Also how important is fulfilling different class roles? Because I have a ranger, a rogue, and two monks. Did I mess up by letting them do that? Should I have just forced a Fighter/Cleric/Wizard on them?

>>54420450
Just learn to AYS-TNN and BAM-BOP

Keep it sizzlin, poppa

>>54420450
They're feats.
Polearm master+Great weapon master and Sharpshooter+Crossbow expert

The sure sign of a powergamer. If you see someone in your group go for this shit, drop them like it's hot.

>>54420459
Nah. It'll be fine. 2 monks is weird though. They'll probably get fucked if you throw lots of mooks at them at once.

>>54420459
No. DnD doesn't have roles.

>>54420450
Crossbow Expert.
Sharpshooter.
Polearm Master.
Great Weapon Master.

>>54420459
Nope, just be aware of what they can and can't do. Give them problems they need a cleric for - do they know any? Have they pissed off the local clergy? Or do those monks know someone? What about the contacts the rogue has, or what druid circles the ranger may have cooperated with at some time?

>>54420500
>>54420494
Thanks both

>>54420494
>They'll probably get fucked if you throw lots of mooks at them at once.
What? That's where Rangers and Monks are the best at damage.

>>54420459
No. That's party sounds fucking awesome.

this is going to sound weird but what race would best fit the indian people, im trying to do a campaign in a real world time scenario and im wondering what race has a culture that fits that of the indians?

>>54417947

It's more to keep the Pathfaggots out. Works great.

>>54420645
Indian as in curry nigger or Indian as in owns casinos and are alcoholics?

>>54420661
curry nigger but for i might want casino alcoholics as well

>>54417991

It's not wasted, they just used what would have otherwise have been a dead week for Mearls to work the bug out of his ass over it.

I'm more irritated that they felt the need to publish that bloated mess. Clock Initiative can be fun but 5e isn't designed for it and adding a bunch of unneeded dice-fondling to obscure that fact is the wrong direction entirely.

I try to keep in mind that they sure as hell didn't hire Mearls for his ability to design rule systems, but letting him put his more embarrassing stuff on the official website is just tragic. Especially Mass Combat.

>>54420681
Well you got a few options but I think Goblinoids with their caste system are a decent fit, or Gensai if you want to make that a distinct race since Genies are pretty blatantly Indian/middle eastern. There's also Tabaxi, though I don't know anything about their actual culture so whether or not that makes any sense is anyone's guess.
You could also do Dwarves, but Dwarves can be shoehorned into literally any "strange foreigner from a powerful race/kingdom" role and work well.

As for Native Americans, pretty much any of the "muh nature" races or Barbarian races can fit- I'd say Orcs for the savage bad guy natives and Firbolgs for the "muh spiritualism good guys" natives, depending on which flavor is more fitting for your setting.

>>54417839
You are a DM, and a player in the party wants to make Dex fighter that dual wields shields.
Now, obviously this is a dumb gimmick, though totally hilarious. He's not going to deal any damage, and personally I would go over the rules and give him the AC from 2 shields. I would also talk with him and give him bonuses to bullrush, to defending a grapple, and give him some easy way to knock people prone.

You aren't allowed in this case to tell him no. How do you make this work for everyone?

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>>54420681
>>54420722
Actually another one that comes to mind that isn't done a lot is Halfling or Gnome Indians, they seem like either one could be a good fit. Make Rock Gnome more of a mystical artificer than a clockwork one and it's a good fit.

Indians can be played as silly as fuck or 100% serious murder empire, so really it depends on which flavor you want.

>>54420722
thanks for ideas for races for actual indians

for the native americans i was planning to have both the muh spiritualism natives (the natives found more in US and Canada) and the violent ones (south america and mexico)

now does anyone have any ides for muslims and/or turks

>>54417988

RAW, no. But:

1) War Caster lets you cast with your hands full of weapons/shields.

2) Shields can be Divine Focuses, but not Arcane Focuses

3) A weapon with the two-handed property can be held in one hand. You only require two hands when specifically making the attack.

4) An Arcane crystal can be attached anywhere, but you still need a free hand to use it.

5) Magical Items can specify that they can be used as a focus even if they normally wouldn't be, like Tomb of the Stilled Tongue.

So just because RAW says 'no' doesn't mean that SOMETHING shouldn't be worked out.

>>54417839
What do you all think of this house ruling to create a Minion -style monster group for 5th edition?

http://gmtable.blogspot.com/2015/09/minions-mobs.html

>>54420197
Help?

>>54418148
>5e is bland

Likely the lack of character options beyond typical fantasy tropes and the lack of customisation options for an individual character.

As a simplistic example the ability to make say a merchant with a high diplomacy skill, whose dabbled in some magic but also knows how to play an instrument. 5E decided that for the most part players don't actually care much for that so you just get to play the basic archetypes most people pick with some fluffy background options to simulate all of that extra stuff. Likewise the flat math in 5E means that creating a specialised character as above is ineffective as there's not much functional mechanical difference between specialist and non-specialist characters.

My main issue with 5E is more the lack of mechanics and rules to adjudicate multiple situations making me forced to homebrew stuff which makes me wonder why I paid money for a rules set.

>>54420264
Make them dangerous, put cool creatures in there that lead to a story hook. Ie, get your lower level-ish characters to fight an Illithid, or your higher level ones to fight an Illithid sorcerer. Then lead into a story that way.
I tend to steer away from normal encounters. I find it's more fun to design the world such that it's relatively safe unless you actively go and do something dumb.

>>54420745
>muslims
Drow. Literally just get Drow culture and make the males wear burkas. Instant Muslims.

>>54418074

It's awful. The main point of Clockwork Initiative is that you don't have to waste time with dice to begin with. Worse, the secondary point of it is that by being judicious with your actions you can get yourself extra turns or cheat your opponents out of them, whereas 5e is balanced around everyone getting 1 full set of actions per round.

It's the worst thing he's put his name on since his version of Mass Combat.

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>>54420794
>Take Drow
>Swap Darkvision and Sunlight Sensitivity for no darkvision and some kind of advantage on saves against Blindness caused by light (Or leave them as is and just make their middle east super dark due to magical bullshit)
It's actually a good fit for desert muslim types.

>>54420813
Actually thought of one better-
>Rather than desert being super dark, it's simply uninhabitable during the day like a toned down version of that moon prison in Riddick, so the ecosystem is entirely nocturnal and every dawn is a scramble for cover from PELOR, THE BURNING HATE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGOvH1T-dsA

It fits because Riddick is literally a Drow character made human and set in space

>>54420420
Rogue 11 / Bard 2 with Alert will almost always beat enemy initiative (min. 15+DEX), and gets Expertise on Grapples.

Every other martial is at initiative's mercy, though Barbarian and UA Ranger get advantage so they're not so bad.

>>54418029
What's so bad about 5e initiative?

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>>54418001
>tfw never been tpk'd

Is this so much to ask for?

>>54420459
Flip through the monster manual and look for stuff you think looks cool. I had my level one party fight two swarms of rats which was actually pretty deadly to them due to the mechanics of it and it was a lot more interesting than just beating up some animals or disorganized goblins.
Worst case scenario you kill someone and the party starts taking shit seriously.

>>54420782
>merchant with a high diplomacy skill, whose dabbled in some magic but also knows how to play an instrument.
That's literally a bard with the guild merchant background. I'm not going to say every concept ever can function, but you seem to have a very narrow view of what works with existing mechanics.

>>54417839
Tell me fellow DMs: am I a bad GM? We recently started a new round with friends. And obviously they decided to play a murderhobo campaign. So, nearly no roleplay, slay everything, try to solve problems using violence and force.

I'm the forever DM of our group. Problem is, I have no interest at all in DMing such a campaign. I'll have to invest a lot of free time preparing the campaign and I simply do not want to simply be an analog combat simulator.

When I discussed this with my friends, we recognized that they were so used to me being the DM, that they never even thought about whether I would like a play style they'd chose.

We agreed to find some compromise, or at least play a real fun murderhobo campaign, like the Goblins!-Adventure from pathfinder.

I just wanted to ask, how do you see this? To what length would you undermine your own fun for the sake of the PCs?

>>54418252
>You can even play a Death Cleric in AL games if you get the right certificate

Really? What certificate and how do you get it?

>>54420494
What if those feats required 16 in the relevant stat?

>>54420956
If you're not enjoying it there's really no point running it you won't have the motivation to make anything good and the game will collapse.

Design what you want to run and find players who want to play that. If your current group aren't those players then suggest you just play boardgames or whatever with them since they just want combat. Or perhaps suggest one of them run the game they want to play.

Where is the line between making a good character and powergaming?

>>54421104
Good character: one combat-dedicated feat
Powergaming: two combat-dedicated feats

>>54421104
When you start robbing other players of their spotlight/time.

>>54418479
>their

This triggers me.

>>54421143
>Powergaming: two combat-dedicated feats

Really now?

>>54421221
GWM: you can cleave through creatures with your massive swings, you are a juggernaut with a sword
PAM: you can swing polearms around knocking people around and can ready yourself at a moment's notice to take on a charging enemy
GWM/PAM: fuck off

SS: you have incredible aim with a bow, shooting around people and objects and hitting people in vital spots
CBE: you can reload so fast you pepper people with shots even at close ranger
SS/CBE: fuck off

>>54421254

You named two possible combos out of all the feats in the game. What about Spear Mastery and Mage slayer?

>>54421269
Mage Slayer is situational so it gets a pass. GWM, PAM, CBE, and SS are *always* useful.

>>54421285

so how does it follow that 2 feats = powergaming?

>trying to homebrew up a pilot class whose main functions are behind the twelve joysticks of a walking battle tank.

I'm pretty sure I have attempted to take on an impossible task. Either it feels power and he's OP compared to everyone else, or it feels normal, in which case, what's the point- you're basically just telling him if he ever gets out he'll severely limit himself for no gain, so why even pick a mech class if you're not even going to be extra powerful inside to make up for your lack of regular power?

>>54421269
Mage Slayer is flavorful and mechanically of minor benefit. PAM/GWM/SS/CBE are their own tier of feats, followed by Shield Master and Magic Initiate(for stat relevant cantrip), and then down significantly from there. Design wise, things should be closer to Shield Master than the big feats, and not reliant on +1 attack bonus like the weapon feats.

Ideally, the big 4 should be less reliant on power attack and free hits, and focus more on their rider effects, with a smaller numerical bonus.

>>54421319
Wrong tab or are you truly insane?

>>54421319
Playing a pilot is like playing a decker, unless everyone can participate in an event/campaign/feature, no one is satisfied. The pilot/decker will be bored 90% of the time, unable to contribute meaningfully, and everyone else is bored 10% of the time, when they can't do anything.

Jedi with non-jedi suffer similar issues in many SW games.

>>54421296
Different anon here, I think he's trying to imply that if you take two combat-only feats, you are a powergamer.

My guess is that his logic/experiences with 5th edition is that because not many groups get to a high enough level to get enough ASIs to have multiple feats, that if someone goes for something like GWM + PAM, you are looking to exercise a large advantage in combat in exchange for loss of stats and/or roleplay options.

But some classes (mainly Fighter) have so many ASIs early on because it's expected they get multiple feats to maximize their effectiveness in combat, so does that mean every Fighter is a powergamer?

>>54421344
>so many ASIs early on because it's expected they get multiple feats to maximize their effectiveness in combat
Or, ya know, the exact opposite of that. Most of the combat feats are obviously built to be stand alone, and it's likely it was never intended to have more than one. The rest would thus go to flavor and non-combat options, so you don't get the bored fighter syndrome.

It doesn't really work, but i definitely think that's a more likely design intent.

>>54421342
Not anon but I fail to see how playing a Jedi is incompatible with normals. Some people are blastering, and one guy is doing his swishy sword shit. What's difficult about that?

>>54421378
It's a mechanics issue. The majority of SW games throughout time have had Jedi be super heroes, while everyone else is fighters. Think of CoDzilla, except it also literally just also fights better too. Most systems aren't designed to 'make up' for force use in any way for non-jedi.

I've also heard of even worse things, like entire books/arcs dedicated to lightsaber parts/crystals, which are entirely uninteresting to blaster pilot.

Shield master lets you add your shield's AC bonus to dex saves from an effect that targets only you. Does this include AoE attacks that would only hit me?

>>54419850

Sounds broken desu. Basically gives you a shield (at higher levels when magic weapons are more common) while still able to use a two handed weapon for damage.

>>54417988

In my experience, most DMs will give it to you as long as you're reasonable when you present it.

>>54421398
No. Think of it this way, you can take 0 damage by interposing your shield in time, and you have "cover" from your shield from targeted beams and the like.

It's half "your shield gives half cover" and half "you have evasion".

>>54421340
>>54421342
>>54421394
Is there really no happy medium? High HP, low AC? Costly repairs? If not something to base a class around, at least as a pet project for the healer, so that he gets to have fun every once and a while for the big battle?

>>54421434

why

>>54421468
Because I can't have them fight mecha without letting them pilot

That's the biggest cocktease ever

>>54421434
If mechs/tanks/whatever are part of the setting, the easiest way to incorporate them is to let any class have different benefits to using them. Limiting it to a single class causes a split in intent, that class is only good X, and the rest Y, and never the 2 shall meet.

Also, "healers" in 5e are some of the most fun classes, and none of them are or should be relegated to just casting a heal every round.

>>54421478
That's why you Voltron it nigga. Everybody gets a robot, and they can form a super robot.

>>54421483
Could also base it off Beastmaster Ranger, where their "pet" is a big ol' machine they ride on.

>>54421492
Well that's entirely different than a super tank or plot device. An artificer robot, or refluffed ranger, are entirely different. Pick an animals stats, its a construct now.

There is also the Apparatus of Kwalish, which is basically a crab tank, and its in the DMG.

>>54421512
Yeah but in this case I'm assuming the Mechanical Servant/pet is significantly beefier than normal, at the cost of not always being available.

If you're going to go that route I'd say make them a normal Artificer, as they're weaker than other classes but not enough that they can't pull their weight, but let them pilot the airship/robot/whatever when the time comes.

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Would you allow the wall in your game, and what's the best way to do it?

>>54421570
Barbarian with Tavern Brawler and Shield Mastery, use the second Shield as an improvised Warhammer.

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>>54421570
As a player? No, its fucking retarded. Or, more accurately, you can equip two shields, but you gain no benefit and now have no free hand without using your action to take one off. Improvised weapon.

As a monster, it already exists.

>>54421570
Sure.
1d4 damage, +2 AC.

>>54421580
>improvised Warhammer.
A shield is not an improvised warhammer, as it does not resemble a warhammer at all.

>>54421597
>Big
check
>Blunt
check
>Heavy
check
>Can reach out to 5 feet
check

I don't see the issue here.

>>54421617
We agree it's Improvised, right?
1d4 damage.

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>>54421617
Have you ever seen a warhammer? They aren't particularly big, they have a spiky part, are heavier than other weapons, but not that heavy, and game mechanics.
More importantly, a shield isn't versatile, and very few "improvised" weapons would ever be martial in quality. At best, your looking at mace, and that's overly generous to fit a concept, in a standard game its 1d4.

One of my players really wants to use Monkeys Grip/ Titans Grip on his Barb. I'm struggling to find a way to balance it, really.

Anybody had a similar experience? He's a good player, and very much a This Guy.

Help me Obe-Anon-Kenobi's, you're my only hope.

>>54421635
Character level, is it a new character/campaign, and do you actually want it to be balanced?

What even is the point of the Battlerager?

>>54421633
that isnt a D&D warhammer. there is a difference between real life and fantasy.

>>54421627
You agree that improvised weapons use stats for weapons they're similar to, right?
You faggots that spout that meme evidently can't read far enough to see that sentence.

>>54421633
Look at Warhammers in the PHB and DMG. They're obnoxious World of Warcraft giant cartoon mallets.

Would you allow a familiar with a size of Tiny, like a Rat to hide in a wizard's robe? Would this provide full cover for it?

>>54421683
It's one of two iconic barbarians in modern forgotten realms, and we already have the tribe of the elk represented. There also wasn't a mechanical way to represent Pwents fighting style, so they designed something for it. Sorta like why Scimitars are specifically designed for dex dual wielding because of Drizzt.

>>54421695
They aren't similar to ANY weapon though, let alone a martial weapon with versatile. If you sharpen a stick, its a spear, not a glaive.

>>54421647

It's a 1-15 of my own making that they've done before, so starting fresh. I was thinking of letting him take it at 5. Relatively balanced, I can always scale Mob health to compensate.

>>54421720
And if you hit a nigga with the edge of a 10lb piece of steel it's going to do more than a barstool leg, especially since I assume these shields are designed to be used in such a way.

>>54421737
If you were a player in my game, and wouldn't accept any mechanical downside to something stupid, i'd tell you to fuck off and you can't do it. I already mentioned that Mace would be more reasonable.

Is it a good idea to have spells and other actions backfire if a player fucks up their rolls? You know, stuff like rolling a d20 to hit with Acid Splash and the like.

>>54421752
It is literally the same as wielding a Warhammer and a Shield. There is no upside to using two shields. If this was some attempt to cheese out extra AC or whatever you'd have a point, but as is it's literally just taking a Warhammer and refluffing to a Shield for 0 mechanical change to the character.

>>54421704
But like...mechanically?

>>54421725
The easiest way to handle it is to make it a custom Fighting Style he can take. 1d12 isn't substantially different from 1d8+2, both average out to 6.5 average damage, so it would be on par with Dueling. Crits are a bit stronger, but it isn't a huge difference.

You could also introduce it as a quest reward, give everyone a psuedo-feat at level 4-5, custom made for them as "training" from a master. That would let it stack with GWF, and makes it feel more special for each players unique thing.

Do you want them dual wielding here? If so, that changes things quite a bit, even if you still make him use the associated feat.
I'd definitely ban GWM for him, unless you plan for it in the quest reward strength.

>>54421788

5E ain't a nuclear reactor, bud. Not everything needs to fill a mechanical niche like in an MMO. Some stuff is just there for fun.

Their damage output ain't bad though.

>>54421786
If it's as good as an actual weapon, why doesn't everyone have better defense? Fluff wise it makes no sense at all. If you want to do something strange, you need to accept that you don't also get to min-max.

>>54417839
>1. What's wrong with monk?
>2. How do we fix it?

>>54421799
Good plan. Thanks hombre.

>>54421815
>People's expectations, wot4e, a few design choices
>make sure players know the strengths of the monk, and that isn't going to equal fighter in a straight fight
>increase its mobility/cc options slightly. Stunning fist is fantastic, and open palm is a great design, but ki to knockdown/shove at a minimum should be an option
>rework all the numbers on wot4e, cause its fucked. alternatively, when mystic is official, give them sort psi points they can spend on the Mastery disciplines, like a partial caster via mystic

>>54421808
Because it doesn't actually give better defense you stupid nigger.

Here, I'll even pull an example out of my ass- Gorg is from a tribe of Barbarians that use the dual shield style as a form of worship of their god, DOUBLE-THOR, who's mighty shields Mlolnir and Other Mlolnir are fortold to be hella rad. Thus, they try to emulate him because that's what all the cool kids are doing.

>>54419795

It's doable but difficult.

IMO, saying something like "slit your own throat" or "aim your crossbow into your mouth" shouldn't work. If you want the charmed to attack himself, fine, but keep in mind that every time they take damage they get to make a saving throw to end the spell, and depending on the character, hitting your own AC can actually be quite difficult.

You could definitely tell the charmed to walk off a cliff, jump into lava, go stare at the gorgon, etc. Things that will either do enough damage to OHKO, things that will do lots of damage even if the charmed makes the save, or force them to make their own saves against a third party without taking damage.

>>54421844
>and my characters arms are machine guns, but its ok, they are mechanically a single hand crossbow!

>>54421857
>My character swings a shield like a weapon
>This is at all like some kind of change to the character's very biology

nigga u dum. If you're going to try to be a dumb bitch like that at least use a proper argument, like
>and my characters weapon is a machine gun, but its ok, they are mechanically a single hand crossbow!

Which a hand crossbow might as well be anyways

>>54421844
Alright, how about the fact that you can't ever be disarmed? Shields require an action, and, like armor, you can't be forced to drop them. If it's a wooden shield, you are immune to heat metal on your weapon, as well as rust monsters. Druids can suddenly use warhammers, since they have shield proficiency.

Stupid breeds stupid, and while i don't mind people refluffing, being SHIELD MAN isn't reasonable to begin with, and getting the full effect of a war hammer isn't gonna happen.

>>54421874
Except, unlike weapons, shields are equipped like armor in 5e, taking an action to don/doff. But sure, less biology, and more megaman blaster.

>>54421877
If someone attempts to disarm you, you lose your "warhammer", ie: other shield. Because, mechanically, it's not a shield. Boy that was hard.

And what if you try to Heat Metal on someone with a weapon that has a wooden handle, such as a Pike or Halberd? Or what if they Heat Metal your actual metal shield? Regardless it doesn't matter- the "Hammer Shield" would be heated and either have to be dropped or take damage, as it's mechanically a metal melee weapon.

Do Druids have Martial Weapon proficiency? No? Then they couldn't use the hypothetical hammer-shield. At least, not with proficiency.

>>54421803
I don't even see what's fun about it personally. What be the appeal?
>>54421874
>>54421886
Honestly I wanted to make an Evocation Warforged Wizard that was basically Mega Man and shot spells/cantrips out of his hand

>>54421737

Shields RAW are 6 pounds. Warhammers and clubs are 2 pounds, Maces are 4 pounds.

By your own argument, damage would be closer to a mace than a warhammer anyways.

Since Mearl's Mass Combat is apparently ass-tier, how do you handle large army sized fighters?
>inb4 don't

>>54421788
It's like Berserker with less damage from their abilities, but they can use it more then once.

Probably the best damage Barbarian because they only need GWF to be alright. They can also be good grapplers if you pick up Expertise in Athletics.

>>54421928
Oh boy, now one shield isn't a shield at all! Good thing he can just use the other shield that he wasn't forced to drop, but now can be somehow.

And apparently you also want proficiency, making tavern brawler superfluous.

It's a bad idea, which fucks up internal logic and consistency, and accomplishes nothing but short lived satisfaction, before wanting to play a new meme.

I've gone from 'i'd tell you no', to 'i'd tell you you aren't a fit for our game'

>>54422006
I'm not improvised weapon anon. I'm refluff anon.

>>54422006
Dude chill out. It's just a game let the guy have fun if he wants.

What arcane gish homebrew are best?

Like for duskblade/magus/spellsword types.

Not satisfied with EK, want to look at homebrew. So far I've looked at the sterling vermin one, it looks okay.

Any others that are better?

>>54422048
I don't know much about homebrew but since you only mentioned EK, Stone sorcerer is a nice gish.

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>>54422006
Lulz, not that guy, but you're a total faggot

Improv weapon=weapon they are most like
If there is no weapon they are most like, 1d4.

Oversized weapons (or objects) double damage dice, like Giant weapons out of the MM

A reg sword is 1d8 (small). A sword the size of a man (medium) is 2d8. A sword the size of a horse (large) 3d8.

This means if you beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker it is 2d4+STR,
I rule both take the same damage

Now, wielding oversized weapons and objects impose disadvantage on the attack (per the Heavy weapon rule) ergo if a medium sized creature is beating another medium sized creature with a medium sized creature it should have disadvantage.

Which can be countered by Reckless Attack for a straight roll, or flanking, or facing,
or surprise...

Had to work all this out for a guy who is doing Liftbearian in my group by stacking Powerful Build, Brawny, Bear Totem 6, enlarge, enhance ability and so on. Using this simple system, even a stupid faggot like you can handle improv weapons with ease.

Also, this does mean you can throw fuckers 60ft in the air, per range of improv weapons. I don't add STR to that damage roll though (1d6 per 10ft fall). Excellent crowd control for a barb, since it only takes one free hand to grapple, and a BA with Tavern Brawler

>>54422080
What makes stone sorcerer such a good frontliner?

>>54422182
They're effectively a d8 hit die. Also their AC is based off CON. So you can raise armour and HP at the same time.

Other then that you basically use BB/GFB and can also twin buff spells on you and other frontliners. Plays sort of like a Cleric without the healing but better damage.

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>>54422048
Check out the Stone Sorcerer and Hexblade.
If none of these are close to what you want, then Magus is solid.

So: roughing out an idea for a 5e specialty priest equivalent.

>most of your 35 spells come from your domains instead of from a common list.

You choose one domain as normal.
Then you choose a secondary and tertiary domain.

The secondary gives you only its spells, a level late.

The tertiary gives you its spells up to your charisma mod.

You only get (level divided by 2, round up) spells from the common cleric list.

Giving you clerics far my specialized by God.

Thoughts?

It's less flexible. Let's assume it replaces phb cleric. How big a deal is that. Is it no longer playable?

>>54422312
IIRC there's a Priest Variant Cleric in the DMG.
It's something like
>Replace Weapon and Armor proficiencies with Monk Unarmored Defense, and something else I don't remember

>>54422312
Just use Favored Soul?

>>54422326
I don't think its a variant rule. It's just an example for modifying a class

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I encouraged one of my PCs to go the PAM/TF/sentinel build.

Did I fuck up?

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>>54422434
Yes. You did.

>>54422326
I guess its more of a flavour thing, but that seems like an awful thing to do when you have access to shields

>>54422434

Yeah, probably. I don't know why people allow Tunnel Fighter.

Try to keep him on the ropes with effects that don't allow him to take reactions, attacks from outside his range, or grant disadvantage.

>>54419328
All you need to do is cross reference the Dawn War Pantheon from the DMG. The one left over is Sarenrae.

>>54421965
Removing the exhaustion from the Berserker's shit and just making the bonus action attack part of the normal rage would be perfectly fine considering all the crazy shit other Barbs can do, right?

>>54422571

Probably. I house-rule that short rests and lesser restoration remove one level of exhaustion, and a long rest will reset all levels, and it seems to work fine.

>>54421205
I'm sorry?

Would you recommend making these gemstones work with already existing magic weapons and armor? Say like a Legendary Item or Very Rare item?

>>54422434
Just have mobs attack your party then. If four goblins rush him then only one can get dicked while three others end up right next to him.

>>54422804
>tf
tf is tunnel fighter. He can murder an infinite number of charging goblins.

What's the best way to make a Skald in 5e? Valor Bard? Fighter/Bard multiclass?

What the fuck is XBE?

>>54422822
Oh, for some reason I was thinking TF meant Two-Weapon Fighter.

At least the lowliest of creatures like Goblins and Skeletons still have Shortbows.

>>54422898
Crossbow Expert. No idea why they are using X for an acronym

>>54422934
x is a cross ie. x-bow

>>54422842
Define what you want out of Skald.

I think Valor bard does it well, but maybe you want something else out of it.

>>54422934
They're lazy faggots or phone shitposters.

>>54423041
Semi-squishy martial who uses magic to make all the other martials better at their jobs.
Party is a Polearm Fighter, Barb/Rogue, and War Cleric of Baal so I figured it'd be a good way to round out the party.

How do you nerf elven accuracy to not be OP?

>Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
>Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll, you can reroll one of the dice once.

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>>54423083
This good enough?

>>54423083
Go valor bard with 3 levels of warlock for tome pact and cha shillelagh. Use shield, and quarterstaff in combat. For spells, go utility + buffing and shield spell for more AC. Pick up PAM if you can to increase combat damage some.

>>54423083
Supportive battlemaster is great though not magical, dunno if it would be that good to MC bard from it but on its own if you get commander's strike, inspiring leader and stuff it's pretty nice.

>>54420197

A child's heart.

>>54423083
Honestly? Play an Avatar Mystic if you can.

>>54420264

Always remember that being outnumbered by weaker enemies will always be more difficult than facing one very strong enemy. Do NOT underestimate the action economy.

Google Tucker's Kobolds for a sadistic example.

>>54423083
A valor bard is not a martial; it's a full caster who dabbles in swords. If you want a martial who dabbles in magic, you need a paladin, a revised ranger, an eldritch knight, or maybe even a battlemaster with Magic initiate.

Honestly, though, your party is already all melee guys and you could probably benefit from being a full caster doing wizardy things.

>>54423296
Or bard, even valor can be alright but I'd use a bow rather than melee stuff.

>>54423296
You could dip Paladin 2 as valor bard. You get the second attack anyway and all you are missing out would be some smite increases (not too much in the grand scheme of things, and your massively more slots make up for it) and some auras.

What 2nd level feature would you give Bard if you were to remove Jack of All Trades from the class?

>>54423371
None of that would come anywhere close to what you can do as an almost full caster. You'd be gimping yourself to add a FOURTH melee guy to your party.

Honestly, I'd just make him a lore bard. If you want the Norse flavor you can say he's that guy in charge of remembering the laws because writing things down is evil.

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>yfw making a 4e to 5e class conversion but you've run out of class features (cause classes got so few, but was supplemented by powers) early on so now you have to make your own.

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I'm starting a new campaign soon and one of my players is an oath of conquest paladin that comes from a society that is about strength, conquest, the forge, and blood magic. Is there a neutral blood god that would be appropriate for him to worship?

>>54423726
>Oath of Conquest
>Blood god
>Neutral
m8...

>>54423726
Depends on the setting.

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Just passing by: how many official classes are currently in the game now? Is there a reliable list somewhere?

I did a bit of googling but the lists seemed pretty out of date

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Are there any free graphic kits for online campaigns like this one?
http://www.rpgartkits.com/?page_id=401

Or at least torrents.

>>54423780
My setting uses deities from all settings.

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>>54423811

>>54423726
>>54423845
I unironically suggest Bane, the god of tyranny in FR.

>>54423858
Too bad it doesn't have all of the UA shit

>>54423589
JOAT is a ribbon. It's a tiny bonus to a lot of things your character probably wasn't going to do anyway. Make up some other flavorful but minor ability, like powerful busking or learning languages very quickly.

In general is it better concentration use to run Bless + Great Weapon Master or Haste + 2 regular attacks?
So something like 2d6+STR+10 vs 4d6+2STR

Also, I can't GWM with BB/GFB right?

>>54417947
The options are interesting and easily refluffed.

>>54423999
>UA
>official

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>>54423753
The difference between an Evil Oath of Conquest Paladin and a Neutral one is if they actually follow the "survival of the strongest" meme when it doesn't favor them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zCqxROvSmE

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>>54423999
You asked for official, you idiot
Here's the full version (some UAs behind)

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Should summoned enemies act the instant they're summoned or the next round?

>>54424220
>>54424144
I didn't ask for anything, just saiyan

Is Bane a viable spell choice for concentration? I know Bless is generally better because it can't fail, but wouldn't giving the enemy minus 1d4 to saves for a minute be better than a 1d4 to ally attacks in some situations?

>>54424312

When Bane hits, its effects are immediately noticeable. If you can make it stick, it's certainly worthwhile.

What's a good class if you're doing rolls for stats and got a lot of high rolls? I guess what I'm asking us, what's a good MAD class?

>>54424437
Monk.

>attack a group of bandits that kidnapped a child from our village
>we want to know why, so agree to make sure to take at least one of them prisoner
>we fight, then our wizard blasts several of them apart with a flaming sphere
>just 2 survive and take off running
>being the fastest in the group, I chase down one of them, alone, and whack him in the back, saying I want to knock him out instead of killing him (i.e. no death saves)
>he drops and I make sure he's still alive
>I then drag the body back toward the others
>say I want to interrogate him
>"lol no can do"
>"Why? I'll just wake him up. If he doesn't, we can rest a bit."
>"He took damage from the ground as you dragged him and died."

Am I justified in raging?

>>54424437
Bard
Battlemaster Fighter for massive fluff points.

>>54424642
For clarification, I dragged him across snow.

>>54424642

Yeah, that's pretty fucking stupid, and your DM sounds like a smug prick.

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>when I was a kid playing 3.5 I used to want to be a half dragon sorcerer.
>now I have a thing for Paladins and being a good guy in a world where everyone plays edgy game of thrones doppelgangers.
>my statblock preference has diverted from MAX DAMAGE ALL IN ON ONE STAT, to whoring defense and utility.

How has your preferance evolved?

>>54421944
Play Total War against the players.

>>54424642
Yes. Your post did make me laff tho

>>54424661
>inb4 hypothermia

>>54421944
The Mass combat should be a cinematic backdrop to whatever the players do and whether they succeed or fail in their challenges. Offer opportunities for the players to solve problems to assist their factions army and hinder the opposing factions army. I find systematic results that function like a set of dice rolls to ruin immersion in the game. Its just not the same as succeeding or failing at a check your character makes. Players can deal with rolling bad when it affects their character, sometimes you miss 6 times in a row with a sword, it just happens. However when you succeed with helping your army over and over again it literally just feels like an inconsistency in the world when the dice come up wrong with the detached nature of mass combat.

>I mean I know I influenced the battle and all my questing made the chances of success 20% higher(or whatever amount) but it still feels like you didn't matter and you might as well have just tossed the dice from the get go.

>>54424642
not only is your DM a dickhole, but he's also probably railroading
>they can't uncover my super secret plot if every time they capture someone, their prisoner dies!

>>54424894
>Players can deal with rolling bad when it affects their character
Oh boy I wish. I'm sick and tired of playing with depressed NEETs that start bitching at me when their shitty self inserts are not as godly and perfect as they envisioned.

should I take lucky feat as a cleric of tymora, goddess of luck and good fortune?

seems legit

>>54425134
When fluff meets mechanics.
Go for it m8.

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>dm: I'm gonna start streaming our games

New thread lads >>54425357
>>54425357
>>54425357
>>54425357

>>54425304
Worried someone is going to witness your autism?

>>54422476
>I guess it's just a flavor thing, but not wearing armor seems like an awful thing to do when you're an adventurer and constantly get into life-or-death combat.
I'm all for balanced options but sometimes there are things that are better left out. Someone who willingly forgoes armor but does not do any specific training to fight without it, may not be very good at combat. A monk does train specifically to be able to do this, and gain speed and such in return. I can see a mage armor-type deal for a priest, using the god's magic to shield them from harm, but it wouldn't really change the playstyle.

>>54423099
Bump

>>54422169
>This means if you beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker it is 2d4+STR

Thank you, I actually needed these numbers for the upcoming campaign I'm playing.

>>54422344
How is favored soul suited for a variant cleric gets the majority of their spells from their gods domains rather from a general list?