Chad edition
old thread: >>47787382
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What is the most "Chad" class/race/ background combination?
>>47798022
Variant human fighter.
>>47798022
Half-elf Valor Bard.
Search your heart, you know it to be true.
>>47797813 (You)
After that, we made a lot of fetch quest and basically tried to make our way in the higher rank of the order while doing the least amount of actual work possible. We lied, bullied, stole, traded favors and sometime busted heads in the name of the Scarlet Flame.
In the beginning, the mage wondered if Ardeshir was really a paladin, but he managed to convince him that everything they did was for the Greater Good. They always had the best food, were never sent anywhere dangerous and nobody messed with them, so it helped make the argument more convincing.
It did not last, though and one day, reports of an undead army that were sent since two months finally made their way to the outpost, and the duo was chosen to negociate with their leader (A Lich) and ask him what would make him go, all according to the standard procedure. They tried to explain to their superior that it was suicide, and the officer told them that if they refused to follow order, they would be demoted and put to latrine duty. Of course, between a boring life of cleaning toilets and an encounter with a bloodthirsty army of undead, they made the reasonable choice and choose to go see the Lich.
On their way to the crypt, they fought a few bandits, some undead, they also met a caravan that fell into an ambush and help themselves with its content after Ardeshir helpfully ended the suffering of the mortally wounded caravaneer (He just had an arrow in the left ankle but that sort of things can get ugly)
>>47798125
And the Noble background.
This makes me want to write up a Chad statblock.
>>47798123
Funny, I actually had a 'Chad' character that fit the bill for this. He was a huge nerd in secret and his Chad-isms covered up the fact that he was hopelessly lonely due to being raised as an aloof knight with no idea how life outside of war and nobility actually workedat least until he got married.
>>47798125
Half Elf Valor Bard Noble for max chad?
Or maybe Gladiator fluffed as an athlete.
>>47798123
Oh Arthur, you so unlucky.
I mean, fuck.
He's also annoyingly unreliable comparatively speaking with his hit rate even after factoring in his bonus against other weapon types he's supposed to counter with his axe.
Meanwhile you can just get away with bullying enemies to death with neutral matchups on units that hit like a truck anyway, or have some mean gimmick.
>>47798203
Silver Lining. His kid is fucking godlike if you get Arthur to bang Effie.
>>47798179
>Oliveball 'Gladiator'
Seems appropriate.
>>47798203
I love using him for his crit rate
>>47798170
Thank you, you just gave me a foil for one of my players who is also taking the noble background.
>>47798283
I'd give you a character sheet link, but he's in a running game as an NPC now. It's complicated.
If it helps, he has Dragonchess proficiency, 20 STR and 16 INT, and no ability score below 14 (I rolled godly for him). If he lived in modern times he would probably spend as much or more money on wargames as he does on booze.
His wife is... not a Stacey, but she can pass for one when she wants. 20 CHA.
What's the difference between the Adventurer's League and the book versions of the adventures?
>>47798375
AL adventures are usually stand-alone adventures only tangentially related to the campaign's storyline.
So, pretty much everything.
>>47798132
Then we arrived in front of the Crypt and met the vampire who was guarding it. This guy was special, because we were destined to meet him several time during the campaign. Each time, he would try to pick a fight with us. Each time, Ardeshir would convice him otherwise with a mix of lies, reverse psychology and insane troll logic. The first time was easy, we just told us that we were here to speak with his master. He then led us through a labyrinth (Because apparently this crypt was made to prevent the people in it from getting out) filled with traps.
We spoke to the Lich (Who was very polite and even made some small talk with us), gave him the letter from our commander, and he asked his undead scribe to write an answer -which seemed surprinsingly short- sealed the letter and sent us back on our way.
But the vampire did not wait for us outside and we had to go back to the entrance alone. We thought for a second about knocking back on the Lich's door to ask for direction but we thought that it would make us look like complete idiots, so instead we decided to navigate the maze filled with traps. The mage and his magelight were super useful, he solved most of the riddles and he was starting to become very useful in combat. Instead of direct damage, he was using all the funny debuff and the ennemies were always tripping, blinded, confused, dazzed while I pushed them in traps or punched them in the face.
Then he saved my hand as I was going to put it in a hole to pull a lever, by suggesting that I first poke it with a stick. Claws appeared out of the rock, breaking the stick in tiny little piece. At this moment we became bro and I told him who I really was, he thought about some way to hide my alignement if we met a real paladin, etc etc, it was a bonding experience.
>>47798346
Reminds me of the time a friend showed up at a game, declared "I'm making Kanye West" and proceeded to roll nothing below a 16.
The GM watched him do it. It was incredible.
>>47798346
So he's that guy who is ripped and looks like he should tell you about his sports trophies, but you go into his house and find shelves of expertly painted minis on display?
Maybe before he meets his wife, or before he's married to her, he deliberately acts like a jock and designates mental tasks he would be great at to other people.
Sometimes he slips and says something insightful, but just covers it up with a "or something like that."
>>47798388
That's pretty cool, I guess.
>>47798420
Something like that.
His wife indulges his nerdiness because they do actually care about each other, even though it does look like she plays him like a grand piano (and to some extent, she does).
If there was a team game and they needed one more person, she'd probably nominatively show up and let her husband play for them both while belittling or screwing with the heads of the other team for her amusement.
>>47798396
(Don't look at the image before I say so !)
After that, as we did not know what time it was, we decided to light a fire in one of the biggest room of the crypt (That we were painfully mapping), eat a bit, and sleep the 8 hours necessary for him to get all his spells back. The night goes without any incident, we continue to wander the maze, and suddenly we find a pile of items on the floor. We start looking for useful things and the DM rolls for magical items. We found a magic amulet that allows the wearer to throw one chromatic orb per day, he take it. Then we found a one-handed axe that seems magical. I take it, and it's a cursed weapon that I cannot remove. But on the other hand, it gives me half of the damage I make in health, which is godly. There is another problem with it but I will only discover it much later.
The problem we have now is that this pile of treasure belongs to someone : A Minotaur, who starts chasing us in the labyrinth. The mage and me manage to drive him on a pool of grease that leads to a pit filled with spikes, and then we use him as a bridge to get on the other side. After a few minutes, we find the exit, and meet our friend the Vampire. He tells us that his master did not ask him to leave us alive, and we answer that he did not ask him to kill us, either. While he is dazed, we leave.
The good thing with the fact that me and the mage were now bro was the fact that I could now summon my trusty charger. It would not have been a good idea before, since it looked like pic related.
Anybody have the dark souls pdf?
>>47798755
>>47798425
Also have the first level chapter of the actual book.
>>47799078
What?
>>47798870
Thanks dad.
>>47798375
AL is always related but takes place in a different geographical location. Published adventures are typically along the Sword Coast, and AL is I think somewhere along the Sea of Stars. Never done AL but I think thats right.
>>47798022
Who is Chad?
>>47799138
So if I wanted to run Curse of Strahd at home but play at my game store, I'd be okay and wouldn't spoiling anything for myself?
>>47799183
Some douchebag from Fire Emblem Fates.
>>47799183
A stereotypical jock asshole
>>47799236
The pic isn't a chad, I just love how he looks and want to run a paladin using his picture.
>>47799092
AL starts at level 1. The hoard version has chapter one of the campaign, the princes one has the first level side quests.
>>47799208
I mean... if you want to run Curse of Strahd you should read the whole book before even starting the first session.
I think the beginning of AL starts out in Faerun but it moves to Barovia eventually. I haven't done it so I can't really comment on this season.
But if you want to run CoS you should read the whole thing.
>>47799208
>>47799382
ok, I (very quickly) read through a few of them. The AL this season seems CLOSELY but tangentially related. So I don't think it will per se ruin CoS for you. But I still think it will be tough to play AL and run CoS without spoiling some things for yourself.
>>47799273
Can he actually be a Paladin in-game?
>>47799495
I just looked it up and yeah, he can. Which is probably what I'll do whenever I get around to finishing that game.
Why aren't Warlocks Int casters?
>>47799955
Because it was the secondary stat for warlocks in 4e, and grognards would be triggered.
>>47799955
Why isn't Medicine an INT skill?
And Survival, for that matter.
>>47800022
Glut of INT skills
>>47799992
>grounds
>4e
lel
>>47800062
Shit that should say grognards, obviously
>>47799955
They were cha for the last 2 editions. Why should they be int anyway?
>>47800022
Because the dnd definition of wisdom overlaps with the Webster definition of intelligence in some ways. Also perception for some reason
>>47800022
>>47800047
We need Con skills.
>>47800081
Most things that would seem like a con skill tend to feel like they just outright shouldn't be skills
Holding breath. Ignoring pain. I dunno I got nothing
>>47800081
Odd that Athletics is STR, when strength is unnecessary for most real world athletics.
>>47800076
I like the idea that the warlock is unlocking mysteries from the other entity as they level rather than just being granted powers so I like them as int casters
Not that guy though
Thinking of making a Binder subclass for Warlock. Going, to essentially make it change his bonus spells, patron gift, and invocations between preset lists associated with different vestiges on a short rest.
My question is, from a balance perspective, is the added versatility too far from the Warlock's design philosophy? Narrow spell list and limited types of invocations are supposed to be a balancing factor for them, right?
>>47800081
Is anything you use con for something you get better at with training? Or is it an innate inborn skill?
>>47800216
You can definitely train up your endurance for lengthy periods of strenuous exercise
>>47800226
The problem with that is endurance is your con score itself
>>47800204
I'm not that familiar with binders, but is the idea that they make smaller pacts with lesser powers, rather than one pact with a larger power?
If that's the case, what about trading in spellcasting (except for cantrips) for more invocations and the power to change them on a (short?long?) rest.
>>47800307
Well, the problem with that is:
A) spellcasting is a core class feature and removing it is beyond the scope if a subclass. I'm trying to keep this as tightly knit as possible.
B) Almost half the invocations require spell casting to function.
C) Spells are a nice versatile way to capture the flavor of a Vestige.
>>47800097
How about an option to pick proficiency with Constitution (Concentration) instead of a con save for spell concentration?
We already have pushing and grappling be athletics-based.
>>47799955
They didn't study for their magicks, they just made a deal with some other force.
Charisma, representing the force of personality thing, fits the class quite well. After all, you're drawing your power from something you didn't learn but recieve, just like your old Sorcerers. Alternatevily, using a pact as your 'focus' could be somewhat similar to using a musical instrument as one, and Bards are also Charismatic.
If someday they change their casting stat, it'd be Wisdom, since Willpower is tied to that and I'm pretty sure you can make a point or two about being able to stand whatever your patrons included in the deal.
But Intelligence? That's reserved for something you studied for from the very beggining, and the other classes that qualifies under this are Divine Spellcasters, and I guess we can agree that WotC does the right call at tying them to Wisdom since spellcasting is secondary to their fluff.
Got an arcane trickster-like boss who may be fought at some point.
They have an improved haste spell that allows them to take an additional turn each round at initiative-10 and are likely to summon shade-like mobs during the fight.
Everything will be fine, right?
>>47801022
Call the second turn an "after image" or a "shadow clone" or something equally ninja-like.
>>47799955
Because they shouldn't exist.
>>47801070
Neither should half the classes.
>WotC will never have the balls to have Fighter and Wizard be the only classesGive me a reason why all characters couldn't be made as archetypes of those two YOU CANT
>>47801040
Afterimage sounds good. Likely will restrict its movement so it can only move each 5ft if the move takes it closer to the caster, so it could move diagonally towards and a little away from the caster to hit something before going towards the caster but cannot move at 90 degrees from the direction of the caster. Probably make it so each takes half health damage but they share a health pool, to make the otherwise not-so-tanky rogue-like boss able to take hits from that size of a group.
>>47801130
Wizard could be a subclass of fighter. They're like fighters, only they're squishier and fight using magic!
Why not just have an 'adventurer' class and have everything be a subclass of that? You could have subclasses like 'wizard', 'warlock', 'bard', 'fighter', 'barbarian'...
Oh, look, it's the exact same thing as we have now!
>>47800563
Athletics for pushing and grappling is a mistake.
There should be a seperate skill line with seperate free proficiencies for directly combat-related skills such as for keeping concentratiom, disarming, throwing objects such as bombs, identifying enemy abilities on the spot (rather than nature checking everything using an action to find that bears maul people) or to taunt enemies.
How do you handle critical failures, especially in combat? My dm rules that either you shoot yourself with an arrow, you stab your buddy with a sword, or you accidentally throw your weapon away. Is that a dick move or just how it goes?
>>47801257
Usually something unusually bad, but not -directly- damaging to the players. Throwing their weapon by mistake, tripping and falling over prone, getting their sword stuck in a crevice in the wall, or things like that.
>>47801257
Dick move
>>47798870
>However, realize that point buy can lead to
irritating min-maxing, and rolling for stats can create characters that are exceptionally skilled in this grim, deadly world.
Didn't Dark Souls give whatever class you chose pre-set stats? Why not make it an option and have a default array for each class?
>>47801257
Doesn't exist. A 1 is a miss/fail for attack rolls and saving throws. That's it.
>>47801321
As long as you somehow tie in trading souls for stat points this is good
Stupid question: If I have an arcane focus, I don't need material components? As a warlock if it's relevant.
>>47801357
Correct. Unless the material components have a cost and/or are consumed, in which case you need those specific components.
So one of my players is playing a Ranger in next weeks session.
I want to buff favoured enemy combat wise in some kind of way without making the Ranger too strong early on. What would be a good idea to do?
>>47801257
I make it funny but never have it impact gameplay
>I throw my dagger!
Rolls a 1
>You misjudge the spin, the dagger's pommel smacks you on the nose, you scramble a bit and regain composure, but yes, everybody saw that. You are embarrassed
>new book coming out gives players the option to play as a full on Orc
What if a full Orc and an elf are in the same party? How could they possibly work together? Same with Gnomes and Goblins, Goblins have been raiding gnomish mines and villages for centuries, how could a Goblin and a Gnome get along? Is the forgotten realms entering a Martin Luther King era? Will Orcs and Elves meet up and have one big hug of equality?
>>47801469
Tell your player things some meta-gamey things the ranger should know about an enemy he has studied thoroughly
"The ogre is badly cut and bruised,he must be at just under half health"
"The lich is hanging on by a thread! It looks like one more hit should do the trick"
"The creature's eyes shift nervously toward the door, a well placed word of discouragement should demoralize this creature and cause it to flee"
"Hydras tend to grow new heads after being decapitated, using fire to burn the stumps should make it easier to slay the beast"
And so on
>>47801330
Natural 1 isn't a failure on saving throws in 5e.
The "Saving Throws" section is on page 179 of the Player's Handbook, and it makes no mention of natural 1's or 20's. This is contrary to the "Making an Attack Roll" section, which has a subsection "Rolling a 1 or 20" on page 194.
Saving throw bonuses don't usually get high enough to make a 1 succeed, but you can make a Paladin who only loses concentration through high damage (22+ in a single hit) or unconsciousness. (Resilient feat + Aura of Protection)
>>47801469
Give them their capstone at first level.
>>47801836
It's hilarious how little this does to actually fix the Ranger. For any other class that would be crazy talk. But it's not a bad idea.
>>47801599
>Orcs become playable
>Every party must now include elves and Orcs getting along together as best buds
I'm not sure if you're trolling or just took WIS as a dump stat
>>47801877
Exactly why I suggested it. It makes them better against their favored enemies, but its still only a few points of extra damage each swing. If they're not fighting their favored enemy, they still suck.
To make the Ranger more effective overall, they should get the ability to use that Hunter's quarry ability for 1d6 extra damage way more frequently. Give it to them for free twice per short rest or something.
>>47801599
>Evil alignments become playable
>hurr durr what happens if Evil and Good are in same party
>>47801935
>>47801901
My bad, didn't mean it like that, we had a lot of discussion a couple threads ago about character races mixing horribly in settings like the genasi and goliath, was just trying to get some sense on what /5eg/ thought about Elves and Orcs being in the same party in the Forgotten Realms setting. Pls no bully.
The book doesn't mention it, but what effect would a rope and a grappling hook have on climbing? Nothing at all? Just a straight Athletics check?
I've got an 8 Str archer (shoulda gone for 10) and I'm thinking of climbing on top of roofs to get better vantage points. Would I be better off just using a ladder?
>>47802058
Well the rope and grappling hook would allow you to attempt to climb things like straight castle walls, which you probably couldn't do unless you were a thief rogue
On regular climbs you could do normally they might reduce the DC (DM depending) but other than that there is no benefit
>>47802058
Well the DM decides on that. I would give advantage if it makes sense in the situation.
>spell sniper feat via variant human at level 1
>eldritch spear invocation at level 2
>take 2 levels of sorcerer to get distant spell
>can now cast eldritch blast from 1200ft away
>literally don't even have to be on the game map to do damage
Has anyone ever done this? You could be a magical assassin for hire.
>>47802058
>archer with str penalty
Why are you doing this to yourself
>>47802130
Still new to D&D, only started playing last year. This guy's my first archer. Live and learn.
>>47802142
Fair enough just remember not to skip leg day next time
>>47802127
Would you still need line of sight?
>>47801609
I really like this idea. If one of my players were a ranger I'd do this
>>47802210
Most likely, but spyglasses are a thing.
>>47801532
That does have a gameplay effect though.
>throw dagger
>miss
>don't have dagger
>throw dagger
>hit my nose
>still have dagger
>>47801257
Depends. I have them do a d6 and the roll dictates the effects. Melee, ranged, and spells all have different outcomes except rolling a six just means they missed and to praise the RNG gods that nothing else happens.
Effects can be being knocked prone, accidentally attacking teammates near/on the way to the target, being knocked prone, weapon durability damage, enemies getting an AoO, etc.
But enemies get these same effects as well though, and everyone is fine with them since it makes fighting more unpredictable and it's actually saved their asses in multiple situations.
![0518d0b484b0114121776d664b01a99f4c8526-wm[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/YW9JJWn.jpg "0518d0b484b0114121776d664b01a99f4c8526-wm[1].jpg")
>>47801599
Why do people constantly ask questions that are irrelevant with DM control over setting or player agency?
Are there really this many people who only play Forgotten "because it was so fucking boring" Realms? Can these people not conceive of any deviations from these official settings?
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, this is a guy who basically asked "hurr, what happens when a good guy player and a bad guy player are forced to team up"
>>47801914
I don't know why you guys think Ranger sucks so much. My party has just reached level 5, ranger, monk, paladin, bard, warlock and me as rogue. Suddenly my sneak attack is nowhere near as impressive. Whereas I'm at the most doing 5d6+4 damage per turn, if I can trigger it, the ranger is doing 2d8 + 1d8 (colossus slayer) + 2d6 (hunter's mark) + 8. And they have spells, Cure Wounds, Pass Without a Trace, all things that make a huge difference for the party. Don't get me wrong, I still rather play a rogue because it fits more what I want and I'm having fun being a Swashbuckler, but rangers aren't so bad as people make them out to be. At least the Hunter archetype isn't.
>>47802464
Oh, right, overlooked that detail
Well you could just say it bounces off your face and lands some distance away
>>47802130
>mfw our ranger has -2 strength mod
>>47802511
>elves
>good
LISTEN HERE YOU KNIFE-EARED PIECE OF SHIT
>>47802515
They really aren't, the ranger has been shown many times to be able to keep up with a fighter in damage at high levels
Rangers are balanced mechanically, or at least hunters are, beastmasters just need a small hp boost to the beast
What people complain about, which is the features being somewhat boring, can be fixed with having a semi-decent DM
>>47802467
Do you mind sharing what each number did for melee, ranged, and spell attacks? I'd like to try this out
>>47800624
>They didn't study for their magicks
that's not what the book says
>>47802515
Rangers are perfectly capable of going through the game successfully. That's not an achievement, DnD is easy, especially for any ranged class with spells.
Where they suffer is their damage being subpar compared to every other class.
Hunter's Mark is just a worse Hex, and since you only get one extra attack, you're basically doing less damage than the Warlock.
All of their abilities lack utility out of combat, and in combat, the beast master is a gimped piece of shit.
Here's how to fix the ranger:
>favored enemies and favored terrain can now be changed after 56 hours of careful study and preparation devoted towards it, during which the ranger can't do much else besides take a watch. The study and preparation must be completed within a week of being commenced.
>favored enemy now grants advantage to any checks involving selected creatures or humanoid races
>capstone to level 0
>Hunter's Mark now applies whenever an animal companion or familiar, or any creature controlled by the caster deals the damage as well.
>animal companion HP to 5x ranger level or Base, whichever is higher.
>animal companion limits now the same as the moon druid wild shape limits
>>47801218
That's 3.5 and everyone bitched their skills were spread too thin.
>>47802781
>DnD is easy,
Assuming what?
Would you be willing to back that talk up in a game DMed by me?
Assuming "no" then why are you saying D&D is "easy"?
>>47802781
>Where they suffer is their damage being subpar compared to every other class.
Buddy I just told you I as the rogue can do at the most 5d6+4 on my turn while he can deal 3d8+2d6+8 which is considerably more. The paladin is doing 2d8+8 +2d8 if he wants to smite and the monk 2d8+1d6+9. Currently the ranger is our powerhouse.
>>47802971
I believe he was making an overarching implication. Just because your groups ranger has the potential to deal more damage doesn't mean it is applicable to all scenarios.
>>47802127
>>47802210
Chain Pact + Voice of the Chain Master invocation, use an invisible imp as your spotter.
as an aspiring newcomer wanting to become a DM, what items should I necessarily get so start?
The books and just some mat? Is that enough, or should I get some of figurines or anything else?
Also, question to experienced DMs:
Should I just read each book once? Is that enough? Or should I actually study it an kinda memorize it?
Thanks.
>>47803133
The important thing is to know where you can find everything in the book, fast.
>>47803133
Get the starter set and the Player's Handbook. It will suffice for your first few adventures. You can get all the PDFs of the books in the Mega link of the OP.
You don't need to get figurines, they are expensive for the most part and you can just take something else to the job. I would recommend a battlegrid though, unless you play online via Roll20 or so
>>47802854
Because RAW, any class with ranged attacks and spellslots for Misty Step can kite for days in most situations, especially if you are using the suggested guidelines in the DMG.
The groups who get wiped in standardized environments are groups with melee martials that don't have spellslots (deadweight effectively), who, on the basis of thinking they were safe with a deadweight tank went into a confined space where kiting is impossible.
The oft parroted statistic, that most groups don't reach level 10 is more of a comment on most groups not sticking together, and most DMs being unable to run a long campaign with the same characters. Not a comment on lethality beyond level 4. After level 4, there is no excuse for dying, except the aforementioned deadweight melee tank on your team making you do silly things.
I would never trust /tg/ to DM a game for me, after all the shitty stories you guys have told me about your games.
>>47802971
It actually isn't that much more damage. On average, it's 7 more damage than the rogue's sneak attack. But the rogue is deliberately the lowest damage martial because of how much utility their skills offer. So comparing a rogue to a ranger (and still only getting +7 damage) is hilariously misguided.
>>47803154
Oh ok. Another question if you don't mind:
How important and heavy is the note-taking as a DM? I've seen games which end with 5-6 pages of notes in both sides, but just once. Is it that important?
>>47803195
And thanks, by the way.
>>47803183
thanks a lot. I'm not sure what's Roll20, but I'll look it up.
>>47803195
It depends on your memory or how much you care for continuity. I use my laptop as my DM screen and type short notes into my session outline document.
I know my setting inside and out, and my campaign is dictated by groups and organizations, so my notes usually just, "This group will react to (event) later."
>>47801599
Depends on the setting, but also just because the two races hate each other does not mean they cant work together to complete a common goal.Funny enough, in my home game I just started DMing, Elves hate Dwarves more than they hate Orcs. This is mainly due to a war that happened between the two races a few hundred years ago and the leaders of both civilizations are former soldiers in that war so they still spread hate and ill rumor of the other race.
>>47803195
I would say it depends of what kind of scenario you are doing. If it's a convoluted plot or an investigation, you should be sure that your player can't outsmart you and find holes in your own story.
>>47803250
>>47803227
The laptop sounds like a great idea. Thanks.
>>47803188
Ranger
>3d8+2d6+8 (average 28) or 5d6+1d8+8 if dual wielding (average 29)
Rogue
>5d6+4 (average 21)
Paladin
>4d8+12 (average 30, limited by spell slots, otherwise 21)
Monk
>2d8+2d6+12 (average 28, limited by Ki points, otherwise 21)
Rangers spend a slot for Hunter's Mark as well, but that's once per encounter.
I remember /5eg/ talking about how like every PHB race except human+another had darkvision? Doesn't seem too bad to me, it's just the HO's, elves and dwarves having it?
>>47801599
>Being an orc
>Not being CE
Phew! The whole shift had a tough all-nighter at the office here, but we've seem to come up with an option for you!
>>47803358
The ranger is also limited to one enemy at a time, while the rogue can freely switch.
All the other classes scale up more than the ranger as well.
>>47803471
Did you mean Elf? Or did you mean CG?
For those of you DMing at a live table and not online, l how do you handle running dungeons and presenting the map?
>>47803555
A lot of people use maps on 1 inch square wet erase plastic sheets or grid paper
Use miniatures if you have them. If not there are plenty of alternatives, my two favourites are paper tokens and paper "minis" (character pictures standing in binder clips)
>>47801445
So if I want to cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter I still need tarts and a feather?
>>47803555
I use those big checkered mats with plastic sheets so we can scribble on them.
So can somebody tell me what the Books are about? The Abyss, Strahd, etc... what one should I get, what are the pros/cons of each?
>>47803555
I've seen draw it as it appears to the players, but if you want the expensive option get like buildings and just put a piece of paper over them, yeah they can tell the dimensions but not what's in them.
>>47803620
Learn to read.
>>47800137
>strength is unnecessary for most real world athletics
lolwut? Strength is immensely important for everything, especially if you (justifiably) include cardiovascular fitness in your DnD definition of strength. Strength is the reason there's a vast gulf between the best male and female athletes.
>>47801599
Non-evil Orcs have been a thing since the Realms first started.
Hell in the North East parts of Faerun there's the whole issue of orc nomads who fought alongside humans in a massive war under the promise of getting land and fair treatment being told to fuck off once the fighting was done.
Only the orcs from the most hazardous part of the world are the RAPE KILL BURN orcs of standard D&D, and the humans from that area also tend towards evil alignments and a pillage mentality.Which is funny because 3e and now 5e retconned those humans to be 'not so bad'.
>>47803638
Well every spell that has material component specifies which components it needs, so you might as well said every spell that requires material requires material. And thus the answer to my initial question would have been "no, you can't)
>>47800137
>>47803647
He's probably a moron who looks at marathon runners and thinks "yes, I too can be at peak physical fitness as a holocaust survivor".
While ignoring the fact that male sprinters are almost universally ripped as fuck.
Strength is incredible for all real world athletics. For the decidedly fantastical and contrived situation of long distance running, you typically don't see ripped individuals because long distance cardio kills gains. But that's about the only time where male athletes won't be strong.
>>47803736
But that's wrong, unless the components have a specified cost or are CONSUMED by the spell, the specific components can be exchanged for a focus or component pouch.
>>47803767
And here is the first spell I could find that has a material component that is consumed by the spell, but that has no significant cost.
>>47803767
I think you're reading that wrong. The component being consumed being needed for each casting doesn't override the focus eliminating the need for material components at all.
You can cast Fireball with a wand and nothing else. You can't do that with Chromatic Orb, because it needs a 50 go diamond as a focus.
>>47799183
The hyper EcoLab guy who visits my restaurant to make sure everything's clean and fits the stereotype to a goddamn T.
>>47803824
>forgetting the actual picture
>>47803767
Well I'm being real stupid. So Tasha's hideous laughter is fair game, but chromatic orb says a diamond worth 50gp so I need a diamond worth 50gp. Right.
>>47803475
For a ranged character, being able to switch only once per round seems to be enough. Most things we fight aren't killable in one hit anymore unless we roll really well on damage.
>>47803620
No, Thasha's components have no cost specified. I'm talking about things like Identify, Chromatic Orb, Protection against Evil and Good, etc. Only if the spell description mentions a specific cost in gp.
>>47803825
Fireball doesn't state that it consumes the materials, so obviously a focus would work. Chromatic Orb doesn't consume the diamond, so you could use the same 50gp diamond over and over. Compare this to >>47803840 where materials need to be consumed even though they have no significant cost.
Though as with most material components, it's not going to be an issue in a regular session. Unless the party is captured and stripped of their possessions, which really is one of the only scenarios in which people actually take time reading the material component requirements of their spells.
>>47802697
You're imagining Warlocks are sitting down in powder blue single-breasted suits with pinstripes and hashing out a difficult legal document with Azathoth to exchange various and sundry services for amazing arcane insights, to be delivered to you in the form of eldritch journals few mortals can comprehend.
What Warlocks are ACTUALLY doing is trying to "haggle" with an unspeakably powerful god-entity from another dimension and eventually settling for something like "my soul in exchange for your Cliff's Notes To Magic".
If Warlocks were actually buckets-of-INT-smart they'd realize they can take a single level in the class and get full Eldritch Blast scaling and some short rest spell slots for their Smites, or grab Magic Initiate.
>>47803840
Well I'ma retard and couldn't find a spell that consumes or specifies worth...
>>47802697
>>47799955
>>47800624
>>47800076
Yeah, It would be actually be more appropriate fro 5e warlocks to be INT casters. While warlock magic is a different kind of magic than that used by wizards, it's very clearly described as something that is studied and learned. The patron teaches it to the warlock. they aren't channelling their patrons power, they're just using the magical secrets their patron taught them, or which they discovered by studying their patron.
I suppose you could explain it using CHA as that just being part of what makes warlock magic different from wizard magic. Maybe a wizard just has to know stuff to use their power, but a warlock's magic, while still being something you have to learn, also requires force of will to actually use.
Really, a lot of things, when it comes to stats in D&D, are completely arbitrary. The stats are now often being used for things that they were not originally created for, a lot of things are kind of precarious built on top of them. The definition for what the stats represent has been expanded for the sake of mechanical convenience to the point where they don't really match the words actual meanings any more. It just one of those quirks that you get when a system has evolved and been iterated on for forty years
On a scale of 1 to 10, using video games cause that's the best example I can come up with, how open of a world and progression of story do you prefer your games. 1 being like, Super Mario Brothers only go right or nothing, always progressing to exactly the next area, to like a Bethesda game open world, where you could do the main story, or just not.
>>47803617
>>47803624
Ah ok so you just draw it as they move?
>>47803629
Getting real terrain sounds amazing but I don't think I can afford it.
>>47803936
Most D&D games are an 11 on that scale.
>>47803903
Alright. Bad examples. Replace Fireball with the spell you posted and Chromatic Orb with Raise dead and its 500 gp cost.
I think you're mistakenly lumping together the second and first paragraphs. I'm pretty sure the second is just supposed to be clarification on what the components being consumed actually means.
>>47803925
I think its Cha because a lot of those secrets seem to be planted more directly. Its less having a really strong magical tutor and more bribing the teacher to give you the answers to the test.
>>47802210
Take six levels of Barbarian for Eagle Totem.
>You can see to a distance of one mile (5,280 feet) and discern fine details at that distance as if you were 100 feet away.
>>47803950
Reading it that way would cause the focus or pouch to be consumed by casting the spell, wouldn't it?
>If a spell states that ... component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell
>A character can use a ... pouch or a ... focus in place of the components specified for a spell
Since the focus is used in place of a component, and the spell requires the component to be consumed.
>>47803936
I find there's a big problem of having an open world where you really have to present very open leads to send people places.
In a big party, if you just say "Oh, you can go whereever you like" then nine times out of ten if you say "Okay, you can keep walking south, there's nothing to the west, north or south right now but I guess there's a rock to the east" then they'll decide to go to the rock.
On the other hand, it's nice to give choices.
"Questgiver guy sent you down here to hunt down my sister-in-law who you're supposed to do some work for, but actually I think you'd be better off working for me." sort of stuff.
And if someone has a personal goal like "I MUST kill this person." then depending on what the player is like they'll either wimp out and just follow the party whereever or completely de-rail everything.
So, it's good to get a balance. Keep the game open-world, but never expect the players to take advantage of it. Give more than one route, and if players want to head a certain direction maybe they'll go along the route that leads that way.
>>47804008
That would you have to carry those specific materials separate from your component pouch, since while it contains whatever micelaneous components you need, it uses the same wording as a focus.
Thus, a Cleric with a standard starting kit can't cast Protection from good and evil until they get some holy water or shave off some iron or silver.
That seems a bit odd, which is why I think you're intended to not really try and read those two phrases together.
A component pouch or focus fills the M requirement for spells, unless it would cost some money.
Then, the second paragraph refers to the standard way of using components, clarifying what them being consumed means.
>anyone can disarm a martial in one attack
>even armed, the martial sucks ass if blinded, prone, or frightened
>have to slap the focus out of a caster's hand
>cut the component pouch off his belt
>turn him upside-down and shake all the components in his pockets loose
>still going to cast some spells because there's no rules for binding hands to make somatic components impossible or muffling their speaking
>a blind and frightened caster sitting on his ass with a fat Barbarian holding him down and no focus or pouch can still drop a sleet storm on you or burning hands without any penalty
>>47803944
Yeah pretty much, sometime I leave it to them to map the dungeon. They feel more involved that way.
>>47803969
it's CHA because it was like that in previous editions. the book makes it clear that warlocks do a lot of their own research.
>>47804091
Since they have a negligible cost, they would probably be hand waved unless the Cleric is constantly casting Prot. from G&E. And if not, there's bound to be some iron around that they can spare in a pinch.
I think the big issue is that there are spells where materials are consumed by casting, but without a specified cost. If the materials for Prot. from G&E cost only 1gp, it would be apparent that they're needed.
There's still also the issue of whether focii replacing materials are consumed or not.
>>47803910
What? That's nonsense. Their spellcasting being Cha based has nothing to do with whether or not they haggled. The book literally states they don't need to have ever even communicated with their patron. They get their powers by learning. Like a wizard. It's not innate, like a sorcerer. It's not channelled,, like a cleric. 5e Warlocks do not have to have ever made any kind of deal. And even if they did, (which they don't,) that still wouldn't be a reason for their magic being Cha based. If you sweet-talk a wizard into making you his apprentice does that mean you cast all the magic you learn from him using Cha? Because that's the reasoning you just used, and it's nonsense.
>>47804121
>having a focus that is apparent so that it can be identified and targeted in a fight
>>47804121
Which is where its up to a DM to rule that thats stupid, and instate some disadvantage or penalties
>>47803936
I like when it's around...7 maybe. Like we are free to do what we want, but there are several problems that needs solving, and the more time we spend fucking around, the more we feel the consequence.
I also love very much the urban adventures inside a big city.
>>47804153
I dont think this is supposed to be read thus legalistically. Instead, I suggest going by intent.
Obviously, Spell Component pouches aren't supposed to randomly disintegrate, so both them and Foci shouldn't be consumed.
A Component pouch should logically have the materials needed for those consumption spells as well.
Since Foci share a similar wording with component pouches, it'd be fair to let them do the same.
And as you said, its a negligible cost for those components anyway. Its mainly a matter of if the DM is okay with saying that a focus can replace the need for any components, which was my interpretation of the intent.
>>47804121
Force them to hold a useless object in each hand. Their hands are occupied, so they can't be used for somatic components.
>>47804210
On a similar note as the consumption of materials, there are spells which require materials to be present for its duration (well, at least this one).
Since the focus used replaces the materials, is the focus required to be placed on the target for the duration?Purely hypothetical, of course, since the possibility that you have to cast Gentle Repose without easy access to salt and copper pieces is infinitesimally small.
>>47803969
You just made that up, nothing in the PHB suggests that.
The PHB very clearly describes it as being teaching, studying and/or learning. There is no real explanation as to why they cast using Charisma. All the fluff makes it sound like it should be Int.
It's weird, I don't know why they did that. Maybe they planned to make it an Int class at some point and changed their minds? Or maybe they just liked the fluff better that way even though they didn't want to change which stat it used, and just didn't care about the inconsistency it creates.
>>47804163
>The book literally states they don't need to have ever even communicated with their patron.
I'm trying to find this in the PHB but all I see is "pact", "like a cleric and their deity (but not necessarily)", "master and apprentice", "occasional service performed on the patron's behalf", "pact", "pact", "bind", "stumbles into a pact without being fully aware of it", "pact", "a thirst for knowledge that can't be slaked with mere study and research", "pact", "pact", "contract", "make contact", "pact", "communicate with you", "converse".
It should be pretty obvious that the Warlock isn't gaining this power himself. It's all gifted by the patron. They are not being directly empowered by the patron in the way that a Cleric is; there's no channeling of the patron's power through the Warlock. Instead, the patron serves as gatekeeper to a realm of knowledge that the Warlock would never have access to otherwise and lets the fucker have a peek whenever he's pleased enough to allow it. While the Warlock may have to do some research in the first place to get into a pact (to identify a patron, to know how to summon them, to know how to get into the pact) all his future power gains do not come solely from old tomes and scrolls. Reading that stuff can only tell him how to better influence or please a patron or other crazy power so that THEY then deliver information to him.
Patrons are like Matthew Lesko. To gain any benefit from him, you have to read and study. What's more, you need to be in a pact with him (buying his book). But once you have this book and have memorized everything in it, money (magic) does not simply pop into your bank account. There are still actions on your part necessary to get that money (sending letters to the government). This doesn't require any particular intelligence on your part, because all you're doing is following the book that Patron Lesko gave you.
And while we're on the subject, Matthew Lesko is an amazing patron idea.
>>47801469
Give them their fighting style specialty at first level, and natural explorer at second. A first level elven ranger is no better with a bow than an elven wizard with the same dexterity otherwise.
>>47804248
Well, oddly enough, I think that spell can't have the components easily replaced by a pouch or focus at all. While copper pieces are almost worthless, they do have a clear value. I mean, I'd you tried to cast it on a Beholder, that's probably a silver at least, and if you find something with 50 heads, you get into gold.
>>47803840
>>47804248
Having gone through all material requiring spells in the PHB/EE/SCAG, these two are the odd ones out. The first one consumes materials without stating a cost, which it is unique in doing. I would assume that either not stating a cost OR that the consumption of materials is an oversight from the creator.
The second is also weird, but it's such a specific spell that the weirdness might very well be intended.
>>47804121
>he doesn't shove dirt in their mouths
>he doesn't hogtie them
>he doesn't smash their fingers to bloody pulp
>he doesn't take a massive protein-rich-diet shit straight in their face
>>47804280
In 4e Warlocks were either CHA or CON based, depending on whether channeling their patron's power taxed the mind or the body respectively.
>>47804280
>I'm trying to find this in the PHB but all I see is "pact"
He's talking about the GOO pact.
>The Great Old One might be unaware of your existence or entirely indifferent to you, but the secrets you have learned allow you to draw your magic from it.
In which case your power comes purely from "secrets you have learned", not your patron giving you anything. There's also references to warlocks being "seekers of knowledge", "drawing on ancient knowledge", they "piece together arcane secrets" and "learn and grow in power", they "are driven by an insatiable need for knowledge and power" and cast spells using "your arcane research" and "fragments of forbidden knowledge" that are found through "your study of occult lore". It makes it sound like the warlock's studies go well beyond just looking up their patron in a phone book.
>>47804314
Point to a condition in the PHB that prevents spellcasting specifically.
There's no Silenced. There's no Hands Tied. There's no Broken Fingers.
Restrained doesn't prevent actions. Stunned says "can speak only falteringly", which is the closest you might get to ruining verbal components. Every other condition that would prevent spellcasting (Unconscious, Petrified, Paralyzed, Incapacitated) does not single out spells, they simply prevent all actions and reactions entirely, which includes spellcasting by default.
There are no actual rules to stop casting besides those that involve casting yourself (Silence, Counterspell, Antimagic Field) or disarming a creature of all their redundant and likely hidden or disguised focii and component pouches. It's all up to the DM throwing you a bone. But there's oodles of hard rules to fuck over wanting to hit people with a sharp stick.
>>47804280
>The Great Old One might be unaware of your existence or entirely indifferent to you, but the secrets you have learned allow you to draw your magic from it.
You can learn cthulhu magic by reading the necronomicon, you don't need to ever meet, let alone make a deal with, cthulhu.
They still use the term pact to describe the relationship because that's the terminology inherited from 4e, even thought it doesn't match the new fluff. Just like how they still use Charisma even though it doesn't match the new fluff.
It literally says the warlock learns secrets. Your second and third paragraph are shit you just made up. None of that's in the PHB. We're talking about the actual game fluff, not your homebrew setting. Please learn the difference.
The patron teaches them stuff, or they learn stuff related to the patron. That's it. They learn magic.
>>47804433
There are no hard-coded rules but there is such a thing as common sense
There is no "silenced" condition but it does not mean if you gag a person to kidnap them they can still speak, again, by common sense
Meaning that if thunk, the tavern brawler barbarian decides to grab an appropriately sized rock and shove it down the caster he has grappled's mouth it would make sense that the caster can no longer speak words of power
Likewise if you tie their hands and/or smash them into sloppy joes, they would be unable to perform the complicated arcane somata necessary for spellcasting
And again, this is just common sense
>>47804430
Bards go to college and Sorcerers study lore too, but they're obviously Charisma based. Learning how to do anything better obviously involves, you know, learning. Fighters and Barbarians and all the other hit-things classes can read fencing manuals or be tutored in new techniques by masters, but they're not using Intelligence to improve their AB/damage, and pumping that stat doesn't make them any better at hitting shit mechanically.
What's Int-based about a Wizard's approach is piecing the whole puzzle together yourself and manipulating the magical underpinnings of reality as you see fit. In the case of an unawares GOO, you're operating like a Cleric who is directly empowered, just without consent, and using your own forceful nature and strength of personality (Charisma) to take that magic juice rather than placating an entity with faith or understanding better what they expect of you (Wisdom). Stealing magic from unknowing entities is a small subset of one archetype and still not blatantly Int-based.
>>47804520
Yep. And they use Charisma to do it. How? You figure it out, since you're the one insisting that their fluff is only one thing.
>>47804548
The protein-rich shit is just a bonus
There are no hard coded rules to stop me from shitting in their face but that's not gonna stop me
>>47803949
Yeah but what do you prefer
So my level 4 CoS party just cleared out the winery, and are returning to Vallaki. I am planning on springing the event where Strahd attacks the church, and it will be their first time seeing the Dark Lord in the flesh. Any tips on running him?
>>47804520
>It literally says the warlock learns secrets. Your second and third paragraph are shit you just made up.
>Ranger Spellcasting: By the time you reach 2nd level, you have LEARNED to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does.
>Paladin Spellcasting: By 2nd level, you have LEARNED to draw on divine magic through meditation and prayer to cast spells as a cleric does.
Why aren't Rangers and Paladins Int-based? They LEARNED things about nature and divine magic.
>>47804520
If your warlock wrote down his secrets on a piece of paper and passed it to the wizard, should the wizard be able to cast those spells? The sorcerer? The rogue? The fighter?
>>47804587
Have you read I, Strahd? If you haven't then I highly recommend it
I used to think strahd was very saturday-morning-cartoon-villaniny until I read that book, he's actually a super deep character who is on the good side of lawful evil
Play him as an intelligent guy who is not unreasonable unless it's about one of his goals (which are always 100% non-negotiable, Strahd does not compromise)
He genuinely loves Ireena/Tatyana, selfishly and single-mindedly, but also genuinely.
Also remember he's testing the players, not actively trying to murder them, because he hopes he can have one of them take his place (pick a player and have him occasionally impress strahd)
Thankfully I'm a DM because if I had been a player when going through CoS after reading his memoir I would have pledged myself to him instantly. Now I actually kinda want him to win
>>47804723
>reading books
Just watch the anime.
>>47804723
I have read I, Strahd.
>one of his goals (which are always 100% non-negotiable, Strahd does not compromise)
That's my plan atm. He is going to get in, make a show for the players of killing some locals and draining the priest, maybe charm a player and drain them or have them guard him, then leave Vallaki in mayhem, with his wolves and bats to continue the terror.
>>47804784
What anime?
>>47804848
K-On
>>47804848
VOTOMS
>>47804848
boku no pico
>>47804848
VOTOMS.
Explaning how it's relevant ruins half the show, butthe secret to the main character's apparent plot armor isn't the engineering of a "luck gene" or the wacky jijirium element as most characters think, but a literal god-machine who has been altering probability on a galactic scale and championing a massive war from behind the scenes to birth and identify a worthy successor.
>>47804433
Do the rules for components on page 203 not count?
I was thinking of having my Ranger player meet and befriend a Wolf in CoS. He would become attached to the group and follow them.
Turns out the wolf was Strahd all along turning on them when the situation is right one or two sessions later. Good or bad idea? Would Strahd devote too much of his time to the players this way?
Or should the wolf just be a Werewolf under the control of Strahd?
>>47804978
seems like a waste of time strahd
>>47804978
Strahd von Zarovich has more important shit to do than follow a group of no-name adventurers through his realm
Plus if he wanted to see what they were up to he could just scry them from the comfort of his home, with some bloodcorn or something
The wolf could just be a regular wolf under Strahd's orders to keep an eye on the party
>>47804936
The closest we get is squashing Verbal components ("a character who is gagged"), but there's no rules for that. What check / opposed roll would that be? What items are suitable?
There's likewise no rules for pinning specific limbs or preventing "free use of at least one hand". Grappled / Restrained don't do this, and anything else that obviously would explicitly prevents all action / reaction to begin with. Filling their hands doesn't work, because they can always drop items; two-handed objects still allow casting. Handcuffing doesn't work since there's no motion one hand can do that you couldn't accomplish by also waving both arms around. Even behind the back, there's no rule on hand binding or being unable to manipulate objects. A character with their hands cuffed behind their backs can still pick up an axe and swing it, but you might expect something like disadvantage for that since it's so awkward (but there's no rule about this). Other conditions that would impose disadvantage on melee attacks due to awkwardness or bad positioning do nothing to spells, so this probably shouldn't stop the caster either. Nor are there facing requirements.
Spellcasting focii need to be held, but only in one hand. This can be the hand that performs somatic components, so a one-armed wizard with a crystal orb in his hand can cast just fine. War Caster also lets you get around the "need to hold the focus" restriction, so you can then wear it instead (as Clerics and Paladins can by default, if it's "worn visibly"--just wear multiples). Spell component pouches need to be accessible, but there's no limit to how many you can have; put one on your shoulder, two on your belt, one on your boot, one in your inside pocket, whatever, they're never going to all be removed from you in combat.
The martial must wield a weapon, carry multiples if he fears disarmament, and can only draw one per turn without feats.yes, i am intentionally perpetuating the martial/caster fight
Land Druid or Moon Druid? Planning on making a laid back Cheech&Chong-like Half Elf who is pretty easy going and mellow.
Helping a couple of friends of mine out. If we've got a Sorc in our party who is gonna be twinning Haste, what are some other good spells for a Lore Bard to pick up if he wants to go with kind of a supporty/disrupty role? Already thinking of picking up Aura of Vitality for one spell, but what would be another good one to steal?
>>47805161
Maybe the game designers thought people were smart enough to realize a gagged character cant speak
clearly for the autistic every conceivable situation must now be covered in a rule so the raging retard at the table doesnt take a protein rich shit on the table while screaming and making pig noises because the rules dont SAY his Wizard cant still keep casting while gagged
"Protein rich shit"is making me giggle far more than it should
>>47805406
Oh, the rules clearly say a gagged character can't cast spells.
What they don't say is how you gag a character. Remember, 95% of DMs and players (this is a real number) will need actual rules before they allow this to even be attempted.
>>47803617
I've been looking for sheets of paper minis to print. Would you mind sharing the ones you use?
>>47805315
Moon Druid is nice for being tough to kill at low levels and and very hard to kill at lv20. Land Druids have are underrated with a few extra spells and a spell restoration mechanic for a more caster-y Druid
Rolled 9 (1d20)
>>47805437
>Rolling for the other DM
Man, when did people get so autistically attached to 'everything must be rules as written'? I'm a DM and being grappled to me means you can't move around well enough to cast unless you have Sorceror's Still Spell Metamagic.
>>47805595
I blame decades of 3.x
>>47805161
Maybe you should go back to 3.PF
D&D isn't a video game. The DM is an arbiter of rules, and if he's so stupid he can't make a ruling based on what page 203 says, he shouldn't DM.
>>47802130
Wait im confused as to why this is really bad. Your attack and damage rolls are influenced by DEX right?
>>47805776
It's hard to get to advantageous positions if you are too weak to climb and jump.
You don't need high strength per se but it shouldn't be negative.
>>47805595
3.pf and 4e did that
>>47805406
Because if you have ever been on a protein-rich diet (not the medical kind, the hardcore /fit/ kind where you have to eat 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight) you know that protein-rich shits are literally the single most vile thing you can lay on the vicinity of someone's olfactory organs
>>47805736
3.5 did some great things but at times it felt like a part-time job to prepare as a DM because of all the autistic parts of the rules.
>>47798125
My name is literally Chad and I play a Half-elf Valor Bard.
So I guess I can confirm this.
>>47805766
I'm explaining that all the 3.PF nonsense has trained people to behave this way even if that's not how 5E is supposed to function. You can excise the mistakes from the system, but not from the brains of the people who grew up on that shit. 5E is chock full of insistence that you should "just bullshit it", but a hard-on for rules and charts still persists in the players.
>>47805810
Yeah 4e carries a lot of blame on that too
I don't recall the fighter ever having the ability to pick the "protein rich shit" power card
>>47805851
Honestly, I'd play OSR if I could find a system that
>A) Other people were willing to learn/let me learn to DM
>B) Wasn't grimderp shit like people say LotFP is
>>47805874
4E actually started what 5E finished in de-emphasizing the importance of a bajillion fucking skills, stat inter-weighting for your out of combat utility, and the need to flip through a thousand charts and books for obscure rules to make cheese or do a backflip.
Remember what one of the big gripes about 4E was? "OH MY GOD ALL THE SKILLS ARE GONE, IT'S JUST COMBAT, YOU CAN'T FUCKING DO ANYTHING". And what did the 4E books tell you to do for all the stuff not covered by rules? Pretty much exactly what 5E does. 4E only wanted to obsess about in-combat mechanical stuff and turn every fight into a wargame that allows for zero confusion, and left just about all of the rest of the game to be as freeform "theater of the mind" stuff as you wanted. But because none of these fuckers from 3.PF could do that, then as they can't now, they blew a fucking gasket.
>>47805352
Anybody?
>>47805981
Hey, I wouldn't really know about that, I thought 4e was alright except for combat dragging on forever
>>47805920
Mystara, my man.
Consider that everything since has been built on that and Greyhawk, people are pretty much familiar with what's going on there. It's like, you don't know any Greek, but you know enough Greek-derived English that if I ask you what "geo" means, you can give a good answer. Failing that, send your mates an arcade emulator and some roms of the arcade games.
There's nothing to learnexcept if you want to do Hollow World shenanigans with dinosaurs, and yes, you want to do Hollow World shenanigans with dinosaurs.
>>47805437
Autism like that is frightening.I wonder how the hell they could DM a game if they cant string together the basic logic that a gagged guy cant talk or a guy with his fingers tied cant use somatic components. How the hell are they going to figure out how to act if they arent given a chart of things for NPCs to say [Welcome to Coneria] or wht will they do if the PCs decide to run off and become Pirates instead of walking up to the lighted up NPC quest giver that sends them to collect bear asses
>>47801257
"You miss."
Critical fumble tables are the worst house rule.
>>47806204
Can you imagine if reality came with a 5% chance for a disastrous result any time you did anything?
How the fuck would militaries even train? You've got your 10 recruits lined up on the firing range, plinking away at targets, and every minute two of them are going to have their guns explode or accidentally shoot themselves or others.
You wouldn't be able to take a ten minute drive to and from work without risking your life every day and passing at least a hundred accidents.
Medical bills would be even higher due to medical malpractice insurance because every so often your doctor has a 1/20 chance of pretty much killing you during surgery.
Christ.
>>47805981
I'm pretty sure 5e doesn't have "skill challenges." I'm also pretty sure the 5e DMG doesn't tell you to skip all the roleplaying so you can get to the next fight like the 4e DMG did.
>>47801257
They're stupid - a level 20 fighter has more chance of dropping their sword than a level 1 fighter purely because they're attacking more times per round.
>>47806320
>skip all the roleplaying so you can get to the next fight like the 4e DMG did.
Your a special kind of stupid aren't ya?
>>47806320
5e skill challenges are an optional rule in the DMG, also could you give me a page number on that 4e DMG telling you to skip roleplaying?
Because I read it and I don't remember anything about that.
>>47806627
>5e skill challenges are an optional rule in the DMG
No they aren't.
>>47806204
I hate this style. If the conditions justify a fumble such as hitting an ally, you should do so unless you're the sort of person who likes 4e.
If people are in a fight, they're more likely to make a bad fumble as they're rushed.
If your ally is right behind you when you fumble, I'd likely roll a die with a very unlikely chance of them being hit, but it still being a possibility.
If you shoot right by an ally, it's very likely I'll decide you manage to hit the ally, especially if they're not heavily armoured.
Flavourful crits and critical failures are something I like, and I will apply things if they're justified. If it's not justified how you could suddenly shoot your ally, I won't do it.
You fail a strength-check to pull rope mid-combat? You likely slip, but I'm not imposing anything. You do it while standing on loose rubble that's just been scattered? You're now prone.
>>47805315
Go land Druid be a sage and just chill out man.
>>47806791
This is fine, as long as the wizard's fireball blows up in his face every time somebody rolls a 20 on a saving throw to make it fair.
>>47806864
>flying around
>goblin shoots me with an arrow
>roll a 1 on my Concentration check
>magic fucks all up and now the goblin gets to fly for a round
I see nothing wrong with this. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Where are the rules for sleeping in armour?
>>47807113
There are none.
>penalizing heavy armor classes
>>47807143
Each new edition should come with a list of old rules they tossed out.
That might be of equal length to the DMG though.
Any DMs with experience in running games with both the Gritty Realism and Lingering Injuries variant rules from the DMG? As someone who's only DM'd in other systems where injuries are much more severe and magic less frequent, these rules really hit the right notes.
>>47807223
>tfw you don't even abide by the one action to don/doff a shield rule
If my players want to Captain America an orc and then grab their shield in the same round to defend themselves, that's cool by me. There's plenty of shields that don't need arm straps or anything; the Norse really loved ones that were held in the center by the hand alone.
>>47807143
Versimiltude is important.
Here are some good rules:
>heavy armor in the sun causes exhaustion after an hour of being worn
>heavy armor reduces jump height and distance to 1/4th of the PHB rules.
>can't dash or disengage in heavy armor
>swim speed reduced by 25, DC 20 athletics check every round spent in water to keep from being pulled under
>Flying speed that is the result of having wings is reduced by 25, with a DC 20 athletics check to keep from falling to the ground.
Those are the rules me and my playgroup have sussed out over the months of playing 5e.
>>47806864
In a way, that's not really a critical success. Personally I'd rather allow someone who rolls a 20 to negate the entirety of it as you'd expect from evasion, and that's pretty fair. Of course it means there's a 5% chance you've just removed the uniqueness of rogue's evasion, but there's already so many benefit-of-the-doubts you can give a rogue anyway.
>>47807273
>>47807273
So, never wear heavy armor in your campaigns.
>>47807255
I haven't done gritty realism resting, but my homebrew game uses lingering injuries at 0 HP and the healing variant where you have to send hit die on a long rest to heal. It works pretty well to showcase how the world they're in is not at all merciful, and they're all walking around with pretty severe scars at this point (except the druid, who I'm not sure has ever been reduced to 0 HP properly).
The one thing about lingering injuries you should remember is that most of the ones that have mechanical impact in combat can be healed with a single application of magical healing, and the really bad ones are extremely rare but can change how a character plays entirely.
>>47807273
There's no way you can be serious.
I bet platemail doesn't even exist in your campaigns.
>>47807273
Right, and I assume you apply the same to anyone who's carrying a lot of stuff? Because apart from maybe the first one most of those are simply a matter of weight rather than a matter of armor.
I mean, if you don't think swimming in full plate is okay that's fine, but is it going to be any easier while carrying a backpack full of daggers, tents, cooking implements, and potions?
I'm pretty sure the stricter encumberance rules would easily cover most of your issues. The only one it might not is the first one, though I think that'd be more fair as disadvantage on checks to stay cool in extreme heat while wearing any sort of poor clothing, like thick robes or skintight leather armor.
>>47807273
When has anyone said versimilitude and followed it up with a fun suggestion?
>>47807273
So is anyone in your games stupid enough to play Martial?
>>47807273
The Encumberance variant exists for a reason. If you carry more than 10 times your strength score, your speed drops by 20 feet, and you get disadvantage on all your physical checks.
That means Exhaustion from heat comes more readily. That means long jumps are harder to make. That means Dashing or Disengaging won't get you away from enemies. That means swimming is difficult and slow. That even means flight is adversely affected.
It does everything you want without having to shit on heavy armor specifically, and if you don't think it's harsh enough then consider fiddling with the weight numbers, but there's no reason 60 pounds of armor is somehow worse than 60 pounds of rocks.
>>47807378
That's an interesting way of going about it. I'll look into it.
But yeah, there are encumbrance penalties that we've sussed out. Bags of holding are available, but have more limited volume inside.
>>47807430
We do have a couple martial players actually. One rogue with light or no armor, and one fighter that takes the heavy armor penalty because of the bonuses it gives him.
>extra 1d6 when tackling
>advantage on checks to resist shoving
>resistance to slashing, and piercing, and some magical damage types if wearing magical armor
There were a few others, but basically he's an immovable object.
What are the best Rogue build feats besides Crossbow/Alert/Skulker?
>>47807343
I was drawn to the inherent synergy between the gritty realism resting forcing magic to be used more sparsely, and the fact that severe injuries almost force some magical healing to be used. And also because combat, in my experience as a player, seems to be much more rare than what the rules are balanced for. Seven days for a long rest is a bit harsh though: 8h short, 64h long is much more reasonable and also keeps the original balance of 1:8 short:long.
As to when an injury is gained, I was thinking about using it to add more oomph to critical hits, possibly only when someone crits a target that is already at 50% HP or lower.
>>47807273
>can't dash or disengage in heavy armor
You realize this makes your martials officially shittier than any normal athletic human, correct?
>>47807273
There's a few problems with rules like these. The first and most important one is that the game is supposed to be fun. Maybe the groggiest of the grog enjoys this stuff, but it's definitely not the average player. The second is that the game was already balanced around what we've got, and stacking penalties on a few classes (which /5eg/ already argues gets a bum deal in some cases) is adding insult to injury.
The third, and the one I hope will dissuade you and your group, is that your idea of verisimilitude is actually at odds with reality. It is a common theme with "realism rules" that they all severely undershoot real world capabilities and conditions. Forget the notion that your D&D characters are supposed to be superheroic, might be objectively magical, or generally will have highest physical scores than real world soldiers (since they are EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURERS, not rank and file grunts) and imagine the grittiest adherence to reality possible.
Roman soldiers were marching with ~50 pounds of shit on their backs for hours a day as a matter of training. Modern infantry do it with even more (=>70 lb). All of these guys could sprint 7mph (the equivalent of taking a Dash action) for a turn without a problem. British soldiers in Afghanistan were doing four marches with over 100 pounds of shit on their back and engaging in combat.
The encumberance that a full suit of fitted plate puts on the body is nothing compared to what real soldiers deal with. A backpack and gear haphazardly strapped all over is a larger hinderance than ~50lbs evenly distributed over the body and riding primarily on the torso and hips. So not only are real soldiers already outperforming your fictional Fighter in weight, the fictional Fighter actually has an even easier time due to the way his load hangs on him.
>>47807273
>>47807491
For the Gritty rules, the difference between a Week and 64 hours isn't that big of a deal. You're still taking off from adventuring for several days, and any sort of time limit is going to severely hamper that.
In terms of injuries, my group started using them for whenever someone got knocked to 0 hitpoints, in order to encourage people to be more cautious. So far the Monk has rolled (lose leg) twice, and the Paladin has gotten mostly superficial stuff that went away with magic healing. Fortunately for the Monk we managed to heal one and the second time was technically an illusion, so he's fine. Generally though, it has forced us to play more conservatively and actually care about taking hits.
Criticals seems like it just makes it random dumb luck if it'll happen or not, rather than something that can be avoided if you're careful.
Spiritual Weapon,
Is the initial cast a full action or a bonus action?
I know the existing weapon can be moved, and used to attack a target using a bonus action on subsequent turns, but the first time you summon your translucent floating banhammer, is that a regular action?
Or can I literally cast a spell, then cast spiritual weapon on the same turn?
>>47807558
I think there's a rule about casting more than one spell in a turn.
I ignore that rule though.
>>47807558
It says casting time bonus action. That means bonus action.
>>47807273
>>47807512
A full suit of plate has better articulation than the human body. The man inside it is actually limiting its movement. Men in full plate (reenactors, not even super athletes or soldiers) can sprint, jump, (dis)mount horses, backflip, cartwheel, and even SWIM in the armor without issue.
And yeah, that last one is critical. Learn your fucking buoyancy, friendos. Your wet clothing is heavy as shit because it's full of water when you're NOT IN THE WATER. When you're still submerged, pretty much nothing has changed for you, ESPECIALLY when you're wearing things that don't absorb water to begin with (metal, certain kinds of leather). The biggest hinderance to your swimming here is your increased size or ruined streamlining, but that's a problem of hydrodynamics, not weight, and isn't even going to be a factor for the average swim speed of PCs. 50, even a hundred pounds of extra shit on your back isn't going to drown you; how would lifeguards or swim coaches even operate if they're just barely capable of supporting themselves and nothing else?
If you want realism in your game, you need to INCREASE the physical capabilities of your characters.
>>47807558
It says casting time as a bonus action, which means you can. However, casting a spell as a bonus action prevents you from casting a non-cantrip spell on your turn, so you can't cast it and then say, Cure Wounds on the same turn.
>>47798022
"dice+2d6"
