/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

>>54515882
>Why do you play, friendo?
Because this is my only form of social contact

>>54515882
Fun

Should I include a gunslinger class in my campaign or no? Why?

>>54515882
The memes.

>>54515978
No, because basing an entire class around using 1 weapon is shit.

Unless a gunslinger has some actual mechanical niche, just use rogue or battlemaster with a gun.

http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/210151

Will this be added to the trove?

>>54515978
Just add guns to your setting.

>>54515978
doesn't the UA artificer do this anyway

>>54515978
you should sling bombs with an actual sling instead

>>54516033
It's been posted in the pdf share threads repeatedly. What we NEED is Monsters of the Orient

>>54515882
It's fun as fuck.

Asking again since I I got no response.
We're gonna be starting with one uncommon magical item this time, starting at level 5. Should I go for something obvious like the +1 weapon/fancy armor or something, or something more just flavorful? VHuman Fighter, melee but DEX-based, rolled some ungodly strong stats.

>>54515934
same

>Want to run a magic wild west setting using Eberron tech as a basis
>End up just wanting to do Eberron instead
>Players probably won't read setting documents
Suffering

>>54515882

Sunk time fallacy. I've been playing RPGs for 20 years. When you're that far in, all you can do is keep going and see where the hooker bottoms out.

I posted some initiative variants in the old thread, but I was wondering if anyone had luck with Side Initiative / group initiative or other variants that make combat faster OR more fun in general.

tg, any one know of any cool expansions to add on to Curse of Strahd?

I'm definitely doing the barber of Silverymoon and the Marionette from Adventure League, could use a couple more, preferably an underwater one.

>>54516225
Depends on the backstory of your character. If you're dex focused but still have a shield, use Shield Mastery and get in Immovable Rod. Prone them with SM, then activate the immovable rod on their backs so they can't get up. Get a bag of tricks and use it to have an easy distraction/scout for traps. Get an Eversmoking Bottle and use it like a smoke grenade. Those are all utilities/combat options with uncommons, but I'd honestly suggest picking something more aligned with your character. Paranoid? Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location. Amateur alchemist? Alchemy Jug. Huge Weeaboo? Wind Fan.

Despite all this, it still might probably be a good idea to just grab your +1 weapon and capital M Martial the fuck out of everything if you think that's more applicable.

In what situations can you "choose" to fail a saving throw? Like a Str/dex save makes sense (just choosing to not dodge/resist a knockdown), but what about wis/Con saves? Say for whatever reason you WANTED to fail a save. Can you?

>>54516706
There are cases where it specifically states that sort of thing, I think one of the charmish spells has something along those lines for resisting if you want. Other than that, ask a GM

>>54516225
Winged boots

>>54516706
wisdom and charisma saves, yes, inteligence no

>>54516706
There are no rules about choosing to fail saves other than when specifically mentioned, but there are some conditions that will force you to fail Str or Dex saves.

>>54516599
My group decided to pull something from the turn order system in X-Wing (albeit modified), plus some modifications. Your mileage may vary, but we also play some high lethality games (reduced HP per level, most monsters have lower HP, but spells have lowered damage progression to keep mages from being 1HKO machines after 3rd level).

You pick your Initiative score at the start of combat: Either 10+Dex or 10-Wis. Enemies are grouped and averaged by squads if necessary for initiative. Anything that gives you advantage or disadvantage with Initiative gives you a -5 (if you choose 10+Dex) or +5 (if you chose 10+Wis).

First phase of combat is movement. Everyone picks where they want to move at the same time with a brief timer, then it's down the line with highest initiative going first. For every 10 feet you move, your Initiative increases by 1. If anything gets in your way (say players don't communicate and panic move into a teammate's way, or a quick enemy interrupts the move) your move is terminated, and your initiative drops by 5. If you choose not to move at all, your initiative drops by 10. Negative values are possible.

Second phase is action. You pick your main action for the round at this point when your initiative comes up (instead of planning it ahead) and things come up in Lowest First order. Casting a non-cantrip spell increases your Initiative for the next round by 10, and using your action to move a second time increases your Initiative by 10, but aside from that your Initiative resets at the end of each round. Choosing to not act lets you choose to take +5 or -5 Initiative on the next round (your choice).

Bonus actions and reactions can be taken at any appropriate time regardless of phase and don't affect Initiative. We also use the "if your mage is hit by a damaging effect before his action, he can't cast" rule, though we eventually allowed casting cantrips.

>>54516776
calm emotions was what i was thinking of, there's probly other similar cases

>>54516776
Yeah, theres spells that choose between willing and unwilling, like polymorph and levitate. I'm talking something like dominate person or hold person, or letting thunderwave push you out of the way of something. Say for example, you could reach something your wizard can't, or is too weak for. Could you let him dominate person you and let him use your hands to do something?
>>54516791
What about Con? I'm guessing because thats more of your bodies reaction, ie you can't choose to let poison take effect. Why not Int though?

>>54516921
I think CON is like trying to choke yourself with your own hands
In general, you just can't

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So I'm inexperienced and going to be DMing an encounter with some Hobgoblins.

If I want them swap from melee to ranged and have them fire their longbows should I have them spend a round doffing their shield just so they can fire 2 handed at the players? Will I have to reduce AC by 2 then?

How strict should I be enforcing shield rules when running enemies?

>>54516993
Considering martial advantage, yes. Give your players incentive to burn them down first so that they don't get fucking rocked by arrows in the second round.

>>54516993
As strict you are with your players. Hobgoblin are master strategists. Their strength doesn't come from their stats, it comes from how deadly good they are at gaining advantage on the players.

Look on videos about WW1 &2 strategies and have fun watching players struggle to comprehend tactics from an army.

>>54516993
>>54517079
And as for doffing, I think stowing a weapon is an action, but just dropping it and pulling a new one is free, so if you want them to do some rank and file stuff with that it should work

>>54517100
Stowing a weapon is free

>>54517122
>>54517100
stowing is free but any SECOND action relating to that will be an action. Not sure about drop+draw though.

>>54517133
Anybody who thinks that opening your hand shouldn't be free is an idiot.

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>>54516869
Let's give an example of this, in case there's question (opportunity attacks, for example).

In pic related, Red, Blue, Green and Pink are players. The orc and goblin teams charge ahead in straight lines; Pink and Red both interrupt the movement of the orc and the goblin in front of them (respectively).

Blue chooses not to move, reducing his Initiative by 10. Pink doesn't move more than 10 feet so his Initiative is the same. Red and Green both move 10 feet, but less than 20 feet, so their Initiatives increase by 1. Both orcs succeed in moving 20 feet, increasing their Initiative by 2, and the goblins split between +0 (because one, while intending to move, was interrupted), +2 (moving 20 feet) and +1 (moving at least 10 feet). The interrupted orc and goblin gain -5 Initiative.

Because of initiative, Red can make opportunity attacks against either the orc or goblin passing by him. Pink can make an opportunity attack against the orc passing by him trying to close into melee, and Green risks opportunity attacks from both goblins he passes by since they beat out his Initiative.

Green's player interrupts the opportunity attack declarations to tell his DM he wants to use Disengage, forsaking his Action to avoid the opportunity attacks. Since neither goblin goes before him in Phase 2, the DM says okay. While the Orcs and Goblins could also Disengage, they choose not to. Red and Pink both make an opportunity attack. Let's assume nobody dies.

In Phase 2, the turn order for actions is:
>Blue
>Green (Disengage)
>Pink and Orc 2 act simultaneously.
>Goblin 1
>Orc 1
>Goblin 3
>Red and Goblin 2 act simultaneously.

>>54517172
Well yeah I agree on the one hand but getting multiple free actions together is something slightly different. As for shields those probly need doffing in some cases.

>>54517133
Free actions are limited. Dropping items doesn't fall under a free action, it's just something you can do as many times as you want.
It leads to weird interactions, for example if a cleric is holding a weapon and shield and wants to cast a spell, the best thing to do is drop the weapon, cast the spell then use a free action to pick it back up

>>54517209
Weirdly enough this is harder to write out than it is to just do, and I accidentally transposed PNK/ORC and Goblin 1.

>>54517079
Makes sense.
>>54517085
Previous DM (when I was player) made don/doff shield a bonus action.
However, when DM moved away and I took over, a few players had a big sook when I tried to change it back to one action. But the +2 AC seems way too good for bonus action.
Might just have to put my foot down and say 1 action to don/doff.

Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, Hallow and Guards and Wards are the only spell that protect an area right? Is there any features or other spell that I'm missing that does something similar?

>>54517540
Depends on your definition of 'protects an area'
Alarm will protect an area for eight hours
Leomund's Tiny Hut as well will give you a 10ft radius impenetrable dome that can only be taken down by dispel magic

>>54517540
Alarm? Glyph of Warding?

>>54517540
Guardian Of Faith, Faithful Hound, there's loads of them

How does one limit the game breaking capabilities of a revised ranger with undead as Favored Enemy in Barovia? Primeval awareness ruins a lot of major encounters

>>54517873
by remembering that there is more than the undead in Barovia.

I wanna throw some mechs and tanks at my players. Straight up boss battles against huge metal monsters, like that old anime I never watched nor know the name of about a guy taking on mechs and other machines in the desert.
How do I do it?

>>54517912
Iron Golem

>>54517912
by reskinning preexisting monsters

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>>54517912
The Warforged Titan!!

>>54517873
You don't. He's working with the theme of the campaign and making a classic undead hunter. Be glad he's not like my party where everyone's a lizardfolk barbarian or something else wildly inappropriate.

I kind of want to make a fighter or monk that relies on reaction instead of attack. I think it'd be really cool to use an enemy's attack against them.
Imagine it like this: A bandit is lunging at you with a knife, instead of tanking it or dodging it you take the extended wrist and use their forward momentum to force them into a wall or on the ground.
Mechanically speaking, with fighters you could use multi attack to ready multiple reactions to use against multiple opponents.
It could also be an interesting way to implement strategy during a fight. You could have the entire playstyle be based around reading an opponent and using the right counter attack. I think it could be more interesting and rewarding than just walking up to a creature and hitting it until it dies.

>>54517891
>>54518102
Adhering to both of these is integral to your development as a DM

>>54516962
Worrying about your own health can greatly diminish it. Simply stressing about getting sick can drastically lower your immunity to sickness. I see failing CON saves as more of coming to terms with how you know you're going to be sick/poisoned/injured.

>>54518119
You only get one reaction per round, though I believe you get your full number of attacks if you ready an Attack action. Anyway, there's no good reason to do that unless you're actually in an uncertain situation or don't have a target available. Since it uses your reaction, you give up the chance to make opportunity attacks, and if you're a monk you give up the chance to catch arrows.

>>54516225
>Should I go for something obvious like the +1 weapon/fancy armor or something, or something more just flavorful?
Weapon and armor bonuses are lame as fuck unless they're magical or high level.
Get something fun that can cause Hilarious Antics™

7 13 18 7 14 12 in any stats, what should I make lads

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>>54515882
Because my group is excellent and I'm emotionally invested in the characters/story.

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>>54515978
>>54516099
Thanks for the inspiration
I made art

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>>54515882
I dunno, I'm a DM in one game and I dropped another I was in because I couldn't stand some of the people.

>>54518121
I don't think them starting the game with the ability to know the location of every lich vampire nest, ghast ambush and cultist lair in Barovia is entirely fun conducting.

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Anyone have the Animalfolk PDF? Haven't been able to find it since I last saw it here.

>>54518487
As someone who's currently playing the revised ranger, Primeval Awareness is fucking bullshit. I hate using it and avoid it in many situations where it's useful.

>>54517873
You should rule that Primeval Awareness doesn't work in your games, or in Ravenloft, or something. And - this is important - let the player make a new character if he wants to.

>>54518403
Druid. Play as a changeling so you can transform into all the things.

Slight concern /tg/

Joined a new game that I'm assuming is going to be very undead heavy.
Want to be a full support bard since we've got obscene amounts of damage already (literally every other member specced for DPR. Even the Cleric, Wizard, AND sorcerer while completely ignoring utility spells or any spells without damage dice. Two other actual martials in group as well)

But here's the problem: Are undead still absolutely fucking immune to everything in 5e as they were in 3.5e? I know Sleep doesn't work on them at all, but will Tasha's work as long as they have the 4 INT? Are they all immune to charm and thus Cutting Words will do jack? Same for Suggestion, Hold Person, Hypnotic Pattern/Fear etc. What about Psychic damage?

I really don't want every single combat to go 'I cast Faeri Fire' and proceed to shove my thumb up my ass

>>54518519
holy fuck I have that shark dude mini complete with the shark tooth punch dagger

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>>54518519

>>54518529
Was thinking of making a druid, you have my convinced

First time DMing this weekend. When do you guys usually use passive checks?

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>>54518556
Thanks for the laugh

>>54518604
When you REALLY don't want the party to know there's a check involved. Like, when they pass by a secret door, or when a Shadar-Kai assassin is about to shank their asses.

>>54518431
Nobody ever thinks I'm funny

>>54518431
That's a slingshot you mongoloid, not a sling.

>>54518653
Are there any cases where having the party actively roll to detect a secret door or something similar would be preferable?

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>>54518671
Shit, you're right.

>>54518725
Only if they're actively looking ("I want to search for secret doors!"). In that case, always make them roll, even if there are no secret doors to be found.

How much of a bad idea is to give a bard the ability of maintain concentration of their spells by doing a Performance check?

>>54515978
No. Just add guns and try them out with different classes. There's a musket wielding ranger in my game and he's really good. No need for a special snowflake class.

>>54519129
Given that a level 5 bard can have like +7 or +8 to performance, I'd say it's probably a bit much.

>>54519129
Extremely bad
It's like giving them a flat +4 at 1st level which only gets higher from then on out.

>>54519137
Can I make an entire class about katanas, though?

>>54518667
I think you're hilarious anon.

>>54515884
>Implying you reach level 20

If you take the average time spent across campaigns at level 20, it's likely about 1% at best.

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>>54518519
This one?

>>54516790
I'd feel like a dick flying around when nobody else can.
>>54516623
I'll be dual wielding with the Dual Wielder and Martial Adept feats since I rolled ungodly stats and can justify missing out on the ASI.
As a character he's from a once-esteemed, but now exiled clan of professional monster hunters, who's been called back as a chance to earn them their good name back. A bit jaded and cynical and grumpy, but his heart's in the right place, and he won't suffer wanton evil and cruelty, even if he's going to complain about it.
Though, the thing has yet to start, so I am slightly tempted to make a Char clone with Eyes of the Eagle but I'd have no idea what class
>>54518388
I don't even know where to begin with this, the only magical items I ever got in other campaigns were super low magic basically magic for the sake of overcoming resistance only, like "This weapon deals 1 extra fire/cold damage", "this weapon falls up", or "hitting an enemy causes this weapon to gain 1 charge. As a bonus action to can activate it's charges; on the next hit, this weapon deals lightning damage equal to the number of charges stored. You lose all charges when you go 1 round without successfully hitting an enemy with this weapon."

>>54519233
You're my new best friend.

Reposting from last night.

The party were branded by a powerful cultist of the death god. The brands are meant to slowly corrupt the party into joining their side.

I want to have the brands give some sort of unholy power, but at a cost. I was thinking they could maybe spend a hit die and gain additional necrotic damage along with some kind of subtle corruption every time they use it.

Anyone have some ideas?

>>54518431
kinda funny
>>54518832
Lost my shit

>>54515978
Just refluff crossbows, hot damn.

None of the PHB fighters were exclusively archers and that's a good thing. The exclusively archers classes suck, and archers should still have non-ranged abilities.

>>54519137
No. Just add psionics and try them out with different classes. There's a psychic ranger in my game and he's really good. No need for a special snowflake class.

>>54518539
Bitch you a 5E Bard!

Grab you lute tickling ass Thunder Wave and Healing Word. If you're human and they allow feats get yourself Magic Initiate for Booming Blade and whatever else you need from another list for 1st level and a cantrip.

Then be either a Lore Bard or break out UA for College of Satire and be a tumbling fool.

Be the counter mage and get your Jack of All Bonuses on Initiative and counter spells. Pick up whatever awesome other list spells you want from other lists. At level ten you bet your ass no matter what you play you learn Destructive Wave of Paladin List.

If you go Satire, booming blade and Tumble your way to glory and buff your fucking allies.

Who gives a fuck about undead immunities? Not your poofy pantaloon wearing ass is for sure. Pimp smack necromancers and high high your bros. inspire and weave control of the battlefield!

You are versatility! You are ingenuity! You are utility! Now burn the house down you whiny worried ass bardic bitch.

>>54518487
A couple of points:
Primeval awareness requires 1 minute of concentration to use, and while yes, there is no rule saying they CAN'T concentrate on it 24/7, you can remind them that UA's are subject to your approval and can be "rebalanced" at any time.
Only has a range of 5 miles
Barovia is chock full of undead, there are ghosts and spirits all over the place
not all of the undead are outright hostile

and, again, some of the bigger threats in Barovia are NOT undead, imagine their surprise when they bed down for the night, have the ranger check for undead, no pings within the 5 mile radius, and then, BAM! Werewolves all up on their dicks.

>>54519415
A connoisseur of biblical humor, then! I applaud your taste.

>>54519493
You do realize psionics were originally (1e) added as something every character could dabble in, right?

>>54519568
I imagine when they full on Publish the Mystic, Sohei, and the rest of their Psionics content that they will also include a set of rules or a feat for Wild Talents.

Perhaps even wild talents will be a subsystem for Dark Sun.

>>54519561
>Werewolves all up on their dicks.
I think you just gave half of /tg/ an erection.

>>54519592
I'm not hopeful, but I'd like both of these to be true.
What is the Sohei? Did I miss something?

>>54519254
No, it was a different one, but thanks for this one as well.

>>54519609
>I think you just gave half of /tg/ an erection.
not possible, it wasn't about kobolds.

>>54518121
>>54518487
>>54519561

>Ranger can detect Undead in 5 miles radius
>Paladin can only do it in a 60 foot radius and they have to be in line of sight, on limited casts per day

y tho

>>54519642
because Paladin is already a great class.

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>>54518556

>>54519609
In the tweet where they complained about having to edit the now written Up 20 level Mystic for playtest along with all the poweres, mention was made of a fighter Martial Archetype. A psionic subclass for the primary martial class, and it would be the Sohei.

The term originates in Japan as being a descriptor for warrior monks who served as temple guardians. Not depicted as hand to hand combatants they were usually flush with arms and armor.

In 3.0/3.5 Oriental Adventures the Sohei were a divine half caster with only medium BAB and anstrange ki rage and flurry attack. An odd hybrid Monk Barbarian Paladin with alighnment restriction.

Much like how elemental caster Wu Jen became the Mystics Subclass focusing on mixing things up with hybrid casting and psionics, the Sohei's involvement with Ki has moved over into Psionics and the divine component is being removed from their power structure but perhaps left in their thematics.

At this time we have not seen what the modern Sohei subclass will look like.

>>54519642
Because nature doesn't give paladins maphack

>>54519642
Paladins have no special connection to undead beyond the ability to channel positive energy.
Meanwhile, hunters and trackers that focus on locating and destroying undead should probably be good at finding them.

>>54519682
>In the tweet where they complained about having to edit the now written Up 20 level Mystic for playtest along with all the poweres
Did they really do that? Fuck. Write a shitty class, expect to have to revise it.
Excited about archetypes, though. I agree with their original plan to ax the Immortal as a mystic archetype and make it a fighter type instead, and it looks like at least they'll do the second half of that.

>Why do you play, friendo?

Implying I can find a game! I need my fix, man! I've gotta play, man! I'm going crazy, man! Help a fellow fa/tg/uy out; I just want to play some DnD.

>>54519713
>Paladins have no special connection to undead
>undead on the small list of creatures that are affected by Divine Sense
>Undead one of only two types of creatures to take an extra die of damage from Smite

>>54516225
Decanter of endless water

Why are there no playable large races? Balance problems?

>>54519867
It'd just confuse DMs and cause situations where players can't fit into spaces and suchlike, and everybody would go for a large race for grappling and such.

>>54519867
Mostly what >>54519887 said, although it gets dumb when things like a race called "Goliath" is huge... yet fits into the medium size category, or powerful build getting handed out.

>>54519887
The grappling thing I (kind of) get, but
>it'd just confuse DMs
is a bullshit explanation.

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>>54519642
Divine sense is really just the magical equivalent of "something smells funny around here". It's mainly a replacement for detect evil so you can tell if the suspicious man you're talking to is actually a demon.

>The presence of strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears.

It's not for tracking a war party of monsters over leagues of rugged wilderness, which is the ranger thing.

>>54520114

The ranger thing doesn't let you "track" though, it senses them within 5 miles. Hence why I'm question it. If paladins were better at sensing undead and rangers were better at tracking them that would be appropriate. Rangers are better at both though.

>>54519762
Exactly. Paladins have as much of a connection to undead as they do to fiends or celestials.

>>54517873
Just nerf it.
Remove the exact numbet part and make it more of a general idea.

>>54520227

So...they do have a connection to Undead then?

>>54519568
I was mainly pointing out how psionics are now their own class, despite being a more universal thing in the edition I started with, 3.5. I just like the idea of the gun artificer even with the high fantasy setting
And thank you for the applause

>>54520260
Of course, doesn't make them the most apt person at detecting them though.

>>54520196
It lets you sense their general direction, the paladin thing gives you their exact location. A ranger trying to detect if the suspicious man in front of them is a demon will learn there is demon in that general direction within one mile. If there's a quasit in the closet they'll kill an innocent man.

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>>54515882
What would you guys suggest I multiclass with my valor bard? I'm stuck between battlemaster or bear totem.

The character is a wanderer who is trying to make crazy gainz and become a better combatant and duelist. I've spoken to the GM and we're going to fluff either one (and he has ways to do it already) depending on what choice I make.

>>54520324
>general direction and distance (in miles) from you.

If he's 5 feet away it pings that he's 0.001 miles away

>>54519988
DMs often start thinking 'Oh, should I then give a large character a bigger damage weapon?' which would naturally unbalance the game so they think 'Oh, maybe I shouldn't, but then that wouldn't make sense?'
And then they go on with things like 'How do they handle grappling, should I be giving them advantage on grapples on medium creatures?' and then working out squeezing rules, and then trying to work out carry capacity rules, then trying to work out rules for smaller creatures grappling them or if they should be pushed quite as much...
Or you can just do what they did for goliath which is literally 'this is a large-ish creature that we're treating as medium but we're giving them extra carry capacity'.

>>54520393

why is it balanced that small creatures can't use heavy weapons? They don't even get bonuses to hide or free AC or anything like they used to.

>>54520381
That's not how I'd interpret it.

>>54520114
It's my favorite class ability
I ignore the rest of it and basically just pretend to sniff out evil
>I smell EVVVILLLLLLL

>>54520443

that's what distance in miles means

What's your opinion on dipping a level in druid/nature cleric to give Shillelagh to a monk? Fists reach 1d8 damage at level 11.

>>54520575
It's fine if you're in a setting fighting a lot of creatures resistant to magic weapons, but otherwise monks generally have high dex and use dex for quarterstaves and clubs anyway.

>>54520575
How would you justify it story wise?

>>54520620
Channeling the Ki of nature bullshit?
I'm mainly asking from a mechanical perspective.

>>54518725
When there is nothing to be found and you want to put some fear in them

>>54517470
You could allow them to drop a shield like dropping a weapon, but still take an action to Don a shield and enforce dropping both on things like being knocked unconscious or the Fear spell.

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How are Bards in 5E?

I'm going to play with a large group of new players and an experienced GM and we both expect a possible group of That Guys so I figured I'd bard to try and at least remain a pillar of sanity in the inevitable ocean of dickass thieves and barbarians this group will become

>>54520655
In my understanding, ki is specifically a person's spiritual energy.

>mainly asking from a mechanical perspective
Of course, but anon wanted you to think about whether your character actually makes sense.

>>54520664
Unironically the best class. Extremely versatile but without the drop in power that came with that in past editions.

>>54520661
Except most shields are strapped - you can't just drop them.

>>54517540
Forbiddance is worth mentioning as well.

>>54520655
Mechanically, if you're below level 5 you'd be delaying your ASI, you stunning strike, and other features by a level. If you're taking it at level 2 or three of Monk, you're delaying 2 ASIs, your slow fall ability, and everything else I said above.

>>54520620
It's an order that maintains a given forest or woods. When you are first inducted into the order as a child, you plant a tree sapling. You spend most of your life raising it and connecting with it. While not all the trees in the forest are dryads, even those that are not have some rudimentary sense of consciousness, and as a monk of the forest you learn to bond with your tree.

As a maturity/coming of age ceremony, you ceremonially graft or cut a bough from the forest and carve it into a semiornamental staff that is magically kept alive and a conduit to your home tree through your druid/cleric powers. After years caring of for this tree, you can connect to it, regardless of the consciousness, with the shilellagh cantrip, and it almost moves on its own in your hands.

They use the trees to make bonsai or some shit, I don't know.

>>54520664
I would not call it the best class like everybody else says.
It's strong, yes, but it sits alongside with some other classes. One paladin, one bard, one wizard and one moon druid is way better than three bards.

Bards are great at skill utility as well as having spellcasting.
Druids have some slightly different spells which can be great if you use them right and moon druid for tanking.
Wizard has access to a bunch of magical rituals, can cast more times a day than the bard and has something like portent.
Paladin is great at all aspects of combat with a tiny couple of things to help them outside of it. Raw damage, burst, support, healing, control, tankiness.

>>54517540
Magic Circle?

>>54520746
>Three bards
I meant four bards.

>>54520742
I don't care how munchkiny the original idea was, this fluff justification is fucking magnificent.

Alright, I see a lot of people in these threads posting things like level 20 character builds, and other people jumping in and saying you'll never be level 20.

What is the highest level you've ever reached in a 5e campaign, what would you consider the average, and what level is your character now?

I have a level 10 fighter right now, and I'm kicking myself because I like casters better but I've never played one beyond level 5. Usually by then the campaign ends due to schedule conflicts or something. I picked a martial this time just to avoid playing the same classes over and over and now he's by far my highest level character. Send help.

How do you avoid getting players overwhelmed by your setting? I'm currently creating one and I decided to make my own races. I plan on being really straightfoward with it all, as I understand players may find it extremely boring to read and try to remember too much for a game.

>>54520790
>Highest
9th level.
>Average
6th level.
>Current
4th level.

>>54519561
I've considering regarding every shell in Barovia as a type of Undead.

>>54520712
>>54520693
An alternative would be using Magic Initiate and fluffing it with Ki.

>>54520790
Level six. About a dozen different campaigns, none have gone higher.
Not even joking.

I only play casters too, and I've yet to ever cast a 4th level spell. I have zero experience with anything higher than 3rd level spells.
Kinda fucks up my perspective.

>>54520815

Put up a document online that has all the info, organized into sections like the PHB, so if they need to read up on the history of where their character is from or about a race they can skip to that part, and you don't have to spend game time having NPCs do exposition dumps

>>54520114
Yeah, okay, let's be cool about this though, it's not like the Paladin needs the help

I mean, it can already get Hunter's Mark as it

Might be a vague question, but do you guys have any tips for someone who's new to being DM? Hosting an actual game a couple days from now and was hoping for a few pointers so I don't mess up.
I've done a couple games with a smaller group of like 1-3 people so I kinda got the hang of it.

>>54520868

Use officially printed monsters but alter their stats or abilities slightly or switch stat blocks, it will help you catch metagamers

>>54520575
If you're looking at shillelagh, you could always just grab Magic Initiate.

Shillelagh, Guidance and Absorb Elements is a great pick

>tfw i give Powerful Build to any race/subrace that has +2 Strength

Seems only natural.

>>54520941
But the +2 strength already increases carry capacity.

>>54520428
Because not everything is about game balance alone. Not being able to use large weapons is such a minor thing because you're just not going to use them anyway with the sorts of ability scores halflings and gnomes get. It's a negative version of a ribbon.

Also, they can squeeze into Tiny spaces, fight in Small spaces without squeezing, and hide completely inside Minor Illusions, which is a lot better than not using weapons they shouldn't be using anyway.

I want to play a Sun Soul monk in an upcoming game. Any pros/cons from someone who has played it?

>>54520868

Don't listen to >>54520896 if you're a new DM. That's retarded advice. Look at Matt Colville's videos and read some stuff in the DMG about running the game. Also you might want to use a module.

>>54520996
It's a fun utility monk that has a little bit more mobility than your average monk early on, and it's really fun to play against Strahd-type enemies.

It's not the best monk archetype, but it's good and you'll have fun.

>>54520957

It's a logic thing. A human/elf with 20 strength shouldn't be able to carry as much as a mountain dwarf/half-orc/dragonborn with 20 strength.

>>54520575
It's good, it works. Higher WIS gives you better Stunning Strike DCs, which is by far your most important ability - connect it first and the rest of your attacks have advantage.

>>54520938
But that takes a feat and monks need every ASI they can get to go into DEX+WIS.

>>54520996
It offers a superior alternative to just throwing stuff at enemies, but you have to still get into melee to punch things.

It's flavourful if you want to go Dragon Ball Z (but weaker) or some shit but it still doesn't offer anything that really helps you out much.

>>54520981

The minor illusions thing is really good but the tiny spaces thing depends entirely on the DM adding things to the environment that small races can take advantage of and others can't.

I will admit that minor illusions hiding alone more than makes up for heavy weapons. It sucks though because longbow counts as a heavy weapon. If you want a ranged weapon using gnome, you basically have to be a crossbow expert faggot.

>>54521076
>Small space battles

Isn't that why Mysta invented Polymorph?

>>54520790
>What is the highest level you've ever reached in a 5e campaign, what would you consider the average, and what level is your character now?

12th, 12th and 12th. I've only played the one 5e campaign. Technically it's on hiatus, so I don't know if "current" is the right word.

As someone new to 5e (not DnD though), which of the two elf subraces are better for a warlock? Hide in plain sight seems good but Friends or Blade ward also seem to have promise.

How should I deal with my players rolling insight to try and see if the NPC they're speaking to is lying to them? They're doing it so fucking often, and I don't know how to stop it without being a shitbag DM.

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>>54521197
>Blade ward also seem to have promise.

>>54521214
How often do your NPCs lie, and how good is your acting?

>>54521197
Warlocks already have access to every cantrip they'll ever need.
Obviously drow is the best mechanically, but it makes sense that you don't want to pick it. Personally, I love wood elves for Mask of the Wild.

>>54521214

Have NPCs that mistakenly believe something to be true and tell it to the PCs.

If all your NPCs are lying and the PCs rolling insight destroys your campaign, it sounds like a bad campaign. Also the players don't get to just say they're rolling insight. They say what they want to do in the game world and you tell them what to roll.

>>54521016
I'm guessing the most munchkin archetype would be the Way of Shadow?

I'm going for fun, not GM abuse so I'm cool with the theme of hucking sun bolts at shit. What race would you recommend? I'm thinking Aasimar.

>>54521266
Most civilians the party engages with don't lie often, unless they have something to gain or hide. The game is through text, so it's hard to say how convincing I am when NPCs DO lie to them.

>>54521269
See above. NPCs don't lie often, but the party was scorned by one who double-crossed them and are now hellbent on seeing if someone is deceiving them via insight rolls.

>>54521065
Is melee still gonna be necessary? I know my Ki won't last forever but...never mind, it'll be necessary. Unless...can you use Stunning Strike with the projectile attacks?

>>54521320
You need to be in melee for flurry of blows and stunning strike I believe. Stunning strike is pretty important.
You could also just take mobile and move into melee, attack, then move away from melee again.
Or just shove an opponent, attack then walk away.
Or dodge then walk away.
Or anything really, ranged attacks aren't entirely necessary.

>>54521214
I really need to make a copy pasta on this

Insight isn't a lie detector skill. Even if the characters know the NPC well, and have had long enough time to learn their ticks, insight is a wisdom skill which means it's a variant on a perception skill.

Insight gives you aditional information regarding to what is being shown to you. It lets you pick up on body language and shit

>The princess requires an audience!
>I would like to insight chck please
>roll 20
>He sounds bored and unintrested, like he's done or said this line a thousand times.

>Boss says that healing potion will be 60 gold pieces!
>Insight check
>Roll a 15
>The man looks lean and emanciated, and when he mentions his boss his voice goes up, as if it was someone to be afraid of


shit like that.

>>54521314

Ok, well, I think the first line of my post still applies. Next time instead of having an NPC lie, have them misunderstand, or misinterpret, and sincerely tell the PCs something wrong.

Is the problem just that making a bunch of insight rolls all the time slows down the game, or what?

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>>54521269
>mfw the PCs are still operating on bad information given to them by a guy who was just spouting a rumor he heard
>this was 22 sessions ago

>>54517873
Inform the party that divination and detection spells can be screwy in Barovia. Or don't. The place is kinda fucked up. You could add every soulless Barovian to the undead ping, for example.

What spells would Black Dragons use? Right now taking into consideration their lair actions, I'd be inclined to say Grasping Vine, Insect Cloud and Darkness. Anything else that fits the theme of acid, swampy, corrupted stuff? Probably not damage related, since they already have breath weapons for that.

>>54521357
It doesn't necessarily slow it down, but it's getting kinda powergamey, you know? I don't like the idea of my party trying to detect a lie whenever an NPC talks to them, no matter who it is. Maybe that's my fault? Maybe it's just them roleplaying paranoid characters?

>>54521341
Good post, thanks. Just wanna clarify a bit. I know I shouldn't explicitly say "yup, this NPC is definitely lying to you" on a roll that beats the DC. I understand the whole "show, don't tell" concept, but my players still roll insight a ton.

>>54521337
Of course they aren't necessary; I wouldn't go WoS Monk if I wanted only necessary abilities. That being said, I appreciate the input and will use the info you provided to wreck face.
thank you

>>54521214
Passive Insight represents normal bullshit detection while carrying on polite or friendly conversation. Rolling Insight means you are actively suspicious of someone, and they'll probably notice. Maybe you're not as quick to agree with them or comply with requests or suggestions, you carry yourself differently and have a different look in your eye, and you ask them leading questions in the hope of setting them up to expose their deception. Have NPCs react when someone actually rolls Insight.

>>54521030
A pound of lead still weighs just as much as a pound of feathers. 20 is 20

>>54521439
>but my players still roll insight a ton.
The most important thing to remember is what >>54521269 said - the players tell you what they want to do, not what they want to roll. They can say "do we think he's lying?" and you're within your right to either call for an insight check or tell them "it's kind of hard to tell; his body language is pretty blank" or "his expression is shifty as BALLS, but he could just be nervous."

>>54515882
>Why do you play, friendo?
I play ... Honestly, fuck if I know. I play because I was invited into the group and I felt somewhat obligated to play. My TRPG experience has generally been online Dark Heresy games for ages, and I had always had more of a leaning towards things like Shadowrun and Eclipse Phase.

I'm not super satisfied with the game. The group is WAY too big, we have an IMMENSE 'That Guy' in the group (to the point he might as well be several 'That Guys' all rolled into one), peoples knowledge of the system is pretty fucking weak, and we've fallen into a rollplaying combat heavy more or less rail road.

>>54516082
The UA artificer isn't even remotely balanced.
Assuming you mean the gun user one, it blows everything to pieces early on and then just stops growing almost entirely, in terms of power.
As with a lot of UA content, they didn't even really try to make it work, yet.
Conversely, the alchemist kit never gets good. It's just consistently terrible at dealing damage compared to every other class kit in the game (including non-damage dealer types) while having below-average utility. Forever.

>>54521439

Tell them that you're going to use a "passive insight" score to detect lies, and they only get to roll if they can give you a reason their character would doubt someone's story.

>>54521500
Good advice, anon, thanks. I'm still pretty new to DMing and I wanna give my players as fun of a campaign as possible.

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>>54521469
Yeah, but Jim the Human's maximum deadlift probably isn't the same as Bruno the Dwarf's or Ugluk the Half-Orc's.

>>54521469
Powerful Build is just about, well, BUILD. You can be the strongest midget in the world, but you'll have difficulty moving something if you just can't get leverage on it because you have tiny limbs, whereas Golaith Bighuge can reach his arms clear around whatever he's trying to lift.

Hence that 20STR dorf doing as much damage as the 20str Goliath but not being able to carry as much.

>>54520463
It's DM ruling territory, but 5 feet isn't any number of miles. It's zero miles. The DM is completely justified if he just says "less than a mile."

>>54520868
I hope you're using a module. That way if the campaign is shit everyone can convince themselves it was the module.

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>>54521363
I had the same shit, some literal pig farmer told the party that a "Magical deck of wishes" was on an island across the sea and they all immediately went ITS THE DECK OF MANY THINGS WE NEED TO GET IT

they got a boat, shipwrecked on a chain of islands because none of them/their characters had half a fucking clue how to operate a full-blown ship, and like six months of sessions later found the Deck of Many Things due to them getting a Wish from a thankful genie

all on a rumor from a throwaway npc.

the kicker is

>party leader pulls his first card
>pulls the void, has his soul sucked out instantly
>5 session adventure to get it back

>>54521536
>I wanna give my players as fun of a campaign as possible.
That's exactly the sort of attitude that will help you do that, now or eventually. Keep at it. Experience will teach you as much as we can.
(But also watch Matt Colville's videos as mentioned above, because he's a fucking beast.)

Should monks have abilities that cost less ki, ie especially for the 4 elements monk, or should they have a larger ki pool?

>>54521565

It's not 0 miles. It's .001 miles, or if you want to be more exact, it's .00094696 (with that last 96 repeating) miles.

yes I realize how pendantic I'm being and that no one would ever do this. I think you could still give out distances in half and quarter miles though.

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>>54521578
Jesus Christ. At least they're committed to the adventure of it all.

>>54521439
>still roll insight a ton.
And that's okay. Rogues roll Stealth a shit ton, fighters roll athletics a shit ton, the bard rolls counterspells every one rolls initiate a lot!.
Not every skill has to be Animal Handling.
It probably means you have a group that values a lot role playing, and wants more showmanship from ya.

But if your players are going to mass produce volumes of a single roll, it's just down to you to spread out the substance, to adjust for insight roll inflation

>>54520815
Start the campaign as simple as possible. Don't dump reading assignments on them beyond what's immediately necessary at the beginning; just make information available and be patient with questions. Be open to players contributing to the setting.

Let the players stomp around a fairly standard adventure in some low-key corner of the setting, and then expand into more nuanced territory once they're invested. That's how our DM hooked us.

>>54521631
You're not being pedantic enough. Always round down is a core rule.
Your preferences are unsupported by RAW.

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Insight is a cursory glance of shiftiness and relation; players think it means that it's a lie detector. The more you're familiar with said individual, the easier it is to see that they're lying by their common tells.

>>54521605
Wot4E monks certainly need to have the cost of their abilities reduced, or the durations greatly increased. If I'm going to burn several points on something it should last an equal number of turns.

>>54521640
It's been a great campaign, having a natural goal/having the party determine the direction of the campaign leads to such better D&D than a set campaign or a premade module, no matter how good that campaign or module is

>>54521341
This. Insight check is what you do when you go to a museum and look at a painting or an art piece to think "What did the artist mean by this"

>>54521605
Better question is, should monks have a lvl 14 ability to, at the cost of ki/spell level, deflect attack spells similarly to Deflect Arrows/projectiles.

>>54521674
Only if your friend lies often.
For example, it's anecdotal of course, but my friends that I've known for 15 years or more are still staggeringly bad at knowing when I'm lying, because I lie maybe once every two or three years tops.

>>54521695
>Anon didn't create a homebrew Wisdom (Art Appreciation) skill

>>54521673

You don't always round down unless every dwarf in your setting is either exactly 4 or exactly 5 feet tall.

>>54521706
>attempts to catch Lightning Bolt
>1d10+10 damage negated for 3 Ki

Is it really worth it?

>>54521743
You are allowed to set the dwarf's height within a certain range. You don't perform division to get that number; thus, you don't round it.

>>54521285
When it comes to monk, don't try to limit your power 'because I'm not a munchkin'

Monk is very easy to build, but is almost always built wrong because 'I'll do this for flavour!'

>>54521771

You don't perform a division to determine how far away something is either.

>>54521712
I agree. However, it'd be easier to utilize another skill to reveal faulty or non-truthful details. For instance:

>persuasion
>"Listen, we're just trying to do some good here. Are you sure that's the truth?"
>investigation (probably before speaking with the individual)
>"Oh really? Well, when we arrived, the curtains were drawn, and the body was...blah blah blah."
>intimidation
>"I'm an impatient man. Tell me, or Harl the Impatient will show you how he handles the jitters...by peeling your toes."

The list goes on...

Intimidation Law and Order style is a personal favorite.

>>54521549

Exactly.

>>54521563
>You can be the strongest midget in the world, but you'll have difficulty moving something if you just can't get leverage on it because you have tiny limbs, whereas Golaith Bighuge can reach his arms clear around whatever he's trying to lift.

Dwarves have VERY impressive grip strength.

>>54521549
>implying orcs can compete with that tiny ass dwarfs ROM

>>54521631
>repeating of course

>>54521871
Only when drunk

>>54521871
If you grab something very big really hard, but you're only holding on to a very small surface area of the thing, its structural integrity is likely to fail and it'll snap in half or fall apart.
Your "strong grip strength" fingers will probably also punch holes in whatever you're lifting if it's heavy enough.

>>54521871
And Goliaths don't? I think it's safe to assume anyone with 20 STR has enough grip strength to bend frying pans.

>>54521729
bards trully are the most opressed class in the game

What is a good flavor reason to take the oath of vengeance as a dwarf paladin?

>>54522005
Elves stole your God's shit. You're gonna get it back.

>>54522005

You're a dwarf. You have a long memory and a vindictive streak a mile wide.

>>54522005

Goblinoids, Giants, Orcs, etc. destroyed your home/defiled a Dwarven holy site/stole your Ancestral Artifact/raided your trade caravan/etc.

>>54521743
>>54521771
>>54521807
The division isn't what matters. Height is given in feet and inches; you would round down to the least significant unit, which is inches, not feet. If the spell identifies the unit as miles, then you could reasonably argue that, by RAW, it rounds down to the mile.

>>54522062

The RAW rule is that when you perform a division, you round down, not every time there's a fraction in game. If a villager points you to a creepy graveyard a half mile away, would you round that to 0 miles?

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>>54522085
That's a fair point. But why does it even specify miles, then?

>>54522135

i dunno, they probably only intended whole number miles but I'm being an ass

>>54521706
That should really be inherently part of the class.

>>54521744
Monks already have Evasion against Dex save spells.
I'd do it by 13th level, and it should be 1d10+18 damage negated against, say, a Fire Bolt, Guiding Bolt, Melf's Acid Arrow... But it does feel kinda useless. By level 13, the enemies you're fighting are not throwing cantrips and low level spells around. On the other hand, there's quite a few creatures that use Ranged Spell Attacks even if they're not casting spells.

>>54519682
>Wu Jen became the Mystics Subclass focusing on mixing things up with hybrid casting and psionics
It's the kineticist. It's theme is using your mind to manipulate the world, so it's the natural choice for weave-manipulating disciplines too. That said, I hope they integrate spell-powers better than v3 did, and that'd include actually making powers that duplicate spells for other types.

Mystic and Artificer revisions when?

>>54515882
Wasn't there a list of magic items by rarity in the old trove?

>>54520693
>Except most shields are strapped - you can't just drop them.
Right. I'm talking about compromise here.

>>54522507
Tbh, it's just a flavor ability. It reeks of weeb but what else about the class doesn't? Your archetypes are:
>Naruto
>Avatar bender
>DBZ Character
>Soul Leech a la Bleach
It wouldn't change too much and the ability to bounce low level spells and abilities back would be great theamaticly. Shit, I might just homerule this.

>>54522904
Thematically
oops

>>54522944
Monks are weeb
These aren't friars of monastery monks they're kung fu

>>54522954
but kung fu is chinese, not japanese

>>54522727
You should be able to find it via google.

>>54520575

Shillelagh explicitly works only on a wooden club or staff. RAW, you cannot cast it on your fists for unarmed strikes.

>>54522954

What, you don't think people would want to play a western monk who beats the shit out of people with a stick or his bare hands?

>>54523053
But as a monk, your unarmed Strike damage can replace 'monk' weapon damage, so he could have a club do 1d8 at level 11 or augment it with the Spell much earlier for better damage.

>>54523111
But the club already does 1d8 damage???

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>>54523080

>>54523135
Club does 1d4 and increases in damage with the monk's Martial Arts. It reaches 1d8 at lvl 11 or you can have it do augmented damage at an earlier level with the Druid spell.

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>>54523146

>>54523111

All I'm saying is that the only monk weapons that would benefit from Shilelagh would be a club or a quarterstaff. Nothing else.

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>>54515882
lets make a shipping thread in the thread like they have in the 5eg discord now

>>54523292
I ship you and Cammy, you'd make a great couple.

>>54523289
Do you need anything else?

>>54523328
id love to be the abuser in an abusive relationship with it

While there's so much talk about monks: how's Way of Tranquility? I love the idea of a peacemaker sage who wants no trouble.

>>54521285
Despite the textual similarities, Monks just don't do Munchkin. Don't worry about it.

>>54521341
The only thing I'd add to this is that succeeding at an ability check should give the player something useful, somehow. Don't have them roll for pointless shit. You don't want to give them an insight result and have them respond
>What did he mean by that?
Though I suppose you could follow that up with an investigation check to interpret the clue.

>>54520693
>Except most shields are strapped - you can't just drop them.
This is untrue, though. Even within the West, grip shields (the Roman Scutum) and strap shields (the Greek Aspis) appeared in equal measure.

>>54521285
It's factually impossible to munchkin a monk.

The best way to play monks are when you find a good multiclass to do so.

Examples:

Shadow Monk/Warlock
Open Hand Monk/Rogue

And my favourits for high level shenanigans:

Sun Monk 6/Fighter Battlemaster 14 (you get three beam attacks, 4 normal attacks, and spam superriority dies when you want something dead quick in melee)

Kensai v2/Revised Ranger Hunter for the best fucking archer you can play.

>>54524459
Back in the day monk/druid was pretty slick for shapeshifting too.

>>54523197
And that's the point, shillelagh already makes the damage 1d8 so there's no real synergy there.

What signs instantly alert you to That Guy? What instantly gets on your nerves, when you were fine just moments ago?

>>54524540

Teleporting bears are still dope.

>>54521631
>It's not 0 miles. It's .001 miles, or if you want to be more exact, it's .00094696 (with that last 96 repeating) miles.
I have one complaint about this and it's that you had the opportunity to write
>it's .0009469 (with the last 69 repeating).
>69 repeating, of course.
But you blew it.

Seems like monks should have a larger overall ki pool.

>>54524705
Nah. It's only a short rest reset. I think that is good enough for them with how powerful some of their abilities can be.

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>>54524586
>I usually play a leader type

>>54524748

>Wanted to play a bumbling idiot
>End up party leader anyway because no one else has any social skills at all

I didn't ask for this

>>54524563
It's not about synergy, it's about dishing out a decent amount of damage and keeping up with other martials before you hit upper mid level.

>>54524777
>Bard Life
>Fail simple roll
>fuck those guys, "GREAT SUCCESS"

>>54524748

What if they mean it in the 4e sense, that they usually play a healer/group support role?

>>54524586
Stupid and pretentious accents that serve only to emphasize how superior you are to the group.

>>54524777
>Play a semi-serious straight man
>Nobody else in the party uses their head
>End up being the go-to leader
Know that feeling

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>>54520260
>>54520227
>>54519762
Given that Paladins aren't explicitly holy anymore, nor are they divinely empowered, their connection to all three of these creatures no longer makes any fucking sense. The best you could say of all Paladins is that they're hyper-Lawful, insofar as they all follow their own Oath (though not necessarily the law of the land). If the universe were going to give these guys any power because of their extreme Lawfulness, it would be along that axiomatic line: the ability to influence Chaotic and Lawful creatures (particularly outsiders). Celestials and Fiends, while containing members of those groups, are split along the Good/Evil axis that Paladins no longer exemplify.

At this point, tofu has more flavor than Paladins.

>>54524874
>A paladin swears to uphold justice and righteousness, to stand with the good things of the world against the encroaching darkness, and to hunt the forces of evil wherever they lurk. Different paladins focus on various aspects of the cause of righteousness, but all are bound by the oaths that grant them power to do their sacred work. Although many paladins are devoted to gods of good, a paladin's power comes as much from a commitment to justice itself as it does from a god.

>>54524777
>try to have fun as opposed to that guy's super serious attempt at casanova and badassery
>immediately brushed off by him and the near mute
I've freed myself from that madness.

>>54524822
That'd be nice but all they did was roll to try to impress people, make decisions with little compromise and telling a fucking wizard what he did and didn't condone.
>gets crit
>casually takes the damage without so much as a wince
He was almost that kid that could never lose at the playground.

Reminder that Grappling the the best way to play

>>54524586
>Reminder that Grappling is the best way to play

>>54524777
I've been there
>purposely roll a non face character sicne last campaign it was just me moving the plot along
>two literal "Leader" characters
>neither say or do anything ever forcing me and the DM to move things along CONSTANTLY to the point we both quit
Thank god I found two different groups

"'>>54524586
"Alright X, you're up."
....
"X?"
-other players asking as well-
"Huh? What? I had my headset muted. I was paying attention though."

>>54524777
>>54524844
My previous 3 characters:
>Ancients paladin who wants to party and make people feel good, not to take charge of situations.
>Quiet, observant cleric who wants to take notes about new cultures to send back home.
>Scumbag who's loyal to his friends, his employer, and that's about it, who wants to get the job done so he can get back to boozing and wenching.
In every single case, everyone else in the group was relatively new, low in confidence, and hesitant to take initiative. The compromise I've found was to find the best leadership material in the party and effectively become their lieutenant and keep pushing them to make leadership decisions, talk to NPCs, etc.
I'm historically a very talkative player who often ends up with more say than I intend, and I always worry I'm coming across as bossy. I'm trying to fix this, but I need other people to start making more noise. :/

>>54524777
>Retire PC who ends up as party face due to the fact they're the only one with the initiative to do so to NPC status because IC they have no reason to follow these bumbling idiots into death
>New character has about as much initiative to act on his own as a piece of toast and is incredibly passive
I feel like I dug my own grave. At least I warned them they're gonna have to step up and in a pinch I can act as Face

>>54525138
From either a player's or a DM's standpoint how would you influence other people to do so? Is it weird to just bring it up and say it's too quiet or they're not forming character enough?

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>>54524935
>i pal around with fey and uphold laughter and joy
>justice
>i murder assholes
>justice

>>54525232
Sometimes you just gotta bring up issues if they're not solving themselves and they're taking away from people's fun.
At the same time, some players are just quiet, not because they're new and hesitant but because that's how they are. You gotta be careful because pressuring these players can take away from THEIR fun.
So far, I've been doing it all in character. There's a guy in my party whom I shove forward whenever we're addressed by NPCs. Occasionally he tries to shove me forward but I'm usually quicker. It's a fun in-character interaction, funny for the players, and results in not me talking. So with my current group, I don't really have to bring anything up.

As a DM, the most straightforward way to do things (other than talking out-of-character) is to have NPCs address characters directly, instead of the group as a whole. Again, though, make sure you pick the right characters/players.

>>54524586
Heavy metagaming. Obsession with spotlight. Treating game as if its a video game where they are the protagonist and everyone else is simply ancillary. Mocking other players.

Though I'm more specifically speaking of the That Guy in my group.

>>54525309
Hmmm, thanks. Makes sense. Some drunk guy picking a fight, random creepy trader on the side of the road.

I've never DM'd but I've facilitated small groups and it feels similar, like a lot of it isn't so much string pulling as it is pushing the wind.

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Does anyone know a good mutations table compatible with 5E?

>>54524796
But as a monk with a quarterstaff you van already do 1d8 damage, OR 1d6+1d4 damage. From level one. In a game without feats you're already doing decent damage on top of improved mobility. Hell, at level 2 you can do 1d6+1d4+1d4 plus modifiers twice per short rest and still get the 1d6+1d4 every turn after that.

If you want to dip and spend the bonus action casting, by all means. But monks by default already do decent in combat.

>>54525309
>try to have NPCs talk to a player
>they straight up ignore them IC with the copy-pasted character shtick
Every goddamn time.

>>54521563
Okay, I hope you give dwarves advantage on benching though, you autistic fuck

>>54525429
http://www.pandius.com/curseleg.html
Second half details the mutations.
Ctrl+F table for your precious rolling aid.

>>54524586
>What signs instantly alert you to That Guy?
Lying to NPCs for no good reason, or committing crimes in a city we'll be returning to.
You know, playing a rogue.

>>54525486
The only situation where shillelagh would help a monk is if you're focusing Wis instead of Dex. In such a case your save DC would be higher, but your unarmed strikes would be less effective.

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>>54515978
A full class no, but a subclass sure. If this is not to your liking, >>54516029 had a good answer with the Rogue or Battlemasters with a gun. (See page 268 DMG)

Would it break anything to allow rangers to learn a number of spells equal to their Wisdom mod plus half their level rounded down? As it is it feels like they get way too few spells in exchange for not needing to care about Wisdom that much.

A 10th level Ranger knowing only 6 spells feels a bit underwhelming.

>>54524796
>>54525486
You can use a quarterstaff with both hands and still make unarmed strikes.


>>54525288
Community outreach and lawful punishment are both important parts of a good justice system.

I want to try out the Revised Subclasses Favoured Soul.
Once I hit 2nd level though can I swap Cure Wounds for Healing Word? Or is Cure Wounds considered permanent (can't swap)?

I feel like Twinned Healing Word would be pretty boss. Even better, Subtle Healing Word in the midst of battle "WHY WONT THEY STAY DOWN?"

I'm playing a level 5 Paladin/Ranger multiclass right now. 3 levels in Ranger, 2 in Paladin. What should my next level be for maximum Belmonting?

>>54525831
Just make their spellcasting work like every other fucking caster but Wizard.
>you know all your spells
>you have X slots
>you can use them to cast any of your prepared spells
>you prepare WIS+(Level/2)

>>54525878
for what??

>>54525846
Vengeance Paladins explicitly don't go around waiting for someone to be sentenced by a judge (and jury). That's the problem. All these archetypes are upholding "justice", but it's their own meaningless personal brand. That's not justice, it's vigilantism--and generally illegal.

>>54521522

Holy fuck you fail at math

The Gunsmith needs Sharpshooter or else all your abilities are shitty AOEs about 3 damage above the Alchemists built in lv1 damage options (including a better AOE than anything the gunsmith gets before double digit levels) and cant hope to keep up all the other shit the Alchemist gets. The Gunsmith is garbage the Alchemist is passable

>>54525913
They usually have a reason for picking the target of their vengeance in the first place. It's not a blanket thing.

>>54525927
Gunsmith, like rogue, uses Sharpshooter for the increased range, but rarely benefits from the power attack option.

>>54525878
Do you want to be a Ranger with smites? Continue Ranger.

Do you want to be a Paladin that took three Ranger levels for no fucking reason? Continue Paladin.

>>54518556
>1,45 MB
I missed you so much, anon.

DM has allowed Sharpshooter to work with the sun soul monk's ranged blast attack thing

I'm going to make a saiyan

>>54526203
You have my blessings

>>54526203
But radiant sun bolt doesn't have a maximum range beyond its effective range. Unless you're going to use the -5/+10 attack regularly you're better off taking a level of fighter and close quarters shooter.

Question if a Sun Soul Monk put a Burning Hands spell in my Ring of Spell Storing can I cast it as a bonus action?

>>54526305
>The spell uses the slot level, spell save DC, spell attack bonus, and spellcasting ability of the original caster, but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell.
You are not casting as a Sun Soul Monk (which is what grants the original caster the ability to do so as a bonus action), so no, not unless you, too are a sun soul monk.

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>>54525943
Yeah, everyone has a fucking reason for doing everything, but that doesn't make it a just one as prescribed by the law.
>this guy blew up my fucking town
Excellent target for vengeance.
>but he hasn't been tried or even had a warrant put out for his capture
Then tracking him down and murdering him ISN'T JUSTICE, even if you declare that you're a righteous Paladin and therefore it must be.

>>54526305
Yes.
>>54526374
>the ability explicitly states you cast it as a first level spel, you know your save DC because it's the same as your Monk shit, the AB is irrelevant here, and your spellcasting ability doesn't apply
Every stat that could come up is already accounted for. It should absolutely work.

>>54526448
Gonna need a name for this.

>>54526448
It can totally be justice without being the same legal system you're worrying about. Law of the land stuff sure, not justice in that context. Divine judgement shit? Probly justice. Vigilantism is potentially just some of the time.

>>54526374
>>54526493
So I'm unsure which one of these is true.

>>54526493
No it shouldn't.
>but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell.
>as if you cast the spell.
>as if YOU cast the spell.
Can a non-Sun Soul Monk cast Burning Hands as a bonus action?

No, they can't, so unless you have some ability that lets you do so you cannot cast the spell as a bonus action, even if the Sun Soul Monk can. Because the ring treats the spell as if YOU have cast it. Not the monk in question,

>>54526551
see >>54526570,
he's talking out of his ass. Casting Burning Hands as a bonus action is something only Sun Soul Monks can do, and the Ring of Spell Storing explicitly says that you cast it as if you are the caster, with the exception of slot level, spell save DC, spell attack bonus and spellcasting ability.

Notably, this does not in any way mention class or class features as something that carries from the original caster. So you would cast it as if you were your current class, and thus would cast it as an action.

So is Hoard suppose to feel really vague and like you're never really winning? I mean nobody believes you about the cult even with proof and the big wigs are always surrounded by tons of other cultist/dragons/bad shit

>>54526570
This seems to make more sense. Thanks, anon.

>>54526448
>>but he hasn't been tried or even had a warrant put out for his capture
Justice doesn't mean "modern law system". The modern law system is used because people (like me) think it helps with delivering justice, but justice existed before.

If a hag made a deal with a PC for some of his innocence, what could that entail mechanically? Or what consequences could this have later on?

>>54526570
You are parsing this entirely wrong. That clause is there so that, say, someone trying to Counterspell or interrupt a Concentration effect must do so to YOU, and avoid mistakes like
>well I just used a ring, Dave's the real caster, he must obviously be the guy concentrating on it, so you have to punch him instead of me
>well Dave is the one that put the Fireball in the ring, I just triggered it, so the Fireball obviously shoots out of Dave's hands and not mine

The ring doesn't care about how long the original caster took to put the spell in there, what actions he used, whether he used components or a focus, or any of that other bullshit.

>>54526570
>bonus action
Oh, I didn't see that part. No, using the Ring is an action, like activating most magical items. I thought Dicknipples over there was bitching about "wah you can't put a ki spell into a ring"

There's a spell used by an Artificer Guild that's essentially SUPER GEAS, and while I could just handwave it there's a chance a Wizard might want it for their spellbook. How does this look?

Geas
8th-level enchantment (Ritual)
Casting Time: 4 hours
Range: 5 feet
Components: V, S, M-(A quart of blood from the target creature, and rare chalks or paint worth 200gp, which the spell consumes)
Duration: Until dispelled
As you cast the spell, you draw a 10-foot-diameter circle on the ground inscribed with sigils that tether the target creature's soul and your own together.
You place a magical command on a willing creature that you can see within range, forcing it to carry out some service or refrain from some action or course of activity as you decide. While the creature is linked to you, it must make a DC 20 Wisdom Saving Throw or it immediately falls to 0 hp, on a success they instead take 25d10 psychic damage each time it acts in a manner directly counter to your instructions. If a creature takes damage from this, you can use your action to teleport the target creature to the location you first cast the spell. This damage cannot be reduced in any way. If a creature is under the effects of any magical, psionic, or drug influence to their personality, this spell fails to take effect. Both parties must consent to the terms of the command with a clear mind, or the spell fails.

You can issue any command you choose, however the most common is forbidding discussion of guild-related things with unauthorized people.

This spell creates a crimson crystal out of the target creature's blood. The only way to cancel this spell is by using your action to break the crystal within 5 feet of the target, dealing 4d6 Psychic damage to you and the target, or by you or another creature casting Wish on the crystal within 5 feet. The crystal is otherwise unbreakable.

You can also apply one potentially different command to yourself, with the same consequences for breaking it.

>>54526641
Just to fully understand this Ring, if someone cast revivify into the ring does it cost me components to cast it or is it upon them casting it?

Also can you Counterspell the ring?

>>54526694
>rare chalks
the hell they making this chalk out of, gold dust?

>>54526741
[orphan bones]

>>54526694
A permanent Geas might make sense.... but probly not. Consenting to Geas? How often is 30 days too few? Who are you (not the guild) Geas'ing that 5d10 psychic is too little damage?

Seems really really really niche.

>>54526741
Normal chalk infused with a SHITLOAD of magic. It needs to have enough power to both KO someone and teleport them to its location.

>>54526668
>>54526513
>judges and orders to appear didn't exist in the time period D&D emulates
This stuff is hundreds of years older than D&D's medieval nonsense. For it to be justice, some recognized and lawful authority has to approve it. A Paladin is accountable only to his Oath, which he pretty much makes up on the spot. There is no angelic (or other) entity responsible for overseeing the dictates of this Oath; it springs fully-formed from the void by consensus reality, force of will, or some other bullshit. But the key point is that it's the Paladin's own doing, and they can't be judge, jury, and executioner while calling that "justice".

And even if you were to say that, for instance, your Ancients Paladin is empowered by some Fey being, that extraplanar asshole has exactly zero say in whether you're "just" in kicking some villain's teeth in. No one elected that Fey, and he probably spends his days kidnapping little children to groom into sex slaves before he devours them because all Fey are amoral psychopaths and any indications to the contrary in your books are just Fey having glamoured the fucking pages to trick you.

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>>54526741
Chalk's made of shells.
Rare, supermagic chalk is made out of flail snail shells.

>>54526740
>Just to fully understand this Ring, if someone cast revivify into the ring does it cost me components to cast it or is it upon them casting it?
It's upon them, because they have to cast the spell as if they were casting it normally. The only thing that is different is that the effect is negated and it is infused in the ring, see
>The spell has no effect, other than to be stored in the ring.
Actually, RAW it doesn't explicitly say that the components consumed carry over from the original caster. But RAI it probably doesn't expect you and the original caster to each provide copies of the material components.

>Also can you Counterspell the ring?
Yes, but the counterspell DC save and level are that of the caster, since you are still "casting" the spell.

>>54526783
Basically in order to get into high ranks of the guild, (which is something like the Cult Mechanus from 40k with secrecy) you need to be guaranteed to not leak any Information at all. The super-geas doubles as a get out of jail (not) free, because captured members can teleport back to base by using a phrase included in the command (at the cost of getting their brain fucked by Psi damage). The teleport location leads to a jail cell with healers on standby 24/7.

And yes, it's incredibly strong because some high ranking members are Liches.

>>54526814
Who determines what a recognized authority is? I can recognize your recognize authority is not authoritative, too.

The point of oaths is they're embodiment of ORDER which means has to be consistent with itself and not much else. You can't break an oath without breaking yourself and as long as your oath remains good you shouldn't have any problems, the actual law you acknowledge isn't as important as that.

>No mercy for the wicked
>By any means necessary
Seems pretty cut and dry, doesn't mean the pally isn't also a criminal just that he doesn't have to worry about that in terms of his own oaths.

>>54526783
>>54526870
oh and i forgot that spell scales with high high slots too, regular geas can be permanent at 9th so.... eh? Still dispellable.

>>54526886
>this guy said my father produced inferior wares
>I'm going to barricade the doors of the tavern he's in and set it on fire
>J U S T I C E
The Vengeance Paladin is just another step down the dark road away from the kind of personal responsibility and accountability that has been the class's mainstay.

>>54526886
It's not actually Geas, I just forgot to change its name because I'm retarded. It's name would be something like "Binding Ritual". It's just (mechanically) based off it.

>>54526938
Yeah, I use regular Geas all the time though so I'm trying to think up a reason why this wouldn't suck and outside of exactly that purpose of super secret guild..... can't think of one. All the power in stock Geas is in the forcing someone to do shit they don't want.

What spell should I choose for Wu Jen? The popular choice seems to be Shield,Counterspell and Dispel Magic.

>>54526856
>You can counterspell the ring.
Good to know.

The last thing, if a Sorcerer Quicken Spells or uses a metamagic ability on a spell when placing it into the ring does it get affected by that metamagic?

Why do the Mastery of Wood and Earth have such a random assortment of powers?
>Wall of Wood
Makes Sense
>Armored Form
Okay, I guess. Maybe your skin hardens like it's covered in bark or something
>Animate Earth
Okay back to what's implied.

>Animate weapon
???
>Warp weapons and armor
Are they made of wood and earth? What the fuck does this have to do with wood and earth?

New thread

>>54527000
>>54527000
>>54527000
>>54527000
>>54527000

>>54526989
Tenser's Floating Disk, Levitate, and Fly.
>playing a spooky Chinese wuxia wizard without three different ways of floating

>>54526997
I tried to look for sage advice answers, but I doubt it, because metamagic is a class feature and class features are not carried over from the original caster.

If your DM allows Metamagic to be carried over through the ring, then he should also allow burning hands to be cast as a bonus action through it as well, since both violate RAW.

>>54526989
Animate Dead for psychic necromancy. Take some avatar disciplines while you're at it for psychic skeleton tactics.

>>54527009
everything's made of earth

>>54527043
I feel like Quickened Spell might work due to it stating it

"Changes the casting time to 1 bonus action for this casting."

>>54527009
nigga where do you think metal comes from

>GM can only do three types of NPC's
>Always presents his sidequests in a very obtuse manner
>Never lets us say "We search the room" and roll, insisting we play everything out

>>54524586
Not paying attention. It's getting to the point where I am going to refuse to play in online games or games where people can use their computers because there's always one or two people trying to do something else. It makes me feel bad for the GM, I can't imagine how insulting it must be to have it happen to you.

>>54524969
>>gets crit
>>casually takes the damage without so much as a wince

wait what

You're expected to act out the pain of getting hit in your group?

>>54527716
No, but every time he takes damage he makes it a point to shrug it off every time as if its nothing.

>>54527756

I'm trying to imagine a way in which this is as annoying as you seem to think it is, and I can't

>>54527836
It's just one of several ways this guy is a pain. But when you lose over a third of your hp in a single hit you don't just shrug and say whatever. Not at level 3 anyway, I feel.