/5eg/ - Fifth Edition General

If you're not using alignment you're not playing D&D.

Eberron for best setting.

tfw terrible roleplayer

>no question
What classes do you think best fit the Gith mechanically?

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>>55345337
captcha: ISIS Plazas

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>>55345337
>Speaking with authority

Where do you think you are motherfucker?

Reminder that having a living family is asking for an awful edgy DM wankfest.

>>55345347
Strength int and int wis classes, duh.

Ask a real question.

>>55345376
What if I like edgy

>>55345365
Someone who is baiting and you are subsequently responding to.
Of the two of you, he is the bigger dick but you are by far the bigger idiot.

>>55345376
Say what?

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Now we're up against an anime tittymonster.

>>55345341
He's right, you know.

Magitech is best.

>>55345406
You realize you brought this on yourself, right?

>>55345347
I mean, they're robots, so probably STR or INT classes.

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>>55345400
Ohh man you definitely are right. As a gun toting penguin I sure was being serious but you showed me the way! Man was I stupid!

>>55345418
Yeah, but I gotta see it until the end. I'm starting to enjoy this trainwreck.

>>55345406
I kind of love the Kenku's token for this, because everyone else looks so fucking serious and meanwhile he's just "What the fuck am I doing here"; something we would all ask ourselves while up against anime titty monster.

>players think they can just "check for traps" with a single roll and no critical thinking whatsoever

>players feel like they need to check the floor, the window, the rug, the door, the ceiling, etc. for traps individually to know they're safe

How do I condition my players, and design dungeons myself, to find some sort of happy medium that makes checking for traps require thought without making it too obtuse?

>>55345406
>the faint edge of a token resembling Raven from Teen Titans

>>55345430
Dude that's what I'm saying. I love that kenku token and I want the full pic.

>>55345419
Wait, what? How are they robots?

>>55345430
He's more like "KRA KRA COW COW AAAA" in the voice call

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>>55345406
You better seduce that blue bird

>>55345406
Can your DM not even fucking align his maps to the grid? JFC.

So when do you think your breaking point is going to be? Or at least when you go into give-no-fucks mode and go "I'm gonna splatter her tit with my mace/warhammer"?

>>55345439
Why not just design traps that can still be meaningful/dangerous even if they are noticed? It could be hard to disarm or get around even if the party does know where it is.

I wanna make a chill, surfer fire genasi hermit who lives on a volcanic island in fantasy Hawaii, maybe with a marine iguana familiar/companion. Specialization in fire spells.

Druid, ranger, sorcerer, or something else?

>>55345403
I have never had a GM go more than 10 sessions without killing someone's family member.

How many magic items is too much for a fifth level party?
I'm converting an old module to 5e and there's a shitload of magic items.

>>55345442
They were made by the Quarians, who they drove into exile

>>55345441
>the faint edge of a token resembling Raven from Teen Titans
That looks more like one of the player's Roll20 avatars that show up on the bottom of the screen unless your DM is smart and sets it to "names only" so they don't cover up so much of the map.

>>55345455
>WoTC's definition of CE
That's why you use TSR's definiton before everything went full retard.

>>55345466
Disney Princess tier

Definitely Bard.

>>55345474
oh fuck, that makes a hell of a lot more sense. I forgot those appear because I personally set it to names only in the top corner.

>>55345317
>oh cool gith!
>they're shit

>>55345473
Quarians? Is this some alternate setting or something?

>>55345497
I think he's joking about gith vs geth.

>>55345467
Oooh that.
That is a good point.

I've killed off family members of PCs though I try to restrain myself. I didn't mean to kill off the cleric's surrogate father but he went and got himself killed by a wight and the poor elderly man used up the last of his strength to cast the ressurection spell.
(I also killed off the ranger's identical-cousin at the hands of a vengeful white dragon the party caused trouble for in order to set up a "you're supposed to be dead" running gag)

Has anyone played as a character whose background was so mundane that it was abnormal? I thought it would be interesting to play a nameless rank and file town guard with a living family. Maybe he gets jealous of all the adventurers passing through and decides to try it for himself.

>>55345439
This >>55345464 is good advice. I was in a game a few days ago where basically all of the traps were slow burns. Rooms that begin to flood, alarm bells going off, simply being sealed inside with no visible way out. Finding the trigger is simple, but once triggered you need to use your head to get out.

>>55345466
I suggest Sorcerer just so you can make the biggest booms. Plus fire dragon blood for even more fire.

Be the chill dude who parties HOT.

>>55345450
I'm gonna read a dictionary to him so he can speak everything. Maybe I'll pray for his soul or something like that.

>>55345451
>"I'm gonna splatter her tit with my mace/warhammer"? I'll do this in my next attack, thanks senpai.
I've talked to the others players and if I die I'll roll a monster race as well and we'll murderhobo around.
But the session ended now. We'll keep going next monday. I'll post screenshots again next time.
Good night, senpai.

>>55345347
>Githyanki
Str/Int lends itself best to Eldritch Knight or Muscle Wizard, and Str/Cha is best for Paladins, Bladelocks, and Stone Sorcerers

>Githzerai
Super good for Monks and Druids due to the AC bonus. Wis/Cha is also pretty good for Bards, Clerics, Sorcerers and Warlocks, most of whom also benefit from the AC bonus.

>>55345505
My jokes are not very funny

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>>55345476
In case anyone else was curious. AD&D was before my time.

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>>55345567
Noooooo, nigga. You posted the PHB ones, those are dogshit. Use the DMG ones.

>>55345545
That's what I was initially thinking (maybe even a Stone Sorcerer though, combine fire/earth for lava yknow?) but Bard has potential, too. I was even thinking Valor Bard.

>>55345467
Speaking as a GM, I may eventually use family members as threats against the PCs for intimidation tactics, but that's only when I have smart villains in play, not your rank and file, "I'm a bandit/thug/soldier abusing the poor folk because I know how to use a sword."

The only time I used it was having the BBEG kill the PC's mother when she was in childbirth with the PC, because the PC's father was a bright-noble hero and wanted to throw him into a pit of despair, both literally and figuratively.The PC thought he was an orphan, only thinking his father was a worthless piece of shit who abandoned his mother when she got pregnant with him and wasn't there for her to try and save her during childbirth.

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>party encounters an undead Mage Eater
mummy I don't want to be in the shadowfell anymore

>>55345563
I liked it, anon.

>>55345567
Wait, Randian heroes are CE.

>>55345647
was meant for >>55345590

>>55345647
>Wait, Randian heroes are CE.
Exactly. Now you can be CE without being blood for the blood god. Go forth.

>>55345590
That's an excellent description. Sets characters up as social Darwinist rather than juvenile delinquents. You could easily roll an adventurer that doesn't lolsorandumb all over the campaign.

>>55345608
Just a dude chilling with a ukulele on an island with his pet iguana? Sounds comfy as fuck. Bard list doesn't get any real fire spells, though, so you don't get any until Magical Secrets at level 10, and then only if you go Lore bard.

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>>55345590
Technically he posted the 2nd Edition ones. These are the 1st edition PHB ones.

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>>55345789
>randumb used completely unironically

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>tfw birthday today
>tfw dad meets me at FLGS
>offers to buy me something
>I think of the treasure nest and how much i wanted it
>end up picking out some gay-ass 5e books instead cause 10 dollars felt like a waste of money for a dice bag
>on the way home i imagine it, alone on the shelf
>start to feel bad like i abandoned it
>think of how lonely it would be if it had feelings
>start to think about how the world is such a fucked up uncaring place
>actually feel like crying
>end up almost running a red light thinking about this
>go to dinner with family
>open another present
>go to sleep thinking about the treasure nest

It won't be long, /tg/, I know I am going to give in soon. I am the guy who always gets the shelter cat and picks the most fucked up one to nurse and care for. I don't know what is mentally wrong with me but every time I see or think of the treasure nest I get this pang of guilt. I know this seems like a troll but it is really bothering me a lot, I feel really fucked up inside.

Are there rules on researching spells?

Like if you're a wizard, can you spend downtime to learn a spell if you don't have access to it via a scroll or another spellbook?

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>>55345820
>the world is such a fucked up uncaring place
>how lonely it would be
>dice bag
fucking lol you faggot

>I am the guy who always gets the shelter cat and picks the most fucked up one to nurse and care for
>I don't know what is mentally wrong with me
I know exactly what the problem is.

>>55345869
Nothing official or in UA

>>55345820
I am going to start filtering posts with the words "treasure nest" in them
Either you're crazy or just pretending but I don't wanna hear about it

>>55345820
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l60MnDJklnM

>>55345869
>Learning Spells of 1st Level and Higher
>Each time you gain a w izard level, you can add two wizard spells o f your choice to your spellbook. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Wizard table.

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>>55345317
>Eladrin get a free Misty Step on short rest recharge

Nice desu

>>55345912
That's not what he's asking and you know it

>>55345913
baka desu senpai

>>55345912
I love how there's no explanation for how this works. You just wake up with new spells.

>>55345922
He's asking for free shit and I'm showing him the only time he gets free shit.

>>55345317
Barbarian Helf with Elven Accuracy and some levels in Champion Fighter - is this the best crit fishing build?

>>55345960
stop spamming this shit smdh tbqh family

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Finally finished tales of the yawning portal and now I own tomb of annihilation. Wizards needs to stop coming out with book so damn fast I can't read that fast god goddamnit...I got CoC gathering dust on my shelf fuck...

>>55345881
What is it?

>>55345894
Dude I'm not crazy I just have a mental issue, I don't understand it.

>>55345909
That's why I'm asking you guys for help. Please.

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>>55345466
?

>>55345869
>>55345944
Really old editions had rules for researching spells, but that was mostly because there was no "automatic" spell learning. You needed to either research it (researching cost money and downtime, and you couldn't do it on very early levels) or copy it from elsewhere.

In 5e, the ability to learn spells from books etc. is still there, but only as a drop in the bucket of wizard OPness

>>55345984
>That's why I'm asking you guys for help
>>>/adv/

>>55345989
anything past the original line was shit

>>55345983
Any chance you could scan it? I could make it into a readable pdf, you know :)

>>55345936
Assuming everything is Forgotten Realms core. Mystra just shits the spells in your head.

Are traps inherently more fun than combat?

It's so easy to munchkin your way through combat but the trap is simply the trap.

>>55346046
Not in 5e

>>55346046
>Are traps inherently more fun than combat?
kinda depends on who the trap is.

>>55345869
>>55345912
>>55345922
>>55346005
>>55345936
In 5e the spells you learn when you level up are the spells you spent time researching on your own.

>>55346075
Huh, neat. Well, there ya go.

>>55346075
Not to mention absolutely nothing prevents you from roleplaying getting new spells. For example for a paladin you could spend time in meditation/praxer or have your conviction/connection to diety improved as a result of an ordeal or event. Sorcerers might manifest more of their power, and so on.

>>55346075
>spend 99 years studying magic
>stuck at level 1

>kill a couple rats, and drop a boulder on a troll's head
>become a magical savant

>>55346075
That's one way of explaining the feature, and works perfectly well as fluff, but the practical reason is so the wizard gets his choice of spells when he was expected to do so by the designers

>>55346136
Welcome to Doorways and Doggos!

>>55345471
DMG says they should have like one uncommon item per player

but fuck that, give them all the goofy shit you want

>>55346136
Or, more realistically

>spend 10 years studying magic, be a level 5 wizard

>spend 6 months studying magic while also being forced to protect yourself with it and test in practical real life situations, be a level 5 wizard

>>55345471
It's all relative. You could give them 54698395687309485 magic items but as long as everyone is having fun who cares? Make sure certain players arent getting too big of a power advantage over each other and it should work out.

>>55346136
>magical savant
>level 2

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>>55346136
If you spent 99 years studying magic and didn't even get enough exp from that to hit level 2, then obviously you're not a very smart (good) wizard. Meanwhile, perhaps killing the rats gave you an intellectual break through about the nature of the multiverse.

>>55346142
>but
The practical reason does not counter or contradict the explanation.

It's worth noting that spellbooks and scrolls are not the only way to learn spells besides leveling.

>>55345973
I've asked once in the last thread, which didn't get answered, and once here. So either contribute to the fucking thread or don't give me more (You)'s than I need.

>>55346230
Are three fire elementals a fair challenge for a level 6 party? The casters in my group mostly have fire damage spells. It's 3 casters (2 wizards and a life cleric), a paladin, a sun soul monk, and a battlemaster fighter.

Rate my loot pile that's been accumulated over multiple encounters worth of loot credit. There's no gold (rust monsters), so I bought them more magic items instead (because rust monsters don't eat those)
Figurine of Wondrous Power (Marble Elephant)
Bracers of Defense
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Berserker Axe
Animated shield (sentient)
Immovable Rod
Circlet of Blasting
Potion of Waterbreathing
Helm of comprehend languages.
Potion of healing (2)

>>55346246
Forgot to say they're level 5

>>55346136
>write stupid backstory
>write yourself as 99 for no reason
>be an idiot

>>55346236
I bring you this:

https://astranauta.github.io/crcalculator.html#0,1,13,1,3,false,Medium,1,10,false,0,false,0,traits:undefined

And this:

https://astranauta.github.io/bestiary.html#Fire%20Elemental

I think you'd be fine with them. 300hp between the lot, doing 10 damage per attack that hits, with an AC of 13. They're gonna do well enough on dex saves though. Also don't forget to use fire form.

>>55346255
rip campaign, players are now invincible.

>>55346225
>The practical reason does not counter or contradict the explanation.
It does when using common sense would cause you to go against the intended design. Let's say the players level up after a cliffhanger, or that there hasn't been any offscreen time for the wizard to actually research anything for several sessions. Would you tell them "sorry mang no new spells until the group has downtime"? Because that'd be a somewhat reasonable RULING, but not something you're expected or intended to do

>>55346122
>Sorcerers might manifest more of their power, and so on.
I can't speak for paladin, but I know you can't just roleplay in new spells as sorcerer without leveling. It's specifically stated that sorcerers can only choose one of the spells they know and replace it with another when they level up.

>>55346270
I thought it was a bit much.

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>>55346272
"I saw it in a dream."

>>55346272
Read the image in the post you replied to.
>Intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the nature of the multiverse

>>55346259
What I am worried about is how the fire form works. That's going to make martial characters pretty worthless against it, the monk and fighter are probably going to take more damage than they deal just trying to hit them.

>learning spells

I'm more concerned with how casters perceive spell slots. Is it just a mechanical term, or do they actually talk about who has more slots

>>55346332
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VancianMagic
And there you go.

>>55346332
Spells are channeled through specific chakras. If you can channel more through through your 9th chakra in a day than anyone else, you must be exceedingly powerful.

>>55346293
That's what I'm talking about. It sums up to "go to any degree of contrivance necessary to let the wizard PC learn Magic Mouth when he becomes level 3". It's one thing where mechanics are absolutely intended to come before fluff

Then again, >>55346291. I have rarely played with anyone who bothered explaining how his character learned new spells, and never with a DM who actually cared

>>55346351
5e magic is NOTHING like real vancian magic, though.

>>55346332
It probably depends on how they prepare the spells.

>>55346332
I think it's to do with how good they are at prepping spells, and how quickly they can do it. A level 5 wizard can keep more spells almost completed than a level 1 wizard. (Is that still how prepping works? It's just almost finishing a cast and then completing it later, right?)

>>55346366
Vancian magic, is, however, the greatest inspiration to D&D magic in general

>>55346366
>5e magic is NOTHING like real vancian magic
That's a bit of a stretch. They have very strong similarities.

>>55346366
Then it's just mana juice, and you're not soaked enough for better/more spells.

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>>55345471
Depends on the campaigns magic levels, for example, the DMG recommends 1 uncommon magic item for high magic.

You can give them more if you want to. In my game, I use these items for my party who are level 9. They are pretty decked out but I'm still able to make them sweat every now and then regardless.

In all honesty, though as long as they are having fun you are doing fine, and be prepared to adjust difficulties for encounters and get creative.

>>55346279
Well yeah, that's what I meant.

>>55346360
>That's what I'm talking about
> It's one thing where mechanics are absolutely intended to come before fluff
Again, the mechanics do not contradict the "fluff". You have not provided a single example where they do yet (you tried and failed), and you will not in the future. It's the opposite of what you're talking about.

If you want to implement a way to learn spells through pure research of the arcane in between leveling up, you can do so. It will, again, not contradict the "fluff" after all. Although it would be homebrew.

>>55345559
Where are you getting the CHA from?
>>55345030
Character was abducted by oni as a child.
However, from his perspective, he wandered in to a small roaming group of them, and pulled off some stupid shit that either impressed or amused the crap out of them, so they elected to keep him around. Kiddo had no problems leaving his home because he thought it was boring there, and these huge guys were cool.

As far as he's concerned, the tribe are his family, and he wears their symbols and weapons with pride, and grew up far stronger and taller than the average human, which is to say race-wise he's a Goliath. Class-wise is undecided, but either (Sea) Storm or Spirit Guardian Barbarian

How's that work for backstory?

>>55346136
If you're not using magic for it's purpose then you're not "studying" magic, it's an inherently practical thing.

>>55346440
>Where are you getting the CHA from?
Fuck, I was looking at the Eladrin's +1 to Int or Cha by accident. Just ignore half my post.

>Monastic Training
>A flat +1 AC instead of some kind of unarmoured defense

Go fuck yourself

>>55346246
My players are level 6. Here is their combined magical gear:
Player 1: Shield +1, Warhammer +1, Handy Haversack, Necklace of Prayer Beads (bless x3, cure wounds/lesser restoration x2, greater restoration x1)
Player 2: Glamored Studded Leather, Bag of Holding, Dagger +1, Staff of Healing, Dagger +1
Player 3: Elven Chain, Bag of Holding, Dagger +1
Player 4: Handaxe +1, Berserker Handaxe (is unaware of its cursed property, and he dual wields), Handy Haversack, Ring of Protection, single +1 Arrow

>>55346440
Is there a reason he has literally zero emotional connection to his family or are you just leaving the gaping plot hole of why a child would not get bored quickly and want to go home?

>>55346459
If it was unarmored defense then it wouldn't work with Monks which they are thematically meant to be very well suited for.
I bet you make homebrew, don't you?

>>55346459
Flood of Gith bladesingers inc.

>>55345317
How do they keep fucking up the Eladrin so badly?

>>55346496
because gay

>>55346425
Oh for fuck's sake. The game instructs you to give the wizard spells at a new level, and suggests to make up whatever shit you need to justify it (therefore mechanics coming over fluff) It contradicts the FIRST explanation you brought up (the wizard researching new spells, which was also what we were originally talking about, WHICH IN TURN is why I've talked about that in specific for most this argument). I even explicitly acknowledged that it was "one way" (which doesn't mean "only way) to fluff it, but it did not always make sense, and thus was inadequate as a response to the anon asking for mechanics for his wizard to research spells. Is that cleared up now?

>>55346477
I bet you suck cocks don't you? A flat extra +1 AC is just boring and doesn't make for interesting combinations

>>55346474
Adventurers are not most people, and this character embraced the more challenging lifestyle that the tribe presented, and welcomes challenges and adversity.
Okay maybe a little but a character still has to have SOME reason as to why they're adventuring
>>55346470
>>55346246
>>55346255
This is more magical stuff than all `of my characters have ever had put together.

>>55346511
>A flat extra +1 AC is just boring and doesn't make for interesting combinations
Are you fuckin dumb? This is a super cool feature for monks, druids, and bladesingers

>>55346534
And rogues and rangers and fighters and wizards and so on

I didn't say it wasn't useful, I said it was boring

>>55346562
But it's not boring
+1 AC is fun

>>55346318
This is the kind of thing you need to trust your players on. If they think outside the box, i.e. not just "SMash with weapon!" you'll not only see them have heaps of fun, but they will feel accomplished.

>>55346527
That sucks dude.
Admittedly I try to make the magical weapons some not-main-weapons (hence the +1 handaxes and daggers, while the players favor rapiers and longswords and bows) and the others I try to make more support-based.

>>55346508
>Is that cleared up now?
You've cleared up that since >>55346272 you've been being contrary for absolutely no reason, yes. Your initial post had merit, which is why my reply included the full text of what I was originally quoting from. To continue pretending that all of your posts were about only my original statement and not the one it was corrected to, is shitposting. If you weren't pretending, then I pity you.

>>55346572
We disagree

>>55346508
Anon... you do realise 2hours out of every long rest and every short rest can be light activity, yeah? Easily fluff-able as small arcane experiments that add up to new discoveries.

>>55346600
You and I are enemies

>>55346595
>for absolutely no reason, yes.
See, since you clearly don't want a meaningful engagement and instead pick lines to put out of context and keep repeating yourself, I'm done arguing about this

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Does anyone do anything special for spells or other effects with a spray to them while they're moving? Like if a red dragon used its breath attack while flying, I'm trying to get that moving flamethrower feel ya know? It feels off if someone moves half their speed, fires off the spell which goes off as it is, and then finishes their movement.

I ain't trying to make some OP shit or bust on mechanics, I just like to have an idea of how to show it to players without it looking stilted and mechanical.

>>55346593
My total magical gear across all my characters has been;
Greatsword that deals 1 fire damage
Glaive that falls up instead of down (and as such had to permanently be attached to a rope)
Maul that stacks charges when you hit things, and can use a bonus action to cause the next attack you hit to deal lightning damage equal to the charges stored. Hitting someone when charged, or going a turn without successfully hitting someone regardless causes it to lose charges.
Scale mail that counts as +1 when the wearer suffers a level of exhaustion
Amulet that grants the wearer fluency in Sylvan when attuned

All but the last one were given to my Berserker who later got disintegrated. Before that he had immediately given the sword away after the session he got it, and parted with the scale mail as he already had halfplate and also the story refused to let him keep it.
The character with the Sylvan amulet also has a nonmagical dagger that deals a single extra point of damage.

>>55346684
I think your DM hates you.

>>55346684
>Shitty walmart tier magic items

Your DM is trash. Screencap this and show him we are laughing at his shitty 'magic'

>>55346684
My dm gave me a magical cloak that turns me invisible, but it only works when nobody is looking at me

>>55346684
>Maul that stacks charges when you hit things, and can use a bonus action to cause the next attack you hit to deal lightning damage equal to the charges stored. Hitting someone when charged, or going a turn without successfully hitting someone regardless causes it to lose charges.
so...a bonus action to deal 1 lightning damage?

>>55346684
>maul that stacks charges when you hit things, and can use a bonus action to cause the next attack you hit to deal lightning damage equal tot he charges stored
oh cool, sounds fun
>hitting someone when charged, or going a turn without successfully hitting someone regardless causes it to lose charges
oh

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>>55346744
>>55346759

This DM desperately needs a coming to Jesus.

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>mfw trying curse of strahd in 3 people
JUST.
If we didn't have this Divination Lucky Variant Human in our party we would have probably lost already.

>>55346729
Your DM is gonna roll you,

>>55346729
Mystery Men did it better

>>55346684
I like these understated magic items and will be stealing them for my campaigns, thanks. In exchange, please give him this one:

A sword that makes you automatically succeed at one Death Saving Throw when you are reduced to 0 HP.

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pls give feedback

>>55346807
>speed 10
enjoy being cucked by every warlock ever.

>>55346807

Literally a non-threat.

>>55346729
Nice.
>>55346727
>>55346715
It's not a singular DM thing. It's vaguely similar to the AL stuff from what I can gather but with different restrictions and primarily over Roll20.
For a loooooong-ass while, there were huge, heavy restrictions on magical gear, to the point where you saw more Arcane Archers than any other Fighter archetype because of it. Those weapons were primarily, according to DMs who weren't allowed to give away anything proper, "magic for the sake of overcoming magic resist".
>>55346744
>>55346759
Put it this way.
I've hit things successfully 5 times. Thus, I have 5 charges.
At the start of my turn, I use a bonus action to ready it to discharge, kinda like a Smite spell. If I hit, they take 5 lightning damage, and the charges reset back to 0.
If I go that entire turn without successfully hitting anything, the charges reset to 0.
It was mostly because I kept spamming GWM attacks and that DM I used the most often wanted me to stop that.

Also, because of the rules, they were forced to roll on these "minor magical items" website/table thing. The only reason I got that Sylvan necklace was because nobody in the party spoke Sylvan, and the thing we were trying to talk to only spoke it, and Comprehend Languages wouldn't have helped us talk to it.
I know of at least two characters that received from it a hat and I think a cloak that had the sole purpose of pointing you to where the nearest alcoholic beverage was.

>>55346807
This looks boring as hell to fight as it's just a bag of damage-resistant or -immune HP that can literally be walked around.

>>55346684
At least your DM is giving you magic items. We've gotten 1 that proved completely useless, and the only job that's given us a reward payed gold when we're stuck somewhere with nothing to buy. It's been 4 levels worth of adventuring.

>>55346807
>walk 10 feet away
>have literally any projectile attack
>win condition met

>>55346832
>It was mostly because I kept spamming GWM attacks and that DM I used the most often wanted me to stop that.

>I want my player to not use GWM
>I know, I'll give him an item that incentivizes hitting
>and I'll make it do way WAAAAAY less damage than GWM would
>I am a genius.

>>55346821
>>55346856
>>55346835
Should I give it some of its spell-like abilities from 3.5 (like force cage, magic missile, etc)? Maybe magic missile as a free action each round? I know I'm making it sound like I've never played 5e. I've run a year long campaign but haven't got to higher levels yet. I'm just going off the table in the DMG and trying to convert the monster as close to its 3.5 version as possible. Within reason of course.

So is Theurgy Wizard as shitty as it looks to me? I'm not seeing any domains that will pay off before level 14

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>>55346807
>huge
>speed 10
It can't even move the length of its own space in one turn

>>55346873
>and trying to convert the monster as close to its 3.5 version as possible
this is why you are failing. 3.5 and 5e are NOT compatible. Stop trying to get it's statblock "right" and just get it thematically close.

>>55345341
yes. this is correct. im only missing ONE of the hardcover books and then I'll have the entire 3.5 collection. Too bad they'll never make it for 5th

>>55346891
and more importantly, stop homebrewing and just reskin an existing monster.

>>55346873
honestly, if you gave it some sort of mobility, it could be a threat by itself. give it a big dash attack that lets it temporarily increase its speed. with it's trample, one it's on top of them, it'll be too big of a threat to get out.
otherwise, the only way it's a threat is if you lock it in a closet with them and that's just boring.

i homebrew huge melee creatures all the time and by far the most successful one was a magnetic elemental i made for a science fantasy setting i whipped up. it spent an action charging up, then at the start of it's next turn, it dash through the room, dealing a shitton of damage.

>>55345406
>The bodyguard chick from Suikoden II
man_of_culture.jpg

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>>55345341
This man right here. He's right.

>>55346870
It was a rolled item as well, apparently. The exact description is this;

"Whenever the bearer deals damage to a creature, this weapon gains a charge. As a bonus action, the bearer can use any number of charges to deal that much extra lightning damage on their next attack. If a round (6 seconds) goes by and the weapon has not struck a foe, it loses all charges."

It came from this website
http://www.lordbyng.net/inspiration/

>>55346680
seems fun, whats your suggestion?

>>55346873
Let's start at the top of encounter rather than just designing a monster in a white room. Why is there a massive, lumbering golem? What is it doing? Is it guarding something? Someone?

Tell us about what you want the encounter to convey to the players. Is it supposed to be that the BBEG is a mechanical master? That she has tough bruisers and brawlers in her command?

>>55346729
that's pretty brilliant t b h f a m

>>55346940
>If a round (6 seconds) goes by and the weapon has not struck a foe
>fails the "bag of rats" test
confirmed as shit.

>>55346981
What's the test?

>>55346903
>Too bad they'll never make it for 5th
Psionics, artificers, inquisitives, and the mediocre race/dragonmark feats UA. You're mad if you think they aren't preparing for Eberron.

Out of curiosity, how busted would it be if casters were allowed to Concentrate on two spells?

>>55346684
how 'bout a bard instrument that allows them to change the effect of a spell based on changing its name with one that rhymes. so fireball can become liar fall, which makes someone who lied in the sphere fall down.

>>55345820
the fuck dude how old are you? just buy the fucking treasure nest.

>>55346999
Very. Don't do it.

A couple threads back an anon posted this: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1XQInrQb an "its way better and more balanced than the blood hunter". Kind of curious what /tg/ thinks of it, as I'm tempted to bring it in and offer to players.

>>55346991
That you can just carry a bag of rats around in order to satisfy any curse requirements (or 'boost' requirements), rather than using the mechanical intent.

>>55346999
Super busted. There's a reason you can only have one concentration spell. Don't bypass that.

>>55346991
if any item/spell/ability can be effectively gamed one way or another by pulling a rat out of a bag (or skip the "pulling it out part") and killing it, it's shit.

>>55346992
you think that after making EVERY core book almost 'in universe' of the forgotten realms, the 'splat books' are actually IN CHARACTER from the perspective of someone in the forgotten realms, and all their adventure modules are canon to the forgotten realms story line that they are gonna just up and release a new campaign setting? give me a break. its FR forever. we are lucky we even got the UA content from them.

>>55346953
Agreed with this. If you're going to run with this, make it more of a set piece / environmental hazard versus an actual monster. Less "wow we have to deal with this shit-block" more "its the boulder chasing indiana jones through the temple".

>>55346991
In short, a 'bag of rats' can be used to exploit loopholes in the game. Here, all the fighter has to do is constantly swing the weapon at a rat between turns in order to keep the charges up. This test is used to see if a magical effect can be broken easily. In this case, it fails the bag of rats test.

>>55347012
>that they are gonna just up and release a new campaign setting
Yes. There's no doubt in my mind that they will eventually release non-FR settings.

>>55347016
Wouldn't most on-hit effects fail that test?

>>55347001
I've never even ran a Bard before, and I think that that'd be too dumb to allow.
>>55347005
>>55347008
>>55347016
Oh. Well that's silly. You'd still fuck up and miss a whole turn anyhow.

>>55346879
You don't see the value of being a full fledged wizard with Cure Wounds, Spiritual Weapon, Lessor Restoration, Greater Restoration, Revivify, and various other things?

>>55347046
You do it on turns you can't hit an opponent and precombat to build up charges or whatever.

>>55347045
Yes which is why on-hit effects are avoided. It encourages 'gaming the system' and it brings up questions like 'do you really get a whole charge for whacking a rat?' etc.

>tfw lore bard
>tfw there are too many good level 3 spells
>also misty step is so damn delicious

HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE
I mean, I guess the real answer for me is that I'm planning to be a buffing type support character. Haste and aura of vitality decent options?
Was thinking of flavoring haste as like an uptempo beat that gets a party member going, and the aura as a song of healing.
Any other good use-your-bonus-action to do X spells that I might consider over haste?
Spirit guardians also seems so damn tasty too if I just want to discourage enemies from touching me in melee. FUCK

>>55346999
game breaking

>>55347045
yes and no. the on-hit effect has to be a cumulative effect, usually.
for example:
on a hit you deal 1d6 lightning damage, does not fail the test. but the item mentioned previously does, because it, theoretically, can do an infinite amount of damage.
Likewise, you'll often see other abilities like "when you kill a creature you regain 1 HP." This also fails the BoR test.

>>55345647
Ancaps are CE, therefore it follows that ancoms are CG.

>>55346999
absolutely busted as others have said.
This didn't stop one of my DMs from doing it. I hated that the cleric was able to concentrate on two things. It was fucking stupid.
I guess on the bright side the cleric player was too dumb to realize how game breaking it really was and never used it to its potential.

>>55347088
>infinite stacking damage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2JEKVn-U4

>>55347046
You use it when you cannot hit the enemy, or out of combat. To look at the "you can hit an enemy and gain a charge, which is only lost when you stop hitting an enemy for six seconds", you could spend out of combat time just slowly murdering bags of rats. Then when you enter combat, you suddenly have a ludicrous number of charges to unload into the first enemy.

This is why 'on hit' stacks are avoided, as another anon said.

>>55347104
>MFW this thread just informed me about that rule
fuck, I need to go tell my GM that my build isn't rules-legal

>>55347145
fuck him, he should already know.

>>55347145
How the fuck did you not know about concentration? Did you never think to look up what it meant?

Adventurer league is weird. Do you get anything out of it?

I'm going to post my takes on these items >>55346684 because I'm bored as fuck. I'm going to leave out +1s and +2s because that's easy enough to add in at whatever is appropriate to your campaigns and levels. I like weapons that grow up with the user and thus aren't discarded for the shinier +2 longsword.

> Greatsword that deals 1 fire damage
I'm going to assume this means a greatsword that deals an extra point of fire damage on hit, though the alternative parsing of that phrase is far funnier.

Volcano's Fury is a two-metre long greatsword forged by the Glitterscale clan in the magma-fed forges of their volcano home. It is imbued with the ancestor spirit of their draconic ancestor (Ormuth, the Heart of the Volcano).

The wielder of Volcano's Fury is never cold and has advantage on any saving throw against the deleterious effects of non-magical cold, such as being caught in a blizzard up in the mountains of the Granite Aegis without the appropriate clothing. If the wielder Volcano's Fury is attuned and the wielder is level 6 the wielder has resistance to cold damage. (D/N: Level is arbitrarily selected.)

If the wielder of Volcano's Fury is attuned to the greatsword, they can cast Sacred Flame as per the cantrip. The wielder's spellcasting attribute is Intelligence. (D/N: Thinking of something for an Eldritch Knight, but if I was planning on giving this to a Paladin I'd use Charisma of course. Casting spell instead of adding fire damage dice to avoid crit-fishing builds.)

Each time Volcano's Fury is quenched in the heartblood of a Red dragon, it gains a permanent, stacking +3 damage to its Sacred Flame damage. (D/N: Killing a red dragon should be a big deal. Letting the players learn about this feature of the greatsword can help guide them onto a plot of killing a Red terrorizing the countryside.)

>>55347145
weird how people would make this mistake.
Meanwhile I've had players that thought casting a spell or doing ANYTHING other than movement while concentrating on a spell would cause them to interrupt. They're so used to "channeling" spells like in videogames.

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>>55347173
>>55347145

>>55347176
Wisdom. In learning that you should not do so. It exists only if you can't get a group, which you should.

>>55346999

Depends on how it is handled. I was handing out powerful items in one of my games for finishing milestones (they were collecting them to stop a siege from the Underdark from taking over Eartheart) and the Wizard of the group collected a special Driftglobe that could maintain one of her concentration spells when she casted a second spell that required concentration, but it was an at dawn charge item that remained stationary and vulnerable on use since it didn't have its own will and couldn't roll to maintain it if hit.

It's all about context. If it is a straight up addition to the class, then like everyone else said, that is gonna be a huge problem as a DM.

>>55347014
Replying to you replying to me, but that's actually a really good idea. This asshole could be chasing the PCs through a dungeon / castle. Sure they can outrun him, but can they beat the guards and blockades and magical portals before he can catch them and grind their assholes to dust? Think of the Tonberry Stalker in Wanderer's Palace.

>>55347179
I like it. Though the dragon part should list a minimum age. No, murdering the younglings doesn't count, Anakin.

>>55347196
Oh, ok. I have like 4 groups, think I'll pass.

>>55347170
no
>>55347173
Because I'm a dumb motherfucker.
Ah well, at least I realised this right after my dude got massively fucked up as a result of his buffstacking. Gonna have to try and make up for it with enchantments, I guess.
>>55347188
>Channeling
I'm now imagining someone running on the spot while channeling Haste and it's fucking hilarious.
>>55347191
>Read the book, black man

>>55347176
Best thing I got out of it was a decent gaming group. You kinda get a shit pile with a few gems at adventurer's league.
Myself, I fancy myself a really good player as well as DM, but I didn't know fucking anyone when I moved to town. So I thought I'd stop by one. Took a couple weeks but I found a couple of people that didn't enjoy adventurer's league that much and wanted to do a home game. So much better.

Adventurer's league was really the fast food version of d&d for me. There are definitely some good DMs you can find there. But they're also ones that aren't usually committed to building their own worlds/storylines.

Yo 5eg. How's this for a magic item?

>Blood Bowstring
While using this bowstring, when you cast a ranger spell that deals damage through a saving throw, you can augment the spell using blood magic. You can spend a number of hit die, up to the level of the slot being used to cast the spell, and roll an equal amount of extra damage die.

For example, if you cast a 1st level Hail of Thorns, you can spend one hit dice to deal an extra 1d10 damage; and if you cast a 3rd level Conjure Barrage you can spend up to three hit die to deal up to an extra 3d8 damage.

>>55347208
>I'm now imagining someone running on the spot while channeling Haste and it's fucking hilarious.
presumably they'd be channeling it to another player.
Again, I had a player (first time he played a spellcaster) not think he could use his own spells to buff himself. He thought it always had to be another person. Which was great for his party.
I do like the mental image you've brought me though.

>>55347208
>>Read the book, black man
>I will not

>>55345820
You should've asked your dad to buy you some fucking therapy sessions you weirdo, quit posting about this goddamn dice bag and go sort yourself out.

>>55347221
I don't feel like it particularly fits the game; spending hit dice for mechanics was something purportedly looked at in the early play tests but was abandoned because players had a habit of essentially burning themselves dry and not being able to recover. In theory it should work with a group that's not fucking daft and has a decent idea of pacing, but its a granularity I don't think 5e particularly embraces - short/long rests are meant to be able to let you recover quite effectively, and you're hamstringing them for your bowstring.

>>55347226
>My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive
"you're not moving"
>THE FASTEST

Reposting my findings one last time for the night crowd.

I haven't been in a 5e thread in a long time, so I don't know if this information has already been sorted out, but I'm going to post my findings. I've been playing in and out of campaigns, one-shots, small adventures, and reading through the different adventures, both official, adventurer's league, and home brew.

I've noticed that some skills are more valuable than others, and have separated them into this tier list. If there already is a tier list, I haven't seen it yet, so you can just take my findings as my own study. Because of word count, I can't explain all of them, so if you have any questions what the tiers mean or why a skill is in one tier and not the other, just ask.

This list DOES take into account MULTIPLE DMs and averages out the experience overall, and takes into account the quality of the DM. This list accounts for an average of Shit DMs all the way up to Fantastic DMs. If you only have one, singular DM that you've known for awhile, then the better option is to metagame around that specific DM and take skills you know he calls for. If you don't know the DM or switch around often, it's far better to aim towards taking skills near the top of the list vs the bottom.

I will be around to answer questions, but the more commonly asked questions and breakdown of the list is here: https://pastebin.com/Qec8zLt4

GOD TIER
>Perception
>Stealth
>Insight
>Athletics

HIGH TIER
>Acrobatics
>Sleight of Hand
>Medicine
>Survival

MID TIER
>Arcana
>Nature
>Persuasion

LOW TIER
>History
>Religion
>Animal Handling
>Deception
>Tool Proficiency
>Thieves Tools - On the list simply because you can expertise into it and I find this is usually a bad idea

SHIT TIER
>Intimidation
>Performance
>Investigation

>>55347254
>Reposting my findings one last time for the night crowd
Fucking stop
No one cares about tier lists for skills. It's completely pointless and stupid, and at this point it's getting fucking spammy. FUCK OFF.

>>55347221
I think the idea is fine if using up a HD for damage is a meaningful choice. By that I mean if you only do 1 or 2 combat encounters before the PCs get to rest, it's essentially free damage. Consider how long your game's "adventuring day" is before using that sort of mechanic.

Personally I think it could be interesting but it's very dependent on the pacing of your game and if your players can appreciate the extra risk (if there really is risk involved) for the damage.

>>55347254
I think people are still mistaking Perception / Investigation as the Spot / Search of 5e.

>>55347254
This is easily the third or fourth time I've seen this posted. Why should anyone continue to give a shit?

>>55347131
>>55347055
Well, when I got it the DM said that I could only gain or keep charges while in combat as well, I believe, as an addendum to the item.
So that fucks it over.
>>55347179
Holy shit, you put a lot of thought in to this, that's awesome. Though, only problem is that Sacred Flame deals Radiant and not Fire damage.

>>55347254
> athletics god tier
> intimidation, investigation shit tier

Your sample is nothing but crap DMs

>>55347254
Wow you're really breaking some new ground there.
But for the sake of argument I feel like deception should definitely be higher tier. The amount of times players feel like lying for no reason other than to just try and fool someone is crazy. I hear "roll deception" incredibly often.

Anyway, perception is often the god skill. It amazes me how broken passive perception can be if you DM actually uses it like they should. The whole concept of expertise simply breaks it in half.

>>55347221
>can deal up to an additional 4d10 damage (up to 5 times in a single day) by spending hit dice
Shit man, just give your player a bow of +1d6 elemental damage.

>>55347206
Yeah, absolutely. A decent way to cap it could be some sort of scale where the first kill could be a wrymling, but each subsequent kill raises the bar for getting that sweet, sweet +3 until you're stuck single-handedly genociding Ancient Red Wyrms to get your fix.

>>55347274
Good catch. I definitely skimmed the cantrip name and damage dice. "It says flame, it's ranged, and it scales. GOOD ENOUGH." I'm sure there's a real fire damage cantrip somewhere, otherwise I'll just type out the mechanics in the item. I wanted fire instead of radiant because fire resistance is more common and to fit the gold dragon elemental theme.

I'm running a relatively low-magic Sword and Sorcery campaign (milestone leveling, considering a level cap at Level 6). Magic, in this realm, is essentially siphoned or stolen from the Elder Gods. Magic, used in sight of people results in fear, temporary loss of sanity, and often hostility (sometime wonderment). Mages and Sorcerers are almost universally evil, self-driven, and- if they practice magic in the open- usually well established political figures.

And YET one of the players has still decided to play a Sorcerer. I've introduced sorcery points as an alternative mechanic with the stipulation that they can cast beyond their sorcery points if they "roll the bones" (often to fucking horrible consequences).

I'm now wondering if his spells should provoke sanity checks (oh, I also use sanity as a stat) the first time they are witnessed by the party. Thoughts?

I don't want to punish the player too much.

What are some interesting ways I could challenge the sorcerer and reinforce the Lovecraftian asthetic?

>>55347061
Anyone have any interesting, less conventional magical secrets picks?

>>55347310
>I'm sure there's a real fire damage cantrip somewhere
it's called firebolt, anon.

>>55347274
Which is a video game abstraction. Basically he's enforcing the same thing as "you can cast healing, but you can only cast healing when you're in a fight, because that's how it works". Within arbitrary rulings disjointed from how its written and how the game works, you can infinitely stack charges.

Even with his ruling, you can just stab a bag of rats in combat when you're not able to do something. Bonus: If you have extra attack, you can gain several charges simultaneously. Bonus bonus: If you're a barbarian, you can also do that to maintain rage, so you're just murdering a bag of rats and buffering yourself for when you can get your hands on the enemy again.

In short: It's silly, and its not a good design for the game.

>>55347310
Is it rolling normal great sword stats with just plus damage? Is it just plus damage, or also plus attack rolls? Either way, you're talking about a weapon that can get monstrous if a DM isn't choking off the relevant enemies for it, which in turn invalidates the point for having it in the game.

>>55347267
>Last time
>FUCKING STOP!!!!
Or you could just not sperg out just one more time and then it will go away?

>>55347268
>I think people are still mistaking Perception / Investigation as the Spot / Search of 5e.
Yeah, that tends to be a big problem I find.

>>55347273
It's more information one can use to make optimal character decisions. I believe that is still up for discussion in 5e, correct?

>>55347278
My sample includes crap DMs, but also good DMs as well.

>>55347286
The main problem with deception vs. persuasion and why deception isn't higher is simply because both will usually net you the same positive, but failing a deception check is far worse in most cases than failing a persuasion check.

I have a party of 5 level 3 players that are about to try and either fight off a Hill Giant or trick it into leaving. The Hill Giant has a feud with an asshole paladin who is currently incapacitated and hidden in their camp. Any ways I might be able to make the confrontation more interesting? I'm anticipating either the players trying to duke it out with the giant and his pet direwolf, or selling out the knight and just giving him to the giant because they don't like him. They could also try and lie to the giant, telling him his enemy has fled, but honestly I don't feel like they'd go for it.

>>55347345
>It's more information one can use to make optimal character decisions
No it's not, because your list is shit and useless. Stop shitposting up the thread.

>>55347310
There's firebolt, but that's an attack instead of a save. You could say that "Sacred Flame as casted by the effect of this weapon instead deals fire damage"?
>>55347326
I don't think the pseudo-AL thing that I'm in would just let me carry bags of rats around anyhow, and frankly it's just silly.

Not that it really matters anyways, as the character that was using it got disintegrated, and it was looted from his pile of ash, and while the Skyward Glaive (the glaive that falls up) is rented/loaned out to new adventurers I believe, the Voltaic Sledge (the maul) has since been broken down to learn the enchantment.

>>55347240
Well I see your point, but it needs to use some kind of resource, and I don't want to just give it charges because the ranger player already has a bunch of resources to keep track of (spell slots, magic arrows, charges from another magic item). I just want to make the ranger spells actually feel like they're worth using, especially when we're comparing it to the damage output of Sharpshooter.

>>55347268
There's the thing, I try to stretch out the adventuring day as best I can, and if there are few combats they end up being pretty deadly. We just had a session where everyone walked into the dragon's lair with essentially no hit die left, they had to use it all to recover from 1) the dragon ambushing them with his breath and then flying away and 2) fighting all of the dragon's minions outside of his lair.

Fuck this last fight in the lair was awesome. I'm still thrilled by almost killing them all and then watching the party overcome impossible odds and win the day. Such a great feeling!

>>55347377
>your list is shit and useless.
Oh really? I find the opposite to be true, and have even made arguments to support this. Would you care to open discussion about the subject?

>>55347345
Nah, its 100% crap all the way down. Either show your work & sources, or STFU

>>55347323
>>55347381
Man, reading Fire Bolt and Produce Flame I'm bemused by the implication that Produce Flame can't actually light things on fire.

"Sacred Flame but fire" is probably most succinct way to do it, agreed. I'll probably clean up my rambling tomorrow and make an item out of it. I'm intrigued by some of the other 'weak' magic items that guy's DM gave him. I really, really dig the idea of a totally-not-Mjolnir that builds up a lightning charge effect as it's used. Like maybe after enough charge is gathered (on missed attacks, so missing doesn't totally suck), it causes a deafening, stunning, or prone-ing peal of thunder.

>>55347326
It's just a normal greatsword (plus whatever enhancement bonus the DM gives it, which I intentionally left out) that lets you cast a fire damage cantrip. Basically just another way to spend your action that can get augmented during the story. I definitely like >>55347206
's suggestion on limiting. The point isn't to be useless or monstrous, but instead have a cool flavourful effect just like the I-don't-get-cold effect.

Similiarly I would reveal the weapon's resistance to cold effect at whichever level my players are halfway through an arctic adventure. It's level gate is not something set in stone, but something brought out when dramatically useful.

>>55347394
My sources are myself. My work is pretty undocumented, however, many of my conclusions are not just drawn from the different DMs I've played under over the past 2 years (which have been many), but also from the adventures I've read, which are the collective works of the adventurer's league, the official published adventures like Out of the Abyss, Ravenloft, and the works of several smaller publications both online and off. My findings indicate the direction of the tier list.

>>55347391
>>55347417
Holy shit you're autistic

>>55347423
He said on a Japanese image bored discussing autistic cheese builds for an autism simulator game.

>>55346573
They don't really have any good items or weapons to fight the elementals with. Maybe I could put them near water, though it wouldn't make much sense to fight fire elementals there.

>>55347417
grats, you played yourself. not even 30min later and you've literally contradicted yourself. get out

>>55347435
:^)

>>55347410
Sorry, just as a follow-up before I go to sleep (it's past midnight, ack): I would never refer to it as "a normal greatsword that lets you cast a fire damage cantrip" to my players. It would always be presented as a sacred weapon of the Glitterscale Clan, entrusted to a clutch-friend of the Dragonborn so that they can drive off the Red Flight descending upon civilization.

It should have a heavy, spiritual weight to it in addition to its physical weight. Ormuth watches over the wielders deeds and crows in victory with each Red Dragon slain in his name. The wielder should feel the heat and scales of Ormuth on the long handle of the greatsword. So on and so on.

>>55347452
What contradiction?

>>55347345
>optimal character decisions
You're what's wrong with d&d

What are some good feats for bards to grab? I haven't decided on an end game direction yet but trying to plan out right now.

>>55347381
It doesn't have to be literal bags of rats, it can be any sort of creature. Bags of rats are the standard, but you could go to an pseudo-pet shop and buy a bunch of rabbits. Or a trapper. Or go trap stuff yourself. What are the likelihood that you're going to be in a situation where its impossible to go and get a bag of small animals?

The point here is that without pseudo-video game abstractions, the shit is way too fucking easy to abuse. If we assume that the world is anything close to being what its supposed to be - a living breathing world - it's not something super difficult to achieve. Even ignoring the skill sets that adventurers have which would enable it, the funds that they have access to above and beyond the common man very quickly allows for such things. If the DM has to step in and DM-fiat things away, it admits logical inconsistencies.

"But the DM won't allow it" is inconsequential for this kind of thing.

>>55347386
Ranger spells are worth using. Many of them stack on top of the aforementioned sharp shooter attack. Your example was hail of thorns - absolutely nothing stops you from making a sharp shooter attack and stacking hail of thorns on top of it. It's not one or the other anon.

On hit bonus damage seems like it would be easy to do. Personally I'm of the opinion its pretty easy to give it charges and just give the player some tokens that they can physically 'spend', so now they don't have to keep track of something easy to forget - they have physical reminders right in front of them.

Hell, if you want to minimize things like "keeping track of magic arrows", you can just make the bow generate its own magic arrows. Crib it from the Warlock invocation bow; it creates magic arrows that do bonus damage against lycanthropes. Now you're giving them a magic item that also reduces the amount of tracking stuff they have to do, as it removes magic arrow issues - unless they want to use higher level magic arrows than the bow supplies.

>>55347468
War Caster is always a good choice. If you don't expect to be taking many OAs, Resilient (Con) may be the better choice, especially if the +1 would increase your Con mod.

So is it just me or does the potential dire wolf encounter at the beginning of Strahd seem way overpowered for starting characters? Even reducing from five to three dire wolves and halving their health, it still caused a TPK. Granted, none of the players thought to run back to the road, but even if they had the three wolves had them all more or less prone by the end of turn 1.

>>55347534
I guess so, but being reasonable it just doesn't seem worth the effort.

Plus again it just doesn't matter any more because lmao the weapon is destroyed and my character's dead.

>>55347386
Why did the dragon ambush a resourceless party, nearly kill them, and then fly away?

>>55347410
I feel like you're getting caught up with making a super-rad item; it seems like you're going to give it WAY too much granularity, and makes me super curious what *other* players are getting that is going to compare to a theoretically infinite damage stacking great sword.

>>55347176
It's good if you want to play at cons, but you probably don't want to.

>>55347559
Personally, if I feel as though an encounter is too hard for players, it probably is.
If an encounter is there to serve a narrative purpose I will of course include it, but always balance it accordingly.
There are so many variables when it comes to balance in these games, I can't ever think someone sat down, wrote the book, and thought "yeah this will always be balanced no matter the party." They tried to give something as close to balanced as they could, but that doesn't mean it will be.

And side note, if you think something is gonna be too hard, but you don't feel like changing it, or feel that you shouldn't. That's the time to lay down some big hints so the party knows what they're facing is something deadly. It's never fun to suddenly feel like something is much too powerful out of nowhere.

I'm running CoS for my group. One of the players decided to go with a Aasimar. The group will be heading towards Krezk soon to meet the Abbot. Would the Aasimar player sense anything familiar, and or strange when confront with the Abbot?

>>55347559
How much CC was used by the players?

>>55347651
Only once and it only affected one wolf. By then three out of five players were on death saving throws.

>>55347634

Not unless they're a Paladin and use Divine Sense.

How do I level 1 as an elf? How are elves THAT much more retarded than humans that a 16 year old emerging adventurer is equivalent to a 134 year old Elf emerging adventurer? I just don't understand, I can't wrap my head around it, surely they spend their time reading and telling stories based on common lore of elves right? If I spent 134 years shitposting on 4chan I'd be significantly more skilled than a 16 year old schooled by Socrates just because of the sheer vastness of knowledge soaked up by living,

>>55347670
Well, they should learn to use CC more liberally.

>>55347684
>How are elves THAT much more retarded than humans that a 16 year old emerging adventurer is equivalent to a 134 year old Elf emerging adventurer?
wat

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>>55347702
That's the rough equivalency of adulthood.

>>55347534
>Your example was hail of thorns
Yeah, you're right. My main gripe is Conjure Barrage, to be honest. 3d8 damage as an action is very underwhelming, even if it's a 60ft-cone. The one time he used it, it was pretty frustrating and it didn't help much.

>>55347567
>Why did the dragon ambush a resourceless party, nearly kill them, and then fly away?
The party was fully rested at the time, and was scouting the entrance to his lair. He ambushed them while invisible, dealt a considerable amount of damage to all but didn't knock anyone unconscious. He just wanted to measure how powerful they were, then he retreated back into his lair where he would have the upper hand.

After short resting, they were smart and provoked the dragon's subjects to come out of the lair and attack them. A gruesome fight, and despite nearing a TPK on a single occasion, it worked on their favor.

After a second short rest (and using all of their remaining hit die) they stormed the lair in one of the most memorable fights we've ever had. You know when you end a session and you just feel fulfilled as a DM?

>>55347176
The best way to use AL is to either become DM and gain a ton of That Guy player stories, or to join as a player and secretly steal contact numbers of good players and invite them to a private game.

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>>55345989
Why in gods name has nobody made a Bionicle setting for 5E yet? That shit had the coolest lore and aesthetic.

Is roll20 a decent alternative to actually playing with friends? My group imploded a few months back and I'm really feeling the itch to play again.

Where I live doesn't really have a local scene so online seems my only option at this point.

>>55347801
Roll20 is fine, use voice if you can because text is slow. Good luck finding people. Not that quantity is an issue, but you're dealing with people who literally have no friends outside of their furry anime fetish circlejerks

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Need feedback on this, it might be too powerful or too weak, I can't really tell.

>>55347801
>Is roll20 a decent alternative to actually playing with friends?
No. That's not to say it's completely worthless, but it frankly will never hold up to playing in person even with total strangers. It's also a straight up cesspit and hard to find decent human beings, let alone people who know how to play right.

>>55347818
>>55347848
That sounds horrible.

>>55345960
I played it before at level 8 and it was pretty fun. Crit about half the time every turn, and combos well with gwm allowing you to make an additional bonus action attack. Did about 60 damage a turn if I hit all my attacks and crit.

how do I make underwater levels fun?

>>55347822
Just for design purposes, recharge means you roll a d6 and get it back on the numbers listed, so recharge 3 is identical to recharge 6, but 6 would be standard.

Also, legendary actions are almost, if not always, 3 use and intended to allow single enemies to threaten a party with viable action economy. As such, they aren't typically limited per day, but stronger ones can cost additional actions.

I haven't actually read over the rest, but i'll get back to you having done so.

>>55347891
This isn't video games. Is there something inherently about them that isn't fun?

>>55347895
>Just for design purposes, recharge means you roll a d6 and get it back on the numbers listed, so recharge 3 is identical to recharge 6, but 6 would be standard.
Ah you're right, I thought it was turns for some reason.

As for the Legendary Action it is so it can use Sandstorm whenever it wants.

>>55347891
Give your characters a way to breath and move freely and make it a flying level skinned as a water level. Alternatively, don't give them those things and run it as a horror situation.

>>55347916
>As for the Legendary Action it is so it can use Sandstorm whenever it wants.
Just make Sandstorm a reaction ability if that's what you want.

>>55347933
Sure.

>>55347870
I've been playing with the same group on roll20 for a year and a half. I found a bunch of people to play with from 4chan by starting a random thread and asking if anyone was interested. From there people they new joined, now we have about 20 people with some level of interest, and our primary group has been playing with some stability for a long time. It's been a lot of fun. Good folks can be found, or maybe I just got really lucky.

>>55347822
Just a list of "wrong" design issues, noting that these things aren't important individually, but DO go against the default design intent of 5e.

>CR, without its abilities, is 21, 132 effective DPR with 2 claws
>HD is determined by creature size, large use d10s
>Sand Madness needs to be a maximum of once per day, even on a fail. Otherwise you could literally say One - Two - Three - Four - Five - Six and have half your party fall dead.
>Sandstorm can just say "Each other creature" which automatically excludes this one from its effect, you don't need to write out an exclusionary ability.
>It has arbitrary bonuses. While this IS used occasionally, the default is like it is for PCs, an established proficiency rating+stat, then further modified for flavor if needed.
>At CR 21, which is the current minimum by math, it has +7, meaning the attack bonus needs to go up to make sense
>Similarly, it's good design to have shared DCs, most monsters DCs are based on CR, although some include stats. Either way, it's a hassle for everyone to have them be arbitrary and different on the same creature outside of extraordinary circumstances
>It essentially has fall damage on an ability, but doesn't use the fall damage mechanic. It's inconsistent with the rest of the game
>The legendary action section is essentially used improperly, but the ability itself is frankly unneeded. You can easily tack it onto Multiattack, see the dragons and Frightful Presence.
>Frankly, sandstorm doesn't need a set duration. 1 minute is longer than most fights and the sole reason to limit it per day and time would be to "game" the encounter by forcing it to be wasted and retreating, something PCs won't know anyway.
>"targets" are undefined in epicenter, i assume it is all other creatures and objects, but it's good to be clear with that. Note that if that IS the case, you could suddenly bury ships on the ocean in sand, or castles, or even flying creatures.

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>party (all level 5) is going down a small hill next to a desert
>notice our carriage is fucked up and the horse is gone
>go investigate
>noticed a small rock moving around in sand
>roll nat20 and apparently I know it's a stone golem with most of its stats (?)
>party is 2 paladin (one is DMPC), 2 ranger, 1 monk & 1 wizard
>golem decides to attack
>guy playing the wizard decides to just quit the whole thing in the middle of the battle (?)
>roll nat20 to grapple it
>about to go over to the golem
>suddenly a huge sandworm comes out from beneath the golem (?)
>barely escape
>huge sand storm out of nowhere
>5 hours later we wake up covered in sand in god knows where
>nothing in the horizon besides dunes and more dunes
>can't find a single clue as to where we are
>apparently if I pray to my god really hard he will give us a tip (?)
>one of the ranger is playing with bow
>arrow circles in the air and points to some random direction (?)
>"I suppose this is the way, guize!!1"
>5 days and 4 nights later
>most of our food supply is gone and no water left
>massive crate with a large flag city in it
>we go down
>guards realizes one of our paladins is a Bane worshiper
>locks us up instantly
>we wake up in prison with nothing but a loin-cloth
>apparently we are in a colosseum
>have to do a bunch of 1x1 and TDM to see who gets to live and take this weirdly class-appropriate loot
>we are in the finals
>up against a chimera (?)
>we take it down easily, surprisingly
>suddenly two more chimeras show up (?)
>take second one down
>third chimera steam rolls half the party
>suddenly DMPC paladin does magic and the pillarbecomes the goddess Mystra
>she says something like "If you are not going to become heroes by yourselves, you'll be forced to do it"
>revives everyone with 19 HP
>suddenly entire crowd is burned to a crisp
>chimeras explode into a literal bloody mess
>turns out the king watching is Asmodeus
>Asmodeus and Mystra fighting it off
>demons every where
>we just sit there watching

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>>55347237
*draws up a binomial distribution proving that 80% of /tg/ are shitposters*

roughly speaking...

>>55348018
>Terran is a subset of Primordial, knowing Primordial includes all 4 elemental tongues
>Boss monsters rely heavily on Legendary Resistances and actions to function vs a party, if this monster is to fight alone you should definitely have both. I personally recommend at least one attack, one mobility, and one "big" legendary action as the go to.
>"Can hide at any time" probably means it can use the hide action while only obscured by Sandstorm, best to say "~ may attempt to hide even when only obscured by a Sandstorm" to fit precedent
>It's a bit strange to poison with your claws, Crixalis does in fact have a stinger after all. Flavor wise, claw, claw, sting or claw, sting probably makes more sense
>Burrowstrike needlessly requires targeting a creature, especially since i don't believe its even targetable and hasn't been for some time in game. Definitely better overall to have it travel to a point on the ground, and hit everything between.
>Creatures can rest, 1/day is generally reserved for magic items that recharge, so 1/long rest is more "correct"

>>55348075
wat

>>55348111
I don't know either.

>>55348075
>pillarbecomes the goddess Mystra
didn't know she was the goddess of rock and roll

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>>55347822
>Making D&D monsters out of video games

New anon here, chiming into this discussion.

Honestly I've done similar with fighting game characters and I've thought about doing it with various other heroes in Dota 2. My current list of ideas/heroes I might port over are: Terrorblade, Night Stalker, Shadow Fiend, Faceless Void, Enigma, Shadow Demon, Nyx Assassin, and Outworld Devourer.

And of course, there's various other creatures too that can show up...

Pic related.

>>55348159
>Metal slime
my nigerian

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>>55348159
Well, if we're doing this.

I occasionally make stat blocks for practice, since i usually include at least one hand-made monster per encounter group. Not necessarily per specific encounter, but in a cluster, table, or dungeon at least one

>>55345983
SCAN YOU BASTARD

>>55348159
>+7 Con
>1+5 HP

>tiny
>Speed 100 ft

>immune to the effects of any ability
>doesn't specify magical ability

>Slam
>Hit: 5 (1d6 - 3)

I know it's a shitty joke post but what the fuck

>>55345913
Its worse than the DMG version because they don't LEARN misty step

>>55348195
>He hasn't played dragon quest
that's how metal slimes work, anon

>>55345820
You should be put down

>>55348195
... Have you not played Dragon Quest at all?

>>55348215
Never heard of it

>>55347345
Why would it be relevant for a roleplaying game?

>>55348221
You do yourself a disservice. Track down an emulator and play it, it's a fucking great JRPG series. On that note, I should play some more of the series - 9 was my first and only mainline game. Were the others better?

>>55345466
YOU'RE WELCOME

>>55347435
You want Pathfinder for that, 5e isn't it.

>>55348230
>JRPG
No fucking thanks

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>>55348233
top lel

>>55348215
Not that anon, but i got all i needed to know from Yusha Yoshihiko to get the joke.

>>55348239
understandable, have a nice day

How the fuck does the tool section in the roll20 character sheet work?

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>>55348177
Here's what I did on a late-night whim after one of my friends joked about seeing her show up in a D&D world.

>>55348261
You too friendo

Eladrin and Gith so planescape is next?

>>55348295
Not next, just Planescape someday.

>>55348230
DQ 1 - 4 are solid, I think 5 and 6 are a bit wonky. 7's a slog but a nice concept, and most people only bought 8 because it came with a playable demo of Final Fantasy 12.

Arguably 8 is the best in the series, as it was the first time you had Akira Toriyama's art (yes, THAT Akira Toriyama) actually be faithfully re-created with "modern" graphics. Yes, he helped design a lot of the monsters in the series dating all the way back to DQ 1, but it was hard to replicate that art for the characters in-game until SE was able to leverage it's graphical prowess on the series for the first time.

>>55345647
No such thing as a Randian hero, anon.

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>>55348279
Addendum:

Forgot to add the stats for the ghost minions.

When I originally designed this fight, the PCs were to climb a tower located on an island mostly submerged beneath the waves and seek out her assistance. She agreed to it, but only if they bested her in a feat of strength, to see if they could survive the trials ahead.

>>55348018
>>55348094
I will take these into consideration.
Only thing is while it's based on a scorpion on looks, the tail has no stinger, and the icon ingame as well as most cosmetics for Crixalis shows it poisons with its claws.

I want to create an NPC as a boss against a level 7 party, so around CR 10-11
If I create this boss NPC like if it was a PC what level should it have, 15, 16?

DM's manual gets too complicated with this question and I don't understand yet monster creation well

>>55348326
corvus did nothing wrong

>>55345989
Tfw my Warforged Samurai is literally a Bionicle and even uses the face of one for the token

>>55347145
>>55347208
Glad my question accidentally helped you be a better player Anon.
>>55347199
That was more or less the intent of the question, finding out how busted it'd be to try and gauge what kind of counterbalances one would need to grant that to a player. Based on what I've read around, a "take small physical and mental damage on extra Concentration spell, take tons of psychic damage on Concentration check failure, and maybe get possessed by an ancient wizard eventually" type drawback to a magical item would be in the right direction, though possibly slightly overkill.

>>55348452
The Alhoon out of VGtM is a decent place to start, CR 11, mostly spellcaster with extras thrown in. Hell, you could be super lazy and just turn everything not inherent to a wizard into a magic item.

Alright, so if I wanted to, say, theoretically...make a character that was an ardent follower of Murlynd, would a Gusmith Artificer fit best?

>>55348485
no no, my question wasn't about challenge rating, but about level of player character and what level would be the equivalent of a challenge rating of 11

>>55348492
ideally, you'd be a cleric with martial weapon prof and having your DM allow guns in the game.

A cowboy deity doesn't really work with the default 5e assumptions, and the artificer doesn't help, being essentially a magical cannon.
Remember that firearms ARE statted, so War Cleric would be perfect if they are allowed.

>>55348514
Again, read the Alhoon anon. I pointed you to it for a reason, as it is explicitly a "12th level spell caster" but with extra stuff on top.

>>55348524
I'm downloading it right now

>>55348518
Yeah, but they're also pretty big on magical technology, which is a thing that an Artificer technically does.

>>55348529
An alternative, but at higher CR, is the CR 12 Archmage, also in VGtM, which is an 18th level spell caster.
Personally, for bosses i prefer a more balanced offensive/defensive CR though, which is why i prefer looking to the Alhoon for a base, as 99 hp and 12 armor is hilariously low for a boss.

>>55348534
This would be a scenario where you'd want to work with the DM to fit the rules of the game to both the character you have in mind and the story/setting he's presented to you.

Forge Domain from UA also can work, along with what the other anon said about War Domain. You can also work with your DM to adjust the Gunsmith Artificer's weapon into a revolver or rifle as needed, and model the damage die off the ones in the DMG, nerfing them as needed.

>>55348566
Hah, I'm that person with that weird, fucked up, not-AL thing from up there with the stingy magical items, I don't even get to customize backgrounds.

Nobody from the rules team is online right now, but another player says that Firebombs from the DMG are banned, so revolvers and the like probably are, too.

>>55348604
>don't even get to customise background
what the fuck

>>55348615
Lotta players, and apparently keeping track of what a player has is tough, even though literally every DM ignores the feature of backgrounds anyways.

Oh, and apparently it's tough to keep track even though every player has a Google drive that they put their auto-filling character sheet that lists all that shit on it.

>>55348555
well I've just read about the alhoon, but it wasn't really helpful

the thing is that I have to do like a dozen of different NPCs that are enemies for the party and basing all of them on the alhoon is not possible

Is willy size proportionable to character size?

>>55348709
You gotta roll for it, just like anal circumference

>>55348709
humans roll 3d10 for dick size
averages 15, so it balances

Rolled 4, 1, 5 = 10 (3d10)

>>55348774
Well here I go

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>>55348819
>10

>>55346257
elves exist, anon.

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>>55348819
>>55348832
>10

>>55348075
boot that dm lmao