Thread 96786451

Queen of Pentacles Edition

>2024 PHB Scan
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)

>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: >>96754461

>TQ
Has cooking ever been important in your games? They ever eat some delicious monsters?

>>96786451 (OP)
TQ: In my new campaign, I made a large listing of a ton of types of animals, each one hard to find typically, all giving slight buffs for a high quality cooked meal of their respective meats.

>Mice
Intelligence and Dexterity

>Cow
Constitution

>>96786468
>Dog
Advantage to Dexterity saving throws while operating dangerous machinery if your size is Small

>>96786494
>Dog
It's Wisdom, but you can gain the buff from just being near one during a long rest.

>>96786451 (OP)
>TQ
I have a Soul Knife character concept for a mafia-cook-turned-rogue where the psionic powers come from the personal cookbook of long-dead famous chef
The cookbook would contain esoteric recipes that require adventuring to obtain the ingredients for, i.e. monster parts.
How making recipes and eating the meals affects the character/story, I'd leave that up to my DM if I ever get to play that character.

>>96786451 (OP)
>TQ
5.5e has a chef feat that gives bonus healing during short rests and temp hp snacks. I haven’t seen anyone take it yet but it’s there.

>love to make homebrew magic items
>also gives me an excuse to run more mobs/more powerful monsters since the party’s output potential is much higher
Still trying to come up with something for our assassin rogue and our war cleric.

>>96786977
I love giving out magic items too. I usually make pretty tough combats so it works out fine. I've learned a few things to avoid.
>I hate vanilla +1 weapons, I like to give abilities on top of that
>I never give AC boosting items. The only way they're going to get a +1 shield or whatever the fuck is by going artificer
>Damage boosts are one off usually, I learned the hard way there are some cheesy ways to get too many attacks

Here's an example of a custom weapon I made. The Church of Pelor have asked them to recover it so there's no guarantee they'll hold onto it:

>+3 Holy Burst Mace of Disruption
>Weapon (mace), legendary (requires attunement)

>This weapon grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it.

>Disruption. When you hit a fiend or an undead with this magic weapon, that creature takes an extra 2d6 radiant damage. If the target has 25 hit points or fewer after taking this damage, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be destroyed. On a successful save, the creature is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

>Holy Burst. When you hit a creature with a melee attack using this weapon, you can command it to unleash a burst of holy energy (no action required).
>Against a fiend or undead, this burst deals an extra 3d6 radiant damage.
>Against other creatures, the burst has no effect, and the use is wasted.
>This property can be used 3 times per day and regains all expended uses at dawn.

>Light of Pelor. While you hold this weapon, it sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. You can extinguish or restore this light as a bonus action.

>>96786451 (OP)
>TQ
Yes, actually. The first time about 5 years back we had a barbarian who had the chef feat so he reminded us to eat his pastries. Was very ham fisted. Now I'm in a campaign where the setting is that we have a magical item that spawns an inn and keeps all non living items inside in a stasis. So the shtick of it is that we're travelling inn keepers going from city to city to stock up on ales and spices while we obtain meats on the road, then when it gets late we set up the inn next to the road and let any traveler in.

I love spells holy shit I fucking love spells I have 23 spells as a level 7 warlock give me more spells jesus fuck

>TQ
They ever eat some delicious monsters? Like this Giant Rat?

How effective is creating difficult terrain? I'm the only ranged character in my party, so I find that usually people are just clumping up around enemies and slowing movement isn't very relevant. I would rather have access to effects that outright stop enemies from moving at all or entering certain areas. Am I missing something or is difficult terrain just not as relevant as it would seem?

>>96787528
>I find that usually people are just clumping up around enemies and slowing movement isn't very relevant. I would rather have access to effects that outright stop enemies from moving at all or entering certain areas.
Well, you're the only ranged member of your party so it's a bit skewed, but if your team played with difficult terrain it could be good. Difficult terrain usually won't stop an enemy from getting to where they want to be for more than 1 round. Most spells that create difficult terrain simply don't create enough.

But that means that difficult terrain buys you 1 whole round of melee enemies dealing zero damage, usually because they need to spend their action to dash through it. No fucking save, it just happens. Meanwhile, your usual spells might save or suck. Great if they land, but a waste turn if they don't. That's why entangle is so cool. It's an AOE restrain that also creates difficult terrain.

What should I build to carry combat encounters if I'm gonna have a cleric/bard multiclass shoved up my ass buffing me?

>>96787864
>if 2014
Crossbow expert Sharpshooter fighter
>if 2024
Crossbow expert GWM fighter or any other non rogue martial class. Yes, GWM now works on heavy crossbows.

How many traps per monster should a good dungeon have

Do you guys have different accents you like to use for different races? Do you let your players influence this as a DM in your games? I'm trying to practice some different voices for various NPCs but I'm wondering if I should just see what the players roll first prior to committing. So far I was thinking:

>Gnomes
Minnesotan
>Dwarves
Ontarian
>Goblins
Brookyn/Long Island
>High Elf
Swedish
>Wood Elf
Finnish
>Human
Californian

>>96788421
>Gnome
Slavic
>Dwarf
Slavic
>Goblin
Slavic
>High Elf
Slavic
>Wood Elf
Slavic
>Human
Slavic (rural)

I'm from Croatia

>>96787889
I don’t think that seems worth it. With heavy crossbow you lose like 2/3 of features you’d get from gwm or crossbow expert.

>>96788495
>I don't think that seems worth it
It's not an efficient use of feats, but if you want to make use of somebody being a buffbot, it's a good way to shit out damage as a martial at any range, especially with bracers of archery being an accessible item, rarity wise.

>>96788527
>>96788495
To add, since GWM and Sharpshooter got changed, there's no longer a "hard carry" martial class. So if you want to maximize your DPT, you get into diminished returns territory. Unless by carry you mean something other than reliable DPT.

Ok so, im a teacher and I was basiaclly wrangled into being in charge of a gaming club of sorts. While im adding vidya and stuff like that the kids REALLY want to do DnD. I explained it would be a cluster fuck but they want to at least try it. SO I need some sort of adventure or one shot or something to give these kids. They are like 14 and honestly, its just gonna be a clusterfuck of them yelling and having fun RPing honestly. Im gonna toss them some premade characters. If you guys have some very simple one shot or something you know of that would be great.

>>96788623
I have no one shot ideas but give the most annoying kid the weakest character

>>96788648
These kids aint even gonna understand the rules.Theres gonna be like like 12 of them so realistically im gonna need like 2 of them to be DMs. Like this is gonna be so fucking dumb.

>>96788623
>>96788665
>They are like 14
Not even that young, I'm sure they can follow the rules, but you have to force them to understand the basics before the game or else all hope is lost

>>96788905
How can I whittle this down to the easiest to understand rules possible. They know basic shit simply from other games like hp being 0 is dead. I explain ability scores, AC, turn order.

>>96788623
They are part of a crew going to clean out the cities sewer system. The slimes are breeding out of control and the otuyughs are getting upset about the quality of trash being sent to them.

>>96788623
Don't leave them alone in populated areas. Youth get weird ideas when playing ttrpgs and the less temptation you give them the better. Keep it straight forward, one quest and done until the next session and repeat.

>>96788915
AC is how likely your character is to dodge, block, or have armor stop a blow.
To deal damage, you need to get over the AC of the enemy
The d20 decides wether you get over it.
You get bonuses to this d20 depending on your ability scores

This is the gist of it, out of combat AC becomes DC but the concept is essentially the same, the core stuff is very easy to explain, it only becomes complicated once all the spells, class abilities etc enter the scene.

>>96788915
>>96789066
Give them cheat sheets with big lettering for everything they can typically do. The rogue should have lock picking listed, all weapons should be listed, spells. They'll need someone to hold their hands and I've always found paper is the best way to do that.

>>96786494
Chinese campaign

>>96787655
I see what you mean, but still it seems that a lot of the time this will just slow combat down for everyone to no effect. The party has to be a very specific distance away and I also have to be fast enough in the turn order for it to be an option before enemies move.

>>96789157
NTA, but I feel like your mindset is very "Hit them till they drop." At my table at least, non damaging spells are met with elation because it makes the combat different and really fun. But if your goal is 100 to 0 a BBEG in as few rounds as possible, you're right. Entangle is fun as shit.

What build do you all suggest for this? Probably a Paladin?

>>96789189
I'd like to use them more tactically, but the primary way you'd seem to use them is if you have ranged fighters that benefit from the enemy being kept out of melee for a turn.

The one time I've used it so far is a specific situation to be fair but to me it illustrates the problem. We were breaking into a small dead-end room with several enemies in a clump. I chose to use entangle to hit 4 of them, but it only restrained 1. The goal was to prevent them from moving so my party could surround them and take a swing at them with some of them not being able to move yet, which would save a few turns of attacks and potentially healing. But because most of them were not restrained, and my party moved forward anyway to deal with the rest of the enemies, the spell did very little. So I'm trying to imagine what would have had to change to make it more effective.

>>96789209
Pal with a dip in Sorc or Wiz. Maybe a small dip into Rogue too.
>Why?
Because princesses are expected to know some magic in my campaigns being around so many smart scholars and access to trainers.
>Rogue?
Because I would see any princess turned adventurer to have a little interest in lock picking and sneaking around the castle at night.

>>96789217
Casters take risks with mobs being able to resist their spells. If you caught two, that would be worth it really. They must have rolled high, because I'd expect three to get caught at least. Could you have taken the one out completely with a damaging spell? Maybe. I'd say you had a good turn overall despite. Just move in to finish them off. If you want more hard hitting spells, go for evoker, but Wiz don't always have to be the highest DPR.

>>96787528
you're only thinking of white room combat scenarios, not of actual dnd which isnt about that. Imagine you need to stop a runaway full of orphans before it goes off a cliff, or prevent pursuers when escaping from a heist, or a million other scenarios

>>96789239
What about Bardadin? Doesn’t Bard give utility along with spellcasting?

>>96789266
I'm actually a druid so a lot of my spells are more about terrain control. I suppose I could have just used a cantrip or a big damage spell but the problem is these enemies weren't particularly hard, I just wanted to stall them to prevent a few attacks, not go nova on enemies that will probably die quickly anyway. Maybe something like spike growth, but the problem is this also prevents my party from moving through the terrain.

>>96787255
>Login]
What would this taste like?

>>96789305
I am trying to think about those scenarios, but I'm also not really seeing those situations in my game. Very few enemies we've fought have fled. I think part of that is that our DM has forgotten disengage and he assumes anything that tries to flee from all the melee fighters will just get opportunity attacked to death.

>>96787255
What would this taste like?

>>96789311
I just don't see a dragonborn princess being a performer like that. I'd say in the royal world, sneaking around would be more common, but your path wouldn't be a jarring change, up to you.
>>96789323
Oh, Druid? Your utility is more about terrain, yeah. That and healing. I suppose just focus on keeping your allies up and keeping an entangle for running away if need be. Still, some Druid spells can hurt, right? Maybe not... At any rate, you're not a DPR class, so just have fun during exploration and in towns, that's where you shine.

>>96789334
Do you have diplomatic missions? Court balls? Vault heists? Cult infiltrations? Do you do anything besides fighting 5 kobolds in a white room? Why even play dnd instead of a video game?

>>96789344
>I just don't see a dragonborn princess being a performer like that.
Bards can also get their magic from literature, art, music, singing, ect.
They don’t necessarily have to be performers in the case of music. I’d expect a daughter of a noble house to be taught an instrument of some kind, even if it was picked up begrudgingly.

>>96789358
So far it's been mostly combat. I would like some more variety and difficulty though.

>>96789344
Yeah that's mostly what I've been doing.

>>96789373
>Literature
I'm gonna build a bard like this, that's actually awesome.

>>96789380
Don't be sad if combat isn't your character's main focus, that's not the whole point of the game anyway.

>>96789344
>I don't see a dragonborn princess being a performer
Bards are a knowledge class as much as they're entertainers. You can lean into that aspect of the bard.

>>96789344
I'd say that the performative decorum that comes with ladyship could constitute a good background for being a Bard. Noble ladies were typically encourage or even required to have artistic pursuits and were classically trained to raise their perceived quality. Being able to sing or play an instrument is a common trope for a madame of a house.

>>96786451 (OP)
My character is a wandering vagabond/cook. I used to harvest the meat from monsters after battles, but we never did anything with it.

He does cook meals for the party though, which is usually just light rp ("what's everyone doing during this long rest?").

I did pick the Chef feat but feel it's very underwhelming. I joined in this group mid-adventure at lvl 12, so the 5 temp hp and 1d8 extra recovery on short rest seems weak. It is one of the few feats that provide +1 CON though.

If I were to remake this character in 2024 rules I would probably take the Musician and Inspiring Leader feats instead and reflavor them, as Chef is pretty much unchanged.

>>96789983
To be fair, Chef is dogshit precisely because it's just a bit of Temp HP, and there's plenty of other stuff like Inspiring Leader, or 2024 World Tree Barbarian, or Twilight Cleric that are already temp HP batteries. I'd turn the bonus into a max HP bonus, like the Aid spell.

I want to play a Goblin Rogue. How can I Styxmax?

>>96789983
>>96790011
>Chef
>General Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+)
You gain the following benefits.

>Ability Score Increase.
Increase your Constitution or Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
>Cook's Utensils.
You gain proficiency with cook's utensils if you don't already have it.
>Replenishing Meal.
As part of a short rest, you can cook special food, provided you have ingredients and cook's utensils available to do so. You can prepare enough of this food, portions, for a number of creatures equal to 4 + your proficiency bonus. At the end of the short rest, any creature who eats the food and spends one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points regains extra hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + 1d8.
>Leftovers.
Any portions of the replenishing meal that are not consumed at the end of the short rest become leftovers, which last for 8 hours. A creature can use a bonus action to eat one leftover and gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + 1d8. You can also prepare these leftovers when you finish a Long Rest

or you can be selfish and keep all the leftovers for yourself.

>>96790401
>A creature can use a bonus action to eat one leftover
Imagine scarfing down leftovers in under 6 seconds in the middle of combat

>pintrest finally added an AI filter

Holy shit, I finally have a place I can go to for character art again.

>>96790213
based styx enjoyer, his Of Orcs & Men & Styx 1 personality became my basic frameworks for goblin, I hate how he is in the second game; and I don't have much faith for the next game (gameplay is still alright though.
Something that annoys me iis that the goblin race nimble escape features overlap one of the rogue cunning action; my gm allowed to switch that up with something else.
I would go with either Thief or Arcane Trickster for the subclass. If you want to do clone, closest you would get would be something like a multiclass towards trickery cleric; which is something I would love to do one day thematically, starting out rogue and then finding faith towards some sort of thieving god

>>96790401
>You can also prepare these leftovers when you finish a Long Rest
I imagine
>"Hey whatcha cooking?"
>"Leftovers!"
>"Leftovers of what?"
>"Just leftovers!"

>>96790543
>>96790646
Yes.

>>96790664
Sorry Phoenix but I won't eat the hamburgers

>>96788421
My character speaks goblin due to their background and my DM tried to make it a thing that we did a posh British or French accent (forget which) when we spoke in goblin. I gave it a shot but it fizzled out quickly. Now as a player in my game his raised-by-orcs character has turned orcish into ocker Aussie in our setting, which has been pretty fun.
I don't know anyone who does races like that and I can't imagine it'd add much unless you're really good at accents.
>>96788623
>>96788915
Run Shadowdark and tell them it's D&D.

>>96788623
I have a few one shots written for newbies. I haven't ran them in a few years but they mostly do the job. I would upload and link the one shots but my native language is not english, so there's no point in that.

I will give you a rough outline of them though.
1. A one shot where a group of adventurers are searching for a job, a guard sends them to the adventurer's guild in town. However the guild's a bunch of old heroes who slack around all day because the town's gotten really calm after they defeated the big evils around. The resident 'hero' necromancer is a drunkard and offers the party a drink as hospitality but it turns out they're out of beer. The other heroes tell him that they haven't received their regular beer deliveries for 2 weeks now. So the wizard tells the party that he's actually found them a job- go find out what's up with the beer missing. They go searching for the dwarven brewmaster. The brewery's locked. Basically they have to either sneak or break in to find signs of a struggle and wet marks and stench of fish. Asking the neighbouring dwarven smith and the rival halfling brewmaster reveals that the dwarven brewmaster's been stressed out because his apprentices have gone missing in the last weeks until he went missing himself in the last few days. Alternatively if they break in this info is in his journal in his office. Now they can follow some wet tracks and other clues to the sewers and can enter via a manhole in the street or via the harbor. The sewer tunnels have some traps and then some scout enemies - kuo toa (type of fish folk). Then they enter the main chamber with more kuo toa and a kuo toan priest worshipping a big barrel of beer. These beings have the power to create gods via their worship and they turn this barrel into a beer god. They beat it find the jail room with the dwarves and that's it basically.

Guys, the Life Cleric in the party is asking the fighter to father a child with her since her god said the baby will be the next prophet of theirs. What do?

>>96793314
>her god said the baby will be the next prophet of theirs
Are you the DM? Did you say this?

>>96786451 (OP)
>>TQ
>Has cooking ever been important in your games? They ever eat some delicious monsters?
Yesn't. The players are required to have food supplies when they're traveling between cities, but there's no hard system or benefits to cooking outside of people taking chef, which one of my players has done twice over two campaigns and is planning to do again in a third.

The best that they've eaten has probably been giant crawfish and crustaceans, which have somehow been the bane of my players.

>>96794318
My barbarian was killed by giant rats. I make it a point to have cooked giant rat on a stick now. Fuck giant rats.

Guys need a food based magic item that would be good for a lvl 12 rogue unsure what might be fun and good to give them any suggestions?

>>96786451 (OP)
>Has cooking ever been important in your games? They ever eat some delicious monsters?
Not really, unless you count the fact that the party would sooner retreat than venture out without having partaken in a Heroes' Feast

>>96786451 (OP)
>TQ

Our Cleric's a cook who took the Chef Feat because that's how he wanted to be healing us before it became apparent that he should just use healing word instead or something

>>96786451 (OP)
>Has cooking ever been important in your games? They ever eat some delicious monsters?

I'd been reading Dunmeshi at the time of PC creation in my last campaign and so I wanted my character to make food out of the monsters we encountered, mostly as a bit of narrative flavor for the rations.
My DM didn't seem to understand me and instead added a MH-like "carve monsters and use their parts to make equipment" system, shutting me down when i tried to get anything edible out of them, so that was a bit of a bummer.
We still hunted regularly when outdoors, but it was only ever regular animals like deer and such.

>>96794668
Pan of irresistible pies.
When activated, the pan is filled with the pie of the user's choice, fresh-baked and strongly aromatic. From there, it can either be eaten, or turned into an enchanted bait, using the effects of the Enthrall and Compulsion spells to distract and lure in the first person that gets within 30 feet of it.

Going to run a Curse of Strahd 5e campaign with some friends. Has anyone run it here and what did you do to make it organized for yourself and fun for them given its harsh and crushing atmosphere? I am definitely editing the module to make it run better adding better character motivations for NPCs and fleshed out quest design such as for the Feast and the Festival. Its great how there is a decent community online dedicated to running this module so I have a better sense of what to do.

>>96796267
I ran it once, was a good time. I’d say that the biggest reason my players managed to survive was due to having really good class and subclass choices (I’m never allowing Twilight Cleric ever again).
Biggest thing I’ll say is to rig the artifact tarot cards. You don’t want shit like the Sunsword to either be laying against a cart in the Town of Barovia, or locked in Strahd’s vault. I had the tome found in Strahd’s library, the icon at the winery amongst the wereravens’ shinies pile, and the Sunsword being welded by Vladimir (it’s the sword that can kill Strahd, so he hordes it to prevent this from happening).
Let me know if you have other questions.

Would you let one of your players run Archlich’s revised Necromancer Wizard?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Jm9DlFxBkp9pfafawGeG7D5hv_pxdvi-AhClO8tzwY/edit?usp=drivesdk

>>96796981
No, as it isn’t compatible with my revisions to the base wizard class.

>>96796267
Didnt run it, but attempted to prepare it+played it fully with extensive talk with the gm regarding the changes he made. General tips would be:
Do not randomize the tarroka, let the PCs manage themselves if they get allies; and think up of logical places for each of the relics. Our GM had the journal be in Lady Wachter manor; the symbol of ravenkind in the werewolves den, and the sunblade parts (pommel, handle,jewel) be in different part accross Barovia (i recall the Dragon Manor and the pond in Kresk).

Think up of an alternate start; I discourage using the werewolf one because the players might be a bit biased to rush to Kresk to save the children. Our GM had my pc daughter be one of the kid, so our group really push forward barovia to get there which mean we didn't actually do 80% of the adventure in Vallaki, it was a bit funny seeing a Fireball falling on the town as we were a few km away. One thing I think would be cool would be playing Barovia natives. Some recommended having the pc be reincarnations of people from Strahd past (his brother, Tatyana...) but I don't like that much.

Npcs are neat conceptually, but I found that most of them were underused, the guy with a demon arms, the four consorts...tons of good stuff to do, especially with managing to make one or two consort become allies.

GM had the dinner at Strahd home happen fairly early in the campaign, I think it was after the bonegrinder, pretty good moment, him taunting my pc about her daughter+wearing her heirloom sword by his belt; having everyone fall asleep by the end of the dinner, except for the Elf in the party, which was a pretty tense and predatory moment...He also needs some buff/multiple phases; even with what the GM did, our Rogue did a good chunk of the damage thanks to the sunsword & multiple crit.
cont...

kinda new and I can't figure this out

if a player uses a dodge action, and Mind Sliver gets cast on them... do they have advantage on the intelligence saving throw?

Would you play D&D 5e with Kanye West?

>>96797852
the book assume that the pcs would make multiple expeditions inside Castle Ravenloft, which we never really thought of doing until the very end in our game (especially as the gm increased size of Barovia. We ended up solving the Argynvolstot skull heist by getting one of the Consort on our good side (temporarily).

Our GM had the Amber Temple dark gift being given much earlier; some pcs had dreams where they were offered a pact, two of them took it; offering some pretty good buff like a brand new mettallic hors for my Cavalier Fighter; and a bow with unlimited force/psychic dammage arrow for our rogue; getting more boons more led to some drawbacks; I didn't push the pact enough, but the rogue was all in on it so he ended up being considered an Undead creature. It gave a nice build up regarding the Amber Temple (final task was to free our two benefactors), just got to be mindful on the power of the boons

Due to the pseudo sandbox nature of the campaign, some encounters can be unbalanced, the Bone Grinder is famous for being quite rough at early level; and on our end; we had a good laugh facing Sangzor the mountain goat at like 8 level; GM hyped up the set up of the encounter with good description and epic music, all to lead up to him just bleating. if I were to run it, I would definitly make it an extra hard encounter

Some allies ended up being player controlled for encounter, that lightened the load quite a bit on the gm (main allies were Ezmeralda, Tatyana and the undead paladin in the dragon manor; we never encountered Mordenkainen)
That's all I have in mind; don't get too stuck in overpreparing it and roll with the flow

I just read about Shapechange 2024 and it looks pretty unstoppable if you can maintain concentration.
>You can just keep getting temporary HP equal to the monster's HP,
>plus you get its legendary resistances, and you recharge them every time you change shape
>can use its legendary actions,
>can cast its spells,
>use the monster's Constitution modifier.

>>96797901
No, it’s only dexterity saving throws that get advantage.

>>96796267
I ran it to the end. Strahd himself needs a huge buff. He’s quite weak.

>OSR is the easiest to homebrew for and is the lowest power, very little established lore, but doesn't have much mechanical complexity for your homebrew traps/monsters/spells to occupy
>Pathfinder has loads of mechanical depth, you can homebrew traps / poisons on the fly and make them mechanically unique (based on ability scores drained, duration, save DC, and number / succession of successes to throw it off), but the math is badly balanced, homebrewing monsters is kinda difficult due to how overly-templated the abilities are
>5e has some mechanical depth, homebrewing monsters is fun (ability templating is there, but all abilities are written out in plain text so you can play with the wording to try out new things), homebrewing magic items is fun, a lot more open to homebrew for, but lacks ability score damage as a common mechanic (only shadows have it) so poisons are all reduced to poison damage, diseases are all reduced to hit point max reduction, ongoing curse / degradation effects are frowned upon and you are working against the system's expectations if you put those sorts of abilities on monsters

I genuinely don't know what edition of the game to commit myself to. I like 5e a lot and have done more homebrew for it than any other edition. It has the best mix of open rules, mechanic depth (as opposed to OSR where there's basically nothing in terms of character or monster stats), but I feel like it also is missing some things that Pathfinder has. And both of those systems feel too "powered up" for a DM to have complete control of the game, whereas B/X it's very easy to control the PCs' capabilities because there are only 4 classes.

I'm not trying to start an edition war. I have an ACKS campaign, a Pathfinder 1e campaign, and a D&D 5e campaign. They all exist in totally different settings, because their expectations for the world are completely different. I don't know how to reconcile this. I hate splitting my worldbuilding effort between three different settings

What’s your method to make good or fantastic character backstories, characteristics, and personalities for your PC to role play off of? Since role play is constant and one of the most important parts of a Role Playing Game, I think having a fun time role playing to be pretty important.

>>96799649
session 0 with your DM

>>96798525
Well the answer is simple, sit down, decide which you like the most and focus on that one.
Or use them all and lean into their virtues.

And I say that as the most bias man in this thread towards one of the systems you mentioned. Not going to say which one though.

>>96798525
I like some of the hacks for 5e or the various games that have spun off the design ethos that created it.
If you want something like a more toned down 5e with a strong thematic through line, then I recommend Brancalonia. It cuts levels shorter, introduces a handful of subsystems that I find charming, and tacks onto 5e pretty elegantly. There isn't a ton of player character design choice to be had as it's very much intended to be played with the subclasses unique to it, but it's a fun experience as a one-off and the Italian fiction-inspired setting is fresh for the genre.
For something outside of the 5e sphere, I find that Shadow of the Demon Lord or Shadow of the Weird Wizard (depends on taste) are very elegant and have good baked in variety that you can scale with supplements. Player power varies between which you choose, but they're on the whole tighter than 5e and make it easier to challenge the party without it feeling like bullshit at higher levels.
They're very easy to homebrew items and creatures for because they use templating similar to 5e where you've got standardized stats to tweak and things are written out in plain text to adjust as needed. There are loads of player choices since you build your character's progression with combinations of paths, which are essentially each a third of a class separated out into tiers. The math is very recognizable as well since they're still d20 games at their core, but they do away with advantage/disadvantage and discreet skills. Give one of them a shot sometime if you want something where you knowledge will carry over well enough.

>>96797906
Who?

>>96798525
One setting, each system represents a different point in time in the same space

>>96788437
>High Elf
>Slavic
Can confirm. I am Slavic, an elf, and high.

Hey Guys, Been wanting to run recently witha Cleric or Paladin devoted to Umberlee but with them being a very obvious CE god, what would be a good reason I could use to have one around in a non water campaign? Sent out by her in order to find riches of some assholes who didn't give their tithes?

>>96800059
Searching out some treasure and relics that was caught up in a tidal wave and flood in the area. Doesn't matter how long ago, they were underwater once, so that makes them sunken treasure and Umberlee's rightful claim.

>>96800059
While Umberlee is evil, her 'worship' mostly consists of propitiating her to avoid disaster at sea, rather than going out to perform 'evil' acts (like causing ships to sink).

A cleric of Umberlee is more likely a Prophet of Doom-type, foretelling woe if the people don't take steps to avert misfortune.

If you want a non-aquatic Prophet of Doom, what about Beshaba, the goddess of misfortune instead? Similarly, she is invoked only to ward off ill-luck.

>>96800144
Mainly I just Like Umberlee more

>>96800127
You Sir are amazingly smart.

What's the best place to get some nice monster tokens? I like to play irl with a mat and tokens but lost my older set, and now was almost considering the new starter set just for the monster tokens in there. But there's got to be a better way, right?

What caster or half caster class would you recommend at level 1? (5e 2024)

>>96800340
Any of them. What's your preference?

>>96800340
I enjoy Warlocks and in 2024, any Warlock can melee with Cha.

What are the curses like in your games?
Are they mild or severe and brutal?

>>96800402
IDK... I just don't want to feel weak, you know. Like, get hit and I'm done.
It would also be my first time playing as a caster/half caster if that helps at all.
It will be between level 1 to level 3.

>>96800340
>>96800468
>I just don't want to feel weak, you know. Like, get hit and I'm done.
I'd say Cleric or Druid in that context. D8 hit die and shields does a lot to help you survive, and healing magic keeps the rest of the party alive.
Paladin and Ranger might also work if you want something more familiar, since they get very little casting from 1-3 and so basically play similarly to a Fighter.

How do conjure animals and summon beasts compare? From what I see it's mostly about the reliability of choosing your pet or not, and the spell slot you would prefer.

>>96788414
With kobolds? Many.

>>96800556
Assuming you mean the 2014 version of conjure animals, so long as the DM doesn't intentionally screw you over (by give you CR 0 beats when you selected CR 1/2 or whatever), then generally whatever you conjure up is going to dominate the battlefield pretty easily.

Generally speaking you're more likely to get animals that serve as an annoying wall of meat, rather than the theoretical optimal damage if you were to choose, but it's can still be pretty effective anyway. I've seen a Druid basically fill a room with Elks or Constrictor Snakes and the enemies end up losing turns just because half of them are prone and the other half need to chop their way through the sudden wall of flesh.

Summon Beast is more consistent, but less impactful since you're just summoning a single kind of bulky creature that the enemies will have an easier time ignoring. They're otherwise very different spells. The fact it can last up to an hour is also a point in its favor though.

>>96800468
A wizard with mage armor and the shield spell is pretty solid, especially with a high con. You have to purposely make a glass cannon in 5e.

goblin centipede.

>>96798525
Personally, having cut my teeth on 3.5, I’ve found that I prefer using 5e as a baseline and then homebrewing in the things that I miss from my youth. The officially published version of 5e is far too anemic, but 3.5 requires far too much pruning to arrive at a system that works for my table.

That said, we’re trying out SotWW, as >>96799829 mentioned, so maybe I’ll end up jumping ship to that in the end. I do like a number of the conceits of the system, though I dislike that you’re only allowed to make major character decisions at some levels.

>>96800319
I make my own with whatever images I want

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZPi4oKlCQ

With the magnet and epoxy they have a good heft to hem so don't blow around everywhere. The epoxy makes them look decent and protects the paper. It'll end up costing you less than buying them and you can use whatever copyrighted or AI slop you want.

>>96800697
>a WRIGGLING trophy for ALL to see

Wasn't there a magic item in the DMG that let you see through illusions

>>96799907
This dude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQHAS9cDYsc

Do I mix my Celestial Objects with my game's Pantheon?

>>96800701
>Personally, having cut my teeth on 3.5, I’ve found that I prefer using 5e as a baseline and then homebrewing in the things that I miss from my youth
Me too. 3.5e is my favorite overall but that's because of the material and content, not the rules themselves.
I like publishing for 5e more but I like ability damage type stuff. I just feel like bringing it into 5e just doesn't work.

>>96800752
>>96800319
I make mine out of 1 inch steel washers. You can get a bag of like 50 of them for less than ten bucks at a decent hardware store (or you could last time I made them, been a few years of inflation since...) and print up some faces. I got a one inch round hole punch at a craft store to make it easy to pop them out.

>>96790011
Chef is perfectly fine in 5.0 rules, it's 5.5 where it suddenly falls short. In 5.0 feats are either about .9 to 1.2 of a 5.0 feat, depending on balance, or they are .4 to .6 of a feat, plus one stat. In 5.5 feats are like 0.8 to 0.9 of a 5.0 feat plus a stat. Chef being a half feat was pretty much correct and its like it never got ported all the way to 5.5

About to start DMing a 5e campaign on the 1st weekend of november. Any tips?

About me:
>Never DMed 5e specifically
>Not trying to pull anything crazy

The party is:
>1 seasoned dnd player
>2 girls with basically no rpg experience
>1 teenager boy with no rpg experience

About the adventure/quest:
>Local nobleman (or merchant, not sure yet) quest giver
>Asks players to clean up a both on an old cave system
>Goal is to create an economically relevant road though the mountains
>Cave has a few random monsters and a den of goblins

>>96802060
Sounds fun to me. What levels?

>>96802060
Rely on the player that knows what's going on. Don't let them do anything too op or game breaking, although this could be tempting. Try to have fun, that's number 1. And you will feel like a failure at the end no matter what, just know that they had much more fun than it seems.

Forgot to mention, but I might be reusing the same adventure idea for another group of randoms at my LGS. Might even do it before playing it with my real party

>>96802069
1st level, though they might level up to level 2 if they decide to back to town mid adventure

>>96802074
>Don't let them do anything too op or game breaking, although this could be tempting
Like what?

>And you will feel like a failure at the end no matter what
Eh.... not sure about that!

Currently I've been DMing VTM for a bigger group and I doubt that DMing DND will feel more awkward than that (given that I know very little of VTM and also am waaaay more into fantasy than anything else)

>>96802103
>level 1
You're going to have to fudge a bunch of rolls if you want to avoid any PC deaths. Even a goblin can down, or outright kill, a character with a single crit.

>>96802124
I asked my cousin for tips for low-level combat (he DMs for me but I missed the early levels of the campaign), his main advice was to reduce damage of monters. Goblins for instance, he suggested to instead of rolling 1d6+2 for damage, to roll 1d6-1 (which I will probably make a flat 1d4)

Is that good advice though? I rather avoid fudging rolls (in fact, I'm considering rolling openly)

>>96802124
You can also have an NPC cast Aid(s)

>>96802144
Yeah, that can work. Rolling openly is the right way to DM, it's teaches good habits. Yeah, you can drop the damage down some, or level them up after the first combat. Level 1 combats are swingy as fuck, so watch out for any major momentum swings that can lead to the TPK death spiral.

>>96802178
> Level 1 combats are swingy as fuck
Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. My plan is to level them up as soon as they get back to town, which wouldn't be a bad idea to do mid-adventure

However, what are the pros and cons of already starting at level 2? I'm definitely not against that, and in fact, that might work for the background I had in mind for the PCs (I was planning on each PC having done a previous quest which is why they got hired/selected for the current one)

My only real concern is to burden the new players with too much information/abilities. How much more stuff PCs have at 2nd level?

>>96802172
Actually I was considering something similar - more specifically, I was considering rewarding proper/decent long rests with bonus temporary HP

I could potentially have they start with 1 extra hit dice of temporary hit point to account for that

>>96802144
Giving the goblins slings and daggers instead of scimitars and shortbows to reduce their damage definitely helps, although you could also probably use Kobold statblocks instead for similar results.

You can also probably stick some healing potions amid any treasure to help smooth things out.

>>96802060
>2 girls with basically no rpg experience
Jesus Christ. You are in for a terrible time. Ditch the bitches and find some actual players.

>>96802200
>However, what are the pros and cons of already starting at level 2? I'm definitely not against that
Depends slightly on if you're using the 2014 or 2024 rules, but generally speaking it's usually just 1 or 2 extra class features at most. Which, technically speaking, is sometimes double the amount of info at level 1, though it's usually not too bad.

It could bog down character creation, although if 3 of the players are entirely new, it might not be a bad idea to make a selection of premade characters for them to pick from instead.

>>96802204
>Jackass keeps reposting this as if Gygax was the god of all DMs and could do no wrong

>>96802248
>Femoids keep seething
The truth hurts huh

>>96802201
>Giving the goblins slings and daggers
Honest question but how much is that relevant? My whole life (DMing previous expansions for instance), I would just use random stats blocks regardless of what the monsters "look like" (for instance, what they yield/use). However, a couple of years back I tried to DM for some canadians and one of them was annoyed that mobs didn't use the proper damage roll of their weapons...

For instance, I was going to describe the goblins as using crude weapons like pieces of wood or stones or whatever, as I intended them to be trashy goblins (even for goblin standard)

>you could also probably use Kobold statblocks instead
Not a bad idea at all! Will compare both, might use kobold indeed

>>96802204
Eh, I don't buy into that. We are doing a family party - one of the girls is the wife of the seasoned player and the mother of the teenager, the other is my own GF. So the idea is more about the people rather than the game

>>96802233
>Depends slightly on if you're using the 2014 or 2024 rules
Any thoughts on that? I was going for the 2014 rules but not sure I understand the differences

>it might not be a bad idea to make a selection of premade characters
DESU I personally am a big fan of that, I think character creation is overrated (especially when introducing people to the hobby). Nevertheless, they have already decided to create their own characters

One of the players is my GF so I might ask her if she wants to make the character or just choose the high concept (race, class and background). The rest are just numbers anyways

>>96802200
>Actually I was considering something similar - more specifically, I was considering rewarding proper/decent long rests with bonus temporary HP
>I could potentially have they start with 1 extra hit dice of temporary hit point to account for that
I wouldn’t do this as the newer players might expect this for all long rests going forward.

>>96802263
If you ever want to make characters quickly or NPCs this is a good resource for future games https://fastcharacter.com/

I used it for a game once because I was in the mental health ward until the day before and didn't have access to any rule books. They took my phone away. I ended up playing that character from level 3 to 10.

Why are goblins so lazy and undisciplined?

>>96802279
>I wouldn’t do this as the newer players might expect this for all long rests going forward
I was planning on doing that as a homebrew rule throughout the campaign - resting a proper rest in a decent bed would grant temporary HP (as opposed to sleeping in tents out in the wilderness)

Had this idea because growing up this was always kind of a meme, where Dnd players would just sleep in the streets to save money lol. By giving temporary HP to players by having decent rest periods, I was hoping they would think more about what they characters would do (aka find a proper bed), and also have that as a way for them to spend money

>>96802305
>https://fastcharacter.com/
Will check it out!

>>96802335
>Why are goblins so lazy and undisciplined?
I don't think they are lazy at all. But I agree with undisciplined

Though the setting I'm using for this new campaign didn't even have goblins, and making them up just for this adventure

>>96802261
If there were any truth in it, but it's just Gygax admitting his own faults.

>>96802263
>Honest question but how much is that relevant?
Mainly in that it communicates to your players what their characters are seeing and what the enemies are capable of.

If you describe an orc with a greatsword, but instead of 2d6 he's rolling 1d4, then your players are gonna get confused and wonder why he's rolling so low.
If you describe a goblin with a rusty shiv and have it deal 2d6, they're gonna get confused and ask how he's dealing that much damage.

Basically, the mechanics are meant to represent the world, so if you change the mechanics, you should tweak the world to follow suit for the sake of clarity.

>>96802263
>Any thoughts on that? I was going for the 2014 rules but not sure I understand the differences
A lot of the differences are more minor, though arguably 2014 will be simpler on the player side because there are slightly fewer features and resources.

>I think character creation is overrated (especially when introducing people to the hobby).
That much is true at least. I find that presenting people with some basic race-class combos and letting them fill in the flavor and background tends to get them into actually playing faster. Especially since trying to walk new players through character creation often just ends up overwhelming them when it's time to pick out spells.
>Nevertheless, they have already decided to create their own characters
I mean, technically that's not for them to decide, but understandable if you don't want to force the issue.
One thing that could help though is just trying to get character creation for everyone done before you actually play. That's ideal to do regardless, but assuming you can contact everyone to walk them through it (aside from the one guy who already knows), then you'll be in a better position.

>>96802435
>Mainly in that it communicates to your players what their characters are seeing and what the enemies are capable of
Yes of course. But I just don't think it has to be a specific match, especially given that monsters might have modifiers that change up things. IMO, 1d4+1 and 1d6 are interchangeable if for the sake of simplicity

Also, the game don't really account for trashy weapons (afaik). That is - maybe a goblin using a *proper* scimiter would do 1d6 damage, but that's different than using an old, poorly fabricated rusty one

My point being is that I grew up not expecting exact numbers from mobs that the DM threw at us - sure, it should match to some degree so that you can act accordingly, but it didn't have to be precise down to the minimum details

>>96802479
>though arguably 2014 will be simpler on the player side
Probably keeping it as 2014 then, especially because I might be more familiar with it as well

>trying to walk new players through character creation often just ends up overwhelming them
Yeah, it's rubbish. I've been down that road (it was even worse on previous editions). Also, one thing I hate about dnd is how you can't really choose your stats - you must assign it based on class, otherwise your character will be rubbish. There is little option for real choices there, and it's the perfect way for new players to mess up their characters

Don't get me wrong, I get the appeal to make characters once you understand more about the game and/or is deep into RP. But for starting players, I don't think that is where the focus should be

>understandable if you don't want to force the issue
Yeah... I asked the senior player his opinion (kinda to see if he would be ok with it), but I don't think that's the way we are doing it. What I might offer players instead is the option of choosing Race+Class+Background and let me do the rest. I think that might be a sweet spot

Also, rate this idea for the group's 1st adventure:

Instead of choosing the adventure itself, players may meta-gamey choose their quest giver. All options will give the same 1st adventure, but their motivations might differ, and what comes next might entirely change. It also changes perks for the party

The quest itself is to clear a path through an old cave system

Quest givers are:

1. Local nobleman
>wants his territory to have a faster connection with a neighboring kingdom
>might be using this to forge an alliance of sorts?
>having him as their patron/quest giver grants them a more official role, as they are acting in the behalf of the nobleman's house (this can be used for RP purposes)

2. Merchant
>wants to use the cave road to make a better trade network
>might provide a better bounty/reward for the job once its done
>might provide seed money and/or better resources to start with

3. Criminal Gang
>wants to use the cave road to smuggle goods
>might provide decent bounty
>working for the gang might have perks in shady areas, but might also mean the quest itself is illegal in the eyes of the law

Thoughts??

Just to address the obvious: the main reason why I'm not giving them the choice between 3 different quests is because prepping for 3 different quests would lead me to have a worst session. But of course the next quests would be greatly impacted by their choice

>>96802607
>Also, the game don't really account for trashy weapons (afaik).
It doesn't, but 5e handles weapons in a very simplified manner. To the extent that improvised weapons just use the stats of a weapon as long as the DM rules that it's similar enough.
An old, rusty, crude scimitar still technically functions as a scimitar. The main difference is that the town blacksmith probably isn't going to buy rusty goblin scimitars off of you for the price of a normal one.

It's one of those quirks of the system, where 5e ditches granularity in exchange for simplicity. Instead of worrying about if a sword is copper or rusty or masterwork, you just worry about what type of sword it is.
You are correct that the players aren't likely to notice that the goblins with trashy weapons are dealing slightly less damage, but at the same time they also aren't likely to question why the goblins all have daggers instead of scimitars.

>>96802704
Sounds interesting to me

>5.5
Can i shoot a hand crossbow, then nick by throwing a dagger?

>>96803172
I don't know. Can you? Any feat or class features? Spells being cast on you?

>>96803219
Nothing except nick weapon mastery

>>96803233
>When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action, instead of as a Bonus Action. You can still make this extra attack only once per turn.
Not seeing where it says you can use another weapon

>>96803244
Because it's in the definition of the Light property
>When you take the Attack action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon, you can make one extra attack as a Bonus Action later on the same turn. That extra attack must be made with a different Light weapon, and you don’t add your ability modifier to the extra attack’s damage unless that modifier is negative. For example, you can attack with a Shortsword in one hand and a Dagger in the other using the Attack action and a Bonus Action, but you don’t add your Strength or Dexterity modifier to the damage roll of the Bonus Action unless that modifier is negative.

>>96803244
I assume it’s dual wielding.

>>96803172
If I was your DM I’d say you can as per the usual rules for dual wielding. Eg no bonus to damage unless you have the fighting style. I’m playing a fighter/rogue in a game and the extra weapon masteries come in very handy. My longbow was surprisingly crucial against an enemy that had only 20ft move, reducing it to 10ft made a big difference.

>>96803264
Then there's your answer

>>96803304
I'm not that anon, retard
Stop being coy thinking your """help""" is useful

>>96803362
Don't be mad at me that you were too stupid to understand the rules and needed outside validation, you stupid trannyfuck. Not my fault you needed your question spelled out for you to understand what you're asking.

>>96803462
I'm not that anon, retard
Stop being coy thinking your """help""" is useful

>>96803362
>>96803472
lmao seething stupid trannyfuck

>>96803172
Yes, because they're both Light weapons and dagger has Nick

>>96796746
>>96797852
I should have specified my post more. I ran it before but I am continuing it after a hiatus. I did in fact rig the cards. I had the idea of the Sunsword being at the Amber temple. Tome of strahd in Rictavio's wagon and The Holy symbol at the Beacon. Their ally will be Ezmerelda and debating either her or Richten and Ireena joining them to the Castle but I fear that would be party economy bloat.
My fear I guess is keeping it all organized and together. i did take notes but it has been a while. I took some notes from people online to enhance thew adventure streamlining areas and improving character motivations. I guess I worry about what-ifs a lot like how I portray strahd and what the ending should be. I think I will give the party multiple choices for endings. Such as one where they defeat him and kill him in his coffin forever severing him from the Dark powers (because the cycle starting anew would be lame).
I am also trying to think of ways to have Strahd get involved when he isn't using his various spies and Vistani allies. How to balance encounters and give out treasure appropriately.
what did you two do to make it fun and easy for you to run?

>>96798198
>I ran it to the end. Strahd himself needs a huge buff. He’s quite weak.
I agree. I struggle with encounter balance. I upped his health to at least 350 HP. Gave him more undead immunities from 3.5e such as not being able to be put to sleep, charm, paralyzed, popisoend, etc... I gave him a sort of stripped down Energy Drain power using his slam attack like a Wight uses.
I also gave him more spells and a new sword to use that can create Darkness.
What did you do to buff him?

>>96805617
I forgot to mention that I didn’t even bother with the Ally part of the reading. The players should find whatever allies they can, and everyone would storm ravenloft in the end to occupy other stuff while joining them for the final encounter with Strahd ( which was a 1000hp solo with a 3 stage fight).

>>96798198
You're meant to play Strahd himself very intelligently. He should basically be putting off direct confrontation as much as possible and using multiple layers of interference. If you actually play up all of the vampire strengths and his experience, then the real challenge to the players should be in pinning him down to begin with.

>>96805641
>Paragon creature from Angry DM, stage 1 normal Strahd, stage 2 werewolf strahd
>More HP
>better spell selection
>Very smart, in an earlier fight he telekinesis’d away the sunsword then hid it in the lake (they never found it)
>Wearing legendary fullplate armor and wielding a vorpal sword

Would adding Steel Wind Strike, but changing the damage to lightning (or maybe even thunder) to the tempest domain spells be fine?

Time to fully test out the Monster Hunter and see how it does.

>>96786977
>>96787016
im about to DM my first campaign and have landed on custom items in this vein as a fun way to give smaller rewards to players after fights to keep them goig between levelups, and as an alternative to gold sometimes. my fights skew towards being fairly hard so im not too worried about the players getting too powerful; im just not sure how good my ideas are kek. theres nothing as fancy as the mace, theyre typically just simple items that grant a single buff of some kind. here are some examples (Names tbc):
>Magic Root
>All healing effects affecting the holder have the amount they heal by increased by 30%
>Curious Shell
>While at full health, holder gets +2 to their AC
>Razor Claw
>Changes the holder’s crit threshold to 19 instead of 20

Do these sound decent? Would you be excited to get them as a player? Also for the root, im still not sure if i want percentages for stuff like that or some kind of additional roll. im probably just going to ask my players and see what they like the sound of best

Is 5.5e backwards compatible with 5e? In other words, do I as a DM have to be ready for any of the 100+ subclasses if I want to run it?

>>96808677
It’s pretty compatible. You can either just run the 2014 rules for subclasses not found in the 2024 rules, or just have the subclass features all show up around the time they’re supposed to in 2024 (level 3 onwards)

>>96808677
They are mostly compatible, but if you don't want to allow older options, then just tell your players that it's 2024 only with anything older allowed on a case-by-case basis.

So is Thief Rogue the best Rogue Subclass?
>bonus action utilize or magic action for magic items, including spell scrolls
>scribe a bunch of true strike scrolls for 15gp each
>can bonus action true strike with a bow or crossbow on your turn to proc sneak attack (provided conditions apply)
>ready main attack action to trigger at the start of the next turn to proc sneak attack again before the round is done
Seems like the easiest way to get multiple sneak attacks.

>>96807730
Clerics aren't meant to be mobile, but it's not gonna hurt anyone or break anything.

Is your character a John Soldierman or a Bzz'l'trkt The Unknown Blade of Klakrakt?

>>96788421
I hate when a race has all the same accent.

>>96807515
Neat. Those are good ideas for traits. Did your Vorpal sword decapitate any PCs?

>>96810977
I’ve played a John before but most of my characters are inbetween or a bit closer to the right.

>>96810977
He is Sir Soldierman.

>>96810977
Low-ranking nobility, worked up the ranks to be a Royal Guard captain to her cousin the king.

>>96810977
Those are my himbo paladin's gay adoptive fathers!

>>96811036
Yeah one of them, their main tanky character. He got resurrected afterwards but it was very amusing.

Using 2024 rules, what 3 Dex boosting Feats would you want to get for a one handed Finesse weapon user? Like a Rogue or Fighter or Ranger. I can only think of Defensive Duelist and Mage Slayer- what else is worth that 3rd Slot to get you from 17 to 20 Dexterity.

Evening lads, looking for some feedback.

>Why are you doing this?
To Improve player power and agency, allowing them to earn both ASIs and Feats.
>Time intervals
These are adjusted with my own campaign in mind. They may seem either generous or harsh to you; they are considered.
>Costs
These are the levers I'm most uncertain about. Ultimately, I am the one that controls how much gold the party will have, so whether or not the amounts stated are appropriate is somewhat moot, especially with how limited they are.

What are things I need to be careful of, and to look out for? Are there any specific interactions that could bite me later on? I trust my players, and for the most part, they're all very well-behaved, and don't tend to optimize or resort to severe power-gaming.

>>96811319
I also like to use bg3 characters as portraits. I steal mine from other people though.

>>96811886
Sentinel isn't bad, particularly on a Rogue to be able to potentially get in extra Reaction sneak attacks.
Skill Expertise could also be somewhat worth it on a Fighter. As could Resilient Dex, actually.
Medium Armor Master stands out for a Ranger or Fighter to potentially get to 18 AC.
And then of course there's Piercer for the most generically reliable option to just hit harder with a Rapier.

Beyond that depends on how specialized you want to get or how dedicated you are to just using a Rapier.

I know fuck all of DnD besides modern day DnD is absolutely horrible now but I do got one question. Why the hell did Dead by Daylight add Vecna? QRD on Vecna as I assume he's supposed to be a boss in this game?

>>96812235
>I know fuck all about DnD besides the modern game sucking
Retarded fakegrog shit, imo. 5e is shallow, but very flexible. A great DM and a good table will always matter more than your system. 5e being simple improves the odds of that happening due to being more popular, and its existence is a net positive. People sucking can always make good things bad.
>Vecna
Yep. Incredibly powerful archlich. No idea what this moron is doing in Dead by Daylight, though. Vecna is a very high CR (Challenge Rating) super boss that often serves as the Big Bad Evil Guy at the end of a 500 hour, multi-year long campaign that meets biweekly. This is like Leon Kennedy fighting Thanos or some shit.

>>96812267
I meant 5e now compared to then. As in 2024/2025 5e where everyone is gay, black, etc

>>96812269
I do not understand.

>>96812267
>No idea what this moron is doing in Dead by Daylight
>Vecna Eve of Ruined came out May 21st 2024
>Vecna was added to DbD in June 3rd 2024
Oh it was to hype up the new book. Either way, WHY DBD?

>>96812292
Horror culture(s) tend to have cult followings. I'm going to insinuate that DBD's loyal fanbase seems appealing to WotC, who may or may not be struggling right now due to their recent controversies or perceived incompetence, and might wish to poach or coerce some of these folks into their fold. I'm not sure what this is called in business, but I guessing that it's a practiced, "taught" tactic many industries use.

>>96812235
If you want rough power scaling, Thanos (MCU) with the infinity stones is still Vecna's (D&D) bitch. If you know anything about DBD and the entity and its realm, Vecna is there by choice for purely academic reasons and can leave any time he wants.

As to why behavior wanted Vecna in their game? They might have had a rough idea for a killer who uses magic/is a wizard and Vecna has star power.

>>96787255
>puckee spamming his commission again
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/1iv9cje/artcomm_dire_rat_by_patricia_pria/
https://desuarchive.org/_/search/image/DWKceAGwMjjcUqPuhXKPJg/
>20 times since February 2025

>>96802704
>>96802743
I like it, Anon. Do any of your PCs have the capacity to act flexibly, morally? Could be interesting to explore the final option as being ambiguous, rather than overtly criminal in nature.

>>96812652
Fuck me, I just used it as a token in my current game. Puck Fuckee

I’m a DM. My upcoming game next week recently gained a few players. Which puts me slightly beyond my comfort zone of 5 players into 7. I know 5e isn’t renown for its combat but does anyone have tips to make combat encounters more engaging when the group is that large.

>>96812790
That' actually a pretty good token though for a Giant Rat.

Still no fucking swords bard?>>96786451 (OP)

>>96810977
Are you talking about generic or try hard? If so, he's just a farmer barbarian orc, with a simple 5-letter guttural name, so the first one

>>96810977
Are you talking about real-world phonetics or in the context of the setting? Because a lot of my characters would be the setting equivalent of “John Soldierman”, but the names and terminology common to the setting are fantastical.

Anyone know where I could find some good statblocks for magical constructs? My players will be exploring a comatose archmage's automatically run research base, with various drones automatically carrying out research (capturing animals from the forest, dragging them to the lab, etc). Nothing in the monster manual really felt fitting, even with a reskin.

>>96815502
check out 5etools or 5esrd

What deity or pantheon would be the most fitting for a Zealot Barbarian to worship? To clarify, the character is a radical templar, "purge the wicked" type. And, maybe, with some Morrowind's Ordinator influence

>>96817028
What’s the world setting’s pantheon?

>>96817253
Faerun

>>96817263
*Faerun's

>>96817263
>>96817273
Tyr or Bahamut

>>96817028
Illmater.

>I choose to end the world's suffering, by violently murdering all those who cause suffering in the world

>>96817028
>>96817263
I'd say Pelor for contrast. Pelor does have the aspects of smiting evil, but being a Zealot means that you can bend things and crank it up to 11.

On the next session, the party will be faced with a villain. He's done a lot of bad things, but the reason the party is going after him right now are some very specific prisoners he's holding (well, they really only care about one, but they intend to free them all).
The party knows the villain's True Name, which is the only way to kill him permanently. They're not in the position to do it right now (it needs to be said in the specific place), but they'll absolutely gloat about having this power over him.

This is a big deal, and in a reasonable world, should lead the villain to begin negotiating. He's fine with letting all of his prisoners go and even giving up a lot of his treasure in exchange for the promise to leave him alone and not kill him.
The party's moral character up until this point leads me to believe that they might actually take the deal if these are the terms. They might or might not break the deal and kill him later anyway just to tie up loose ends.

However, the party also includes the Devotion Paladin. Should the devotion paladin be held accountable, if he gives an objectively evil being his word that he'll leave the evil alone, and then breaks it?

>>96818193
What if the villain doesnt bother negotiating and instead takes the information that they gave him in their gloating and uses it to just make that specific place they need to be in just absolutely invulnerable?

>>96818220
>uses it to just make that specific place they need to be in just absolutely invulnerable?
Sorry, I've decided to make a thread about it.

No, he can't do it, and they know it. He's not a major villain anymore (he used to be, but those days have passed), he's a bit player who doesn't even control the sole spot in which he's mortal anymore. In face of this information, he's in no position to do anything but fight to the death right now (and hope they'll take the true name to their graves) or grovel and hope they take a deal.

Is worldbuilding during a break between games counting as a nogame?

>>96819399
Not really. For my money, a nogames is someone who opines and argues from a position of ignorance. Someone who doesn't play, rather than someone who just doesn't have a game going at the moment.

I'm currently preparing a Feywild sandbox where the ultimate goal is finding a way home – which will involve figuring out why the domain's archfey is missing and how she can be restored – but the path they take, whom they talk to, what they decide to investigate and so on is up to the players. My schedule's pretty packed, so I'm trying to prepare as much as thoroughly ahead of the game starting as I can in terms of descriptions, hooks, encounters and such. Of course, I'll still have a fair bet to adjust as I go adapting to the players, but I'm making good progress and feeling confident.

My party’s about to fight a boss that’s a cleric that used to be part of the same order as the party’s cleric, but turned his back on the god. I want his mace to be a magic weapon that can be given to the cleric, but I want to both be cursed, and eventually grow if the cleric sticks with it. Here’s what I got.
>Broken Faith
>Mace, Requires attunement by Cleric or Paladin
>+1 to hit for attack and damage rolls
>Grants advantage to hit against Celestials and other divine worshipers
>Cursed: When using Channel Divinity or Channel Oath, the wielder must pass a DC13 Wisdom saving throw or take 2d6 Necrotic Damage that cannot be resisted or negated by any means.
The curse can be removed with Remove Curse or similar spells. Upon using your channel divinity in combat 10 times, the curse is removed, and Broken Faith becomes Steeled Faith (the mace upgrades).

>>96820205
The party will be Lv. 4 after the fight by the way.

>>96810977
Myrel the Red is an elvish John Barbarianman, but the Fist of Heaven is definitely the latter.

What do you discuss during a session 0? Is there any particular questions/themes that should be brought up?
I don't think I've ever done a proper "session 0."

>>96820561
Whenever I did one, it was mainly a brief character pitch from each player and I gauged on what kind of atmosphere they were looking for, whether that be less combat focused or an absolute meat grinder
It’s also a place for me to approve or ban certain homebrew or features (played with a Twilight Cleric once, never again.)

>>96793314
Anal.

how do you handle spellcasters in your campaigns, anons? im about to DM a pretty combat-heavy campaign and i dont want to be building in long rests after every fight or two but i also dont want to force my magic users to go a ton of fights in a row having to cuck themselves out of using their fun spells. id also like to try and avoid having a set rhythm of like, X fights then long rest (X being whatever i decide is the balanced magic number), because then things will feel repetitive and predictable.

its a party of 3, which i think is part of the issue; theres limited potential for magic users to take turns expending their spell slots

>>96821117
If they die, they die.


Jokes aside, you gotta give some reason for martials to exist. If your Spellcasters are using levelled spells every turn because of how frequently they're resting, then there's no reason to not be one.

>>96821117
bruh, if you don't prevent them from long resting they're going to steamroll every single combat, to offset that you'll need to make extreme encounters and then those extreme encounters will rape the martials

>>96820580
I've never actually seen a Twilight Cleric in person. Are they really as busted as they read?

>>96821683
>>96821712
yeah, its not so much a balance thing as much as i know my players and i know theyll get frustrated sitting in the cuck chair watching the martials doing all the work once their spells are gone. i might see about homebrewing an item or something thatd give them some supportive capabilities, like they can use something like a helping hand from pokemon or some shit so that they still feel useful

>>96821117
>>96822014
Once you're at level 3 or higher, it really, really isn't an issue. Past that level, any full caster plenty of spells to tide them over with interesting options throughout the day.
>like they can use something like a helping hand from pokemon or some shit so that they still feel useful
The Help action is already an option. On top of how there are plenty of support-based cantrips.

You are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

>>96822014
Just tell them above the table not to spunk all their spells in the first fight, because you're planning on potentially having longer adventuring days. Cantrips are enough to still be doing things when they're out of spell slots. If martials can swing a sword 500,000 times in a row, then your wizard can cast a few cantrips.

>>96822146
>>96822395
fair enough. thanks anons. i think im probably just overthinking; i dont have much dming experience and theyre totally new to dnd so i just want to make sure they have a good time and arent put off (which is why im specifically concerned about early levels, hence why
>level 3 or higher
is a bit besides the point)
its not that im worried about them being over/under-powered, more just that it *feels* bad for them to not have access to what they perceive as the core parts of their kit for prolonged periods (which i think is sort of how they would feel, knowing them).
its the same with what i meant about the helping hand expy, i was getting at something that explicitly is just a flat damage boost, rather than the help action. advantage does boost damage on average over the course of however many turns or fights, but its more abstract than an option thats just "do more damage now", which feels more impactful in the moment and is more likely to make a new player feel like theyre mattering
maybe im just overthinking it all; i just want to make sure they have a good time and their first experience with the game is good
ill just make sure to include some points about how to think about using magic in the explanations i go over with them beforehand.

>>96822690
If you're planning to start them at level 1 anyway, then they're more likely to run out of HP before running out of spell slots.
But this is also why things like potions and scrolls exist, if you want to give the players an early buffer in terms of resources. That's safer than trying to come up with a homebrew feature that does something entirely different than what they signed up for.

A new campaign is starting soon, and I’ve chosen to play as a ranger.
I’m using AI to create his image

so I’m looking for face paint, masks, headgear, and other items used by hunters in the Middle Ages and Antiquity, something that gives him a less generic and boring look.

>>96821735
Yes. At level 2, they’re basically granting everyone 1d6+3 temporary hit points every single turn, and thus massively increasing the party’s total health in any combat encounter they decide to pop their channel divinity. It’s to the point where you have to overhaul entire combat encounters in order to factor in this one party member.
Also flight at lv. 6

>>96820205
Seems like a neat idea. You might add some kind of flavor pertaining to how it might have once been a holy object within the order and that the corruption staining it mirrors the fallen Cleric's own. Maybe give the fallen Cleric one moment of hesitation or some minor redemption as he falls to thematically connect the idea that the mace itself can still be redeemed.
Some players might be remiss to use a cursed mace that appears to have more downside than upsides or abilities that come off as evil, so providing that connection will foreshadow a reason to stick with it even if the player doesn't feel an internal impetus to do so.

>>96824449
The flight tends to not be a huge issue in my games because players always find other forms of mobility (or just get flight some other way) to make it just one factor among many in combat or exploration.
The temp HP also tends not to be a huge deal as monsters can chomp down pretty hard if you don't pull your punches anyway.
I'd call Twilight Cleric overtuned more so than busted.

>>96823315
Mummers masks

>>96821735
No, you just need to have a player thats quick at rolling the temp hp, otherwise it slows down combat even more.

how do i stop the cycle of wishing i could play a different character
nobody interacts with my current guy (or anyone else for that matter) in a meaningful way since theyre a bunch of party poopers so id rather just be playing one of my more preferred classes instead but its too deep into the campaign to just swap for no reason

>>96825065
I just finished it, and I think it looks pretty cool. Long, messy blonde hair, piercing light green eyes, bronze skin, and a necklace of fangs.
I'm already satisfied, but I'm going to try the Mummers masks just in case.

>>96825065
I just tried it, and it's actually pretty cool. I'll stick with what I had before, though.
I won't lie, I really like the concept of a warlock/cleric or similar class with a mask or helmet that they can't take off (or don't want to) and with which they communicate with their god/patron.
like, a celestial warlock street vendor witch who also walks around carnivals selling spiritual objects to help people feel better

>>96811635
damn, fun idea

What's a mechanically fun cleric build that isn't the typical spirit guardians dodge tank everybody ever uses?
DM is a big fan of single massive combat encounters a day and its 2024

>>96806257
What did you do to balance the players having the Symbol of ravens or the sunsword once they get those to fight Strahd with? And yeah ally card is not a big deal

>>96826470
Sunsword should come last. The Icon definitely makes vampires have way less of an impact on them, but the whole thing is that if Strahd discovers that the party has either the icon or especially the Sunsword, then he’s going to try everything he can to separate them from the players. Honestly, the players should feel like the Icon should only be used in an emergency, because any fleeing witness can go report it to Strahd. If they have the Sunsword, then it’s close to the final confrontation anyways.

>>96826462
Light Cleric Artillerist? Cleric in general doesn't have a lot of entertaining mechanical interactions, even if they are solid overall.

>>96826548
Yeah I might rethink playing one
I've played a lot of the standard cleric and its gotten old for me

I'm currently playing a Gloom Stalker Ranger but want a little extra something so I'm probably going to multiclass. What's the most interesting/fun multiclass for Gloom Stalker? I don't care about things being mechanically optional or anything like that, I just like having a little more pizazz without gimping myself to the point of making things less fun for the party.

>>96826462
>isn't the typical spirit guardians dodge tank everybody ever uses
Just don't do that?

>>96826300
One of the cultures in my DM's setting has masks as spellcasting foci with specific taboos around when you can and cannot take them off.

>>96790401
That would be the way to get the most out of it, but out of character for my oc unfortunately.

Also, where did you get these rules from? I only see +1d8 on short rest and proficiency bonus temp hp from bolstering treats in the 2024 handbook.

>>96826833
>Just don't do that?
Well yeah that's why I'm looking for other fun cleric setups
Just because I don't want to spirit guardians everything forever doesn't mean I want piss weak combat setup

>>96826872
its homebrew

>>96826780
Most people go fighter or rogue.
But what's "most interesting" is really up to you.

>If you have proficiency with a tool, add your Proficiency Bonus to any ability check you make that uses the tool. If you have proficiency in a skill that's used with that check, you have Advantage on the check too.
I assume if I wanted to use Calligrapher's Supplies and Painter's Supplies to the best of my ability, that would also mean I should have proficiency in Sleight of Hand as well? For permanent advantage on any checks related to using those supplies?

>>96826976
I'm still disappointed Chef didn't get a buff in 2024 when pretty much every other feat did. This would bring it more in line with the rest.

>>96802200
>>96802103
Hey man, what do you think about using 5e.tools to create party-specific encounters? It seems pretty cool, and you can sort them by difficulty level, number of enemies, enemy types, and all of this based on the party's level and size

>>96827073
In what cases is Sleight of Hand applying to a check with calligrapher's supplies?

>>96827083
And don't you dare think about making up a better version to use in your games, or WotC will call the Pinkertons on you.

>>96827094
Deft, precise movements with your fingers and hand?

>>96827131
That's general Dexterity. Sleight of Hand is a specific set of skills, none of which have to do with artwork or handwriting.

>City made up of 12 mesopotamian style ziggurats each surrounded by a relatively large walled city block layout
>Each central ziggurat holds a holy, bureaucratic, or important function to the city as a whole, such as a massive market district, a religious place of worship, or a central home for an ancient great house
>The surrounding blocks are self sufficient enough that one could live in them for years without needing to move provided no major catastrophe/siege cut off supply lines to them
>City as a whole holds roughly 80k-100k people, including anyone living and working in the countryside
I can't really tell if this is retarded or not
I know my players probably won't give a fuck but I don't care

>>96827111
In a world in which we're more likely than not going to get a "psion" that literally just uses the spellcasting rules, WotC could send the national guard after me and I'd still be running homebrew games until I bled out. Admittedly, I might stop if they sent the ATF. Fuckng love my dog.

>>96827207
what are you worried makes it retarded? people building homes around religious buildings is pretty normal stuff.

>>96827198
Then what skill would be appropriate with those tools?

>>96827495
Tools don't use skills, they just use an attribute mod + their own proficiency benefit.

>>96827495
>If you have proficiency in a skill that's used with that check
Deception if you're forging something, arcana if you're copying runes or some shit, performance or persuasion if you're making an art piece.

>>96827215
The size mostly
That'd end uo with roughly 8k/block
Maybe I'm underestimating how many people can fit inside 3-4 miles of city

>>96827559
google ai says "up to tens of thousands per city block", but that could be from New York skyscraper apartments

>>96827513
Right, I know, I meant what sistuation would you be in that you could reasonably call for both a Tool Check and Skill Check. Like playing a Lute. That would be a Performance check that you'd have advantage on if you're proficient in Lutes.

>>96827514
Those are some good examples, I found another that implied you could use Calligrapher's with Investigation to figure out a hidden riddle or if something was Forged. I could see someone arguing that you shouldn't be able to make a Forgery without a Forgery Kit or maybe even figuring out that something is a forgery without the Forgery kit- but eh, tools are underused already, they could get broader use.

>>96827559
Kowloon was 0.01 square miles (about 4 football fields in a 2x2 grid) with a population of at least 35,000. Your question should be less 'how retarded is this?' and more 'how little does my government care about it's people?' because if you're abusing human rights, you can make A LOT of people fit in a very small space.

>>96827584
My PC gets regular use out of his smith's, leather & wood worker's, and mason's tools. Maybe your character should have learned a trade i stead of going to art school :^)

>>96827618
>how little does my government care about it's people?
Not a huge amount of care, but people aren't shoved in a 5ftx5ft cube to live in
Slavery is legal and considered tradition in this place, so some amount of that population is in slaves, some treated well enough (for a slave, which is to say they probably aren't starved or beat to death but they are still locked up forced laborers)
But there is the option of upward mobility in society, diets are varied with lots of fruit, farmed giant insect eggs, fish, and rice, people can afford some amount of luxury outside of the absolute poorest of poor (who likely wouldn't be living there) and people generally aren't shitting in the streets or terrified of when their next meal is

>>96827207
>>96827719
Sounds like Urik or Tyr

>>96828098
>Dark Sun
Not surprising considering I'm trying to pull from a bunch of mesopotamian and assyrian stuff and I think that sort of thing is also foundational for DS

It's really hard to make a starcrossed lovers that leads to a major conflict without making the involved parties look like absolute assholes.

>>96828113
Pull from them. They've already done a bunch of work for you and can help show you how to execute ideas you may be iffy about

Would knowledge of gricks be nature or arcana?

>>96828647
>low level monstrosity
Either would work for me

>>96828647
>Beast, monstrosity, ooze, plant, fey
Nature
>Aberration, Construct, Dragon, Elemental
Arcana
>Celestial, Fiend, Undead
Religion
>Giant, Humanoid
History

>>96828647
I'd ask for either, whoever has the highest score

Opinions on this?
Had my second D&D group (the one I'm not running) give me some feedback, but I know you guys will be way more brutal.

>tq
Like 4/10? They've had some magical fare, but most of the minutiae is waived in favor of faster play. I charge them a daily fee which covers their daily upkeep of all the shit that isn't fun to track, as well as minor purchases.
My last group was way more into that stuff, even attending a BBQ with a family of city guards whose grandma they helped, and a feast with a dummy powerful fae that geas'd them into seeking out a dragon to say thank you for a birthday gift (which they delivered) just by speaking normally.

>>96828359
It's not that hard if you think of and treat them like real people.
A teenage princess is still a teen and wouldn't want to be married to some decrepit emperor to prevent a war.

>>96811924
I have a similar system for skill training in my game, and my advice is to learn by doing.
Just prepare expectations ahead of time and explain that If it gets out of hand you may increase the cost of these at a later time, or you can fudge the rules to say that the costs WILL increase later, but you haven't yet decided how much they will increase by.

>Player who puts most effort into roleplaying is also causing scheduling issues 90% of sessions (not an exaggeration, only one session went along as planned since the campaign started)
What am I supposed to do about this

>>96829759
Kick.
As with everything, consistency beats intensity.

Played battlesmith again. Loving it. I’m into artificer now. Having the iron defender is just so handy. We use flanking so it can easily give advantage on attacks. Just very handy for the rogue too.

>>96829759
The best ability is availability, as they say. Tell him to shape up sharpish or play without him. Even if he's just showing up like an hour late. Let him come into a session and realise it's been getting played without him and he'll either stop being late or he'll leave, which solves the problem either way.

>We use flanking
Gross

>>96830152
Fair, GWM with flanking advantage makes it so OP.

I have a DM that changed the benefit from advantage to a simple +2 to attack rolls.

>>96830239
For me it's scaling

>>96830239
I used to do that. It’s 4e’s rule for flanking.

>>96830152
Well fuck you too retard

Why do Djinni warlocks get Seeming as their 5th level spell instead of like...Control Winds or Destructive Wave

>>96829676
Seems needlessly complex.

>>96829768
>>96830152
>DM for a group that’s always played with flanking
>they ask why I don’t like it
>tell them that it’s just a stupid way to generate advantage when there’s a hundred other ways to do so that at least require something more than standing in a place
>they don’t see the issue
>“Okay then. Watch this.”
They immediately changed their minds the moment I started to make monsters flank them and utterly tear through their health.

>>96831283
My DM stopped using flanking when I pointed out that every battlemap for two years has looked like we're dancing conga.

>>96831256
>Seems needlessly complex.
I appreciate you responding!
Do you mean that adding any ruling to try to differentiate damage types is unneeded (I agree), or do you mean this particular attempt?
If the second, do you have any ideas to achieve the intended effect that would be more succinct?

>>96831473
>my commander stopped flanking when I pointed out that every battle for the last two years looked the same

>>96831548
Did every battle in real life look like two opposing sides politely lining up to stab each other in the back? You fucking retard. You inbred mongrel. How dare you open your mouth.

>>96831507
>Do you mean that adding any ruling to try to differentiate damage types is unneeded
Yes. 5e is already a slog to play at times, and having this stuff factor into every single roll is just another thing that will slow down games (since I assume this can also apply with enemy attacks as well). BG3 can get away with status effects and stuff because it’s automatically running multiple calculations in a fraction of a second.

>>96829676
>targets are effected
Well, that already tells me more than I need to know, but let's get into it.

>triggered by maximum result on die roll
This creates a perverse incentive where, if the effect is worth having, you prefer sources that deal less damage. That's not a fun choice, nor is a particularly interesting one one you've sorted out your breakpoints.

>specifies "attack or spell"
Class features that deal damage can get fucked, I guess.

>number of "affected" targets equal to the number of max die results
See, again, that perverse incentive is rearing its ugly head. Also weird that you correctly used "affected" here, but incorrectly used "effected" in the next sentence. Especially since it would probably be more straightforward to say "creatures that were dealt damage".

>in order of lowest hit points to greatest after damage is applied
Pointless for single-target effects and incredibly frustrating for area effects. Sleep works that way because removing a creature from an encounter is a very powerful effect. There's no reason not to let people choose which creatures they affect.

>and a creature can only gain one status effect per turn
...so, between the fact that status effects are automatic, with no ability to choose not to impose one, and the fact that you can't choose which creatures get hit with them, this makes the system even more frustrating. If you have some kind of spell that deals a small amount of damage to nearby creatures at the start of your turn, there's a chance for that to force a status effect that you can't override and then blocks you from imposing any other status effect on that creature.

>>96829676
>>96831786
>gains the effect of the damage type which it took the most damage from
And then this becomes a real head-scratcher. Everything about this rule is designed to remove any choice or control on the part of the player, resulting in the following possibility:
>hypothetical area of effect spell deals 20 bludgeoning damage and 6 fire damage
>two enemy creatures caught in it, one with 5 hp after damage and the other with 6 hp after damage
>one die of bludgeoning damage and one die of fire both rolled maximum
>two status effects go out, affecting 5 hp enemy and then 6 hp enemy
>both took more bludgeoning damage, so both get the bludgeoning status, despite one of the status effects being triggered by a max roll on a die dealing fire damage

So, just in terms of baseline functionality, I already wouldn't be thrilled by this. It's a set of rules that the player doesn't get to interact with during play--everything happens automatically--but that creates both perverse incentives and non-intuitive outcomes. And it actually exacerbates part of what makes D&D combat so clunky: the separate to-hit and damage rolls. While sequential rolls can build tension and are more fun in the moment, checking each result in order to determine whether or not there's a next step is a major time sink. You've added a third step to an already slow two-step process, using a trigger that will have a more variable "success" rate.

Given all that, what do you actually get out of this?
>additional damage (immediately)
>additional damage (start of target's next turn)
>additional damage (end of target's next turn)
>additional damage (to other things)
>normal cantrip effect
>deleterious effect that literally nothing else in the entire game does
>something about DT, whatever that is
This all ends up being way too complicated for what it actually yields, with some of those results introducing even more unnecessary complexity. Just scrap it.

>>96830152
We use flanking advantage in the current campaign that I am playing, I don't mind it considering since the non-retarded enemies do it as well.

>>96829676
I'd agree with the other anon that this would bog things down.
I could see having the effects occur on a crit instead (or a nat 1 saving throw where applicable). It'd also allow the status conditions to potentially be more potent, and therefore feel more impactful when they actually happen.

And instead of getting fiddly in terms of which status applies based on more damage applies, you either just let the player choose or apply both.
I'd also recommend using existing status conditions where possible. Like there is already a Poisoned condition (and a Burning hazard from the 2024 rules).
It also helps when the extra effect is more instantaneous, like Lightning just dealing some area damage or Thunder pushing them. Then you have a cool elemental effect, but it doesn't bog down the fight with more book-keeping.

Do you ever find downtime in your campaigns? Or is it just expedition->long rest->next expedition?

I use flanking +2

>>96831665
>>96831786
>>96831864
>>96831965
Word. Ty guys for your feedback. Apologies for the mass reply, but I wanted to let you know I read and was considering what you've all said, but haven't come to any conclusions.

I'm going to spend some time calculating the best way to reduce the bookkeeping. I like swapping to instant effects, though I would argue some damage types benefit flavor-wise from the delay, such as poison and fire, which is depicted in most games as a DoT.

>>96832406
It needs to be much, much simpler than it is currently if it's a baseline rule. Hell, even simplified, I still shoved that kind of thing into a feat rather than make it baseline to all damage anything deals.

So I'm a new DM, planning to run the Lost Mine in about a week with possibly incorporating a few things from Icespire Peak (namely the news of a white dragon showing up in nearby mountains and displacing the orc tribe there sometime after players remove redbrands from the town, creating some of the orc icespire orc encounters.
Will probably go into the Mind Flayer part if it goes well and players want to continue.

What I'd like to ask is any advice from experienced DMs on how to run it better or how to fix any major issues with it.(I am watching some videos on youttube too).
Also if anyone could provide the pdf for Tomb of the Dwarven King it would be great, I kind of want to run it as intro/prelude to make players actually meet and maybe care somewhat about Gundren before he gets kidnapped by gobbos.
I kind of already told the players its gonna be Lost Mine so can't really change it unless someone makes a really good case for running something else for first time DMing.

>>96832588 (me)
oh and players made PCs using the 2024 '5.5e' rules, I heard they're gonna be a bit more powerful than original Mines campaign predicts, but also apparently the beginning of the campaign can be rough for first level characters so I think it would actually help a bit

>>96832406
>I like swapping to instant effects, though I would argue some damage types benefit flavor-wise from the delay, such as poison and fire,
They don't all need to be instant, but doing it where you can and using existing conditions helps to make the whole process easier to use.

Like >>96832585 says, you might be better off making a series of Feats. Technically that already sort of exists in the form of Crusher/Piercer/Slasher.

So I was looking over the Genie Paladin from 2024, and it seems cool, but it's playstyle seems... Really fucking confusing?

Elemental Smites are fantastic, but the best ones want high CHA. And then Genie's Splendor also wants high CHA, but supposedly locks you out of all armor to gain the benefit? (UA says no Medium or Heavy, but supposedly it's leaked that Light Armor is off the table too?)

So it's a caster focused Paladin... But then you're never going to land your fucking Smites since you're going to want to pump CHA for the AC and save DC.

Is there something I'm not getting?

>>96832588
>>96832607
I went through that module and made similar changes recently (namely swapping the Green dragon for the White dragon from Ice Spire and implementing some aspects from it).

The main parts I tweaked were the goblins and the redbrands in town.
I made it so that the initial ambush had 2 goblins and a hobgoblin (with no shield). That reduces the odds that one of the PCs would sufer a crit, and gave an easy reason for the enemies to retreat if the Hobgoblin either dies or is reduced to low health.
The other thing I did was spread out the goblins a bit more. Moving one of them from area 6 to area 7 to reduce how outnumbered the PCs might be, and also adding a healing potion to treasure in area 6. I also swapped Yeemik for a Booyahg Whip to explain why he was in charge, but getting rid of the extra durability.

For the Redbrands, I just swapped the group that confronts them in town with 1 Redbrand Ruffian and 3 bandits, so that they aren't jumped by 4 dudes with multiattack if they're still level 1.

If you're using the 2024 rules, that will help somewhat in terms of the early portions, although you do want to stick with the 2014 rules for some of the monsters, since Goblins and Bugbears were given more HP. There's not a real need to buff things there.
You also might need to tune things down more if you've only got 3 players.

>>96832769
Genie Paladin is supposed to invoke that Arabian Nights sort of feel, so it’s likely meant to better enable DEX-based Paladins. According to the DNDBeyond preview article about the Genie Paladin,
>Their Genie's Splendor feature blesses them with an otherworldly grace when unarmored, allowing them to dance through battle like the wind.
Given that, it’s likely been changed to an Unarmored Defense like Dance Bard.

>>96832769
>>96833645
I'd note that it seems like the only benefit of being Unarmored is the AC bonus, so it's not like it's mandatory. It's more akin to the Barbarian's unarmored defense, where you can still use armor and it's just for flavor.
Also, only two of the elemental smites use your Cha, but Dao's Crush doesn't offer an initial save, so the target still needs to wait until they can use an action to try and escape, even if they can easily beat the DC.

>So it's a caster focused Paladin... But then you're never going to land your fucking Smites since you're going to want to pump CHA for the AC and save DC.
You already want to pump Cha a lot as a Paladin, because Aura of Protection is just that good.
Even the added spell list doesn't have that many effects which rely on Charisma

>>96831473
I’ve seen that only once in my 15 session campaign. Get more interesting maps and features.

>>96833046
Wouldn't a hobgoblin be more likely to oneshot a level 1 PC? Also yeah forgot to mention there is 4 of them, but certainly not a classic adventure group lineup, far as i know there will be a bard, wild sorc, monk and paladin

>>96833950
>Wouldn't a hobgoblin be more likely to oneshot a level 1 PC?
You'd think so, but not really. At least, not when it comes to the initial ambush. They've got a +3 to hit instead of a +4, and deal the same damage on average. Three arrows are less likely to crit than two arrows. A crit is more dangerous, but a crit is already too dangerous at that level from anything bigger than a dagger.
The Martial Advantage trait does make them more dangerous, but that relies on having allies near the target. That's not a factor during the initial ambush, and if the two goblins are acting like cowards and disengage every turn to keep shooting arrows, then the Hobgoblin won't have an ally nearby like he needs.
And remember that he's taking the place of two full goblins here. 2d6+4 is 11 average damage, and 1d8+2d6+1 is 12.5. Even in the ideal circumstance, he only does slightly more damage than two goblins would, while having 11 HP on the field instead of 14.

That said, if you are worried, there's also no harm in just trimming it down to 3 goblins, or perhaps 2 goblins and a wolf. Though personally I found a Hobgoblin offered a better explanation for why they'd be confident enough to ambush a group of mercenaries while outnumbered.
The new Monster Manual does also have Goblin Minions, which lack armor and only use daggers and are CR 1/8. I don't think I knew about that statblock when I was reworking things, but you could also probably swap those in one or two of those in a lot of areas.

Not sure if catbox will come back. Should I use pomf2.lain instead?

>>96786451 (OP)

Are the 2024 files for the PHB, DMG, and MM the best ones available? Are there better ones floating around?

>>96835123
>Are there better ones floating around?
Almost certainly. If someone finds them I can update the OP.

New thread
>>96835311
>>96835311
>>96835311