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Sniped two threads in a row edition
How do you handle Warlock pacts as the DM?
Is there ANY *good* mechanical reason to be a Bladelock instead of just a Tomelock or a Chainlock?
>>46444934
> Patron as quest giver.
> Patron as minor antagonist.
> Patron as party benefactor.
> PC Plays 2 Characters
Talk to your players. Find out what they want.
>>46444934
>How do you handle Warlock pacts as the DM?
Depends on what the player wants to portray. They're pretty flexible fluff-wise. I've had players who draw their powers from powerful forgotten deities that allow them a sampling of their powers for unknowable purposes and I've had players with more direct contracts with extra-planar beings. They can all work pretty well.
>>46444934
I initially made a thread for this, reposting here.
I'm going to be starting a new game of 5e soon, and I need to break the game as early as possible.
What are some ways to break the game in early play? I'm talking levels 1-4. I know that people have come up with all sorts of power builds for 20th level, but I know for a fact this game isn't going to last that long.
>>46444989
Serve as squire to a Class with actual martial proficiency? Just hand them a magic weapon of whatever type they ask for. It only disappears after a minute and only if they get too far away.
>>46444934
>How do you handle Warlock pacts as the DM?
How I want to run Warlock pacts:
>like a cleric's relationship to their god, but even closer and more relevant
>often times a result of occult research and lust for power gone too far
>I would consider Strahd in I, Strahd a Warlock pact
How my players want to run Warlock pacts:
>like a Wizard, but with different spellcasting mechanics
>>46445052
Hi there!
You seem to be making a bit of a mistake in playing an RPG. Luckily, the users of /tg/ are always willing to help you clear this problem right up! You appear to be acting like That Guy, despite the game in question being focused on team cooperation. Whoops! You should always remember to play a character that will work with your party instead of against them, unless the campaign you are playing in is explicitly focused on PvP. Going against the party when it isn't agreed upon by everyone is poor form. You wouldn't be a dick to your fellow players, so your character shouldn't, either!
Now, there's no need to thank me--I'm just doing my bit to help you get used to tabletop RPG culture.
>>46444989
Mechanical reason? No. Mechanically, Bladelock is strictly inferior to Tomelock. Extra Attack doesn't make up for all that delicious book-learning versatility, not to mention Shillelagh beats out the blade in terms of damage (until you spend an invocation on Thirsting Blade).
However, the Pact of the Blade is cool as fuck.
>>46445052
Moon Druids are pretty powerful at low levels. (3-4)
From Unearthed Arcana the Shadow Sorceror is pretty broken from level one.
In EEPC the Aaracokra can fly in light armor which is always exploitable. And in SCAG the Winged Tiefling can do the same without the armor restriction.
>>46445139
Oh, and maxing out AC at low levels is always a good way to frustrate GMs.
SCAG's Bladesinger wizard is an especially bizarre way to do it.
>>46445082
>tfw a player with some type of fey or fiend pact gets upset when they actually have to do something because of their pact
>"but its not in the rulebook!! it doesn't say anywhere you can directly command me, or take away my powers as punishment ever!!"
>mfw they don't get what a warlock is
any player that isn't willing to listen/take orders/take punishments for not following orders from the fey/GOO/devil they've made their pact with is a disgusting rollplayer and should fuck off
>>46445198
>any player that isn't willing to listen/take orders/take punishments for not following orders from the fey/GOO/devil they've made their pact with is a disgusting rollplayer and should fuck off
In their defense, even Paladins can barely lose their powers for disobedience anymore.
What I would probably do is grant the player magic items contingent upon obedience, so that they don't actually lose their ability to play the game if they disobey.
Also, if a player rolls a GOO or especially a Fiendlock, obeying the will of the pactor might cause them to be the one evil guy in a good party, which isn't great, especially if they never intended to be.
>>46444934
>How do you handle Warlock pacts as the DM?
It depends on the player. Some don't care about it so I don't bother. Some want it to be important so I try to include it as a plot point. I try not to let it detract from the story that everyone else is interested in.
>>46445198
>I ignore it, it's what my character would do!
>Make their paton rape them in their sleep
In b4 discord
>>46445052
>hey guys help me be a shitty person
>im going into a game with the INTENTION of breaking it
>i could just leave or not attend but lmao xdddddddd its gonna be so funny !!!
fuck off
>>46445280
Discord? Do you mean like
>/5eg/ Discord server
https://discord.gg/0rRMo7j6WJoQmZ1b
>>46445312
In b4 someone mentions furries
Speaking of gamebreaking how do I be a non-dickbag necromancer?
It's in the PHB and not the DMG for a reason. There must be a way to play a heroic necromancer.
>>46445364
Work with your DM. It's honestly all up to him. I think by RAW resurrecting a body requires a soul to be placed in the body? And obviously forcing serves into solitude is pretty fuckin' evil. You could maybe ask him to remove that restriction so necromancers are just flinging around meat/skeleton bags.
Maybe frame it as a CG researcher kind of guy? A hermit type character who's extremely interested in understanding the body, and spends his time dissecting and examining corpses in search of medicines, and truly believes that a combination of magic and medicine is the way to solve most diseases and aid humanity at large. Would be proficient in medicine, kind of a neurosis socially awkward character.
>>46445126
5e game design, everybody
>>46445462
The brightside of 5E game design however is even if you're playing a bladelock, you're never gonna feel like you fucked up. You'll still deal damage and keep place with everyone in your party.
>>46445312
Damn you devils. You'll never take my pure OP post away from me! Never!
Anyone have access to the Fifth Edition Foes pdf?
I can't find it anywhere.
What do people think of Aarakocra? Are they too powerful? Even the EEPC says a DM has to be really careful about allowing them.
Even if they're constantly in dungeons to limit their vertical flight, 50 speed that ignores ground based hazards seems pretty strong.
And 1st level at-will flight outdoors is just absurd.
>>46445771
Let them play it in the Underdark.
>>46445771
I don't mind them. Design better whatever if they're totally fucking everything up. They aren't the only things in the sky, things have ranged attacks, and dungeons aren't all jumping puzzles.
They have basically no other race features. Talons are ok, but it's literally just a d4 damage die.
>>46445771
I think they're too powerful at level one, yes.
I would allow them in a campaign starting at or past level 5.
>>46445511
This is true. Beastmaster and melee Bladelock might be the two worst archetypes, but they're not TERRIBLE. They can still keep up in-game. They're just less optimised than other archetypes, and will probably do less DPR on average. But if your group isn't one that trends towards min-maxing, that's not really a problem.
>>46445364
I haven't done it myself yet but I always figured a good-aligned necromancer as being a civil servant of sorts. Yes, they raise undead horrors and may partake in unhallowed rituals, but they can also perform funerary rites or maintain cemeteries and catacombs. You don't HAVE to be that guy who does nothing but forcibly drags souls back to the Mortal Plane- maybe you're traveling the land to put tortured ghosts to rest, in pursuit of some weird necromantic balance.
>>46445913
Kind of related, I've thought about running a literally Tomb Raider archaeologist with torch and pith helmet just looking to create a new museum exhibit, one unearthed ancestor at a time.
>>46445913
>>46445364
>>46446072
>no PC, you are the demons
Is literally the worst game ending twist
>>46445198
Warlocks don't work that way. 5e makes it explicitly clear that they don't work that way. They CAN work that way, but they don't inherently do so. A deal where you exchange power for servitude is one way to fluff a pact, but it's not the only way, and it's not the default way. A warlock's power can merely be the result of studying their patron, they don't need to have met or even communicated in any way with their patron.
You are the one who doesn't get what a warlock is.
>>46446240
Agreed. It's fine for a villain to be sympathetic or a well-intentioned extremist but you should always have a hint of madness or some flaw in their logic they just choose to ignore that marks them as not quite as morally superior as they believe themselves to be.
Morally quandaries are only satisfying for the players when they walk away feeling like they overcame the challenge, not devastated that there was no right choice.
Although there is certainly a place for that when your heroes are more grim-dark. But otherwise it robs them of the choice to be the heroes in the story when you decide your DMPC was the hero ahead of time.
>the party just bought my grumpy elven noble fencer a fedora
>>46445261
I mean, when you're literally making a pact with the devil and practicing dark evil magics, what do you expect?
Never DMed before, but have ample experience as a player. My younger cousins have seen me playing D&D and want to try it themselves during their school holidays. Their age range is around 10-14, but they're alright (I've played with people seemingly stupider than 10 year olds).
So given my lack of experience as a DM, and them being young and inexperienced, I'd like to use a fairly simple premade adventure (though not as simple as a pure dungeon crawl or something, it should still have some length and story to it). Any recommendations?
How useless are whips in 5e?
I wanna make an Entertainer that was a Ringmaster.
Any homebrew feats that make them better?
So my players had a bit of an issue in their hands yesterday in POTA
They went to the haunted tomb, took care of the grave robbers, manage to convince the ghost that his duty had been fulfilled and got to the final room
The flying sword fucked their shit up, they didn't manage to hit it a single time, but it crit-shotted the cleric to nothing
The druid used shape water to envelop it, then freeze it solid, I thought this was pretty creative so i allowed it, reducing its damage to 1d4 bludgeoning (it's still a flying ice cudgel)
Then they came up with the idea of lassoing it and wrangling it into the coffin. I figured this was ok, and allowed it with dc15 acrobatics to lasso the thing and then a strength contest to keep it immobile (grapple pretty much)
They shoved the thing into the coffin, looted the chest and got out, but forgot to close the stone door
Am I being too lenient with my players or just promoting creativity?
Also, when would be the best moment I can make this sword come out of the coffin, fly across the world and fuck their shit up?
>>46446755
Lost mine of phandelver, it's as simple as it gets and it's good
>>46446821
Well... Rogue can use them to some effect with sneak attack and not need to waste their cunning action on disengage. Mix with Spell sniper and Booming/Green-Flame Blade for some pyrotechnics. Arcane Trickster also gives you prestidigitation and minor illusion for entertainment value, and some illusions at later levels.
>>46446942
>Forgot to close the door
Oh shit, is that you, Nathan?
Did they do it again?
It's dumb, boring, and unrealistic the percent of enemies that fight to the death, or at least, do so when it should be obvious.
I'm planning on making the NPCs in my next campaign way more aware and concerned with self preservation.
But, what do I do when every encounter results in something begging for its life or fleeing? Eventually the party will stop viewing at as a noteworthy event, and develop some canned handwave response. Or am I overthinking it?
>>46447003
No, sorry, not Nathan
But if his group is anywhere near as forgetful as mine about closing doors I feel his pain
>>46446436
Nothing, basically, considering that's how most DMs run it.
That's why I suggest magic items. Allows you to implement it, without gutting the PC and making them feel cheated somehow.
>>46447022
Never start a fair fight to begin with. PCs get the drop? They retreat or all flee separate ways. They outnumber the PCs? Go all out. The second they have less people than the PCs morale breaks and they flee unless a direct superior is watching and sometimes even then...
Outsiders get a pass because they don't really die, just get banished back to the out plane. Constructs, Oozes, Undead, Plants, etc can also reasonably be expected to fight to the death.
The party is travelling through plains on the way to a forest, my character, who has the wanderer feature ("you can find food and fresh water for yourself and up to five other people each day, provided that the land offers berries, small game, water, and so forth."), attempts to obtain food but is unable to find sufficient food from the land. Is this bullshit?
>>46447022
Ruse them. Have things that beg for their life because they know reinforcements are coming to catch the party unaware, flanking them with surprise rounds if they spend time parleying.
I dunno man.
>>46447061
The group I was with forgot to close a door, and the entire next party to go adventuring died.
Doors are important.
>>46447126
Clearly this land is cursed and unable to support life. The next creature you meet is clearly an unholy Revenant and should be put down immediately.
>>46447126
Depends. Is there water and small game available?
If your DM attacks you with a random owlbear, insist that there's clearly no ecosystem in place to support such a predator in this region.
>>46447086
Honestly that just seems pretty lame. You're striking a deal with the DEVIL. That should mean something. Why would a devil who you're disobeying ever give you anything ever. Why do you even have powers.
If they wanna play a character who isn't bounded by some deity why not just play a sorcerer.
>>46447133
>beg for their life because they know reinforcements are coming
Man that's a devilishly good idea. I can imagine this to work extremely well with the slimy bandits that inhabit alleys in a city.
>>46447320
My point is that this isn't established as a mechanic in the PHB- compare it to Paladin oaths.
So, if you act on it, it's unexpected. You're making a player essentially unable to play they're character via a sort of "gotcha", and then saying "you should have expected this."
If you make it clear during character creation, then it's perfectly fine.
>>46447349
If they're constantly sparing stuff without a thought, just have some Bandit promise them information and start talking out his ass till WHOOPS 6 BANDITS YOU NEVER SAW GET A SURPRISE ROUND AND FILL YOUR WIZARD WITH CROSSBOW BOLTS
Give them subtle hints that he's bullshitting the entire time, see if they have just went on autopilot and wake them the fuck up. Even if you NEVER do it again they'll constantly be apprehensive.
>>46447439
Why would you encourage murderhoboing?
I don't understand.
>>46447455
If they start murdering everything because of one bad encounter, they're faggots anyway.
How is sparing one bandit every fight for no reason better?
>>46447455
While I see where you're coming from and I agree with your sentiment, I think >>46447439 is trying to encourage players to use common sense and pay attention to their surroundings rather than just murderhoboing.
>>46446942
>Also, when would be the best moment I can make this sword come out of the coffin, fly across the world and fuck their shit up?
When they're higher level and some non-caster is unarmed and unarmored wooing someone they thought was a slam dunk. Now that person has real reasons to doubt whether they should get involved with the PC.
>>46447525
>I think >>46447439 is trying to encourage players to use common sense and pay attention to their surroundings rather than just murderhoboing.
He's just encouraging people to stop mid-roleplay and ask "can I make an insight and/or perception check?" every conversation.
Just because it would be common sense in real life doesn't mean it can apply to DnD, because perspective and the flow of time are obfuscated.
>>46447455
>>46447570
>Never ever try to mislead players as a DM because it will ruin the adventure forever and they will all become ravenous, bloodthirsty monsters
>>46447608
Abusing player's sense of the flow of time during roleplay will make them into paranoid metagamers.
That doesn't somehow translate into all misdirection is bad. Misdirection is a tool to encourage thinking in certain ways, and you're encouraging thinking in bad ways.
>>46444934
>How do you handle Warlock pacts as the DM?
Oh, wow. This thread is actually perfect for what I came to ask about.
One of my players has just rolled up a new character, a warlock. Initially, I thought he was mostly in it to cast lots of spells in combat because that's what he seems to enjoy, but after I explained the flavor of having a patron he got really excited. He kept asking me stuff like "So what kind of things will my patron want me to do?" and "What can he do to me if I mess up or don't do what he says?" Last time we were hanging out with the rest of the group, he kept talking excitedly to the other players about how I'm going to make his patron ask him to do all sorts of things.
I'm a little worried, because to be completely honest I don't know what I'm going to do with this. I figure the patron might be able to give him orders and things, but I'm not really certain how. I want to make the most of this, because he seemed really excited and that's always nice to see with players.
Long story short, what are some fun RP things to do with a warlock's pact? He's chosen a patron of the Archfey, and specifically said that the Prince of Frost sounded coolno pun intended.
>>46447679
>encouraging them to think in bad ways
>encouraging people to stay on alert and not trust literal criminals they have encountered in in a hostile environment is bad
?
>>46447679
>Get tricked one time by a bandit who is obviously lying just to see if your players are paying attention
Leads to
>Better not talk to anyone, they might be tricking us, kill everything
Better not set up any ambushes either or they'll roll perception every 5 seconds.
How would you go about improving Bladelock?
I'd think of something like giving the Pact weapon built-in cantrips or something.
>>46447439
>have cultist members in a city surrender and beg for their life by offering magical items hidden in underground guild hall
>Just as they get there and be given the new artifacts have 30 templar knights seize in and arrest everyone
>Watch as the PCs try to talk their way out of why they are in a cultist lair and are in possession of demonic artifacts.
>>46446982
Paladins can also smite from range with them. I have paladin/rogue that can do some serious spike damage.
>>46447707
In terms of demands a patron may want, you could possibly look at more theme based ideas. Perhaps this demon is against the laws of civilization and wishes for a more chaotic view of the world. Maybe he just really fucking hates elves and wants you to be a dick every once in a while to fulfill their needs.
As for punishments, I mean there are a lot of ways you can go about things. I would pull on the strings of basic needs and how they cannot be met. Every time they try to rest, they have haunting images and get woken immediately, causing exhaustion. When they eat rations, it feels as though it isn't satisfying their hunger, like they ate nothing at all. Send him private messages that people are constantly looking at him in taverns, shops, or markets, and just watch how insane they may act based on these problems.
>>46447764
I fucking love this.
>Players might be apprehensive, expecting cursed items or a demon being summoned on them
>End up in court trying to explain why the fighter was holding a foul greatsword forged from the blood of 666 virgins in the middle of a sacrificial circle
>be warrior
>can make four attacks per turn with your main weapon
>can make one (1) sidearm attack that costs your bonus action
>also you have to use light weapons
What's the point?
>>46446275
>citation needed
>>46448039
Not that guy, but I'm pretty sure that's a part of the GOO pact's description.
>>46448019
Well you wont have your forth attack until level 20, but off the top of my head there's every other class and I guess if you want to have 1 ac and a bonus attack the two weapon fighting feat. Still not optimal, but not terrible. Personally I would probably never bother with two weapon fighting, but that's more because I just would rather have a shield if I'm using one handed weapons.
The best case I could really make is if you want extra chances to hit at all like for sneak attack or something
So I'm planning a bit of a session revolving around lycanthrope and investigation regarding lost sheep, people, etc from a town. I've never ran any sort of lycanthrope theme but found out that players can actually suffer from the disease. However, after looking at the benefits they gain from it, are pretty damn strong.
What are the ways you see to give disadvantages to lycanthrope. Also any ideas on how to make the investigation feel more puzzling? I was thinking of running wereboars, mainly because I picked up the miniatures recently and wanted to finally bring them to the table.
>>46448384
It makes you evil, and if you don't 'give into' it, you lose control on a semi-regular basis (though they don't always know that.)
The downsides are purely RP, since you are now an evil flesh eating monster.
>>46447271
If we ever encounter anything besides fucking bandits and guards I won't complain.
>>46447394
What's not clear about it? The entire warlock class is about striking a deal with powers way beyond mortal comprehension. The player shouldn't be a salty faggot about it when they decide to take it away.
>>46448433
But anon owlbears are just as afraid of you as you are afraid of them
>get double crit from a beak and a claw.
>>46448384
The loss of player control should be a pretty big incentive to be cured
>>46448437
Not always, see:>>46446275
It can also represent researching and stealing powers from other more powerful beings, similar to the Archivist from 3.5e.
>>46448403
I never really saw anything about curing the disease. Is it just visit some apothecary and thats it? Or is there like some heavy steps to get rid of it?
>>46448384
Kinda new to D&D despite being a huge fan of it for years. Would characters immediately be aware of having Lycanthropy, or would it take waking up naked in a field with the taste of blood in your their mouth to know?
>>46444989
Reminder that your Pact Boon is a single class feature, and not an archetype.
You can make a perfectly functional Warlock with PotB with the right cantrip/spell selection.
> But muh Eldritch Blaaast
Yes, it's always stronger than your weapon attacks. Get over it.
>>46448555
It could count as a disease or a curse, either are easily removable via magic. You COULD say it's a 'special' disease/curse requiring an adventure to seek out a cure, same as something like a mummy's curse/mummy rot. Up to you how you handle it.
So I grabbed the big mega-dump of files in the OP, but what are these "Adventurers League" things? They look like modules, but why are they divided into "seasons"?
>>46448597
Because that's how they sort them when they run Adventurer's League.
>>46448560
Pretty sure the experience of being gored by a beast-man would stick in the mind.
Need a Crawford ruling on using Remove Curse against hostile lycanthropes in a battle
>>46448555
here you go
>>46448595
I think the older thing was you needed to give them belladonna or something like that before a certain time frame
>>46448640
Why wouldn't that work? Assuming it's not a trueborn werebeast, that is.
>>46448384
Lose control during full moons, haunted by dreams of what they have done, suffer exhaustion because they aren't being well-rested.
>>46448403
It only makes you evil if you both give into it and it is a werewolf, wereboar, or wererat. If you don't give into it, it has no effect on your alignment or personality, if you embrace being a werebear you shift to Neutral Good, and if you embrace being a weretiger you shift to True Neutral. You are right that unless disadvantages are imposed on them, only the involuntary shifting in a full moon (and resulting levels of exhaustion) are downsides.
>>46448497
By RAW, they only lose control during a full moon, or if they embrace the curse and didn't already share that alignment. A CE person who embraces being a werewolf would normally retain control.
>>46448555
It is a curse. That means Greater Restoration, Remove Curse, or other methods that remove curses should work (unless you don't want them to). It is not a disease, it is a curse.
>>46448560
"Especially if the cursed creature is unaware of its condition, it might not remember the events of its transformation, though those memories often haunt a lycanthrope as bloody dreams." That's from the MM entry, so I don't think they get any clues other than nightmares and finding evidence of their nocturnal activities.
>>46448614
It's not always so easy to tell. All the lycan/therianthropes can take the form of an animal as well as the hybrid form. A wereboar might only have been gored by a regular boar, or a giant rat could really be a wererat passing on the curse.
>>46445443
According to one D&D lore, animating the dead involves manipulation of the animus, the life force the soul uses to move the body. When you die, the animus remains, distinguishing dead matter from nonliving matter.
>>46448614
Yeah, but you can resist it with a save even after getting your arm chewed by a furry.
I'm saying, from a character's perspective, would they know if they were afflicted before the first time they went beast mode? Obviously if someone stabbed you with a poison dagger and you failed, you would feel ill and be spewing your guts up soon enough. I'm saying would a character get slashed by a wolfman and instantly realize they were now also a Wolfman because of some instant, obvious side effects, or would it take a few nightime excursions or some proactive "Hey maybe I should see if I'm cursed after that werewolf attack" thinking?
>>46448695
No reason why not RAW, but effectively neutralizing a CR 2 - CR 5 creature with one spell is a bit much
>>46448767
Personally, I wouldn't tell them that anything was up and let them figure it out themselves, but I'm a manipulative fuck.
>>46448767
No obvious signs, at least by the entry in the MM. It would probably be a good idea to get checked out after a werewolf attack, because otherwise the only certain tidings that one has become a lycanthrope that will be received is proof that one has been seen as one or has attempted to kill.
>>46448750
>>46448750
That would be pretty sick for running a Good necromancer. I've always loved the concept, it's just hard to work.
>>46448824
>>46448836
Basically, I'm thinking of having a Werewolf in wolf form be leading a pack of wolves, and unless the party is really thorough in checking out the corpse and searching for clues, they'd have no idea. Doing their constitution saves in secret to see if they get cursed.
Is this a dick move?
>>46448769
On its own, that wouldn't be such a big deal. What makes it bad is that it doesn't have a save. Since the spell is touch range, I would say a contested Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) might be in order, or alternatively something like a Dex save.
>>46448896
Nope.
Do it.
>>46448896
Go for it! That's part of the whole mystique of werewolves, that they can pass among men or their animal brethren and are only identifiable when in transformation or the hybrid form.
If you roll behind the screen, you can make it seem as though the players are just having excellent luck when they never get harmed, narrating the blades or other weapons nicking them, but only being skin-deep wounds.
>>46448932
>>46448970
Excellent. If one of them does get cursed unaware of the werewolf, gonna drag it out for as long as possible without them realizing, maybe red herring them with another reason for why they're not getting sleep, maybe throw some shades at them before and after until I can finally have them transform out of nowhere.
>>46448384
You can always require temporary character retirement if they give into their curse.
What is the adventure setting that these wereboars will be featured in?
>>46448896
It turns into a person upon death... so this would be pretty obvious if someone got super lucky.
>>46449208
Ah fuck, I forgot about that.
Does it instantly revert or does it take a while? I really wanna go with this angle, but I'm not gonna cheat just for the sake of being a dick GM.
>>46449255
You could just have the wolves attack and after they kill a few of them have them run off. Wolves are smart and wont hang around if they're getting killed for nothing. Conveniently this gives the werewolf time to get a few lucky bites off to spread the curse before they peace out and leaves the investigation angle open.
So, hey, what is the consensus on Sword Burst? Is its range functionally the same as Thunderclap? A tablemate of mine was telling me about Sword Burst interacting with that one Metamatic that increases range, and he was saying it needs to be errata'd? I'm not sure it needs errata, but now I'm doubting my understanding of how it targets.
>>46447707
Give his patron the Ideal/Bond/Flaw stuff and a backstory. Remember that he knows what the player is doing most of the time. Have him tell the player to do little things like snuff out flames for no good reason, and big things like secretly (emphasis on the secretly, the Prince knows that his minion will go further with a party's trust) fuck with a flame/sun/summer god worshiper/priest that could help the party, and award inspiration if he does. If you think the player disobeyed too many/an important enough order, have them get RP penalties, like always feeling cold unless they're in several layers of clothing, even in midsummer, or make their hands look like they have frostbite even though they don't. Keep that up until they please their patron.
>>46449332
Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.
Maybe I'll have something more dangerous that would frighten Wolves turn up after a few rounds, giving the Wolves an excuse to retreat and giving the party a distraction.
I'm just really worried my party is gonna one round it. Maybe I'll fudge some of their rolls.
>>46449356
>So, hey, what is the consensus on Sword Burst?
It's a niche cantrip that few people use.
>Is its range functionally the same as Thunderclap?
Basically yes.
>A tablemate of mine was telling me about Sword Burst interacting with that one Metamatic that increases range, and he was saying it needs to be errata'd? I'm not sure it needs errata, but now I'm doubting my understanding of how it targets.
It technically can interact with Distant Spell metamagic by RAW and likely should be errataed to a range of Self (5-foot radius) like Thunderclap.
However, even with RAW as it is, it hardly breaks things, even at higher levels. A max of 4d6 force damage (Dex save for no damage) to creatures within 10 feet of you isn't a great use of a sorcery point.
>>46449412
>Maybe I'll fudge some of their rolls.
If you're going to cheat just have them bit mysteriously in the middle of the night and save everybody's time, jesus.
>>46449412
Do any of them have nonmagical weapons? Putting the werewolf near that member could be a good idea ;)
>>46449356
Well, Sword Burst has the range of 5 feet. Thunderclap has a range of Self and fires in a 5-ft radius. If Thunderclap works with it, so does stuff like Cone of Cold. Maybe Sword Burst needs errata'd, but it might be because SB targets something swarm-type enemies are generally strong against, Dex. Thunderclap targets Con, which the swarms of weaker enemies that the spells favor don't tend to have much of.
>>46449412
You could quite easily bullshit it with the attack happening at night and there being a lot of wolves in a close forest, hard to keep track of which wolf is which or even how many there are, disadvantage to rolls all that good stuff. Basically set it up as if a pack of ravenous wolves thought they were an easy meal, a few got slaughtered and they backed off to hunt safer prey. Hell have multiple werewolves in there and have their imminent plot thread revolve around a local wolf cult or something.
>>46449255
Yes. Watch "American Werewolf in London". Not just because the death scenes cover the time expectancy, but because it is one of my favorite films.
>>46449332
Totally do this. Have waves. Somewhere in the middle wave, the werewolf makes some attacks.
Now the real question here, does the werewolf want to kill the players, or turn some? Then the next question, why does the werewolf want to turn them?
>>46449489
Fair point, no matter what I want there's no sense in cheating just because I want something to go my way. Thanks for reminding me not to be a faggot.
>>46449506
Forgot about this, nice.
>>46449466
Okay. As I was rereading the cantrip over and over again, I couldn't help but fixate on the part where it said "other than you." Why would it say that?
>>46449526
Adding to this, if the location is right and/or time of year, have it snowing and winter wolves in there too. Make the fight legitimately tough through sheer numbers of a hungry mid-winter wolfpack descending on the party so they don't see anything amiss and think the difficulty was all from the number of foes. Hide the details in plain sight sorta thing y'know?
>>46445364
>Necromancer wizard is in PHB
>Death cleric isn't
Why?
>>46449663
Necromancers are just lonely people who cannot handle the concept of death. Just let them cope in their own way.
Fun story tonight on why CR is not a very good benchmark for the true difficulty of an enemy (as if that surprised anyone).
>The level 9 party was running a combat gauntlet based on the 7 deadly sins. We started with a generic undead battle against a few Wraiths and some tiny creatures that endlessly regenerated to prevent total focus on the bigger guys. Not a sin-based enemy, just to introduce the gauntlet.
>The first sin fought was Sloth, which was an easy fight with a Rogue and a few small creatures that was complicated by a permanent effect that inflicted disadvantage on just about every d20 roll while I (the wizard) was ritual casting Leomund's Tiny Hut to rest up the party from being unprepared against the Wraiths. It went smoothly, and the rogue luckily had enough metal that I was able to Fabricate a shield to go with the old hide armor of the druid to boost the AC of my wizard (he had just joined the party at level 9 with one cleric level for medium armor but no actual armor). We got our rest, and moved to the next challenge.
>The next challenge was Lust, and we went up against several succubi. No sexy shenanigans, just charm effects being used to turn the party against each other. Unfortunately for them, the only people they managed to charm were the druid (who actually had the highest Wis save) and the rogue (who had the lowest). I slapped the druid out of it with only 5 damage, while the demi-god NPC who was accompanying us managed to do a whopping 12 damage (with one miss) to get the rogue back on our side. After the druid sicced his Conjured wolves on them, they fled to the Ethereal Plane. We tried to find them in the shadows and intimidated them into keeping away with only killing two out of six.
To be continued
>Next was Greed, represented by an adult black dragon and his hoard. The OP NPC was caged up, but the battle didn't pose much trouble (I think the dragon was weakened). Druid went Giant Scorpion and locked down the dragon for a while, wrestling wizard tried to get the NPC out. Took him out at the cost of the wolves.
>The next encounter was non-combat, a single lamp in the middle of the floor. The druid and my wizard managed to convince the rogue that rubbing the lamp to try and get wishes could be a very bad idea. After we lit the lamp to light the path forward, we were told by our DM that it had an actual djinni inside who would have granted us three twisted wishes... and we would have had to begin the gauntlet anew. We passed the sin of Gluttony.
>The final challenge of the day (though not of the gauntlet, which will be continued next week) was Envy. 6 Banshees. They rollled well on initiative, the druid acted, then our three party members, our sleeping fourth member, and the DMPC (though not the OP NPC) were all dropped to 0 HP. The DM realizes that this was not something he had considered when he hastily put the encounter together, and so retconned it to only 3 Banshees. NPC Action Surge potions the DMPC and the druid, the druid Mass Cure Wounds, and we proceed to crush the undead.
TL;DR, by not accounting for the power of a special action of the creatures he chose, the DM nearly TPK'd the party when he didn't even mean to have it be a particularly challenging encounter. CR is a guideline, not a rule.
>Found a half orc baby in a basket abandoned in a cave
>Wondering how to leave it for the nearby orc village to find it since good character but don't want to have to take care of a baby past leaving somewhere it's not that likely to get eaten or die of exposure
>Party member runs up and smashes it with a mace while I'm puzzling over how to not have to deal with the baby
>>46449955
Why do you have evil people in your party
>>46449955
>>46450023
Maybe he was just trying to save the party from a cliche moral conundrum
>>46449981
Okay, but I think that would just make a lot more 5th ed threads overall
>>46450099
theyll be banned too
>>46449981
>Implying you'd get through with this post tied to your IP
Nice try faggot.
>>46449891
Meanwhile on the flipside of this I as a DM nearly TPKd the group with a fairly hefty encounter of 8 shadows and 3 scarecrows they should've struggled with, but not fatally, because I forgot to account for our group cleric being a complete retard and electing to use his channel divinity to boost an attack roll instead of turning 8 fucking undead strength draining shadows jesus christ. Thankfully this happened in a rather tight passageway so the paladin, monk and cleric held the line against the onslaught reasonably well getting decently lucky on their rolls and the shadows doing pretty poorly.
It was still close and ended with the 19str half orc monk being drained down to 8 str, the paladin bleeding out on the floor and the party wizard 2hp off joining him. Fun as fuck though seeing them enter full on panic mode when they found out the shadows inflicted a stat drain
>>46450144
k
>>46449891
Banshees in general are very TPKable due to the whole "save or drop to 0" mechanic, which is one of the few things that can do such a thing. This might have been due to lack of experience on DMs part, but I wouldn't throw 6 at a party no matter what level they are because one or two bad rolls and boom, you got a TPK on your hands.
If it were me, I'd fluff up how one or two banshees look particularly large/powerful/grisly, and they'd be the ones with the Wail 1/day 1HKO scream. The rest would just get Wail on a recharge of 5 or 6, and their screams just do the 3d6 psychic damage on fail, half that on a save.
But yes, this is a good reason why CR is a guideline, not a rule.
>>46450155
>I'll take, "Forgetting a class's core mechanic" for 500, Alex.
But seriously, the number of people who seem to forget that turn/destroy undead is a base Cleric ability and not tied to alignment in 5e is pretty disturbing.
>>46450155
Shadows should have easily been able to pass the beefy dudes if they wanted to.
>>46447752
You think you're exaggerating, but I've seen this exact shit happen.
>>46450242
With extremely limited use, and very few chances to use it (in most games), it's understandable that most people have forgotten that it even is a thing anymore.
>>46449891
>NPCs
>DMPCs
Why even bother with players
>>46450246
Yeah but they're borderline mindless undead. They're certainly not very smart at 6 int and the frontline guys include the only 2 good aligned members of the group making them a shadows preferred meal/target.
Later in the cave they found the hag who was controlling the things and she fought them a lot smarter, abusing her invisibility to freely attack the casters and moving away before the pain train could home in on her, until eventually one of the party members, in a great bit of RP, started taunting her about how they'd killed one of the other hags in her coven drawing her into an open confrontation in a fit of rage.
>>46450285
It wasn't a big idea when the DMPC was first introduced; at that point, we were twice the size we are now. For being a level 20 fighter in a level 9 party, the NPC hasn't done much at all except heal after the banshees.
>>46450205
To my DM's credit, he immediately realized where he had gone wrong. Also, if my character hadn't rolled so poorly on initiative (literally, he never rolled higher than a 6 in any encounter), he would have been able to go through it all with advantage from Protection from Good and Evil on his +9 Con save.
We also found out that my wizard is the de facto healer of the party. Took Artificer so he spent the vast majority of his spell slots on healing potions. Besides those he cast... Sanctuary for the fight where he was ritual casting Leomund's Hut, Fabricate in the off-time, and a Shield to avoid being hit by some hard-hitting attack. Made a Growth potion to haul around the unconscious monk and made something like 8 healing potions.
>>46450373
Parriwimple has an Int of 6. And he isn't mindless, just an idiot. 6 Int isn't drooling on the floor idiotic. They also have 10 Wis, so they could arguably recognize casters, and holy symbols. So they could have every reason to kill clerics and wizards first.
>>46450373
>>46450489
I'm actually looking at making a level 20 one-shot with Shadows hounding the party as the main swarm. At that point, the chance to hit of the enemies is minuscule, but I don't think the party will be fond of waiting around as the shadows close in...
UA Psion (mystic) anybody?
Love me some psionics, but god damn this thing is powerful. At level 3 you have 14 psi points, and if you're a psychic warrior build you can just smite for 2 or 3d10 extra whenever you like. I'm not usually the one to cry "OP IMBALANCED," but unless i make a team of psions specifically designed to deal with one player all the encounters are jokes
>>46450489
Well yeah, but TPKing the group because the first time cleric forgot a class feature the first time it was relevant, with unnaturally smart caster-seeking shadows is kind of a dick move anon.
>>46445892
I'm a Bladelock in my current game because I've always thought they were fun. Can confirm I'm at least doing better than the fucking Beastmaster, but the Sorcerer and Fighter combob is pretty much wrecking everything better than us put together.
>>46450617
They wouldn't be unnaturally smart! A fucking autist can recognize a holy symbol. A fucking downs can recognize a holy symbol. Both have at least 4 INT.
>>46450617
Shadows go after Good aligned creatures first. The cleric should have been gang raped
>starting a new campaign, gonna run CoS
>all but one of the 5 players are newbies
>the experienced player can't make it to session one
>session one is everyone making characters, short tutorial combat, intro to get them into Barovia
>everyone has a blast and loves it
>talk to experienced players after about making his character
>"My character is a level 4 half-giant luchador with +30 to grapple."
>mfw
>didn't know we were playing 5e
>didn't even download the book despite being linked to it
>seems extremely resilient to learning it due to experience with 3.PF
>>46450771
Just tell him if he isn't interested to not bother signing up in the first place and move on. Craft those newbies into good players without his influence on them.
>>46450771
He sounds like a That Guy
Tell him that you're playing 5e, and if he doesn't like it fuck off.
Those Pcs sounds cool tho
>>46450771
Well he made a half giant luchador with +30 to grapple so you're probably okay without him
>>46450713
He was, he was up front with the paladin and monk holding the line, however he had 20 AC so they couldn't land a hit on him without good rolls. The casters sat in the back were neutral and thus went ignored by the shadows.
>>46450694
Yes they can, they can also recognise that these good aligned creatures are directly infront of them and also posing them a threat, arguably a greater threat when one is a smiting paladin and the other a radiant damage chucking war cleric, and that's about as far as their thought processes would go. To abandon that fight in favour of clothy hunting would be fighting way above their 6 int.
>>46447519
This faggot hasn't formed a penitent crusade with the hundreds of thugs and thieves he's shown mercy to.
Do you you even Deus Vult son?
>>46450844
Why didn't they hide in the shadows of his armor? You know, the shadows between his armor hand his flesh?
>>46450842
Instead, he should have made a Goliath luchador with a +8 to grapple!!!
>>46450932
>You can’t hide from a creature that can see you
Also chainmail doesn't float a full inch above someones skin. Also the light spell.
>>46445364
The last wizard I played was a necromancer.
He was also LG.
The enemies he killed, he revivified so they had the chance to redeem themselves. The BBEG? The one that killed a thousand innocents? He was to be raised a thousand times. The setting's moral afterlife laws pretty much let evil characters be switched from hell to heaven as a result - they paid their debt to the universe as a result.
The wizard ended up doing 'net positive' as a result; he effectively redeemed so many terrible people in the eyes of the gods that his sins of performing necromancy were overridden.
>>46451023
That's fine, grappling is mostly team support in 5E.
Push a guy down, grapple him so he can't get up, then everyone kick his face.
>>46451026
Light spell only causes more shadows, idiot!
You cannot see a shadow hiding in a fucking shadow, idiot.
You don't hide beneath the chainmail, you hide in the chain.
>>46451023
Maybe I've just become bitter, but the lucador thing got old for me like halfway through the first session I had with a player doing it
But more than that he thought he was playing 3.5 and wanted to subject 4 new players to a constant barrage of grappling rules. That's just cruel
What's some fun stuff I can do with Sun Soul monk?
>>46451119
praise the sun
>>46451133
noted thankyou
>>46451076
It also denies them +2 to stealth in low light conditions, and blasts the shadows they were initially hiding in away, rendering them visable, unhidden and unable to hide again. A shadow is also medium sized and struggles getting through spaces smaller than 1 inch.
Why are you so angry that I didn't bend the rules to breaking point to kill the party?
>>46451119
MASENKO-HA!!!
Seriously, Sun Soul monks are the only ones who have consistent AoE damage at higher levels. Effectively, you have a mini-Fireball of radiant damage that you can launch at any point within 150 feet of you that you can see. And you can do that all day long.
>>46451085
I have done the grappling thing, and I love it. I just never got the thrill out of being a Luchador. My current grappler is a minotaur who instead prefers holding two of them down and GFBing with his horns. Lots of fun, there...
>>46451119
Fight Aztec vampires
>>46451119
>>46451221
>>46451221
SONO CHI SADAME, JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-JOOOOOOOOO
>>46451186
>all day long
Well, at least until you run out of KI points. But I get your point that you can start up again after just a short rest.
But by that logic Warlocks can fireball all day long too.
>>46451301
Actually, no. You only have to spend ki on the Searing Sunburst if you want to boost the damage. If you are okay with dropping a 20-ft radius bomb for 2d6 damage each turn, it costs absolutely no ki.
>>46451221
>>46451254
my dm is a jojo fan
I'm fully expecting it
>>46451352
I just hope you can move for at least a couple seconds in stopped time
>>46451381
But he would need magnets to do so
>>46451381
>moving in the stopped time
9th level spells are not so easy to juke
>>46446309
>>46446240
you both are shit players. i'd hate to have to run for some idiots like you.
Would you let a Warlock swap Light Armor Proficiency for Unarmored Defense? Starting a Level 1 campaign and it'd be better fluffwise for a character, and mechanically they end up being about the same strength.
>>46452065
Unarmored Defense using what stats.
Because Unarmored Defense of 10 + Dex + Cha is much much much much MUCH better than light armor
Sun Soul Monks don't actually ever create sunlight
>>46452075
Dex+Con, same as Barbarian.
>>46452091
Why don't you just get mage armor invocation you cock
>>46450771
Tell him "OK" and then play without him
>>46452106
Because I like to make things needlessly complicated since I'm a massive cock.And eventually Unarmored Defense can reach 20 AC.
>>46452179
Then take Barb 1! If the rules give you one option for the flavor and you want a more powerful option, you have to make some sacrifices for it.
>>46452179
That spoiler is basically why I wouldn't do it. It really doesn't make a huge mechanical difference and by the time you get 20 ac from it you could in theory might have as much from magic robes or light armor, but it just seems like a bad precedent when there's already an invocation there for that which is intentionally weaker
>>46452179
>waah I want things for free because i am a faggot
What you want is already supplied by Armor of Shadows
>>46452244
I was considering that anyways since the extra 12 hp can really make a difference at low levels, plus the extra skills and all that. Multiclassing at 2 seems a bit early to me though.
>>46452179
>can reach 20 AC
So basically you were full of shit when you said "end up being about the same strength". You're just a munchkin trying to bend the rules to powergame a little harder.
>>46452386
At low levels, yes. (Assuming you don't also put 100% of your points into CON/DEX anyway).Personally I've never had a single character reach level 11 because either we beat the campaign the DM made, we have a TPK somewhere along the way, or the group falls apart because of conflicting work schedules or just apathy. Usually I end up rerolling for some reason or another by 8 and it's pretty lame since that's about when stuff starts getting serious usually.
>Spend 3 hours making character portrait
>Photoshop crashes for the first time in, as far as I can remember, ever
FUCK
>>46452510
If TPK happens surely you just roll up new characters
>>46452579
There's probably some kind of recover document thing
>>46452630
Yeah the last save was from several hours ago, I guess it's better than starting from scratch but now I get to spend the next two hours redoing what I just did again.
>>46452654
If you are putting 3 hours into a character portrait you are either putting WAY too much effort into it or you are astonishingly bad at photoshop
>>46452661
I like to draw my own and it's decent practice since I've been slacking on fundamentals exercise, I'm not just photoshopping some premade picture.
>>46452672
Have you tried a drawing tablet instead
>>46452687
I use a cheap Wacom Bamboo, or sketch on my phone since it's a Note 2 and has a stylus and works surprisingly well.
Drawing with a mouse is perfectly doable with the pen tool but it just takes fucking forever.
>>46452701
OK I am satisfied.
>tfw live in a town of less than 20k and no literally no one into d&d
>tfw full time stay at home dad mode, and wife's schedule of evening shifts makes it hard to find a group of randos
>tfw son is 1.5 years old and is going through sleep irregularity phase making the possibility of an online game hard to schedule
>tfw play by post barely retains any of the excitement that tabletop d&d normally gives me
I'm doomed, /tg/. I just want to play some fucking Dungies and Dragaroos. I got back into it about a year and a half ago for the first time since I was in grade school playing with my dad, and I have yet to play a single game. I want to try out 5e so badly. Hold me. :(
>>46452825
It is only temporary since your son will grow out of this issue. Take care of him and come back to D&D when you have more time. Maybe look for a 1-shot groups on roll20 that scheduled a game for a time convenient for you.
>>46452825
I think being a "stay at home dad" is your biggest concern.
Have fun with your wife cheating on you, divorcing you and then raising your son as a liberal faggot transexual
>>46445312
Fucking furries!
Do you guys make a map for every encounter? I am having trouble with having to quickly scribble maps on roll20 whenever we roll up a random encounter.
>>46452855
Is that what caused you to turn out this way, anon? I'm so sorry to hear that. :'(
>>46452907
I play with humans and we use our imagination
>>46450455
>the fight where he was ritual casting Leomund's Hut
Excuse me? Are you telling me this character took at least 220 turns in a single combat to cast some Tiny Hut rituals?
>>46450285
As a new GM I constantly wonder if my players will feel like I am DMPCing if an NPC sticks around with them for too long, but seeing that they go out of their way to get NPCs to come along with them on their adventures I guess I shouldnt worry too much.
>>46453057
NPCs accompany, give aid and generally take second stage to PCs.
DMPCs are equal to PCs or even significantly above them, are played like a PC by the DM, and often are the focus or do the most damage/are the only one who can do damage
>>46453077
What do I do if my PCs convince someone more powerful than them to accompany them?
>>46453092
>convince
Don't they have something better to do? Tell them "NO"
>>46452907
roll20 is pretty clunky. Get yourself a bunch of maps you can use for multiple different purposes, and just slap one down when you need it. Google around and you'll find thousands of high-res maps just for this very purpose.
>>46453092
You're fine, just don't overshadow them with the NPC's actions, and make sure they have strong motivation to leave the party. Give them an occupation they can't abandon or a family they begin missing quickly.
>>46453057
I let my players recruit minions, but they always start out at least 3 or 4 levels below the party, and they roll 3d6 for stats. I don't run NPC allies, because I have enough to do, and I'm not going to be in the business of solving the adventure for them.
>>46453092
Don't set up that sort of a situation in the first place. If you must, give control of that NPC to a player, and make it *very* temporary. Maximum of one session. The PCs are the main characters in the story, always. Major NPCs should appear about as often as, say, Littlefinger and Lord Varys show up in Game of Thrones. Khaleesi, the Lannister siblings, and the Stark siblings are the PCs.
>>46453098
>>46453141
Sometimes it happens. They roll well on their check and the difficulty isnt that high because the NPC would actually be interested in whatever they are offering. Usually they stick around for a session or so before the PCs are off to another adventure. But I suppose I should make it less of an option for the NPCs to leave what they are doing at all.
>>46453029
No, we were 9 minutes through the ritual already (so 20 turns left). We didn't even make it to five before the combat was done.
Asking once again - anyone got the /tg/ homebrew for the Alchemy minigame?
>>46445082
Depends on the patron.
When making a deal with a devil, your only intreaction with your patrom may very well be you signing a contract to trade your soul for magical power, and then him showing up to collect when you die. Or alternatively they might require you to perform some tasks in exchange for power (maybe gaining a new level on the class would fluff-wise involve making a progressively bigger contract, starting with performing some minor deed for your patron at 1st level to selling your soul at higher level).
For fey, I'd imagine they'd generally give you power in exchange for serving them, or possibly because they find it amusing. In the former case you'd be expected to perform tasks for them, while in the latter they might take your powers away if you don't keep doing things with them that they find funny.
With GOO, it depends heavily on the exact nature of the patron. Could be that you're simply using rituals to channel the patron's power without them being aware of it, or maybe you must perform blood sacrifce to Shub-Niggurath at every full moon while standing on your head and reading the Necronomicon backwards or you lose your powers. In the worst case scenario you've made a deal with Nyarlathotep and now have to deal with all the worst shit from fiend and fey pacts combined.
>>46453363
Don't forget the old 'found a loophole and bound a Fey/Fiend to leech powers off'
I am making the backstory for my gambling addict warlock and was wanting opinions on the pact backstorywhich is basically a devil went down to Georgia ripoff
>Infermal pact
>Challenged a devil to a game of dice
>If he won the devil had to grant him power
>If he lost the devil got his soul
>The PC won of course
>Told the devil he can try again at any time but he has to have something worth gambling for when he does
>>46453556
>gambling addict
Fluff it that the Devil took the loss in good jest, offering the PC help, eventually promising powers similar to the D'arby brothers (If you aren't a JoJo fan look them up)
But i like it anon
So... It is Unearthed Arcana day. Any predictions?
>>46453586
I started building this character off a saying in my DM's world "never gamble with a halfling"because they will take you for everything you have.. When my last PC got killed by a series of unlucky rolls it prompted me to make this fine fellow.
So right now in planning he is a lightfoot halfling with the lucky featand in one level he will have the dark ones own luckwho sees everything in life as a gamble with different stakes. His personal Motto will be "Luck favors the bold" which is clearly evident in the way he favors high risk high reward situations.
>D'arby Brothers
I will talk to my DM about it. I like the idea of taking souls as casino tokens (or gambling chits) to use in games against my devil patron.
>>46453626
Not a clue. Not more DM's Guild reviews, otherwise we riot.
> tfw want to run a chinese themed setting or at least have a chinese themed continent
> tfw PCs can/only want weaboo japanland
> tfw I can't use characters like Heibai Wuchang to set a test or morality or have the PCs face off against demonic lawyers and judges in the courts of the underworld to save an innocent man's soul
> tfw can't have PCs have one night stands and find out later they fucked animals that were disguised as humans
> tfw I can never have wuxia in my campaign without the weaboo wanting waifus and hates chinese themed stuff, a guy who thinks they're the both same, and a guy who'll just use the knowledge he has from watching and reading Three Kingdoms to try and possibly find Cao Cao and have him become Emps
I mean, I can set it in the Tang dynasty, but then adventurers might be over shadowed by mass artillery, cannons, and rifles.
>>46453626
It will be allshit that no one really wants favoring classes that already have a ton of options
>>46453703
Fuck I wish I could play that game. I love me some wuxia even if I dont know a whole lot about china.
>tfw can't have PCs have one night stands and find out later they fucked animals that were disguised as humans
That could get a little magical realmy there.
>>46453703
Anon, you're making a setting with a strong Chinese influence. You aren't making "mythological China." Paint in broad strokes, changing things up and throwing other inspirations in your setting. Make it your own thing.
Fuck it, I'ma just add in Chinese demon cops who are competing with Japanese oni cops for baddies or the PCs if they act like dick heads enough.
Good or bad idea?
>>46453720
You're right, especially since one guy will just try to turn them into monster girls or furry anthro shit.
Unearthed Arcana when?
>>46453739
Typically I just research random mythos from a country and history, add in some fantasy races and magic equipment or tech and then finally work in provinces and different cultural differences between them. My PCs usually just think I was being original and created it all by myself since the most they do is just copy and paste stuff from other settings or pop culture.
I was once in a campaign where the GM just added in the Fire Nation from The last airbender after adding Nox or whatever from LoL, Republic City from LoK, and an island full of monster girls from the MGE.
>>46453057
One of the first campaigns I DM'd, the nobleborn elf sorcerer ended up taking a Kobold, of all things, as a one of her retainers. She doted on it a lot, giving it better weapons and armor. I mean it helped that it could give the party some information relevant to their quest but they genuinely liked having him around, it seemed.
>>46453057
The worry of DMPCing is overstated. It only really becomes a problem when 2 things happen:
1) The DMPC solves all the party's problems.
2) The DMPC never stops solving all the party's problems.
>>46452825
>got married
>had a child
You fell for the ruse, you don't get to do fun things anymore.
>>46453703
>but then adventurers might be over shadowed by mass artillery, cannons, and rifles
If gunpowder's that common, you'd think the Adventurer's wouldn't be hard-pressed to get in on that.Also would play 11/10 would do best not to be weebshit
Quick question, as a dex-based duelist, is there any reason NOT to use a shield?
>>46452593
The campaign loses some muster, though.
All the old plotlines and rivalries are gone, all the magic items and various loot is gone. You're basically starting a new campaign anyways.
>>46445139
Moon druids are so fucking OP! I'm normally pretty chill about not being the biggest beatstick in the team (Rogue is my prefered class after all). But in our last session the druid turned into a lion and wrecked the BBEG shit so utterly... he couldn't even make a single aggressive action.
>>46454076
If the "BBEG" was beaten by a single CR 1 lion then he wasn't that much of a BBEG
>>46454036
What does "duelist" mean? A character with the Duelist Fighting Style?
>play an oneshot with the pregen cleric from the starter set
>the cleric seems to doubt the actions of gods on mortal terrain, or something
>during a fight, 2 or 3 of my actions done on my gods name fail miserably
>i slip "god doesnt exist" as part of my RP
>after reviewing the Phb and my character sheet, i realize my mistake 2 minutes later
>fuck it, ill RP this to the end
>i get even shittier rolls and RNG than before, the gods are pissed indeed, since the DM doesnt have to do anything to punish me
>2 turns later, in the verge of fainting, i yell my god for aid and cast a healing spell on myself
>the gods decide to give me another chance, and my heal goes through
>right after, a hit that would have killed me if that healing didnt work breaks my bones
>I roll natural 20 on death save>twice
>tfw fictional gods did truly save me and give me another chance, renewing and strengthening my faith
I swear to never doubt gods in this game ever again. Shit, that was intense, but made for amazing story of faith.
>>46454101
You can't "fail" to cast Cure Wounds
>>46454089
Yeah, sorry. A dex-based fighter with the duelist fighting style.
I've been looking around a bit and it seems I haven't been the first to ask this question. I think most people don't imagine a shield when they think of the archetypal duelist, but at the same time the rules heavily encourage using that shield, as otherwise you've just got that empty hand, and there's seemingly no downside to having it.
So I'm basically looking for a way to justify being that archetypal duelist, just a guy with a blade strapped to his side without always lugging a heavy shield around, like a swashbuckling pirate, or a Venetian nobleman, or something like that.
I guess I could just forgo the +2 AC for the sake of flavour, but that seems like gimping myself, so if there's any way to put that free hand to another good use, I'd love to hear it.
>>46454164
You could wield a dagger or a shortsword
>>46454152
You can if your deity thinks you're being a faggot.
>>46454182
The whole point of the duelist style is if you wield a one-handed weapon and no other weapon, you get a damage bonus.
>>46454200
Oh right ok then a shield
>>46454190
Citation needed
>>46454203
Yeah, I guess.
>>46454203
>>46454182
Are you brain damaged or something?
How do you find a group/GM? I'm currently a NEET and have ungodly amounts of time on my hand and I really want a group that plays every day or so, but for some reason that's kinda hard to find.
![d666357945c9da854afb8d1c07c91c5e[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/x7mZtbn.jpg "d666357945c9da854afb8d1c07c91c5e[1].jpg")
>>46454164
Maybe I'll just ask the DM to houserule that I can use my cloak as a shield.
>>46454284
You need friends. Also nobody is going to play every day
>>46454284
Become the GM, you lazy fuck
>>46454284
Use roll20.
>>46454303
I'd be willing to let you try that, but it wouldn't protect against arrows and it'd probably just give a +1 to AC.
>>46454164
tavern brawler is what you want. grappling can only be done by those that have a free hand, and since it uses your bonus action its FREE. Only reason to ever not have a shield in your off hand or use twf or a two handed weapon
>>46454342
I'll check it out.
New UA. It's Gothic Character options.
Fitting, I guess.
