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>Previous Thread
>>47051735
Piracy Edition
Players - have you ever played a pirate?Did he/she find the treasure?
DMs - What are pirates like in your setting? Caribbean buckaneers? Barbary corsairs? Ching Shih's pirate empire?
>>47070574
>How does the inexorable march of progress affect and react to the default level of magic?
Wrong order, really. Magic progresses just like everything else.
I tend to like settings where all the default assumptions of D&D are in place, but *changing*.
- Humans continue to ascend and advance.
- Powerful spellcasters are starting to take control of nations for one reason or another
- Small principalities and city-states are starting to band together into true nation-states
- Dwarves have reclaimed most of their ancient delves by now and are adapting human and gnomish technological advancements. They're entering a golden age.
- Elves have more-or-less finished their withdrawal from the main world into their forest/island kingdoms, but this has resulted in a concentration of magical power and ancient knowledge that basically turns them into superpowers.
- Gnomes are tinkering like crazy and developing new devices like gunpowder and the printing press
- Halflings...are still halflings, actually, wandering vagabonds, basically gypsies.
- Drow society has finally grown beyond Lolth's ability to control it, and is collapsing
- Orcs, goblinoids, and gnolls have been pushed as far as they can go into hinterlands; they have reached a point where they must either civilize or die out.
- Dragons are realizing that as isolated individuals they're strong but vulnerable and are starting to form councils.
- Mind Flayers have learned that their promised afterlife with the Elder Brains is a lie and have gone into a full civil war mode.
- The pantheon has undergone a major shakeup (Time of Troubles style), resulting in a number of new gods ascending, and the demise or depowerment of several established gods (in order to introduce a shake-up similar to the Protestant Reformation).
- A New World has been discovered.
>>47072583
No pirates to speak of in my current setting, just lizardmen brigands.
I'm running a game based on the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, influenced by both Warhammer Fantasy and MGS V.
I took Mordheim's Warp Stones and transplanted them in the Caribbean.
B A T T L E M A S T E R S
Gnome warlock
Elf barbarian
>>47072855
...and? I don't see a problem.
>>47072871
aside from the fact they're unjustifiable shit head that guy characters
>>47072753
Don't forget:
>Martials stay U S E F U L, but still lack V A R I E T Y and U T I L I T Y outside of combat.
>>47072889
How is a gnome warlock unjustifiable? You don't think the foresty pricks don't do solids for the Archfey? Or a tinker gnome wouldn't sell his soul to a Fiend in order to make better machines?
90% of people's problems with gnomes is that they don't bother to think of them as anything other than living in the stereotypical garden or traveling with Travelocity. These people are boring and shouldn't be playing D&D.
>>47072889
>Unjustifiable
Greenhead Flipperhands, wanted to do magic shit, so he made a deal with some fucking fae prince. Now he's a Warlock.
Bear Faggyfeet was raised by wolves instead of elves, and fights with overwhelming force and rage. Zhe's a Barbarian.
Not hard, anon.
>>47072889
>Gnome Fey Warlock
>Wild Elf Barbarian
There's literally nothing wrong with these, anon
Picture basically unrelated, if someone tries to use this as a portrait for the latter concept they're throwing up a different set of red flags.
Anyone have some good wild elf art?
>>47072940
That's...not really what I'm going for when I say "default assumptions". I meant the setting and fluff assumptions, not the mechanical assumptions.
Though personally speaking as a guy playing a Thief Rogue, I have *all* the utility outside of combat.
>>47073003
>>47073003
Closest thing I've got is a drow.
>>47073003
Wild elves can still be magical.
What about a gnome warlock who was bored and just so curious he ended up signing up with a (bemused) low level fiend that just wants more power and notability
Neutral or lawful good .
Anyone have gnome portraits?
>>47073071
>>47073003
Google wardancer.
Done.
>tfw haven't played in 6 months
>tfw no real league play nearby
>tfw no one around me to play with
>tfw no open games on roll20
What the fuck do I do?
>>47073239
Start your own game and invite your friends.
What's a good way to portray a wild, native, tribal, etc character without just going "Ooga booga, I'll scalp our enemies and be confused at what you eat and the weird tools you use in cities"? It's probably easier to assume that they've already experienced the "culture shock" so you don't need to get caught up roleplaying the first time they see a spoon, right?
>>47073297
Laconically.
>>47073154
YOU SEE?
GNOMES SUCK
>>47073297
Like an American tourist abroad, but replace the constant taking of pictures with constant frantic doodling.
>>47073071
>good aligned fiend gnome warlock
Get the fuck out of here
>>47073297
Overuse common idioms in an attempt to fit in, but replace every word with a synonym, especially if this synonym is a rarer or more "advanced" word that you would reasonably expect a fucking savage to not know.
When called on this, say that quitting frigid fowl is dangerous.
>>47073297
With insane amounts of superstition and mistrust.
>>47072583
I haven't done much pirate-related, but the homebrew campaign I'm running is transitioning from land-based exploration to a sea trip. It'll take a few in-character weeks, during which I need to come up with a few encounters for them.
I'm a big fan of a ghost ship encounter (think Grandia), there's a fire-breathing hydra they've fought before that might be out there for them, and I'd like to run an encounter with a kraken (that I don't expect them to beat, they're like level 6 still, just something they have to protect the boat from).
>>47073297
I think you're drastically overestimating the technology disparity between innawoods orcish Native Americans and ye olde medieval village. We're not talking medieval man or a caveman thrust into modern New York. They know what a sled is, they know what horses are, they know what wheels are; seeing a horse-drawn carriage isn't a huge leap for them. The most impressive thing would probably be large stone buildings, and even then, it's just rocks piled up.
>>47073154
Is there more?
how do I make a character in dnd5e number wise
or do I have to wait to have a session and do it there
>>47073901
Chapter 1 of the PHB.
>>47073914
I did
>>47073297
Picture the way a foreign exchange student from Ghana would act
>>47071770
>you can combo shield push with booming blade
The target has to move willingly unfortunately (pic related). Not sure why, just gimps strategic gameplay.
>>47071867
bretty good
pocket monster's wording is pants-on-head though, please revise as it makes absolutely no sense
What's a good flaw for a light domain blasty cleric to have? I thought about alcoholism but that's a little overdone. Then I thought about him being the son of a super famous hardcore paladin who was disappointed he took the "soft life" of priesthood and so always appealed to authority figures (even if they weren't the best intentioned), but that might make it look like I have daddy issues.
What's a good background for a cleric too? Acolyte seems like a no brainer, but it doesn't really necessarily get you anything interesting.
What are some clever uses of low level features?
I'm talking non damaging cantrips such as mage hand, prestidigitation, etc.
Minor Conjuration (and other wizard school level 2 features), etc.
What's the most clever you've seen your players?
>>47073931
What do you want us to do, man, copy and paste the book? It's all written there, the answers you want are right there in the book. Read the thing, do the thing. Or sit down with someone else who isn't a complete fuckwit and have them guide you through it.
>>47074159
A folk hero who is just an out and out racist. Like, not in the shitty, "I kill all the orcs" way, but the kind of slimy, well thought out, self-justifying racist that actually exists in the real world. "I've got nothing against the halflings, I just don't want them using the same taverns as us regular humans."
>>47074344
Help me out here this is hard
>>47074398
Fuck no. Ask your DM or read the book. No one's gonna make your character for you.
What are some good low level spells for a fiendish chain warlock to pick up? I have four spells up to level 2 and can't decide what to pick for emergency utility and fun tricks.
>>47074398
You might be too stupid for DnD
>>47072889
You are That Guy
Milestone or XP?
>>47074594
XP. Fuck that everyone wins milestone bullshit. I also still roll dice instead of just telling my players they won everything.
>>47074613
I record XP and make sure to give additional XP to overcoming non-combat challenges, and level up the party simultaneously, generally right before meal break or at end of session. "Milestones" may grant some chunks of XP, and cause a level up.
>>47074613
So do players get no reward if they don't kill the enemy, or if they talk it out or sneak past them are they fucked outta EXP?
>>47074651
Getting past an enemy without being seen or talking them down is still defeating them. Of course you get xp for that.
>>47074594
I do milestones, but still keep track of xp
>>47072583
So I was looking to homebrew some stuff up, and I realized I wanted to make some archetypes that grant partial Warlock Pact Magic. Like Eldritch Knight, but with a few Invocations and a smattering of scaling spell slots that recharge on short rest.
Just looking for some advice on how to do it. How many slots should it go to? What level slot should it cap at? How many Invocations?
>>47074490
Bumping for advice
>>47074398
It sounds like you might have a legitimate problem with reading comprehension. All seriousness, not trying to shit on you here, you need to learn how to read stuff. Many, many people don't know how. I teach college kids, and you wouldn't believe how many 19 and 20 year olds can't read for shit.
Here's the method I teach, SPQRRS:
Skim: Read the section headings, captions, and words in bold.
Predict: What do you think you will learn from this reading? Write down one sentence. Yes, write it down. Reading is done with pencil and paper.
Questions: What do you want to know? Write down three questions.
Read: Read the thing. Highlight words you don't understand and look them up later.
Respond: Answer your three questions. Write down your answers.
Summarize: Write down a 3-5 sentence summary of what you read.
Okay, now go do that with the first chapter of the PHB. Post your questions, answers, and summary, and I'll help fill in whatever you still don't understand.
>>47074942
no dude I'm smart
>>47074490
Hex is mandatory imo.
Misty step is incredibly useful in a lot of ways.
Suggestion is fun and usefuland hot.
Command too.
>>47074960
If you're not pulling our leg, you'll have to give a bit more detail about what you're having problems with here. When you go through Chapter 1 of the PHB and try to follow its suggestions, what's the hang up?
Did you find the character sheet in the back of the book? Did you make a copy of it? Do you have a pencil? Are you having trouble locating the "race" section of the book? Are you having a conceptual problem with choosing your race? Are you having trouble correlating where the racial stuff goes on the character sheet? Are you having trouble locating the Class section of the book? Are you having a conceptual problems selecting a class? etc.
>>47074490
Find Familiar.
>>47075037
... Really helpful, champ.
>>47074902
Gonna bump this one more time before bed.
>>47074976
Thanks. I was thinking about misty step for some mobility.
Question.
I'm playing a Bardlock (currently Bard 1, Fiend Warlock 1), and I'm not sure if I should only dip 3 levels of Warlock to get pact of the tome, or go to 5 to get the ASI and be able to get the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation.
Personality wise, he's kind of a "intense bookworm, will do anything for more knowledge and secrets" guy.
>>47074902
Hey.
Warlock pact magic caps at 4 slots of 5th level. Granted, they become full casters anyways by virtue of their special features granted by the class (6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells once per long rest).
If you want to make a fighting/warlock type build, I don't know if I'd do pact magic. It's tricky to balance. If we consider the example of wizards versus arcane tricksters, wizards get a little over twice as many spell slots as arcane tricksters (22 to their 10), but most of those extra slots come from spells the arcane trickster doesn't have access to (9 spell slots to 5th level or higher spells). So just taking a stab at it, I think keeping the hybrid pact magic class down by 1 spell slot and 1 spell slot level from the true warlock would be fair. This would mean the hybrid pact magic class would cap at 3 spell slots of 4th level, and would start gaining spells at third level. You'd also want to give them less spells known, so they get maybe 10 total spells.
Invocations, you want to be careful with. First things, you need to figure out if the invocations will be shared with the warlock list. There are some pros and cons to that. Pros are, it makes sense. Cons are: balance wise it's messed up. There are a lot of invocations that function as spell slots, and you probably want to control just how many spell slots this class gets.
If you're going to share the invocation list with the warlock, I recommend giving them less overall invocations: 4-5 instead of 8. If you're going to make your own exclusive invocations for the class, go nuts, because the balance of that is more dependent on how powerful you make the invocations.
>>47075140
Just have it follow the Warlock table for number of slots, slot level, and invocations, with level divided by 3. Literally just like EK and AT are with Wizard.
>>47075309
What?
>>47075269
>>47075309
Wow! This is all extremely helpful. Thank you!
How do you guys deal with literal autists in your groups? As a player I mean, if there is another player who is legitimately pants-on-head autistic (let me stress the point that the individual definitely has clinical autism), how do you deal with it? I'm currently in this situation and the autist is a friend of the DM; I don't understand how this individual is put up with by neurotypical people in real life.
Like he isn't even That Guy because he isn't capable of manipulating the rules well enough to earn that title. He's just "That Moron".
The entire group sort of shits on him so I went with shitting on him in a non-insulting way ("no, you cannot give yourself an additional 15 in all your ability scores" for example) but he gets super butthurt. So I tried being friendly and talking to him in private chat about the game and I get one-word replies as if I'm bothering him (so I stopped).
I guess I should just ignore it?
>>47075842
Tell him he's not invited to the next game. Be honest, be kind, stick to your guns.
"Kevin, I'd like to invite you to the next game, but your behavior when we play makes that impossible. I and the other players can't enjoy the game when you [specific example of bad behavior] or [specific example of bad behavior]. We've had some fun times together, but it's time for us to part ways."
>>47075842
As a player, you have 3 options for dealing with another player who's making the game worse for you. 1) talk to the player, 2) talk to the DM, 3) leave. Number one is probably not going to work, which leaves two and three. Do you care enough to leave? If you tell the DM it's you or the other guy, will he choose you? Will the other players back you in asking the DM to kick him?
Shitting on the kid helps no one. Y'all need to either nut up and kick him from the table or shut up and let him play to the best of his limited abilities. Bullying him is childish, and you should know better.
Does anyone have any business ideas?
My wizard is running an illusion business, or at least trying to start one up. I'm just wondering if there's any more uses for it.
Some ideas I've had.
Create works of art and paintings via illusion, then make them permanent.
Create sort of photofits, to help victims of crime identify criminals.
Therapy, people who are anxious? Illusionary room full of people. Those grieving a loved one? Illusion of them back so they could say their goodbyes.
My only drawback seems that I need to be there to work. Ideally I'm looking to have the business run itself while I get dragged off to murderhobo. What ideas do you have /tg/?
>>47076504
Permanent illusions are usually relatively high level. Whereabouts is your wizard, levelwise?
>>47076540
Only level 5 right now, so my options are kind of limited.
I've built myself to be intelligent for reliable casting of spells and illusions and charismatic for personal shits and giggles.
When on adventures, I pretty much just stunlock all the badguys with all the illusions I can while everyone else cuts them up.
When back in town, I'm looking to set up a business that isn't cowering in a tower, but to reach out to customers and help them out.
>>47076504
It would probably be more useful to think of some kind of trade your character can ply, then use illusions to improve upon that. Psychotherapy isn't exactly a booming business in a medieval economy, and painting requires you to actually be on hand painting stuff a lot of the time.
How about selling imported goods? Then you could hire someone to run it while you're out adventuring, and you give your DM a lot of room to drop plot hooks on you. Illusury scenes could depict the far off, exotic lands that your goods come from, or simply advertise with a little more panache than paint on wood.
>>47076504
>>47076557
Have you tried running a magical theater troupe? Get a couple of spells, some so-so actors, spice up their performances with flashy effects, and you have a medieval version of a popcorn action movie.
>>47072770
>MGS V
>Final encounter of a months long campaign
>Fighter reveals that he is a body double of a foreign legendary solider
>Druid reveals that he was in the wild shape of a much more revered and ancient Druid
>Wizard drops his illusion - he is not the Archmage of the Silver Isles, but his apprentice
>Rogue removes his disguise and drops the bluff; merely a nameless NPC dressed up as a person of renown
>Campaign antagonist is crushed by a burning mast and suffers a coup de grace from the ship's alchemist and chief tinkerer
>The GMPC is revealed to have been in on it all along and disappears for a decade to work with the real heroes in far off lands
What the hell does my lvl 5 greatsword wielding bear totem barb use his bonus action for?
>>47077054
Besides entering rage, maybe you should have made different choices, if that's what you care about.
>>47077064
Well, it just seems like wasted economy every turn I'm not making use of it.
Would you respec Tough for Polearm Master?
![georgepixels[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Ld4dWOA.jpg "georgepixels[1].jpg")
>>47074326
>clever
>players
>>47077072
Yes, but then I'd respec Tough for almost anything. It's a subpar feat.
>>47077072
It's not wasted if you have nothing that uses it. You don't have a bonus action unless a feature gives you one, it's not a slot that needs filling on everything.
>>47077134
The +2 HP per level one? It's amazing, it's Durable that's trash.
>>47077177
Tough is sometimes as good, sometimes worse, than raising your constitution modifier by one. If you never take short rests, never have downtime, never roll Con saves, and never roll Con checks, then I could see Tough being better than +2 Con.
Durable is almost always worse than raising your constitution modifier by one, but can actually raise your constitution modifier by one if you had an odd score.
Durable is at least worth considering if you had an odd con score. Tough is so niche, it should be obvious it's subpar. Compare it to Healer.
>>47077054
Great Weapon Master also allow you to attack with a bonus action if you kill a creature or land a critical with your normal attacks.
>>47077134
>>47077170
>>47077288
What about Shield Master for the bonus action to knock enemies prone?
Is the switch to a one handed weapon too much of a DPS hit?
>>47077271
Durable's effect is trash though, and if you've already got 20 CON then having +40 health by the endgame is excellent, on a Barbarian who needs multiple stats then sure, I can see taking stat increases over it. But if you're just looking to get bulkier and take more damage Tough if great.
>>47077299
If you have polearm master and great weapon master you can do
2d10+1d4+(3×STR)+(3×rage damage)+30 a turn
A crit turns the 2d10 and 1d4 into 4d10, but the real kicker is that 30 damage
>>47077427
I can't take both without losing +2 to STR.
>>47077375
>if you're just looking to get bulkier and take more damage Tough if great.
>if you've already got 20 CON
Right. Niche.
>>47072583
> pirates
All different kinds. Orc/Hobgoblin reavers, rapscallions of all races; not!Halfling aggressive tariff collectors, and an elfish society that lives entirely aboard city-sized barges, scavenging and stealing whatever they cannot trade for.
>>47072992
> Bear Faggyfeet
> Raised by wolves
Is it OK to play an Arcana cleric from Mulhorand?
>>47074123
Booming Blade is great with Warcaster and Command though. Command them to Flee, then when they do you hit 'em with Booming Blade.
My players played a no magic campaign. 2 sessions in and they would rather kill their characters than play as martials anymore. Except the rogue. Wat do?
>>47074594
I do milestones because I can't be fucked tracking a whole bunch of XP values for things. I use XP to plan out encounters and dungeons and so on but if it changes on the fly because of skipped content or I've added more stuff in I don't really take that into account.
>>47074651
Aside from anything else, getting past the enemy is intrinsically worthwhile as long as the enemy has some purpose within the plot. You've avoided your pursuers / gotten through to where they were guarding / whatever.
>>47075073
Misty Step is easily my favourite low level spell.
>>47075140
You only need to go 3 levels for Book of Ancient Secrets, and it's really hard to justify going further than that as a Warlock. Grabbing the ASI is okay, but bear in mind that should you play all the way to level 20 you're going to want 17 levels of Bard to be able to get Wish.
>>47074696
If they do anything political, what then? If they stop a war do they get EXP for everyone in the enemy army?
Milestones are just easier m8.
>>47074594
Milestone. I've got better things to do than parse through the books for some obscure critter's XP and pretend that 50xp at level 7 is ever going to do a damn thing.
>>47077963
Need level 18 to get Wish with a Bard. 17 still gets you True Polymorph which is pretty bullshit anyway.
>>47077850
No, roving bands of WotC assassins will cut your throat in the night.
>>47077892
Let them make characters with magic.
I played a mountain dwarf barbarian, who was an escaped slave that later got a pirate crew going specializing in plundering slaver ships, freeing the slaves and taking the valuables when he eventually ended up in prison (the adventure was a one off prison break game mostly to showcase the combat system to a few people who expressed interest in D&D). Despite his perceived kindness and sympathy towards slaves he was not a nice person, willing to settle any dispute with blood, rather than words. His bad reputation made him one of the more respected inmates in the prison, allowing him to orchestrate a riot to cover his escape.
His name was The Hammer and, you guessed, he carried a huge hammer (maul), although his main tool of the trade for a good deal of the escape was a spear he took off a guard, whose skull he caved in with a table leg.
>>47077963
>bear in mind that if your group is composed entirely of fucking unicorns living in a magical land of dreams even more fantastic than D&D and you play all the way to level 20 from 3, you're going to want ## levels of CLASS for FEATURE
Yeah, and Fighters actually have four attacks.
>>47074594
My DM is using milestone leveling and its prove more fun for the players around them. Especially since a couple guys tend to look for exp everywhere but the DM can control the pace this time around.
>>47078116
Sometimes when my group is burnt out we play a one off with level 20 characters fighting some bigass monster or defending a city from a ravaging horde
>>47078116
It's best to plan for the future, especially when going another level in Warlock sets back your spells even further at low levels regardless.
Warlock is so front-loaded that it's pretty much always not worth going past 3 levels.
>>47078116
I must admit that I didn't take into account the fact that he'd specifically mentioned being level 2 currently.
>>47074594
Depends on the campaign, I know that sounds like a copout but genuinely.
I've been running OOTA lately and XP really gives a sense of gradual growth and accomplishment, going from desperate and alone as prisoners of the Drow to formidable adventurers who've pulled themselves from the dust to face demon lords themselves.
However going into Curse of Strahd, as I want to afterward, I'm doing milestones, giving out levels when significant plot events like discovering Strahd's past, finding the truth about Old Bonegrinder, the ritual at Yester Hill etc. occur. It feels more like a book with chapters denoted by levels rather than a number on a page, a feeling I want to create in with Barovia; a land straight out of gothic fiction.
I'm going to have a single player session with a rogue assassin sneaking through a hobgoblin camp. What are some ways to make it interesting and challenging, and so that a single failed stealth check doesn't fuck everything up?
>>47078180
CoS is also less grindy than other adventures I've noticed. You aren't raiding dungeon # 3452 that's full of goblins and ogres for whatever reason, but uncovering plot-important secrets and facing off against foes that feel like genuine threats. Milestones work way better for CoS than other adventure modules.
>>47078197
Have the player roll 1 or 2 more characters to work in tandem. They're in control of all of them but they can still work as a team and coordinate in case one of them gets into a jam.
>>47078180
pretty shitty demonlords if they're chumped by guys who were slaves stuck in a pit and capable of being one-shot by a rat just a few weeks ago
>>47078027
Why do you need to be level 18? You hit level 17, unlock 9th level spells and then swap one of your Magical Secrets out for Wish.
>>47078233
You can't swap out magical secrets that way.
>>47078260
Mike Mearls says you can.
>>47078197
Don't have a single failed skill check fuck everything up. Do it gradually. Worst case, after failing to sneak, failing to hide, failing to distract, and failing to come up with a good lie or disguise, they have to kill a hobgoblin before it can subdue him or raise an alarm. If he fails all that, then yeah, the mission's fucked.
>>47078223
Well, unmarked spoilers follow, the ending involves getting them all to fight eachother so that the last one standing is weakened.
Plus in my running of it the whole campaign has taken place over the course of two years. Which is enough time for some adventurers, with a little divine favour, to go from zeroes to heroes.
>>47078279
Mike Mearls is a moron and probably a cuck too.
>>47078279
Is anyone surprised that he's wrong?
>Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the bard spells you know and replace it with another spell from the bard spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
>The chosen spells count as bard spells for you and are included in the number in the Spells Known column of the Bard table.
You can trade a magical secrets spell for another bard spell. You cannot change it to a different magical secret.
>>47078279
>Implying
>>47078308
>cuck
>>>/pol/
>>47078322
Don't cuckshame anon it's rude.
So let me get this exactly right, does Improved Divine Smite at Paladin level 11 adds 1d8 to all attacks, and ANOTHER 1d8 if you use your Divine Smite, or just always 1d8?
i.e. if I were to hit with a melee attack and smite with a 1st level slot, would it do
>[attack damage] + 1d8 + 3d8
or
>[attack damage] + 1d8 + 2d8
I realise it's not a big deal, but I just want to be clear so I'm not screwing my players out of any damage.
Hey /5eg/, I need some advice. Awhile back, about 2-3 weeks ago I DM'd my first game, and I got a little mad at my players.
>They would talk over me when I was describing/telling them information
>It would sometimes take 2-3 minutes for two players to be quiet so that I could explain the scenario
>One built a dice tower
>Another forgot important information, because she talked over me and joked it off saying, "So what was so important again lol"
It was still a good game, don't get me wrong. But it was frustrating, I can't lie. So, I'm doing another game in a few weeks, how can I tell them to not do this and to actually pay attention?
I'm sorry if this seems like I'm acting like a bitch, it's just frustrating is all.
>>47078217
I don't think that's really an option in this case... However, there is an NPC who would fit very well there and could be a lot of help, so that works.
And does anyone have suggestions of how to make it interesting and tense? Some good stealth background music?
>>47078576
You've already tried talking to them, so...
>A sniper shoots their character whenever they act out.
>+8 to hit, 6d6 dmg.
It starts out as an 8th level rogue, and advances ahead of them at roughly the same gap. Can even later turn into an antagonist they actively pursue and fight.
>>47078576
Were they having fun though?
>>47078665
Yes, I asked them about it after the game (I was curious about how I went being a DM) and they said it was fun, only one of them had a complaint and it was because of the name of the Deus Ex Machina (Which I agreed with, it was a stupid name)
>>47078621
If this continues, I'll try using that. I don't want to end up as a absolute dick of a DM though.
>>47077855
I wouldn't imagine that that's of their own will though. I would just rule the spell without the "moves willingly" part if I were a DM. Literally just makes the spell more boring and discourages creative gameplay.
Also, funny story about Command:
>fighting orcs
>"Alright anon, the leader points to you and he says "Obey." Make a wisdom saving throw."
>Fail
>"Now he says attack your allies. You have to do it."
Worst DM ever. That straight up is not how the spell works. (I was new at the time and just took his word for it)
>>47078692
If they were having fun you should just relax and try to match their pace, that's really all that matters. If you try too hard to control the players, by for example shooting arrows in their characters because they aren't listening, they won't like it. That's my experience anyway.
>>47078384
It's the second one. It only adds 1D8 period.
So I'm about to have my first P&P roleplay session and I've already read the player handbook and basic rule book and my character sheet is ready
The problem is that I'm really nervous that I will spill the beans because I have 0 experience in roleplaying
Is there some sort of guide for roleplaying as ranger or roleplaying in general? Is there anything I should avoid or do to prevent being that guy who ruins the game?
Thanks for your help!
>>47078703
My players keep trying to lawyer this abuse of the spell
They use words like "servant" "lackey" and "dominate" and I'm running out of ideas to twist them into not being fucking dominate person
>>47078805
In my experience people are generally quite forgiving towards inexperienced players, as long as they are open about being inexperienced. Also, "that guy" is usually not playing his first game. Just be humble.
>>47078703
>You speak a one-word command to a creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or follow the command on its next turn. The spell has no effect if the target is undead, if it doesn’t understand your language, or if your command is directly harmful to it. Some typical commands and their effects follow. You might issue a command other than one described here. If you do so, the DM determines how the target behaves. If the target can’t follow your command, the spell ends.
>one word command
>if you use a word other than the options here, DM determines how it works
>DM determines
That is straight up how the spell works anon. The orc leader tells you to obey, then the DM says you have to do what he says on your next turn. He tells you to attack your allies. There's nothing to complain about your DM's interpretation of the rules.
Generally though, DMs should use spells or features to tell players how to play their characters. That's a nono (generally).
As a DM, I would have have ruled you do obey. Any orders given, from anyone, to the best of your ability, though I wouldn't have told anyone that they could also give you orders. It's more satisfying for players if they can figure it out.
Now you also have precedent in case you want to use Command in the same way.
>>47078907
should=shouldn't.
Let's say I wanted to introduce shapeshifting enemies whose ability to shapeshift can be dampened by the presence of magic. How could I stat this ability exactly, so that they don't become vehicles for the party casters to outshine the party martials?
I was considering making the exact ability "this monster returns to and cannot shift out of its base form while under the effect of a concentration spell." This would make it so the casters have to give up some of their versatility to take advantage of this weakness, and creates amusing situations like casting Haste on an enemy to take away their natural weapons.
"The ex-beast desperately hammers his fists against your armor. Two damage for each of two hits."
"Can I demoralize him by telling him it tickles?"
>>47078805
Decide on what your character's objective for the scene is, then decide on what sort of tactics they would use to achieve them. A good objective is founded in what the character wants from someone else right now, so rather than "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was" (shitty objective), try "I want to prove to Dave that I'm capable of leading this group".
Now that you've decided that you want to prove to Dave that you can lead, think about how your character would go about that. Would he try to do something really courageous? Would he demonstrate leadership by kindly guiding one of the other party members? Would he insult Dave and push him down a peg, solidifying his status as top dog? This is your character's 'tactic'.
This is called the Stanislavski Method, or "Method Acting", and it's the most widely taught and widely used acting system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEGXrDSXo8
Can a player charm another character if said character fails their saving throw? And can they do it out of combat scenarios?
>>47078964
Yes, there are a lot of spells for doing so.
>>47078929
>I want to make an adversary that can only be stopped by MAGIC
>how do I prevent people with MAGIC from outshinting people without MAGIC, when the ONLY WAY to stop the adversary is with MAGIC
First off, that's stupid.
Second off, you'd have better luck in a game not put out by wizards. Class balance is already pretty uneven in favor of magic users. Exacerbating that flaw in the game with an adversary that your non magic users suck against, and your magic users have the only solution against is not going to work the way you think it will.
You'd have better luck giving the martials an advantage against the shapeshifters, such as silvered or cold iron weapons preventing the shifting.
>>47078576
Thats honestly how most of my games tend to go. I think it comes with the territory really. Unless youre expecting the atmosphere to be really serious goofing off and players occupying their time when they arent on stage are par for the course. Like other anons said its all about having fun, I like to think of the title as "fun facilitator" rather than dungeon master.
That being said it can really grate your nerves when you come up with something really epic or badass but its delivery fails to be as epic as you planned it because your group is goofing off. Honestly I think my groups problem is that were all close friends and are only time we have to get together is dnd time so we end up catching up and shooting the shit about our lives while were gaming which often distracts from the game. Like I said though its all about having fun with the gang
>>47078979
Jesus, who pissed in your wheaties?
>>47078929
I think that's a fairly interesting encounter. Be sure to drop a fair number of clues beforehand, otherwise the prep work will be worthless and they won't have any idea what to do. When they know the trick, they feel clever, but if they stumble on it and don't understand it—very possible in this case—they'll feel like the encounter was really unfair.
I don't think you need to worry that this specific encounter unfairly favors casters. Just make sure to balance that out with other encounters in the same adventure that give other players a chance to shine.
>>47078929
What's wrong with your PC casters outshining the fighters against that particular enemy? It's like nerfing darkness in a cave because not all characters have darkvision. I personally rarely mind being less useful than other characters in certain scenarios, it just encourages teamwork and makes things interesting.
>>47078576
Learn to project your voice. I never have this problem, even though I have a table full of Chatty Cathys, because I can bellow over the top of them any time I need to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGkt7DXCqyY
>>47078964
Yeah, but up to DM whether or not this works for obvious reasons.
>>47079027
>Honestly I think my groups problem is that were all close friends and are only time we have to get together is dnd time so we end up catching up and shooting the shit about our lives while were gaming which often distracts from the game.
Same here, but we do the catchup as a dedicated "warmup" for about 20 minutes or so at the start of a session, as well as shoot the shit after the session.
A Level 20 Human Wizard casts True Polymorph onto himself to become an Elf. Is he still a Level 20 Wizard, or does he lose class levels?
>>47079113
>>47078964
Also to clarify, it's basically like asking "can my greataxe cleave a player cleric in two, thereby making him reroll a striker?"
Why yes billy it can, but you look like a douchebag for doing so. And the DM might not allow it on principal.
>>47079123
Technically, the wizard gains all the game stats of the elf. You are the elf. You have its personality, goals, class levels, etc.
Was listening to "Devil went down to Georgia" and thought that'd be a good inspiration for a Bard/Warlock multiclass (plus I saw a guy earlier on this thread saying he was multiclassing as one so that seems like a common one?)
I've never multiclassed, so should I immediately get the 3 levels of warlock I want after getting Bard 1 (I feel like starting out with Bard 1 makes most sense for my character), or should I only dip in at certain levels? I'm planning on going chain fiendlock for a nice imp scout groupie.
>>47079387
>nice imp scout groupie.
Can youfuckyour familiars in D&D?
>>47079387
It could be nice to start with bard if you want to roleplay the contract with your patron
Need to assemble a small rival party of level 4-5 players, anyone got some character pfd sheets I cancopybe inspired by?
>>47079420Ask ur dm
>>47079445
Yeah I was planning on it and we're starting at level 3 so the contract will be more in the intro than anything, but is it wise to do Bard 1/Warlock 3 at level 4 or should I only get warlock levels at certain times?
>>47079459
www(.)tabletopping.net/dd-5e-pre-made-characters(.)html
Has premades for every class and subclass type. They're not perfect but should get you a jump start on making your own.
>Underdark campaign
Will a bat familiar and dancing lights make up for no darkvision?
>>47079531
Yes.
>>47079301
Well, the personality and goals are that of the original Wizard, the spell explicitly doesn't change personality in this case. But what class levels does an Elf have? Do I get to choose a class, or am I just a Commoner?
>>47079579
>The new form can be any kind you choose whose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target's (or level, if the target doesn't have a challenge rating). The target's game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the new form. It retains its alignment and personality.
Anything beyond that is up to your DM. I personally would rule that you remain a level 17+ wizard, but have the ability scores and hit points of whatever creature you turn into, along with any special abilities it might have. I wouldn't let the spell grant legendary actions, but I might let it provide lair actions. But again, this is up to your table's interpretation.
>>47079579
>>47079746
It's rather silly that you retain your personality despite your complete mental makeup changing.
Like hey, I'm no longer as charismatic, as wise, or as intelligent as I once was, but I still have the same personality.
>>47077087
>DMs
>Letting their players be clever
>>47080032
Presumably the developers meant personality traits that aren't governed by those three stats. The wizard would still love highland whiskeys, prefer bright colors, dislike Belgians, anger easily, love his pet chinchilla, etc.
>Be DM
>Spend a lot of time trying to make balanced, yet challenging encounters
>Player does a couple terrible rolls
>Tilts the encounter in favor of the enemies a little bit
>Player tries fighting you about an action or ability the enemy has, calling it bullshit
>It's actually from the monster manual
>Tell him to chill out and let combat ensue
>He keeps fighting you over it
>Give him a warning
>"I still think it's BS! But whatever!" then he stops talking and lets us continue
>His character wasn't even downed
>Combat ends the next round
Why are PCs the worst? How can I deal with this person's passive aggressiveness other than asking then asking them to leave? He's a friend.
Some background. He's never DMed. No one has even gotten close to death so far. I basically got him to be quiet when I gave him a stern look and just told him "stop arguing, this is your warning."
Seemed to work okay. Whats your MO to deal with players who act out during play?
A half orc Bearbarian multiclassing in druid, how's that sound in terms of being viable? I don't wanna be minmaxed but yeah it sounds fun to me.
>>47080258
Sounds more like he just doesn't like you Anon.
Also try not to talk to your friends like children.
>>47079473
If I begin at level 3 and plan to multiclass, I usually begin at 2 main class/1 secondary.
And because warlocks are such good RP material, if you think the campaign will last a while, you might be interested to drag out the powers you receive from your patron if it makes sense.
>>47080277
It's difficult when he was acting like a child. And it wasn't the first thing I said to him either. The other PCs were on my side as well, they wanted combat to continue.
Outside of the game we're completely cool, I can promise. It was just in the game. He's done it a couple times. First time I let it go but without any sort of punishment or real warning, which is why I think he was bolder in fighting me this time.
>>47080262
MAD as hell unless you put on armor
But fun I guess? You only really need 2 levels of druid
>>47080299
Yeah, maybe I can have my DM roleplay a fiend who wants to get into singing competitions or something. I actually like writing little limericks and stuff so maybe I can prepare ones in advance too haha.
>>47080258
In my experience as DM, it has worked out better to make the players feel like their character kick serious ass as long as they aren't throwing caution to the wind, rather than to challenge them when it comes to combat. Perhaps some players enjoy a good combat mechanics challenge, but as I see it most just want to feel like their character is awesome.
As for the specific issue you had, it's hard to specifically give tips since I don't know about the enemy, the power or what class he was playing. But generally I encourage my players to be creative in combat to give them an edge, and allow them to even if it might not fit the rules exactly. So if he speaks out against a bullshit ability that he regards as unfun, try to compromise in some way to improve his playing experience.
>>47080385
>but as I see it most just want to feel like their character is awesome
Which is the thing, these players only feel awesome when they overcome challenging enemies. It's hard to let a player feel awesome though when they start rolling 2s and 4s. After the game was over I gave him some meta knowledge about the ability that pissed him off, and it seemed to console him. But my problem is more in the middle of combat, when people are wanting to continue and another player is being unruly.
>encourage my players to be creative in combat
I do this as well. Which, during a different session, same player wanted to use an improvised weapon and I gave him bonuses to hit that were better than the odds of an improvised weapon. But he rolled so low it didn't work and he got upset then too. Flipped through the rules to make sure I wasn't cheating him. He calmed down after he saw I actually gave him advantage there.
Bottom line is a basically hate when players stop combat and frustrate the other players as well as me. Wondering how to keep things moving and without acting like an asshole in return, remind them to respect my rulings without making a show of it.
>>47080258
Here's a tactic I've found that shuts down argument quickly:
"I'm on your side here, I want you to enjoy the game. What specific thing can I do to help you enjoy the game more?"
Don't fight with players over anything, don't tell them to chill out, don't give warnings. Just calmly offer to help them enjoy the game more. Pushing back against them enables their tantrum. Just offer to give them exactly what they want. You don't have to "win" the interaction, you just need that guy to shut the fuck up. If you fold completely, immediately, they end up sputtering out a couple more pouts before setting it aside. All they really want is to pout and have other people hear them. Give them that, then go back to the game.
They think they're in conflict with you, and by arguing back with them, you're accepting their frame for the conversation. Reject that frame. You're a servant to the players' fun, you want everyone to enjoy themselves. Yelling at whining is meaningless, because no one is in opposition to them.
>>47080516
>"I'm on your side here, I want you to enjoy the game. What specific thing can I do to help you enjoy the game more?"
That's a good line. What I've mentioned to them at other times, though not during this instance, is that their fun is my fun, so that's my priority. And that I'm not trying to pull bullshit just to kill them and wank over their imaginary corpses.
>other points
fair and reasonable, thanks, anon.
Please give me cool female half elf names for a sorcerer.
I want her to sound badass/frightening more than cute.
>>47080612
Just add -iel at the end of a name.
>Sariel
>Luciel
>Aniel
>>47080258
Use your social skills. It's that simple. This is not a DnD issue it's a social one.
Just fucking talk to him.
Honestly, you're complaining about nothing. He was talking to you directly so he wasn't actually being passive aggressive, and he stopped after a single warning. And now you're considering asking him to leave the group. Over that. And you ask us "why PCs are the worst?" You need to get some perspective.
>>47080643
What about for males?
>>47080612
Kittentits Fartdemon
>>47080657
you know, joeliel, raphaeliel, the list goes on
>>47080663
Lost it at fartdemon XD
Do you guys think an all cleric party would be viable?
It seems as if you can fill all of the different roles with the Cleric domains with minimal homebrew
Tank/Heal , life cleric
Support, any cleric
Blaster, light cleric
Melee, Nature Cleric with Shilelagh
Party face, love cleric (homebrew)
BBEG, Death cleric
>>47080657
-ziel
Raziel
Lanziel
Laziel
Just pick your favorite consonant and vowel to go first.
>>47080657
>male
>elf
>>47080612
Frightening?
Hillariel Clintonadal
>>47080702
sweedish
>>47080655
>why PCs are the worst?
That was a bit of a joke. An overstatement.
Back up with some of your assumptions. The story was abridged. I got some good advice, yours was not part of it. Thanks for trying, though.
>>47080703
good one
Does anyone have some good ideas to make an interesting single player stealth session in a hobgoblin camp?
I'm this anon: >>47078599
I'm currently running OotA and I love it. Hell of an adventure.
I'm saving CoS for when I got back to my home group. Has anyone played enough of it to know where it stacks up against the other published adventures?
>>47081333
>OotA
Do you start this one with PCs at level 1?
And if so, do you think it's possible to begin them comfortably at a higher level?
Thinking I'm about to run out of time soon and don't have much time to prepare for my homebrew campaign, thinking of asking my players if they're cool playing a published adventure with new characters for a while.
>>47081488
Yeah, having them at lvl 1 is mandatory to the feel of the adventure.
Also, don't break them out of jail immediately. OotA lives on its NPCs so give them a few hours of doing menial tasks, finding shanks or stealing rope, and developing relationships with the NPCS. Then when they break out, you can kill NPCs to set the tone. Let some of their friends survive, kill others. Even throughout the adventure, there are so many NPCs its imperative you let the players explore their characters relationships with them.
Also maybe let them pick their favorite ones, withc a few exceptions (like buppido + shuusar + stool) and run them at their own initiative order. When you get like 12 npcs, saves a bunch of time and bookkeeping.
>>47081571
Thanks for the info.
I'll let them know that they'll want to be level 1 to really enjoy it.
>>47081571
Oh, and just in case someone dies, what seems to be the method of letting someone reroll a new character?
What are some good spells for a low level chainlock to pick up? I feel like I should avoid damaging moves since I already have hex and eldritch blast and that I don't need any spells for scouting or sneaking since I have my imp familiar. What would you reccomend?
>>47081664
Patron?
>>47074942
You're cool, anon. Thanks for the strategy. I had a friend who evidently had some sort of learning disability, but had way too low self esteem to talk about it. I would've liked to give him a hand (I think he would've died a little if I'd sent him to an educational psychologist).
>>47081676
Fiend. I know that it has some pretty solid fire spells, but they seem a little reduntant compared to EB.
>>47081628
As much as I hate the "You're in jail, you lose all your shit" trope, it fits well here. Also, be sure to give them the gear they'll need to survive, but not necessarily the gear they want. I have a half orc fighter in mine who wanted a greataxe but he instead has a bar he broke off of his cell with a sizeable chunk of sandstone stuck to it functioning as a 2d6 maul. He's super attached to the weapon now. Also, when the party hit level 3 and got all of their cool class abilities they were so stoked. They went from running from everything to being able to fight. It was a great dnd moment.
>>47081640
They could be a renegade Drow, there are rules for Duergar and Snirfveblin. There are also probably other prisoners roaming the underdark. Slaves that escape, or can be bought from wandering merchants. If they are particulary in love with an NPC let them take over, provided you trust them with the character. Whatever fits.
Give me your best name for a white dragon.
Need to roleplay one soon and if he reveals his name I don't want it to be complete shit.
>>47081709
Thanks, famalam.
>>47081699
Command, suggestion, misty step, hex
>>47081640
My group had a guy that got Barbarian and chased somepPanther having dual-wielding Ranger drow with the intent to kill his ass. When he sobered up, he was lost in the Underdark.
>>47081664
Misty Step is great, tons of utility in and out of combat. Might want to discuss with your DM how it works with momentum, especially when falling.
Hold Person can straight up negate any encounter with a single more powerful humanoid. Some boss guy with a couple mooks? He fails his save and the Paladin melts him with a Smite spell and dumps his Divine Smites into a bunch of crits.
Hey guise,
I'm thinking on making a lockdown-oriented character. A magic-oriented tiefling. I'm not familiar with 5e (I'm mostly experienced in 2e). Any suggestions?
>>47081727
It's not that hard to come up with names. If you want it to be memorable for the players though, use something short(1-3 syllables) and not too strange. I've noticed that if you get too weird the players will just mumble the name and care about the character less because of it.
>>47081727
Why would a white dragon reveal his name to humans? They are CE, not too bright and merciless. Also, in my campaigns draconic is nearly impossible to speak unless you are a dragonborn because you lack the necessary body parts. Even with dragonborn, the language has shifted away from the mother tongue.
Surely he would have a nickname he preferred?
Unless that's what you meant. In which case make it terrifying and awe-inspiring. And something an edgelord would like.
Deathwing (if you guys don't play WoW)
Insatiable
The Frozen King
Chillmaw
Atrocious
The White Fang of the North
If you want some names
Girugar (girra-gar)
Rokka
Neyax
I put my bid in for Insatiable.
Could you imagine staring down a massive white scaled beast, His breath freezing the hair on your arms, pulling goosebumps out of your skin to the point of a tingle of pain.
"What should I call you?" You ask the beast with piercing blue eyes.
"Call me as I am. Insatiable."
>>47081897
>Surely he would have a nickname he preferred?
Basically meant to say, if his name is revealed, not if he reveals his name.
If that scenario plays out, and a player asks him directly. I might use Insatiable. Just for you.I like it.
>>47081897
>"What should I call you?" You ask the beast with piercing blue eyes.
>"Call me as I am. Insatiable."
Sounds hot.
>>47082087
>Sounds hot
You reply just as your vision goes white, then in an instant goes black, as your organs fail and you are frozen solid.Dead.
Curse Of Strahd DM questions:How are the characters supposed to deal with Doru, the priest's vampire son?
And what the hell are Ismark and Ireena's roles supposed to be after they get to Vallaki?
I do enjoy sandboxes, but this adventure could really use some more guidelines.
Could a cannibal use Purify Food and Drink to heal a person that's been poisoned?
>>47081826
Define lockdown
If you want magical battlefield control it's wizard, GOOlock, lore bard, maybe trickery or arcana cleric?
>>47082443
I'd rule that it makes the person safe to eat but does not alleviate the person's poisoning symptoms.
>>47075842
>So I tried being friendly and talking to him in private chat about the game and I get one-word replies as if I'm bothering him (so I stopped).
You might want to ask him right out if you're bothering him rather than assuming, because maybe you aren't and that's just how he communicates. Autistic people can be very monosyllabic.
>>47082443
Hilarious
No
>>47081826
5e has a wide range of what MMO playersand 4e playerscall "mez" spells - spells that take an enemy out of the fight, but only as long as nobody harms that enemy. They include Sleep and Tasha's Hideous Laughter at first level and proceed all the way through to Levitate, Hold Person, Polymorph, and Otiluke's Resilient Sphere. Be a wizard if you want the greatest number of spells like this, and choose the wizard school of enchantment if you want to make it your main thing. Tieflings make pretty good wizards, so that's fine.
>>47082031
Like I said, in my campaigns draconic is readable and writable but not really speakable for most humanoids. You can translate spoken draconic if you are very smart and have spent enough time listening to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6HBHWzxL0Y
that's the type of sounds reptiles make, and if they were intelligent enough to orchestrate those kinds of sounds into words you'd never be able to emulate it with our vocal chords. Also probably very long since Dragons are long lived and pretentious.
So real dragon names would definitely be not interesting from a player's standpoint. Stuff like Grk'xuukahat'lguu'a'tkhaa. Dragons definitely would just take a name that humans could understand. Like Insatiable, Incendius, Wrath.
>>47082443
kek
IF I were the DM and IF the character was an established cannibal. I would allow that. That would be funny as shit.
>>47082270
Yeah yeah, badass dragon freezes my character and all that, that sort of naming convention still sounds like something out of a furry fantasy.
The dragons in my setting have names like "The Inervated Seas", "Unfathomable Silence", "The Vastness of the Firmament", and more incoherent stuff. But they are less dragons and more titans, so strange names are kind of appropiate.
With how much money do I reward my players with? I fail to comprehend the economy typically presented in a setting. I found: http://5edndwiki.wikidot.com/dm-rewards
But not sure how well that works.
>>47082464
Ideally: being an asshole with my rivals, interrupt and make them actions increasingly harder. Also, being hard to touch. The D&D adaptation of a counterspell-blue-deck magic player.
>>47082618
Money doesn't do shit in 5e because you can't buy magical items. So if you want money to be meaningful you have to put some work into your economy. You could have NPCs that are friends of the PC's with investment opportunities, or struggling businesses. You could give PC's the chance to donate to war efforts, improving academies they graduated from or what have you.
given that, giving them money is only as exciting or necessary as you make it.
>>47080503
Yeah, he is being a roleplayer in combat and while I can't deny its frustrating if your character rolling poorly but it's fiction, remind his ass that it's a game and to not take it so seriously.
>>47082618
DMG page 133.
Where's this month's unearthed arcana?
>>47082651
Well, I want money to be useful. Problem is, I don't want them to get TOO rich too quickly, I want some reasonable steps with that.
>>47082655
It's all tables, doesn't help me one bit.
>>47082618
If you want them to be able to build or buy a home base and keep it maintained and staffed, they need something on the order of tens of thousands of gp. If they're happy to remain murderhobos, rewards can stay on the order of hundreds of gp for their entire adventuring career without hindering them.
>>47082596
Also, they don't do "names". Dragons are earthquakes and thunderstorms and collapsing glaciars unto themselves, the hunger of the secret flame in the world's heart. Names are for little things, and they are vast and unfathomable.
>>47082620
That's a wizard for sure
Just pick any school except for evocation and necromancy and you'll be fine
>>47082651
Jesus Christ, anon, fiat in buyable magic items.
>>47082669
Not out yet.
>>47082694
The main financial hurdles at low levels are getting the armored guys plate armor (1500 gp each) or half-plate (750 gp each). Getting material components for spells like Revivify or Raise Dead is another concern, but a less challenging one (500-1000 gp.) Once the party can buy those things, it's really only a question of whether or not they want to spend 10,000 gp or so on a ship or a nice guildhouse.
>>47082669
>>47082776
Isn't it supposed to come out the first monday of every month?
What's the best way to deal with a player that uses shield a lot? Maybe "deal with" is a poor choice of words, but I hope you catch my meaning.
So far I have just started throwing things at him that require a dex save, and not always just trying to hit him with weapons and standard attacks. I think at some point he'll come into contact with another mage that will counterspell his shield at some point.
I'm not trying to gimp this player, I just want things to be more interesting for him so he doesn't get bored. They just popped up to level 5, so now I can throw more interesting things at them at least. He's an EK, so his regular AC is already decently high.
>>47082552
>Hold Person
>mez spell
Hold Person is the opposite of that; it greatly increases incoming damage against the target (advantage + melee attacks are crits = burn your action surge / divine smite / maneuver dice to kill this guy in one round) and since they get to save every turn it's not very effective at long term CC. It's a fantastic spell though since it can often effectively be a save or die, especially if you have melees who can do effective burst damage.
>>47082801
Do what I do and houserule the way defensive reactions like Shield and Cutting Words work. Keep track of what every player's AC is, and instead of announcing the total of each attack roll against a PC, simply tell the player whether the attack hits or misses. This is the point where the players have to decide whether to take any defensive reactions that might turn a hit into a miss. They are making this decision based on incomplete information, because in the heat of battle they don't know exactly whether their abilities will make enough of a difference. Maybe the incoming attack roll exceeds the defenders AC by 5 or more, or maybe it doesn't. This means that players will waste their abilities now and then.
>>47080751
Hey I just ran with what you told us, and what you told us made you sound like a whiny cunt who 's too autistic to deal with even the tiniest amount of social friction. The fact you even had to ask /tg/ for advice is kind of a red flag.
And my advise was good, I just don't like to spoon-feed and mollycoddle. If you have problems taking advice that isn't in the most hugboxy language possible, well, that's your problem. You should try harder to overcome it.
>>47082848
Don't they get a new save every time they take damage, though? You can get maybe one or two good hits in. It's not a save-or-die, especially if it's part of a balanced dungeon where you have to ration your smites and action surges.
>>47082801
Is he enjoying being able to use Shield frequently to deny attacks?
>>47082801
A fifth level EK has three level one spell slots per day, and should (according to the "The Adventuring Day" table in the DMG) be doing about 7 Medium encounters / 5 Hard encounters / 3 Deadly encounters. So, the answer is to give them the recommended number of encounters per day rather than just one fight per long rest.
>>47082906
He seems to do it kind of out of obligation. Like, "why wouldn't I?"
A few times he seems excited to use it. But that was more the first few times. Like I said, it seems like he doesn't like it so much.
>>47082883
yeah, I would like to do this, but my players like it when I ask "does ___ hit?" so they feel more involved. I'm not sure why. But that's how they feel about it. Maybe I will ask the EK if he'd rather me just tell him whether the roll hits him or not, and ask the other players like they want.
>>47082801
>5th level EK
>Party tank
>4 Shields a rest maximum if they took Magic Initiate feat
>Nothing you can do
Christ, anon. Some suggestions:
>No reactions when surprised. Jump his ass with rogues.
>repeated Magic Missile to melt his spell slots
>Enemies ignore him once they realize they can't hit
>Attack squishies instead
>Keep him from using verbals or somatics
>Mental Saves
>Use mez spells anons are talking about above
>Glass cannon monsters with great hit bonuses and shit defense
>Hordes of weak enemies to physically bog him down
>Rust Monster
>>47082948
It really recommends 7/5/3? Shit son. TPK would happen so quick.
My players can barely handle 2 medium, 1 hard. They're kind of shit, I admit.
>>47083016
Well, I guess the idea is to harden them in a way, no? Fail until you learn and all that.
>>47083010
Some extra info, he isn't the party tank exactly.
We've got 2 other martials rocking similar AC. But they can't cast shield. Only 1 squishy.
There isn't "nothing I can do." I just want to keep it varied an interesting. Some of your suggestions I can take and run with though
>>47082904
>Don't they get a new save every time they take damage, though?
Where does it say that? It's not in the spell description.
"The target is paralysed and gets to save each turn to break out" is completely opposite in function to how "mez spells" are described there. It encourages you to burst that one target down (since you deal ~double damage to it) and isn't effective for a long time.
>It's not a save-or-die, especially if it's part of a balanced dungeon where you have to ration your smites and action surges.
Perhaps I overstated with "can often be" based off of my own experiences? It's certainly not going to mean the target dies every time but it can be very effective at allowing you to kill one guy very quickly, and isn't effective at removing someone from the fight whilst you focus on other targets.
>>47083016
XP thresholds for 5th level characters are 250/500/750/1100 for easy/medium/hard/deadly, and it recommends 3500xp/long rest for 5th level characters. So that's 7 medium or 5 hard or 3 deadly; 2 medium and 1 hard is half of their adventuring day budget there. If you're doing half as many fights as you "should" be then, yeah, something like Shield is going to seem more powerful.
>>47083049
>Well, I guess the idea is to harden them in a way, no? Fail until you learn and all that.
I guess. Basically all I've done so far is just keep them from trying to take too many short rests. The warlock in the group is going to get them all killed I swear.
>>47082989
His mindset is something you can use to your advantage. Like how new MTG players tend to overvalue their own life totals, this guy overvalues his HP. He will use Shield at every opportunity because he doesn't want to get hit even once and doesn't save spell slots for the future. So have relatively insignificant enemies attack him in the beginning of a dungeon to burn out all his spell slots. Also remember that he only gets one reaction per round, so once he casts Shield once he can't do it again (or make opportunity attacks) until his turn comes around again. This also can be exploited.
>>47083084
Make random encounters. Let the dice fall where they may. They'll quickly learn that trying to rest so often just exposes them to attacks. Or they'll die. Such is life.
How do you deal with murder hobos without killing the fucker?
>>47083094
Could you share his other known spells? I assume he took GFB and Booming Blade for his cantrips.
>>47083094
>Also remember that he only gets one reaction per round, so once he casts Shield once he can't do it again (or make opportunity attacks) until his turn comes around again. This also can be exploited.
Right he can't cast it again, but the +5 AC lasts until the start of his next turn if I remember right.
>his reaction is burned up and he overvalues his HP pool.
That is true.
>>47083120
Yeah, that's what I've done so far.
That warlock man.
>we start to take a short rest
The warlock immediately starts trying to roll hit dice before I say they can, and starts regaining spell slots.
>Not so fast, nigger.
>>47083150
Drop them into an inescapable underground jail.
When they kill another prisioner and loot the body tell them they had nothing of value.
Alternatively, have them captured and put magical explosive collars and sent to do a mission by the king.
>>47083164
I don't have them on me at the moment. I do know he's got a few others that he barely ever uses, but I expect him to use when he hits level 7 (when he can do so on a bonus action).
>>47083175
If his AC is boosted from a previous Shield spell and there's an ogre or something in his face that really wants him dead, you could always have the ogre grab him. Shield doesn't do shit about that. Or the ogre could just walk to a different target, since he no longer has a reaction to spare.
>>47082748
what pretentious bullshit. Stop pretending your game of pretend is any better than someone else's.
