>>47312585
>What's your favorite kind of bard, /5eg/?
Swashbuckler rogues, to be honest.

>>47312585
A Skald, The Allfather made me a Warrior First, and a Poet Second.

>>47312585
The kind that doesn't always flirt with every wench in a 50 mile radius to fulfill their non-existent sex life.

>>47309933
When did everyone start treating "knave" like "loveable scamp who does vaguely rogueish things"? When you're talking about the rogue kind of knave, it's always negative. They're hideous liars, can't be trusted as far as you can throw them even when they're not lying, and have pretty much no qualms about fucking anyone over for their own gain. The very idea of an oath is against all of that (especially one that involves "honor among thieves"--you have no honor as a knave!), since they thrive on breaking them.

just find a better word

>>47312585
>What's your favorite kind of bard, /5eg/?
Valor, because I like to get up close and personal and like swordfights and cool melee combat stuff but also like to chat and be friendly with folks.
>What are some good tips you experienced bards have for up and coming minstrels?
Either pick a cheap instrument, pick one that won't break easily (wooden ones are right out), or learn to sing.
Or at least whistle.
>Which is your favorite bardic college?
New Olamn if you can afford it.
Songsabers 4 lyfe!

>>47312585
Remember, as Bard, you are better than Ranger at being Ranger and are much more Paladiny than a Paladin.
Choose wisely which spell list to steal from and which classes to render obsolete.

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>he doesn't play a NE Necromancer/Bard

I pity you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrCFkYZcWzg

>>47313191
I would never allow a bard to pick a unique Ranger or Paladin spell. It's pretty stupid because their high level spells are intended for the endgame, and it's bullshit that a bard can pilfer them at level 10.

Aside from that I'm a fan of bards, though. Pretty much the best support class in the game.

>>47313204
That sounds like a terrible multiclass choice. Do what I did and make a warlock with an entertainer background.

>>47313259
I'm glad you're not my DM then because that's a stupid rule.

>>47313294
>Spells that are supposed to only be attained at 17th level
>Taken at 10th level by a bard
>Not bullshit
There's a reason their unique 4th and 5th level spells are a bit more powerful than most spells of the same level.

>>47313438
They really aren't.

>>47313294
I'm glad you're not my player. You sound like a bit of a dick.

I wanna give a sexy tiefling girl a rimjob

posted this right before last thread died

I want to make a dragonborn dragon-centric paladin-warlock.

What do you guys think of this oath and pact?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwF09f1afXWlR0dSc004bjVQOGs/view

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420020-Paladin-Sacred-Oath-Oath-of-the-Scale

>>47313294
>that's a stupid rule

What, so you actually want Bards to be strictly better Rangers? Because they're already a great class without poaching from the Ranger spell list.

>>47313438
The only ones that are a bit ridiculous are:
- Aura of Vitality (3rd level), for its fantastic out-of-combat healing ability, and
- Swift Quiver (5th level), for its ability to give a Valor Bard 4 ranged attacks in a turn for 1 minute (which becomes super-strong with Sharpshooter).

And even then we're talking those being taken by Lore Bards (who are strictly support) and Valor Bards (which aren't that strong damage-wise even with an extra attack) respectively.

>>47313590

Those are damn cool, honestly. I love the first ability of the pact, but your DM might hate it. Either way, as a DM myself, I'd allow both of those.

>>47312585
Rock and Roll/Metal Bard is the best Bard. No boss fight is complete without a dragonforce solo!

So, if you were DM, in a scale of 0 to 10 how mad would you be if one of your players decided to be a pedo cleric?

>>47314543
Probably like, a 2. I'd either be 1. cautious but curious if it was a player I trusted or 2. casually kicking them out of the group if they were THAT GUY. Which they almost definitely are.

>>47314543
I'd be pretty mad if a player decided to be a pedo anything. Being a cleric just gives me an excuse to let a god fuck with him for being a sick bastard.

I would only be ok with it if we were playing an evil campaign and if the player was mature about it, and actually managed to portray a villain without being absolutely disgusting and uncomfortable for everyone. Which is unlikely to ever be the case.

>>47314611
We're pretty good friends so I just want to get back at him in a playful manner without pushing him over the edge.
>>47314635
I don't think there are gods that allow me to be a kiddy fiddler, nor am I aware of how a characters sexual deviances can be relevant to the story without coming as overbearing. I'll have to think hard about this.

>>47306269
Why's the belly still huge if the baby is no longer there? Huhh??

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>>47312585
Which is better to play, an Eldritch Knight or Fighter/Wizard, Warlock or Sorcerer multiclass?

>Pic possibly related as our DM hints towards Spelljammer.

>>47314781
pure eldritch knight kinda sucks, however going eldritch knight + abj wizard is pretty solid.

just only use your spell slots for stuff like shield, absorb elements and other defense spells.

make sure you have green flame blade, it's great

also, this is a good martial/magic class

http://dnd-5e-homebrew.tumblr.com/post/141718534123/spellblade-class-by-ricodyn

>>47314808
Thanks for the advice.

>>47314754
Maybe she has quadruplets?

>>47314781
EK is good for a fighter who uses magic for protection, but bad if you're thinking of an arcane paladin. I advise a hand crossbow build.

Fighter/wizard isn't bad once you're built, but you can hurt yourself pretty badly by delaying your extra attack or your good spells as you're leveling up.

Warlock is best as a dip, but you can make a competetive bladelock if you do a dwarf using polearms. Otherwise you'll be hurting.

Have you thought about warlock/paladin?

>if you are proficient with shortswords or longswords, you are proficient with the sun blade

Does this mean that the sun blade is a monk weapon?

>>47315295
It's still considered a longsword, so by RAW no.

However, as a DM, if a monk got their hands on a sunblade, I'd let them treat it as such.

>>47315295
No. Monks are also proficient with great clubs, despite them not being monk weapons.

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>>47315345
What's the definition of a monk weapon then? I was under the impression that everything they start off with proficiency in being a monk weapon, because there's always a weird cloister somewhere that runs with whatever it might be?

>>47315643
Shortswords and any simple melee weapons which don't have the two-handed or heavy property.

>>47313294
Oh, it's you again

>>47314808
I like that homebrew class. I think I'm going to steal it.

>>47313593
As a DM myself, I'd rather not balance the game by telling my players that they can't do X, even though the book says they can. Instead, I'd rather work with my players to make ranger a more satisfying and useful class to pick.

>>47316083
There is also a homebrew import of the Duskblade, which was a 3.5e class that was about as close to a pure gish as you could get. They were basically arcane paladin's without the alignment restrictions of 3.5 paladins.

I know some anons in the past put up their own versions of the Duskblade, and maybe there's one up on the DM guild thingie.

>>47316175
Neat.

>>47314543
I wouldn't be mad, because I wouldn't let them be one of my players.

>>47316163
You're a good DM.

>>47315665
Can't you technically two hand a quarterstaff for a monk weapon?

>>47316845

I don't see anything that's preventing it.

Read the latest FAQ's, monks can two hand staffs and it's still a Monk Weapon.

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>>47316854
Would be fucking dumb if they'd prevent that since 2H staff is classic Hongkong kungfu shit.

>>47316904
Indeed.

What's a Huge or greater-sized creature that can shoot fire and I can strap to the underside of a flying boat?

>>47312585
>What's your favorite kind of bard?
For 5e specifically, my favorite so far was Thorne, a half-elf bard that finally had mechanical backing to his "Jack of all trades" status. The 5e bard finally let me play a dabbler character that didn't suck ass... he had the Valor College so he could hold his own in combat with a rapier, buckler, and scale, along with a bow for backup. He had a mix of spells mostly focusing on divination, enchantment, and stealth, with enough healing to pull the group through in a pinch. He had proficiency with thieves' tools, a ton of skills, and was just basically a very solid adventurer in general... the only thing he couldn't really cover was spell/area damage, and that would have come soon enough anyway with some of the sonic spells. He didn't outshine anybody else at their role, he was just able to fill in for any role when needed. It was tons of fun.

>>47313259
>It's pretty stupid because their high level spells are intended for the endgame, and it's bullshit that a bard can pilfer them at level 10.
Wrong. All spells are based on their spell level in power. A 5th level Paladin spell is no more powerful than any other 5th level spell (barring the usual fluctuations in power level within a spell level), even though the Paladin doesn't get them until higher levels.

If you don't like one class stealing another class's iconic spells, that's one thing (I disagree with you, but it's still your choice when you run a game). But it's not a matter of power level, or when the spell is "supposed" to be available. Spell level determines what point of the game a spell is "supposed" to come in at (that level being spell level x2, -1).

>>47313593
>What, so you actually want Bards to be strictly better Rangers?
No, I want Rangers to get a fix that actually works. When one class is by far below all of the others in both its ability to perform its own role, and overall power, the way to fix the problem is not to nerf the classes that are where they need to be, it's to buff the class that isn't.

>>47316845
Yes, because while you are wielding it in two hands, it does not actually have the two-handed property. Though you won't get a benefit from two-handing a quarterstaff once your Martial Arts damage reaches 1d8, unless your DM is nice enough to re-phrase "Versatile (1d8)" as "Versatile (+1 die size)"... which I certainly would, but your DM might think differently.

>>47317490
As a DM, I wouldn't. Part of the point of Martial Arts damage is to let you choose which weapons you use. You don't want to make one monk weapon flat-out superior to all the other options.

>>47314543

If my character is from Mulhorand and has the Acolyte background, can I play a cleric of Isis?

>>47317533
Considering that it takes up an extra hand (you can do a lot with a free hand, especially as a monk) and only gives +1 average damage, I don't think it'll be a big deal. Especially since your bonus attacks still have to be unarmed, anyway.

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I will be joining a game soon starting at level 5 and wanted your guys opinion on my rogue2/GOO pact bladelock 3 that is heavily based on Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

>When young she was taken by an incarnation of madness (aka some sort of lovecraftian creature wearing human skin)
>Trained to serve his whims as best she can
>Driven slightly mad by his mere presence
>Finally released to do his bidding
>Believes her master talks to her through a strange cat only she can see
>She struggles to stay sane against her own madness
>She occasionally fails and slips into a mild psychotic episode in combat

I am worried that this will either come off as super edgy or lolsorandumb but I don't intend for it to be either. I just want to play that character that is struggling to hold onto their sanity and failing. She wont be gibbering mental patient but more trying to stave off paranoia and those psychotic episodes.

So I have an idea for an adventure and I'm looking for advice and criticism.

The basic idea is that the players live in a universe where one of those dime a dozen cults that adventurers wipe out regularly actually won. They made it through the adventurer filter somehow and actually managed to get to a point where they have some real serious power.

A couple things I want to go for in this game:
>The cult is respected by the people, they put on a really good face and may have at some point in the past secretly taken over an actually good church. They have armies and kings that answer to them, because they sure as hell look like the real deal.
>One of the cults doomsday plans have already been set off, successfully. I'm not sure what this will be since obviously if there's a moon sized demon devouring everything it'd be a bit hard to fight back against, but I could definitely see a more minor doomsday plan have gotten through (Tidally lock the planet, usurpation of where dead souls go, something nice and terrible but doesn't automatically kill the party)

A big concern I have is I'm trying to keep this very low to unregistered on the fedora tipping scale, which I worry it already pings on just due to fighting a giant evil mega church. I'm definitely thinking good gods exist, but for some reason they have been unable to act against this church. One idea is that the church picked the most powerful good god in the region and created a massive ritual to basically streamline Ur-Priesthood, so the most powerful god is busy having a shitload of his power drawn away to do very much.

Another issue is I need a good way for the party to discover this AND actually believe it, essentially they would be going against most of the world in order to save it and I feel like they'd need some pretty damning evidence to even jump on that train.

Thoughts? Is it a bad idea? Is it fedoracore the tippening?

>>47317633
Try reading up on how those mental issues ply out in real life, and how they manifest for those suffering from them. If you can get somewhere close to that it should get things to a good distance from edgy/lolrandumb, because the real deal is nothing like that. It's more broken, dysfucntional and tragic.

>>47317660
Sounds pretty interesting. Maybe you could implement kind of an underground organization or brotherhood consisting of paladins or clerics of the old faith fighting against the cult the players can join or discover. Should also fix the Fedora problem.

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>>47317533
Agreed. When you reach lvl 11 you're simply wielding so much ki and technique that your unarmed attacks inflict more damage than whatever a swung stick would. Not seeing the problem with this.

>>47317633
I think those kinds of concepts only work if the DM is willing to help you with them. Doing it yourself just makes you seem like you're trying too hard, but a DM can actually do things to make you question your character's sanity (hearing things no one else does on perception rolls, having to roll saves to avoid personal breakdowns/conditions, etc)

>>47317633
Sounds unbelievable edgy and can't think of an interpretation of that not being like a total edgelord , sorry.

>>47317660
Sounds fun and interesting. For the succeeded doomsday plan may I suggest the following?

>Successfully sealed the prime material plane so that souls cannot pass on to their fate
>In the short term this means a massive increase in the amount of undead
>This also makes creatures that feed on souls become drawn to this plane as it is rife with them

>>47317633
Why not go chainlock and actually have a cat familiar?

>>47313599

Destructive Wave is pretty much one of the best blast spells. 10d10 is nothing to sneeze at, and it has a huge area, perfect selective fire, and deals your choice of 2 of the least resisted damages in the game + Force.

I played an online homebrew that gave me access to Destructive Wave at the same time casters get their other 5th level spells and it was absurd.

>>47317825
If the plane is sealed, how are extraplanar creatures showing up to eat all the souls?

>>47317838
I was seeing the cat more as a cheshire cat. Pops in does impossible and confusing things. Gives her impossible and confusing instructions and leaves before she can get any real answers out of him.

>>47317803
That is what I am worried about.

>>47317874
Souls are sealed on the plane. That's it. Its a subtle thing that most people wouldn't even notice until it has gotten out of control. It doesn't turn off deific powers, affect magic, or even do something easily visible. No one could easily link it to the cult either.

>>47317825
This also opens up a further plot for the cult: if they've really commandeered the local Church of Goodness, then this new horde of undead is the perfect opportunity for them to increase the public's opinion of them by dealing with the undead menace.

Only in reality, the undead they "purge" are just being corralled and relocated for later use (and to act as an emergency army should they ever be threatened enough to reveal themselves). And further, they can control how successful their undead hunting missions are... if people in Town X are stirring up trouble, well, I suppose it might take the undead hunters just a tiny bit too long to make it to Town X when the next outbreak of undead occurs there (which, thanks to their secret undead army, will probably happen sometime tomorrow).

>>47317633
>Believes her master talks to her through a strange cat only she can see
This (and to a lesser extent the combat episode bit) is awful but the rest seems fine.

I suggest you go Tome or Chain Pact to get a familiar, with said familiar perhaps relaying messages to you. A straight up Cheshire cat just seems cheesy and dumb TBQH so I'd consider a Raven or something instead?

Plus, Blade Pact does nothing does virtually nothing at level 3 of Warlock and you're going to want to spend the rest of your levels in (probably Swashbuckler) Rogue.

Also, bear in mind that the two melee cantrips from SCAG are pretty great for a Rogue so pick up at least one of them.

>>47317660
My group's homebrew setting is similar in that the doomsday thing has already occurred. The gods/other powers that be responded by shunting the area most touched by the cataclysm into its own minor plane, so the "prime material" of the setting is a prison for a many-headed turtle beast that devours the world every thousand years or so.

Fighting against a church does not alone make you a fedora tipper: painting everybody in the church and anybody outside who respects or abetts it with the same brush could be. Make the church's agents and devotees genuinely likeable, and perhaps even well-intentioned, unless they're in some sort of inner-circle group.

I'd draw a parallel to 1984 where the Outer Party members might genuinely believe in Ingsoc, while the Inner Party members are fully aware it's self-serving and don't care to change it.

>>47318221
Painting them as ignorant and deluded by a phony faith is kinda fedora-tippy too

What instrument would you expect a lightfoot halfling valor bard to have? I was thinking a horn to signal an attack but it's hard to imagine a relaxing campground fire song that deals solely with a horn.

>>47318252
I... never said that?

Believing in something doesn't automatically make you ignorant. You can be a genuinely good person in service to something horrible, as stated in SettingAnon's proposal.

But please: continue to project your own frustrations onto the discussion. It helps immensely.

>>47318268
Drums are the go to war chanter instrument. You can't go wrong with flutes either. Also, who says horns can't be relaxing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUES5PA0ALg&feature=youtu.be&t=77

>>47318393
Seconding for buglebard.

Some American Civil War-era campfire tunes are actually pretty soothing.

>>47318320
>>47318393
Does a halfling even have the pipes for a horn? He'd be a mighty impressive bard just for being able to play it for any length of time, let alone play it well.

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>>47318424
A bugle would be pretty cool, maybe he can use it to wake everyone up after a long rest, or sound an alarm!

>>47318456
I was thinking a small horn like this rather than a big ass french horn or whatever

>>47318456
I mean, I saw a seven-year-old absolutely fucking bossing a trombone on the street the other day. He was at it for over an hour.

That's like a hobbit, yeah?

>>47318456
I played tuba when i was 12.

It is decided. The druid in our party must die. Everyone except of him wants the same out of game.
Tell me very cruel or dramatic ways to kill him.
Thanks.
Your friendly neighborhood draconic sorcerer.

>>47318501
>seven year old
Halflings average about 3 feet tall, 40 pounds.


They're more like 3-4 year olds in size. But dnd gives them the same carrying capacity and physical damage-dealing power as adult humans. Which makes me wonder why people are supposed to be underestimating halflings in the first place, when they're half the size but lift the exact same weight and hit just as hard as the medium-sized player races.

>>47312585

Does anyone else kinda wish the Moon Druid got a few more uses of Wild Shape as it leveled?

>>47318702
>Make a sign that says something insulting
>put up just outside camp
>Have a player "show" him something
>Lead him to the sign
>Each character takes turns stabbing him
Its dramatic all right.

>>47318754
Twice per short rest is a lot already

>>47318754
Dont forget you can stay in animal form a number of hours equal to half your druid level. This would let you get a couple of encounters out of one wildshape if you stay in it.

>>47318754
It keeps it so there is a chance of running out. You are a full caster still when you run out you could just call lightning.

2 uses means that's sometimes you may actually have to use spells rather than wild shape.

Has anyone played a LE PC that works well the party? If so what was there story, I need inspiration.

>>47318776

Depending on how often you get to short rest it might be, but I guess turning into an Elemental feels like a "once per short rest" ability anyways. I just think, somewhere around level ~14+ it'd be nice to be able to shift one more time after that before needing an hour down time, and might make the progression into Arch Druid somewhat more natural. There's >>47318800 this too, though, I suppose.

What about having more uses of smaller forms later on? It sucks that once you get flying forms most of them are kinda bad for actually fighting and it means you never really have a chance to use the smaller animal forms. I'd love if I could turn into a bat or small bird or something without kind of gimping myself if a big fight happens.

I dunno though. I certainly don't think the class is bad at all.

>>47318702
Find a way to trap him in animal form. Sell him to a street-meat vendor.

>>47318702
Tell the DM the party isn't meshing well with him

>>47318815
Nah, all my spells are going to bonus action self-healing. I've got some cantrips to fall back on in an emergency, but I'm all about the claw/claw/bite.

>>47318864

He's just going to turn back once the Street-meat vendor tries to kill him.

>>47318882
I thought a coup de grace was just instant death in 5e? No damage involved, just slit the throat of the tied-up animal. The vendor might be surprised that he's got a dead human on his hands instead of a dead wolf, or whatever... but it's not like he's gonna turn down cheap meat, is he?

>>47318855
Wildshape already scales just fine. You can stay in beast mode for half your level in hours, and refreshing all your wildshapes is just one hour of rest.

That means if you don't feel like casting spells, you can spend almost your entire adventuring day as a bear. If you run out of wildshape and still want to keep being an animal, you still have shit like Polymorph.

Using wildshape for utility isn't "gimping" yourself either. When you need to kick ass in a fight, just use conjure animals to throw down a preposterous number of wolves, snakes, or eagles. Or cast something else off the wonderful Druid list, and hide somewhere so the bad guys don't break concentration on your awesome spells.

>>47318881
Cantrips can work. But if you are level 5 I'm not sure if a level 3 spell slot is worth 3d8 healing. I mean depending on situation.

>>47318939
> But if you are level 5 I'm not sure if a level 3 spell slot is worth 3d8 healing. I mean depending on situation.

The situation is generally something like "If I don't heal now, I'll get dropped out of wild shape." It's not efficient healing, but it's the only healing I can give myself while in animal form, and if I drop out of animal form I have to use my only other use before my next rest, assuming I haven't already used it.

>>47318938
He wants to be animal man though. Spell are an afterthought

>>47319057
>He wants to be animal man though. Spell are an afterthought

Maybe wizards can write Wildshape: The Class sometime.

>>47318938
Can you short rest while wildshaped?

>>47319135
I don't see why not.

>>47313191
>and are much more Paladiny than a Paladin.
Spells don't make the Paladin.
Even limiting ourselves to the mechanics, it's the Auras (and ok, spells can give more of those, but Pallies have more and better Auras as class abilities) and the Smites (Divine Smite is WAY better than any smiting spell).
The Bard can try and play something similar to a Paladin, but can't beat him at his own game.

I'll agree that the Ranger, that doesn't get anything iconic and powerful as a class ability, gets his best toys stolen from the Bard, and that's a balance issue.

>>47318775
win

>>47313599
>Aura of Vitality
20d6
>Prayer of Healing
2d8+5 to 6 creatures, up to 12d8+30 in a big party
It's not the same, can't heal from the brink to the top, but it's only a 2nd level spell that could cover for out-of-combat heals.

>>47318938

I guess it's true too. I thought about maybe using spell slots to get free transformations into smaller beasts (depending on the spell slot used of course, but I'm not sure what would be balanced. Maybe CR equal to or lower than spell slot used, or half spell slot level used) so you don't have wild shape AND super spells, since that would be pretty silly. That way you can choose to forgo casting spells to instead use more animal shapes. That's kind of what I wanted, but Druids do have a really, really good spell list. I guess if you want to Druid you have to be in it for the nature too.

That's fine too, I guess. Animals are kick ass, but Nature in general kicks ass too.

>>47318877
That's the problem, he is the GM's "protege" and stuff. We dont like. We kill.

>>47319306
If the DM favors him, then whatever you do won't work.

>>47317856
It's also a clerical spell (tempest domain).
It's already available at level 9 anyway, bard or no bard.

>>47317619
The thing with versatile weapons and two-handers is that you can still have a hand free for shit.
>Two-Handed (p. 147). This property is relevant only when you attack with the weapon, not when you simply hold it.
There is no action required for taking a hand off or putting it onto a weapon held in the other hand. You can drink potions without having to drop your greatsword, Rangers may cast spells with somatic components without dropping their longbow, and a level 11 Fighter two-handing a longsword could stab a guy for d10, grapple him, drag him, release, and stab again for d10. Two-handing a quarterstaff absolutely does not prevent you from making unarmed attacks with Flurry of Blows or whatever else, especially since you can always be kicking. It's just a good idea to avoid the "+d2 when two-handing a quarterstaff" thing because of what >>47317533 said; choosing to use anything but a quarterstaff that the point is using an inferior weapon for the sake of fluff.

>>47318775
For the watch, Brutus? ---

Naruto Uzumaki at the Valley of the End, to his friend and betrayer, Uchiha Vegeta

>>47319135
>Can you short rest while wildshaped?
I don't see a restriction on it, so sure? I guess if you're willing to come out of rest wildshaped you'd effectively have 3 wildshapes per short rest, but it seems like a more reasonable tradeoff when you have to know exactly what form you want in advance, and can't cast any spells while wildshaped.

>>47319300
>convert spell slots into wildshape
I like this idea. I've actually been starting to think that tabletop should use more unified resources like MP or stamina, as opposed to dailies that are each tracked separately. Just have one pool of stuff that all of your limited-use powers draw from. Video games have done this for decades, but I think that tabletop could really benefit from the simplicity and flexibility that a mechanic like MP offers.

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>>47319467
>making tabletop more like a videogame
B-but...NOT MUH D&D!

>>47319520
>casters get two, three, sometimes four kinds of power sources
>martials only get the one
reeeeeeeee

>>47319542
But martial was a power source, and nobody got more than two.

A couple of my players expressed concern that I am too harsh a DM. My DMing style is as follows:

* Player choice dictates the difficulty of an encounter. If they rush in, the encounters may be more difficult; or, if they're careful and/or clever, they can bypass the encounter completely (and still get rewards for it, since they overcame it via brains instead of brawn).

* No one has plot armor, including my BBEG. If a character or NPC dies, they're dead unless someone can cast raise dead on them. This also means that if they somehow one-shot my BBEG, they get congratulated.

* Bad guys act as their intelligence, wisdom, and personality--or lack thereof--dictates. If a creature is starving and attacks with the intention of eating, they'll attack either the closest or weakest looking PC, as an animal that's hungry would. If that means the squishy wizard gets ganged-up on because he or she was closer to the front, that's what happens; and if they die, they die.

On of my players lost some Constitution points from getting ganged up on from ghouls because she was closest and the ghouls were hungry for living things (my version of ghoul fever does ability damage, even though its 5e; 1d4 points off the CON score if they fail two DC15 Constitution saving throws, one save to avoid infection, and then another save after they take a long rest), which started this whole thing. If it was just one player, I'd brush it off as that player being angry because their character got hurt, but this is the second player in a totally different game that's had this complaint, so I'm wondering if I am being too harsh.

> ib4 questions

All encounters I make are within the guidelines of encounter building per the DMG, and I am aware that those guidelines can be strange, and I take that into account!

In addition, the character in question knew lesser restoration, but everyone managed to fail the save, so the healer didn't have enough spell slots to cure everyone.

>>47319573
>it's not a caster, it's a divine character (who casts)
>it's not a caster, it's a nature character (who casts)
>it's not a caster, it's a psionic character (who casts)
>it's not a caster, it's an arcane character (who casts)
>also here's some martials but half of them are casters too

>>47318828
One of my players constantly plays LE, and he does a great job at it.

The thing to keep in mind is that a Lawful Evil is essentially like Lex Luthor. They're smart enough to be friendly, make friends, and work very well together with other people. But whenever the party has their backs turned towards him, he's constantly vying for more power. Talking to demons and the BBEG to discus the possibility of a powerup in return for whatever the price, even if it includes his friends.

The last session we played, he was trying to forge a new relationship with Ront the Orc down in the Underdark. A "You scratch my back, I scratch your back" type deal so he could have hired muscle.

That all kinda fell to pieces when Buppido decided to murder Ront in his sleep and decorate his entrails over the campsight.

Remember, an alignment is a general guide line for a person, and not a strict doctrine, and it definitely isn't an excuse to act retarded or autistic towards other NPCs. Just because you're evil, doesn't mean you're going to be kill happy if you think you can't get away with it.

>>47319583
I'm not sure what you're asking for here.

If you like those players, take their criticism in the spirit in which it's intended, make some adjustments, ask again, rinse and repeat. If you don't, let 'em know it won't change and be prepared to lose them.

There's no one right way to DM, but leaving player concerns hang and running off to an Uzbek Pottery board for affirmation is almost definitely a wrong one.

>>47319652
Actually, I'm just wondering if someone who wasn't having their character loosing Constitution points would think that was too harsh; an objective-ish opinion, I guess.

The other player who complained had a character die horribly when he had his character go into a dungeon alone without bothering to stealth. The other party members rescued the body and got him rezzed, but it stuck with the player to the point where he's scared now.

>>47319583
>gang monsters up on single players
>houseruling ability damage onto them
It's enough you're gangraping single players; the game does not balance that well as it is. Then the paralyze ghouls can dish out will wreck anyone. Stacking ability damage onto all that is just cruel.
Sometimes PCs want to rush in and be big goddamn heroes as opposed to being clever and avoiding fights all the time. The game is made for combat after all. Scale it back a bit and let the PCs smash faces every once in a while.

>>47319704
Did he know how dangerous it was going to be going in? It might have been a mismatch of expectations.

>>47318828
LE means you are reliable and can be trusted (even if that means you are reliably unreliable or untrustworthy) and seek to further your own personal ends.

A guy who wants to blow up the whole planet is also evil, but you're not going to find many LE characters who wouldn't be opposed to that. They live on that planet. They might try to get their hands on the planet-destroying button at the end of things, but it's not like they're going to make a deal with the BBEG to kill everyone first and then have joint ownership of the button or a nice mansion on his spaceship. That's not being LE, that's being Retarded, because of course that fucker isn't going to own up to his end of the deal. So you kill him first and then take what you want.

>>47319583
If you look at the only other monster from the MM that does ability damage, the Shadow, any ability reduction only lasts until they take a rest. And we're talking about Strength, which can be a dump stat. Constitution is much more important for everyone. Also, if that is a disease, Lesser Restoration or a paladin's Lay on Hands should be able to heal it whenever, instead of only the day it happened.

From what you've written, the only thing I found too harsh was the constitution damage. About the other things, of course being careful and stealthy makes any encounter easier, as that should give the party a surprise round. And that should teach the wizard to never stay in the front of the marching order, squishy characters should be in the middle always. Ghouls in general are very nasty, because if given a chance they WILL paralyze someone and gorge on their flesh, or even run off with their prey to eat at a more quiet location.

Okay guys I have a question. I am playing dnd for the first time and I wanted to keep it simple so I went with barbarian (figured I didnt have to know all the intricacies of the game to smack things with an axe). Now I have been doing a lot of reading online of different guides, builds, and commentaries on 5e barbarians. They all agree totemic barbarian is the way to go if you want a mechanically optimized character, but i feel like berserker fits the character I wanted to do better. Is it viable at all? Or should I just refluff to get that sweet sweet damage reduction?

>>47319819
Berserker is fine if you don't frenzy more than once a day. Totem is just better.

>>47319842
You can still frenzy multiple times a day, just got to keep from using it for anything other than a serious situation.

>>47319740
>Sometimes PCs want to rush in and be big goddamn heroes
Not that anon, but if the DM isn't trying to run a big goddamn heroes game, that's fine too. As long as everybody had a reasonable expectation of what they were getting in for. I like it when my players exercise a little caution and self-restraint and at least try to not let the bad-guys fuck them straight up the ass (as opposed to just expecting me to go easy on them like some kind of hugbox storytime hippie game)

>>47319583
>>47319740
>Sometimes PCs want to rush in and be big goddamn heroes as opposed to being clever and avoiding fights all the time.
I second that. Having actually hard encounters every once in a while is fine to make sure they know things can get very dangerous and nasty. I myself, as a player, miss the thrill if all we're doing is killing everything without so much as a scratch, but feeling like a badass, if it doesn't happen every fight, is always good.

Yo we r8 homebrew shit here?

>>47319819
Berserker is pointless if you're dual wielding and if you've got Polearm / Shield / Great Weapon Master it's pretty poor value, and that's without even taking into account the exhaustion penalties.

It's worth noting that any bonus action attack is worth more before level 5, and combined with the negative synergy with the various weapon feats means Berserker is a lot more viable at low levels and shorter campaigns.

I'd probably run reflavoured totem personally, but 5E is balanced enough you can run just about whatever subclass.

>>47319964
Rate it? Not really. Provide hopefully-constructive criticism? Pretty frequently. Shit all over your hopes and dreams? Sometimes.

>>47319964
Sometimes

Post it

>>47319964
Only if it's not more of your Steven Universe fanfiction.

>>47317660
If it's a cult you're fighting and not the most powerful good god in the pantheon, I'd say it's not fedora at all. If fighting a corrupt establishment in the setting is fedora then we need to broaden the already gaping goatse hole definition of fedora to include literally every chaotic character that has ever existed.

Damn Robin Hood and his tipping ways! Han Solo, what a fucking hipster. Guy Fawkes, so euphoric. ... Okay, the last one is a poor example.

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>>47319583
As long as you've been open about how you want the game to flow and why, the player really has no complaint here. It sounds to me more like they don't like that their character is ganged up on because of the lack of armor, but that's one of the intentional drawbacks of wizards. If the shoe was on the other foot, and it was the players vs an enemy party with fighters, clerics, wizards, and rogues, I guarantee the party would single out the wizard and cleric first, followed by the rogue.

The houserule is fine in my opinion. The one for the Ghoul doing ability damage.

If the player is a good player who roleplays well, you might want to talk things out with them. Tell them "Hey, I want to run this type of game and it's what I enjoy". You should consider perhaps also giving them tips on how to deal with the flaw in their strategy, as they have to learn sometime, and it could make it slightly easier for them, which will allow you to let them learn and maybe even push the difficulty up slightly.

If the player is someone who is quite difficult to deal with, they might genuinely be a sore loser. Unfortunately, TRPGs tend to attract a lot of those. You should consider replacing them with a new player. Trust me, your other players don't like dealing with whiners just as much as you don't.

r8 my campaign idea
don't h8, it ain't b8.

>the players are win wizard school, hoping to become first level wizards. While taking a shortcut through the Mushroom Garden Construction Site, a Centaur crash lands from a dimensional gate. He's bleeding, but he gives all the players the power of nature, and explains to them that the world is slowly being taken over by mind controlling illithids and their intellect devourer pets. Everyone takes a level in druid, and the centaur is eaten by some god awful monstrosity that appears out of a gate as well.

>>47319990

I had been planning to play the barb as being a follower of Tritherion, and I just don't see that meshing narratively with totems. Ditch? Or can anyone see how those could fit?

>>47319740
>>47319804
>>47319909
>>47319941
>>47320105
Mkay. So, slightly too harsh with the ability damage, in this board's opinion?

The biggest thing is that they've been fighting ghouls and other undead the entire campaign--since level 3, and they're level 9 now. This is just the first time anyone has actually taken ability damage from it. In addition, I made a "Here's the themes of the campaign" before the campaign started, which talked about undead, horror, survival, etc, etc.

>>47319755
Indeed he did. The dungeon was under water and filled with piranha swarms because the party decided the destroy the ceiling which was holding back the piranha-filled river. They had just watched them devour a lizardfolk in about three rounds; the plan killed the majority of the lizardfolk, but it flooded the dungeon entirely; the character who went back in did so because they hadn't had the time to loot the treasure room, which they had seen, but hadn't looted.

>>47320207

Well if your players all know their going to be compelled to take a level in druid that could be k i guess. If I had been planning something that did not mesh with druid at all, I would be kinda pissed bout being forced to start through it and lose a level in whatever it was I wanted.

>>47320217
>Mkay. So, slightly too harsh with the ability damage, in this board's opinion?
That is literally the opposite of what I said. Pay attention. The ability damage is fine. Undead are dangerous and has a lot of drawbacks, like sunlight, radiant, Turn Undead, etc.

>>47320207
Based on a variant of Harry Potter + forcing everyone to play a certain class.

2/10

>>47319900
You can, but you shouldn't. Exhaust 2 halving your apeed is a serious problem and exhaust 3's disadvantage to everything makes you effectively worthless as anything but a warm body for things to hit. And the worst part is you can only sleep off one level at a time so you'll still be pretty shit tomorrow

>>47320246
I was going by the majority of responses, actually; I apologize if I offended you!

>>47320212
>narrative
Don't flavour it as totems, just say that he becomes fast / indomitable / whatever when he rages. Ignore the ritual spells, of course.

>>47320234
>>47320246
It's an idea for a series of sessions/mini-campaigns I'd like to do where the party takes all one class. So an all monk campaign, an all druid campaign, an all rogue campaign, etc. All set in between the main campaign sessions. The party would be aware of class restrictions before I asked them to make characters.

>>47320246
>harry potter.

>>47320281
>>harry potter.
Yeah, They're on their way to wizarding school and then they run into a Centaur with a mysterious magical message outside of school. The only difference is the underlying "Illithids run the show" message under it.

>>47320217
Sounds like he expected the pirahna to be easier to deal with than the lizardfolk. Make sure you directly tell the players when they are doing something really stupid. PCs are dumb and can follow bizarre logic to convince themselves things will play out in ways you don't intend them to.

>>47320281

Well if they all know and are on board then thats cool in my opinion. It isnt something I would play necessarily, but I wont disparage the subject matter you choose to draw from if its what makes it fun for you and your group.

>>47320207
The kids I run a game for would love this. Of course, one of them is literally playing a Wizard named Albus (plus a bunch of names I don't care to memorize, but she has) Dumbledore. So that may tell you something about your idea, for good or ill.

>>47319262
Aura of Vitality is averaging 70 split any you want.

Prayer of Healing is 14 to up to 6 targets. At max it's 84 and you can't divide it as needed.

Prayer of Healing doesn't really compare in versatility.

>>47320207
That's an incredibly random starting point for a campaign. I'd be too overwhelmed by laughter to take anything afterwards seriously

>>47319377
Once you're at d8 base damage, the quarterstaff doesn't matter anyway unless you dipped Fighter for Great Weapon Fighting style.

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>>47320409
>>47320375
>>47320291
Well, damn, how do I move away from harry potter and more towards the goal reference?

>>47320428
Remove the wizard school part. Also don't use references as the foundation for your campaign

>>47319377
That's only if you need to use your hand for only a few seconds. What if you're carrying the mcguffin? What if you want to have a potion ready to drink? What if you're grappling an enemy? All of these things require the continuous use of your hand, which precludes using the weapon's Versatile property.

Those aren't really situations that will come up all the time, but like I said, it's only +1 average damage, which isn't really a big deal anyway.

>>47319583
The constitution thing is the only thing harsh there.

It's fucking boring to play team NPC as guaranteed losers. Even if it's their destiny, try to win within their capabilities. Low CR creatures last much longer in the game when you play this way and can give you enough material to make it into higher levels where there's a dearth of creatures relative to CR.

>>47320207
Oh, god, no. Just....no. Just screams "GIANT RAILROADY DISGUSTING MESS".

How do you guys explain how 5e magic works from an in-world perspective? Why do mages have to prepare spells the way they do? What specifically causes them to have to cast their spells in discrete level-based slots? Why do some classes know a single spell list, some prepare from a specific book, and others prepare from their entire list? If I asked a Wizard in your setting how magic works, and why it works that way, what would their answer be?

I'm trying to come up with a consistent in-world explanation for why magic in my 5e based setting works the way magic works in 5e, and I'm having some trouble coming up with anything cohesive. If anybody else has tackled this issue before, I'd love to hear your insights.

>>47320526
Spell alots are based on vancian casting, where spells are things that live in your brain when you prepare them and vanish once you cast them. They've moved away from that and offered no real explanation, but you could make up some bullshit and retcon it back.

>>47319583
>as an animal that's hungry would

>implying a hungry animal wouldn't just fuck off after the first hit and look for a meal that won't put up a fight

>>47320526
I've always thought about magic just existing in the world, and your ability to force that magic into shape, harness it, is based on your endurance--i.e. spell slots--and your skill--i.e. spellcasting ability.

Wizards develop their own ways of manipulating the magical field that permeates the universe, while druids, clerics, and warlocks are handed that knowledge from a "superior" being or patron.

>>47320526
I don't really know, because I've deliberately avoided trying to make sense of it. Basically a long time ago, a guy named Vance invented a retarded system, and DnD hasn't gotten over it since.

But in world, I guess spell slots are like internal reservoirs of power, but for magical energy. And you generally always have to use all of a reservoir of power.

>>47320526
There's a massive ether-like force in the multiverse known as "The Weave". Creatures can tap into this force in several ways, but the main ways are by studying it or by being granted access by various sources.

Wizards study day and night the proper incantations and materials needed to cause the weave to do what they want, making them the most versatile spellcasters.

Clerics are granted access to the weave by praying to their gods. Gods exist but whether they actually made the world and the people in it or are just beings that are hyped up on the Weave themselves is up for theological debate.

Druids are similar to Clerics, but tap into the land and nature for their spells. Warlocks are also similar, but get access on more of a deal-basis from their patron in return for services rendered or to be rendered.

Paladins tap into it through sheer force of will by staying true to their devotions and oaths, Bards tap into it through song and the power of emotion and the mind to help with a variety of actions, though never really mastering them (essentially).

Sorcerers are unique, in that they get access to raw Weave unfiltered, so it can have cataclysmic effects from time to time and the spells they do have control over are your basic blasty blasty spells, but not a lot of utility.

Basically everytime magic happens, whether it's done by preparing spells and blowing spell slots or using Ki or whatever, it all comes from the Weave (as stated in the PHB).

>>47320640
But why do spell slots exist? Why can you be out of low level magic yet still cast a 5th lvl fireball?

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>>47320009
ALRIGHTY THEN!

Night Hunter

Longwatch
At 3rd Level, a Night Hunter becomes highly aware of their surroundings, and can spend their long rest spying upon the creatures that prowl near their location. Until 11th level, doing this causes the Ranger to not regain spellslots, but will regain hitpoints, as their patrol requires a meditative focus that allows for little wandering to relax the mind, while the body recovers from the trials of the day. After 11th level, they may do this without it affecting their long rest.

Upon completing their Longwatch, the Ranger has knowledge of all probably threats that await them during the day, though specifics will be impossible, things such as giant spider webs, sprung traps, or signs of methodical patrol, allow the ranger to deduce what likely will be faced.

Precision
At 3rd Level, the Ranger gains the ability to carefully study a target. As a bonus action, the Ranger picks a target and does an Int save. Upon rolling lower than the hitpoint total of the target, nothing happens, though the result is noted and added to subsequent checks. Upon rolling equal to or higher, the Ranger picks out what weaknesses the enemy has, learning its vulnerabilities, if it possesses any, and its immunities. In addition, the Ranger may add their Int Mod to damage rolls made against that creature. If the creature dies, the ranger must repeat this process again from the beginning if they wish to study another creature. This check always passes against a Ranger's Favored Enemy. The studied target will remain studied until the Ranger studies a new target, or it dies.

(cont)

>>47320675
(cont)
Poisonous Elixir
At 7th level, a Ranger can create and use poisons of various forms and compositions. The process is done during a short rest and requires a Wisdom (Survival) check DC 15. The ranger may have up to his Int modifier in Poisons prepared at any one time. The Poisons last for one month, and if sold, still count against the Ranger's maximum. The poison deals 1d6+Wis poison damage for 1d4+Wis turns, and is expended after a successful attack.

Nemesis Poison
At 7th level, the Ranger can craft a unique poison specific to a target he has currently studied. The Nemesis Poison takes 24 hours to craft, however only a long rest must be spent before the Nemesis Poison is ready for use. The Ranger may only have one Nemesis poison at a time. The Nemesis Poison deals 1d10 damage per turn for Prof+Wis+Int turns. This damage cannot be mitigated in any way, as it is concocted to specifically target a weakness of the studied enemy. Further more, the target, while poisoned, has disadvantage on attack rolls and skill checks.
At level 15, the Nemesis Poison is perfected, dealing 2d10 per turn, and lasting for as long as the Ranger concentrates. In addition, the Ranger gains advantage in skill checks and attack rolls against the creature, and the creature must roll to concentrate if applicable.

Night Hunter's Precission
At 11th level, the Ranger knows how to make each attack count. Once per turn, if the Ranger would miss an attack, they gain an additional attack. Any poisons that would be wasted due to a missed attack are not spent if this feature takes effect.

Master Elixer
At 15th Level, the Ranger can coat their weapons in more than just poison- they now can do 1d8+Wis of a chosen damage type, excluding Piercing, Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Force damage, when they coat their weapons in Master Elixer, which enchants the weapon for 1d6+Wis turns. In addition, the damage applies to all attacks, and is not spent upon a hit.

>>47317367
i mean.... there's the titular monsters of the series.

>>47320670
Spell slots are an abstraction, of course; a character in-world would never use the word. I've always thought of it as the wizard in question would memorize these pathways of casting the specific spell; after they're memorized, those thought pathways are burned out, and need time to recuperate, just like working out muscles.

>>47320526
Wizards can have any number of spells in their spellbook, but they are limited by their intelligence and experience in how many of those they can be prepared to use in a day. Think of how you memorize stuff for an exam, you can't memorize everything for every subject at once. Every day you study for the exams in the following day, so you have that exact knowledge sharp and ready in your mind. Even though you also know the stuff from the other subjects, you choose to focus your mind in this.

Druids and clerics have access to their entire list because they draw their powers from deities and nature itself. It's all there, at their disposal, but their capabilities also limit how many they can have ready.

Other classes learn their spells from whatever source and stick with them. Warlocks learn from their patron, sorcerers discover new powers, bards... make musical breakthroughs? Anyhow, you get the gist of it.

The slots I guess are a way to simulate how much power they can draw upon, sort of like mana or any other similar concept. You have a limited amount of power you can use on a single day.

>>47320763
But it's not linked to specific spells. You can run out of third level fireballs bu still toss out even more powerful ones.
Also muscles don't work that way. You don't have a cap on how many light thrusts you can do and yet still heavy thrust afterwards.

>>47320207
>animorphs

Nice.

>>47320840
That's why I like the magical reservoir theory. Basically you have a magic mental bucket full of mana in your head. You have one of these for every spell slot you have, and they are larger for larger spell slots.

You can only drain the bucket completely (though some class features let you manipulate the buckets in other ways).

>>47320840
Magic isn't a physical sport, it is a mental one. Ever get tired of that one annoying ass song, so you listen to a symphony?

>>47320763
Since you can keep casting a spell after you have memorized it in this edition, I prefer to think of preparing a spell as laying down a complex system of geometric mental pipes, its very hard to use these on the fly (ritual spells) but you can hold a few in your mind with effort. Then you shoot your mana/arcane power/magic juice through your mental pipes arranged in the correct configuration for the magic to happen. Higher level spell slots use more juice, and some are so efficient as to require none. The pipes(prepared/known spells) never go away in this edition, but keeping all those mental constructs fresh in your mind is taxing, and you can only do so many at once.

>>47320882
>>47320840
You're both probably right in the modern interpretation of spell slots, but in older editions they were, of course, linked to specific spells.

I believe a particular explanation was that when you prepare a spell, you actually cast all of it except the final trigger word. You then have to hold the magical pattern in your head until it's released. That's why low-level wizards could only have a couple of spells "prepared" at any time. As a wizard grows in knowledge and experience, they can hold more spells at a time, and more complex spells as well.

>>47320936
This is pretty good for how to word it. I've never cared to think about it, really.

A guy in my group wants to play as a Ranger Beastmaster in Out of the Abyss and i have zero knowledge in how it would work. I also remember something about it sucking that a fix would solve, anyone who could help?

>>47319633
Your understanding of the martial/caster divide is not applicable to 4e. There were no true martial and casters as you use the terms. There were defenders, strikers, controllers and leaders, and a bunch of power sources that flavored how they did what they did. It would be more accurate to say barbarians, monks, swordmages etc were martials with non-martial power sources than to lump them in with wizards or druids just because they share arcane/primal/whatever power sources.

>>47321056
He should just play a hunter ranger and buy a dog.

>>47321210
Yeah i tried convince him that Hunter was a better choice because its alot simpler for me to keep track of but he seemed to be set at Beastmaster

I just realized something, is there anything stopping a wizard that hasn't prepared spells that day from changing the spells he has prepared after he already casts some? Like he hasn't prepared his spells in a week or something (he is using a general purpose list most of the time). He does his long rest, gets all of his spell slots back when he wakes up, then like 5 hours later he has already cast a few fireballs and magic missles or whatever and THEN decides to prepare spells. So he forgets like cone of cold or something and prepares a Modify Memory or Passwall or some shit, that would only take him five minutes to do right? And then as long as he has fifth level slots still left that day he could cast them?

Is there anything RAW that would stop this? Or am I just being retarded and this obvious or how everyone plays?

>>47321056

Another player in my OotA game is going Beastmaster as well. He just hit the level this past Saturday, so we ended with him leaving to bond with Nature or whatever. I think he's getting some kind of spider? Giant Wolf Spider probably, though there was talk about the Giant Lizard instead. Looking now, it appears that the Giant Lizard is large instead of medium, but I doubt anyone else at the table will care.

Anyway, the reasoning is that the Drow use both giant spiders and giant lizards, so there should be plenty around in the Underdark to bond with.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/3ysn7d/ranger_redux_simple_fixes_for_the_ranger/?

take a look at this

>>47319633
80% of all D&D core classes have some amount of magic. This has always been the case.

Fighters and Thieves/Rogues have more or less always been the only truly martial character classes.
It's true that Barbarians were more sorta rangery and used nature magic in 4e, but you're not really being that specific.
Plus, 4e introduced the Warlord, who was a new kind of martial altogether - and his fluff isn't that he's a caster; he's an inspiring tactician.

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How good is this? Does it compete with Moon Druid? Are there any unique tricks it can pull off?

>>47319633
>applying game mechanics to lore
That is why you fail.
The slaughtering of that sacred cow was one of the best things 4e did, as it made sure no one type of class got to get over on the rules without it being available to all others.

>>47321270
That sounds pretty solid with the animal idea and i'll definetly take another look. But i remember there was some fixes to the combat mechanics of Beastmaster? Something that it didn't require the Ranger's action to make the pet attack and that it had Death saving throws?

>>47321056
Remove size limit, if he wants to ride his goddamn pet, let him. Change minimum CR to 1/2, have it eventually increase to 1 at 8 and 2 at 12, or something like that.

>>47321319
And look where we are now.

>>47321298
Exactly what i was looking for, many thanks.

>>47321328
He plays a halfling so it wouldn't be too hard doing just that, the question is if he comes up with the idea himself.

>>47321341
I blame the stagnant and petty consumer base of ttrpgs. They're all sick in the mind and enjoy eating shit

>>47321320

No, nothing official. Those are commonly accepted fixes for the class. Several months back I took the rules for determining the CR of a monster and plugged in a bunch of beasts that the Beastmaster could take with the Beastmaster's bonuses calculated in and found that, with the bonuses, the beast reaches quite a high CR at pretty much all points in the game. It was then that I decided that the only thing the Beastmaster truly needs is death saves for the beast companion. Nothing else is needed.

The Ranger as a class, though, could use a little something extra at levels 1 and 2 though. But that's outside the scope of what I was doing.

>>47321056
Just hand him the statline for the beast he wants to play, the book says exactly how it works

Recommended fix for the only real issue:
Beast HP = what it says on the statblock + 4 × ranger level

Remember the beast gets death saves just like a PC or important NPC

>>47321230
It's not that Beastmaster is harder to keep track of, it's that it really sucks. The class features are not only weak, they're not fun (you have to give up your own attacks or your companion can't do anything).
Seriously, suggest to him to pick any other archetype (or class!) and just buy a dog. It'll be stronger and less tedious.

>>47321299
The issue is that fighters and rogues used to be 60+% of any group, and now alternate choices are viable and accessible. This means games today feel a lot more magicky than they used to back in 1e and 2e (with class ability requirements).

>>47321341
yeah, and I genuinely wouldn't play DnD if I could help it, but my friends are insistent on sticking with 5e for now.

>>47321341
Yes, rampant backpedaling that ended in something that tried to evoke 2e design with 3e problems.
That's "better", right? Amazing how that didnt happen with 3e ->3.5, despite the grog bitching.

>>47321395
>>47321400
Okay, i think i got an idea how to get this working now, thanks for the help

>>47321056
Its pretty bad, most of why it is pretty bad is because the animal companion sucks. It becomes mildly better if he is a small PC using it as a mount with the Mounted Combat feat (it won't realistically be killed this way, he will always have a mount even if it is by waiting 8 hours, and he can still use things like lances for good damage instead of being stuck not using heavy weapons (aka, all the other weapons with a damage die more than d8)).

If you want to make it better giving him access to more powerful animal companions than the PHB would allow is probably the "easiest" fix. Like he befriends a cave bear or sabretooth tiger instead of a dog or a snake or whatever. The more complicated fixes can be more comprehensive and are all over the place, from changing the action when controlling them to a bonus action, to giving them more survivability with extra hit points or evasion and other abilities against AoE.

>>47321302
Gas Spores. Regrowth lets you turn a corpse into 2 of these, which have a DC 15 3d6 poison damage suicide attack against everything in 20 feet. They are a lot nastier than their CR 1/2 would suggest.

>>47321302
Being able to summon a shambling mound, basically at will, at level 20 seems somewhat OP.


But other than that, I like the class.

Would a book that reads surface thoughts on a visible creature within 30 feet as an action be too much to give a level 1 GOOlock?
I'm asking because I'm doing custom kits and all I'll be giving him other than that is a dagger and a set of leather armor with 1 damage reduction to fire, lightning and cold

>>47321842
You're copying a level 2 spell with a no daily limit on an item for a level 1 character.

>>47321842
Amulet of Detect Thoughts gives you D3 charges a day that last for 1 hour with concentration. This item is a lot better than that, and way too good for level 1.

I had an idea for a bard that is attending bard college via correspondence. You know, like sending in tests by courier or carrier pigeon, or maybe the college provides a magical stone to communicate with a college administrator. Idk.

I actually really like the idea, especially at low levels. It means they're still in the midst of their training, but gives them freedom to travel and adventure and not be tied down to a particular location.

It also also opens up interesting adventure hooks like correspondence being intercepted, failing a test, tuition hikes, etc.

Paying tuition sort of implies a certain amount of wealth however, and it is my understanding low level characters don't start with a lot of money. My thought was that the character inherited some money from a distant relative (parents can still be alive, no woe-is-me shit) and used that to pay for their studies and travel.

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A Gunmage Archetype for Sorcerer:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B002m2_KROanT19EcWFRc05wVWc/view?usp=sharing

A set of stats for Firearms:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B002m2_KROanMjg5V01DU0RQbkk/view?usp=sharing

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>>47322553
I think you used the wrong picture, friend

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>>47322791
Eh. Here's another.

Whatcha think?

>>47322553

seems pretty bad.

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>>47322832
Honestly, I don't really see the point, but it doesn't seem significantly overpowered or underpowered.

>>47320375
>albus percival wulfric brian dumbledore
I used to read HP fanfiction
Kill me

>>47322392
>>47322507
Detect thoughts can be used to find invisible enemies/deep thoughts/etc

This book just reads what people are "thinking aloud" like "oh, I should probably go pick up milk on the way home" or "did I leave the stove on?"

>>47323293
So it's more a "book of detect inner dialogue"

Question for DMs

If your player is a Halfling Warlock who chose Pact of the Blade and he manifests something like a greatsword, would you allow it to automatically scale to his small size or would you still make him take the disadvantage for heavy weps?

>>47323307

It just doesn't really seem to do anything. I guess you can shoot Scorching Rays out of your guns?

And I guess you have extra attack backed by sharp shooter for if you run out of spells. The features just feel so bland, though.

>>47320394
>Prayer of Healing doesn't really compare in versatility.
Totally true. Prayer of Healing has greater raw strength though, and doesn't suffer from having no scaling. Prayer of Healing is strong out of combat healing for whatever level. Aura of Vitality is a great 3rd level spell.

>>47323358
No, as a DM, the Pact of the Blade gives no indication that it makes your weapon change special rules. I would just have him use a Longsword, a Small character can two-hand it and it's basically the same thing for their size as a Greatsword.

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>>47322553
>Whenever you confirm a critical hit

>>47323428
Not everyone auto-confirms crits.

Alright tg I have a question. I was reading and I noticed a few people talking about fixes for beast master rangers. Are there any fixes you know of for berserker barbarians to make it a viable option next to totemic? Cause as it stands consensus seems to be that totemic is just better, period, and I like balance and options.

>>47323450
Confirming is a Pathfinder thing, 5e doesn't include it.

>>47323450
Regardless, homebrew should reference the rules as they are in the rulebook rather than as they are at a particular person's table.

>>47323450
>Not everyone auto-confirms crits.

That's the rule in 5th edition. There is no critical confirmation anymore.

>>47323492
Fuck, how'd I forget that?

>>47323489

Newfag here, just got the books cause my buddy invited me to play and I haven't read everything yet, how do crits work and whats all this confirmation business?

>>47323511
Because you didn't read the book.

>>47323511
Because you're a massive cockmunch that is trying to overcome his addiction?

>>47323522
If you roll a natural 20 on an attack roll, it always hits and is a critical hit. All the damage dice for the attack are rolled twice and added together.

>>47323546
Which includes damage from sneak attack or spells such at greenflame blade.

>>47322553
> A dip class to surpass Warlock
This thing is front-loaded as fuck. The level 1 Feature is better than all the others combined.

Make it a Feat that requires a Spellcasting feature and call it a day.

>>47322553
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B002m2_KROanWWVmMjBXa1gzaG8/view?usp=sharing

Sorry about that, crit-rule fixed in this one.

>>47323522
Some DMs like to confirm the crit. How mine does it, if you roll a 10+ after the 20 or 1, you get a bonus, like insta-killing a low level mook for attack rolls. Same for failing. If you roll 9 or lower, you just succeed like normal.

>crit fail perception check
>go blind for 1d4 minutes

>>47323522
Critical confirmation is not a rule in 5e. Lots of older edition players don't read the new books carefully and just assume their old rules still apply

>>47323511
>Fuck, how'd I forget that?

It's a common thing. I'm a pretty big rules guy for you, and I *constantly* misremember prior edition rules and think they're in the current version.

>>47323929
>>47323952
>>47323546

Thank you anons.

>>47323959
Thanks anon. Was the class otherwise ok?

>>47322553
Take out direct spell resistance at 14 and ignoring immunity at 18 and move the firearm bond and it's good

>>47323474
Confirming is a 3rd edition D&D thing, which Pathfinder basically is.

>>47323466
Add the following line to the end of the Frenzy ability.
>"After your frenzy ends, you must complete a short or long rest before you can use this ability again."
Remove the line about suffering a level of exhaustion.

>>47323466
Remove exhaustion or allow them to ignore levels of exhaustion up to their constitution modifier

>>47324784
>>47324914
>ignore levels of exhaustion up to their constitution modifier
I'm not a fan of this. This would remove the penalty for going without food or water, which shouldn't have any interaction with the class. But removing the exhaustion and requiring a rest before a second frenzy sounds reasonable.

>>47324784

That seems like a pretty decent idea. You think it would balance alright?

I'm running my first serious game for my group. What module should i go for? None of them have played the official modules before.

>>47325146

Well do you want a 5e module or do you want to convert an older module?

>>47325146
Lost Mine of Phandelver is great
Princes of the Apocalypse is good
Out of the Abyss is pretty okay
Curse of Strahd is fucking amazing

>>47325174
Whatever the answer, run Strahd

>>47325143
I think it'd be alright. It would still have the problems of bonus action conflicting with combat style feats, so it wouldn't reach new maximum heights of power. You only get three daily rages for a little while, so you'd have to be spreading those out as well to keep using it all the time. I don't think there's a way to set a perfect target for how often it can be used, so this is at least simple to understand.

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>looking to see if there were any good homebrews of my favorite 3.5 prc's
>come across this little treasure

So how OP is this? I noticed the dragon mask lets you deal 4d6 damage in a cone every 1d4 rounds starting at level 3 which is a problem.

>>47325146
Avoid Hoard of the Dragon Queen, it's generally agreed to be the worst. Not by a large margin, but still why waste your time when you could be playing something better?

Strahd is good, but roleplay heavy and slightly higher lethality so if it's your group's first campaign I wouldn't recommend it.

Princes of the Apocalypse is my personal favourite but any of them are good.

>>47325188
>>47325293

>tried playing horde of the dragon queen
>dm said he ran it before and had some improvements
>inserts his monk oc with heterochromia

i never asked for this

>>47325264

>you may instead gain proficiency in another 1st level bard skill

wat

like bards needed 2 free skills in the first place

not really a fan of a class that just does what everybody else does in addition to being a bard, and then eventually does what 2 other people do at the same time. seems kinda lame.

>>47325264
Resources tend to replenish on a rest basis, if you change it to once per short rest it should be fine

Not sure about the sneak attack one either to be honest

>>47325264
The concept is pretty cool, but several of the masks offer really powerful abilities. Dragon you've already mentioned, as well as Archmage (raising the save DC of save-or-suck spells by even a couple of points is incredibly potent).
I'd also change the bonus proficiencies to deception and disguise kit. Because if a bard doesn't pick performance as a trained skill he deserves absolutely everything bad that happens to him.

>>47325264
In addition to what everyone else has said, Angel is just ripping out the Paladin's smite and slapping it on a class with full caster progression, at the cost of a paltry 1d8 damage. Should change to 1d6 per spell level, if not be changed entirely.

In fact, the whole idea of a class that can be every other class is kinda iffy in the first place.

>>47325146

Look at Red Hand of Doom or Night Below.

>>47325346
>>47325354
>>47325372
>>47325433

Yeah upon further inspection it would be easier to start from scratch before trying to fix this. That is unfortunate.

>In fact, the whole idea of a class that can be every other class is kinda iffy in the first place.
Yeah the whole shtick of the MoM in 3.5 was to be able to assume the rolls of other classes...kinda. Whoever made this really isn't good at balance. In 3.5 the Assasin mask just gave you 4d6 sneak attack max unless you were already a rogue. The archmage just let you cast a select list of spells once a day etc.

>>47325433
I mean, if ANY class should get that degree of flexibility, it's definitely bard, but it should definitely be at reduced capacity. Otherwise you're master of all trades and jack of none.

>>47325489
>>47325497
Exactly, I'm not inherently against the idea but being able to have two masks at once with that power list basically lets you steal scaling class features from two classes at once, without multiclassing, on top of being a bard. Getting smite and sneak attack on the same character and having both be effective should take some work, not be just one possible combo of an already ludicrously versatile class.

>>47325560
Also, I see what they were going for with a mask for each alignment but nine is waaaaaay too many and alignment isn't mechanically a thing in 5e anyway. Having you ping as celestial/fiend/whatever would be cool though.