Thread 96303218

Ten of Wands edition

>"New" Arcane Subclasses UA: https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/ua/arcane-subclasses/zepvK7DBkeSt6dqv/UA2025-ArcaneSubclasses.pdf

>2024 PHB Scan (No more fingers edition)
https://files.catbox.moe/g8oo9h.pdf

>Cropped and rotated, but more artifacty
MjAyNCBQSEIsIE5vIFRodW1icywgT0NSZWQsIEFub24ncyBCb29rbWFya3MgdHJhbnNmZXJyZWQgb3Zlci4gCgpodHRwczovL2Vhc3l1cGxvYWQuaW8vd2Fvcm9h

>2024 DMG
https://files.catbox.moe/fd04pq.pdf

>2024 Monster Manual
https://files.catbox.moe/atd38s.pdf (D&D beyond version)
https://pomf2.lain.la/f/1en5qwum.pdf (scan, use at your own risk)

>2024 Official free rules
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/free-rules
>2014 Official Free Rules
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014

>2024 UA
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/ua

>2014 Errata
https://dnd.wizards.com/dndstudioblog/sage-advice-book-updates

>5etools (2024)
http://5e.tools
>5etools (2014)
https://2014.5e.tools/

>Trove
The Trove Vault (seed, please!): mega(dot)nz/folder/uktzzTAI#KfV-EWdhd15FhHNn5HndHg

>Resources:
https://pastebin.com/X1TFNxck

Previous thread
>>96266049

>TQ
The DM has a lot to keep track of, what tasks are should be delegated to players?

>>96303218 (OP)
>TQ
-keeping notes of sessions events as they happened and making summary at the beginning of each sessions (just orally is fine, I used to be thorough with making in character journal but that can be a lots of works, but having the players doing that at each sessions helps getting back into it+it helps seeing what the players recall/focus on the most
-controlling some of allied npcs
-one player who is appointed rule lawyer (just have the book on hands and can check quickly some specific raw rulings when prompted by the gm

>>96303218 (OP)
>>TQ
At the bare minimum, players are responsible for anything related to their character.
-Knowing/applying what they can do
-Knowing/applying their own backstory
-Managing their own inventory
-Not being an ass

> Fun idea for a character
> Forever DM

>>96303218 (OP)
The bare minimum I expect from my players is to be able to read and understand their own character sheet. I am often disappointed.

>>96303218 (OP)
>The DM has a lot to keep track of, what tasks are should be delegated to players?
Honestly I don't get why the DM has to roll for how a curse affects players, seems like something the player should be forced to do to themselves. It's a curse, it's meant to be unpleasant.

>>96303729
Stop being a bitch and tell your players they're not getting any more campaigns until one of them runs one.

Am i a bad DM?
>running game for party with fey race character
>he has dreams of shadowfell monsters
>they eventually find onyx gem that creates huge aura manifesting many shadowfell portals in surrounding land
>whole adventure where they destroy it
>he starts having dremas of 3 shadar-kai
>suddenly meets 3 shadar-kai on the road
Session left off there
>planning to use the 3 shadar-kai from the Mordenkainens Tome of Foes, because i like the "group of 3 distinct baddies hunts the main characters" trope
>due to this fey characters unique link to shadowfell, they don't want to kill him
>just use him
>they're level 4 and the shadarkai are CR 7 9 and 11 so there's basically no way the PCs can win
>I wish the PCs had like a 25 percent chance to win, just to make it interesting
>if they lose the PCs are forced to drink a potion to curse them, but are spared
>the potion will compel them to do...something to assist the shadowfell invasion
>only issue is, one character already has a plot hook like that (he has a poison in him that's slowly killing him and he needs gold to buy the cure).
Am I a bad DM for doing this? The fight technically go either way but they'll almost definitely lose and be forced to go along with this. I want them to be able to level up and defeat these guys in a rematch later. Any ideas or advice?

>>96304131
Do they have any chance to escape or otherwise avoid having the potion forced on them? If not, then it's probably going to feel like you forced them into an unwanted development.
Most players won't run away when they're clearly outmatched anyway, but on the slim chance they do decide they can't win this fight, do they have any shot at getting away from them?

>>96304131
yeah don't play a scripted loss into a forced curse, your players will think you are punishing them
pick one or the other, the scripted loss or the curse

>>96304131
make sure your players know they have the option to run, and don't cut their escape options. If they commit to the fight then you are fine to curse them.

>>96303218 (OP)
when are you friends gonna stop making threads with those images? it's getting tiresome.

Please use D&D related images, we have so many

>>96304205
>>96304244
>>96304251
They only have a 30 foot move speed. One of them might be faster. The shadar-kai have some teleport abilities but very narrowly applicable so they couldn't chase the PCs that way. But even so, if the PCs fight they're gonna go down in 1 round.

I guess my best option would be to downscale the shadar-kai. Which I could do. Make them each CR 5 or 6 so it's a really tough fight but winnable. That'd be more fun for me too. The only thing is, then I'd have to scale them back up for any later fight, and I like the "enemy villain stays the same level while PCs level up so they can finally beat him" concept because its a good way for characters to "feel" their advancement. Like struggling to beat a single ogre at level 1 then at level 5 you carve through half a dozen. Which i guess is almost an argument for levelling them up later.

>>96304309
Are you really complaining that a general thread is easy to identify at a glance?

>>96304327
Could the shadar-kai be identifiable as like one that is fully powered and the others that are new, less powered, whatever?

My DM is letting me buff the Drunken Master subclass because it is absolute dogshit. I'll be using the subclass for 2024 monk. Is there any way I can improve it without making it overpowered? 2024 monks are allowed to use Stunning Strike with ranged attacks and I like the idea of using a boomerang as a primary weapon for the returning feature. For flavoring purposes, I'm going to make him an alcoholic australian that uses his environment for improvised weapons. Any homebrew ideas I could implement to make the build viable and fun?

>>96304327
Are they traveling by foot? If so, then they may have to get tricky to totally cut and run without being followed.
>if the PCs fight they're gonna go down in 1 round
Damn, do they have that much spread damage?
Anyway, I would probably scale them down slightly, have them pull their punches at first, or have something holding them back on the first meeting. If you want them to be recurring antagonists, then give the players a way to get a feel for them without stomping them outright.

>>96304309
>Please use D&D related images, we have so many
You mean like the numerous other threads using fairly generic fantasy art?

>>96304309
When somebody else feels like making an OP. I did it for years, now it's the newfag's turn.

>>96303218 (OP)
is anyone else excited for the new Starter Set? it's going to be my first D&D related purchase in 6 years. I cannot wait to rope people into playing RPGs with me using a board game

>>96304309
Gnostic here. I was going to stop when I ran out of tarot cards. But now I might continue with the earthbound oracle and others like it out of spite.

>>96304734
Possibly. As in they can tell the shadar-kai are more powerful later but still the same ones?

>>96305088
Alright. Maybe one of the three will fight the PCs while the other two watch.

>>96305531
keep it up threadcuck

>>96303218 (OP)
Every Class should have a pet. Rogue, Paladin, Cleric, Warlock, all of them should have at least 1 or 2 Pet Subclasses
It's only natural the Cleric would have a Guardian Angel assisting them through their mission or a Warlock being given a Demon or Devil as part of the contract or a Rogue who can control rats. Give the players what they want, give the Druid back their Dinosaur pet subclass already

>>96303729
Look, if even Mercer can become a player for his 4th campaign, so can you, for your next one.

>>96305503
What does the starter set have that I don't already have access to?

>>96305743
but I don't want to pay a DM like he is.

>>96305071
I played a Drunken Master once as a temporary replacement for a fairly lenghty campaign, from something like level 12 to 15 before getting to my initial character. GM buffed the base chassis of the Monk (more skill point, earlier increase in Martial Art dice; and I had a fun item, that being a magical gourd with a random D8 effect (or I could spend ki to choose the effect). Changes to the subclass were adding a graze like effect (before it was even a thing) when missing attack, equals to the dex modifiers, but that costed 1 ki each time; probably not that good in retrospect.
Seems like you want to go with a focus on range; I'd say that fun stuff that could be done
>ranged attacks can bounce from target to target
>you can teleport to the last place/target you threw your boomrang (might be useless due to the monk speed)
>technically not part of the subclass fantasy raw, but maybe something about brewing special alcohol
>>96305704
I recall Steinhart Guide having a Cleric that does just that, don't know if its good in play though

>>96305531
you are not the one making these threads, I am.

>>96305779
all the prebuilt tools to play with people who aren't knowledgeable about the game

Last session was a humiliation ritual for half the party.

>Paladin loses his artifact sword to a disarm. The wizard uses his special magic item to retcon this and give the paladin another chance, he proceeds to fail the save again - even at advantage.
>A hag proceeds to steal the sword and nearly runs off with it, and only with an immense spending of resources they manage to kill her and retrieve their favourite bauble.
>Warlock has a magic amulet that imprisons fiends and gives him powers based on who's inside. He decides that he wants to upgrade from an immensely powerful devil to an even more powerful devil.
>He lets the currently contained one loose and casts Banishment on him, so that they can kill him later. Almost immediately casts another Concentration spell, the devil proceeds to run away, swearing revenge.
>The second devil also beats the shit out of the warlock.
>He doesn't even succeed on capturing this second devil in his amulet, because the party decides they'd rather kill it.

The road to the end of the dungeon is a long one still.

spirit guardians is good but I like inflict wounds. I want to melee attack people and get crits, you know?

>>96306697
I take it the Warlock has never heard the phrase "Do not call up that which you cannot put down"?

>>96306970
>the inflict wounds sidegrade in 2024
sorry for your loss, i too love that spell

>>96306970
>>96307148

>revert die nerf back to d10
>save for half
>upcast is 2d10 per level above 1st

Would be peak.

>>96305503
Today I'll remind them.

>>96307436
That's a man.

>>96307105
I can't remember a single time he summoned something, and it didn't end up poorly for him.
That one time he summoned an Air Elemental and lost control of him in the middle of said elemental transporting a party member through the sky. The elemental immediately dropped said PC to the ground (he was already rolling death saves, so that was one more failure).
Ordinarily the elemental would then fuck off to his home plane once the spell ends, but this is a Ravenloft campaign. The elemental realized it's stuck, held a grudge and ambushed the party later.

Then there was another time when he summoned a demon and ordered it to reveal its true name, thereby securing a disadvantage on the demon's saving throw to break free. On the very next turn the demon broke free, despite having piss poor Charisma and rolling with a disadvantage.

>>96307436
>>96307480
you're both homosexuals

>>96307630
They should kiss.

I want to make a build centered around ice magic, particularly armor of Agathys. Would it be best to go pure fiend warlock to get temp hp back on kill, since now the temp hp to keep the spell going can be from any source, or would it be better to dip fighter for heavy armor and eventually heavy armor master? Alternatively would multiclassing abjuration wizard be a better option?

>>96307694
Draconic sorcerer could work well. Take cold as your elemental affinity and Transmuted Spell to turn every spell into an ice spell. Make sure to take Sorcerous Burst and Frostbite as cantrips. You could also take the Elemental Adept feat to ignore cold resistance.

>Tempest Cleric 2/Sorcerer 17
>Cast Meteor Swarm
>Transmute Spell Metamagic changing the fire damage to lightning or thunder
>Channel Divinity: Destructive Wrath to maximize the lighting/thunder part.
>spell now deals 120 Lighting/Thunder + 20d6 Bludgeoning Damage, or half on a successful save to each creature caught in each of the 4 40ft radius spheres.

>>96304251
>>96304244
>>96305088
>>96304734
Bumping for more advice.

>>96310124
>>96304131
>Am I a bad DM for doing this?
Yes. Its the definition of a railroad
>The fight technically go either way but they'll almost definitely lose and be forced to go along with this.
You admitted that they have no chance of winning in your own post. Despite saying that it could go eitehr way, you didn't even give us an idea of what you would do if they succeeded. You know they won't.
>I want them to be able to level up and defeat these guys in a rematch later. Any ideas or advice?
pic related are shadowfell natives who could be using disguise self to appear as shadar kai, and it was the shadar kai who used a dream spell to intimidate the character and make them believe that these mooks are them. They'd be under orders from the three guys from the dream to assume their identity and force the players to drink the potion of compulsion (unironically a stupid idea, a magical contract for a lesser charm would be far more foreboding and fair, a dark deal forced on them.

If they are interested in free power, you could give them the shadow touched feat minus the ASI boost, and they could avoid the fight entirely. If you need other ideas for rewards, check the supernatural gits chapter on p277 in the 2014 dmg, and p98 in the 2024 dmg.

>>96310252
>and force the players to drink the potion of compulsion (unironically a stupid idea, a magical contract for a lesser charm would be far more foreboding and fair, a dark deal forced on them.
Would they have the magical power to make that deal happen? I thought the potions would be a good symbol or carrier for that magic. They don't have to drink it, but it's drink it or die. I could just make them verbally agree and be bound by it then.

I could use those guys but their CR is a bit low. I'm looking for something CR 5 so it's an even fight with the PCs so I can enjoy the tension of wondering if they'll win.

I can scale down the shadar Kai, I just need a reason why they'd get more powerful by the time the PCs next fight them.

Everyone in my party is making strength there, dump stat

all of the cleric's spells are to boost the party's str

what monster can i send to them that will show them that strength is not everything

>>96311149
>boost strength with spell
Huh?

>>96311149
>all of the cleric's spells are to boost the party's str
??

>>96311216
>>96311272
1 Enlarge Person: Humanoid creature doubles in size.
2 Bull’s Strength: Subject gains +4 to Str for 1 min./level.
3 Magic Vestment: Armor or shield gains +1 enhancement per
four levels.

>>96311336
>2 Bull’s Strength: Subject gains +4 to Str for 1 min./level.
>/5eg/

>>96311357
What monsters do i send against them ?

>>96311371
Are you sure that you even belong here?

>>96311376
Where do i belong?

>>96311395
I assume /3eg/

>>96311408
>3eg
can you give me a link?

>>96307148
>>96307300
If cult fanatics can't drop the hold person -> critical inflict wounds combo is there any point in using them?

Chat who is this for?

>>96311925
Coloring books
For children.

>>96311925
Probably for parents to buy their children.

Then use one shadar kai (the CR 7 one) and 2 elder darklings. You can further augment the difficulty by having the shadar kai summon lesser darklings

They pack a punch but are easily one shot, perfect for making a fight more lethal but less grueling

>Would they have the magical power to make that deal happen?
With a magic item? Yes.
>I thought the potions would be a good symbol or carrier for that magic.
Players are paranoid about con suming anything given to them, more so if it's a creature known for making deals, especially fey.
>They don't have to drink it, but it's drink it or die.
Choo choo mother fucker.
>I could just make them verbally agree and be bound by it then.
Give them power in exchange for their help, it's a far better experience than forcing them into a cut scene.

>>96311741
That's why you double its up cast. not set up, just unload a fat 6d10 out the gate, save for half. They'll learn really quickly not to let cultists touch them.

How much traveling in Ghosts of Saltmarsh is by land and how much is by sea?

>>96312975
Very little actual sea content, most is within a couple of miles. I'd advise you to pull up a greyhawk map of the Azure Sea and set most of the missions further out (also make a treasure island with a giant shipwreck hermit crab)

>>96313037
Player, not DM, but thanks

>>96312922
>Give them power in exchange for their help,
Should I still have the threat of violence behind it? Because there's no way they'll take that deal if it's just for some dark gifts. Although they could offer to cure the one PCs terminal poisoning, potentially turning him against the others.

I want there to be a decision to them to fight, and likely lose and be forced into it, but I want it to be a winnable battle. So I want it to be a genuine coin flip or maybe 30% chance of them winning. So it's a bad choice, but at least it's a choice. And maybe a wisdom check to size them and say to them they'd about evenly matched.

>>96313216
Yea, they take the dark deal, or start the fight. if they lose, they don't need to die, they can just have the geas spell cast on them.

Can you guys give suggestions how to have a cleric switch domains believably? One of my Players wants to switch domains for his cleric from grave to trickery. He wants to be a cleric who worships Mask.
I thought of making all his spells fail until he renounces his gods and then conveniently runs into some travelling missionaries worshiping Mask, but I think this is a little too simple and boring.
I also thought about his cleric getting tricked into worshiping the wrong deity, but that might make his character look like an ass.
I greatly appreciate any creative input.

>>96314450
depends if they're cleric of god or some force/conviction/conceptual force of the universe, which is perfectly possible depending on the world

if it's a god it can be switching gods entirely, could revealing a different aspect of a god, being a heretic who worships a forbidden/imaginary/unknown aspect of a god, etc. For example, the god of plants/agriculture/farmers could be the god of reaping/death/harvesting

I think there's a lot you can pull from cosmic forces being basically unknowable, and from the actual source of power not having to be the one the character actually thinks it is

I know a lot of srsbsns badasses who like to pretend they are hardcore grognards (despite playing 5e) hate the idea of cleric/paladins of "nothing" because they see it as another political trojan horse, but I think not having cosmic/divinity limited to gods can also be interesting, and can exist in parallel to more traditional gods. A lot of cool stuff can come from mixing different theological systems into the same setting, and lots of work of fiction do it: the old gods complaining about the "new single god" is a regular trope for a reason

How do boots of striding and springing work with carrying capacity in 5.5E? Carrying capacity is Strength x15 and drag, lift, push is Strength x30 but your speed is reduced to 5'. The boots say your speed isn't reduced by weight in excess of your carrying capacity, so does that mean you can carry up to your drag, lift, push weight? This seems like a holdover from the 5E variant encumbrance rule that was missed in 5.5E which doesn't have any rules for encumbrance.

>>96314450
>He wants to be a cleric who worships Mask.
Oh that's so fucking free. Mask was his patron all along (and giving him grave domain spells no less), your player just didn't know it yet.

>>96313368
Alright.

I've also been thinking of making my own trio of Shadar-Kai, named Misery, Agony and Lethargy (or maybe Entropy, Atrophy, or Enmity). I know these are edgy names but Shadar-Kai are edgy in general it seems. I would re-use some of the abilities from the three already made.

It just feels like a waste of the three stat blocks in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, which was the entire reason I thought of the encounter, to then change it homebrew stat blocks. But maybe that's just my autism.

The last session ended with them seeing the three hooded figures down the road. They know that they are shadar-kai from their dreams. I'm thinking they will talk first and be offered the deal to "repent" for their destruction, and be granted a power if they agree to help. If they don't, then there will be a fight. If they do fight and lose, then they'll be told to either agree to a magical geas to do it, or else die.

My only question remaining would be, what would be a good CR for each of the three shadar-kai to be, to have a ~65% chance of defeating three level 4 PCs (not very optimized).

>>96314920
I mean, if its a group they need to fight again, they could fight one of them, now, another one later, and a third even later.

Then the real fight is all three at the same time, when the players are at the appropriate level to fight a CR 7, 9, and 11. And if you need to add some meat to the encounter, a dragon is always a useful

I'm working on a class loosely based on the Warlock's mechanics (all spells are cast at max level, but fewer absolute spell slots), but with recovery on long rest instead of short rest. How many more spells/rest should I give them, compared to Warlock. Double?

>>96315834
yeah sure

>>96307512
That's almost as bad as me still not being able to do anything with my WizBard (Lore Bard 10/Scribes Wizard 2) after our DM got rid of "Roll to see if it works" as part of spellcasting.

>>96308798
Should really be Sorc 16/Tempest Cleric 2/Scribes Wizard 2
That way you can make the spell do 120 Lightning+120 Thunder Damage.

>session 10
>2/5 players still won't read the fucking rules and can't figure out the most basic bitch system ever put to pen and paper
i am going to cum

>>96316324
Need 17 levels to learn 9th level spells.
Also if you're talking about Meteor Swarm, just be an Evocation Wizard and overchannel it.

Im sorry what does "use at own risk mean" for the monster manual file? is it not scanned and safe? Cant click and scan it with antivirus here

>>96316472
Someone has scanned it and said it was safe. As the OP my security system blocks it so I can’t independently verify it. Personally I just use 5e tool, it’s much easier.

>>96316459
Got a guy who will automatically write down the statistics of towns, their population, major npcs, what they trade in, etc but will then ask why the fuck they’re exploring a place even though it was what the past half hour of discussion was about. It’s the fucking worst he asks so much, and knows so little, and thinks he knows tons. I hadn’t DM’d 5e for a year or two and thought I’d step back in to help DM a campaign for our LGS and I think this table has ruined me, I want out again

>>96310637
>they don't have to drink it
>it's drink it or die
you're either baiting or a retard

>>96311424
you can find it yourself

>>96316527
Is it so hard for people to type /3eg/ into search on the catalogue? What the fuck is wrong with 4chan these days?

Looking at a spell with a persistent aoe that says you can move it up to 30 feet "when you move on your turn". I'm sure the intent is that you can only move it 30 feet per turn, but it also sounds like you could walk five feet, move the aoe 30 feet, walk another five feet, move the aoe again, etc. That would be ridiculous, but I'm curious if this has ever actually been addressed anywhere.

>>96317888
if you tried this at my table I would strongly discourage you from trying something like that again

>>96317888
1. Stop playing 2024, it's like the designers understood "5e's the worst it can be" as a challenge rather than a problem to solve.
2. It's not a video game and the role of the GM is to cut down on such silly "exploits".
3. To me it's not even worded like that, I personally understood
>and when you move on your turn, you can also move the pack up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.
as "at one point when you move on your turn, you can also relocate the pack once". If it had "one time" added it would be clearer and more explicit, but this goes back to point 1 - stop playing 2024.

>>96318668
>2024 bad
Nah, you’re just bitter for some reason

>>96318605
>>96318668
Calm down. I thought I implied that I wasn't planning to try it, but I guess not.

>>96314450
>switch domains for his cleric from grave to trickery.
It was a trick all along, and the god ended the masquerade, revealing it was mask all along.
I don't think it can't be hard.

>Deflect Missile (Recharge 5–6). Trigger: The giant is hit by a ranged attack roll and takes Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage from it. Response: The giant reduces the damage it takes from the attack by 11 (1d10 + 6), and if that damage is reduced to 0, the giant can redirect some of the attack's force. Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 17, one creature the giant can see within 60 feet. Failure: 11 (1d10 + 6) Force damage.
Assume a Stone Giant Deflect Missiles a boulder- how do you explain the Force Damage narratively?

>>96320061
You don't make it force. Just make it of the same type as the attack that was deflected.

>>96320061
>>96320096
>this is the actual mm'25 statblock for stone giant
holy kek you can't make this shit up

>>96320107
>>96320061
ok
>its giant magic
Pic related if need further clarification.

>>96320061
They’re parrying you by bending the fabric of space time to bop your ass

looking to make a lunar sorcerer, seems like a fun idea but the spells are kind of underwhelming. did anyone ever stumble about a fix or has ideas what to change without making them super broken?

>>96320353
Moon Fire
1st-Level Lunar Sorcery Feature
You can call down the radiant light of the moon on command. You learn the sacred flame spell, which doesn't count against the number of sorcerer cantrips you know. When you cast the spell, you can target one creature as normal or target two creatures within range that are within 5 feet of each other. When sacred flame’s damage increases at 5th, 11th, and 17th level, you can target one additional creature (three, four, and five targets, respectively). All targets must be within 5 feet of another target and within range.


Lunar Boons
6th-Level Lunar Sorcery Feature
The current phase of your Lunar Embodiment can affect your Metamagic feature. Each Lunar Embodiment phase is associated with certain schools of magic, as shown here:

Full Moon. Abjuration and divination spells
New Moon. Enchantment and necromancy spells
Crescent Moon. Illusion and transmutation spells

Whenever you use Metamagic on a spell of a school of magic associated with your current Lunar Embodiment phase, you can reduce the sorcery points spent by 1 (minimum 0). Y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶d̶u̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶c̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶M̶e̶t̶a̶m̶a̶g̶i̶c̶ ̶a̶ ̶n̶u̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶e̶q̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶f̶i̶c̶i̶e̶n̶c̶y̶ ̶b̶o̶n̶u̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶e̶n̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶.̶

>>96320141
>>96320061
That or, you can flavor it like unresistable BPS damage. The Pit Fiend looks like this and its mace deals Force and Fire Damage not Bludgeoning and Fire.

>>96320849
That's because it's a magic mace

>>96320866
You got me there, it is magic that's what Force is. Which is why the narrative explanation of "impossibly unresistant physical damage" fits. You get hit by the axe of the Empyrean but your Rage doesn't resist it as it leaves a magical cut dealing Force Damage.

>>96311925
Little kids and autistic people.

What accents are gnome-coded? I wanna play a Gith raised by gnomes.

>>96321437
New York

What would some fun spells to take be for a satyr dance bard?

>>96320061
“Hey buddy I think you dropped this”

I have seen two opinions abour chromatic orb so gar. That it is a worthless spell and that it does more damage than fireball. Haven't seen it being used yet

>>96322042
It was a decent spell in 2014, and its a great spell is 2024. Sorcerer especially makes good use of with their mage rage.

>>96321437
>Arabic
>Irish
>Cockney
>Jewish

>Don't take the spotlight
>Everyone sits around and nothing happens, DM has to constantly push us along any time I'm not the one leading
>Take the spotlight
>Other players get mad that I'm doing everything

>>96322654
Been there, its like they don't want to play the game. Some players should stick to podcasts

>going through the ruins of a temple
>a bunch of empty, ransacked rooms
>magic library with books whose texts are rendered invisible by magic;See Invisibility does nothing, so probably need truesight or to dispel the magic
>a few obviously evil magic items keep offerings us boons, likely with a curse attached
>while searching some of the rooms, the DM just comes out and tells us there's nothing to find in any of them and that we might as well get on with it for time's sake
>tfw
This campaign has kind of blown dicks so far, and yet I've somehow hung in here for 30+ sessions. I feel like I'm trapped and I want out.

>>96323466
kek

>>96323466
Ask him after the session why he added so many rooms if he didn't want to you explore them?

>>96318766
No, he's right- a lot of these spell wording details became all fucked up and screwy in 5.5. Restrictions that were there for good reason deleted without conceivable reason.

>>96323897
whats the spell thats shit that the guy was talking about?

>>96317888
Oh no, I play without a grid. That's infinite movement as long as the PC always moves half their remaining speed.

>>96323753
>>96323863
This isn't even the worst of it. This is sort of just the icing on the cake because the DM said this is the end of "Act 1" of our campaign and it went out with a wet fart. He's been in a rush to get us to move on from our current location, but the location we're in hasn't hardly been anything of worth either and every direction we go in has nothing planned for it. We just got done going through a dungeon that was "oops, all mimics" and empty rooms just a few sessions ago and literally everyone in the party was groaning about how much it sucked.
I've posted bits and pieces about the game before, but this we were originally supposed to be playing Curse of Strahd but the DM took some "liberties" with the campaign and now we're about to embark on a plane-hopping quest to find a series of macguffins that no one is really interested in. We don't even have a solid reason to do so in-character because we don't really have a clear objective.
To put it simply:
>game was billed as CoS
>take forever to enter Barovia after getting sidetracked to another domain of dread
>Strahd has been dead for years
>turns out our group of characters from a previous failed attempt at running the module completed the story without us, which is why the DM didn't let us bring those same characters despite this ostensibly being a do-over
>hilarity ensues as we keep getting told of their exploits while we comb through a world that has had the adventure stripped from it
I've actually grown increasingly bitter over the whole ordeal. My friend is inexperienced in running longer campaigns, but he really bit off more than he could chew and this is just the latest floundering attempt to build up to something.

>>96324296
One of the worst games I've played was also a CoS game. Dude clearly didn't prep most of the time, and when he did it was always terrible. I left when he turned it into redwall.

>>96324449
I think the lack of preparedness is a big part of it for him as well, but I think CoS is also just not something he was prepared to run tonally. He tends more toward whimsical fantasy and comedic plotlines. More than once did he accidentally step on a player's toes by turning a serious moment into a punchline for a gag no one really cared about.
>I left when he turned it into redwall
It gets to feeling so close to that at times, but I really hadn't thought of it that way until you mentioned that.

>>96324469
He turned me into a badger

>>96324487
All right, my situation could be worse then.

>>96303218 (OP)
Was I the only one who did not see "ten of wands" and instead thought, "Ah, the gathering of a faggot."

>>96324722
kek

What kind of celestial would an Bane cleric summon with "Summon Celestial" spell? what should i go for? i'm likely gonna use that spell in my next game

>>96327072
an echo of koravis. Taking find familiar some how would be cool.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Koravis

What is your opinion on west marches campaigns? Would you play in one? Why or why not?

spinning up a game after 5 years without playing. PLEASE tell me we've invented a better alternative to the piece of shit that is roll20. I don't need much, just a site to throw a map up on the screen and move tokens around

>>96328100
You prob were on a coma or something, but nowadays VTT foundry is waaaaay better

>>96327711
No, I play with my friends.

>Be sorcerer
>Activate mage rage
>Cast 5th-level Scorching Ray
>12 chances to hit/crit
Damn

>DM is a rules-first DM instead of a story-first DM
worst experience you can ever have playing this game. the whole point is the narrative, the storytelling, the environment, and the mysteries. if you want a game that's primarily combat and measuring the distance you can walk just play warhammer instead

>>96328415
based storyshitter retard, how much for tickets?

>>96328219
I know im replying to bad faith bait, but you're going with your terminally online definition of a west marches campaign (strangers on discord), when in fact my friends and I made a west marches campaign because we had scheduling conflicts, wanted to invite some more people without having a 10 person party, and also seem to have solved the forever dm problem.

>>96328603
It's not bad faith, I wouldn't play a west marches game because I play with my friends in real life every other week. Why would we change that to a west marches game?

>Rising from the Last War is branded as Eberron
>Shadow of the Dragon Queen is branded as Dragonlance

>Curse of Strahd not branded as Ravenloft
>Ghosts of Saltmarsh not branded as Greyhawk

This feels inconsistent to me.

>>96328861
Curse of Strahd isnt Ravenloft explicitly because you're characters from Faerun/Forgotten Realms can be whisked away into Strahd's Domain so it might make sense for your OG BG3 character to be teleported to Barovia.

>Strahd's Possession from the Gold Box has you looking for some shit that was stolen from a lord of waterdeep/neverwinter then teleported into Barovia

Ghosts I think its because they didn't really care enough to explicitly say that it was Greyhawk when they made the adventure
>I never read much about it

>>96303218 (OP)
>Ten of Wands
Those are carrots

>>96327711
>>96328630
I'm basically running a west marches campaign, but with only 4 players and they all come each time, but each has an entire roster of characters to form a party for each dungeon. It's fun and allows players to make weird experiments and take suboptimal choices because even if they turn out to suck, they still have their minmaxed favorite characters available.
I ran an actual "proper" west marches campaign one time for a month or so when I had infinite free time, it's a decent outlet for energetic DMs addicted to DMing, I feel like it wouldn't be as satisfying to the players.

>>96328977
Ghosts explicitly mentions various Flanaess nations, regions, and factions, including but not limited to:
>The Kingdom of Keoland, where Saltmarsh is located
>Iuz, who has an embassy in the middle of Saltmarsh
>The Scarlet Brotherhood who's trying to malipulate the town
>The Sea Prince pirate confederacy
>The Azure Sea, where you do most of the sailing
>Uskarn, a port town in the Kingdom of Nyrond and the setting of the Tammeraut's fate adventure
>The Styes itself is a port district in the city of Prymp

Of course it's flexible enough where you can work it into other settings. Personally I think ripping the Temple of Tamoachan from Yawning Portal is perfect for a Saltmarsh campaign since that's just south of Saltmarsh in the Amedio jungle.

>>96327711
Definitely a step in the right direction if you've been playing story-focused railroads. They require some kind of time keeping between sessions which is always better than pause time. They make it easy for irregular or guest players to jump into the campaign when they can and like >>96329036 said they enable multiple characters per player. They also work well as a low-prep sandbox style campaign if you rely on random tables to generate the world and encounters as you go.

I was gonna play D&D for the first time tonight but it got cancelled at the last minute.

>>96328366
its pretty sick. Even just a 2nd level chromatic orb is like a 50%

>>96329588
Many such cases.

>>96329588
You just experienced the typical D&D session, congrats!

>>96328977
>because you're characters from Faerun/Forgotten Realms can be whisked away into Strahd's Domain
It might be fun to play a party of people from different worlds.

>>96329819
Okay but how do you get around everyone having a different version of Common?

>>96329852
Isn't Common the same on every world? Something about it originating from Sigil and spreading to literally everywhere?

>>96329952
Toril:
The Common Tongue in Faerûn is descended from Alzhedo, the language of the Calishite people, which in turn was influenced by Chondathan, the language of the Chondathan humans who spread through much of central Faerûn. Chondathan-speaking traders and settlers established extensive trade routes across Faerûn, making their tongue a trade language. Over time, it evolved into “Common” — simplified for easy communication between different cultures. Different regions still have strong linguistic holdovers — Dambrath, Rashemen, and others still speak their native tongues — but Common dominates trade, politics, and adventuring.

Oerth:
Common in the World of Greyhawk evolved from Old Oeridian mixed with Ancient Baklunish. After the Great Migrations (following the Twin Cataclysms), the Oeridians became politically dominant, especially through the Great Kingdom of Aerdy. Their language mixed with Baklunish and other tongues, producing “Common” as the official trade and governance language of the Flanaess. Old Oeridian is still preserved in heraldry and ancient texts, and some nations (like Furyondy) speak regional variants.

Eberron:
Common is based on the language of the ancient human kingdom of Galifar. When King Galifar I united the Five Nations nearly a thousand years ago, his court language became the official tongue of law, government, and trade. After the Last War, Common remained the shared language of diplomacy. Different regions of Khorvaire have distinct accents or slang, but Common is universally understood across most of the continent.

Mystara:
Common in Mystara is usually Thyatian, derived from the language of the Thyatian Empire. The Thyatian Empire is a dominant power in the Known World, with massive influence over trade, culture, and politics. Its official tongue serves as the default for communication between nations. Thyatian is essentially Latin in tone, with other regions speaking their own languages

Just a few examples

>>96329588
My usual game got cancelled this week because one person had centerlink shit and the other said
>Hey sorry I forgot I had something on this coming Wed so I wont be available
Very vague. I'm away on a trip the next week so it's going to be quite a while until we play again. I'd been loving the game and was constantly working on it as the DM but I've lost all motivation now.

>>96330003
Quit posting old shit. PHB says Common is from Sigil, so it's from Sigil.

>>96330358
2024 rules are gay, it's way more interesting for languages to develop in their own respective worlds without it coming from some multiplanar nexus.

>>96303218 (OP)
A campaign with DNI 2025 will soon begin and we'll start at level 3. QUICK, make a build that will allow me to do the most damage possible at level 3.

>>96330358
>he uses the 2024 lore
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU FUCKING FAGGOT HAHAHAHAHAHA

>>96330414
just say you want to run the darmok and jalad at tanagra scene from star trek

A D&D 5.5 campaign will be starting soon, and we’ll begin at level 3. Quickly, make a build that lets me deal the maximum possible damage.

>>96330447
TWF Paladin
Berserker barb

>>96330447
thief rogue with a wand of magic missile

>>96330447
Monk
3rd level
>action: dagger/punch or dodge
>bonus action: punch
or
>bonus action ki point: flurry of blows
one to three attacks

4th level take weapon mastery: dagger
>action: dagger attack
>action: nick 2nd dagger attack
>bonus action: punch
or
>bonus action ki point: flurry of blows
three to four attacks
5th level
>action: dagger attack
>action: nick 2nd dagger attack
>action: extra dagger attack
>bonus action: punch
or
>bonus action ki point: flurry of blows
three to five attacks each at a d8

With so many attacks, long death is actually viable for being able to kill shit and get that temp HP

>>96303218 (OP)
Pardon as I am certain this has been asked before , but I would really like to play a character like sevarian from book of the new sun. I never have posted on /tg/ before but my friends at my office are doing DnD and they said "Come up with a cool character" I really like book of the new sun. But with limited understanding of the mechanics and classes I am looking for a push in the right direction. Could anyone come up with something I can run with?

>>96330578
i know not who that is, what about that character makes him interesting?

whats his abilities / how does he solve problems / does he use weapons?

>>96330633
Well Sevarian is a journeyman of a torturers guild , he gets exiled for showing mercy to a prisoner, He receives a sword - "Terminus Est" which is a executioners sword and is sent to be essentially a coordinator of a distant towns prison. Personally I find it kinda cool that #1 the look of the character , he wears a cloak of fuligin which is described as darker than black , and his mask which most torturers wear. #2 his Sword , terminus est is an executioners sword meaning it has no point . Other things I find cool about him is his perfect memory and his journey throughout all 4 novels.

>>96330679
so he's a swordsmen / torturer? Someone who's really into law / justice? perhaps a paladin of some sort then might work

>>96330693
From what little I know about the classes that makes sense. Thank you!

>>96330707
do you know what level you're playing at?

>>96330718
I think starting from level 1

>>96330728
shouldnt be too complicated then, just grab a great sword as your weapon of choice, put your highest ability score into strength so you can swing it, then pick constitution for hp / charisma for your paladin skills and start swinging

your dm will tell you how you get your stat scores / help you with the rest of it

>>96330760
excellent , thank you for the help!

>>96322042
I just saw a potentially powerful use for it. The orb jumps to attack a new target if you roll the same number on two or more of its damage dice. If upcasted to 7th level, the damage roll becomes 9d8, which guarantees at least two matching numbers and therefore guarantees that the orb will jump if it hits. The number of times the orb can jump is equal to the level at which the spell is cast, so you could potentially hit 7 enemies for 9d8 damage each, or more enemies and damage if you upcast it further. It sounds interesting, but it also sounds like it needs a lot of factors to fall into place just right, and I'm not sure it would be worth trading a 7-9th level spell for. You could probably hit just as many (or more) targets for the same amount of damage with a 6th-level Cone of Cold, which will always do at least half damage.

>>96328995
Horsegirl "Lineage" when?

>>96331285
Uhhh centaurbros?

>>96331285
>lineage
its species if your 2024, or race if you're elderly
otherwise, its satyr

Assuming i made a working twf druid with shillelag, is conjure minor elementals going to do more damage in melee than conjure woodland beings?

>>96331290
Do other members of the party have to help the centaur PC wash their puffy asshole and cock?

>>96319440
Lol.

>>96319440
https://youtu.be/1ZjUiKeXeOc?si=dJysNZwdi7sp9nWF

The absolute state of 5e. I’m just glad we still have a few third party makers creating decent content. But after the ogl debacle a lot have left.

>>96319440
WHat gets me is that the melanin-obsessed freakshows don't even make the effort to make their characters look "Beautiful" at all.

What is it with this generation of - SOMEHOW - authoritarian hippies and their worshipful behavior for all things ugly? Why do they so love the vile, repugnant and filthy?

>>96332674
>>96332578
>the double nogame tourist reply
fuck off btw

>>96332674
All bodies are beautiful chud, you'll find that attractive if we have to shove it down your throat. (This is half/half satire and truth)

To put it another way, all the ugly people got bullied into the arts, what goes around comes around eh?

>>96332745
I would like to now bully them out of the arts and into a river.

>>96332674
>>96332745
>>96332751
Weirdly obsessed psychotics.

i dont wanna lose my players or the campaign to disappear but right now i just dont wanna prep or think about the game

>>96333795
run a one shot

>>96333818
>run a one shot
eh... less work but still lots of prep... but maybe
in the past ive run one shots when some player is missing before a critical session and they are like flashbacks/mind time travel like in final fantasy 8, where the players think they are playing entirely separate events but at the end of the session they wake up with their main campaign characters having experienced those memories, which usually explain something about the larger plot
I think i might do it again

>>96333015
Pretty much, for some reason people struggle with others having different tastes

One year in after starting, two campaigns (running through Curse of Strahd as a player now) as still have figured out a system to easily take notes

What are you all doing with your own notes? By the time my sessions are over it just al read like a bunched up mess

>>96334450
as a player i'm tracking all damage w/ an excel sheet because i like collecting data. last campaign i tracked experience and which monsters we fought. my pf2e campaign i tracked nothing

>>96331939
I'm going to go ahead and assume you have +3 WIS, +2 Dex, and took dual wielder and weapon mastery as your Feats. This isn't a good build mind you, both of those spells are concentration and you don't have a way to protect that with a build like this, but we're looking at theoretical max damage.

With CME, you'll have a total of 2d10+4d8+3 damage with a +7 to hit modifier and a total of 1d4+2d8 with a +6 to hit modifier. I'll give you a hit chance of 55% with the +7 and 50% with the +6, and that bring your damage average to 37.65.

With 55% accuracy on CWB, you'll do 17.44 damage on average, and you'll have your action open to throw a cantrip like Starry Wisp, bringing your total up to 22.39. That said, your accuracy will probably be higher since you'll be able to invest in WIS more easily, so that number might be a bit higher, that spell can hit multiple creatures which this does not take into account, and you'll have room for a feat to protect your concentration which is very important.

Go Valor Bard for CME builds

>>96307512
>Then there was another time when he summoned a demon and ordered it to reveal its true name,

Why would it do that

>>96334450
Writing them out, pen and paper, and then typing them into a Google Doc the next day. Works pretty well.

>>96303218 (OP)
7 days ago I had a game and my character went up to level 5 and I have a question.
Can someone explain to me how Extra Attack works on the Berserker Barbarian?
I have: weapon damage, Frenzy damage + Strength + Rage damage + Great Weapon Master damage
All of this on the first atack, but what happens when I use Extra Attack? Is all of that applied again or what?

>>96335702
dnd 5.5 2024 rules

>>96335702
reading the rules explains the rules (mostly)

>If you use Reckless Attack while your Rage is active, you deal extra damage to [the first target you hit on your turn] with a Strength-based attack. To determine the extra damage, roll a number of d6s equal to your Rage Damage bonus, and add them together. The damage has the same type as the weapon or Unarmed Strike used for the attack.

This would mean that you can use it once per turn on the first enemy hit. With your second hit, you do not add in that damage again, nor on the extra attack granted from the great weapon master.

So you have 3 different damage calcs while raging -- 4 if you've got cleave

One: Frenzy, Str, Rage, GWM
Two: Str, Rage, GWM
Bonus Action if you Crit / Kill an enemy: Str, GWM.
> The reason you do not add in extra damage for your Bonus Action is beacuse the extra damage is when attacking as part of the "Attack" action.

Fourth w/ Cleave (if you have the mastery and there's another enemy for you to cleave at): Rage, GWM
>This is because the Cleave is considered to be part of your attack action still

>>96335738
>One: Frenzy, Str, Rage, GWM
>Two: Str, Rage, GWM
>Bonus Action if you Crit / Kill an enemy: Str, GWM.
amazing, thanks friend

>party had a multi-faceted puzzle to solve
>involved individual members solving individual componets to complete the whole
>one player had a word riddle involved
>usually the type of guy that likes being right, considers himself clever, etc thought it'd make sense for him to try
>he gets it wrong
>proceeds to rage about it and intentionally kills his character and sits outside on the steps for 30 mins fuming about it
>ask him whats wrong and he tells me the puzzle was "bullshit"
did i really do something that wrong? i get a word riddle isn't the most compelling of challenges but The Hobbit had a BS word riddle and i thought it was nice.
riddle was tldr:
>poem that had to do with "what is heavier than steel but weighs light on pure minds" etc etc etc the correct answer was "conscience"
the only consequence for failing it was having your character take some dmg. thats it.

>>96335803
Sounds like he has some other issues, you didn't do anything wrong

>>96335738
I was asking because my GM seemed convinced the Barbarian could repeat ALL the damage from the first hit, including Frenzy. So I was a little confused.
I'd forgotten about Cleave, but thanks for explaining that to me, too.
The Berserker Barbarian can do such a huge amount of damage.

>>96335817
>The Berserker Barbarian can do such a huge amount of damage.
Barbarians in general do a great amount of damage. Of course, they have some lacking abilities too. But if you're fortunate enough to play with a Barbarian that enjoys his class and uses his ability - you're fortunate enough.

>>96335844
I love going crazy and just Rip & Tear

>>96334450
Two different notepads, one for general info about NPCs, towns and maps and the other for info related to my character.

>>96335803
What was his answer?

Anyone has strixhaven pdf?

>>96336758
dont want the shit in the tools?

How big are your parties? Mine 3, technically 4, but one of the players can hardly ever attend

>>96336758
yeah, but im too lazy to upload it :^)

>>96336787
Six-man group, typically. Probably the upper limit of what most people want to run.

>Human Fighter
based
>Dwarf Cleric
based
>Halfling Rogue
based
>Gnome Wizard
based
>Orc Barbarian
based
>Elf Ranger
cringe

>>96336787
strahd:
-Me (goth gnome grave cleric stressed out of her mind)
-Dorf paladin here to deus vult the shit out of undead
-Gnome ranger goober that takes absolutely nothing seriously
-Goober 2: Druid Boogaloo
-Sussy imposter Drow warlock in disguise
-Human wizard that got stuck with us after being sucked into a mirror portal

wacky homebrew revenge quest campaign:
-Me (antisocial 7ft tall cactus lady ranger)
-Goober goblin spore druid with tiny fey living in her hat
-Nervous wreck tiefling order cleric
-Schizo human warlock gene splicer
-Chill big bro dragonborn
-Battlemage human fighter

why are nogames always so fucking butthurt all the time. Who the fuck cares if wotc has a black person in the art, or someone wants to a play a character in a wheelchair. Like get a fucking life holy shit

>>96337232
Years ago, I ran a DnD game online and had a player named Jack who joined. He was a military guy who essentially was on night watch all the time with nothing to do and wanted a way to occupy time. He made a Human Champion Fighter named Jack. He immediately picked up on the rules, never took long on his turns, would always try to engage other players, would buy mundane items and try to leverage them in and out of combat at any reasonable opportunity, and overall was an excellent player despite seeming disinterested when he first joined. That group fell apart because two of the other players were ridiculously cringe. Jack said he really wanted to keep playing and asked me if I would run a game for him and some of his military buddies. I agreed and ran the game for them. They were all incredibly respectful and considerate players. They all made simple characters but were a tactical swat team of a party and would ask me to up the challenge of the fights after every battle they obliterated. We finished our game and said our goodbyes and I didn't hear from them for a long time. A couple months ago, Jack tracked me down through an old email address I had and sent me an email asking me where I lived. He and his buddies were getting moved and picked the base closest to me, and Jack invited me to be a player in a game he wanted to run. I'm socially awkward but him and his buddies were the first friends I had made in a long time. Jack helped me start going to the gym and I feel like a better person now even though I'm still awkward. Human Fighters are insanely based.

>Yes, the rules phrase it in such a way that it can be interpreted differently, but this is intended for the ability to work in another way
Why can’t they just write the information in the abilities the way it’s actually meant to be understood, instead of adding wordiness that can cause more confusion?

>Yes, the rules phrase it in a way that can be interpreted one way, but it’s actually intended for the ability to work differently
Why can’t they just write the information in the abilities the way it’s actually meant to be understood, instead of adding wordiness that can cause more confusion?

>>96337771
Usually the common sense approach is correct. Perhaps you’re misunderstanding something (I doubt that because you seemingly know the meaning of the rule despite it being confusing or whatever)

>halfing barb
What sort of stereotypes/tropes can I play into?

>>96337851
No, not now. I was, but being here has cleared up all my doubts for now
hth

>>96335817
Why would you try to argue your DM to REDUCE your damage dude just accept it

>>96336467
he had 2 chances and his 1st was "honesty" and then "guilt". they were reasonable enough it just wasnt correct. and he got really mad about it. i never claimed it was some deep riddle or anything

>>96337771
Example?

>>96337856
Dinosaur riders

>>96336787
5, but I honestly wish it was 3 or 4. 5 is the fucking MAX I do now

How do i make exploration more fun?

>>96337993
I feel like it will be used against me if I use any examples, just... let's just end this here, okay?

>>96337991
desu i would've given it to him with guilt, but throwing a tantrum over it is on him

>>96337991
"Guilt" and "conscience" are synonyms in that context you retard, you shouldn't be running word riddles if your comprehension is such dogshit. I would have crashed out too.

>>96338050
yeah fair enough i just wasnt expecting a rage quit thats all
>>96338060
i guess, but i dont think it was that big of a deal in retrospect. it held up the game for everyone else for about 30 mins. i mean fair enough i wont give him those kinds of things going forward but i guess i assumed that even getting part of the overall puzzle wrong ppl would just play on.

>>96338038
Sure

>>96322042
>>96322404
>>96331220
It's certainly unique for its potential as an AoE that targets AC instead of a save. I don't think there are any other spells like that.

>>96338089
Telling someone who is right, from a position of authority, that they are wrong, is always a big deal. It's demeaning and insulting. People play D&D to have a good time, not to be demeaned and insulted.

STOP FUCKING ACTING BEFORE CONSULTING THE OTHER PLAYERS
YOU ARE NOT A LEADER OF MEN BRAVING THE COLLECTIVE INDECISION YOU ARE JUST THAT GUY EVERYONE HATES

>>96338207
well the correct answer wasnt what he said and i didnt think it was really that big of a deal. ive not always had the correct response to stuff in game before as a player and well you just move on and play. i guess that people are very fragile today and its important to feed that sense of needing to be correct about everything or else you have to accept various rage quits and so on. the game has changed so much from the old days when people seemed more about having fun.

>>96338240
So don't DM. Your job is to make sure your players are having a good time regardless of whatever you had planned. You need to know your players. If they are the type of people that enjoy solving puzzles, make sure they solve puzzles even if it doesn't match what you wrote down in your notes. The goal of the game is to make sure your players feel like they are masters of the game. If a player was unhappy because he didn't have a good time then you failed as a DM. My advice is to always ensure that every player feels like the main character, like they are the most powerful player at the table, and that they will always succeed. Nobody cares about
>muh challenge rating
>muh old school
This isn't 1980. You need to make your players feel validated at the table and ensure they are empowered to accomplish every task.

how do I stop my players from looking over the DM screen? Had a weird encounter last session where I rolled and one of my players asked me "so is that 18 going to hit?" I told him that you shouldn't peak behind the screen it kind of ruins the game. Honestly I think I'm just going to quit ttrpgs. Expectations vs reality has been an appaling experience.

>>96338321
ban him

>>96338207
>>96338307
>NOOOO YOU CANNOT LET ME FAIL I *MUST* AUTISTICALLY RUIN EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF RESISTANCE
No games

>>96337856
Napolean complex.

When I played a halfling barbarian in 3.5, I made sure to be the angriest, most reckless, no holds-barred barbarian I could be. Charged even the biggest and toughest enemies without hesitation, picked fights, invented long strings of creative invectives when insulting somebody, and used the biggest sword I could get away with.

>>96338207
>>96338307
I can't possibly see what enjoyment you get out of a game where you're always right and you're never challenged or threatened. I never understood people who fake dice rolls, lie about their abilities/intentionally misuse them, complain when they walk into a trap, and so on. Seriously you could just play any single-player game and use cheat codes and save everyone the nauseau of playing with you.

>>96303729
The problem is my players are so retarded and prone to cheating that I would never trust them to run a game.

>party wants to play at higher level
>complains that enemies are hitting them every turn because they have high to hit bonuses and have more spells
>"thats cheating"
??? is it just the 5e crowd or something

>>96338207
>Telling someone who is right, from a position of authority, that they are wrong
It's a good thing that didn't happen then.

>>96338240
>well the correct answer wasnt what he said
The issue is that you gave him a word puzzle where multiple things could be conceivably correct and there was no semantic gotcha that could make it so that the specific answer you wanted was the only correct way to answer. He effectively gave two answers that both fit the given prompt to a T, but that's more on the fact that the "riddle" was too broad. That said, his response was an autistic baby tantrum instead of simply calling your shitty puzzle shitty.
If you give someone a puzzle with one specific correct answer, then make it so that there is no way it could be anything else. He gave you a synonym for the answer and instead of going "close enough," you choose to hit him with the damage buzzer and are dismissing his confusion by calling him fragile and that has a "sense of needing to be correct."
This is partially an issue of expectations, but also that your riddle just wasn't very solid. If you make a puzzle that can be cheesed or has multiple things that fit the prompt, and someone gives you an answer that fits, it's incredibly immature of you to respond to their (also immature) disdain with "dude, it doesn't even matter do you really need to win that badly I don't even care jeez chill."
This is some I AM SILLY type shit.

>>96338035
By playing a different game with good rules for it. Barring that, try to make the area a real ecosystem with ongoing events for the players to encounter. Don't present the world as though it's always just responding to them. Have things happen in a natural way with a few oddball events mixed in and maybe leave some trails or clues around in the environment that lead to points of interest.

>>96338321
Personal friends or randos?

>>96338321
>using a screen

>early in new campaign
>playing with this group for a bit over a year now
>my rogue rolls encounter during watch
>some weird fey bandits show up
>usually do the “yell and wake up the party and run combat” thing during a watch
>but I decide to gamble on being able to talk them down without a fight
>would wake everyone if it goes sideways though
>actually successful and pretty fun scene shooing them away
>get info about the camp we’re looking for too
>let party know the next morning
>above table they’re annoyed I didn’t wake them up because it could have gone badly and we would have lost all our stuff
>plus they wanted to fight
>even though we’re long resting specifically because they’re all out of spell slots
We’ve been a bit murderhobo-y in our previous campaigns so I thought it was fun to not immediately go into a fight for once. It wasn’t a long scene, just a minute or two of back and forth with the dm and a couple rolls. And they were laughing at the time. But then they seemed annoyed after. But am I crazy? Should I have woken them all up?

>>96339554
>But am I crazy?
Yeah in-character they would be right to be angry, the enemies could have encircled them or somehow quietly killed you and then they'd be super fucked.
>Should I have woken them all up?
You're not really obliged imo, especially if it was one-off thing. It would be courteous to wake up the rest of the party but explicitly say beforehand that you wish to try talking (and then they'd start combat and it would be you bitching about them rather than the reverse).

>>96339690
>and then they'd start combat and it would be you bitching about them rather than the reverse
Got it, so don't wake them because I'm not sacrificing my engagement for their stupidity.

Any half decent level 1 one-shots out there? I need to cobble something together for an impromptu session tonight.

Question to all anons that are very familiar with all editions of DnD. In any of the books, is there a sword skill that allows melee classes to perform a sword slash projectile, or would that be home brew only?

>>96340565
>weeb attack

>>96340590
nta but by 9th level, I think martials should be capable of slashing so fast that they can "cut" air and release a thin sonic boom that mimics a "sword slash projectile"

>>96340645
whats wrong with throwing stuff / using a projectile weapon?

>>96340661
Nothing. They should have both options but throwing doesn't evoke the same "weeb rule of cool" as slashing air and hitting something afar

>>96340672
like the astral self monk? that's the weeb class isnt it?

>or soul knife

>>96340397
Local merchant needs extra muscle for a supply run, orcs attack, there's a twist somewhere.

Ta-da

>>96340565
I don't recall anything like that, even in the book of weaboo fightan magic where it would be the most likely to show up.
I did do exactly that by flavoring hexblade's eldritch blasts as weeb autism slashes.

soo. mystic in 2025. how does it hold up in the new dnd version.

>>96341801
There's a 2025 Mystic?

>>96341801
the ua class that never hit actual release?

>>96341842
nah, just wondering about the old one. 2025 has this psion thing which all looked super lame
>>96341843
the one and only

>>96335738
what about Retaliation?

>>96342399
I forgor about that.

Because its not using the attack action, its a reaction, its Str and Rage for the damage.

I dont think you get Frenzy again because it says "when you use reckless attack, the first enemy hit on your turn" and its not really your turn anymore.

Compared to Sneak, which says once per turn, i would assume you cannot add the frenzy again.

>>96342464
It makes sense
thanks anon, it was very helpful
Now I'm ready to slaughter everything that gets in my way.

>>96331220
If you cast it at 2nd level, you have decent odds for a bounce. Its like, 59%.

Strictly speaking, you can't use the 2024 twin meta magic on it
>Twinned Spell
>Cost: 1 Sorcery Point
>When you cast a spell, such as Charm Person, that can be cast with a higher-level spell slot to target an additional creature, you can spend 1 Sorcery Point to increase the spell's effective level by 1.

But if you found a lenient DM (personally, I'd allow it to work since it's spending resources on a gamble for a large pay-off), twinning it up to 3rd for 5d8 for a sorcery point and a 2nd level spell slot is pretty nice. It's a 79% chance for a bounce.

>>96338113
You bring up a very good point, only eldritch blast, scorching ray, and Jim's MM are in the same vein. Also, while less damage than fireball, it's a multitude of elements and there is no friendly fire.

>>96342612
An additional meme if you're interested;

Cleave p214
If you hit a creature with a melee attack roll using this weapon, you can make a melee attack roll with the weapon against a second creature within 5 feet of the first that is also within your reach. On a hit, the second creature takes the weapon's damage, but don't add your ability modifier to that damage unless that modifier is negative. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.

Note how this is once per turn, like the Rogue Sneak attack, it might be possible to justify using the Cleave action again on the retaliation, which would be really funny but would use the Str+Rage for the damage, as its not on your turn it still wouldnt apply for the GWM effect.

stat her

>>96342898
literal who.

>>96342911
who cares the images speaks for itself

>>96342938
ok

sun soul monk

>>96303218 (OP)
Can someone point me in the direction of getting my hands on explorer's guide to wildemount please?

>>96343259
check the OP.

>>96337281
Because they desperately need an excuse for why they're nogames that doesn't involve acknowledging the fact that they're maladjusted autists and/or grognards and nobody can stand their presence for long enough to actually finish a session.

>>96340565
Green-Flame Blade is kind of like that.

>You brandish the weapon used in the spell's casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack's normal effects, and you can cause green fire to leap from the target to a different creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of it. The second creature takes fire damage equal to your spellcasting ability modifier.

The only other thing I can think of is playing an eldritch knight, using a Ruby of the War Mage to turn your weapon into a spellcasting focus, and flavor your spellcasting as slashing projectiles.

>>96340565
I second ruby of the ware mage. I'd let you flavour your spells as weeb slashes if your sword was your focus.

>>96341851
Wasn't the old 2015 one turbo-op?

>>96344661
you tell me

>>96344662
I never actually played with the ua version since I didn't allow ua in general, but I always heard reports of it doing the jobs of like 3 classes at once, all better. On top of having S tier dps.

>>96303729
>>96304119
>Did this 4 years ago
>We haven't played a single session since

>>96344675
So you don't know?

>>96344718
I told my players I was sick of 5e and wanted to play WoD or I wouldn’t DM. They chose to play video games instead until after 6 months I returned to 5e. At least it’s a new edition/half edition.

I'm planning to use two of this monster in a game. They're immune to frightened and I know the cleric loves to use turn undead. If he uses turn undead on it then it's just incapacitated I guess? Does it still run away?

>Turn Undead. As a Magic Action, you present your Holy Symbol and censure Undead creatures. Each Undead within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its save, it has the Frightened and Incapacitated conditions for 1 minute. For that duration, it tries to move as far from you as it can on its turns. This effect ends early on the creature if it takes any damage, you have the Incapacitated condition, or you die.

Jesus this general is so fucking dead. Maybe one day I'll finish the ritual.

>>96342769
nta
But then the damage calculation would be something like this?
As a level 10 berserker, 20 str, greataxe
Attack: 1d12 + 3d6 (Frenzy) + 4 (gwm) + 3 (rage) + 5 (str) + 1d10 (Brutal Strike)
Extra Attack: 1d12 + 4 (gwm) + 3 (rage) + 5 (str)
Retaliation: 1d12 + 3 (rage) + 5 (str)
The average would give me about 67 damage.
Would this be correct or am I mistaken about something? Sorry for the inconvenience.

>>96341801
If your group is the sort that’s interested in the kind of heavy lifting necessary to get Mystic into a playable state, they probably aren’t the sort that’s interested in 5.5. Mystic can be made to work, but you have to embrace homebrew in order to get it there—and, if you’re that willing to fix WotC’s mistakes yourself, 5.5 only offers you worse solutions.

Also, Stoneforge and Nahiri have literally nothing to do with psionics and the flavor of the class.

>played awesome campaign in college
>missed the second campaign, finally able to join the third
>DM invites normoid friend to play
>she invites her turbo-normoid boyfriend
>due to their retarded normoid scheduling ability we play 1-2 times a month
>session are typically 2 hours long
>DM still tries to have the pacing of a weekly 4 hour game

>>96344675
>I never actually played with it, but I always heard reports of it being almost as good as wizard

>>96345835
Oh man, I have a tablemate who almost never could attend for one reason or another, and it didn’t help that he lives a town away. It’s not that I hate him or anything, I even understand that he might have his own problems, but because of him, we couldn’t play for more than a month, until the GM finally decided to start running sessions without him.
He’s still technically in the party, but he hardly ever shows up, and his fighter just sits in the background doing nothing, basically getting stuck at a level

>>96345820
Around there ye. The biggest catch is if you want to forgo your adv for the 5.5 damage from the brutal strike. Depending on the enemy AC, it might or might not be worth dropping your accuracy

>>96345833
sadly our group is not very homogenous in that regard

Do you guys get your art from artificial intelligence or from a website like Pinterest?

>>96346062
I found my last character art through Pinterest but I’m pretty sure that shit is AI gen

>>96346062
Google images first, then AI if I want something specific, sometimes mtg artwork. I edit images myself in paint.net as well sometimes, changing hue or that sort of thing.

>>96346062
I exchange money for goods and services (commissions)

>>96345835
>due to their retarded normoid scheduling ability we play 1-2 times a month
>session are typically 2 hours long

Similar boat here, basically killed my interest in running the game. With any luck I can wrap it up in 1 maybe 2 'sessions'

>>96346062
One of my players draws it for us.

so are we just not getting any new books now or what

>>96346633
There’s 2 new books coming soon(my), a book delayed that should have been out, a starter set next month.

And they were just at Gencon so they’ll probably start being active again now

>>96303218 (OP)
Would Shield be more balanced if it LITERALLY summoned a +3 shield on an empty arm (with which the caster is proficient), thus required an empty hand and could not be stacked with real shields, also technically could be disarmed I think?

>>96347078
What else would you change? The duration?

>play ~5 years straight with an online group, pretty much no scheduling issues ever
>we take a hiatus
>get another group going IRL
>can barely fucking play once a month if were lucky
>mostly because nobody prioritizes D&D and schedules it last
>online group gets going again
>have played weekly non-stop with them again for 2 months now while IRL group keeps struggling

some motherfuckers always tryna iceskate up hill

>>96345262
What do you expect? Most people only play once a week, and there are a number of confirmed no-games here who are "too anxious" to actually engage with the hobby or are only here for build autism. Considering there are tons of guides online for 5e's solved gameplay, you don't really need to come here for gameplay tips unless you have a really niche idea in mind.

>>96345262
I just wrapped up a three-year campaign at the beginning of July and have been too busy buying a house and moving into it to devote much of my time to D&D. Sometimes, there are just lulls in activity.

Can I get some advice for building a skill monkey that goes beyond just playing rogue/bard? I don't care about anything beyond being able to use as many skills as well as possible.

>>96347579
Grab the feat and ask your DM if you can send time training new skills. Not much beyond that.

>>96347579
There isn’t really anything beyond playing rogue or bard. Skills aren’t a major component of the system.

>>96347579
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24046427&postcount=234

>>96347811
Retard

>>96347994
Thanks bud.

>>96348013
We don't sign our posts here

>>96347136
Nothing really. You just as a reaction don a +3 shield made of force that makes you immune to magic missile on one available arm for one turn.

In the basic use case, it's mechanically identical. But it is technically a nerf, to still allow it's intended function unimpeded (temporary protection of a squishy caster with a turn of +5 AC) while enforcing it only be used as intended (no 30 AC armormonsters. Can't use it while double-staved up on a Thursday night. Can't use it while bladesinging. Can't use it while readying a magic item for next turn or any other crazy combo nonsense.)

I don't really mind the duration, I'd probably just need to modify the duration to say it disappears if you doff it and that's it. Yes it's slightly longer than most reaction AC boosts, but it also costs more and is more limited in number of uses, some are uses per short rest or even free. The problem isn't concept it's just access and stacking (well, and 1 combat per day groups, but there's no fixing that)
I guess I could make it limited to casting mod times per day, just to prevent single level dip access or something. But it seems like overkill, also makes it weird if you prep it from two separate sources. You're using it with decent level slots if you use it more than 4 times a day, and you multi classes to get it, that's enough of a deterrent for clerics or druids or whatever from taking it. If they want to pay that much, let em.

>>96347460
Or you're redesigning the game. I had been gone for like, 6 months because my group stopped playing before deciding I kind of wanted to take a crack at fixing CC-BY SRD 5e.

>>96349194
In my book, Shield honestly isn't worth fixing. I just axed it completely from my revision.

Would 5e be good enough to run a game set in Greyhawk 2000 with or would that require a different system?

>>96349302
>>96349194
Shield is strong but not as OP as people think. It depends on how many combats you have per day since it eats a spell slot,

>>96349449
You have a few choices
>Modern d20 from 2002
Basically 3.5
>Ultramodern5
5e basically with better rules than 5e has for guns etc.
>Something weird
If you want a more narrative game maybe genesys, cortex etc.

New thread
>>96349673
>>96349673
>>96349673

>>96345028
>undead

should have been an ooze.